METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CALIBRATING A COMMUNICATION DEVICE

• US 20110053524A1
• Filed: 08/25/2009
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Paratek Microwave Incorporated (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Manssen, Keith R., Boire, Dan, Greene, Matthew R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,472,888 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/77
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0458 Arrangements for matching and coupling between power amplifier and antenna or between amplifying stages matching circuits in general H03H
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/40 Circuits

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a computer-readable storage medium having computer instructions to perform actual measurements of one or more performance parameters of a communication device according to a subset of tuning states of a tunable matching network operable in a communication device, determine estimated measurements of the one or more performance parameters of the communication device for a portion of the tuning states not included in the subset of tuning states according to the actual measurements, identify a data set for each of the one or more performance parameters from at least portions of the tuning states and the actual and estimated measurements, and determine from at least a portion of the date sets one or more tuning states that achieve at least one desirable performance characteristic of the communication device. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising steps to:

select a subset of tuning states of a tunable matching network operable in a communication device, wherein the tunable matching network has a tunable reactance that affects one or more performance parameters of the communication device;

perform actual measurements of the one or more performance parameters of the communication device according to the subset of tuning states;

determine estimated measurements of the one or more performance parameters for a portion of the tuning states not included in the subset of tuning states according to the actual measurements of the one or more performance parameters;

identify a data set for each of the one or more performance parameters from the tuning states and the actual and estimated measurements;

recognize one or more desirable performance characteristics of the communication device; and

determine from at least a portion of the one or more data sets one or more tuning states of the tunable matching network that achieves the one or more desirable performance characteristics of the communication device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the data sets has at least two independent variables.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least two independent variables correspond to a combination of at least portions of the tuning states.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the tunable matching network comprises at least one of a first tunable reactance circuit having at least one tunable reactive element, and a second tunable reactance circuit having at least one switchable element that enables or disables at least one fixed reactance element.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one tunable reactive element comprises at least one of a first circuit element with a tunable capacitance and a second circuit element a tunable inductance, and wherein the at least one fixed reactance element comprises at least one of a third circuit element with a fixed capacitance, and a fourth circuit element with a fixed inductance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more desirable performance characteristics of the communication device comprises a combination of at least two performance parameters of the communication device when the communication device has more than one performance parameter.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the identification step identifies two or more data sets when the communication device has more than one performance parameter, and wherein the method comprises a step to determine the one or more tuning states of the tunable matching network that achieves the one or more desirable characteristics of the communication device according to a combination of at least portions of the two or more data sets.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more desirable performance characteristics of the communication device comprise one or more corresponding desirable values of the one or more performance parameters.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising a step to identify at least a subset of the one or more tuning states that achieves the one or more desirable performance characteristics of the communication device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the subset of the one or more tuning states are storable in a look-up table which can be used by the communication device to control the tunable matching network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is operable at a plurality of frequency bands and a plurality of use cases, and wherein at least a portion of the method is applied to each of the plurality of frequency bands and each of the plurality of use cases.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of use cases are determined from a plurality of operational states of the communication device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of operational states correspond to at least two of a group of operational states comprising a state of use of an antenna of the communication, a state of use of a speakerphone feature of the communication, a state of use of a multi-configurable housing assembly of the communication device, a state of use of a hands-free feature of the communication device, and a state of a detectable proximity of a user to the communication device.

14. The method of claim 11, comprising a step to identify at least subsets of the one or more tuning states categorized by frequency bands and use cases.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the subsets of the one or more tuning states categorized by frequency bands and use cases are storable in a look-up table which can be used by the communication device to control the tunable matching network.

16. The method of claim 1, comprising a step to determine the estimated measurements according to regression analysis of the actual measurements.

17. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions to:

perform actual measurements of one or more performance parameters of a communication device according to a subset of tuning states of a tunable matching network operable in a communication device;

determine estimated measurements of the one or more performance parameters of the communication device for a portion of the tuning states not included in the subset of tuning states according to the actual measurements;

identify a data set for each of the one or more performance parameters from at least portions of the tuning states and the actual and estimated measurements; and

determine from at least a portion of the date sets one or more tuning states that achieve at least one desirable performance characteristic of the communication device.

18. The storage medium of claim 17, wherein each of the data sets has at least two independent variables.

19. The storage medium of claim 17, wherein the tunable matching network comprises at least one of a first tunable reactance circuit having at least one tunable reactive element, and a second tunable reactance circuit having at least one switchable element that enables or disables at least one fixed reactance element.

20. The storage medium of claim 17, wherein the at least one desirable performance characteristic comprises a combination of at least two performance parameters of the communication device when the communication device has more than one performance parameter.

21. The storage medium of claim 17, wherein at least a subset of the one or more tuning states are storable in a look-up table which can be used by the communication device to control the tunable matching network.

22. The storage medium of claim 17, wherein the communication device is operable at a plurality of frequency bands and a plurality of use cases, and wherein the storage medium comprises computer instructions to determine one or more tuning states that achieves the at least one desirable performance characteristic according to each of the plurality of frequency bands and each of the plurality of use cases.

23. The storage medium of claim 22, comprising computer instructions to identify at least subsets of the one or more tuning states categorized by frequency bands and use cases, which are storable in a look-up table which can be used by the communication device to control the tunable matching network.

24. The storage medium of claim 17, comprising computer instructions to determine the estimated measurements according to interpolation analysis of the actual measurements.

25. The storage medium of claim 17, wherein the one or more performance parameters comprise at least one of a power consumption of the communication device, radiated power of a transmitter of the communication device, and receive sensitivity of a receiver of the communication device.

26. The storage medium of claim 17, wherein the communication device comprises one of a wireless communication device, and a wireline communication device.

27. A method, comprising a step to distribute a software application by way of an electronic system, wherein the software application is operable to:

perform actual measurements of one or more performance parameters of a communication device according to a subset of tuning states of a tunable reactive element of a communication device;

estimate measurements of the of the one or more performance parameters for a portion of the tuning states not included in the subset of tuning states according to at least portions of the actual measurements; and

determine a multi-dimensional data set for each of the one or more performance parameters from at least portions of the tuning states and the actual and estimated measurements.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the software application is operable to determine one or more tuning states that achieve at least one desirable performance characteristic of the communication device, and wherein the software application is operable to present a user the one or more tuning states to enable the user to select at least a subset of the one or more tuning states for storage in a look-up table which can be used by the communication device for tuning the reactive element while the communication device is in operation.

29. A tunable matching network useable in a communication device, comprising:

a tunable reactive element tuned according to a look-up table,

wherein the look-up table comprises tuning states that achieve at least one desirable performance characteristic of the communication device, and

wherein the tuning states are determined according to a method comprising steps to;

perform actual measurements of one or more performance parameters of the communication device according to a subset of tuning states of the tunable reactive element;

determine estimated measurements of the one or more performance parameters of the communication device for a portion of the tuning states not included in the subset of tuning states according to the actual measurements;

identify a data set for each of the one or more performance parameters from at least portions of the tuning states and the actual and estimated measurements; and

determine from at least a portion of the date sets the tuning states that achieve the at least one desirable performance characteristic of the communication device.

30. The tunable matching network of claim 29, wherein the tunable reactive element comprises least one of a first tunable reactance circuit having at least one tunable reactive element, and a second tunable reactance circuit having at least one switchable element that enables or disables at least one fixed reactance element.