Radio frequency communications based on multiple receivers

• US 20120236738A1
• Filed: 03/17/2011
• Published: 09/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Laurila, Hannu T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,665,741 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0825 with main and with auxiliary or diversity antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality

Abstract

Apparatus, methods, and computer program products are disclosed for: selecting a reception path to receive information from a first receiver path through a first receiver portion in a transceiver portion of the apparatus or from a second receiver path in a receiver portion separate from the transceiver portion of the apparatus, wherein both of the first and second receiver paths receive the information using a same frequency band of a same radio access technology; and receiving the information using the selected reception path. Apparatus, methods, and computer program products are disclosed for: transmitting first information using a transmission frequency band of a radio access technology over a transmission path in a transceiver; and, for the radio access technology and a reception frequency band, receiving second information over a receiver path in a secondary receiver, where the transceiver does not have a receiver path configured to receive the reception frequency band.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memories including computer program code,

the one or more memories and the computer program code configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

selecting a reception path to use to receive information from a first receiver path through a first receiver portion in a transceiver portion of the apparatus or from a second receiver path in a receiver portion separate from the transceiver portion of the apparatus, wherein both of the first and second receiver paths receive the information using a same frequency band of a same radio access technology; and

receiving the information using the selected reception path.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, implemented on an integrated circuit.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

selecting further comprises selecting both the first and second receiver paths; and

receiving further comprises receiving the information using both the first and second receiver paths.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein selecting further comprises selecting the reception path based on a use case.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the use case corresponds to reception of voice, and wherein selecting further comprises selecting a predetermined one of the first receiver path or the second receiver path based on the frequency band of the radio access technology.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the use case corresponds to proximity to a human to the apparatus, and wherein selecting further comprises selecting a predetermined one of the first receiver path or the second receiver path based on the frequency band of the radio access technology and the proximity of the human to the apparatus.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the proximity of the human to the apparatus is one of the following:

free space;

in hand;

beside head;

or beside head with hand.

8. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a connector, and wherein a use case corresponds to a cable being plugged into the connector, wherein the cable interferes with reception using a first antenna coupled to one of the first or second receiver paths and, in response to the cable being plugged in, selecting further comprises selecting a different one of the first or second receiver paths, wherein the different receiver path is coupled to a second antenna spaced apart from the first antenna.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform the operation of determining over the air measurements for both the first and second receiver paths, and wherein selecting further comprises selecting one of the first receiver or the second receiver path with a best over the air measurement.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the first receiver path is coupled to a first antenna and the first antenna is optimized for transmission for a first frequency band for a radio access technology; and

the second receiver path is coupled to a second antenna and second antenna is optimized for reception for a second frequency band corresponding to the first frequency band for the radio access technology.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transceiver further comprises a transmitter that transmits a frequency band of the global system for mobile communications radio access technology, and the second receiver path is configured to be used to receive both the frequency band of the global system for mobile communications radio access technology and a frequency band for one of a wideband code division multiple access radio access technology or a long term evolution radio access technology radio access technology.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus comprises a wireless device.

13-22. -22. (canceled)

23. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable memory medium bearing computer program code embodied therein for use with a computer, the computer program code comprising:

selecting a reception path to receive information from a first receiver path through a first receiver portion in a transceiver portion of an apparatus or from a second receiver path in a receiver portion separate from the transceiver portion of the apparatus, wherein both of the first and second receiver paths receive the information using a same frequency band of a same radio access technology; and

receiving the information using the selected reception path.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein selecting further comprises selecting the reception path based on a use case.

27. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein the use case corresponds to proximity to a human to the apparatus, and wherein selecting further comprises selecting a predetermined one of the first receiver path or the second receiver path based on the frequency band of the radio access technology and the proximity of the human to the apparatus.

24. (canceled)

26. (canceled)

28-32. -32. (canceled)

33. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memories including computer program code,

the one or more memories and the computer program code configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

transmitting first information using a transmission frequency band of a radio access technology over a transmission path in transceiver;

for the radio access technology and a reception frequency band corresponding to the transmission frequency band, receiving second information over a receiver path in a secondary receiver, where the transceiver does not have a receiver path configured to receive the reception frequency band of the radio access technology.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, implemented on an integrated circuit.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the transmission frequency band is a frequency band for a global system for mobile communications radio access technology and the reception frequency band is the frequency band for the global system for mobile communications radio access technology.

36. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the transmission frequency band is a first frequency band for a wideband code division multiple access radio access technology and the reception frequency band is a frequency band that corresponds to the first frequency band for the wideband code division multiple access radio access technology.

37. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the transceiver comprises a transmitter that transmits a frequency band of the global system for mobile communications radio access technology, and the receiver path is configured to be used to receive both the frequency band of the global system for mobile communications radio access technology and a frequency band for one of a wideband code division multiple access radio access technology or a long term evolution radio access technology radio access technology.

38. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the apparatus comprises a wireless device.

39-46. -46. (canceled)