MOBILE WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICE WITH MULTIPLE TRANSCEIVERS

• US 20130003709A1
• Filed: 06/29/2011
• Published: 01/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Inventors: KALHAN, Amit
• Granted Patent: US 8,437,290 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A mobile wireless communication device has multiple 802.11 transceivers. A first transceiver maintains a first 802.11 communication link in accordance with the 802.11 communication specification. A second transceiver maintains, simultaneously to the first transceiver maintaining the first 802.11 communication link, a second 802.11 communication link in accordance with the 802.11 communication specification. The first transceiver comprises first physical layer electronics for executing the physical layer functions of the first 802.11 communication link. The second transceiver comprises second physical layer electronics for executing the physical layer functions of the second 802.11 communication link. The electronics are implemented such that no portion of the first physical layer electronics forms a portion of the second physical layer electronics when the links are being simultaneously maintained.

Claims

1. A mobile wireless communication device comprising:

a first transceiver configured to maintain a first Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 communication link in accordance with a IEEE 802.11 communication specification defining at least a physical layer, the first transceiver comprising first physical layer electronics configured to maintain the physical layer of the first 802.11 communication link;

a second transceiver configured to maintain, simultaneously to the maintaining of the first IEEE 802.11 communication link, a second IEEE 802.11 communication link in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 communication specification, the second transceiver comprising second physical layer electronics configured to maintain the physical layer of the second 802.11 communication link, wherein no portion of the first physical layer electronics forms a portion of the second physical layer electronics; and

a housing, wherein at least portion of the first physical layer electronics and at least a portion of the second physical layer electronics are disposed within the housing.

2. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the physical layer of the first IEEE 802.11 link is defined by a first subsection of the IEEE 802.11 and the physical layer of the second IEEE 802.11 link is defined by a second subsection of the IEEE 802.11 specification different from the first subsection.

3. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 2, wherein the first transceiver is configurable between a plurality of configurations wherein each configuration can maintain the first communication link in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 communication standard subsections and wherein the second transceiver is configurable between another plurality of configurations wherein each configuration of the another plurality can maintain the second communication link in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11 communication standard subsections.

4. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 2, wherein the first subsection is 802.11a and the second subsection is 802.11g.

5. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 2, wherein the first subsection defines channels within a 2.4 GHz frequency band and the second subsection defines channels within a 60 GHz frequency band.

6. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the second physical layer electronics are a replica of the first physical layer electronics.

7. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the first physical layer electronics comprise a plurality of physical layer resources, each physical layer resource configured to execute an operation for implementing the physical layer; and

the second physical layer electronics comprise another plurality of physical layer resources, each of the another plurality of physical layer resources configured to execute an operation for implementing the physical layer, wherein no physical layer resource is used to maintain the first 802.11 communication link and the second 802.11 communication link.

8. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the first transceiver is configured to maintain the first 802.11 communication link with a first access point and the second transceiver is configured to maintain the second 802.11 communication link with a second access point.

9. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the first physical layer electronics comprise first radio frequency electronics, a first analog to digital converter, first channel estimation electronics, and first demodulation electronics and the second physical layer electronics comprise second radio frequency electronics, a second analog to digital converter, second channel estimation electronics, and second demodulation electronics.

10. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 9, wherein the first radio frequency electronics comprise first filtering electronics, first low noise amplifier electronics and first frequency down conversion electronics and the second radio frequency electronics comprise second filtering electronics, second low noise amplifier electronics and second frequency down conversion electronics.

11. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 9, further comprising supporting electronics comprising synchronization electronics configured to perform signal acquisition functions for the first transceiver and the second transceiver.

12. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 11, wherein the synchronization electronics are further configured to perform signal tracking functions for the first transceiver and the second transceiver

13. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the first physical layer electronics comprise first radio frequency electronics, a first digital to analog converter, and first modulation electronics and the second physical layer electronics comprise second radio frequency electronics, a second digital to analog converter, and second modulation electronics.

14. The mobile wireless communication device of claim 13, wherein the first radio frequency electronics comprise first filtering electronics, first power amplifier electronics and first frequency up conversion electronics and the second radio frequency electronics comprise second filtering electronics, second power amplifier electronics and second frequency up conversion electronics.

15. A method performed by a mobile wireless communication device, the method comprising:

maintaining, with a first transceiver, a first Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 communication link in accordance with a IEEE 802.11 communication specification defining at least a physical layer, the maintaining the first IEEE 802.11 communication link comprising maintaining the physical layer of the first 802.11 communication link with first physical layer electronics at least partially disposed within a housing;

maintaining, with a second transceiver and simultaneously to the maintaining of the first IEEE 802.11 communication link, a second IEEE 802.11 communication link in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 communication specification, the maintaining the second IEEE communication link comprising maintaining the physical layer of the second 802.11 communication link with second physical layer electronics at least partially disposed within the housing, wherein no portion of the first physical layer electronics forms a portion of the second physical layer electronics.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein maintaining the physical layer of the first IEEE communication link comprises maintaining the physical layer of the first IEEE communication link with at least first radio frequency electronics, a first analog to digital converter, first channel estimation electronics, and first demodulation electronics and wherein maintaining the physical layer of the second IEEE communication link comprises maintain the physical layer of the second IEEE communication link with second radio frequency electronics, a second analog to digital converter, second channel estimation electronics, and second demodulation electronics.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first radio frequency electronics comprise first filtering electronics, first low noise amplifier electronics and first frequency down conversion electronics and the second radio frequency electronics comprise second filtering electronics, second low noise amplifier electronics and second frequency down conversion electronics.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

performing signal acquisition functions using supporting electronics to maintain the first IEEE communication link and the second IEEE communication link, wherein no portion of the supporting electronics is part of the first physical layer electronics or the second physical layer electronics.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

performing signal tracking functions using the supporting electronics to maintain the first IEEE communication link and the second IEEE communication link.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the first physical layer electronics comprise first radio frequency electronics, a first digital to analog converter, and first modulation electronics and the second physical layer electronics comprise second radio frequency electronics, a second digital to analog converter, and second modulation electronics.