COMMUNICATION APPARATUS EQUIPPED WITH SWITCHABLE ANTENNA

• US 20140063345A1
• Filed: 11/18/2012
• Published: 03/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Cho-Yi Lin
• Inventors: Chen, Shih-Chieh, Hsieh, Shih-Wei, Lin, Cho-Yi
• Granted Patent: US 9,380,640 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/552
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/50 Feeding or matching arrangements for broad-band or multi-band operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/006 using switches for selecting the desired band H04B1/0057 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/18 Input circuits, e.g. for coupling to an antenna or a transmission line coupling networks between antennas or lines and receivers independent of the nature of the receiver H03H
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0805 with single receiver and antenna switching H04B7/0822 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42638 involving a hybrid front-end, e.g. analog and digital tuners
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/142 Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A communication apparatus equipped with switchable antenna mechanism is provided, where the communication apparatus includes at least a portion of a portable electronic device, which includes a plurality of wireless communication functions respectively corresponding to different communication standards, and the wireless communication functions include a mobile phone function and at least one other wireless communication function. The communication apparatus includes: an antenna; a processing circuit; a plurality of processing modules arranged to provide the portable electronic device with a plurality of functions, respectively, where the functions include at least a portion of the wireless communication functions; and a switching unit. It is an advantage that, by utilizing the switching unit, different portions of the communication apparatus can share the antenna to achieve the best beneficial result through the limited area of a printed circuit board (PCB).

Claims

1. A communication apparatus equipped with switchable antenna mechanism, the communication apparatus comprising at least a portion of a portable electronic device, the portable electronic device including a plurality of wireless communication functions corresponding to different communication standards, respectively, the wireless communication functions comprising a mobile phone function and at least one other wireless communication function, the communication apparatus comprising:

an antenna, arranged to perform at least one of wireless signal reception and wireless signal transmission;

a processing circuit, arranged to control operations of the portable electronic device;

a plurality of processing modules, arranged to provide the portable electronic device with a plurality of functions, respectively, wherein the functions include at least a portion of the wireless communication functions; and

a switching unit, having a first terminal and a plurality of second terminals, wherein the first terminal is electrically connected to the antenna, and the second terminals are electrically connected to the processing modules, respectively;

wherein under control of the processing circuit, the switching unit electrically connects the first terminal to a specific second terminal of the second terminals, thus allowing a specific processing module coupled to the specific second terminal to utilize the antenna to perform a designated operation.

2. The communication apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of antenna matching circuits, coupled between the processing modules and the second terminal respectively, the antenna matching circuits arranged to perform antenna matching for the processing modules respectively, wherein each antenna matching circuit is coupled between one of the processing modules and one of the second terminals.

3. The communication apparatus of claim 2, wherein the antenna matching circuits comprise at least a resistor, at least a capacitor, and/or at least an inductor.

4. The communication apparatus of claim 2, wherein the antenna matching circuits are different from each other.

5. The communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing modules comprise at least one wireless communication processing module;

and the processing circuit controls the switching unit to switch dynamically to allow the at least one wireless communication module and another processing module of the processing modules to operate simultaneously.

6. The communication apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

at least a buffer, arranged to perform buffering for the another processing module.

7. The communication apparatus of claim 6, wherein the another processing module is a television receiver.

8. The communication apparatus of claim 6, wherein the another processing module is a broadcasting receiver.

9. The communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing modules comprise at least one of an analog television receiver and a digital television receiver.

10. The communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing modules comprise at least a broadcasting receiver.

11. The communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing modules comprises at least one wireless communication processing module;

the processing circuit controls the switching unit to switch dynamically to allow the at least one wireless communication processing module and at least one other processing module of the processing modules to operate simultaneously; and

the communication apparatus further comprises;

at least one buffer, arranged to perform buffering; and

another switching unit, arranged to share the at least one buffer with the at least one wireless communication processing module and at least a portion of the at least one other processing module.