Method for Validating Radio-Frequency Self-Interference of Wireless Electronic Devices

• US 20140160955A1
• Filed: 12/12/2012
• Published: 06/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lum, Nicholas W., Luong, Anh Q.
• Application Number:
  US13/712,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20140160955A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/06 Testing, supervising or monitoring using simulated traffic

Abstract

A test system for testing a wireless electronic device is provided. The test system may include a test host and a tester. The test host may instruct a wireless electronic device under test (DUT) to transmit radio-frequency uplink signals in selected uplink resource blocks of an uplink channel in a desired Long Term Evolution (LTE) frequency band. The tester may convey radio-frequency test data to the DUT in a selected downlink resource block of a downlink channel in the desired LTE frequency band. The DUT may measure data reception throughput values associated with the test data. The test host may compare the measured data reception throughput values to threshold data reception throughput values to characterize the radio-frequency performance of the DUT. The test system may test the radio-frequency performance of the DUT for test data in some or all downlink resource blocks of the downlink channel.

Claims

1. A method for testing wireless communications circuitry using test equipment, the method comprising:

configuring the wireless communications circuitry for communications using a frequency band that is partitioned into a plurality of resource blocks;

instructing the wireless communications circuitry to continuously transmit radio-frequency uplink signals in the frequency band;

transmitting radio-frequency downlink signals to the wireless communications circuitry in a selected resource block of the plurality of resource blocks; and

determining whether the uplink signals interfere with the downlink signals at the wireless communications circuitry.

2. The method defined in claim 1, wherein configuring the wireless communications circuitry for communications using the frequency band comprises:

configuring the wireless electronic device for communications in a channel identified by a channel number in the frequency band.

3. The method defined in claim 1 wherein configuring the wireless communications circuitry for communications in the frequency band comprises:

configuring the wireless communications circuitry for communications in a Long Term Evolution frequency band.

4. The method defined in claim 3 wherein determining whether the uplink signals interfere with the downlink signals at the wireless communications circuitry comprises:

identifying a data reception throughput value associated with the radio-frequency downlink signals transmitted in the selected resource block.

5. The method defined in claim 4, wherein determining whether the uplink signals interfere with the downlink signals at the wireless communications circuitry further comprises:

determining whether the identified data reception throughput value is less than a predetermined threshold.

6. The method defined in claim 5, further comprising:

identifying a downlink power level associated with the transmitted downlink signals at the predetermined threshold; and

determining whether the identified downlink power level is greater than a power level threshold.

7. The method defined in claim 3, wherein the Long Term Evolution frequency band is partitioned into a plurality of uplink resource blocks and wherein instructing the wireless communications circuitry to continuously transmit radio-frequency uplink signals in the frequency band comprises:

instructing the wireless communications circuitry to continuously transmit radio-frequency uplink signals in a selected uplink resource block in the plurality of uplink resource blocks.

8. The method defined in claim 7, wherein instructing the wireless communications circuitry to continuously transmit radio-frequency uplink signals in the selected uplink resource block further comprises:

instructing the wireless communications circuitry to continuously transmit radio-frequency uplink signals in the selected uplink resource block at a maximum output power level of the wireless communications circuitry.

9. The method defined in claim 3, wherein the Long Term Evolution frequency band is partitioned into a plurality of uplink resource blocks and wherein instructing the wireless communications circuitry to continuously transmit radio-frequency uplink signals in the frequency band comprises:

instructing the wireless communications circuitry to continuously transmit radio-frequency uplink signals in multiple uplink resource blocks of the plurality of uplink resource blocks.

10. The method defined in claim 3, wherein the Long Term Evolution frequency band is partitioned into a plurality of downlink resource blocks and wherein transmitting the radio-frequency downlink signals to the wireless communications circuitry in the selected resource block comprises:

transmitting the radio-frequency downlink signals to the wireless communications circuitry in a selected downlink resource block of the plurality of downlink resource blocks.

11. The method defined in claim 10 further comprising:

transmitting additional radio-frequency downlink signals to the wireless communications circuitry in an additional downlink resource block of the plurality of downlink resource blocks; and

determining whether the uplink signals interfere with the additional downlink signals in the additional downlink resource block at the wireless communications circuitry.

12. The method defined in claim 11, wherein transmitting the radio-frequency downlink signals to the wireless communications circuitry in the selected downlink resource block comprises transmitting the radio-frequency downlink signals in the selected downlink resource block during a first time period and wherein transmitting the additional radio-frequency downlink signals to the wireless electronic device in the additional downlink resource block comprises transmitting the additional radio-frequency downlink signals in the additional downlink resource block during a second time period subsequent to the first time period.

13. The method defined in claim 11, wherein determining whether the uplink signals interfere with the downlink signals at the wireless communications circuitry comprises:

identifying a first data reception throughput value associated with the radio-frequency downlink signals transmitted in the selected downlink resource block; and

identifying a second data reception throughput value associated with the radio-frequency downlink signals transmitted in the additional downlink resource block.

14. The method defined in claim 13 further comprising:

determining whether the first data reception throughput value is less than a threshold data reception throughput value; and

in response to determining that the first data reception throughput value is less than the threshold data reception throughput value, identifying the wireless communications circuitry as failing test operations.

15. The method defined in claim 14, further comprising:

determining whether the second data reception throughput value is less than the threshold data reception throughput value.

16. A method for testing a wireless electronic device using test equipment, the method comprising:

with the test equipment, configuring the wireless electronic device for communications using a frequency band that is partitioned into uplink and downlink frequency ranges, wherein the uplink frequency range is partitioned into a plurality of uplink resource blocks and wherein the downlink frequency range is partitioned into a plurality of downlink resource blocks;

with the test equipment, instructing the wireless electronic device to continuously transmit signals in at least one uplink resource block;

with the test equipment, transmitting radio-frequency data signals to the wireless electronic device in a selected downlink resource block; and

with the test equipment, identifying data reception throughput of the radio-frequency data signals in the selected downlink resource block measured by the wireless electronic device.

17. The method defined in claim 16, wherein the frequency band comprises a Long Term Evolution frequency band including channels having corresponding channel numbers and wherein configuring the wireless electronic device for communications using the frequency band further comprises:

configuring the wireless electronic device for communications using a selected channel of the Long Term Evolution frequency band.

18. The method defined in claim 16, wherein the wireless electronic device includes an uplink signal path and a downlink signal path and wherein the wireless electronic device is subject to isolation requirements that limit radio-frequency interference between the uplink and downlink signal paths, the method comprising:

based on the identified data reception throughput of the radio-frequency data signals in the selected downlink resource block, determining whether radio-frequency isolation between the uplink and the downlink signal paths satisfies the isolation requirements.

19. The method defined in claim 18 wherein determining whether the radio-frequency isolation between the uplink and the downlink signal paths satisfies the isolation requirements comprises:

determining whether the identified data reception throughput of the radio-frequency data signals in the selected downlink resource block is less than a threshold data reception throughput; and

in response to determining that the identified data reception throughput of the radio-frequency data signals in the selected downlink resource block is less than the threshold data reception throughput, notifying a user that the wireless electronic device fails testing.

20. A test system configured to test a wireless electronic device, the test system comprising:

test equipment that wirelessly communicates with the wireless electronic device, wherein the test equipment is configured to instruct the wireless electronic device to transmit radio-frequency uplink signals in a frequency band that is partitioned into a plurality of resource blocks, wherein the test equipment transmits test signals to the wireless electronic device in a selected resource block of the plurality of resource blocks, and wherein the test equipment identifies data reception throughput of the transmitted test signals at the wireless electronic device.

21. The test system defined in claim 20, wherein the frequency band includes an uplink channel and a downlink channel, wherein the uplink channel is partitioned into a plurality of uplink resource blocks, wherein the downlink channel is partitioned into a plurality of downlink resource blocks, wherein the test equipment instructs the wireless electronic device to continuously transmit radio-frequency uplink signals in at least one uplink block of the plurality of uplink resource blocks, and wherein the test equipment transmits test signals to the wireless electronic device in a selected downlink resource block of the plurality of downlink resource blocks.

22. The test system defined in claim 20, wherein the test equipment comprises a tester and a test host, wherein the tester is configured to gather data reception throughput values from the wireless electronic device, wherein the tester is configured to pass the data reception throughput values to the test host, and wherein the test host is configured to perform pass-fail test operations on the wireless electronic device by determining whether the data reception throughput values are less than predetermined threshold data reception throughput values.

23. The test system defined in claim 20, wherein the test equipment transmits test signals to the wireless electronic device in a resource block within a Long Term Evolution frequency band, wherein the wireless electronic device is configured to monitor data reception throughput values of the test signals, and wherein the test equipment instructs the wireless electronic device to transmit the data reception throughput values to the test equipment using the Long Term Evolution frequency band.