ANTENNA SYSTEM WITH SELF-IDENTIFYING ANTENNA

• US 20140302808A1
• Filed: 12/29/2011
• Published: 10/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Anand S. Konanur, Robert Paxman
• Inventors: Karacaoglu, Ulun, Konanur, Anand S., Paxman, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 9,276,624 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/277.1
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2225 used in active tags, i.e. provided with its own power source or in passive tags, i.e. deriving power from RF signal
• 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

Abstract

According to one embodiment disclosed herein, there is provided an antenna module including a self-identification mechanism that may be used by one or more wireless circuits for management purposes. The self-identification mechanism may, for example, take the form of an integrated circuit (IC) device or chip that stores a serial number that may function as a unique identifier for an antenna on which it is mounted or associated. In one embodiment, a wireless module, for example containing RF components for sending and receiving signals from the antenna, queries the serial number device, and acquires the serial number for the antenna. The wireless module can use the serial number for any number of purposes, and in particular to verify that the antenna connected is a compliant antenna that will operate within the range, within the limits, and/or with the performance specified for the radio circuits within the wireless module.

Claims

1. An antenna module comprising:

an antenna;

an identification circuit physically paired with the wireless antenna, the identification circuit storing machine-readable identification data and arranged to provide the machine-readable identification data responsive to a request for the machine-readable identification data.

2. The antenna module of claim 1, wherein the machine-readable identification data is a serial number and is used by a physically coupled wireless module to verify that the antenna is a compliant antenna.

3. The antenna module of claim 1, wherein the request is sent over a coaxial connection between the antenna module and the wireless module along with an RF signal and wherein the wireless module includes a BIAS-T which is arranged to separate the request from the RF signal.

4. The antenna module of claim 3, wherein the request is routed to the identification circuit and the RF signal is routed to the antenna.

5. A wireless module coupled via a physical connection to an antenna module including machine-readable identification information, the wireless module comprising:

a hardware processor to;

receive the machine-readable identification data via the physical connection from the antenna module;

modify one or more parameters of the wireless module based on the received machine-readable identification data.

6. The wireless module of claim 5, wherein the one or more parameters includes at least one of:

an amplitude, a frequency, a firmware configuration, or a tuning profile.

7. The wireless module of claim 5, comprising a radio frequency processor and a baseband processor arranged to output a radio frequency signal to the antenna module, and wherein to modify one or more parameters of the wireless module, the hardware processor is arranged to inhibit the output of the radio frequency signal to the antenna module.

8. The wireless module of claim 5, wherein the hardware processor is arranged to modify one or more parameters of the wireless module based on the received machine-readable identification information by comparing the received machine-readable identification information to one or more expected values, and responsive to determining that the received machine-readable identification information equals one of the expected values, selecting a parameter profile which indicates modifications to the one or more parameters of the wireless module.

9. The wireless module of claim 5, wherein the hardware processor is to:

send a request from the wireless module to the antenna module for requesting the machine-readable identification data.

10. The wireless module of claim 5, wherein the physical connection is established with a coaxial cable and wherein the hardware processor is arranged to receive the machine-readable identification information over a center conductor of the coaxial cable, and wherein the wireless module comprises a BIAS-T, which is arranged to separate a signal containing the machine-readable identification data from a radio frequency signal.

11. A method of modifying parameters of a wireless module, the method comprising:

receiving at the wireless module, a machine-readable identification data from an antenna module coupled to the wireless module via a physical connection; and

modifying one or more parameters of the wireless module based on the received machine-readable identification data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more parameters includes at least one of:

an amplitude, a frequency, a firmware configuration, or a tuning profile.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein modifying one or more parameters of the wireless module includes inhibiting the output of a radio frequency signal generated by a radio frequency processor and a baseband processor to the antenna module.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein modifying one or more parameters of the wireless module based on the received machine-readable identification information comprises comparing the received machine-readable identification information to one or more expected values, and responsive to determining that the received machine-readable identification information equals one of the expected values, selecting a parameter profile which indicates modifications to the one or more parameters of the wireless module.

15. The method of claim 11, comprising:

sending a request from the wireless module to the antenna module for requesting the machine-readable identification data.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the physical connection is established from a coaxial cable and wherein the machine-readable identification information is received over a center conductor of the coaxial cable, and wherein a signal containing the machine-readable identification data is separated from a radio frequency signal sent over the coaxial cable by a BIAS-T.

17. A wireless communication device for sending and receiving data, the wireless communication device comprising:

a wireless module coupled via a physical connection to an antenna module including machine-readable identification information, the wireless module comprising a hardware processor arranged to;

receive the machine-readable identification data via the physical connection from the antenna module;

modify one or more parameters of the wireless module based on the received machine-readable identification data;

generate one or more outgoing wireless signals for transmission via the antenna module, a characteristic of the one or more outgoing wireless signals based upon the one or more parameters of the wireless module; and

receive one or more incoming wireless signals from the antenna module; and

process the one or more incoming wireless signals from the antenna module.

18. The wireless communication device of claim 17, wherein the hardware processor is adapted to communicate within a network operating according to an IEEE 802.11n standard by generating the one or more outgoing signals, and receiving the one or more incoming wireless signals by utilizing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM).

19. The wireless communication device of claim 17, wherein a characteristic of the one or more incoming wireless signals is based upon the one or more parameters of the wireless module.