RECONFIGURABLE ANTENNA SYSTEM

• US 20160127972A1
• Filed: 10/31/2014
• Published: 05/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Napoles, Adrian, Kim, Namhoon, Dron, Anuj, Ananthanarayanan, Peruvemba Ranganathan Sai, Lai, Chun Kit, Channabasappa, Eswarappa, Mattsson, Ulf Jan Ove, Kim, Daejoung, Sammeta, Rohit
• Granted Patent: US 9,756,544 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0064 with separate antennas for the more than one band H04B1/0053 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/04 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3838 Arrangements for reducing RF exposure to the user, e.g. by changing the shape of the transceiver while in use
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/06 at the transmitting station
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0608 Antenna selection according to transmission parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/061 using feedback from receiving side
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/304 due to measured or perceived resources with higher communication quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/30 Connection release
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A user device selects a communication module from a plurality of communication modules of the user device to communicate first data to a first device in a first configuration, selects a first antenna from a plurality of antennas of the user device to communicate the first data in the first configuration, and couples the communication module to the first antenna in the first configuration. The user device additionally selects the communication module to communicate second data to a second device in a second configuration, selects the first antenna and a second antenna from the plurality of antennas to communicate the second data in the second configuration, and couples the communication module to the first antenna and the second antenna in the second configuration.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by an antenna selector executing on a user device, signal strength data for a connection to a wireless local area network (WLAN) using a first antenna coupled to a WLAN module of the user device, wherein the user device comprises a plurality of wireless modules and a plurality of antennas, the plurality of wireless modules comprising the WLAN module and a wide area network (WAN) module, wherein the WLAN module is configured to output electromagnetic energy in a first frequency band and the WAN module is configured to output electromagnetic energy in a second frequency band;

determining, based on the signal strength data, that a signal strength of the connection between the WLAN module and WLAN exceeds a threshold value;

determining that a transceiver of the WAN module coupled to a second antenna of the plurality of antennas is idle;

determining, by the antenna selector, a first priority for the WAN module and a second priority for the WLAN module, wherein the WLAN module supports multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), and wherein the second priority is higher than the first priority;

causing, by the antenna selector, disconnection of the WAN module from the second antenna; and

causing, by the antenna selector, connection of the WLAN module to the second antenna to increase a throughput of the WLAN module, wherein the second antenna is coupled to the WLAN module via an antenna matching network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving new data indicating a disconnection of the WLAN module from the WLAN;

determining a new first priority for the WAN module and a new second priority for the WLAN module using the new data, wherein the new second priority is lower than the new first priority; and

causing disconnection of the WLAN module from the second antenna and connection of the WAN module to the second antenna.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning the second antenna to the WLAN module comprises coupling a third antenna to the second antenna to radiate electromagnetic energy in the first frequency band, wherein a length of the first antenna causes an impedance that is matched to the second frequency band and a combined length of the third antenna and the second antenna causes an impedance that is matched to the first frequency band.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of wireless modules further comprises an additional wireless module, the method further comprising:

determining that the additional wireless module is idle; and

causing, by the antenna selector, a switch to disconnect the additional wireless module from a third antenna and to connect the WLAN module to the third antenna to further increase the throughput of the WLAN module.

5. A method comprising:

selecting, by a user device, a first communication module from a plurality of communication modules of the user device to transmit first data, the first communication module being coupled to a first antenna;

determining, by the user device, that a second communication module, from the plurality of communication modules, is not transmitting or receiving data, the second communication module being coupled to a second antenna;

decoupling, by the user device, the second antenna from the second communication module; and

coupling, by the user device, the second antenna to the first communication module.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are coupled to the first communication module in a first configuration, and wherein the first antenna is coupled to the second communication module and the second antenna is coupled to the first communication module in a second configuration.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining a first priority for the first communication module;

determining a second priority for the second communication module;

determining that the second priority is lower than the first priority; and

selecting the first configuration.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the first priority for the first communication module comprises determining a signal strength and a connection status associated with the first communication module, the first priority being based on the connection status and the signal strength, and wherein the second priority for the second communication module is based on a status of the second communication module.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining a signal strength of the first communication module over the first antenna;

determining whether the signal strength exceeds a threshold; and

coupling the first communication module to the second antenna responsive to determining that the signal strength exceeds the threshold.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the first antenna has a length that causes the first antenna to have an impedance that corresponds to a second frequency band used by the second communication module but does not cause the first antenna to have an impedance that corresponds to a first frequency band used by the first communication module, and wherein coupling the first communication module to the first antenna further comprises coupling an antenna matching network to the first communication module, wherein the antenna matching network tunes an impedance of the first antenna to the first frequency band used by the first communication module.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

selecting a third communication module from the plurality of communication modules of the user device to transmit second data;

selecting a third antenna of the user device to transmit the second data; and

coupling the third communication module to the third antenna.

12. The method of claim 5, further comprising

coupling a third antenna to the first antenna to radiate electromagnetic energy in a first frequency band used by the first communication module, wherein a length of the first antenna causes an impedance that is matched to a second frequency band and a combined length of the third antenna and the first antenna causes an impedance that is approximately matched to the first frequency band.

13. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining that the first antenna has been idle for a threshold amount of time.

14. A user device comprising:

a plurality of antennas;

a plurality of communication modules;

one or more switching devices; and

a processing device to;

select a first communication module from the plurality of communication modules of the user device to transmit first data, the first communication module being coupled to a first antenna of the plurality of antennas;

determine that a second communication module from the plurality of communication modules is not transmitting or receiving data, the second communication module being coupled to a second antenna of the plurality of antennas;

decouple the second antenna from the second communication module; and

couple the second antenna to the first communication module.

15. The user device of claim 14, wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are coupled to the first communication module in a first configuration, and wherein the first antenna is coupled to the second communication module and the second antenna is coupled to the first communication module in a second configuration.

16. The user device of claim 15, wherein the second communication module supports multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, and wherein, for the second configuration, the processing device is further to select the second communication module to communicate second data, select the second antenna to communicate the second data, and cause the one or more switching devices to couple the second communication module to the second antenna.

17. The user device of claim 15, wherein, for the first configuration, the processing device is to cause the first communication module to connect to the second antenna via an antenna matching network and, for the second configuration, the processing device is to cause the second communication module to connect to the second antenna without the antenna matching network, wherein the second antenna is sized for operation in a first frequency band used by the second communication module.

18. The user device of claim 15, wherein, for the first configuration, the processing device is to cause the first communication module to connect to the second antenna via an antenna matching network and, for the second configuration, the processing device is to cause the second communication module to connect to the second antenna via the antenna matching network, wherein the antenna matching network is a reconfigurable antenna matching network, wherein the processing device is to adjust the reconfigurable antenna matching network to cause the reconfigurable antenna matching network to tune the second antenna to a first frequency band used by the first communication module in the first configuration, and wherein the processing device is to adjust the reconfigurable antenna matching network to cause the reconfigurable antenna matching network to tune the second antenna to a second frequency band used by the second communication module in the second configuration.

19. The user device of claim 15, further comprising the processing device to:

determine a first priority for the first communication module;

determine a second priority for the second communication module; and

select the first configuration or the second configuration based at least in part on the first priority and the second priority.

20. The user device of claim 14, further comprising

an additional switching device to couple the second antenna to a third antenna to radiate electromagnetic energy in a frequency band used by the first communication module, wherein a total combined length of the second antenna and the third antenna causes the combined first antenna and third antenna to have an impedance that corresponds to an impedance associated with the frequency band.