METHODS, DEVICES AND SYSTEMS FOR INCREASING WIRELESS COMMUNICATION RANGE

• US 20160227350A1
• Filed: 03/05/2015
• Published: 08/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cassia Networks Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cassia Networks Inc.
• Inventors: ZHANG, Kunpeng, ZHAO, Fuyong
• Granted Patent: US 9,769,594 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/44 Transmit/receive switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15507 Relay station based processing for cell extension or control of coverage area, network planning with network coordinated processing with regard to cell extension H04W16/26; network topologies using dedicated repeater stations H04W84/047; terminal devices adapted for relaying to or from an other terminal H04W88/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/383 power control in peer-to-peer links
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/24 Transfer of terminal data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

A device for supporting wireless communication is provided. The device includes a transceiver, an antenna, and a radio frequency (RF) front end system communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the antenna. The RF front end system may include: a RF sampling block coupled to the transceiver and configured to sample signals received from the transceiver and output voltage signals; a RF switching logic coupled to the RF sampling block to receive the voltage signals and configured to switch the front end RF system between a transmitting mode and a receiving mode; a RF transmission gain block coupled to the RF switching logic and configured to increase a transmission power of the signals received from the transceiver; and a RF receiving gain block coupled to the RF switching logic and configured to remove noise signals contained in radio frequency signals received from the antenna.

Claims

1. A device for supporting wireless communication, comprising:

a transceiver;

an antenna; and

a radio frequency (RF) front end system communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the antenna, the RF front end system comprising;

a RF sampling block coupled to the transceiver and configured to sample signals received from the transceiver and output voltage signals;

a RF switching logic coupled to the RF sampling block to receive the voltage signals and configured to switch the RF front end system between a transmitting mode and a receiving mode;

a RF transmission gain block coupled to the RF switching logic and configured to increase a transmission power of the signals received from the transceiver; and

a RF receiving gain block coupled to the RF switching logic and configured to suppress noise signals contained in radio frequency signals received from the antenna.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the RF sampling block is configured to sample the signals at a rate substantially lower than a rate of the signals received from the transceiver.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the RF switching logic switches the RF front end system to the transmitting mode if a power of the voltage signals is greater than a predetermined threshold.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the RF sampling block comprises a low pass filter for filtering the voltage signals.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the RF transmission gain block comprises a ceramic filter and a step RF attenuator for shaping the signals received from the transceiver.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the front end RF system further comprises one or more RF switching blocks coupled to the RF switching logic.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the RF switching logic is configured to enable or disable the RF transmission gain block by sending a control signal to the RF transmission gain block.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the RF switching logic is configured to enable or disable the RF receiving gain block by sending a control signal to the RF receiving gain block.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein RF switching logic is configured to switch the RF front end system between the transmitting mode and the receiving mode based on the voltage signals.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver and the signals are Bluetooth signals.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein a portion of the signals outputted from the transceiver is passed to the RF sampling block, and a remaining portion of the signals outputted from the transceiver is passed to the RF transmission gain block.

12. A device for supporting wireless communication, comprising:

a configurable antenna system including a plurality of antenna elements, wherein each of the antenna elements is capable of being turned on or off to produce different antenna configurations;

a transceiver configured to generate a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) for each of the antenna configurations, wherein the RSSI is generated based on signals received from a client device; and

an antenna logic system communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the configurable antenna system, the antenna logic system configured to;

receive, from the transceiver, the RSSI for each of the antenna configurations;

select an antenna configuration among the antenna configurations based on the RSSI; and

configure the configurable antenna system with the selected antenna configuration.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the selected antenna configuration is used by the configurable antenna system for a predetermine time period.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein after the predetermine time period, the antenna logic system is configured to update the RSSI for each of the antenna configurations, select an updated antenna configuration based on the updated RSSI, and configure the configurable antenna system with the updated antenna configuration.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein the predetermine time period is less than one second.

16. The device of claim 12, wherein the antenna logic system generates a plurality of sets of RSSIs, each set including RSSIs for the different antenna configurations for a client device.

17. The device of claim 12, wherein the antenna logic system identifies a highest RSSI among the RSSIs for each of the antenna configurations, and selects the antenna configuration corresponding to highest RSSI as the selected antenna configuration.

18. The device of claim 12, further comprising a radio frequency (RF) front end system configured to increase a transmission power of signals received from the transceiver and remove noise signals contained in radio frequency signals received from the configurable antenna system.

19. The device of claim 12, wherein the transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver and the signals are Bluetooth signals.

20. A device for supporting wireless communication, comprising:

a first antenna and a second antenna, wherein the first antenna and the second antenna uses a different polarization;

a first communication module configured to transmit a first radio frequency signal via the first antenna, wherein the first radio frequency signal is generated complying with a first communication protocol; and

a second communication module configured to transmit a second radio frequency signal via the second antenna, wherein the second radio frequency signal is generated complying with a second communication protocol different from the first communication protocol.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the first communication module and the second communication module are located at an opposite side of a circuit board.

22. The device of claim 20, wherein the first communication module transmits the first radio frequency signal at a first time, and the second communication module transmits the second radio frequency signal at a second time different from the first time.

23. The device of claim 20, wherein the first communication module is a Bluetooth module and the second communication module is a WIFI module.

24. The device of claim 20, wherein the first radio frequency signal is configured to transmit at a first frequency, and the second radio frequency signal is configured to transmit at a second frequency different from the first frequency.

25. The device of claim 24, wherein the first frequency and the second frequency are reconfigured after a predetermined time period.