ANTENNA CONFIGURATION CHANGE BASED ON CHARGING PAD COUPLING

• US 20170098953A1
• Filed: 10/01/2015
• Published: 04/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Winkler, David A., Ballantyne, Wayne, Krenz, Eric L.
• Granted Patent: US 10,348,117 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming

Abstract

An apparatus, such as a user device, can comprise a battery, a plurality of antennas, a transceiver, a charging pad interface, and a controller. The battery can be configured to power the user device. The plurality of antennas can be configured to send and receive signals to and from a wireless node. The transceiver can be configured to communicate, via the plurality of antennas, with the wireless node. The charging pad interface can be configured to detect that the apparatus is coupled to a charging pad and to receive charging power from the charging pad. The controller can be configured to change a configuration of at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas in response to the charging pad interface detecting that the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a battery configured to power the apparatus;

a plurality of antennas configured to send and receive signals to and from a wireless node;

a transceiver configured to communicate, via the plurality of antennas, with the wireless node;

a charging pad interface configured to detect that the apparatus is coupled to a charging pad and receive charging power from the charging pad; and

a controller configured to change a configuration of at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas in response to the charging pad interface detecting that the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to change the configuration of the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas by disabling the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas in response to the charging pad interface detecting that the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to change the configuration of the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas by applying beamforming to the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas to communicate with the wireless node in response to the charging pad interface detecting that the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to change the configuration of the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas by switching from communicating with the wireless node to communicating with a local communication network in response to the charging pad interface detecting that the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to communicate with the local communication network via the charging pad.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a digital compass configured to determine an orientation of the apparatus when the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad,

wherein the controller is configured to change the configuration of the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas by disabling the at least one antenna and applying beamforming to at least one remaining antenna based on the orientation of the apparatus when the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller applies initial beamforming, when the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad, to the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas to communicate with the wireless node based a unique identifier associated with the charging pad and an a priori location of the wireless node.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the charging pad interface is further configured to receive a charging pad unique identifier from the charging pad and associated with the charging pad, and

wherein the transceiver is configured to applying beamforming to the at least one antenna to communicate with the wireless node based on the charging pad unique identifier.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a portable wireless communication device.

10. A method, comprising:

powering an apparatus with a battery;

sending and receiving, via a plurality of antennas, signals to and from a wireless node;

communicating, via a transceiver and the plurality of antennas, with the wireless node;

detecting, with a charging pad interface, that the apparatus is coupled to a charging pad and receiving charging power from the charging pad; and

changing, with a controller, a configuration of at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas in response to the charging pad interface detecting that the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the change in the configuration, by the controller, of the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas includes disabling the at least one antenna in response to the charging pad interface detecting that the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the change in the configuration, by the controller, of the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas includes applying beamforming to the at least one antenna to communicate with the wireless node in response to the charging pad interface detecting that the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the change in the configuration, by the controller, of the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas includes switching from communicating with the wireless node to communicating with a local communication network in response to the charging pad interface detecting that the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising communicating, with the controller, with the local communication network via the charging pad.

15. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

determining, with a digital compass, an orientation of the apparatus when the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad,

wherein the change in the configuration, by the controller, of the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas includes disabling the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas and applying beamforming to at least one remaining antenna based on the orientation of the apparatus when the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad.

16. The method according to claim 10, further comprising applying, with the controller, initial beamforming, when the apparatus is coupled to the charging pad, to the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas to communicate with the wireless node based a unique identifier associated with the charging pad and an a priori location of the wireless node.

17. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, with the charging pad interface, a charging pad unique identifier from the charging pad and associated with the charging pad; and

applying beamforming, with the transceiver, to the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas to communicate with the wireless node based on the charging pad unique identifier.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of antennas configured to send and receive signals to and from a user device;

a transceiver configured to communicate, via the plurality of antennas, with the user device; and

a controller configured to change a configuration of at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas in response to the apparatus detecting that the user device is coupled to a charging pad.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the transceiver is configured to receive a geographic location of the charging pad, and

wherein the controller is configured to at least one of optimize selection of at least one wireless node to service the user device and reduce a paging block size based on the geographic location of the charging pad.

20. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the controller is configured to change the configuration of the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas by applying beamforming to the at least one antenna to communicate with the user device in response to the apparatus detecting that the user device is coupled to the charging pad.

21. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the apparatus is further configured to determine a location of the user device in response to the apparatus detecting that the user device is coupled to the charging pad.

22. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the controller is configured to determine a plurality of weights that are applied to beamforming when the transceiver communicates with the user device and in response to the apparatus detecting that the user device is coupled to the charging pad, and

wherein the controller is configured to determine the location of the user device from the determined plurality of weights that are applied to beamforming when the transceiver communicates with the user device and from previously determined additional plurality of weights that are applied to beamforming when the transceiver previously communicated with other user devices.

23. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the controller applies initial beamforming, when the user device is coupled to the charging pad, to the at least one antenna from the plurality of antennas based a unique identifier associated with an a priori location of the charging pad.