Tuning matching circuits for transmitter and receiver bands as a function of transmitter metrics

• US 8,428,523 B2
• Filed: 06/24/2011
• Issued: 04/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Greene, Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Tuan
• Application Number:
  US13/168,529
• Publication Number:
  US 20110250852A1
• Time in Patent Office: 669 Days
• Field of Search: 455/522, 455/69, 455/67.16, 455/73, 455/77, 455/125, 455/178.1, 455/191.1, 455/193.2, 455/120
• US Class Current: 455/77
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 7/40 Automatic matching of load impedance to source impedance
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0458 Arrangements for matching and coupling between power amplifier and antenna or between amplifying stages matching circuits in general H03H
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition

Abstract

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium includes computer instructions to determine a translation function based on a transmit frequency of a transmit mode and a receive frequency of a receive mode of a transceiver for a communication device, and adjust a variable reactance component of an impedance matching circuit for the receive mode based on the translation function, where the impedance matching circuit is operably coupled with an antenna of the communication device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining at least one operational metric for a transceiver during a transmit mode of a communication device;

adjusting a variable reactance component of an impedance matching circuit for the transmit mode based on the at least one operational metric, wherein the impedance matching circuit is operably coupled with an antenna of the communication device;

determining S-parameters of the impedance matching circuit;

determining a translation function based on the at least one operational metric, based on the S-parameters and based on a transmit frequency of the transmit mode and a receive frequency of a receive mode of the communication device; and

adjusting the variable reactance component of the impedance matching circuit for the receive mode based on the translation function.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising performing the adjusting of the variable reactance component for the transmit mode without utilizing operational metrics measured during the receive mode.

3. The method of claim 2, comprising performing the adjusting of the variable reactance component for the receive mode without utilizing operational metrics measured during the receive mode.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

monitoring for a change in the at least one operational metric during a subsequent transmit mode of the communication device; and

adjusting the variable reactance component of the impedance matching circuit for the subsequent transmit mode based on the change in the at least one operational metric.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one operational metric comprises a return loss.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one operational metric comprises a current drain.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one operational metric comprises output power of the transceiver.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one operational metric comprises a vector measurement of a transmitter reflection coefficient associated with the transceiver.

11. The method of claim 1, comprising adjusting the variable reactance component for at least one of the transmit and the receive modes based in part on performance results for the communication device obtained from previous adjustments of the variable reactance component, wherein the performance results are stored in a memory of the communication device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the variable reactance component comprises one or more electrically tunable capacitors.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the variable reactance component comprises one or more Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) variable reactance components.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the variable reactance component for at least one of the transmit and the receive modes based in part on a use case scenario of the communication device.

4. A method, comprising:

obtaining at least one operational metric for a transceiver during a transmit mode of a communication device;

adjusting a variable reactance component of an impedance matching circuit for the transmit mode based on the at least one operational metric, wherein the impedance matching circuit is operably coupled with an antenna of the communication device;

generating a mapping function for transmit and receive frequencies;

determining a translation function based on the at least one operational metric, based on the mapping function and based on the transmit frequency of the transmit mode and the receive frequency of the receive mode of the communication device; and

adjusting the variable reactance component of the impedance matching circuit for the receive mode based on the translation function.

14. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one operational metric comprises a return loss.

15. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one operational metric comprises a current drain.

16. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one operational metric comprises output power of the transceiver.

17. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one operational metric comprises a vector measurement of a transmitter reflection coefficient associated with the transceiver.

18. The method of claim 4, wherein the variable reactance component comprises one or more electrically tunable capacitors.

19. The method of claim 4, wherein the variable reactance component comprises one or more Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) variable reactance components.

28. The method of claim 4, further comprising adjusting the variable reactance component for at least one of the transmit and the receive modes based in part on a use case scenario of the communication device.

6. A method comprising:

obtaining at least one operational metric for a transceiver during a transmit mode of a communication device;

adjusting a variable reactance component of an impedance matching circuit for the transmit mode based on the at least one operational metric, wherein the impedance matching circuit is operably coupled with an antenna of the communication device;

determining S-parameters of the impedance matching circuit;

determining a translation function based on the at least one operational metric, based on the S-parameters and based on a transmit frequency of the transmit mode and a receive frequency of a receive mode of the communication device;

adjusting the variable reactance component of the impedance matching circuit for the receive mode based on the translation function; and

adjusting the variable reactance component of the impedance matching circuit for a subsequent transmit mode based on a previous adjustment made to the variable reactance component for a previous transmit mode.

29. The method of claim 6, further comprising adjusting the variable reactance component for at least one of the transmit and the receive modes based in part on a use case scenario of the communication device.

20. A communication device, comprising:

an antenna;

a transceiver coupled with the antenna;

an impedance matching circuit coupled with the antenna and the transceiver, wherein the impedance matching circuit includes a variable reactance component; and

a processor coupled with the impedance matching circuit, the transceiver and the antenna, wherein the processor;

obtains at least one operational metric for the transceiver during a transmit mode;

adjusts the variable reactance component for the transmit mode based on the at least one operational metric,

determines S-parameters of the impedance matching circuit;

determines a translation function based on the at least one operational metric, based on the S-parameters and based on a transmit frequency of the transmit mode and a receive frequency of a receive mode;

adjusts the variable reactance component for the receive mode based on the translation function; and

adjusts the variable reactance component for a subsequent transmit mode based on a previous adjustment made to the variable reactance component for a previous transmit mode.

21. The communication device of claim 20, wherein the at least one operational metric comprises a return loss.

22. The communication device of claim 20, wherein the at least one operational metric comprises a current drain.

23. The communication device of claim 20, wherein the at least one operational metric comprises output power of the transceiver.

24. The communication device of claim 20, wherein the at least one operational metric comprises a vector measurement of a transmitter reflection coefficient associated with the transceiver.

25. The communication device of claim 20, wherein the variable reactance component comprises one or more electrically tunable capacitors.

26. The communication device of claim 20, wherein the variable reactance component comprises one or more Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) variable reactance components.

30. The communication device of claim 20, wherein the processor adjusts the variable reactance component for at least one of the transmit and the receive modes based in part on a use case scenario of the communication device.