Method and apparatus for calibrating a communication device

• US 8,472,888 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2009
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Manssen, Keith R., Boire, Dan, Greene, Matthew R.
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, NHAN T
• Application Number:
  US12/547,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20110053524A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,400 Days
• Field of Search: 455/195.1, 455/424, 455/425, 455/456, 455/5, 455/456.6, 455/561, 455/550.1, 455/575.1, 455/82, 455/133, 455/67.14, 455/123, 455/178.1, 455/77, 455/87, 455/120, 455/160.1, 333/17.3, 333/32, 333/246, 343/860, 343/850, 343/861, 343/855, 340/572.1
• US Class Current: 455/77
• 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: H04B 1/40 Circuits

Abstract

A system that incorporates the present disclosure may include, for example, a computer-readable storage medium having computer instructions to perform actual measurements of one or more performance parameters of a communication device according to a subset of tuning states of a tunable matching network operable in a communication device, determine estimated measurements of the one or more performance parameters of the communication device for a portion of the tuning states not included in the subset of tuning states according to the actual measurements, identify a data set for each of the one or more performance parameters from at least portions of the tuning states and the actual and estimated measurements, and determine from at least a portion of the data sets one or more tuning states that achieve at least one desirable performance characteristic of the communication device. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

selecting a subset of tuning states of a tunable matching network coupled to an antenna of a communication device, wherein the tunable matching network has a tunable reactance that affects a plurality of performance parameters of the communication device, wherein the plurality of performance parameters are associated with a receive mode and a transmit mode of the communication device;

performing actual measurements of the plurality of performance parameters of the communication device according to the subset of tuning states;

determining estimated measurements of the plurality of performance parameters for a portion of the tuning states not included in the subset of tuning states according to regression analysis of the actual measurements of the plurality of performance parameters;

identifying a data set for each of the plurality of performance parameters from the tuning states and the actual and estimated measurements; and

determining from at least a portion of the plurality of data sets one or more tuning states of the tunable matching network that achieves a performance characteristic of the communication device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the data sets has at least two independent variables, and wherein the plurality of performance parameters include at least one of transmitter power, transmitter efficiency, receiver sensitivity, power consumption of the communication device, a specific absorption rate, total radiated power, total isotropic sensitivity or radiated harmonics measurements.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least two independent variables correspond to a combination of at least portions of the tuning states.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the tunable matching network comprises at least one of a first tunable reactance circuit having at least one tunable reactive element, or a second tunable reactance circuit having at least one switchable element that enables or disables at least one fixed reactance element, and wherein the one or more tuning states determined from the at least a portion of the plurality of data sets does not optimize the performance characteristic.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one tunable reactive element comprises at least one of a first circuit element with a tunable capacitance or a second circuit element a tunable inductance, and wherein the at least one fixed reactance element comprises at least one of a third circuit element with a fixed capacitance, or a fourth circuit element with a fixed inductance.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined tuning states are stored in a look-up table of the communication device, wherein the look-up table is used by the communication device to tune the tunable matching network, and wherein the performance characteristic is a combination of transmit power and receive power.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the data set for each of the plurality performance parameters comprises identifying two or more data sets, and wherein the method further comprises determining the one or more tuning states of the tunable matching network that achieves the performance characteristic of the communication device according to a combination of at least portions of the two or more data sets.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the performance characteristic of the communication device comprise one or more corresponding desirable values of the plurality of performance parameters.

9. The method of claim 1, comprising identifying at least a subset of the one or more tuning states that achieves the performance characteristic of the communication device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the subset of the one or more tuning states are storable in a look-up table which can be used by the communication device to control the tunable matching network.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is operable at a plurality of frequency bands and a plurality of use cases, and wherein at least a portion of the method is applied to each of the plurality of frequency bands and to each of the plurality of use cases.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of use cases are determined from a plurality of operational states of the communication device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of operational states correspond to at least two of a group of operational states comprising a state of use of the antenna of the communication, a state of use of a speakerphone feature of the communication, a state of use of a multi-configurable housing assembly of the communication device, a state of use of a hands-free feature of the communication device, and a state of a detectable proximity of a user to the communication device.

14. The method of claim 11, comprising identifying at least subsets of the one or more tuning states categorized by frequency bands and use cases.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the subsets of the one or more tuning states categorized by frequency bands or use cases are storable in a look-up table which can be used by the communication device to control the tunable matching network.

16. The method of claim 1, comprising determining the estimated measurements according to regression analysis of the actual measurements.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions, which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

performing actual measurements of one or more performance parameters of a communication device according to a subset of tuning states of a tunable matching network operable in a communication device, wherein the one or more performance parameters are associated with a receive mode and a transmit mode of the communication device;

determining estimated measurements of the one or more performance parameters of the communication device for a portion of the tuning states not included in the subset of tuning states according to a regression analysis of the actual measurements;

identifying a data set for each of the one or more performance parameters from at least portions of the tuning states and the actual and estimated measurements; and

determining from at least a portion of the data sets one or more tuning states that achieve a performance characteristic of the communication device.

18. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 17, wherein each of the data sets has at least two independent variables.

19. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 17, wherein the tunable matching network comprises at least one of a first tunable reactance circuit having at least one tunable reactive element, or a second tunable reactance circuit having at least one switchable element that enables or disables at least one fixed reactance element.

20. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 17, wherein the performance characteristic comprises a combination of at least two performance parameters of the communication device when the communication device has more than one performance parameter.

21. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 17, wherein at least a subset of the one or more tuning states are storable in a look-up table which can be used by the communication device to control the tunable matching network.

22. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 17, wherein the communication device is operable at a plurality of frequency bands and a plurality of use cases, and wherein determining the one or more tuning states comprises determining the one or more tuning states to achieve the performance characteristic according to each of the plurality of frequency bands and each of the plurality of use cases.

23. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 22, wherein the processor further performs operations comprising identifying at least subsets of the one or more tuning states categorized by frequency bands and use cases, which are storable in a look-up table which can be used by the communication device to control the tunable matching network.

24. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 17, wherein the look-up table is used by the communication device to tune the tunable matching network.

25. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 17, wherein the one or more performance parameters comprise at least one of a power consumption of the communication device, radiated power of a transmitter of the communication device, or receive sensitivity of a receiver of the communication device.

26. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 17, wherein the communication device comprises one of a wireless communication device, or a wireline communication device.

27. A method, comprising:

performing actual measurements of one or more performance parameters of a communication device according to a subset of tuning states of a tunable reactive element of a communication device, wherein the one or more performance parameters are associated with a receive mode and a transmit mode of the communication device;

estimating measurements of the of the one or more performance parameters for a portion of the tuning states not included in the subset of tuning states according to regression analysis applied to at least portions of the actual measurements; and

determining a multi-dimensional data set for each of the one or more performance parameters from at least portions of the tuning states and the actual and estimated measurements.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the regression analysis is of a fourth order, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining one or more tuning states that achieve a performance characteristic of the communication device; and

presenting at a user interface the one or more tuning states to enable selection of at least a subset of the one or more tuning states for storage in a look-up table which can be used by the communication device for tuning the tunable reactive element while the communication device is in operation.

29. A device, comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causes the processor to perform operations comprising;

selecting a subset of tuning states of a tunable matching network coupled to an antenna of a communication device, wherein the tunable matching network has a tunable reactance that affects one or more performance parameters of the communication device, wherein the one or more performance parameters are associated with a receive mode and a transmit mode of the communication device;

performing actual measurements of one or more performance parameters of the communication device according to a subset of tuning states of the tunable matching network;

determining estimated measurements of the one or more performance parameters of the communication device for a portion of the tuning states not included in the subset of tuning states according to regression analysis of the actual measurements;

identifying a data set for each of the one or more performance parameters from at least portions of the tuning states and the actual and estimated measurements; and

determining from at least a portion of the date sets the tuning states that achieve the at least one desirable performance characteristic of the communication device.

30. The communication device of claim 29, wherein the regression analysis is of a fourth order, and wherein the tunable matching network comprises least one of a first tunable reactance circuit having at least one tunable reactive element, or a second tunable reactance circuit having at least one switchable element that enables or disables at least one fixed reactance element.