Techniques to control a shared antenna architecture for multiple co-located radio modules

• US 8,583,057 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2010
• Issued: 11/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Tu, Jerome C, Robinson, Mike, Beninghaus, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Fayyaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hanidu, Ganiyu A
• Application Number:
  US12/901,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20110111708A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,131 Days
• Field of Search: 455/82, 455/83, 455/88, 455/553.1, 455/137, 455/552.1, 455/101, 455/103, 455/132, 455/78, 455/124.4
• US Class Current: 455/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0053 with common antenna for more than one band
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/06 including a wireless LAN interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/028 switching on or off only a part of the equipment circuit blocks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Techniques to control a shared antenna architecture for multiple co-located radio modules is disclosed. For example, a method may comprise receiving power state information for a set of transceivers, receiving activity information for the set of transceivers, and generating control signals for simultaneous operations or mutually-exclusive operations for a shared antenna structure connecting the set of transceivers to an antenna based on the power state information and activity information. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

an antenna;

a first radio module having a first transceiver to communicate wirelessly across a first link and a first communications controller to control the first transceiver;

a second radio module having a second transceiver to communicate wirelessly across a second link and a second communications controller to control the second transceiver;

a shared antenna structure communicatively coupled to the first radio module, the second radio module and the antenna, the shared antenna structure comprising a combiner and at least one switch arranged to allow the first transceiver and the second transceiver to share the antenna for simultaneous operations or mutually-exclusive operations; and

a host processor communicatively coupled to the shared antenna structure, the host processor to execute a first antenna control module arranged to receive power state information and activity information for the first and second transceivers, and control the shared antenna structure for simultaneous operations or mutually-exclusive operations based on the power state information and activity information, the power state information to indicate whether a transceiver is in a power-on state or a power-off state and activity information to indicate whether a transceiver is in an active state or idle state;

wherein the first antenna control module sends a first control signal to switch the at least one switch to a first switch position to form a first and second signal path between each of the respective first and second transceivers and the antenna with the combiner in the first and second signal paths to allow simultaneous operations for the first and second transceivers when the power state information indicates the first and second transceivers are both in the power-on state and the activity information indicates the first and second transceivers are both in the active state.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shared antenna structure comprises a first switch communicatively coupled to the first transceiver, a second switch communicatively coupled to the second transceiver, the combiner communicatively coupled to the first and second switches, and a third switch communicatively coupled to the first switch, the second switch and the combiner.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shared antenna structure comprises a first switch communicatively coupled to the first transceiver, a second switch communicatively coupled to the second transceiver, the combiner communicatively coupled to the first and second switches, a third switch communicatively coupled to the first switch, the second switch, the combiner and a diplexer, and a fourth switch communicatively coupled to the first transceiver and the diplexer.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first antenna control module sends a second control signal to switch the at least one switch to a second switch position to form a third signal path between the first transceiver and the antenna without the combiner in the third signal path to allow mutually-exclusive operations for the first transceiver when the power state information indicates only the first transceiver is in the power-on state.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first antenna control module sends a third control signal to switch the at least one switch to a third switch position to form a fourth signal path between the second transceiver and the antenna without the combiner in the fourth signal path to allow mutually-exclusive operations for the second transceiver when the power state information indicates only the second transceiver is in the power-on state.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first radio module corresponds to a Wi-Fi device and the second radio module corresponds to a Bluetooth device.

7. An apparatus comprising:

an antenna;

a first radio module having a first transceiver to communicate wirelessly across a first link and a first communications controller to control the first transceiver;

a second radio module having a second transceiver to communicate wirelessly across a second link and a second communications controller to control the second transceiver;

a shared antenna structure communicatively couple to the first radio module, the second radio module and the antenna, the shared antenna structure comprising a combiner and at least one switch arranged to allow the first transceiver and the second transceiver to share the antenna for simultaneous operations or mutually exclusive operations; and

a host processor communicatively coupled to the shared antenna structure, the host processor to execute a first antenna control module arranged to receive power state information and activity information for the first and second transceivers, and control the shared antenna structure for simultaneous operations or mutually-exclusive operations based on the power state information and activity information, the power state information to indicate whether a transceiver is in a power-on state or a power-off state and activity information to indicate whether a transceiver is in an active state or idle state;

wherein the first communications controller comprises a second antenna control module arranged to control the shared antenna structure for simultaneous operations or mutually-exclusive operations rather than the first antenna control module controlling the shared antenna structure when the power state information indicates the first and second transceivers are both in the power-on state;

wherein the second antenna control module sends a first control signal to switch the at least one switch to a first switch position to form first and second signal paths between each of the respective first and second transceivers and the antenna with the combiner in the first and second signal paths to allow simultaneous operations for the first and second transceivers when the activity information indicates the first and second transceivers are both in the active state.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the second antenna control module sends a second control signal to switch the at least one switch to a second switch position to form a third signal path between the first transceiver and the antenna without the combiner in the third signal path to allow mutually-exclusive operations for the first transceiver when the activity information indicates only the first transceiver is in the active state.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the second antenna control module sends a third control signal to switch the at least one switch to a third switch position to form a fourth signal path between the second transceiver and the antenna without the combiner in the fourth signal path to allow mutually-exclusive operations for the second transceiver when the activity information indicates the first transceiver is in the idle state.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the shared antenna structure comprises a first switch communicatively coupled to the first transceiver, a second switch communicatively coupled to the second transceiver, the combiner communicatively coupled to the first and second switches, and a third switch communicatively coupled to the first switch, the second switch and the combiner.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the shared antenna structure comprises a first switch communicatively coupled to the first transceiver, a second switch communicatively coupled to the second transceiver, the combiner communicatively coupled to the first and second switches, a third switch communicatively coupled to the first switch, the second switch, the combiner and a diplexer, and a fourth switch communicatively coupled to the first transceiver and the diplexer.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first radio module corresponds to a Wi-Fi device and the second radio module corresponds to a Bluetooth device.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, causes the process to:

receive power state information for a set of transceivers, the power state information to indicate whether the set of transceivers are in a power-on state or a power-off state, the set of transceivers including at least a first transceiver and a second transceiver;

receive activity information for the set of transceivers, the activity information to indicate whether the set of transceivers are in an active state or idle state; and

generate control signals for simultaneous operations or mutually-exclusive operations for a shared antenna structure connecting the set of transceivers to an antenna based on the power state information and activity information;

wherein when the power state information indicates the first and second transceivers are both in the power-on state and the activity information indicates the first and second transceivers are both in the active state, sending a first control signal to set a switch to a first switch position to form a first and second signal path between each of respective first and second transceivers and the antenna with a combiner of the shared antenna structure in the first and second signal paths to allow simultaneous operations for the first and second transceivers.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, further comprising instructions that cause the processor to, when the power state information indicates only the first transceiver is in the power-on state, send a second control signal to set the switch to a second switch position to form a third signal path between the first transceiver and the antenna without the combiner in the third signal path to allow mutually-exclusive operations for the first transceiver.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, further comprising instructions that cause the processor to, when the power state information indicates only the second transceiver is in the power-on state, send a third control signal to set the switch to a third switch position to form a fourth signal path between the second transceiver and the antenna without the combiner in the fourth signal path to allow mutually-exclusive operations for the second transceiver.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the first transceiver corresponds to a Wi-Fi device and the second transceiver corresponds to a Bluetooth device.