Wireless communications circuitry with simultaneous receive capabilities for handheld electronic devices

• US 8,660,501 B2
• Filed: 03/21/2011
• Issued: 02/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Sanguinetti, Louie J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Urban, Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): LIAO, HSINCHUN
• Application Number:
  US13/053,105
• Publication Number:
  US 20110194546A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,072 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.2, 455/78, 370/338
• US Class Current: 455/78
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0053 with common antenna for more than one band
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/406 with more than one transmission mode, e.g. analog and digital modes

Abstract

Handheld electronic devices are provided that contain wireless communications circuitry. The wireless communications circuitry has simultaneous reception functions that allow the handheld devices to simultaneously receive multiple communications signals in a single communications band. The handheld electronic devices may include cellular telephones with music player functionality or other portable devices. The handheld electronic devices may have local wireless communications capabilities for supporting local wireless links such as WiFi and Bluetooth links. Using the simultaneous reception functions of the wireless communications circuitry, users of the handheld electronic devices can simultaneously receive signals such as WiFi and Bluetooth signals.

Claims

1. Wireless communications circuitry comprising:

transceiver circuitry comprising a first transceiver circuit and a second transceiver circuit, wherein the first and second transceiver circuits communicate using different communications protocols and a common radio-frequency frequency band;

an antenna that handles radio-frequency signals in the common radio-frequency frequency band;

a radio-frequency coupler comprising an input and first and second outputs, wherein when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in a first mode, the input receives radio-frequency signals from the antenna and simultaneously provides corresponding first and second reduced-power versions of the received radio-frequency signals to the first and second outputs, respectively, wherein the first reduced-power version of the received radio-frequency signals is received by the first transceiver circuit, and wherein the second reduced-power version of the received radio-frequency signals is received by the second transceiver circuit;

a first switch that is connected to the antenna and that has at least first, second, and third positions, wherein the first switch is coupled to at least one of the first and second transceiver circuits when placed in each of the first, second, and third positions; and

a second switch that is coupled between the first switch and a transmit-receive port of the second transceiver circuit, wherein when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in a second mode, the first transceiver circuit is active and transmits radio-frequency signals through the first switch and the antenna without passing through the radio-frequency coupler, and wherein when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in a third mode, the second transceiver circuit is active and generates, at the transmit-receive port, radio-frequency signals that are transmitted through the second switch.

2. The wireless communications circuitry defined in claim 1, wherein:

when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in the first mode, the first switch is placed in its second position to route radio-frequency signals from the antenna to the input of the radio-frequency coupler and the second switch is placed in its first position so that the radio-frequency coupler is coupled to the second transceiver circuit;

when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in the second mode, the first switch is placed in its first position to route radio-frequency signals that have been transmitted from the first transceiver circuit to the antenna; and

when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in the third mode, the first switch is placed in its third position and the second switch is placed in its second position so that the antenna is coupled to the transmit-receive port of the second transceiver circuit.

3. The wireless communications circuitry defined in claim 1, wherein:

when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in the first mode, the first switch is placed in its second position to route radio-frequency signals from the antenna to the input of the radio-frequency coupler and the second switch is placed in its first position to route signals from the second output of the radio-frequency coupler to the second transceiver circuit;

when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in the second mode, the first switch is placed in its first position to route radio-frequency signals that have been transmitted from the first transceiver circuit to the antenna; and

when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in the third mode, the first switch is placed in its third position and the second switch is placed in its second position so that the antenna is coupled to the transmit-receive port of the second transceiver circuit through the first and second switches.

4. The wireless communications circuitry defined in claim 1, wherein:

when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in the first mode, the first switch is placed in its second position to route radio-frequency signals from the antenna to the input of the radio-frequency coupler and the second switch is placed in its first position to route signals from the second output of the radio-frequency coupler to the second transceiver circuit;

when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in the second mode, the first switch is placed in its first position to route radio-frequency signals that have been transmitted from the first transceiver circuit to the antenna; and

when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in the third mode, the first switch is placed in its third position and the second switch is placed in its second position so that radio-frequency signals are conveyed between the transmit-receive port of the second transceiver circuit and the antenna through the first and second switches and without passing through the radio-frequency coupler.

5. The wireless communications circuitry defined in claim 1, wherein:

when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in the first mode, the first switch is placed in its second position to route radio-frequency signals from the antenna to the input of the radio-frequency coupler and the second switch is placed in its first position to route signals from the second output of the radio-frequency coupler to the second transceiver;

when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in the second mode, the first switch is placed in its first position to route radio-frequency signals that have been transmitted from the first transceiver to the antenna through the power amplifier; and

when the wireless communications circuitry is operated in the third mode, the first switch is placed in its third position and the second switch is placed in its second position so that the antenna is coupled to the transmit-receive port of the second transceiver circuit through the first and second switches.

6. The wireless communications circuitry defined in claim 1, further comprising:

storage and processing circuitry, wherein the storage and processing circuitry is coupled to the transceiver circuitry, and wherein the storage and processing circuitry is configured to generate data for wireless transmission and is configured to process wirelessly received data.

7. The wireless communications circuitry defined in claim 1, wherein the first transceiver circuit comprises a wireless local area network transceiver circuit.

8. The wireless communications circuitry defined in claim 1, wherein the second transceiver circuit comprises a Bluetooth transceiver circuit.

9. The wireless communications circuitry defined in claim 1, wherein the first transceiver circuit comprises a wireless local area network transceiver circuit and wherein the second transceiver circuit comprises a Bluetooth transceiver circuit.

10. Wireless communications circuitry comprising:

a first wireless transceiver circuit that transmits and receives according to a first communications protocol in a given radio-frequency communications frequency band;

a second wireless transceiver circuit that transmits and receives according to a second communications protocol in the given radio-frequency communications frequency band, wherein the first and second communications protocols are different;

an antenna;

a radio-frequency coupler;

switching circuitry that is responsive to control signals and that routes radio-frequency signals to and from the antenna, wherein the switching circuitry includes a first switch that has at least first and second positions and that is coupled between the radio-frequency coupler and a transmit-receive port of the second wireless transceiver circuit, wherein the wireless communications circuitry is operative in at least first, second, and third modes of operation, wherein;

in the first mode of operation, the first wireless transceiver circuit is active and transmits radio-frequency signals through the switching circuitry and the antenna without passing through the radio-frequency coupler;

in the second mode of operation, the first and second wireless transceiver circuit are both active and receive respective first and second versions of identical radio-frequency signals through the radio-frequency coupler and the first switch is placed in its first position to route radio-frequency signals from the radio-frequency coupler to the second wireless transceiver circuit; and

in the third mode of operation, the first wireless transceiver circuit is inactive and the second wireless transceiver is active and transmits and receives radio-frequency signals through the first switch and the antenna without passing through the radio-frequency coupler and the first switch is placed in its second position so that the antenna is coupled to the transmit-receive port of the second wireless transceiver through the switching circuitry.

11. The wireless communications circuitry defined in claim 10 wherein the switching circuitry further comprises a second switch having at least a first position in which the second switch routes the radio-frequency signals transmitted from the first transceiver to the antenna in the first mode of operation and a second position in which the second switch routes the radio-frequency signals from the antenna to the radio-frequency coupler in the second mode of operation.

12. The wireless communications circuitry defined in claim 10 wherein:

the switching circuitry further comprises a second switch having at least a first position in which the second switch routes the radio-frequency signals transmitted from the first transceiver to the antenna in the first mode of operation and a second position in which the second switch routes the radio-frequency signals from the antenna to the radio-frequency coupler in the second mode of operation;

the radio-frequency coupler has first and second outputs; and

during the second mode of operation, the first wireless transceiver circuit receives the first version of the radio-frequency signals from the first output of the radio-frequency coupler and the second wireless transceiver circuit receives the second version of the radio-frequency signals from the second output of the radio-frequency coupler through the first switch.

13. The wireless communications circuitry defined in claim 10 wherein:

the switching circuitry further comprises a second switch having at least a first position in which the second switch routes the radio-frequency signals transmitted from the first transceiver to the antenna in the first mode of operation and a second position in which the second switch routes the radio-frequency signals from the antenna to the radio-frequency coupler in the second mode of operation;

the radio-frequency coupler has first and second outputs;

during the second mode of operation, the first wireless transceiver circuit receives the first version of the radio-frequency signals from the first output of the radio-frequency coupler and the second wireless transceiver circuit receives the second version of the radio-frequency signals from the second output of the radio-frequency coupler;

the first version and second version of the radio-frequency signals have respective first and second signal powers; and

the first signal power is greater than the second signal power.

14. The wireless communications circuitry defined in claim 10 wherein:

the switching circuitry further comprises a second switch having at least a first position in which the second switch routes the radio-frequency signals transmitted from the first transceiver to the antenna in the first mode of operation and a second position in which the second switch routes the radio-frequency signals from the antenna to the radio-frequency coupler in the second mode of operation;

the radio-frequency coupler has first and second outputs;

during the second mode of operation, the first wireless transceiver circuit receives the first version of the radio-frequency signals from the first output of the radio-frequency coupler and the second wireless transceiver circuit receives the second version of the radio-frequency signals from the second output of the radio-frequency coupler;

the first version and second version of the radio-frequency signals have respective first and second signal powers; and

the first signal power is greater than the second signal power by at least 3 dB.

15. The wireless communications circuitry defined in claim 10, wherein the given radio-frequency communications frequency band comprises a 2.4 GHz radio-frequency communications band.

16. A method for using wireless communications circuitry in a handheld wireless device comprising:

storing data in storage on the portable wireless device;

with processing circuitry that is coupled to the storage, generating data for wireless transmission and processing wirelessly received data;

with an antenna and a first transceiver circuit in the wireless communications circuitry, communicating wirelessly in a communications frequency band according to a first communications protocol;

with the antenna and a second transceiver circuit in the wireless communications circuitry, communicating wirelessly in the communications frequency band according to a second communications protocol that is different than the first communications protocol;

when it is desired to simultaneously receive data with both the first and the second transceivers in a simultaneous receive mode, distributing radio-frequency signals from the antenna simultaneously to the first and second transceivers using a radio-frequency coupler and a switch, wherein the switch is coupled between the radio-frequency coupler and a transmit-receive port of the second transceiver circuit and wherein the switch is placed in a first position during the simultaneous receive mode; and

when it is desired to transmit and receive data with the second transceiver circuit while not transmitting or receiving data with the first transceiver circuit, placing the wireless communications circuitry in a given mode of operation in which the first transceiver circuit is inactive and the second transceiver circuit is active and is transmitting and receiving data through the transmit-receive port and the switch and in which the switch is placed in its second position.

17. The method defined in claim 16 further comprising:

when it is desired to transmit wireless data through the antenna from the first transceiver, placing the wireless communications circuitry in a wireless local area network transmit mode of operation in which the first transceiver is active and transmits radio-frequency signals through the antenna.

18. The method defined in claim 16 further comprising:

when it is desired to transmit wireless data through the antenna from the first transceiver, placing the wireless communications circuitry in a wireless local area network transmit mode of operation in which the first transceiver is active and transmits radio-frequency signals through the antenna, wherein placing the wireless communications circuitry in the given mode in which the first transceiver circuit is inactive and the second transceiver circuit is active and is transmitting and receiving data and in which the switch is placed in the second position comprises placing the wireless communications circuitry in a Bluetooth transmission mode of operation in which the second transceiver is active and transmitting Bluetooth radio-frequency signals through the antenna.

19. The method defined in claim 16, wherein the wireless communications circuitry comprises an additional switch coupled between the radio-frequency coupler and the antenna, wherein the additional switch has at least first, second, and third positions, wherein the additional switch is coupled to at least one of the first and second transceiver circuits when it is placed in each of the first, second, and third positions, and wherein placing the wireless communications circuitry in the given mode of operation comprises conveying radio-frequency signals between the antenna and the second transceiver circuit through the switch and the additional switch and without passing through the radio-frequency coupler.

20. The method defined in claim 16, wherein the wireless communications circuitry comprises an additional switch coupled between the radio-frequency coupler and the antenna, wherein the additional switch has at least first, second, and third positions, wherein the additional switch is coupled to at least one of the first and second wireless transceiver circuits when it is placed in each of the first, second, and third positions, and wherein distributing the radio-frequency signals from the antenna simultaneously to the first and second transceiver circuits comprises distributing the radio-frequency signals from the antenna simultaneously to the first and second transceiver circuits through the switch, the additional switch, and the radio-frequency coupler.