Multiple antenna system for wireless communication
First Claim
1. An antenna system for operation in conjunction with a radio frequency (RF) front end of a wireless communications device, said antenna system comprising:
- one or more non-tunable antennas configurable for transmission and reception in a first set of one or more configurations, and configurable for only transmission in a second set of one or more configurations different from the first set of one or more configurations, wherein configurations in the first and second sets of one or more configurations differ with respect to at least one of frequency band of operation and communication standard of operation; and
two or more narrowband antennas configurable for only Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)-diversity reception for the configurations of said second set.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides an antenna system for wireless communications and in particular to a multiple antenna system for operation in conjunction with a radio frequency (RF) front end for wireless communication. The antenna system comprises one or more antennas configurable for transmission and reception in a first set of configurations and configured for transmission in a second set of configurations. The antenna system further comprises two or more antennas configurable for MIMO-diversity reception for the second set of configurations. The antennas that are configured for MIMO-diversity reception may be tunable, and may have similar characteristics to enhance MIMO reception. Mobile communications terminals utilizing the antenna system, and radio-frequency (RF) front ends for operation in conjunction with the antenna system are also provided. The antenna system may support communications in multiple frequency bands and/or multiple communication standards of operation.
42 Citations
33 Claims
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1. An antenna system for operation in conjunction with a radio frequency (RF) front end of a wireless communications device, said antenna system comprising:
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one or more non-tunable antennas configurable for transmission and reception in a first set of one or more configurations, and configurable for only transmission in a second set of one or more configurations different from the first set of one or more configurations, wherein configurations in the first and second sets of one or more configurations differ with respect to at least one of frequency band of operation and communication standard of operation; and two or more narrowband antennas configurable for only Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)-diversity reception for the configurations of said second set. - View Dependent Claims (2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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- 3. The antenna system of claim, wherein said narrowband antennas are substantially matched, and wherein said narrowband antennas have a desired correlation coefficient there-between to allow for MIMO reception.
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20. An antenna system and radio frequency (RF) front end of a wireless communications device, said antenna system comprising:
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one or more non-tunable antennas configurable for transmission and reception in a first set of one or more configurations, and configurable for only transmission in a second set of one or more configurations different from the first set of one or more configurations, wherein configurations in the first and second sets of one or more configurations differ with respect to at least one of frequency hand of operation and communication standard of operation; and two or more narrowband antennas configurable for only Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)-diversity reception for the configurations of said second set; said radio frequency front end comprising; a set of one or more switches selectably operable in a position selected from a first set of positions and a second set of positions, the first set of positions adapted to facilitate configuration of the one or more non-tunable antennas in accordance with the first set of one or more configurations, the second set of positions adapted to facilitate configuration of the one or more non-tunable antennas and the two or more narrowband antennas in accordance with the second set of one or more configurations. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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24. A radio frequency (RF) front end for operation in conjunction with an antenna system of a wireless communications device, said antenna system comprising one or more non-tunable antennas and two or more narrowband antennas, said radio frequency front end comprising:
a set of one or more switches selectably operable in a position selected from a first set of positions and a second set of positions, the first set of positions adapted to facilitate configuration of the one or more non-tunable antennas for transmission and reception, the second set of positions adapted to facilitate configuration of the one or more non-tunable antennas for only transmission, the second set of positions further adapted to facilitate configuration of the two or more narrowband antennas for only Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)-diversity reception, wherein configurations provided by the first and second sets of positions differ with respect to at least one of frequency band of operation and communication standard of operation. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A method for operating an antenna system and radio frequency (RF) front end of a wireless communication device, the antenna system comprising one or more non-tunable antennas configurable for transmission and reception and two or more narrowband antennas configurable for MIMO-diversity reception, the method comprising the steps of:
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a) selecting a configuration of the antenna system and the RF front end from a set of potential configurations, said set of potential configurations including a first set of one or more configurations wherein at least one of the one or more non-tunable antennas is configured for transmission and reception, said set of potential configurations including a second set of one or more configurations wherein at least one of the one or more non-tunable antennas is configured for only transmission and at least two of the two or more narrowband antennas are configured for only MIMO-diversity reception, wherein configurations provided by the first and second sets of one or more configurations differ with respect to at least one of frequency band of operation and communication standard of operation; and b) configuring the antenna system and the RF front end in accordance with the selected configuration.
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Specification