Hybrid techniques for antenna retuning utilizing transmit and receive power information

• US 8,781,417 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2013
• Issued: 07/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Blin, Guillaume Alexandre
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuan A
• Application Number:
  US13/886,361
• Publication Number:
  US 20130267184A1
• Time in Patent Office: 438 Days
• Field of Search: 455/67.11, 455 6713- 6716, 455 68- 70, 455/522, 455120-126, 4551151-1154, 4552261-2264, 455/193.1, 455 78- 82
• US Class Current: 455/123
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 1/0008 using a central processing unit, e.g. a microprocessor digital tuning in general H03J5/0245
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0245 according to signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0251 using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

An embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus, comprising a transceiver, an antenna tuner connecting said transceiver to an antenna, a power sensor adapted to acquire measurements about transmit power, a receive signal strength indicator (RSSI) adapted to acquire measurements about receive power and wherein said tuner tunes said antenna based upon said transmit and receive measurements to optimize said antenna in both the receive and transmit bands.

Claims

1. A wireless communication device, comprising:

an antenna;

a transceiver;

a tunable network coupled with the antenna and the transceiver; and

a controller coupled with the tunable network,

wherein the controller obtains first data associated with transmit power,

wherein the controller obtains second data associated with receive power,

wherein the tunable network is adjusted for each frame based upon the first and second data to improve performance of the antenna in both receive and transmit bands, and

wherein both of the first and second data is utilized in determining each adjustment to the tunable network.

2. The wireless communication device of claim 1, further comprising a directional coupler, wherein the tunable network is positioned between the antenna and the directional coupler.

3. The wireless communication device of claim 1, further comprising:

a modulator driving a power amplifier module (PAM);

a low noise amplifier adapted to receive an output of the PAM via a switch; and

a variable gain amplifier (VGA) receiving an output of the low noise amplifier, wherein an output of the VGA is received by an RSSI device and outputted to the controller.

4. The wireless communication device of claim 3, further comprising:

a coupler and a switch that couple the output of the PAM to the controller to determine the first data.

5. The wireless communication device of claim 1, further comprising an application specific programmable integrated circuit, wherein the controller provides the first and second data to the application specific programmable integrated circuit to control the tunable network.

6. The wireless communication device of claim 5, wherein transmit and receive states are specified to the controller based on a base-band specification.

7. The wireless communication device of claim 5, wherein a receive state without a transmit state is specified to the controller based on a base-band specification.

8. The wireless communication device of claim 5, wherein a default received state is provided by the controller to the application specific programmable integrated circuit.

9. A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a controller of a communication device, first data associated with transmit power;

obtaining, by the controller, second data associated with receive power; and

adjusting, by the controller, a tunable network of the communication device for each frame prior based upon the first and second data to improve performance of an antenna of the communication device in both receive and transmit bands.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein both of the first and second data is utilized in determining each adjustment to the tunable network.

11. The method of claim 9, comprising:

driving a power amplifier module (PAM) using a modulator;

receiving an output of the PAM at a low noise amplifier via a switch; and

receiving an output of the low noise amplifier at a variable gain amplifier (VGA).

12. The method of claim 11, comprising receiving an output of the VGA at an RSSI device.

13. The method of claim 12, comprising coupling the output of the PAM via a coupler and switch to the controller to determine the first and second data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the controller comprises an application specific programmable integrated circuit.

15. A communication device comprising:

a transceiver;

an antenna;

a tunable network coupled with the transceiver and the antenna; and

a controller coupled with the tunable network,

wherein the controller obtains first data associated with transmit power,

wherein the controller obtains second data associated with receive power, and

wherein the tunable network is adjusted for each frame based upon the first and second data to improve performance of the antenna in both receive and transmit bands.

16. The communication device of claim 15, wherein both of the first and second data are utilized in determining each adjustment to the tunable network.

17. The communication device of claim 15, further comprising:

a modulator driving a power amplifier module (PAM);

a low noise amplifier adapted to receive an output of the PAM via a switch;

a variable gain amplifier (VGA) receiving an output of the low noise amplifier; and

a processor, wherein the output of the VGA is received by the controller and outputted to the processor.

18. The communication device of claim 17, further comprising:

a coupler and a switch that couples the output of the PAM to the controller to determine the first data.

19. The communication device of claim 15, further comprising a processor, wherein the controller provides the first and second data to an application specific programmable integrated circuit (ASPIC) to control the tunable network.

20. The communication device of claim 19, wherein one of a default received state only or an optimized transmit or receive state based on a base-band specification is provided by the controller to the ASPIC.