Computing device with configurable antenna

• US 8,792,937 B2
• Filed: 12/04/2012
• Issued: 07/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hassan, Amer A., Huitema, Christian
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuan A
• Application Number:
  US13/705,054
• Publication Number:
  US 20130095772A1
• Time in Patent Office: 602 Days
• Field of Search: 455 78- 83, 455/552.1, 455/553.1, 455/561, 455/562.1, 455/101, 455/121, 455123-125, 4551931-1933, 455280-282, 455/334, 343820-823, 343850-853, 343860-861, 343/724, 343/725, 343/729, 375/219
• US Class Current: 455/552.1
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2291 used in bluetooth or WI-FI devices of Wireless Local Area Networks [WLAN] H01Q1/241 takes precedence; WLAN in general H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 21/30 Combinations of separate antenna units operating in different wavebands and connected to a common feeder system
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/24 varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/321 within a radiating element or between connected radiating elements
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 5/328 between a radiating element and ground
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/27 Spiral antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/30 with feed to end of elongated active element, e.g. unipole H01Q9/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0003 Software-defined radio [SDR] systems, i.e. systems wherein components typically implemented in hardware, e.g. filters or modulators/demodulators, are implented using software, e.g. by involving an AD or DA conversion stage such that at least part of the signal processing is performed in the digital domain digital baseband systems H04L25/00; digital modulation/demodulation H04L27/00; CDMA H04B1/707; TDMA H04B7/2643; image transmission H04N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0035 Channel filtering, i.e. selecting a frequency channel within a software radio system multiplexing of multicarrier modulation signals being represented by different frequencies H04L5/06; multiplexing of multicarrier modulation signals H04L5/023
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/005 adapting radio receivers, transmitters andtransceivers for operation on two or more bands, i.e. frequency ranges
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0064 with separate antennas for the more than one band H04B1/0053 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/401 for selecting or indicating operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/48 in circuits for connecting transmitter and receiver to a common transmission path, e.g. by energy of transmitter H04B1/46 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/54 using the same frequency for two directions of communication H04B1/44 takes precedence

Abstract

A computing device with a configurable antenna. The antenna is configured through a switching circuit operating under software control. Operating characteristics of the antenna are configured based on connections between conducting segments established by the switching circuit, allowing the nominal frequency, bandwidth or other characteristics of the antenna to be configured. Because the switching is software controlled, the configurable antenna may be integrated with a software defined radio. The radio and antenna can be reconfigured to support communication according to different wireless technologies at different times or to interleave packets according to different wireless technologies to support concurrent sessions using different wireless technologies.

Claims

1. A method executed on a processor for configuring a computing device having a configurable antenna, comprising:

identifying a frequency characteristic associated with a signal, wherein the identified frequency characteristic does not exactly match criteria corresponding to any of a plurality of antenna configurations;

selecting an antenna configuration that approximates the identified frequency characteristic from the plurality of antenna configurations; and

configuring the configurable antenna in accordance with the selected antenna configuration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified frequency characteristic comprises a bandwidth associated with the signal, wherein each of the plurality of antenna configurations is associated with a corresponding antenna bandwidth, and wherein selecting the antenna configuration includes:

identifying the antenna configuration having the smallest corresponding antenna bandwidth that subsumes the bandwidth associated with the signal; and

selecting the identified antenna configuration.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified frequency characteristic comprises a nominal frequency associated with the signal, wherein each of the plurality of antenna configurations is associated with a corresponding antenna nominal frequency, and wherein the method further comprises:

identifying a nominal frequency associated with another signal;

selecting another antenna configuration from the plurality of antenna configurations based on the nominal frequency associated with the signal and the nominal frequency associated with the other signal; and

reconfiguring the configurable antenna in accordance with the other antenna configuration.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified frequency characteristic comprises a nominal frequency associated with the signal, wherein each of the plurality of antenna configurations is associated with a corresponding antenna nominal frequency, and wherein selecting the antenna configuration includes:

identifying the antenna configuration having the corresponding antenna nominal frequency that best matches the nominal frequency associated with the signal.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

iteratively, on a packet-by-packet basis;

selecting the antenna configuration; and

configuring the configurable antenna.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified frequency characteristic comprises a type of wireless standard associated with the signal.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining connection information, corresponding to a network connection communicated over the configurable antenna, unchanged during a reconfiguration of the configurable antenna to another antenna configuration.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

controlling a software defined radio coupled to the configurable antenna to send and/or receive data via the configurable antenna.

9. A wireless communications system, comprising:

a configurable antenna controller including a memory and a processor that are respectively configured to store and execute instructions that;

identify at least one frequency characteristic associated with a signal, wherein the at least one identified frequency characteristic does not exactly match criteria corresponding to any of a plurality of predefined antenna configurations;

select an antenna configuration that approximates the at least one identified frequency characteristic from the plurality of predefined antenna configurations; and

configure the configurable antenna in accordance with the selected antenna configuration.

10. The wireless communications system of claim 9, further comprising:

the configurable antenna, wherein the configurable antenna includes;

an antenna element configured to radiate signals and/or receive radiated signals; and

at least one load that is selectively connectable to the antenna element under the control of the configurable antenna controller.

11. The wireless communications system of claim 9, further comprising:

the configurable antenna, wherein the configurable antenna includes;

a signal input/output connection;

multiple antenna elements configured to radiate signals and/or receive radiated signals; and

at least one switching element configured to selectively couple particular antenna elements of the multiple antenna elements to the signal input/output connection under the control of the configurable antenna controller.

12. The wireless communications system of claim 9, further comprising:

at least one data plane component configured to generate data for transmission via the configurable antenna and/or receive data via the configurable antenna.

13. The wireless communications system of claim 9, wherein the identified frequency characteristic comprises a bandwidth associated with the signal, wherein each of the plurality of antenna configurations is associated with a corresponding antenna bandwidth, and wherein the memory and the processor are further respectively configured to store and execute instructions that:

select the antenna configuration having the smallest corresponding antenna bandwidth that subsumes the bandwidth associated with the signal.

14. The wireless communications system of claim 9, wherein the memory and the processor are further respectively configured to store and execute instructions that:

iteratively, on a packet-by-packet basis;

reselecting a particular antenna configuration from the plurality of antenna configurations; and

reconfiguring the configurable antenna according to the reselected particular antenna configuration.

15. A computer-readable memory having instructions stored therein for causing a computing device to perform operations, the operations comprising:

configuring a configurable radio transceiver to operate at a nominal frequency associated with a first wireless technology specification and with a bandwidth associated with the first wireless technology specification;

configuring a configurable antenna according to the nominal frequency and the bandwidth;

connecting via the configurable radio transceiver and the configurable antenna to another computing device;

communicating through the connection at the nominal frequency and with the bandwidth;

reconfiguring the configurable antenna according to another nominal frequency and/or to another bandwidth while maintaining the connection to the other computing device and while maintaining, without change, connection information corresponding to the connection; and

communicating through the connection at the other nominal frequency and/or with the other bandwidth.

16. The computer-readable memory of claim 15, wherein the computer-readable storage medium also has data stored therein that correlates configurations of a plurality of configurations for the configurable antenna to antenna control values for the configurations.

17. The computer-readable memory of claim 15, wherein reconfiguring the configurable antenna includes:

reconfiguring the configurable antenna to facilitate communications according to a second wireless technology specification.

18. The computer-readable memory of claim 15, wherein reconfiguring the configurable antenna includes:

iteratively reconfiguring the configurable antenna on a packet-by-packet basis.

19. The computer-readable memory of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

reconfiguring the configurable radio transceiver to operate at another nominal frequency associated with a second wireless technology specification and/or with a bandwidth associated with the second wireless technology specification.

20. The computer-readable memory of claim 15, wherein reconfiguring the configurable antenna includes:

identifying a frequency characteristic associated with a signal, wherein the identified frequency characteristic does not exactly match criteria corresponding to any of a plurality of predefined antenna configurations;

selecting an antenna configuration that approximates the identified frequency characteristic from the plurality of predefined antenna configurations; and

reconfiguring the configurable antenna in accordance with the selected antenna configuration.