System and method for reducing signal interference between bluetooth and WLAN communications

• US 8,824,966 B2
• Filed: 08/16/2006
• Issued: 09/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Boes, Barry S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jain, Ankur
• Application Number:
  US11/504,940
• Publication Number:
  US 20080045152A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,939 Days
• Field of Search: 455/63.1
• US Class Current: 455/63.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1027 assessing signal quality or detecting noise/interference for the received signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 15/00 Suppression or limitation of noise or interference by means associated with receiver H04B1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/1054 by changing bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed for reducing signal interference between Bluetooth (BT) and WLAN (e.g. WiFi) communications in an information handling system. The WLAN receiver has configurable front-end filter circuitry. Based upon information concerning the BT frequency region for current BT communications, the WLAN receiver can adjust or set its configurable front-end filter circuitry to filter out the BT communications. As the BT communications hop from frequency to frequency, the WLAN receiver can continue to adjust its configurable front-end filter circuitry accordingly. Example implementations for the configurable front-end filter circuitry include bandpass filters and selectable low pass and high pass filters. These filters are selected and/or tuned such that BT frequency regions are filtered from the WLAN input signal before further WLAN signal processing is conducted, thereby improving the performance of simultaneous BT and WLAN communications.

Claims

1. A method of reducing signal interference between simultaneous Bluetooth and WLAN communications in an information handling system, comprising:

providing an information handling system with a Bluetooth transceiver and a WLAN transceiver, the WLAN transceiver having a configurable front-end filter system including a low pass filter and a high pass filter;

identifying a channel for WLAN communications;

selecting a channel for Bluetooth communications, the Bluetooth communications configured to utilize a plurality of different channels;

determining whether a frequency location for the channel for Bluetooth communications is higher or lower than the channel for WLAN communications;

utilizing the low pass filter if the channel for Bluetooth communications is higher than the channel for WLAN communications;

utilizing the high pass filter if the channel for Bluetooth communications is lower than the channel for WLAN communications;

operating the Bluetooth transceiver and the WLAN transceiver to provide simultaneous Bluetooth and WLAN communications;

hopping to a different one of the plurality of different channels for the Bluetooth communications; and

repeating the determining, utilizing, operating and hopping steps for each of the plurality of different channels.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the WLAN communications comprise WiFi communications.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the Bluetooth communications utilize an adaptive frequency hopping channel avoidance scheme.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a corner frequency for the low pass filter is electronically tunable.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a corner frequency for the high pass filter is electronically tunable.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising utilizing a WLAN processor to control WLAN communications and a Bluetooth processor to control Bluetooth communications, and further comprising providing Bluetooth channel information from the Bluetooth processor to the WLAN processor after the hopping step.

7. An information handling system having reduced interference between simultaneous Bluetooth and WLAN communications, comprising:

a Bluetooth transceiver configured to provide Bluetooth communications;

a Bluetooth baseband processor coupled to the Bluetooth transceiver;

a WLAN transceiver configured to communicate on a channel for WLAN communications; and

a WLAN baseband processor coupled to the WLAN transceiver;

wherein the Bluetooth transceiver and the WLAN transceiver are configured for simultaneous communications;

wherein the Bluetooth communications hop from channel to channel to each one of a plurality of different channels for the Bluetooth communications; and

wherein the WLAN transceiver comprises configurable front-end filter circuitry including a low pass filter and a high pass filter and having a control signal, the control signal being repeatedly adjusted for the plurality of different channels used for the Bluetooth communications, and each adjustment being based upon a frequency location for each of the plurality of different channels to select the low pass filter if the channel for Bluetooth communications is higher than the channel for WLAN communications and to select the high pass filter if the channel for Bluetooth communications is lower than the channel for WLAN communications.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the WLAN baseband processor is configured to receive Bluetooth channel information from the Bluetooth baseband processor and to use the Bluetooth channel information to generate the control signal.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the front-end filter circuitry comprises a switch coupled to the low pass filter and the high pass filter, the switch configured to select the low pass filter or the high pass filter based upon the control signal.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the WLAN communications comprise WiFi communications.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the Bluetooth communications are configured to utilize an adaptive frequency hopping channel avoidance scheme.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein a corner frequency for the low pass filter is electronically tunable.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein a corner frequency for the high pass filter is electronically tunable.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein the WLAN baseband processor is configured to receive Bluetooth channel information from the Bluetooth baseband processor when the Bluetooth transceiver hops to a new channel.