Electronic apparatus and power adjustment method thereof

• US 9,107,170 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2011
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Original Assignee: HTC Corporation
• Inventors: Wang, Chin-Yu, Huang, Chih-Yu, Chen, Te-Mu, Liao, Wen-Pin
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhao, Wei
• Assistant Examiner(s): Davis, Ronald H
• Application Number:
  US13/208,361
• Publication Number:
  US 20120147764A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,460 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/16 Deriving transmission power values from another channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/244 Interferences in heterogeneous networks, e.g. among macro and femto or pico cells or other sector / system interference [OSI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/367 Power values between minimum and maximum limits, e.g. dynamic range

Abstract

An electronic apparatus and a method thereof are provided. The electronic apparatus includes a signal detection module and a power adjustment module. The signal detection module detects a received signal quality of a first wireless communication system. The power adjustment module is coupled to the signal detection module, and adjusts an output power in a second wireless communication system according to the received signal quality, so as to enlarge service coverage of the electronic apparatus in the second wireless communication system.

Claims

1. A mobile device comprising:

a first wireless communication module wirelessly coupled to a wireless wide area network (WWAN) and configured to wirelessly receive a signal from the wireless wide area network (WWAN);

a second wireless communication module coupled to the first wireless communication module and wirelessly coupled to a wireless communication apparatus by using a wireless local area network (WLAN) standard and configured to provide an internet service to the wireless communication apparatus through the use of the first wireless communication module;

a signal detection module, coupled to the first wireless communication module and configured to detect a signal quality of the received signal; and

a power adjustment module, coupled to the signal detection module and the second wireless communication module, and configured to adjust an output power of the second wireless communication module according to the signal quality, wherein when the signal quality of the received signal of the first wireless communication module is higher than a threshold, the power adjustment module increases the output power of the second wireless communication module.

2. The mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic apparatus is a MP3 player, a CD player, a multimedia player, a handheld game console, a mobile phone, a navigation device, a PDA, a PDA phone, a smart phone, an eBook, a tablet PC, or a handheld apparatus.

3. The mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the wireless wide area network (WWAN) uses one of IEEE 802.16 standard, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) standard, WiMAX-Advanced standard, Third generation long term evolution (3GPP LTE) standard, or 3GPP LTE-Advanced standard.

4. The mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the wireless local area network (WLAN) is one of IEEE 802.11, or wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) standard.

5. The mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the signal detection module periodically detects the signal quality of the first wireless communication system.

6. The mobile device according to claim 1, wherein when the output power is equal to an upper threshold of the output power, the transceiver module maintains the output power.

7. The mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the signal quality is signal-to-noise ratio or signal strength.

8. The mobile device according to claim 1, wherein the signal quality comprises signal-to-noise ratio and signal strength.

9. The mobile device according to claim 8, further comprising:

a signal comparison module, coupled to the signal detection module, configured to compare the signal-to-noise ratio against at least a signal-to-noise ratio threshold to generate a first comparison result and to compare the signal strength against at least a signal strength threshold to generate a second comparison result;

a power adjustment module, coupled to the signal comparison module, configured to selectively increase, decrease or maintain the output power according to the first comparison result and the second comparison result; and

a transceiver module, coupled to the power adjustment module, configured to adjust the output power according to a control signal of the power adjustment module.

10. The mobile device according to claim 9, wherein,

when the first comparison result generated by the signal comparison module is that the signal-to-noise ratio is less than a first signal-to-noise ratio threshold and the second comparison result is that the signal strength is less than a first signal strength threshold, the transceiver module adjusts the output power to a predetennined output power value;

when the first comparison result is that the signal-to-noise ratio is less than a second signal-to-noise ratio threshold but greater than or equal to the first signal-to-noise ratio threshold and the second comparison result is that the signal strength is less than a second signal strength threshold but greater than or equal to the first signal strength threshold, the transceiver module maintains the output power; and

when the first comparison result is that the signal-to-noise ratio is greater than or equal to the second signal-noise ratio threshold and the second comparison result is that the signal strength is greater than or equal to the second signal strength threshold, the transceiver module increases the output power.

11. A power adjustment method, adapted for adjusting an output power of a mobile device comprising a first wireless communication module which is configured to be wirelessly coupled to a wireless wide area network (WWAN) and a second wireless communication module which is configured to be wirelessly coupled to a wireless communication apparatus by using a wireless local area network (WLAN) standard and configured to provide an interne service to the wireless communication apparatus through the use of the first wireless communication module, the power adjustment method comprising:

wirelessly receiving a signal from the wireless wide area network (WWAN);

detecting a signal quality of the received signal by the first wireless communication module; and

adjusting an output power of the second wireless communication module according to the signal quality of the received signal, wherein when the signal quality of the received signal of the first wireless communication module is higher than a threshold, increasing the output power of the second wireless communication module.

12. The power adjustment method according to claim 11, wherein the step of adjusting the output power according to the signal quality comprises:

when the signal-to-noise ratio is less than a first signal-to-noise ratio threshold and the signal strength is less than a first signal strength threshold, the transceiver module adjusts the output power to a predetermined output power value;

when the signal noise ratio is less than a second signal-to-noise ratio threshold but greater than or equal to the first signal-to-noise ratio threshold and the signal strength is less than a second signal strength threshold but larger than or equal to the first signal strength threshold, the transceiver module maintains the output power; and

when the signal noise ratio is greater than or equal to the second signal-to-noise ratio threshold and the signal strength is greater than or equal to the second signal strength threshold, the transceiver module increases the output power.

13. The power adjustment method according to claim 11, wherein the electronic apparatus is a MP3 player, a CD player, a multimedia player, a handheld game console, a mobile phone, a navigation device, a PDA, a PDA phone, a smart phone, a eBook, a tablet PC, or a handheld apparatus.

14. The power adjustment method according to claim 11, wherein the wireless wide area network (WWAN) uses one of IEEE 802.16 standard, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) standard, WiMAX-Advanced standard, Third generation long term evolution (3GPP LTE) standard, or 3GPP LTE-Advanced standard.

15. The power adjustment method according to claim 11, wherein the wireless local area network (WLAN) standard is one of IEEE 802.11 standard, or wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) standard.

16. The power adjustment method according to claim 11, wherein the step of detecting the signal quality of the first wireless communication system is performed periodically.

17. The power adjustment method according to claim 11, further comprising maintaining the output power when the output power is equal to an upper threshold of the output power.

18. The power adjustment method according to claim 11, wherein the signal quality is signal-to-noise ratio or signal strength.

19. The power adjustment method according to claim 11, wherein the signal quality comprises signal-to-noise ratio and signal strength.

20. The power adjustment method according to claim 19, wherein the step of adjusting the output power according to the signal quality comprises selectively increasing, decreasing or maintaining the output power according to the signal-to-noise ratio and the signal strength.