Near field communication system and method for providing an effective antenna that is adaptable for different antenna configurations and locations of a portable device

• US 9,226,098 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2013
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MAGNA Electronics Solutions GmbH (Magna International Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: MAGNA Electronics Solutions GmbH (Magna International Incorporated)
• Inventors: Schaefer, Marc, Graf, Stefan
• Primary Examiner(s): Sorowar, Golam
• Application Number:
  US14/063,388
• Publication Number:
  US 20150118957A1
• Time in Patent Office: 795 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/24 Inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/26 using coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/263 Multiple coils at either side
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• 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

Abstract

A near field communication (NFC) system includes a plurality of coils for coupling to an antenna of a portable device, wherein each two adjacent coils are partly overlapped with one another; a multiplexer selectively enabling at least one of the coils to build a communication with the antenna, wherein the coils enabled by the multiplexer are selected to have a best coupling effect with the antenna and are combined into an effective antenna; and at least one adaptation network for adapting an input/output of the effective antenna.

Claims

1. A near field communication (NFC) system comprising:

a plurality of coils for coupling to an antenna of a portable device, wherein each two adjacent coils of the plurality of coils are partly overlapped with one another, and wherein the plurality of coils are arranged to define a communicating plane for placing the portable device at a multiple locations on the communicating plane;

a multiplexer electronically connected to the plurality of coils, and the multiplexer selectively enabling at least two of the coils to build a communication with the antenna of the portable device, wherein the at least two of the coils enabled by the multiplexer are selected to have a best coupling effect of possible combinations of the plurality of coils with the antenna of the portable device and are combined into an effective antenna that is configured for enhanced communication with the antenna of the portable device, and wherein the best coupling effect is determined responsive to comparison of data communications between the combinations of the plurality of coils and the antenna of the portable device; and

at least one adaptation network being electronically connected to the multiplexer and adapting an input/output of the effective antenna to dynamically control impedance or inductance of the effective antenna for balancing disturbances to the coupling with the antenna of the portable device.

2. The NFC system of claim 1, wherein a size of the effective antenna is equal or similar to that of the antenna of the portable device.

3. The NFC system of claim 1, wherein the best coupling effect is evaluated based on a radio frequency field strength induced by the coupling of each coil of the plurality of coils and the antenna of the portable device.

4. The NFC system of claim 1, wherein the best coupling effect is evaluated based on testing a communication channel by sending a packet information through each coil to the antenna of the portable device, receiving a return signal from the antenna of the portable device, checking an accuracy of the received answer and determining the configuration of coils which has the most accurate matching.

5. The NFC system of claim 1, wherein the multiplexer enables more than two coils arranged in parallel but not overlapping.

6. The NFC system of claim 1, wherein the multiplexer is electronically connected between the adaptation network and the plurality of coils.

7. The NFC system of claim 1, wherein the adaptation network is electronically connected between the multiplexer and each of the plurality of coils.

8. The NFC system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of coils covers a whole area of the communicating plane.

9. The NFC system of claim 1, which further comprises a wireless charging unit having at least one charging coil coupled to the antenna of the portable device for wireless charging the portable device.

10. The NFC system of claim 1, which further comprises a mobile communication module which includes a mobile communication antenna operated in frequencies used by GSM, UMTS, LTE or GPS, a compensator and/or an amplifier, and a far field antenna is coupled to the mobile communication antenna via the compensator and/or the amplifier.

11. A method for automatically optimizing NFC coupling of an antenna of a portable device and an apparatus containing a plurality of coils, wherein each two adjacent coils of the plurality of coils are partly overlapped with one another and arranged to define a communication plane for placing the portable device, the method comprising:

determining a configuration of the plurality of coils having a best coupling effect with the antenna of the portable device of possible combinations of the plurality of coils, wherein the best coupling effect is determined responsive to comparison of data sent through each of the possible combinations of the plurality of coils to the antenna of the portable device;

enabling the configuration of the plurality of coils with the determined best coupling effect with the antenna to combine into an effective antenna by a multiplexer according to the configuration of coils, wherein the effective antenna is configured for enhanced communication with the antenna of the portable device; and

adapting an input or an output of the effective antenna via at least one adaptation network to dynamically control impedance or inductance of the effective antenna for balancing disturbances to the coupling with the antenna of the portable device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the best coupling effect is determined by following steps:

measuring a radio frequency field strength which is induced by the coupling of each coil of the plurality of coils and the antenna of the portable device; and

determining the configuration of the plurality of coils which has the strongest radio frequency field strength.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the best coupling effect is determined by following steps:

sending the packet information through each coil of the plurality of coils to the antenna of the portable device;

receiving an answer to the packet information from the antenna of the portable device;

checking an accuracy of the received answer; and

determining the configuration of coils which has the most accurate matching.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the multiplexer enables more than two coils arranged in parallel but not overlapping.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the multiplexer is electronically connected between the adaptation network and the plurality of coils.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the adaptation network is electronically connected between the multiplexer and each of the plurality of coils.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of coils cover the whole area of the communication plane.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the size of the effective antenna is equal or similar to that of the antenna of the portable device.