Method and apparatus for radio antenna frequency tuning

• US 9,231,643 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2014
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Hoirup, Carsten, Manssen, Keith, Greene, Matthew Russell
• Primary Examiner(s): HSIEH, PING Y
• Application Number:
  US14/200,222
• Publication Number:
  US 20140187180A1
• Time in Patent Office: 669 Days
• Field of Search: 455/67.11, 455/77, 455/78, 455/82, 455/83, 455/84, 455/87, 455/125, 455/234.1, 455/333, 455/120, 455/121, 455/193.1, 455/193.2, 455/230, 455/240.1, 455/69
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/242 specially adapted for hand-held use
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/14 Length of element or elements adjustable telescopic elements H01Q1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 7/40 Automatic matching of load impedance to source impedance
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0458 Arrangements for matching and coupling between power amplifier and antenna or between amplifying stages matching circuits in general H03H
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/18 Input circuits, e.g. for coupling to an antenna or a transmission line coupling networks between antennas or lines and receivers independent of the nature of the receiver H03H
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/401 for selecting or indicating operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/26 using historical data, averaging values or statistics
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which can include computer instructions to determine a subset of use cases from a group of use cases stored in a memory of a communication device, and to determine a target use case from among the subset of use cases based on an operational parameter associated with a transceiver of the communication device. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a system of a wireless communication device, tuning information from a base station, the wireless communication device including an impedance matching circuit;

determining, by the system, a usage condition associated with operation of the wireless communication device;

identifying, by the system, a subset of use cases from a group of use cases based on the usage condition;

determining, by the system, an operational parameter associated with a transceiver of the wireless communication device, the operational parameter being determined via parametric measurements for each tuning state corresponding to each of the subset of use cases during the operation of the wireless communication device, wherein the parametric measurements are obtained at each of the tuning states at different times during an ordered sequence of sampling and wherein the operational parameter is determined based on averaging the parametric measurements to identify an average operational parameter for each tuning state; and

selecting, by the system, a target use case from among the subset of use cases based on the operational parameter and the tuning information received from the base station.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising adjusting, by the system, a variable reactance component based on the target use case to tune the impedance matching circuit of the wireless communication device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the adjusting of the variable reactance component comprises adjusting a variable capacitance element of the impedance matching circuit.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting of the target use case from among the subset of use cases is based on an averaging of select ones of the parametric measurements.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the operational parameter is not an operational mode of the wireless communication device and is not a wireless protocol.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising:

determining, by the system, a second operational parameter associated with the transceiver, the second operational parameter being determined from second parametric measurements collected during the operation of the wireless communication device, wherein the second operational parameter is not the operational mode of the wireless communication device and is not the wireless protocol;

comparing, by the system, the second operational parameter to a threshold; and

selecting, by the system, a second subset of use cases from the group of use cases responsive to a determination that the second operational parameter does not satisfy the threshold,

wherein the operational parameter is different from the second operational parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the operational parameter is associated with a receive portion of the transceiver and is obtained during a receive mode of the wireless communication device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the operational parameter comprises at least one of a received signal strength indicator, a received signal code power, a transmit power control level, a received signal quality, current drain, or a received bit error rate.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage condition comprises at least one of a mechanical configuration of the wireless communication device or a user interface mode of the wireless communication device.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising:

obtaining band information associated with the operation of the wireless communication device;

storing the group of use cases in a table in a memory of the wireless communication device, wherein the selecting of the subset of use cases from the group of use cases stored in the table is based on the usage condition, the tuning information and the band information.

11. The method of claim 1, comprising adjusting, by the system, a variable reactance component based on the target use case to tune an impedance matching circuit of the wireless communication device, wherein the adjusting of the variable reactance component comprises adjusting one of a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) switch, a mechanical switch, or a semiconductor switch.

12. A communication device comprising:

a transceiver;

an impedance matching circuit coupled with the transceiver;

a memory to store computer instructions; and

a processor coupled with the memory and the impedance matching circuit, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising;

receiving tuning information from a base station;

determining a usage condition associated with operation of the communication device;

identifying a subset of use cases from a group of use cases based on the usage condition;

determining an operational parameter associated with a transceiver of the communication device, the operational parameter being determined via parametric measurements for each tuning state corresponding to each of the subset of use cases during the operation of the communication device, wherein the parametric measurements are obtained at each of the tuning states at different times during an ordered sequence of sampling and wherein the operational parameter is determined based on averaging the parametric measurements to identify an average operational parameter for each tuning state; and

selecting a target use case from among the subset of use cases based on the operational parameter and the tuning information received from the base station.

13. The communication device of claim 12, wherein the tuning information includes different power parameters associated with different tuning states.

14. The communication device of claim 12, wherein the selecting of the target use case comprises determining the target use case from among the subset of use cases based on a determination as to which of the average operational parameters correlates with a desired performance goal.

15. The communication device of claim 12, wherein the impedance matching comprises a variable reactance component, and wherein the operations further comprise adjusting the variable reactance component based on the target use case to tune the impedance matching circuit.

16. The communication device of claim 12, wherein the operational parameter comprises a received signal strength indicator, and wherein the usage condition comprises a radio bearer type.

17. The communication device of claim 12, wherein the operational parameter is associated with a receive portion of a transceiver and is obtained during a receive mode of the communication device.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device comprising computer instructions which, responsive to being executed by a processor of a communication device, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

selecting a subset of use cases from a group of use cases based on a usage condition of the communication device;

collecting parametric measurements associated with a transceiver of the communication device for each tuning state corresponding to each of the subset of use cases during the operation of the communication device, wherein the collecting of the parametric measurements comprises collecting multiple parametric measurements for each tuning state corresponding to each of the subset of use cases during the operation of the communication device;

selecting a target use case from among the subset of use cases based on the parametric measurements, wherein the selecting of the target use case from among the subset of use cases is based on an averaging of select ones of the multiple parametric measurements;

receiving tuning information from a base station; and

tuning an impedance matching circuit of the communication device by adjusting a variable reactance component based on the target use case and based on the tuning information received from the base station.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the tuning information includes different power parameters associated with different tuning states wherein the selecting of the target use case from among the subset of use cases is based on an averaging of select ones of the multiple parametric measurements.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the parametric measurements are associated with a receive portion of the transceiver and are obtained during a receive mode of the communication device.