TX antenna selection for LTE in multiple radio devices

• US 9,450,638 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2014
• Issued: 09/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Yan, Hongbo, Banister, Brian Clarke, Filipovic, Daniel, Fan, Mingxi
• Primary Examiner(s): AYOTUNDE, AYODEJI O
• Application Number:
  US14/459,292
• Publication Number:
  US 20150056933A1
• Time in Patent Office: 769 Days
• Field of Search: 455/78, 455/82, 455/83
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/406 with more than one transmission mode, e.g. analog and digital modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/44 Transmit/receive switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/02 Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas RAKE receivers H04B1/7115
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0404 the mobile station comprising multiple antennas, e.g. to provide uplink diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/06 at the transmitting station
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0602 using antenna switching H04B7/0686 takes precedence; antenna beam directivity switching H01Q3/24

Abstract

Device antennas may be allocated such that a non-LTE module (e.g., GSM module or 1x module) shares the same antenna with an LTE DRx module. This may lead to degradation of a non-LTE voice service when the LTE DRx module performs LTE transmit antenna selection causing the non-LTE module to be switched to a different antenna during reception/transmission of voice slots, resulting in a loss of slots. Accordingly, a method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for controlling antenna switching are provided. The apparatus facilitates a first radio module to use a first antenna for performing a first operation, detects that a second radio module will attempt to use the first antenna during transmit antenna selection for performing a second operation, and determines whether to switch use of the first antenna from the first radio module to the second radio module based on a type of the first operation.

Claims

1. A method of controlling antenna switching, comprising:

facilitating a first radio module to use a first antenna for performing a first operation;

detecting that a second radio module will attempt to use the first antenna for a periodic transmission of a reference signal as a part of transmit antenna selection for performing a second operation while the first radio module is using the first antenna for performing the first operation; and

determining whether to refrain from switching use of the first antenna from the first radio module to the second radio module based on a type of the first operation,

wherein refraining from switching includes throttling an ability of the second radio module to perform the transmit antenna selection by lowering a frequency at which the second radio module performs the transmit antenna selection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second radio module is an LTE radio module.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether to switch use of the first antenna comprises:

determining a type of the second operation; and

refraining from switching the second radio module to use the first antenna when the type of the second operation has a lower priority than the type of the first operation.

4. The method of claim 3, the determining whether to switch use of the first antenna further comprising:

determining whether the type of the second operation is in a set of operations; and

identifying that the type of the second operation has the lower priority when the type of the second operation is in the set of operations.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the type of the first operation comprises a voice call, and wherein the set of operations comprises at least one of:

a LTE data-only service;

an on-hold Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service;

or

a foreground VoLTE service while communicating at a high LTE signal quality.

6. The method of claim 4, the determining whether to switch use of the first antenna further comprising:

identifying that the type of the second operation has a higher priority than the type of the first operation when the type of the second operation is not in the set of operations; and

switching the second radio module to use the first antenna when the type of the second operation is not in the set of operations.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the refraining comprises:

refraining from switching the second radio module to use the first antenna for a duration of the first operation;

or

refraining from switching the second radio module to use the first antenna at a time slot used for performing the first operation.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the type of the first operation comprises a delay-sensitive data call, and wherein the set of operations comprises at least one of:

a LTE data-only service;

or

a Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service while communicating at a high LTE signal quality.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the type of the first operation comprises an idle mode, the determining whether to switch use of the first antenna comprising:

identifying that the type of the second operation has the lower priority during an idle mode wake period; and

refraining from switching the second radio module to use the first antenna during the idle mode wake period.

10. The method of claim 9, the determining whether to switch use of the first antenna further comprising:

identifying that the type of the second operation has a higher priority than the idle mode during an idle mode sleep period; and

switching the second radio module to use the first antenna during the idle mode sleep period.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein the type of the first operation comprises a voice call or an operation conducted during a poor channel condition, and

wherein the determining whether to switch use of the first antenna further comprises:

determining that the type of the second operation is a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, and

identifying that the type of the second operation has the lower priority when the type of the second operation is the SRS transmission.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining whether to switch use of the first antenna further comprises dropping the SRS transmission.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein the throttling includes eliminating performance of transmit antenna selection by the second radio module while the first radio module uses the first antenna.

13. An apparatus for controlling antenna switching, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

facilitate a first radio module to use a first antenna for performing a first operation;

detect that a second radio module will attempt to use the first antenna for a periodic transmission of a reference signal as a part of transmit antenna selection for performing a second operation while the first radio module is using the first antenna for performing the first operation; and

determine whether to refrain from switching use of the first antenna from the first radio module to the second radio module based on a type of the first operation,

wherein refraining from switching includes throttling an ability of the second radio module to perform the transmit antenna selection by lowering a frequency at which the second radio module performs the transmit antenna selection.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second radio module is an LTE radio module.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine whether to switch use of the first antenna by:

determining a type of the second operation; and

refraining from switching the second radio module to use the first antenna when the type of the second operation has a lower priority than the type of the first operation.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine whether to switch use of the first antenna by:

determining whether the type of the second operation is in a set of operations; and

identifying that the type of the second operation has the lower priority when the type of the second operation is in the set of operations.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the type of the first operation comprises a voice call, and wherein the set of operations comprises at least one of:

a LTE data-only service;

an on-hold Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service;

or

a foreground VoLTE service while communicating at a high LTE signal quality.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine whether to switch use of the first antenna by:

identifying that the type of the second operation has a higher priority than the type of the first operation when the type of the second operation is not in the set of operations; and

switching the second radio module to use the first antenna when the type of the second operation is not in the set of operations.

19. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the at least one processor is configured to refrain by:

refraining from switching the second radio module to use the first antenna for a duration of the first operation;

or

refraining from switching the second radio module to use the first antenna at a time slot used for performing the first operation.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the type of the first operation comprises a delay-sensitive data call, and wherein the set of operations comprises at least one of:

a LTE data-only service;

or

a Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service while communicating at a high LTE signal quality.

21. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the type of the first operation comprises an idle mode, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine whether to switch use of the first antenna by:

identifying that the type of the second operation has the lower priority during an idle mode wake period; and

refraining from switching the second radio module to use the first antenna during the idle mode wake period.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine whether to switch use of the first antenna by:

identifying that the type of the second operation has a higher priority than the idle mode during an idle mode sleep period; and

switching the second radio module to use the first antenna during the idle mode sleep period.

23. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the type of the first operation comprises a voice call or an operation conducted during a poor channel condition, and

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine whether to switch use of the first antenna by:

determining that the type of the second operation is a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, and

identifying that the type of the second operation has the lower priority when the type of the second operation is the SRS transmission.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to drop the SRS transmission.

25. An apparatus for controlling antenna switching, comprising:

means for facilitating a first radio module to use a first antenna for performing a first operation;

means for detecting that a second radio module will attempt to use the first antenna for a periodic transmission of a reference signal as a part of transmit antenna selection for performing a second operation while the first radio module is using the first antenna for performing the first operation; and

means for determining whether to refrain from switching use of the first antenna from the first radio module to the second radio module based on a type of the first operation,

wherein refraining from switching includes throttling an ability of the second radio module to perform the transmit antenna selection by lowering a frequency at which the second radio module performs the transmit antenna selection.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the means for determining whether to switch use of the first antenna is configured to:

determine a type of the second operation;

determine whether the type of the second operation is in a set of operations;

identify that the type of the second operation has a lower priority when the type of the second operation is in the set of operations; and

refrain from switching the second radio module to use the first antenna when the type of the second operation has the lower priority than the type of the first operation.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the means for determining whether to switch use of the first antenna is further configured to:

identify that the type of the second operation has a higher priority than the type of the first operation when the type of the second operation is not in the set of operations; and

switch the second radio module to use the first antenna when the second operation is not in the set of operations.

28. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code for wireless communication, comprising code for:

facilitating a first radio module to use a first antenna for performing a first operation;

detecting that a second radio module will attempt to use the first antenna for a periodic transmission of a reference signal as a part of transmit antenna selection for performing a second operation while the first radio module is using the first antenna for performing the first operation; and

determining whether to refrain from switching use of the first antenna from the first radio module to the second radio module based on a type of the first operation,

wherein refraining from switching includes throttling an ability of the second radio module to perform the transmit antenna selection by lowering a frequency at which the second radio module performs the transmit antenna selection.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the code performing the step of determining whether to switch use of the first antenna is configured to:

determine a type of the second operation;

determine whether the type of the second operation is in a set of operations;

identify that the type of the second operation has a lower priority when the type of the second operation is in the set of operations; and

refrain from switching the second radio module to use the first antenna when the type of the second operation has the lower priority than the type of the first operation.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 29, wherein the code performing the step of determining whether to switch use of the first antenna is further configured to:

identify that the type of the second operation has a higher priority than the type of the first operation when the type of the second operation is not in the set of operations; and

switch the second radio module to use the first antenna when the second operation is not in the set of operations.