Method and apparatus for adjusting the timing of radio antenna tuning

• US 9,768,810 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2016
• Issued: 09/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Greene, Matthew, Hoirup, Carsten, Manssen, Keith
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Duc M
• Application Number:
  US15/161,966
• Publication Number:
  US 20160269055A1
• Time in Patent Office: 484 Days
• Field of Search: 455120-126
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/56 Modifications of input or output impedances, not otherwise provided for
• 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 1/40 Circuits

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, determining, by a controller of a mobile communication device, a phase shift criteria and an amplitude shift criteria associated with a modulation being implemented by the mobile communication device. The controller can determine a group of tuning steps that satisfies the phase and amplitude shift criteria and that provides a desired tuning step for a matching network of the mobile communication device. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A mobile communication device, comprising:

a processing system including a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

determining an operational criteria associated with a modulation type of a signal modulation;

selecting, according to the operational criteria, a group of tuning steps for adjusting a matching network through which the signal modulation is performed without violating the operational criteria during adjustment of the matching network;

generating a single write command for applying the group of tuning steps to the matching network; and

transmitting the single write command to a converter coupled to the matching network for adjusting the matching network according to the group of tuning steps to generate a desired tuning value without multiple write commands.

2. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the group of tuning steps comprise a uniform step size.

3. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise determining a number of tuning steps to be used for adjusting the matching network according to the modulation type, wherein the group of tuning steps is further selected according to the number of tuning steps.

4. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the operational criteria comprises an adjacent channel leakage ratio limitation while adjusting the matching network.

5. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the operational criteria comprises an error vector magnitude limitation while adjusting the matching network.

6. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the operational criteria comprises a bit error rate limitation while adjusting the matching network.

7. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the operational criteria comprises a symbol error limitation while adjusting the matching network.

8. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the operational criteria comprises a phase shift limitation while adjusting the matching network.

9. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the operational criteria comprises an amplitude shift limitation while adjusting the matching network.

10. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the matching network comprises a plurality of switches, wherein a plurality of switch states of the plurality of switches correspond to a plurality of tuning states of the matching network, and wherein each tuning step of the group of tuning steps is associated with a tuning state of the plurality of tuning states.

11. The mobile communication device of claim 10, wherein transitions between tuning steps of the group of tuning steps cause a sequence of transitions between switch states of the plurality of switches.

12. The mobile communication device of claim 11, wherein the transitions between switch states of the plurality of switches cause transitions in reactance of the network.

13. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the converter comprises a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and wherein the write command provides a rate of tuning adjustment to the converter that represents the group of tuning steps.

14. The mobile communication device of claim 13, wherein the converter generates bias voltages representing the group of tuning steps for adjusting the network.

15. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprises detecting an absence of a frequency change during the signal modulation, and wherein the transmitting of the write command to adjust the matching network is responsive to the detecting of the absence of the frequency change during the signal modulation.

16. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the adjusting of the matching network comprises tuning multiple variable reactance elements in parallel.

17. A method, comprising:

determining, by a processing system including a processor, an operational criteria associated with a modulation type of a signal modulation;

selecting, according to the operational criteria associated with the modulation type and by the processing system, a group of tuning steps for adjusting a matching network through which the signal modulation is performed while adhering to the operational criteria during adjustment of the matching network;

generating, by the processing system, a single write command for applying the group of tuning steps to the matching network; and

transmitting, by the processing system, the single write command to a converter coupled to the matching network for adjusting the matching network according to the group of tuning steps to generate a desired tuning value without multiple write commands.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the group of tuning steps comprise a uniform step size.

19. A machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

determining an operational criteria associated with a modulation type of a signal modulation;

selecting, according to the operational criteria, a group of tuning steps for adjusting a matching network through which the signal modulation is performed while adhering to the operational criteria during adjustment of the matching network;

generating a single write command for applying the group of tuning steps to the matching network; and

transmitting the single write command to a converter coupled to the matching network for adjusting the matching network according to the group of tuning steps to generate a desired tuning value without multiple write commands.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise determining a number of tuning steps to be used for adjusting the matching network according to the modulation type, wherein the group of tuning steps is further selected according to the number of tuning steps.