Matrix switch

• US 9,900,265 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2014
• Issued: 02/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Original Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Inventors: Leather, Paul Simon Holt
• Primary Examiner(s): Mohebbi, Kouroush
• Application Number:
  US14/305,288
• Publication Number:
  US 20150365877A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,345 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/101 using crossbar or matrix

Abstract

A matrix switch comprises a number of switching elements configured in a matrix and a controller that operates to dynamically select one or more signal routes via the switching elements. The matrix switch can operate to dynamically route multiple signal routes between antenna ports to one or more transceiver ports, transmitter ports, receiver ports or termination ports. The controller can select the signal routes based on a set of criteria, which can include one or more use conditions, radio resource conditions or propagations conditions.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a matrix switching component, comprising a set of signal routes in a matrix comprising dimensions of at least M rows and N columns, wherein M and N comprise an integer that is at least one and the matrix has a size that is greater than one by one, configured to activate a route communicatively coupling a first path of an antenna component to a second path of a device component, and route a set of communications between the antenna component and the device component through the route based on a set of criteria; and

a control component configured to modify the route, communicatively coupling the first path and the second path, by modifying one or more activated switching elements that form the route to communicatively couple the first path to the second path and activating one or more other activated switching elements within the matrix switch component to form another route between the first path and the second path as same endpoints as the route, as a function of a change in the set of criteria, to facilitate the set of communications between the first path of the antenna component and the second path of the device component as the same endpoints as the route activated prior, wherein the set of criteria comprises at least one of a set of use conditions, a set of radio resource conditions, or a set of propagation conditions.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the control component is further configured to select which signal routes of the set of signal routes to concurrently route the set of communications between at least two antenna ports and at least two device ports based on the set of criteria.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the control component is further configured to alter the set of signal routes by modifying one or more switching elements arranged in the matrix to remain connected the antenna component and the device component of the matrix switching component based on a detection of the change in the set of criteria and mitigate cross-noise from at least one other signal route activated within the matrix switching component.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the matrix switching component comprises at least two antenna ports that correspond to different radio frequencies to route the set of communications via the matrix switching component differently based on the set of criteria that is related to different wireless networks of different radio network devices.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the matrix switching component comprises a number of switching elements that equal the M rows by the N columns of antenna ports and device ports, wherein the device ports are communicatively coupled to at least one of at least one transceiver, at least one receiver, at least one transmitter or at least one termination.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a determination component configured to dynamically determine which device port to which a termination is connected among device ports based on the set of propagation conditions that comprises at least one of a magnitude, a polarization, or a direction of the set of communications being received.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a use component configured to dynamically determine the set of use conditions based on at least one datum from a set of sensors configured to detect one or more objects and facilitate the control component to modify the route between the antenna component and the device component based on the change of the set of use conditions.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of use conditions comprises at least one of a proximity of one or more objects with respect to a set of zones that correspond to the antenna component, a change in a location of the one or more objects or an orientation with respect to the at least one antenna port.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a radio component configured to dynamically determine the set of radio resource conditions that comprise at least one of bandwidths associated with antenna ports, a network availability, a regional use, or whether a mode of operation comprises a frequency division duplex operation or a time division duplex operation, and facilitate the control component to select the set of signal routes based on the set of radio resource conditions.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a propagation component configured to dynamically determine the set of propagation conditions that comprises at least one of a magnitude, a polarization, or a direction of the set of communications being received.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a determination component configured to determine which antenna port among antenna ports to route to the device component based on a bandwidth corresponding to the antenna component and an identification of a component carrier from among a plurality of component carriers.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the matrix switching component further comprises another dimension of O layers, wherein O comprises the integer that is at least one, and the O layers comprises one or more further switching elements.

13. A device comprising

a matrix switch comprising switching elements in a matrix configuration that route a set of communication inputs and a set of communication outputs of at least M rows and N columns of the matrix configuration, wherein M and N comprise an integer that is at least one, and configured to selectively facilitate communication via signal routes among the set of communication inputs and the set of communication outputs via the switching elements;

a controller configured to generate a first signal route that is configured to communicatively couple an antenna component to a device component to facilitate the communication there-between, and further generate a modification to the first signal route by modifying the plurality of activated switching elements within the matrix switch to communicatively couple the antenna component and the device component as same endpoints as the first signal route with a second signal route that is different from the first signal route based on a change in a set of criteria comprising at least one of a set of use conditions, a set of radio resource conditions or a set of propagation conditions.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the set of communication inputs or the set of communication outputs comprise connections to antenna components and at least one of a transceiver, a receiver, a transmitter or a termination.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the antenna components comprise at least one of an antenna, a tuning mechanism associated with the antenna or a frequency tuning circuit associated with the antenna.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein the controller is further configured to modify the first signal route connecting the antenna component with the device component through the matrix switch to the second signal route within the matrix switch to increase a bandwidth capacity with a plurality of component carriers and mitigate an effect of a multipath communication within the matrix switch.

17. The device of claim 13, wherein the controller is further configured to dynamically determine the set of use conditions based on at least one datum from a set of sensors configured to detect one or more objects or a proximity of the one or more objects to one or more zone locations, or an orientation, and generate the modification via the switching elements based on the set of use conditions.

18. The device of claim 13, wherein the controller is further configured to dynamically determine the set of radio resource conditions that comprise at least one of a bandwidth associated with the set of communication inputs and the set of communication outputs, a network availability, a regional use, or whether a mode of operation comprises a frequency division duplex operation or a time division duplex operation, and generate the modification based on the set of radio resource conditions.

19. The device of claim 13, wherein the controller is further configured to dynamically identify the set of propagation conditions comprising a strength, a polarization or a direction of communications, and modify the first signal route to the second signal route from among the signal routes based on the set of propagation conditions via the switching elements of the matrix switch.

20. The device of claim 13, wherein the set of communication inputs and the set of communication outputs correspond respectively to the M rows and the N columns of the matrix configuration of the switching elements, are associated with different operating frequencies, different network bandwidths and different component carriers.

21. A method comprising:

generating, by a matrix switch comprising a processor, a selection of a signal route along a plurality of switching elements of the matrix switch to route a first path of an antenna component and a second path of a device component as a function of one or more criteria comprising at least one of a use condition, a radio resource condition or a propagation condition;

routing, via the plurality of switching elements, a communication along the signal route based on the selection; and

modifying the signal route of the matrix switch connecting the first path of the antenna component to the second path of the device component to a different route within the matrix switch also connecting the first path to the second path by changing altering an activation or a deactivation of one or more switching elements of the plurality of switching elements based on a change of the one or more criteria.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein modifying the signal route of the matrix switch connecting the first path to the second path further comprises:

determining which of the plurality of switching elements to activate for the signal route based on at least one of a network bandwidth, an operational frequency, a regional location, a network availability, a mode of operation, a location of an object, an orientation, a magnitude of the communication, a polarization of the communication or a direction of the communication.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein modifying the signal route of the matrix switch connecting the first path to the second path further comprises:

determining which of the plurality of switching elements to modify based on a mitigation of an effect that is related to a multi-path propagation.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein modifying the signal route of the matrix switch connecting the first path to the second path further comprises:

determining which of the plurality of switching elements to modify based on a diversity of receptions of communications with different network bandwidths as a function of antenna components corresponding to one or more bandwidths.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

generating a plurality of signal routes via the plurality of switching elements of the matrix switch that respectively communicatively couple antenna components and at least one of a transceiver or a transmitter for a multiple input multiple output device as the function of the one or more criteria.