Method and system to measure the phase offset based on the frequency response in a NFC system

• US 9,935,689 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2016
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Inventors: Hueber, Gernot, Macnamara, Ian Thomas, Bruckbauer, Johannes, Watzinger, Hubert
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TUAN HOANG
• Application Number:
  US15/225,767
• Publication Number:
  US 20180034510A1
• Time in Patent Office: 610 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/12 of transmit antennas, e.g. of the amplitude or phase
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/21 for calibration; for correcting measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/24 Inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/00 Modulated-carrier systems

Abstract

The present invention provides for a method and system for compensating phase offset caused by a matching network and antenna of a communications device. The method comprises: generating a mapping that correlates phase offset with a characteristic parameter; measuring the characteristic parameter for the communications device; using the measured characteristic parameter and the mapping to determine a phase offset for the communications device; and using the determined phase offset to compensate for the phase offset caused by the matching network and antenna of the communications device. The present invention also provides for a method and system for measuring a phase offset caused by a matching network and antenna of a communications device.

Claims

1. A method for compensating phase offset caused by a matching network and antenna of a communications device, the method comprising:

generating a mapping that correlates phase offset with a characteristic parameter, wherein the characteristic parameter is associated with a signal that is either received or transmitted by the communications device, and wherein the characteristic parameter is comprising of one or more combination of the following features;

a resonance peak frequency for the signal, an amplitude peak of a frequency response for the signal, an amplitude or a combination of amplitudes at specific frequencies for the signal, a notch of a frequency response for the signal, a bandwidth of the matching network and antenna, a specific shape of a frequency response for the signal;

measuring the characteristic parameter for the communications device;

using the measured characteristic parameter and the mapping to determine a phase offset for the communications device; and

using the determined phase offset to compensate for the phase offset caused by the matching network and antenna of the communications device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristic parameter is the resonance peak frequency for the signal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

a reader device or a counterpart communications device transmits a carrier signal to the communications device,

the communications device responds actively by transmitting back to the reader device or the counterpart communications device a modulated carrier signal, and

the phase offset is a phase difference between the carrier signal and the modulated carrier signal.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

using the determined phase offset to adjust a phase configuration of the communications device;

modulating a carrier signal with the adjusted phase configuration using active load modulation (ALM); and

transmitting the modulated carrier signal from the communications device for inductive coupling.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the phase offset depends on production parameters for a printed circuit board (PCB) and a component.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications device is a near field communication (NFC) communications device.

7. A production flow comprising the method of claim 1.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping that correlates phase offset with the characteristic parameter is generated by measuring or analyzing in simulation the phase offset by sweeping one or more of the following parameters:

front end discrete component values,

temperature of components, printed circuit board (PCB), or antenna, PCB production variation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping that correlates phase offset with the characteristic parameter is stored as:

a function, or

a mapping table.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping that correlates phase offset with the characteristic parameter is stored as:

a multi-dimensional mapping table comprising of one or more combination of the following features;

the resonance peak frequency for the signal, the amplitude peak of the frequency response for the signal, the amplitude or a combination of amplitudes at specific frequencies for the signal, the notch of the frequency response for the signal, the bandwidth of the matching network and antenna, the specific shape of the frequency response for the signal.

11. A method for measuring a phase offset caused by a matching network and antenna of a communications device, the method comprising:

transmitting a signal from the communications device to a reader device or a counterpart communications device;

determining a measured characteristic parameter for the signal, wherein the measured characteristic parameter is comprising of one or more combination of the following features;

a resonance peak frequency for the signal, an amplitude peak of a frequency response for the signal, an amplitude or a combination of amplitudes at specific frequencies for the signal, a notch of a frequency response for the signal, a bandwidth of the matching network and antenna, a specific shape of a frequency response for the signal;

using the measured characteristic parameter to determine the phase offset caused by the matching network and antenna.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the measured characteristic parameter is the resonance peak frequency for the signal.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the resonance peak frequency is determined by:

varying over a range of frequencies for the signal transmitted from the communications device, and

measuring a voltage at the reader device or the counterpart communications device that corresponds to each of the signal frequency.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprises:

using the measured characteristic parameter and a mapping to determine a phase offset for the communications device, wherein the mapping correlates the phase offset with the measured characteristic parameter,

using the determined phase offset to compensate for the phase offset caused by the matching network and antenna of the communications device.

15. A method for measuring a phase offset caused by a matching network and antenna of a communications device, the method comprising:

receiving, by the communications device, a signal from a reader device;

determining a measured characteristic parameter for the signal, wherein the measured characteristic parameter is comprising of one or more combination of the following features;

a resonance peak frequency for the signal, an amplitude peak of a frequency response for the signal, an amplitude or a combination of amplitudes at specific frequencies for the signal, a notch of a frequency response for the signal, a bandwidth of the matching network and antenna, a specific shape of a frequency response for the signal;

using the measured characteristic parameter to determine the phase offset caused by the matching network and antenna.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the measured characteristic parameter is the resonance peak frequency for the signal.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the resonance peak frequency is determined by:

varying over a range of frequencies for the signal transmitted from the reader device and received by the communications device,

recording a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) value at the communications device for the range of frequencies for the signal received by the communications device,

identifying a resonance peak frequency from a maximum RSSI value.