METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ADAPTIVE IMPEDANCE MATCHING

• US 20100164641A1
• Filed: 03/11/2010
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Paratek Microwave Incorporated (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: McKinzie, William E. III
• Granted Patent: US 8,217,732 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 333/17.300
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/50 Structural association of antennas with earthing switches, lead-in devices or lightning protectors
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 11/30 Automatic matching of source impedance to load impedance
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 7/38 Impedance-matching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 7/40 Automatic matching of load impedance to source impedance
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/44 Transmit/receive switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0278 Arrangements for impedance matching
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/18 TPC being performed according to specific parameters

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, an apparatus having one or more controllable variable reactive elements coupled to at least one input port and at least one output port, and a voltage detector coupled to the at least one output port to provide voltage information to a controller. The controller can be adapted to generate one or more control signals responsive to the voltage information provided by the voltage detector. The one or more controllable variable reactive elements can be coupled to a circuit adapted to map the one or more control signals that are output from the controller to a signal range that is compatible with said one or more controllable variable reactive elements. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

an RF matching network coupled to at least one RF input port and at least one RF output port and comprising one or more controllable variable reactive elements; and

a voltage detector coupled to said at least one RF output port via a voltage divider to determine a voltage at said at least one RF output port and provide voltage information to a controller,

wherein said RF matching network is adapted to increase RF power transferred from said at least one RF input port to said at least one RF output port by varying signals supplied to said controllable variable reactive elements to increase the RF voltage at said at least one RF output port,

wherein the controller generates one or more control signals responsive to the voltage information provided by the voltage detector, and

wherein said one or more controllable variable reactive elements are coupled to a bias driver circuit adapted to map the one or more control signals that are output from the controller to a signal range that is compatible with said one or more controllable variable reactive elements in said RF matching network.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said voltage divider comprises a network of resistors.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said voltage divider comprises a network of capacitors.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said voltage divider comprises a variable voltage divider.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said variable voltage divider comprises a switchable network of resistors.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said variable voltage divider comprises a switchable network of capacitors.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said variable voltage divider is controlled by the controller.

8. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said variable voltage divider is controlled with one or more switches.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the one or more switches comprise at least one of semiconductor switches or mechanical switches.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voltage detector comprises one of a diode detector, or a logarithmic amplifier detector.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said one or more controllable variable reactive elements comprise at least one of:

one or more reactive elements controlled by one or more semiconductor devices, wherein the one or more semiconductor devices are controlled by the one or more mapped control signals generated by the bias driver circuit;

one or more reactive elements controlled by one or more micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) devices, wherein the one or more MEMS devices are controlled by the one or more mapped control signals;

or

one or more reactive elements each having a controllable reactance, wherein the reactance of each of the one or more reactive elements is controlled by one of the one or more mapped control signals.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said apparatus is utilized in a communication device, and wherein said controller generates said control signals responsive to an operational state of the communication device.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mapped control signals generated by the bias driver circuit enable or disable one or more switches that control one or more reactances within the RF matching network.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the RF matching network is adapted to reduce signal reflections from the variable load impedance.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said bias driver circuit is adapted to generate at least one of analog or digital signals.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more controllable variable reactive elements coupled to at least one input port and at least one output port; and

a voltage detector coupled to said at least one output port to provide voltage information to a controller;

wherein said one or more controllable variable reactive elements are adapted to increase power transferred from said at least one input port to said at least one output port by varying signals applied to said controllable variable reactive elements,

wherein the controller generates one or more control signals responsive to the voltage information provided by the voltage detector, and

wherein said one or more controllable variable reactive elements are coupled to a circuit adapted to map the one or more control signals that are output from the controller to a signal range that is compatible with said one or more controllable variable reactive elements.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said one or more controllable variable reactive elements comprise at least one of:

one or more reactive elements controlled by one or more semiconductor devices, wherein the one or more semiconductor devices are controlled by the one or more mapped control signals generated by the circuit;

one or more reactive elements controlled by one or more micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) devices, wherein the one or more MEMS devices are controlled by the one or more mapped control signals;

or

one or more reactive elements each having a controllable reactance, wherein the reactance of each of the one or more reactive elements is controlled by one of the one or more mapped control signals.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said bias driver circuit is adapted to generate at least one of analog or digital signals.

23. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein said one or more controllable variable reactive elements comprise at least one of:

one or more reactive elements controlled by one or more semiconductor devices, wherein the one or more semiconductor devices are controlled by the one or more mapped control signals generated by the circuit;

one or more reactive elements controlled by one or more micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) devices, wherein the one or more MEMS devices are controlled by the one or more mapped control signals;

or

one or more reactive elements each having a controllable reactance, wherein the reactance of each of the one or more reactive elements is controlled by one of the one or more mapped control signals.

19. A machine-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions to:

receive voltage information sampled by a voltage detector at a port of a matching network; and

vary control signals that change one or more reactances within the matching network according to the voltage information,

wherein the matching network comprises one or more controllable variable reactive elements, and

wherein said matching network is coupled to a circuit adapted to map the control signals to a signal range that is compatible with said one or more controllable variable reactive elements.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein said voltage detector is coupled to the port of the matching network via a variable voltage divider, wherein the variable voltage divider comprises a switchable network of resistors, and wherein said storage medium comprises computer instructions to control the switchable network of resistors.

21. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein said voltage detector is coupled to the port of the matching network via a variable voltage divider, wherein the variable voltage divider comprises a switchable network of capacitors, and wherein said storage medium comprises computer instructions to control the switchable network of capacitors.

22. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the mapped control signals are at least one of analog or digital signals.