METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING OPERATIONS OF A COMMUNICATION DEVICE

• US 20110086630A1
• Filed: 10/10/2009
• Published: 04/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Paratek Microwave Incorporated (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: MANSSEN, KEITH R., Hoirup, Carsten, Greene, Matthew R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,026,062 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/419
• 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 7/26 at least one of which is mobile
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a communication device having a controller to provision a matching network that controls one or more operational characteristics of one of a receiver portion and a transmitter portion of the communication device according to a profile describing one or more characteristics of a communication system from which the communication device operates. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

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

establish a communication session with a communication system;

identify the communication system from the communication session;

select a profile according to the identified communication system; and

provision one or more tuning states of a matching network having a tunable reactance according to provisioning information included in the profile, wherein the one or more tuning states of the matching network affects one or more performance parameters of the communication device.

2. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions to:

receive a communication system identifier from the communication system; and

select the profile according to the communication system identifier.

3. The storage medium of claim 2, wherein the communication system identifier corresponds to a public land mobile network (PLMN) identifier.

4. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions to:

receive instructions for managing the matching network from a communication element of the communication system; and

provision the matching network according to said instructions.

5. The storage medium of claim 4, wherein the received instructions collectively represent the profile.

6. The storage medium of claim 4, wherein the communication element corresponds to a cellular base station, and wherein the communication device corresponds to a portable cellular communication device.

7. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the profile comprises at least one of time-of-day provisioning information, provisioning information associated with an operating location of the communication device, provisioning information for tuning a receiver portion of the communication device, and provisioning information for tuning a transmitter portion of the communication device.

8. The storage medium of claim 7, wherein the provisioning information for tuning the receiver and transmitter portions is determined from uplink or downlink communication characteristics of the communication system.

9. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the provisioning information controls an operating efficiency of the communication device.

10. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the provisioning information controls linearity of a transmitter portion of the communication device.

11. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the provisioning information improves an operating characteristic of a receiver portion of the communication device at the expense of an operating characteristic of a transmitter portion of the communication device.

12. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the provisioning information improves an operating characteristic of a transmitter portion of the communication device at the expense of an operating characteristic of a receiver portion of the communication device.

13. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more performance parameters of the communication device comprise at least one of a power consumption of the communication device, radiated power of a transmitter portion of the communication device, linearity of the transmitter portion, a receive sensitivity of a receiver portion of the communication device, and selectivity of the receiver portion.

14. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the matching network corresponds to a tunable filter network for controlling an operation of one of a transmitter portion and a receiver portion of the communication device.

15. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions to receive the profile from a communication element of the communication system over a wireless medium.

16. The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the profile is received in one of a short message services (SMS) message, a multimedia message services (MMS) message, and internet protocol connection.

17. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the profile is associated with a model type of the communication device.

18. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the profile comprises provisioning information for managing battery life of the communication device.

19. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the profile comprises a look-up table for controlling the one or more performance parameters of the communication device.

20. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions to provision the one or more tuning states of the matching network according to the profile and according to at least one of a sampling of signals of one of a receiver portion and a transmitter portion of the communication device, and one or more detected use cases of the communication device.

21. A matching network, comprising:

a tunable reactance circuit coupled to one of a transmitter portion and a receiver portion of a communication device,

wherein the tunable reactance circuit affects one or more performance parameters of the communication device, and

wherein the tunable reactance circuit is provisioned by the communication device according to a profile that describes communication characteristics of a communication system from which the communication device operates.

22. The matching network of claim 21, wherein the tunable reactance circuit comprises at least one of one or more tunable reactive elements, and one or more switchable elements that enable or disable one or more corresponding fixed reactance elements.

23. The matching network of claim 21, wherein the tunable reactance circuit comprises at least one of one or more capacitors with a tunable dielectric constant, and one or more capacitors of a fixed capacitance controlled by one of one or more micro-electromechanical systems switches (MEMS) and one or more semiconductor switches.

24. The matching network of claim 21, wherein the profile comprises provisioning information for controlling at least one of a power consumption of the communication device, radiated power of a transmitter portion of the communication device, linearity of the transmitter portion, a receive sensitivity of a receiver portion of the communication device, and selectivity of the receiver portion.

25. A cellular base station, comprising a controller to transmit a request to a communication device to utilize a profile for provisioning a tunable reactance circuit that affects one or more performance parameters of the communication device.

26. The cellular base station of claim 25, wherein the controller is operable to:

detect a communication device;

determine a model type of the communication device; and

identify a profile according to the model type.

27. The cellular base station of claim 25, wherein the controller is operable to offer additional communication capacity to other communication devices responsive to the communication device provisioning the tunable reactance circuit according to the profile.

28. The cellular base station of claim 25, wherein the profile comprises provisioning information for controlling at least one of a power consumption of the communication device, radiated power of a transmitter portion of the communication device, linearity of the transmitter portion, a receive sensitivity of a receiver portion of the communication device, and selectivity of the receiver portion.

29. The cellular base station of claim 25, wherein the controller is operable to transmit to the communication device an identifier associated with the cellular base station, and wherein the communication device utilizes the identifier to select the profile.

30. A communication device, comprising a controller to provision a matching network that controls one or more operational characteristics of one of a receiver portion and a transmitter portion of the communication device according to a profile describing one or more characteristics of a communication system from which the communication device operates.

31. The communication device of claim 30, wherein the controller is operable to receive the profile from the communication system.

32. The communication device of claim 30, wherein the profile comprises provisioning information for controlling at least one of a power consumption of the communication device, radiated power of a transmitter portion of the communication device, linearity of the transmitter portion, a receive sensitivity of a receiver portion of the communication device, and selectivity of the receiver portion.

33. The communication device of claim 30, wherein the controller is operable to select the profile from a plurality of profiles according to an identification of one or more communication elements of the communication system, and wherein each of the plurality of profiles describe operating characteristics of a corresponding plurality of independently operated communication systems.

34. A method, comprising a step to tune a tunable reactance circuit in a communication device according to a profile that controls operations of the communication device according to at least one of a transmit power level of a transmitter portion of the communication device and a receive signal strength of a receiver portion of the communication device.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the tunable reactance circuit comprises at least one of one or more capacitors with a tunable dielectric constant, and one or more capacitors of a fixed capacitance controlled by one of one or more micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) switches and one or more semiconductor switches