ADJUSTING AN ANTENNA CONFIGURATION OF A TERMINAL DEVICE IN A CELLULAR COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20170346517A1
• Filed: 05/12/2017
• Published: 11/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Mobile Communications Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ying, Zhinong, Bengtsson, Erik
• Granted Patent: US 10,193,584 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/242 specially adapted for hand-held use
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/273 Adaptation for carrying or wearing by persons or animals
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1027 assessing signal quality or detecting noise/interference for the received signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/1081 Reduction of multipath noise by equalising H04B7/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/336 Signal-to-interference ratio [SIR] or carrier-to-interference ratio [CIR]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0404 the mobile station comprising multiple antennas, e.g. to provide uplink diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0452 Multi-user MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0608 Antenna selection according to transmission parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0689 using different transmission schemes, at least one of them being a diversity transmission scheme
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0808 comparing all antennas before reception
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0871 using different reception schemes, at least one of them being a diversity reception scheme
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0888 with selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0204 of multiple channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/0224 using sounding signals

Abstract

A method for adjusting an antenna configuration of the terminal device (30) in a cellular communication system (10). The system (10) includes a base station (20) and a terminal device (30) having a plurality of antenna elements (40-43). In the terminal device (30) a plurality of preset antenna configurations is provided. Each antenna configuration defines at least one reception parameter for the plurality of antenna elements (40-43). For each antenna configuration of the plurality of preset antenna configurations the antenna configuration is applied to the plurality of antenna elements (40-43) and a reception characteristic of a signal transmission from the base station (20) is determined. Based on the plurality of reception characteristics one antenna configuration is selected and applied to the plurality of antenna elements (40-43) for further signal transmissions.

Claims

1. A method for adjusting an antenna configuration of a terminal device in a cellular communication system, the cellular communication system comprising a base station and the terminal device, the terminal device comprising a plurality of antenna elements, the method comprising:

providing, in the terminal device, a plurality of preset antenna configurations, each antenna configuration of the plurality of preset antenna configurations defining at least one reception parameter for the plurality of antenna elements,

performing consecutively for each antenna configuration of the plurality of preset antenna configurations;

applying the antenna configuration to the plurality of antenna elements, and

determining a reception characteristic of a signal transmission sent from the base station and received at the plurality of antenna elements with the applied antenna configuration,

selecting one antenna configuration of the plurality of preset antenna configurations based on the plurality of reception characteristics determined for the plurality of preset antenna configurations, and

applying the selected antenna configuration to the plurality of antenna elements for further signal transmissions.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of antenna elements comprises a conformal antenna element conforming a prescribed shape of a component of the terminal device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein each antenna configuration comprises for each antenna element a corresponding phase information and a corresponding amplitude information.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of preset antenna configurations is provided in the terminal device as predefined data which has been specifically determined for the type of the terminal device during development of the type of terminal device.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

optimizing the applied antenna configuration by an iterative algorithm.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein a transmission frequency of the signal transmission is above 30 GHz.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reception characteristic comprises a signal to noise ratio.

8. A method for adjusting an antenna configuration of a terminal device in a cellular communication system, the cellular communication system comprising a base station and the terminal device, the terminal device comprising a plurality of antenna elements, the method comprising:

determining a reception characteristic of a signal transmission sent from the base station and received at the plurality of antenna elements,

comparing the determined reception characteristic with a threshold value, and

adjusting the antenna configuration depending on the comparison either according to the method of claim 1 or according to a channel sounding procedure.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the plurality of antenna elements comprises a conformal antenna element conforming a prescribed shape of a component of the terminal device.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the signal transmission comprises at least one of:

a pilot signal transmission of the channel sounding procedure sent from the base station and received at the plurality of antenna elements, and

a payload signal transmission sent from the base station and received at the plurality of antenna elements.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein the threshold value has a ratio below 1 dB, preferably a ratio of 0 dB.

12. A terminal device for a cellular communication system, the cellular communication system comprising a base station and the terminal device, the terminal device comprising:

a plurality of antenna elements,

a memory storing a plurality of preset antenna configurations, each antenna configuration of the plurality of preset antenna configurations defining at least one reception parameter for the plurality of antenna elements, and

a processing unit configured

to apply consecutively for each antenna configuration of the plurality of preset antenna configurations the antenna configuration to the plurality of antenna elements, and

to determine for each antenna configuration of the plurality of preset antenna configurations a reception characteristic of a signal transmission sent from the base station and received at the plurality of antenna elements with the applied antenna configuration,

to select one antenna configuration of the plurality of preset antenna configurations based on the plurality of reception characteristics determined for the plurality of preset antenna configurations, and

to apply the selected antenna configuration to the plurality of antenna elements for further signal transmissions.

13. The terminal device according to claim 12, wherein the plurality of antenna elements comprises a conformal antenna element conforming a prescribed shape of a component of the terminal device.

14. The terminal device according to claim 12, wherein the plurality of antenna elements comprises four to sixteen antenna elements.