CONTROLLING COEXISTENT RADIO SYSTEMS IN A WIRELESS DEVICE

• US 20180368082A1
• Filed: 06/14/2018
• Published: 12/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: O'SHEA, Helena Deirdre, MALDONADO, David, NARAYANASWAMI, Ramakrishna, WANG, Chuan, ROETHIG, Wolfgang
• Granted Patent: US 10,772,052 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/406 with more than one transmission mode, e.g. analog and digital modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0251 using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/52 using AGC [Automatic Gain Control] circuits or amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

Disclosed aspects relate to methods and apparatus for coexistent radio frequency (RF) systems in a wireless device. Control of a wireless device includes detecting when a turn on signal is issued to a first radio system, and then controlling the second radio system to either modify the operation of receiver circuitry in the second radio system to protect components within that system, or modify transmit circuitry to stop transmissions for protecting components within one radio system potentially affected by transmission from the other radio system in the wireless device. Disclosed also is monitoring of transmission states of the radio systems based on reading messages between the first and second radio systems and issuing a notification message based thereon such that one of the radio systems may suspend monitoring of a transmit channel for permission to transmit in order to reduce power consumption due to such monitoring of the channel.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a wireless device including coexistent radio frequency (RF) first and second radio systems, the method comprising:

detecting in a control logic circuitry when a turn on signal is issued to the first radio system to transmit signals with a transmit circuitry in the first radio system; and

modifying operation of the second radio system with the control logic circuity including at least one of modifying operation of a receiver circuitry in the second radio system or modifying operation of a transmit circuitry in the second radio system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the operation of the receiver circuitry in the second radio system further comprises:

disabling at least one low noise amplifier (LNA) in the second radio system by selectively bypassing the at least one LNA to protect the at least one LNA from transmissions from at least one of the first radio system or the second radio system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein selectively bypassing the at least one LNA includes coupling an input of the at least one LNA to ground.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein modifying the operation of the receiver circuitry in the second radio system further comprises:

selectively reducing a gain of at least one low noise amplifier (LNA) in the second radio system.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein selectively reducing the gain of the at least one LNA includes selectively switching between a plurality of gains.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein selectively switching between the plurality of gains includes selecting an attenuation network from a plurality of attenuation networks having respective gain attenuations and coupling the attenuation network to the at least one LNA.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the operation of the transmit circuitry or the receiver circuitry in the second radio system includes:

triggering modification of the operation of the transmit or the receiver circuitry in the second radio system with the control logic circuitry, wherein the control logic circuitry is configured to;

receive at least one turn on signal issued to turn on the transmit circuit of the first radio system; and

send a control signal responsive to the received at least one turn on signal to at least one of the transmit or the receiver circuitry in the first radio system to trigger modification of the operation of the transmit or the receiver circuitry in the second radio system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmit circuitry of the first or second radio system comprises a power amplifier (PA).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second radio systems share a common frequency spectrum.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second radio systems are operable in respective frequency bands that are close in frequency such that transmissions of one radio system affect at least one of receiver and transmit circuitry in the other radio system.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

one of the first or second radio systems including a plurality of front end transmit/receive modules wherein each of the plurality of front end transmit/receive modules is configured to be operable independent of other front end transmit/receive modules in the plurality of front end transmit/receive modules; and

when at least one of the front end transmit/receive modules of the plurality of front end transmit/receive modules is operable for transmitting, controlling operation of one or more of remaining front end transmit/receive modules of the plurality of front end transmit/receive modules to provide protection from the transmitting front end transmit/receive module or reduction of interference with the transmitting front end transmit/receive module.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein controlling the operation of the one or more of the remaining front end transmit/receive modules of the plurality of front end transmit/receive modules includes one of disabling or modifying operation of one of transmit or receiver circuitries in the one or more of the remaining front end transmit/receive modules.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

controlling a receiver circuitry in one of the first or second radio systems including an LNA in a power saving gain bypass mode through modifying or disabling operation of the LNA in the power saving gain bypass mode.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein controlling the receiver circuitry in one of the first or second radio systems further comprises:

at least one of the first and second radio systems including a plurality of low noise amplifiers (LNAs); and

selectively modifying operation of one or more of the plurality of LNAs.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein selectively modifying the operation of the one or more of the plurality of LNAs includes a combination of selectively reducing a gain of one or more of the plurality of LNAs and selectively changing a gain of one or more of the plurality of LNAs.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein selectively modifying the operation of the one or more of the plurality of LNAs is determined based on one or more of operation parameters of the first or second radio system, and a technology of the first or second radio system.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the control logic circuitry is configured to issue a signal to disable an LNA in the receiver circuitry of the second radio system when the first radio system issues a command to turn on a power amplifier (PA) in the transmit circuitry of the first radio system.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the control logic circuitry is configured to issue a signal to disable an LNA in a receiver circuitry of the first radio system when the second radio system issues a command to turn on a power amplifier (PA) in the transmit circuitry of the second radio system.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the control logic circuitry is configured to issue a signal to disable a power amplifier (PA) in the transmit circuitry of the second radio system when the first radio system issues a command to turn on a power amplifier (PA) in the transmit circuitry of the first radio system.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the control logic circuitry is configured to issue a signal to disable a power amplifier (PA) in the transmit circuitry of the first radio system when the second radio system issues a command to turn on a power amplifier (PA) in the transmit circuitry of the second radio system.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the control logic circuitry is configured to disable the transmit circuitry in the first and second radio systems when both the first radio system and the second radio system issue signals indicating that power amplifiers of the transmit circuitry be turned off.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the control logic circuitry is configured to turn off receiver circuitries in both the first and second radio systems when at least the transmit circuitry of the first radio system is turned on.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the first radio system is operable with a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) according to one of LTE-U technology, LTE, Licensed Assist Access (LAA) technology, enhanced LAA (eLAA) technology, E-UTRA Band 47, or 5G New Radio (NR) technology.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the second radio system is operable with a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) according to WiFi technology.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second radio systems are respectively communicatively coupled to one or more antennas in the wireless device through an antenna diversity switch.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

controlling one of transmit or receiver circuitry in at least one of the first and second radio systems with a transmit/receive (T/R) switching function to selectively disable a path from at least an antenna to a transmit or receiver circuitry.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein components of the first radio system may be utilized by the second radio system for at least one of transmitting or receiving RF signals;

and

controlling one of the first or second radio systems includes controlling components used in the first radio system by the second radio system or components used in the second radio system by the first radio system.

28. A wireless device operable with coexistent radio frequency (RF) first and second radio systems, the device comprising:

control logic circuitry configured to;

receive at least one turn on signal issued by a transceiver in the device to turn on at least a transmit circuitry of the first radio system; and

control at least one of a receiver circuitry or a transmit circuitry in the second radio system when the at least one turn on signal is issued to turn on at least the transmit circuitry of the first radio system.

29. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the control logic circuitry comprises one or more of logic gates, programmable logic devices (PLDs), or field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

30. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein controlling the at least one of the receiver circuitry or the transmit circuitry comprises modifying operation of at least one of the receiver circuitry or the transmit circuitry in the second radio system to at least one of:

(a) protect the receiver circuitry of the second radio system, or

(b) reduce interference from at least the transmit circuitry of the first radio system.

31. The wireless device of claim 30, wherein the control logic circuitry is further configured to trigger modification of operation of the receiver circuitry in the second radio system by disabling at least one low noise amplifier (LNA) in the second radio system by selectively bypassing the at least one LNA to protect the at least one LNA from transmissions from at least one of the first radio system or the second radio system.

32. The wireless device of claim 31, wherein selectively bypassing the at least one LNA includes coupling an input of the at least one LNA to ground.

33. The wireless device of claim 30, wherein modifying the operation of the receiver circuitry in the second radio system further comprises:

selectively reducing a gain of at least one low noise amplifier (LNA) in the second radio system.

34. The wireless device of claim 33, wherein selectively reducing the gain of the at least one LNA includes selectively switching between a plurality of gains.

35. The wireless device of claim 34, wherein selectively switching between the plurality of gains includes selecting an attenuation network from a plurality of attenuation networks having respective gain attenuations and coupling the attenuation network to the at least one LNA.

36. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the control logic circuitry is further configured to:

send a control signal responsive to the received at least one turn on signal to at least one of the transmit or a receiver circuitry in the first radio system to trigger modification of operation of the transmit or the receiver circuitry in the second radio system.

37. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the transmit circuitry of the first or second radio system comprises a power amplifier (PA).

38. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the first and second radio systems share a common frequency spectrum.

39. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the first and second radio systems are operable in respective frequency bands that are close in frequency such that transmissions of one radio system affect at least one of receiver and transmit circuitries in the other radio system.

40. The wireless device of claim 28, further comprising:

one of the first or second radio systems including a plurality of front end transmit/receive modules wherein each of the plurality of front end transmit/receive modules is configured to be operable independent of other front end transmit/receive modules in the plurality of front end transmit/receive modules,

wherein the control logic circuitry is further configured to when at least one of the front end transmit/receive modules of the plurality of front end transmit/receive modules is operable for transmitting, control operation of one or more of remaining front end transmit/receive modules of the plurality of front end transmit/receive modules to provide protection from the transmitting front end transmit/receive module or reduction of interference with the transmitting front end transmit/receive module.

41. The wireless device of claim 40, wherein controlling the operation of the one or more of the remaining front end transmit/receive modules of the plurality of front end transmit/receive modules includes one of disabling or modifying operation of one of transmit or receiver circuitries in the one or more of the remaining front end transmit/receive modules.

42. The wireless device of claim 40, wherein the control logic circuitry is further configured to

control a receiver circuitry in one of the first or second radio systems including an LNA in a power saving gain bypass mode through modifying or disabling operation of the LNA in the power saving gain bypass mode.

43. The wireless device of claim 42, wherein controlling the receiver circuitry in one of the first or second radio systems further comprises:

at least one of the first and second radio systems including a plurality of low noise amplifiers (LNAs); and

selectively modifying operation of one or more of the plurality of LNAs.

44. The wireless device of claim 43, wherein selectively modifying the operation of the one or more of the plurality of LNAs includes a combination of selectively reducing a gain of one or more of the plurality of LNAs and selectively changing a gain of one or more of the plurality of LNAs.

45. The wireless device of claim 43, wherein selectively modifying the operation of the one or more of the plurality of LNAs is determined based on one or more of operation parameters of the first or second radio system, and a technology of the first or second radio system.

46. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the control logic circuitry is further configured to issue a signal to disable an LNA in the receiver circuitry of the second radio system when the first radio system issues a command to turn on a power amplifier (PA) in the transmit circuitry of the first radio system.

47. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the control logic circuitry is further configured to issue a signal to disable an LNA in a receiver circuitry of the first radio system when the second radio system issues a command to turn on a power amplifier (PA) in the transmit circuitry of the second radio system.

48. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the control logic circuitry is further configured to issue a signal to disable a power amplifier (PA) in the transmit circuitry of the second radio system when the first radio system issues a command to turn on a power amplifier (PA) in the transmit circuitry of the first radio system.

49. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the control logic circuitry is further configured to issue a signal to disable a power amplifier (PA) in the transmit circuitry of the first radio system when the second radio system issues a command to turn on a power amplifier (PA) in the transmit circuitry of the second radio system.

50. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the control logic circuitry is further configured to disable the transmit circuitries in the first and second radio systems when both the first radio system and the second radio system receive signals indicating that power amplifiers of the transmit circuitries be turned off.

51. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the control logic circuitry is further configured to turn off receiver circuitries in both the first and second radio systems when at least the transmit circuitry of the first radio system is turned on.

52. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the first radio system is operable with a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) according to one of LTE-U technology, LTE, Licensed Assist Access (LAA) technology, enhanced LAA (eLAA) technology, E-UTRA Band 47, or 5G New Radio (NR) technology.

53. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the second radio system is operable with a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) according to WiFi technology.

54. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein at least one of the first and second radio systems are respectively communicatively coupled to one or more antennas in the wireless device through an antenna diversity switch.

55. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the control logic circuitry is distributed between at least two subsystems in the wireless device.

56. The wireless device of claim 28, wherein the control logic circuitry is integrated within a single subsystem within the wireless device.

57. A wireless device operable with coexistent radio frequency (RF) first and second radio systems, the device comprising:

means for receiving at least one turn on signal issued by a transceiver in the device to turn on at least a transmit circuitry of the first radio system; and

means for controlling at least one of a receiver circuitry or a transmit circuitry in the second radio system when the at least one turn on signal is issued to turn on at least the transmit circuitry of the first radio system.

58. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code comprising code for causing a computer to:

trigger a control logic circuitry configured to control at least one of a receiver circuitry or a transmit circuitry in a first radio system within a wireless device having multiple coexistent RF radio systems, wherein the trigger comprises at least one turn on signal issued to the control logic circuitry to turn on at least a transmit circuitry of a second radio system.

59. A method for controlling a wireless device including coexistent first and second radio systems, the method comprising:

controlling the first and second radio systems to avoid damage from each other during transmissions on at least one channel sharing a frequency spectrum between the first and second radio systems, wherein controlling the first or second radio system includes;

determining whether at least one of the first or second radio systems is transmitting on at least one channel by reading control messages or information messages sent between the first and second radio systems within the wireless device; and

based on the determination that one of the first or second radio system is transmitting or about to transmit, sending a notification message to at least one of the first radio system or the second radio system that is monitoring the at least one channel for requesting transmission on the at least one channel, the notification message configured to indicate that the other radio system is currently transmitting on the at least one channel.

60. The method of claim 59, further comprising:

suspending monitoring of the at least one channel for requesting transmission on the at least one channel in at least one of the first or second radio system based on the notification message.

61. The method of claim 60, further comprising:

resuming monitoring of the at least one channel after a predetermined time period.

62. The method of claim 60, further comprising:

resuming monitoring of the at least one channel after receipt in one of the first or second radio systems of a further notification message configured to indicate that the other radio system is no longer transmitting on the at least one channel.

63. The method of claim 59, further comprising:

receiving the notification message in the first radio system that allows the first radio system to know that the second radio system is about to transmit on the at least one channel; and

initiating a handshake synchronization between the first radio system and the second radio system for avoiding a conflict between the first and second radio systems.

64. The method of claim 59, further comprising modifying operation of a receive circuitry in the first radio system based on receipt of the notification message.

65. The method of claim 59, wherein the first radio system is operable with a wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) according to one of LTE-U technology, LTE, Licensed Assist Access (LAA) technology, enhanced LAA (eLAA) technology, E-UTRA Band 47, or 5G New Radio (NR) technology.

66. The method of claim 59, wherein the second radio system is operable with a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) according to WiFi technology.

67. A wireless device operable with coexistent radio frequency (RF) first and second radio systems, the device comprising:

processing circuitry configured to;

determine whether at least one of the first or second radio systems is transmitting on at least one channel by reading control messages or information messages sent between the first and second radio systems within the wireless device; and

based on the determination that one of the first or second radio system is transmitting or about to transmit, send a notification message to at least one of the first radio system or the second radio system that is monitoring the at least one channel for requesting transmission on the at least one channel, the notification message configured to indicate that the other radio system is currently transmitting on the at least one channel.

68. The wireless device of claim 67, further comprising:

at least first and second modem circuitry disposed respectively in the first and second radio systems, the modem circuitries configured to;

suspend monitoring of the at least one channel for requesting transmission on the at least one channel in at least one of the first or second radio system based on the notification message.

69. The wireless device of claim 68,

wherein the modem circuitries are further configured to resume monitoring of the at least one channel after a predetermined time period.

70. An apparatus for controlling a wireless device including coexistent first and second radio systems, the apparatus comprising:

means for determining whether at least one of the first or second radio systems is transmitting on at least one channel by reading control messages or information messages sent between the first and second radio systems within the wireless device; and

means for sending a notification message based on the determination that one of the first or second radio system is transmitting or about to transmit to at least one of the first radio system or the second radio system that is monitoring the at least one channel for requesting transmission on the at least one channel, the notification message configured to indicate that the other radio system is currently transmitting on the at least one channel.

71. The apparatus of claim 70, further comprising:

means for suspending monitoring of the at least one channel for requesting transmission on the at least one channel in at least one of the first or second radio system based on the notification message.

72. The apparatus of claim 71, further comprising:

means for resuming monitoring of the at least one channel after a predetermined time period.

73. The apparatus of claim 71, further comprising:

means for resuming monitoring of the at least one channel after receipt in one of the first or second radio systems of a further notification message configured to indicate that the other radio system is no longer transmitting on the at least one channel.

74. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code comprising code for causing a computer to:

control first and second coexistent radio systems in a wireless device to avoid damage from each other during transmissions on at least one channel sharing a frequency spectrum between the first and second radio systems, wherein controlling the first or second radio system includes;

determining whether at least one of the first or second radio systems is transmitting on at least one channel by reading control messages or information messages sent between the first and second radio systems within the wireless device; and

based on the determination that one of the first or second radio system is transmitting or about to transmit, sending a notification message to at least one of the first radio system or the second radio system that is monitoring the at least one channel for requesting transmission on the at least one channel, the notification message configured to indicate that the other radio system is currently transmitting on the at least one channel.

75. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 74, further comprising code for causing a computer to:

suspend monitoring of the at least one channel for requesting transmission on the at least one channel in at least one of the first or second radio system based on the notification message.