Near field communication device, electronic system having the same and method of controlling power in near field communication device

• US 9,538,314 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2014
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Song, Il-Jong, Kim, Jun-Ho, Yoon, Chol-Su, Lee, Byeong-Hoon
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsvey, Gennadiy
• Application Number:
  US14/482,034
• Publication Number:
  US 20150079903A1
• Time in Patent Office: 846 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10217 parameter settings controlling the transmission power of the interrogator
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/24 Inductive coupling
• 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 52/0241 where no transmission is received, e.g. out of range of the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0245 according to signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A near field communication (NFC) device includes a resonance unit and an NFC chip. The resonance unit emits an electromagnetic wave to communicate data with an external NFC card in a reader mode. The NFC chip estimates a distance between the resonance unit and the external NFC card based on an antenna voltage generated by the resonance unit while the resonance unit emits the electromagnetic wave, and adjusts a magnitude of the electromagnetic wave based on the estimated distance.

Claims

1. A near field communication (NFC) device, comprising:

a resonance unit configured to emit an electromagnetic wave to communicate data with an external card in a reader mode; and

an NFC chip configured to estimate a distance between the NFC device and the external card based on an antenna voltage generated by the resonance unit while the resonance unit emits the electromagnetic wave, and configured to adjust a magnitude of the electromagnetic wave based on the estimated distance,

wherein the NFC chip is configured to provide an output current to the resonance unit, the resonance unit is configured to emit the electromagnetic wave, wherein the magnitude of the electromagnetic wave corresponds to the output current, and the NFC chip is configured to measure the antenna voltage while the resonance unit emits electromagnetic wave and adjust a magnitude of the output current based on a magnitude of the antenna voltage,

wherein the NFC chip comprises;

a transmit unit configured to provide the output current to the resonance unit through a transmission electrode, wherein the magnitude of the output current corresponds to a power control signal;

a distance estimation unit configured to receive the antenna voltage from the resonance unit through a power electrode, and configured to convert the antenna voltage to a digital value; and

a central processing unit (CPU) configured to detect whether the external card is near the resonance unit based on the digital value, and configured to generate the power control signal based on the digital value in response to the external card being detected near the resonance unit,

wherein the transmit unit comprises;

a voltage generation unit configured to generate a transmission supply voltage based on a first power control signal, wherein the power control signal includes the first power control signal and a second power control signal;

first through n-th pull-up transistors coupled in parallel between the transmission supply voltage and the transmission electrode, wherein n is an integer equal to or greater than two;

first through n-th pull-down transistors coupled in parallel between a ground voltage and the transmission electrode; and

a driving unit configured to select k pull-up transistors and k pull-down transistors from among the first through n-th pull-up transistors and the first through n-th pull-down transistors based on the second power control signal,

wherein the driving unit is further configured to turn off the first through n-th pull-down transistors and unselected (n-k) pull-up transistors and turn on the selected k pull-up transistors, or turn off the first through n-th pull-up transistors and the unselected (n-k) pull-down transistors and turn on the selected k pull-down transistors based on output data, wherein k is a positive integer equal to or less than n.

2. The NFC device of claim 1, wherein the resonance unit is configured to generate the antenna voltage through a mutual induction with the external card while the resonance unit emits the electromagnetic wave.

3. The NFC device of claim 1, wherein the NFC chip is configured to decrease the magnitude of the output current in response to the magnitude of the antenna voltage decreasing, and increase the magnitude of the output current in response to the magnitude of the antenna voltage increasing.

4. The NFC device of claim 1, wherein the NFC chip is configured to measure the antenna voltage while the NFC chip periodically provides the output current to the resonance unit, and detect whether the external card is near the resonance unit based on a decrease amount of the antenna voltage.

5. The NFC device of claim 1, wherein the transmit unit is configured to periodically provide the output current to the resonance unit through the transmission electrode, the distance estimation unit is configured to convert the antenna voltage received from the resonance unit through the power electrode to the digital value while the resonance unit emits the electromagnetic wave, and the CPU is configured to determine that the external card is detected near the resonance unit in response to a voltage corresponding to the digital value being lower than a standard voltage by at least a threshold voltage.

6. The NFC device of claim 5, wherein the transmit unit is configured to continuously provide the output current to the resonance unit, the distance estimation unit is configured to periodically convert the antenna voltage to the digital value, and the CPU is configured to adjust a magnitude of the power control signal based on the digital value while the external card is detected as being near the resonance unit.

7. The NFC device of claim 1, wherein the CPU is configured to decrease the power control signal in response to the digital value decreasing, and increase the power control signal in response to the digital value increasing, and

wherein the voltage generation unit is configured to decrease the transmission supply voltage in response to the power control signal decreasing, and increase the transmission supply voltage in response to the power control signal increasing.

8. The NFC device of claim 1, wherein the CPU is configured to decrease the power control signal in response to the digital value decreasing, and increase the power control signal in response to the digital value increasing, and

wherein the driving unit is configured to decrease a number of the selected pull-up transistors and a number of the selected pull-down transistors in response to the power control signal decreasing, and increase the number of the selected pull-up transistors and the number of the selected pull-down transistors in response to the power control signal increasing.

9. The NFC device of claim 1, wherein the CPU is configured to decrease at least one of the first power control signal and the second power control signal in response to the digital value decreasing, and increase at least one of the first power control signal and the second power control signal in response to the digital value increasing,

wherein the voltage generation unit is configured to decrease the transmission supply voltage in response to the first power control signal decreasing, and increase the transmission supply voltage in response to the first power control signal increasing, and

wherein the driving unit is configured to decrease a number of the selected pull-up transistors and a number of the selected pull-down transistors in response to the second power control signal decreasing, and increase the number of the selected pull-up transistors and the number of the selected pull-clown transistors in response to the second power control signal increasing.

10. The NFC device of claim 1, wherein the distance estimation unit comprises:

a sensing unit configured to generate a direct voltage proportional to the magnitude of the antenna voltage and a gain signal; and

an analog-to-digital conversion unit configured to generate the digital value by performing an analog-to-digital conversion process on the direct voltage.

11. The NFC device of claim 10, wherein the CPU is configured to provide the gain signal having a first value to the sensing unit in the reader mode, and provide the gain signal having a second value greater than the first value to the sensing unit in a card mode.

12. The NFC device of claim 10, wherein the analog-to-digital conversion unit comprises:

a counting unit configured to generate a counting value by performing an up-counting operation;

a scanning voltage generation unit configured to generate a scanning voltage sequentially increasing based on the counting value;

a comparator configured to output a comparison signal having a first logic level while the direct voltage is greater than the scanning voltage, and a second logic level while the direct voltage is equal to or less than the scanning voltage; and

a latch unit configured to store the counting value as the digital value in response to a transition of the comparison signal.

13. An electronic system, comprising:

a near field communication (NFC) device configured to communicate with an external device through NFC;

a memory device configured to store output data and input data; and

an application processor configured to control operations of the NFC device and the memory device,

wherein the NFC device comprises;

a resonance unit configured to emit an electromagnetic wave to transmit the output data to the external device and to receive the input data from the external device in a reader mode; and

an NFC chip configured to estimate a distance between the resonance unit and the external device based on an antenna voltage generated by the resonance unit while the resonance unit emits the electromagnetic wave, and configured to adjust a magnitude of the electromagnetic wave based on the estimated distance,

wherein the NFC chip is configured to provide an output current to resonance unit, the resonance unit is configured to emit the electromagnetic wave wherein the magnitude of the electromagnetic wave corresponds to the output current, and the NFC chip is configured to measure the antenna voltage while the resonance unit emits the electromagnetic wave and adjust a magnitude of the output current based on a magnitude of the antenna voltage,

wherein the NFC chip comprises;

a transmit unit configured to provide the output current to the resonance unit through a transmission electrode, wherein the magnitude of the output current corresponds to a power control signal;

a distance estimation unit configured to receive the antenna voltage from the resonance unit through a power electrode, and configured to convert the antenna voltage to a digital value; and

a central processing unit (CPU) configured to detect whether the external device is near the resonance unit based on the digital value, and configured to generate the power control signal based on the digital value in response to the external device being detected near the resonance unit,

wherein the transmit unit comprises;

a voltage generation unit configured to generate a transmission supply voltage based on a first power control signal, wherein the power control signal includes the first power control signal and a second power control signal;

first through n-th pull-up transistors coupled in parallel between the transmission supply voltage and the transmission electrode, wherein n is an integer equal to or greater than two;

first through n-th pull-down transistors coupled in parallel between the ground voltage and the transmission electrode; and

a driving unit configured to select k pull-up transistors and k pull-down transistors from among the first through n-th pull-up transistors and the first through n-th pull-down transistors based on the second power control signal,

wherein the driving unit is further configured to turn off the first through n-th pull-down transistors and unselected (n-k) pull-up transistors and turn on the selected k pull-up transistors, or turn off the first through n-th pull-up transistors and the unselected (n-k) pull-down transistors and turn on the selected k pull-down transistors based on output data, wherein k is a positive integer equal to or less than n.

14. The electronic system of claim 13, wherein the resonance unit is configured to generate the antenna voltage through a mutual induction with the external device while the resonance unit emits the electromagnetic wave.