Method and apparatus for radio antenna frequency tuning

• US 9,698,858 B2
• Filed: 11/25/2015
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Manssen, Keith, Greene, Matthew Russell, Hoirup, Carsten
• Primary Examiner(s): HSIEH, PING Y
• Application Number:
  US14/951,946
• Publication Number:
  US 20160080026A1
• Time in Patent Office: 587 Days
• Field of Search: 455 6711, 455 77, 455 78, 455 82, 455 83, 455 84, 455 87, 455125, 4552341, 455333, 455120, 455121, 4551931, 4551932, 455230, 4552401, 455 69
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/242 specially adapted for hand-held use
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/14 Length of element or elements adjustable telescopic elements H01Q1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 7/40 Automatic matching of load impedance to source impedance
• 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 1/401 for selecting or indicating operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/26 using historical data, averaging values or statistics
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which can include computer instructions to determine a subset of use cases from a group of use cases stored in a memory of a communication device, and to determine a target use case from among the subset of use cases based on an operational parameter associated with a transceiver of the communication device. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing, by a system of a communication device, a memory that includes information representative of a group of use cases that are indexed in the memory according to usage conditions of the communication device, each of the group of use cases corresponding to a tuning state for tunable elements of an impedance matching circuit of the communication device;

selecting, by the system, a subset of use cases from the group of use cases based on a usage condition determined for the communication device;

applying, by the system, each tuning state of the subset of use cases to the tunable elements without applying non-selected use case of the group of use cases and measuring, by the system, a signal parameter for a signal at each tuning state to generate a group of signal parameters, wherein the signal parameter is associated with signal quality; and

selecting, by the system, a target use case from among the subset of use cases based on a desired signal parameter selected from among the group of signal parameters.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal parameter for the signal comprises a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) measurement.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating of the group of signal parameters comprises averaging parametric measurements for each tuning state.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising adjusting, by the system, a variable reactance of the tunable elements based on a corresponding tuning state of the target use case to tune the impedance matching circuit.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the tuning elements include a variable capacitance element.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the tuning elements include a group of inductors, and further comprising adjusting a switch coupled with the group of inductors based on a corresponding tuning state of the target use case to tune the impedance matching circuit.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the subset of use cases is applicable to all of the tunable elements of the impedance matching circuit of the communication device.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving, by the system, tuning information from a base station, wherein the selecting of the target use case is based on the tuning information.

9. A communication device comprising:

a transceiver;

an impedance matching circuit coupled with the transceiver;

a memory that stores computer instructions; and

a processor coupled with the memory and the impedance matching circuit, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising;

accessing information in the memory, wherein the information is representative of a group of use cases that are indexed in the memory according to usage conditions of the communication device, each of the group of use cases corresponding to a tuning state for tunable elements of an impedance matching circuit of the communication device;

selecting a subset of use cases from the group of use cases based on a usage condition determined for the communication device;

applying each tuning state of the subset of use cases to the tunable elements without applying non-selected use case of the group of use cases and measuring a signal parameter associated with a signal quality for a signal at each tuning state to generate a group of signal parameters; and

selecting a target use case from among the subset of use cases based on a desired signal parameter selected from among the group of signal parameters.

10. The communication device of claim 9, wherein generating of the group of signal parameters comprises averaging parametric measurements for each tuning state.

11. The communication device of claim 9, wherein the tuning elements include a group of inductors, and further comprising adjusting a switch coupled with the group of inductors based on a corresponding tuning state of the target use case to tune the impedance matching circuit.

12. The communication device of claim 11, wherein the impedance matching circuit includes a fixed reactance capacitor.

13. The communication device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving tuning information from a base station, wherein the selecting of the target use case is based on the tuning information.

14. The communication device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

adjusting a variable reactance of the tunable elements based on a corresponding tuning state of the target use case to tune the impedance matching circuit;

monitoring a different signal parameter that is of a different type than the measured signal parameter associated with signal quality; and

responsive to the different signal parameter not satisfying a threshold, selecting another subset of use cases from the group of use cases based on another usage condition determined for the communication device.

15. The communication device of claim 11, wherein the tuning elements include a variable capacitance element.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device comprising computer instructions which, responsive to being executed by a processor of a communication device, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

selecting a subset of use cases from a group of use cases based on a usage condition of the communication device, wherein the group of use cases applies to all variable reactance components of an impedance matching circuit of the communication device;

collecting parametric measurements associated with a transceiver of the communication device for each tuning state corresponding to each of the subset of use cases during the operation of the communication device, wherein the collecting of the parametric measurements comprises collecting multiple parametric measurements for each tuning state corresponding to each of the subset of use cases during the operation of the communication device without collecting any parametric measurements for non-selected use cases of the group of use cases, wherein the parametric measurements are associated with a signal quality;

selecting a target use case from among the subset of use cases based on the parametric measurements; and

tuning the impedance matching circuit of the communication device by adjusting one or more of the variable reactance component based on the target use case.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the selecting of the target use case from among the subset of use cases is based on an averaging of select ones of the multiple parametric measurements.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the parametric measurements are associated with a receive portion of the transceiver and are obtained during a receive mode of the communication device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the variable reactance component includes a group of inductors, and further comprising adjusting a switch coupled with the group of inductors based on a corresponding tuning state of the target use case to tune the impedance matching circuit.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 19, wherein the impedance matching circuit includes a fixed reactance capacitor.