Method and apparatus for antenna tuning and power consumption management in a communication device

• US 9,941,910 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2016
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NXP USA, Inc. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Zhu, Lizhong, Caci, Joseph, Manssen, Keith R.
• Primary Examiner(s): CHAKRABORTY, RAJARSHI
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Wesley
• Application Number:
  US15/136,549
• Publication Number:
  US 20160241276A1
• Time in Patent Office: 718 Days
• Field of Search: 455 77
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/267 Phased-array testing or checking devices
• 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: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/14 Separate analysis of uplink or downlink
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/245 taking into account received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/30 using constraints in the total amount of available transmission power
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A system that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a controller that determines a radiated throughput for at least one of an uplink throughput or a downlink throughput of the communication device, reduces transmit power for the communication device responsive to the radiated throughput satisfying a predetermined throughput range, and tunes a matching network of the communication device responsive to the radiated throughput not satisfying the predetermined throughput range. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A mobile device, comprising:

a matching network in communication with an antenna and including an adjustable reactive element;

a memory storing computer instructions; and

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

retrieving a tuning value from a look-up table of the memory according to a search criteria, wherein the tuning value is indexed to the search criteria in the look-up table, wherein the tuning value is a setting for the adjustable reactive element, wherein the tuning value is empirical data that is pre-determined based on satisfying a threshold for at least one of a target total radiated power or a target total isotropic sensitivity;

adjusting a reactance of the adjustable reactive element to perform first impedance tuning by the matching network based on the tuning value;

determining a radiated throughput for at least one of an uplink or a downlink comprising the adjustable reactive element;

responsive to the radiated throughput satisfying a predetermined throughput range, reducing transmit power; and

responsive to the radiated throughput not satisfying the predetermined throughput range, adjusting the reactance of the adjustable reactive element to perform second impedance tuning by the matching network, wherein the second impedance tuning includes selecting the reactance of the adjustable reactive element to increase the radiated throughput to satisfy the predetermined throughput range.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the reactance is a capacitance of a voltage tunable capacitor operating as the adjustable reactive element, wherein the reducing of the transmit power setting is based on applying a pre-determined reduction step in an iterative process that repeats the applying of the pre-determined reduction step while maintaining the radiated throughput in the predetermined throughput range, and wherein the second impedance tuning comprises performing an iterative adjustment of the adjustable reactive element based on a comparison of the radiated throughput and a threshold of the predetermined throughput range to adjust the radiated throughput toward the predetermined throughput range.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the processor, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising:

tuning the matching network toward a pre-determined match prior to the first impedance tuning of the matching network based on the tuning value.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first or second impedance tunings is based on a comparison of a current figure of merit with a target figure of merit, wherein the target figure of merit is determined according to weightings applied to a plurality of desired performance metrics, wherein the search criteria comprises a use case of the mobile communication device, wherein the use case corresponds to at least one of a flip open state, a slider out state, a hand'"'"'s free operation state, hand-held operation state, ear-piece speaker operation state, or a speaker-phone operation state.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the reducing of the transmit power responsive to the radiated throughput satisfying the predetermined throughput range comprises performing an iterative process based on a pre-determined step size for the reducing of the transmit power, and wherein the iterative process comprises determining a received signal strength indicator.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the reducing of the transmit power responsive to the radiated throughput satisfying the predetermined throughput range comprises determining a received signal strength indicator and determining head room for a link budget.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the adjusting of the reactance of the adjustable reactive element to perform the second impedance tuning to increase the radiated throughput to satisfy the predetermined throughput range is performed without increasing the transmit power, wherein the adjustable reactive element comprises a voltage tunable capacitor, a semiconductor varactor, a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) varactor, a semiconductor switched capacitor, a MEMS switched capacitor, or a ferroelectric capacitor.

8. A method comprising:

adjusting, by a controller circuit of a communication device, an adjustable reactive element of the communication device to perform impedance tuning based on a tuning value that is a stored setting for the adjustable reactive element, wherein the tuning value is empirical data that is pre-determined based on satisfying a threshold for at least one of a target total radiated power or a target total isotropic sensitivity;

determining, by the controller circuit, a radiated throughput for at least one of an uplink throughput or a downlink throughput of the communication device;

responsive to a first determination that the radiated throughput satisfies a predetermined throughput range, reducing transmit power for the communication device according to incremental power reduction steps while monitoring whether a change to the radiated throughput continues to satisfy the predetermined throughput range; and

responsive to a second determination that the radiated throughput does not satisfy the predetermined throughput range, performing additional impedance tuning, by the controller circuit, wherein the additional impedance tuning increases the radiated throughput to satisfy the predetermined throughput range.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising:

selecting the tuning value based on a use case for the communication device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the use case corresponds to at least one of a flip open state, a slider out state, a hand'"'"'s free operation state, hand-held operation state, ear-piece speaker operation state, or a speaker-phone operation state.

11. The method of claim 9, comprising:

tuning a matching network that includes the adjustable reactive element towards a pre-determined match prior to the impedance tuning.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the reducing of the transmit power utilizes a pre-determined step size for the reducing of the transmit power.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the reducing of the transmit power responsive to the radiated throughput satisfying the predetermined throughput range comprises determining a received signal strength indicator and determining head room for a link budget.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the adjustable reactive element comprises a voltage tunable capacitor, a semiconductor varactor, a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) varactor, a semiconductor switched capacitor, a MEMS switched capacitor, or a ferroelectric capacitor.

15. The method of claim 8, comprising:

tuning a matching network including the adjustable reactive element towards a pre-determined match utilizing a closed-loop process prior to the impedance tuning.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein the additional impedance tuning comprises performing an iterative adjustment of the adjustable reactive element based on a comparison of the radiated throughput and the predetermined throughput range.

17. A mobile communication device, comprising:

a matching network in communication with an antenna and including an adjustable reactive element; and

a controller circuit coupled to the matching network, wherein the controller circuit, responsive to executing computer instructions, performs operations comprising;

adjusting the adjustable reactive element to perform first impedance tuning by the matching network based on a tuning value that is a stored setting for the adjustable reactive element, wherein the tuning value is empirical data that is pre-determined based on satisfying a threshold for at least one of a target total radiated power or a target total isotropic sensitivity;

responsive to a first determination that a radiated throughput satisfies a predetermined throughput range, adjusting transmit power; and

responsive to a second determination that the radiated throughput does not satisfy the predetermined throughput range, adjusting a reactance of the adjustable reactive element to perform second impedance tuning by the matching network, wherein the second impedance tuning increases the radiated throughput to satisfy the predetermined throughput range, wherein the first impedance tuning is according to a use case of the mobile communication device.

18. The mobile communication device of claim 17, wherein the controller circuit, responsive to executing computer instructions, performs operations comprising:

determining the radiated throughput for at least one of an uplink throughput or a downlink throughput.

19. The mobile communication device of claim 17, wherein the controller circuit, responsive to executing computer instructions, performs operations comprising:

determining the radiated throughput for an uplink throughput and a downlink throughput,

wherein the second impedance tuning comprises performing an iterative adjustment of the adjustable reactive element of the matching network based on a comparison of the radiated throughput and the predetermined throughput range.

20. The mobile communication device of claim 17, wherein the controller circuit, responsive to executing computer instructions, performs operations comprising:

performing an initial tuning by the matching network toward a pre-determined match prior to the first and second impedance tuning.