阅读说明：本技术 用于多频带天线调谐的信道轮询 (Channel polling for multi-band antenna tuning ) 是由 蔡明贤 于 2017-04-17 设计创作，主要内容包括：在一个实施例中,公开了一种通信装置,该通信装置包括：耦接至天线的可调谐电路、调制解调器以及控制电路。调制解调器可轮询多个信道。每个信道与频带相关联。进一步地,调制解调器可记录与多个信道中的每个信道相关联的接收的信号强度指示(RSSI)值。而且,控制单元可确定多个信道中具有最高RSSI值的第一信道,并且控制可调谐电路基于该第一信道的频率调谐该天线。(In one embodiment, a communication apparatus is disclosed, the communication apparatus comprising: a tunable circuit coupled to the antenna, a modem, and a control circuit. The modem may poll multiple channels. Each channel is associated with a frequency band. Further, the modem may record Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) values associated with each of the plurality of channels. Also, the control unit may determine a first channel having a highest RSSI value among the plurality of channels, and control the tunable circuit to tune the antenna based on a frequency of the first channel.)

1. a communication device, comprising:

a tunable circuit coupled to the antenna;

A modem to:

polling a plurality of channels, each channel associated with a frequency band; and is

Recording Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) values associated with each of the plurality of channels; and

a control unit for:

Determining a first channel of the plurality of channels having a highest RSSI value; and is

Controlling the tunable circuit to tune the antenna based on the frequency of the first channel.

2. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the tunable circuit to match an operating frequency of the antenna to the frequency of the first channel.

3. the communication device of claim 1, wherein the control unit is to:

comparing the RSSI values associated with each of the plurality of channels to a threshold value;

determining a set of channels having RSSI values greater than the threshold; and

selecting the first channel from the set of channels having the highest RSSI value.

4. the communication apparatus of claim 3, wherein the modem dynamically updates the RSSI values associated with the first channel at time intervals.

5. The communication device of claim 4, wherein the control unit is to:

determining whether the updated RSSI value of the first channel is less than the threshold value; and is

Repeating the steps recited in claim 1 when the updated RSSI value for the first channel is less than the threshold value to determine a second channel having a highest RSSI value.

6. The communication device of claim 3, wherein the control unit is to: triggering the modem to initiate polling of the plurality of channels based on an area code parameter associated with the communication device when the RSSI value of each of the plurality of channels is less than a threshold value.

7. A method, comprising:

Enabling a modem to poll a plurality of channels, each channel associated with a frequency band;

obtaining Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) values associated with each of the plurality of channels;

comparing the RSSI values associated with each of the plurality of channels to a threshold value;

determining a first channel having the RSSI values greater than the threshold; and

A control signal is provided to tune an antenna of a communication device based on a frequency associated with the first channel.

8. the method of claim 7, wherein determining the first channel having the RSSI values greater than the threshold comprises:

determining the first channel of the plurality of channels having a highest RSSI value.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the RSSI values associated with the first channel are dynamically updated at time intervals.

10. The method of claim 9, comprising:

Determining whether the updated RSSI value of the first channel is less than the threshold value; and is

repeating the steps recited in claim 7 when the updated RSSI value for the first channel is less than the threshold value to determine a second channel for tuning the antenna.

11. The method of claim 7, comprising:

Enabling the modem to initiate polling of the plurality of channels based on an area code parameter associated with the communication device when the RSSI value for each of the plurality of channels is less than the threshold value.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

triggering the modem to poll a plurality of channels, each channel associated with a frequency band;

receiving, from the modem, a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) value associated with each of the plurality of channels;

Determining a first channel of the plurality of channels having a highest RSSI value; and

Adjusting a tunable circuit to tune an operating frequency of the antenna to a frequency of the first channel.

13. the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, comprising instructions to:

Instructing a control unit to adjust the tunable circuit to match the operating frequency of the antenna to the frequency of the first channel.

14. the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, comprising instructions to:

Dynamically receiving updated RSSI values for the first channel from the modem;

determining whether the updated RSSI value of the first channel is less than the threshold value; and

switching the operating frequency of the antenna when the updated RSSI value of the first channel is less than the threshold value.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein switching the operating frequency of the antenna comprises:

when the updated RSSI value for the first channel is less than the threshold, repeating the steps of claim 11 to determine a second channel and adjusting the tunable circuit to tune the operating frequency of the antenna to the frequency of the second channel.

Background

Wireless communication devices, such as mobile phones, may have antennas for transmitting and receiving signals. For signal transmission, a communication device may transmit a Radio Frequency (RF) signal through an antenna to a base station. For signal reception, the communication device may receive the RF signal through the antenna to recover the data transmitted by the base station.

drawings

embodiments are described in the following detailed description with reference to the drawings, in which:

fig. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary communication device including a control unit for antenna tuning;

FIG. 2 is another block diagram of the exemplary communication device shown in FIG. 1, including additional components;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary diagram illustrating a communication device having an antenna tuned to match one of the frequency bands;

Fig. 4A illustrates a table depicting exemplary RSSI values for each channel associated with the frequency bands shown in fig. 3;

fig. 4B illustrates a table depicting exemplary updated RSSI values for a first channel selected for communicating signals to/from a communication device;

Fig. 5 depicts an exemplary flow diagram for tuning a multi-band antenna; and

fig. 6 depicts an exemplary block diagram illustrating a non-transitory computer-readable medium for tuning a multi-band antenna.

Detailed Description

A wireless communication device may transmit and/or receive RF signals using an antenna. Exemplary antennas may be "multi-band antennas" and/or "multi-antennas" that support multiple frequency bands. Each frequency band may include a range of frequencies corresponding to a set of RF channels. Exemplary frequency bands may include global system for mobile communications (GSM) frequency bands, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) frequency bands, Long Term Evolution (LTE) frequency bands, and so forth. The communication device may communicate with the base station using one of the RF channels. To access an RF channel within a frequency band, an antenna may be tuned to match the operating frequency of the RF channel.

When a signal is communicated over an RF channel, channel interference may be detected that may cause a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) value of the RF channel to fall below an acceptable level. The term "RSSI value" may refer to a numerical value or measurement that represents a transmit power level associated with the channel. In this case, the communication device may switch operation or request to switch operation to another RF channel. However, the new RF channel may not be able to support transmissions at higher power levels as the previous channel, which may result in the communication device losing connectivity.

Further, in order to access a new RF channel, the antenna may need to be retuned to the operating frequency of the new RF channel. However, tunable antenna schemes (i.e., tuning/retuning) may involve complex physical layer support, which may require significant effort for development/deployment of modem applications. In some cases, non-mobile manufacturing may be avoided using such tunable antenna schemes.

Embodiments described herein may provide a communication device for performing channel polling for tuning a multi-band antenna. The communication device may include an antenna, a tunable circuit coupled to the antenna, a modem, and a control unit. The modem may poll multiple channels. Each channel is associated with a frequency band. Further, the modem may record RSSI values associated with each channel. Also, the control unit may determine a first channel having a highest RSSI value among the channels, and control the tunable circuit to tune the antenna based on a frequency of the first channel. Embodiments described herein may eliminate the need for antenna tuning for modem applications (e.g., client applications) on a modem card.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary communication device 100. Exemplary communication devices 100 may include mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, Personal Computers (PCs), and the like. Further, the communication device 100 may support communication capabilities provided by one of the following: a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC), a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), an Internet protocol multimedia services identity module (I-SIM), a removable subscriber identity module (R-UIM), a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) subscriber identity module (CSIM), and/or a Willcom-SIM (W-SIM).

as shown in fig. 1, communication device 100 may include a modem 102, a control unit 104, an antenna 108, and a tunable circuit 106 coupled to antenna 108. The tunable circuit 106 may be used to tune the antenna 108 for operation in different frequency bands, such as GSM bands, UMTS bands, LTE bands, and the like. For example, modem 102 may be a transceiver that can transmit and receive data. During operation, modem 102 may poll a plurality of channels, each channel associated with a frequency band. The term "polling" may refer to channel polling that is performed to check the activity/availability of each channel before initiating reception/transmission over the channel. For example, channel polling may use a Low Power Listening (LPL) scheme to poll for channel activity without transmitting/receiving data. In one embodiment, control unit 104 may trigger modem 102 to initiate a poll for the channel. Further, the modem 102 may record RSSI values associated with each channel in response to channel polling.

in operation, the control unit 104 may receive RSSI values associated with a channel from the modem 102 over a communication interface (e.g., a Universal Serial Bus (USB)). Further, the control unit 104 may determine a first channel having a highest RSSI value among the plurality of channels. In an embodiment, control unit 104 may compare the RSSI value associated with each channel to a threshold value. The threshold may be an acceptable RSSI value operable to communicate a signal over the channel. Exemplary RSSI values may be measured in decibels (dB). In one embodiment, the threshold may be variably set depending on the type of communication (e.g., voice communication, data communication, etc.).

Further, control unit 104 may determine a set of channels having RSSI values greater than the threshold. Also, the control unit 104 may select the first channel having the highest RSSI value from the set of channels. Furthermore, control unit 104 may control tunable circuitry 106 to tune antenna 108 based on the frequency of the first channel. In an embodiment, control unit 104 may control tunable circuit 106 to match the operating frequency of antenna 108 to the frequency of the first channel. After tuning the antenna 108 to the frequency of the first channel, the modem 102 may dynamically update the RSSI value associated with the first channel at time intervals (e.g., periodic time intervals).

In one embodiment, control unit 104 may determine whether the updated RSSI value for the first channel is less than the threshold value. When the updated RSSI value for the first channel is less than the threshold value, control unit 104 may enable modem 102 to repeat the steps of polling the channel and recording the RSSI value associated with the channel. Further, control unit 104 may determine the second channel having the highest RSSI value from among the currently recorded RSSI values associated with the channels. Also, control unit 104 may control tunable circuitry 106 to tune antenna 108 based on the frequency of the second channel. The process performed by the control unit 104 is explained in detail in fig. 3, 4A, and 4B.

In another embodiment, the control unit 104 may trigger the modem 102 to initiate polling of the channels based on the area code parameters associated with the communication device 100 when the RSSI value of each channel is less than the threshold value. For example, the control unit 104 may be implemented as part of a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or may be implemented as a separate unit coupled to the CPU via a communication interface (e.g., USB) (as shown in fig. 2).

fig. 2 is another block diagram of the exemplary communication device 100 of fig. 1, including additional components. As shown in fig. 2, the communication device 100 may include a CPU208, the CPU208 being communicatively connected to the control unit 104. The exemplary control unit 104 may be an embedded controller that may automatically trigger channel polling; or may be a keyboard controller that may trigger channel polling upon receiving a user input command.

CPU208 or control unit 104 may trigger modem 102 to poll multiple channels. As shown in fig. 2, modem 102 may include a front end module 202 and a baseband processor 204. The front end module 202 may include a switch to operate the antenna 108 in either a transmit mode or a receive mode when channel polling is triggered. In some embodiments, front-end module 202 may also include components required for processing signals at the original input radio frequency, such as filters, low noise amplifiers, and/or down-conversion mixers, before converting the signals to a lower Intermediate Frequency (IF). The baseband processor 204 may comprise logic, circuitry, and/or code that may be enabled during transmit or receive to process baseband signals.

In operation, the baseband processor 204 may request a channel for communication. Further, the baseband processor 204 may receive RSSI values associated with channels in each frequency band in response to the polling. In operation, further, the CPU208 may obtain RSSI values associated with the channels from the baseband processor 204 via the first communication interface. Further, the CPU208 may determine a channel having the highest RSSI value using the obtained RSSI values. Also, the CPU208 may instruct the control unit 104 to tune the antenna 108 using the determined frequency of the channel through the second communication interface.

Control unit 104 may control tunable circuit 106 to match the operating frequency of antenna 108 to the frequency of the determined channel. In an embodiment, control unit 104 may provide control signals to tunable circuitry 106 through processing unit 206. Exemplary processing unit 206 may include a digital-to-analog converter that receives a digital signal (i.e., a control signal) from control unit 104 and provides an equivalent analog signal to tunable circuit 106 for tuning antenna 108.

The control unit 104 may comprise, for example, a hardware device including circuitry for implementing the functions described herein. Additionally or alternatively, the control unit 104 may be embodied as a series of instructions encoded on a machine-readable storage medium of the communication device 100 and executable by a processor. In the embodiments described herein, the processor may comprise, for example, a processor or processors contained in a single device or distributed among multiple devices. It should be noted that in some embodiments, some modules are implemented as hardware devices, while other modules are implemented as executable instructions.

fig. 3 is an exemplary diagram 300 illustrating a communication device 302 having an antenna tuned to match one of a plurality of frequency bands 306 and 310. Fig. 4A illustrates a table 400A depicting exemplary RSSI values for channels 1-6 associated with each frequency band 306-310. As shown in fig. 3, a wireless access point 304 (e.g., a base station) may communicate with a communication device 302 (e.g., a tablet having SIM capabilities for voice/data communications) using one of frequency bands 306 and 310.

As shown in fig. 4A, frequency bands 306-310 may include associated channels 1-6 having different power levels (i.e., RSSI values as shown in fig. 4A) corresponding to communication device 302. Exemplary channels 1-6 may include RSSI values that may vary between 0dB to-150 dB. For this embodiment, the threshold is assumed to be-100 dB, which is an acceptable RSSI value for a signal transmitted over the channel. In this case, channels with RSSI values above-100 dB and near 0dB may deliver signals at higher power levels, while channels with RSSI values below-100 dB may deliver signals at lower power levels. To initiate transmission/reception between the communication device 302 and the access point 304 over a channel, the control unit of the communication device 302 may perform the following:

I. Triggering the modems to poll channels 1-6 associated with the respective frequency bands 306-310;

Receiving RSSI values associated with channels 1-6 from the modem;

compare RSSI values associated with channels 1-6 to a threshold (i.e., -100 dB);

determining channels 3-6 having RSSI values greater than the threshold;

V. determine channel 4 with the highest RSSI value (e.g., -70dB) among channels 3-6;

Adjust the tunable circuit to tune the operating frequency of the antenna to the frequency of channel 4.

Further, as shown in table 400B in fig. 4B, the modem may dynamically update the RSSI values associated with channel 4 at time intervals (T0-T4). Assuming that at time interval T4, interference cloud 312 may degrade the RSSI value of channel 4, in this case, the control unit may perform a channel switching operation as follows:

I. Determining whether the updated RSSI value for channel 4 is less than a threshold (i.e., -100 dB);

when the RSSI value of channel 4 falls below a threshold (e.g., at time interval T4), triggering the modem to perform channel polling;

enabling the modem to receive RSSI values associated with each of the polled channels 1-6 (e.g., at/after time interval T4/T4);

Determine a new channel (e.g., at/after time interval T4/T4) having a highest RSSI value above the threshold using RSSI values associated with the polled channels 1-6;

V. adjusting the tunable circuit to tune the operating frequency of the antenna to the frequency of the new channel.

further, for the foregoing embodiment, it is assumed that the communication device 302 loses coverage (i.e., during roaming) of a Full Band Scan (FBS) of the supported frequency band. Thus, the RSSI value associated with the frequency band is low compared to the threshold value. In this case, the communication device 302 may trigger the modem to poll the channel based on the area code parameter associated with the communication device 302. Exemplary region code parameters may be associated with the UIM/SIM of communication device 302. In an embodiment, frequency ranges associated with base stations in a geographic area in which the communication device 302 is located may be polled based on an area code parameter indicating the geographic area.

fig. 5 depicts an exemplary flow diagram 500 for tuning a multi-band antenna. It should be understood that the process depicted in fig. 5 represents a broad illustration, that other processes may be added, or that existing processes may be removed, modified or rearranged without departing from the scope and spirit of the present application. Further, it should be understood that the processes may represent instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium, which when executed, may cause a processor to respond, perform an action, change state, and/or make a decision. Alternatively, the processes may represent functions and/or acts performed by functionally equivalent circuits such as analog circuits, digital signal processing circuits, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or other hardware components associated with the systems. Moreover, the flow diagrams are not intended to limit embodiments of the application, but rather illustrate functional information that may be used to design/fabricate circuits, generate software, or use a combination of hardware and software to perform the illustrated processes.

At 502, a modem may be enabled to poll a plurality of channels, each of which may be associated with a frequency band in an embodiment. At 504, RSSI values associated with each channel may be obtained. At 506, the RSSI values associated with each channel may be compared to a threshold. At 508, a first channel having an RSSI value greater than a threshold may be determined. In one embodiment, the first channel of the channels having the highest RSSI value may be determined. At 510, a control signal may be provided to tune an antenna of a communication device based on a frequency associated with a first channel.

further, the RSSI value associated with the first channel may be dynamically updated over a time interval. Also, a check may be made to determine whether the updated RSSI value for the first channel is less than the threshold value. When the updated RSSI value for the first channel is not less than the threshold, the antenna may be operated based on the frequency associated with the first channel. When the updated RSSI value for the first channel is less than the threshold, the steps 502 and 510 may be repeated to determine a second channel for tuning the antenna.

when the RSSI value for each channel is less than the threshold, the modem may be enabled to initiate polling of the channels based on the area code parameters associated with the communication device.

Fig. 6 depicts a block diagram of a computing device 600 for tuning a multi-band antenna. Computing device 600 (e.g., communication device 100 as shown in fig. 1 and 2) may include a processor 602 and a machine-readable storage medium 604 communicatively coupled by a system bus. The processor 602 may be any type of Central Processing Unit (CPU), microprocessor, or processing logic that interprets and executes machine-readable instructions stored in a machine-readable storage medium 604. The machine-readable storage medium 604 may be a Random Access Memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that may store information and machine-readable instructions that may be executed by the processor 602. For example, the machine-readable storage medium 604 may be Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), Double Data Rate (DDR), Rambus DRAM (RDRAM), Rambus RAM, etc., or a storage memory medium such as a floppy disk, hard disk, CD-ROM, DVD, flash drive, etc. In an embodiment, the machine-readable storage medium 604 may be a non-transitory machine-readable medium. In an embodiment, the machine-readable storage medium 604 may be remote but accessible by the computing device 600.

Machine-readable storage medium 604 may store instructions 606-612. In an embodiment, the instructions 606-612 may be executable by the processor 602 to tune a multi-band antenna. The instructions 606 may be executable by the processor 602 to trigger the modem to poll channels, each channel associated with a frequency band. The instructions 608 may be executable by the processor 602 to receive RSSI values associated with each channel from the modem.

the instructions 610 may be executable by the processor 602 to determine a first channel of the channels having a highest RSSI value. The instructions 612 are executable by the processor 602 to adjust the tunable circuit to tune the operating frequency of the antenna to the frequency of the first channel. In an embodiment, the control unit may be instructed to adjust the tunable circuit to match the operating frequency of the antenna to the frequency of the first channel.

Further, the updated RSSI value for the first channel may be dynamically received from the modem. Also, a check may be made to determine whether the updated RSSI value for the first channel is less than a threshold value. When the updated RSSI value of the first channel is less than the threshold, the operating frequency of the antenna may be switched. In one embodiment, the operating frequency of the antenna may be switched by repeating the steps of channel polling and RSSI value logging to determine the second channel. Further, when the updated RSSI value for the first channel is less than the threshold, the control unit may be instructed to adjust the tunable circuit to tune the operating frequency of the antenna to the frequency of the second channel.

it should be noted that the above-described embodiments of the present solution are for illustrative purposes only. Although this solution has been described in connection with specific embodiments thereof, numerous modifications are possible without materially departing from the teachings and advantages of the inventive subject matter described herein. Other substitutions, modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the present solution. All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive.

The terms "comprising," having, "and variations thereof, as used herein, have the same meaning as the terms" free of or appropriate variations thereof. Also, as used herein, the term "based on" means "based, at least in part, on". Thus, features described as being based on some stimuli may be based on the stimuli or on a combination of stimuli that includes the stimuli.

The present description has been shown and described with reference to the foregoing embodiments. It should be understood, however, that other forms, details, and embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventive subject matter as defined in the appended claims.