Patent Application
20160276748
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present disclosure relates generally to antenna apparatus for use in electronic devices such as wireless or portable radio devices, and more particularly in one exemplary aspect to MIMO and carrier aggregation antenna apparatus and methods of using the same.
Internal antennas are commonly found in most modern radio devices, such as mobile computers, tablets, mobile phones, Blackberry® devices, smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), or other personal communication devices (PCD). Typically, these antennas comprise a planar radiating plane and a ground plane parallel thereto, which are connected to each other by a short-circuit conductor in order to achieve the matching of the antenna. The structure is configured such that it functions as a resonator at the desired operating frequency. It is also a common requirement that the antenna operate in more than one frequency band (such as dual-band, tri-band, or quad-band mobile phones), in which case two or more resonators are used.
Due to an increasing demand for mobile data, portable communication devices often require operation at ever increasing data rates. To achieve these increasing data rates it is necessary to increase the transmission bandwidths over those that can be supported by a single carrier or channel. Some wireless communications standards (e.g., Long Term Evolution LTE-Advanced (LTE-A)) enable operation of mobile devices in a carrier aggregation (CA) mode, wherein two or more component carriers (e.g., channels with individual bandwidths of up to 20 MHz) may be combined into a single virtual channel of an increased bandwidth thereby increasing maximum available data rate for mobile radio transmissions. Simultaneous operation on multiple channels may require placement of multiple antennas within a mobile device. At the same time users often prefer slimmer and/or smaller devices that may limit internal volume available for placement of internal antennas.
Accordingly, there is a salient need for a wireless solution for e.g., a portable radio device with a small form factor body and/or chassis that offers lower cost and complexity over prior art designs, and provides for space-efficient antenna apparatus implementations supporting simultaneous operation at multiple frequency bands, and methods for using the same.
The present disclosure satisfies the foregoing needs by providing, inter alia, improved antenna apparatus for use in electronic devices such as wireless or portable radio devices, and more particularly in one exemplary aspect to MIMO and carrier aggregation antenna apparatus and methods of using the same.
In a first aspect, an antenna apparatus is disclosed. In one embodiment, the antenna apparatus includes: first, second and third radiator elements; a tuning component configured to tune individual ones of the first, second and third radiator elements operate in a respective frequency band; and a switching component configured to electrically combine the first and the second antenna radiator elements to produce a combined radiator component; the first and the second antenna radiator elements are configured to operate using a first and a second carrier characterized by first and second bandwidth; the combined radiator component is configured to perform communication using a third radio frequency carrier characterized by third bandwidth; and the third bandwidth comprises a sum of the first and the second bandwidths.
In one variant, the tuning component is configured to tune the first and the second radiator elements to operate in a first frequency band; and the first and the second carrier are configured within the first frequency band.
In another variant, the respective frequency band comprises one of a lower frequency band selected in a range between 600 MHz and 960 MHz and an upper frequency band selected in a range between 1700 MHz and 2700 MHz; and the first frequency band comprises one of the lower or upper frequency band.
In another variant, the first bandwidth is configured to occupy a frequency range adjacent to frequency range corresponding to the second bandwidth so that the third bandwidth comprises a contiguous frequency range.
In yet another variant, the first bandwidth is configured to occupy a frequency range spaced apart from frequency range corresponding to the second bandwidth so that the third bandwidth comprises a frequency range comprising a gap of frequency that is unused by the combined radiator component.
In another variant, the tuning component configured to tune the first radiator elements to operate in a first frequency band and the second radiator elements to operate in a second frequency band; and operation of the combined radiator component comprises receiving radio waves in the first frequency band contemporaneous with receiving radio waves in the second frequency band; the receiving the radio waves in the first frequency band is effectuated by the first radiator element; and the receiving the radio waves in the second frequency band is effectuated by the second radiator element.
In a second aspect, a mobile wireless communications device is disclosed. In one embodiment, the mobile wireless device includes: a transceiver component; a multi-element antenna apparatus operably coupled to the transceiver; and a logic component coupled to the transceiver, the logic component operable to: detect interference associated with communicating data via a first antenna element of the multi-element antenna apparatus; and direct the transceiver to switch the communication to a second antenna element of the multi-element antenna apparatus; the first antenna element is configured to transmit and receive data at a first carrier within a frequency band; and the second antenna element is configured only to receive data at the first carrier.
In one variant, the mobile communications device includes: an electronics board comprising the logic component; and an enclosure housing the electronics board and the transceiver component; the enclosure is characterized by a rectangular shape comprising a top edge and a bottom edge; and the interference determination is configured based on analysis of strength of signal received by the first antenna element at the first carrier.
In another variant, the first and the second antenna elements are disposed proximate the bottom edge; and the third antenna elements is disposed proximate the top edge, the disposition proximity being configured based on a distance between a most proximate point of a given antenna elements to a respective edge being smaller than lateral extent of the given antenna elements.
In a third aspect, a method for configuring an antenna apparatus of a mobile wireless device to communicate in a carrier aggregation mode is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes configuring a first, a second and a third antenna elements to operate in a first or a second frequency bands, frequencies within the first frequency band being separated from frequencies within the second frequency band by a range of frequencies at least the first bandwidth of the first band; coupling individual ones of the first, second and third antenna elements to a switching component; configuring the switching component to electrically combine the first and the second antenna elements to produce a combined component; the first and the second antenna radiator elements are configured to operate using a first and a second carrier characterized by first and second bandwidth; the combined radiator component is configured to perform communication using a third radio frequency carrier characterized by third bandwidth; and the third bandwidth comprises a sum of the first and the second bandwidths.
In one variant, the act of combining is configured to occur based on a receipt of an indication by the mobile device for operation in a carrier aggregation mode; and the carrier aggregation mode comprises an intra-band carrier aggregation mode configured to place the first and the second carrier into a given band of the a first or a second frequency bands.
In another variant, the intra-band aggregation mode comprises a contiguous carrier aggregation model; and the first bandwidth is configured to occupy a frequency range adjacent to frequency range corresponding to the second bandwidth so that the third bandwidth comprises a contiguous frequency range.
In another variant, the intra-band aggregation mode comprises a non-contiguous carrier aggregation model; and the first bandwidth is configured to occupy a frequency range spaced from frequency range corresponding to the second bandwidth.
In another variant, the combined antenna component is configured to communicate via first carrier and the second carrier information related to a data session associated with the mobile device; and the third antenna element is configured to communicate, via a third carrier, information related to a voice session associated with the mobile device, the voice information communication configured to occur contemporaneous with the data information communication.
In a further variant, the first antenna element is configured to operate in the first frequency band; the second antenna element is configured to operate in the second frequency band, the second frequency band being spaced from the first frequency band by at least half of frequency extent of the first frequency band; and the carrier aggregation mode comprises an inter-band carrier aggregation mode configured to place the first carrier into one of the first or the second frequency bands and the second carrier into the other one of the first or the second frequency bands.
In yet another variant, the first carrier is configured to communicate information related to a data session associated with the mobile device; and the second carrier is configured to communicate information related to a voice session associated with the mobile device, the voice information communication configured to occur contemporaneous with the data information communication.
In a fourth aspect, a method for configuring a mobile wireless device is disclosed.
Further features of the present disclosure, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.
The features, objectives, and advantages of the disclosure will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:
All Figures disclosed herein are © Copyright 2014-15 Pulse Finland Oy. All rights reserved.
Reference is now made to the drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.
As used herein, the terms “antenna,” “antenna system,” “antenna assembly”, and “multiband antenna” refer without limitation to any system that incorporates a single element, multiple elements, or one or more arrays of elements that receive/transmit and/or propagate one or more frequency bands of electromagnetic radiation. The radiation may be of numerous types including, e.g., microwave, millimeter wave, radio frequency, digital modulated, analog, analog/digital encoded, digitally encoded millimeter wave energy, or the like. The energy may be transmitted from one location to another location, using, one or more repeater links, and one or more locations may be mobile, stationary, or fixed relative to a location on earth such as a base station.
As used herein, the terms “board” and “substrate” refer generally and without limitation to any substantially planar or curved surface or component upon which other components can be disposed. For example, a substrate may comprise a single or multi-layered printed circuit board (e.g., FR4), a semi-conductive die or wafer, or even a surface of a housing or other device component, and may be substantially rigid or alternatively at least somewhat flexible.
As used herein, the terms “electrical component” and “electronic component” are used interchangeably and refer to components adapted to provide some electrical and/or signal conditioning function, including without limitation inductive reactors (“choke coils”), transformers, filters, transistors, gapped core toroids, inductors (coupled or otherwise), capacitors, resistors, operational amplifiers, and diodes, whether discrete components or integrated circuits, whether alone or in combination.
The terms “frequency range”, “frequency band”, and “frequency domain” refer without limitation to any frequency range for communicating signals. Such signals may be communicated pursuant to one or more standards or wireless air interfaces.
Furthermore, as used herein, the terms “radiator,” “radiating plane,” and “radiating element” refer without limitation to an element that can function as part of a system that receives and/or transmits radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation; e.g., an antenna.
The terms “RF feed,” “feed,” “feed conductor,” and “feed network” refer without limitation to any energy conductor and coupling element(s) that can transfer energy, transform impedance, enhance performance characteristics, and conform impedance properties between an incoming/outgoing RF energy signals to that of one or more connective elements, such as for example a radiator.
As used herein, the terms “top”, “bottom”, “side”, “up”, “down”, “left”, “right”, and the like merely connote a relative position or geometry of one component to another, and in no way connote an absolute frame of reference or any required orientation. For example, a “top” portion of a component may actually reside below a “bottom” portion when the component is mounted to another device (e.g., to the underside of a PCB).
As used herein, the term “wireless” means any wireless signal, data, communication, or other interface including without limitation Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G 3GPP, 3GPP2, and UMTS), HSDPA/HSUPA, TDMA, CDMA (e.g., IS-95A, WCDMA, etc.), FHSS, DSSS, GSM, PAN/802.15, WiMAX (802.16), 802.20, narrowband/FDMA, OFDM, PCS/DCS, Long Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), analog cellular, CDPD, satellite systems such as GPS, millimeter wave or microwave systems, optical, acoustic, and infrared (i.e., IrDA).
It is recognized that the antenna embodiments discussed herein may be readily manufactured using a variety of known methods including, for example: (1) flexible substrates such as that disclosed in co-owned and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/835,129 entitled “Flexible Substrate Inductive Apparatus and Methods” filed Mar. 15, 2013, and co-owned and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/801,967 entitled “Flexible Substrate Inductive Apparatus and Methods” filed Mar. 13, 2013, each of the foregoing being incorporated herein by reference in its entirety; (2) sheet metal fabrication techniques; (3) fluid or vapor deposition; (4) “2-shot” molding; (5) pad printing; (6) print deposition such as that disclosed in co-owned and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/782,993 entitled “Deposition Antenna Apparatus and Methods” filed Mar. 1, 2013, co-owned and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/620,108 entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Conductive Element Deposition and Formation” filed Feb. 11, 2015, and co-owned and co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/026,560 entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Conductive Element Deposition and Formation” filed Jul. 18, 2014, each of the foregoing being incorporated herein by reference in its entirety; and/or (7) laser direct structuring (LDS) as applicable such as that disclosed in co-owned and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/482,371 entitled “Miniaturized Connectors and Methods” filed Jun. 10, 2009, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, such techniques and structures being readily determined by those of ordinary skill when given the present disclosure.
In one salient aspect, the present disclosure provides improved portable communications antenna apparatus and methods of using the same. In one embodiment, the antenna apparatus comprises three antenna elements (A, B, C) configured to operate in three frequency bands. Individual ones of the antenna elements A, B, C may also include a switch, a tuning circuit and/or other electronic components.
In some implementations using LTE and/or LTE-A antenna apparatus, individual frequency bands may comprise: a lower band (LB) covering a frequency range from 600 MHz to 960 MHz, a middle band (MB) covering a frequency range from 1710 MHz to 2170 MHz; and an upper band (UB) covering a frequency range from 2300 MHz to 2690 MHz. In one variant, the MB and the UB may be combined into one band covering frequencies from 1710 MHz to 2790 MHz. The antenna elements A, B, C are coupled to a transceiver engine of a radio frequency communications device (e.g., a smartphone). Two of the three antenna components (e.g., antenna A and antenna B) may be configured to operate in transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) modes, whereas antenna component C may be configured to operate in a receive (Rx) mode.
In some embodiments, the antenna apparatus is operable in a carrier aggregation (CA) communication mode; antenna components (e.g., antenna A and antenna B) may be combined electrically so as to form a single antenna component. The combined antenna component, characterized by a larger dimension and a larger operating bandwidth, may be operable simultaneously in two frequency bands F1, F2 thereby enabling the CA intra-band communication. In some embodiments of an intra-band CA antenna apparatus operable in the 2×2 multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) mode, the antenna component C may be used to provide a second receive path and may be operable in frequency band F1, frequency band F2 or a combined frequency band F1 and F2, in addition to the receive path of the combined antenna components A+B. In an inter-band downlink MIMO CA, the antenna components A, C may be configured to cover two individual receive bands (Rx1, Rx2); while the antenna component B may form the MIMO receive path in one of the bands (Rx1 or Rx2). When operating in the inter-band CA mode, two (or more) transceivers are required to be operable contemporaneously with one another. Aggregation of two or more carriers may enable data transmission in parallel with one another thereby providing for an increased throughput, compared to operation using a given carrier.
Antenna configurations described herein may enable a mobile device to communicate at a higher data rate compared to existing devices due to larger bandwidth and simultaneous MIMO operation.
Moreover, in some embodiments, antenna components A and B may be switched/re-routed to mitigate attenuation and/or interference due to, for example, handheld operation by a user. Furthermore, antenna component C may be used to provide an additional receive path in order to mitigate handheld interference.
In some embodiments, selective switching/re-routing of antenna components A, B, C may facilitate a simultaneous voice and data (SVD) communication mode of operation. In one such implementation of SV-LTE, packet switched LTE services may run simultaneously with a circuit switched voice service. SV-LTE facility provides the facilities of circuit-switched fallback (CSFB) at the same time as running a packet switched data service. In order to enable SVD functionality, two radios are required to operate simultaneously over two individual antennas. By way of an illustration of one exemplary embodiment of SVD communication, antenna component A may be used to carry a data portion while antenna component B may be used to carry the voice portion of the communication, thereby enabling the mobile communications device of the disclosure to provide data service during a voice call.
Detailed descriptions of the various embodiments and variants of the apparatus and methods of the present disclosure are now provided. While primarily discussed in the context of mobile devices, the various apparatus and methodologies discussed herein are not so limited. In fact, many of the apparatus and methodologies described herein are useful in any number of complex antennas, whether associated with mobile or fixed devices that can benefit from the methodologies and apparatus described herein.
The antenna elements 102, 104, 106 are configured to operate in a plurality of frequency bands, e.g., the UB, LB, and/or MB described below with respect to
The transceiver engine 120 in the illustrated embodiment includes a transmit-receive (transceiver) component 124 and a receive-only (receiver) component 122. Components 122, 124 may be operable in one or more of the frequency bands described above (e.g., LB, MB, and UB) and/or other bands. In some implementations configured to support MIMO, the components 122, 124 may be configured to operate contemporaneous with one another thereby enabling two individual receive (MI) paths.
The antenna elements 102, 104, 106 are, in the illustrated embodiment, coupled to a transceiver engine of a radio frequency communications device (e.g., a smartphone). Two of the three antenna elements (e.g., component 102, 104) are configured to operate in transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) modes. Transmit/receive operations can be multiplexed via a transmit-receive switch component 126 configured to alternately couple a given antenna element (e.g., 102, 104) to transmit or receive ports of the transceiver component 124; or the antenna element 106 via the receive port of the receiver component 126. Hence, antenna element 106 may be configured to operate in a receive (Rx) only mode. Alternatively, the antenna element 106 may be configured to operate in transmit/receive Tx/Rx mode.
In some implementations of carrier aggregation (CA), the switching component 110 may be used to electrically combine antenna elements 102, 104 in order to obtain an electrically larger antenna so as to produce a combined antenna element characterized by an increased operational bandwidth (as compared with individual antenna elements 102 or 104).
Antenna elements 102, 104 are illustrated as being coupled to the switching component 110 via delay line components 108, 138, respectively. Delay values for the components 108, 138 may be selected such that signals associated with the antenna element 104 are combined constructively with signals associated with the antenna element 102 thereby producing a signal as would be obtained using a single antenna element.
The antenna apparatus 100 may be embodied in a portable communications device (e.g., a smartphone, a tablet computer, a phablet, and/or other device). When operated in a hand-held mode, interference may arise due to proximity of a user's hand.
Returning now to
Moreover, in alternative implementations for hand-held interference mitigation, the coupling of the antenna element 106, via the switching component 130, to the transceiver engine 120 may be used switch over receive path from another antenna element (e.g., 102 and/or 104) to the antenna element 106 thereby providing uninterrupted communication by the antenna apparatus 100 in the presence of interference.
Table 1 illustrates connectivity of the antenna elements and exemplary modes of operation of the antenna apparatus 100. Switching operations described with respect to Table 1 and
In mode I, the switching component 110 is configured to connect port 118 to port 112 and port 116 to port 112, thereby electrically coupling the antenna elements 102, 104. The switching component 130 is configured to connect port 132 to port 136 thereby providing another receive path for communication (in addition to the receive path associated with the port 112).
In mode II, the switching component 110 is configured to connect port 118 to port 114 and port 116 to port 114, thereby electrically coupling the antenna elements 102, 104. The switching component 130 is configured to connect port 132 to port 134 thereby providing another receive path for communication. Modes I and II may be referred to as intra-band carrier aggregation with 2×2 downlink MIMO spatial multiplexing. Selection of a given mode I or II for configuring the antenna apparatus 100 may be effectuated based on detected interference due to hand-effect. In some implementations of the intra-band CA of LTE bands B3 (1710 MHz to-1935 MHz) and B4 (1935 MHz to 2155 MHz), antenna element 102 may be configured to operate in band B3 while antenna element 104 may operate in band B4. Signals from antenna element 102 may be combined out of phase with signals from antenna element 104 via the switching component 110. As a result, the resultant bandwidths for the antenna elements 102, 104 may be combined and at the output of switching component 110, the antenna elements 102, 104 may be considered as a single antenna element. Antenna elements 102, 104 may be combined to cover a frequency band from 1710 MHz to 1785 MHz in Tx mode; and a frequency band from 1805 MHz to 2155 MHz in Rx mode. In some implementations of the intra-band CA, when hand effect compensation may be of use, the antenna element 106 may be configured to provide a Tx mode of operation.
In mode III, the switching component 110 is configured to connect port 116 to port 112 and port 118 to port 114, thereby enabling two simultaneous receive paths via antenna elements 102 and 104. The switching component 130 is configured to connect port 132 to port 136.
In mode IV, the switching component 110 is configured to connect port 116 to port 114 and port 118 to port 112, thereby enabling two simultaneous receive paths via antenna elements 102 and 104. The switching component 130 is configured to connect port 132 to port 136. Modes III and IV may be referred to as inter-band carrier aggregation with 2×2 downlink MIMO multiplexing. Selection of a given mode III or mode IV for configuring the antenna apparatus 100 is effectuated based on detected interference due to hand-effect.
In mode V, the switching component 110 is configured to connect port 116 to port 112 and port 118 to port 114. The switching component 130 is configured to disconnect port 132.
In mode VI, the switching component 110 is configured to connect port 116 to port 114 and port 118 to port 112. The switching component 130 is configured to disconnect port 132. In modes V, VI the antenna elements 102, 104 may be selectively coupled to the transceiver component 124 or the receiver component 122 in order to mitigate communication interference effects due to hand loading.
In mode VII, the switching component 110 is configured to connect port 116 to port 112. The switching component 130 is configured to connect port 132 to port 136.
In mode VIII, the switching component 110 is configured to connect port 118 to port 112. The switching component 130 is configured to connect port 132 to port 136. In modes VII and VIII, one of antenna elements 102 or 104 may be selectively coupled to the transceiver component 124 in order to mitigate communication interference effects due to hand loading. In some implementations wherein signal reception via the antenna element 102 or 104 may be characterized by performance that is below a threshold (e.g., RSSI 2 or 5 dB below threshold) the antenna element 106 provides a receive path in order to mitigate communication interference effects due to hand loading.
In mode IX, the switching component 110 is configured to connect port 116 to port 112. The switching component 130 is configured to connect port 132 to port 136.
In mode X, the switching component 110 is configured to connect port 118 to port 112. The switching component 130 is configured to connect port 132 to port 136. In modes IX and X, one of antenna elements 102 or 104 may be selectively coupled to the transceiver component 124. The antenna element 106 is coupled to the receiver 122 in order to provide another receive path for simultaneous voice and data (SVD) communication. In some implementations, the antenna element 102 or 104 is used to communicate the voice portion of the SVD information; the antenna component 106 is used to communicate the data portion.
The illustrated antenna apparatus 180 includes a plurality of antenna elements (e.g., antenna elements 182, 184, and 186 similar to that shown in
In one or more implementations, individual antenna elements 182, 184, 186 may comprise a planar antenna element (e.g., a planar inverted F antenna (PIFA), and/or a planar inverted L antenna), a chip antenna element, a loop antenna, a slot antenna, monopole antenna.
The antenna elements 182, 184, 186 may be configured to operate in a plurality of frequency bands. In some implementations, size and/or electrical characteristics of the antenna elements 182, 184, and 186 may be designed to support operation in a lower band (LB) covering a frequency range from 600 MHz to 960 MHz, a middle band (MB) covering a frequency range from 1710 MHz to 2170 MHz; and an upper band (UB) covering a frequency range from 2300 MHz to 2690 MHz. In one variant, the MB and the UB may be combined into one band covering frequencies from 1710 MHz to 2790 MHz. Individual antenna elements (e.g., 182, 184, 186) may include tuning electronics configured to tune a given element to one or more frequency bands. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the arts that the antenna apparatus of the present disclosure may be configured to operate in a variety of differing frequency bands configured in accordance with a particular application. Moreover, selective coupling/decoupling of one or more antenna elements 182, 184, 186 to the transmit/receive electronics engine 190 may enable the antenna apparatus 180 to provide flexible modes of communication for a mobile communication device such as, e.g., carrier aggregation, MIMO, SVD, interference mitigation, and/or other modes of communication.
As used herein, the term intra-band CA may be used to describe configuring two LTE carriers (e.g., two Physical Uplink Shared Channels (PUSCH)) within a single LTE transmission band. A given PUSCH is typically shared by one or more devices (user equipment (UE)) in a radio cell to transmit their data to the network. There exist two formats of intra-band CA: (i) contiguous wherein individual carriers (aggregation components) are placed adjacent to one another within the LTE communication band. The resultant aggregated channel may be considered by the UE as a single channel of increased bandwidth compared to individual aggregation components. In some implementations of the intra-band contiguous CA, a single transceiver may be utilized by a given terminal or UE in order to communicate. It is noteworthy that characteristics of a transceiver (e.g., receive filter bandwidth, power amplifier bandwidth and/or other parameters) may need to be configured in accordance with the requirements of the aggregated channel (e.g., increased bandwidth) in order to provide communication without a reduction in performance; (ii) non-contiguous, wherein individual carriers (aggregation components) may be placed non-adjacent (e.g., separated by a frequency gap) to one another within the LTE communication. In some implementations of noncontiguous CA, two transceivers may be required.
Antenna apparatus 200 in
In some 2×2 MIMO implementations, the antenna component 206 may be used to provide another receive path that is dependent upon the dimensions allocated to the antennas. For example, assuming the same height and ground clearance for each of the antennas, antenna component 206 would have effectively twice the volume and hence, will cover twice the instantaneous bandwidth as compared with antenna component 202 or 204. By way of an illustration, the combined antenna element 208 may communicate in frequency band 1 providing a transmit path Tx1 and a first receive path Rx11 in frequency band 1. The antenna element 206 may communicate in frequency band 1, thereby providing a second receive path Rx12 in frequency band 1.
In some implementations of inter-band downlink CA, two antenna elements (e.g., 226 and 222) may be configured to cover two receive channels Rx11, Rx21 (occupying frequency bands 1 and 2, respectively) and a transmit channel in one of the frequency bands 1 or 2: Tx1 or Tx2. Antenna element 224 may be configured to form MIMO Rx path for one of the channels: Rx12 or Rx22. The configuration shown in
Antenna apparatus 300 in
The transceiver component 310 may be coupled to a processing component (e.g., 620 in
In some implementation, such as that shown in
In some implementations it may be desirable to enable data communications to occur contemporaneously with voice communication. As used herein, the term voice communication is used to describe communication of information related to voice calls irrespective as to whether the voice calls may be implemented via, for example, IP data transmission mode or circuit-switched mode. By way of illustration, a user may receive a voice call while checking email and/or browsing the Internet. The SVD mode of operation may enable the user to answer the voice call without necessitating disconnection of the data session.
In some implementations of SVD, one or more antenna elements (e.g., 402, and/or 404 and/or 406) may be used to communicate data. Upon detecting a voice call, the transceiver component 410 may configure an unused antenna component (e.g., 404) to effectuate voice call transmissions. In some implementations, wherein all three available antenna elements may be used for one mode of communication (e.g., data) upon detecting a voice call, the transceiver component 410 may be configured to automatically switch over one of the components from the data mode to the voice mode.
Device 600 may include a processing component 620 configured to effectuate, inter alia, the performance of one or more functions by the mobile device 600. In some implementations, the processing component 620 may execute computer programs configured to implement one or more communications protocols (e.g., LTE, LTE-A), configure UE for CA operation, detect performance degradation due to user hand operation, cause actuation/deactivation/switchover of one or more antenna elements, implement SVD operation, and/or other functionality. The proceeding component may be implemented as dedicated hardware (e.g., system on a chip), programmable logic (e.g., field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and/or other logical components, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and/or other machine implementations.
The processing component 620 may interface with a memory component(s) 614, electronics engine component(s) 610, power component(s) 624, and/or user interface component(s) 618 via one or more driver interfaces and/or software abstraction layers. The memory component 614 may comprise read only nonvolatile memory configured to store, e.g., configuration of the device 600 and/or processing code, random access volatile memory configured to enable operation of the processing operations (e.g., store computed parameters and/or variables) and/or read/write nonvolatile memory configured to store user data (e.g., pictures, contacts, and/or other data).
In one or more implementations, the electronics engine 610 may comprise one or more transceivers (Rx/Tx), receivers, that includes one or more feed ports, filters, switches, matching circuits, and/or other components configured to enable RF communication by the device 600 in one or more frequency bands (e.g., UB, MB, LB described above with respect to
Device 600 may include an antenna component 612 comprising one or more antenna elements. In one or more implementations, the antenna component 612 may comprise three or more antenna elements (e.g., 102, 104, 106 described above with respect to
The processing component 620 may interface to UI component 618 in order to detect one or more user inputs (e.g., button presses) and/or display date to user. In some implementations, the UI component may comprise one or more keys/buttons (e.g., keypad, keyboard), and/or a display (e.g., a touch sensitive display), a microphone, a speaker, a camera, and/or other components.
Methods 700, 800 may be implemented in one or more processing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analog processor, a digital circuit designed to process information, an analog circuit designed to process information, a state machine, and/or other mechanism for electronically processing information and/or configured to execute computer program modules stored as computer readable instructions). The one or more processing devices may include one or more devices executing some or all of the operations of methods 700, 800 in response to instructions stored electronically on a non-transitory electronic storage medium. The one or more processing devices may include one or more devices configured through hardware, firmware, and/or software to be specifically designed for execution of one or more of the operations of methods 700, 800. The operations of methods 700, 800 may be implemented by a mobile communications apparatus (e.g., 512 in
Referring now to
At step 702, of method 700, CA communication request may be detected at a mobile device. The mobile device may comprise a UE that includes multi-element antenna apparatus described above with respect to
At step 704, the multi-element antenna apparatus of the mobile device may be configured to support CA communication by the mobile device. In one or more implementations, the antenna configuration may comprise combining two antenna elements (e.g., 202, 204) to form an electrically larger antenna element with a larger bandwidth. In some implementations, the antenna configuration may comprise configuring two antenna elements (e.g., 224, 226 in
At step 706, the mobile device may be operated in the CA mode using the multi-element antenna apparatus configured at step 704. In some implementations of intra-band CA, communication of operation 706 by the multi-element antenna apparatus of the disclosure may be characterized by data rate that may be greater compared to communication using an antenna comprising, for example, a single antenna element.
At step 802, antenna apparatus may be operable in a first mode. In one or more implementations, the first mode of operation may comprise any applicable mode of wireless communication (e.g., data only, voice only, SVD, single carrier mode, CA, MIMO, single in single out (SISO)) and/or other modes.
At step 804, an operational mode change may be detected. In some implementations, the mode change may be configured based on a detection of degraded performance (e.g., due to hand held operation), detection of a voice call during a data session, request for higher data rate data session (e.g., due to a user activating a streaming video session), and/or other communication modes.
At step 806, antenna configuration may be modified in accordance with the second mode of operation. In one or more implementations, the configuration modification may comprise configuring the multi element antenna apparatus for CA, CA with MIMO, MIMO to provide for, e.g. a greater bandwidth, and/or reconfiguring antenna elements to combat interference.
At step 808, antenna apparatus may be operated in accordance with the configuration modified at step 806. By way of an illustration, the antenna configuration of step 806 may comprise combining two antenna elements (e.g., 202 and 204) into a single antenna element. Communication of step 808 may comprise intra-band CA mode of operation to provide for an increased data rate, compared to communication using one of the antenna elements (e.g., 202 or 204).
It will be recognized that while certain aspects of the disclosure are described in terms of a specific sequence of steps of a method, these descriptions are only illustrative of the broader methods of the present disclosure, and may be modified as required by the particular application. In some implementations, CA and MIMO communication may be effectuated independent from one another. By way of an illustration, an antenna apparatus 100 may be configured to communicate using MIMO spatial multiplexing without activating the CA mode of communication. In one or more implementations, CA mode of communication may be activated without the MIMO operation. In some implementation, two antenna components (e.g., 102, 104 or 102, 106 in
While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointed out novel features of the present disclosure as applied to various embodiments, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in the form and details of the device or process illustrated may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the present disclosure. The foregoing description is of the best mode presently contemplated of carrying out the present disclosure. This description is in no way meant to be limiting, but rather should be taken as illustrative of the general principles of the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should be determined with reference to the claims.
