The present invention relates to an interface module for a wireless communication device, and more particularly, to a low cost interface module for connecting an antenna and a transceiver of a wireless communication device.
Antennas can be used to transmit or receive radio frequency (RF) signals over the air when wireless communication devices are operated in a transmit (TX) mode or a receive (RX) mode. When an antenna is used in a wireless communication device (e.g. a mobile phone), the antenna may lose efficiency under certain scenarios. For example, the efficiency of the antenna in the mobile phone may be degraded by ways that a user holds the mobile phone. When the user holds the mobile phone by right hand, left hand or both hands, the hands may block the RF signals and the performance of the antenna is therefore degraded. In another scenario, the user may put the mobile phone close to either right ear or left ear when talking on the mobile phone. In addition to the hand holding the mobile phone, the user's head may further degrade the performance of the antenna.
In order to improve the performance of the antenna under different scenarios, the antenna is designed to be able to generate different radiation patterns by changing locations of a feeding point and a grounding point of the antenna. For example, the antenna is capable of changing the locations of the feeding point and the grounding point in the prior art requires tunable components, such as tunable capacitors, resulting in increase of the manufacture cost of the antenna.
Furthermore, the radiation patterns generated by the antenna with a fixed feeding point may be toward different directions when the antenna operates in different resonant frequencies. Under such a condition, the antenna in the prior art may be not suitable for carrier aggregation (CA), which is an important feature of Long Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced specifications. Thus, how to decrease the manufacture cost of the antenna while making the antenna suitable for the CA becomes a topic to be discussed.
In order to solve the above issues, the present disclosure provides a low cost interface module for connecting an antenna and a transceiver of a wireless communication device.
In an aspect, the present disclosure discloses an interface module for a communication device. The interface module comprises a first switch, for forming a first connection between a first feeding point of an antenna of the communication device and one of a first matching component and a first grounding component; a second switch, for forming a second connection between a second feeding point of the antenna and one of a second matching component and a second grounding component; and a third switch, for forming a third connection between a transceiver and one of the first matching component and the first grounding component.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
Please refer to
As shown in
In details, the interface module 10 operates in either a mode M1 or a mode M2, to generate different radiation patterns. In the example shown in
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In addition, the grounding components GC1 and GC2 may be changed according to different applications and designed concepts. For example, the grounding components GC1 and GC2 may be one of the conducing paths to the ground of the transceiver (i.e. the ground of the main board) , an inductance element, or a capacitance element, and are not limited herein. By changing the grounding components GC1 and GC2, the operating frequency of the interface module 10 can be altered to satisfy specifications of various communication protocols.
Please refer to
Details of operations of the interface module 30 are briefly narrated in the following. When operating in a mode M3 similar to the mode M1 of the interface module 10, the switch 300 forms the connection between the feeding point FP1 and the throw end T7, the switch 302 forms the connection between the feeding point FP2 and one of the throw ends T12-T14, and the switch 304 forms the connection between the transceiver and the throw end T15. In other words, one of the capacitor C2, the inductor L2 and the ground GND can be analogous to the grounding component GC2 shown in
In the example shown in
Note that, the resonant frequency of the antenna may be altered by switching the switch 302 to be coupled to the throw ends T12, T13 or T14 when the interface module 30 operates in the mode M3. In an example, the resonant frequency of the antenna is designed at 900 MHz when operating in the mode M3 and the switch 302 forms the connection between the pole end P5 and the throw end T14. By switching the switch 302 to form the connection between pole end P5 and the throw end T12 when the interface module 30 operates in the mode M3, the capacitance of the signal feeding path increases and the resonant frequency of the antenna accordingly increases (e.g. increases to 950 MHz). On the other hand, the inductance of the signal feeding path increases by altering the switch 302 to form the connection between the pole end P5 and the throw end T13. The resonant frequency of the interface module 30 therefore decreases (e.g. decreases to 850 MHz). In this example, the resonant frequency of the interface module 30 is able to change within 850 MHz-950 MHz by altering the connection formed by the switch 302.
In an example, the interface module 30 operates in a mode M4 similar to the mode M2 of the interface module 10. In this example, the switch 300 forms the connection between the feeding point FP1 and one of the throw ends T8-T10, the switch 302 forms the connection between the feeding point FP2 and the throw end T11, and the switch 304 forms the connection between the transceiver and the throw end T16. Under such a condition, a signal feeding path passing through the capacitor CC2, the feeding point FP2, the antenna, the feeding point FP1 and one of the capacitor C1, the inductor L1 and the ground GND is formed, to create a radiation pattern RP4 toward a designed direction DD4. That is, one of the capacitor C1, the inductor L1 and the ground GND can be analogous to the grounding component GC1 shown in
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In addition, the directions of single radiation pattern of the antenna when operating in different frequencies can be the same by adding the capacitance element CE. That is, the interface module 50 makes the antenna suitable for carrier aggregation (CA) application.
In an example, the end E_CE is coupled to the ground GND of the main board. In another example, the antenna is a slot antenna and the capacitance element CE is across a slot of the slot antenna. That is, the end E_CE is coupled to one end of the slot of the antenna. In an example, the secondary board is an upper part of a metal rear cover of the communication device, the mainboard is a lower part of the metal rear cover, and a slot of the antenna is configured between the upper part and the lower part of the metal rear cover. In this example, one end of the capacitance element CE is coupled to the upper part of the metal rear cover and another end of the capacitance element CE is coupled to the lower part of the metal rear cover.
Note that, the position at which the capacitance element CE and the antenna are coupled is not limited to that shown in
To sum up, the interface module of the above example is realized in the compact structure without using high cost components. Via adding the capacitance element between the antenna and the interface module, the frequency range of antenna is extended and the directions of the radiation pattern keep the same when the antenna operates in different frequencies.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/398,561 filed on 2016 Sep. 23, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62398561 | Sep 2016 | US |