Patent Application
20250217540
Aspects of the disclosure pertain to radio frequency (RF) communications. More particularly, aspects relate to antenna location and power savings for RF communications.
User devices today typically include multiple antennas. The location of these antennas within user device chasses can affect antenna gain, thermal profiles, and device weight and usability. Other devices (including Internet of Things (IoT) devices) can have limited power or battery capacity, and it is desirable to keep these devices powered down as often as possible.
In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numerals may describe similar components in different views. Like numerals having different letter suffixes may represent different instances of similar components. Some aspects are illustrated by way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which:
The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific aspects to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other aspects may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other changes. Portions and features of some aspects may be included in, or substituted for, those of other aspects. Aspects set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.
Antenna-in-Module (AiM) is an antenna technology used in modern computing systems to provide reconfigurable antenna arrays for 5G applications at millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies. Beam steering is used to cover multiple directions with high gain directional radiation. AiM placement should be made to fit in thin and light fanless system without impacting thermal profiles of those devices. Technical challenges can arise in determining AiM placement that will provide adequate coverage while maintaining thin and light user systems and with consideration to thermal impacts in fanless user systems.
Power consumption is also important for portable electronic devices including Internet of Things (IoT) devices in 5G Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC). Previous solutions for IoT often included providing longer sleep cycles to reduce power consumption. However, devices still must wake periodically to check for messages from central systems.
Aspects of the disclosure address these and other concerns by providing design criteria and setting AiM placement parameters to meet the more critical design criteria while maintaining coverage and reducing thermal impact. Other aspects reduce device power consumption by providing circuitry to wake devices only when a message is intended for that given device, and to allow the device to remain in sleep mode otherwise. The communication systems, devices, and other components determining AiM placement and for allowing devices to save power by remaining asleep are described in more detail with respect to
An integrated Radio-Frequency frontend module (FEM) is broadly used in the frontend circuits for cellular handsets or other wireless devices.
In some aspects, application processor 105 may include, for example, one or more central processing unit (CPU) cores and one or more of cache memory, low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as serial peripheral interface (SPI), inter-integrated circuit (I2C) or universal programmable serial interface sub-system, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose IO, memory card controllers such as SD/MMC or similar, USB interfaces, mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interfaces, and/or Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access ports.
In some aspects, base-band processor 110 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, and/or a multi-chip module including two or more integrated circuits.
Applications of mmWave technology can include, for example, WiGig and future 5G, but the mmWave technology can be applicable to a variety of telecommunications systems. The mmWave technology can be especially attractive for short-range telecommunications systems. WiGig devices operate in the unlicensed 60 GHz band, whereas 5G mmWave is expected to operate initially in the licensed 28 GHz and 39 GHz bands. A block diagram of an example base-band processor 110 and RFEM 115 in a mmWave system is shown in
The base-band processor 110 is not shown in its entirety, but
The RFEM 115 can be a small circuit board including a number of printed antennas and one or more RF devices containing multiple radio chains, including upconversion/downconversion 174 to millimeter wave frequencies, power combiner/divider 176, programmable phase shifting 178 and power amplifiers (PA) 180, low noise amplifiers (LNA) 182, as well as control and power management circuitry 184A and 184B. This arrangement can be different from Wi-Fi or cellular implementations, which generally have all RF and base-band functionality integrated into a single unit and only antennas connected remotely via coaxial cables.
This architectural difference can be driven by the very large power losses in coaxial cables at millimeter wave frequencies. These power losses can reduce the transmit power at the antenna and reduce receive sensitivity. In order to avoid this issue, in some aspects, PAs 180 and LNAs 182 may be moved to the RFEM 115 with integrated antennas. In addition, the RFEM 115 may include upconversion/downconversion 174 so that the IF signals over the coaxial cable 190 can be at a lower frequency. Additional system context for mm Wave 5G apparatuses, techniques and features is discussed herein below.
Wireless communication circuitry 300 may include protocol processing circuitry 305 (or processor) or other means for processing. Protocol processing circuitry 305 may implement one or more of medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio resource control (RRC) and non-access stratum (NAS) functions, among others. Protocol processing circuitry 305 may include one or more processing cores to execute instructions and one or more memory structures to store program and data information.
Wireless communication circuitry 300 may further include digital base-band circuitry 310. Digital base-band circuitry 310 may implement physical layer (PHY) functions including one or more of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) functions, scrambling and/or descrambling, coding and/or decoding, layer mapping and/or de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol and/or bit metric determination, multi-antenna port pre-coding and/or decoding which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation and/or detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation and/or detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.
Wireless communication circuitry 300 may further include transmit circuitry 315, receive circuitry 320 and/or antenna array circuitry 330. Wireless communication circuitry 300 may further include RF circuitry 325. In some aspects, RF circuitry 325 may include one or multiple parallel RF chains for transmission and/or reception. Each of the RF chains may be connected to one or more antennas of antenna array circuitry 330.
In some aspects, protocol processing circuitry 305 may include one or more instances of control circuitry. The control circuitry may provide control functions for one or more of digital base-band circuitry 310, transmit circuitry 315, receive circuitry 320, and/or RF circuitry 325.
Transmit circuitry 315 shown in
Radio frequency circuitry 325 may also in some aspects include power combining and dividing circuitry 374. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 374 may operate bidirectionally, such that the same physical circuitry may be configured to operate as a power divider when the device is transmitting, and as a power combiner when the device is receiving. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 374 may include one or more wholly or partially separate circuitries to perform power dividing when the device is transmitting and power combining when the device is receiving. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 374 may include passive circuitry including one or more two-way power divider/combiners arranged in a tree. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 374 may include active circuitry including amplifier circuits.
In some aspects, radio frequency circuitry 325 may connect to transmit circuitry 315 and receive circuitry 320 in
Any of the above systems described in
AiM can provide reconfigurable antenna arrays for 5G applications at mmWave frequencies. 5G mmWave bands (FR2) have throughput in the range of Gigabytes with additional capacity. To cover the mentioned frequency bands, antenna systems include an array of antennas in different polarizations. In the context of some aspects, one antenna module may include a 4×1 array with 16 ports to steer the beam in particular direction. Typically, one module covers +50° to −50° angles. These numbers and configurations are examples, and aspects of the disclosure are not limited to a particular size array, ports, or range of steering angle.
It can be challenging to determine where to place AiMs in a user device. Users prefer devices to be as thin and light as possible, and furthermore some devices are fanless, which can complicate temperature control. Methods according to some aspects of this disclosure address these and other concerns by optimizing AiM module placement to fit in thin and light fanless system without impacting thermal/or industrial design (ID) considerations.
Methods according to aspects can include identifying the criterion/criteria that are important to laptop operation in multiple bands, prioritizing important design parameters for AiM placement, and determining and recognizing how these parameters can be set to achieve the criterion/criteria. In some examples, through intelligent placement of AiMs, the number of AiMs used can be reduced or minimized while still obtaining desired coverage. For example, in simulation it can be discovered that addition of AiMs does not provide a significant contribution in coverage and therefore the number of AiMs can be reduced without degradation of user experience.
For thin and light fanless full-metal systems 501, chassis metal can be used for thermal dissipation. Any plastics used (mainly in C-cover or top cover) will impact on ID and thermal performance. In
Even with offset 514, however, a negative impact on CDF coverage can occur as the lid 512 obstructs the partial region of +/−50 degrees of radiation. As can be appreciated, therefore, AiM design and placement parameters are important for reducing thermal effects and maintaining coverage.
Another AiM module 606 can be provided. While two AiM modules 602, 606 are shown, more or fewer AiM modules may be provided and aspects of the disclosure are not limited to any particular number of AiM modules, although some simulations have shown that two AiM modules 602, 606 are adequate for device operations. AiM modules 602, 606 can be placed in corners of the system with directions 608, 610 because, as described above these directions 608, 610 have been found to have less thermal impact than other possible directions.
Direction 612 can further be seen in the sidewall 614 view shown in
Certain challenges are found in methods for determining AiM placement. First, the radome 618 is plastic material required to protect the AiM from open environment. However, for proper antenna radiation, thickness, and gap from radome 618 to antenna 602 is necessary, as shown in
To address these and other concerns, a method 800 such as shown in
The method 800 can begin in operation 802 with observing the contribution from individual AiM module placements, or combination AiM module placements within a user system. According to some aspects of the disclosure, and as described earlier herein with reference to
Also, while comparing the coverage performance of (502/502A) with addition of a third AiM, it was found that the contribution from the third AiM was minimal. Hence, there is a scope to reduce the AiM count.
The method 800 can continue with operation 804 with identifying systems performance criteria and prioritizing design parameters. Because AiM module count is reduced, at operation 806, performance criteria are set to achieve lower band 100-percentile EIRP and high band fifty-percentile EIRP. The lower band 100-percentile EIRP and high band fifty-percentile EIRP are of higher priority than other criteria at least because specifications defined by the 5G network providers/3GPP standard state or specify that these criteria are the most stringent to meet standards requirements. Hence, those are considered as decision making or critical criteria for determining the design parameters.
The method 800 can continue with operation 808 with prioritizing design parameters. Some design parameters include sidewall-related parameters (e.g., sidewall opening); parameters related to keep out zone (KOZ) directed to ensuring area near antennas is metal free (e.g., defining top and bottom metal KOZ); air gap parameters; radome parameters; etc. Some parameters for which Z-axis of chassis are more important have priority over other parameters. For example, size of the window opening above and below AiM, especially under dual-polarized transmission, can introduce significant reduction in gain. Hence, this parameter is fixed at operation 810. Fixing these paraments (dependent on Z-axis and sidewall opening) will enable beam steering feature with +/−50 degrees.
Subsequently, the method can continue with operation 812 by determining the offset parameter to determine the offset parameter that gives more boresights gain towards one hemisphere by offsetting the AiM in other side. However, changing offset parameter often results in coverage being degraded. So, in most example methods no offset is chosen.
The method 800 can continue with operation 814 with fixing the gap from the AiM module to the radome (such as discussed with respect to
The method can continue with operation 816 with performing yield analysis of the radome thickness (dielectric slab), avoiding phase difference of incident waves at different angles at different frequencies (LB and HB) as discussed above with reference to
From
By implementing methods of the disclosure described above, AiM module placement can be optimized or designed to fit in thin and light fanless system without impacting on thermal/ID. Devices such as laptops with metal chasses can include sufficient antennas within a minimized or reduced number of AiM modules. By reducing number of AiM modules, the complexity of the power supply mechanism can be reduced. Some designs may include proposing side placements of AiMs, which can be used for isolating other WLAN-WWAN antennas (Wi-Fi/5G), which gives better throughput (as module size is λ/2 for high band of antenna frequencies).
The method 1050 can begin with operation 1052 with configuring a simulation of antenna gain of antenna in module (AiM) components, the simulation including as an output a cumulative distribution function (CDF) representing AiM coverage.
The method 1050 can continue with operation 1054 with identifying a first parameter of a set of antenna in module (AiM) placement parameters that has a largest effect on an antenna performance criterion observed in the simulation. The first parameter can define offset, along an axis, of the AiM between a top and bottom cover of a user device. The antenna performance criterion can include a millimeter wave coverage criterion.
The method 1050 can continue with operation 1056 with setting a value for the first parameter to maintain antenna gain above a threshold in at least two frequency bands.
The method 1050 can continue with operation 1058 with adjusting radome thickness for a radome of the AiM to reduce phase difference of incident waves of AiM signals.
The method 1050 can continue with operation 1060 with providing at least the value for the first parameter and the radome thickness for placement of the AiM. The method 1050 can include setting a thickness for an air gap between the radome and the AiM to be less than any wavelengths at which the AiM is to transmit and receive signals. The thickness can be set such that a boresight error is minimized in beam steering through a desired range. The method 1050 can include providing values for parameters of a sidewall opening of a chassis of a user device.
As described earlier herein, power consumption is also important for portable electronic devices including Internet of Things (IoT) devices in 5G Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC). Previous solutions for IoT often included providing longer sleep cycles to reduce power consumption. However, devices still must wake periodically to check for messages from central systems, such as beacon signals, synchronization signals, etc., and therefore devices need to remain in the IDLE mode.
Aspects of this disclosure address these concerns by providing methods and circuits for remote wireless device Modem On-Off using a specific radio frequency (RF) carrier frequency (defined for each device or type of device) with existing passive circuit elements in the device for ultra-low power communication. Devices can therefore remain in a powered-down (Off) mode instead of IDLE mode. The modem for the device/s can be switched on remotely just before sending any user data/message to the device without any power consumption in the device modem for remote accessing.
By providing circuitry and implementing methods according to various aspects of the disclosure, device IDLE mode power consumption can be reduced to nearly zero. The device can nevertheless remain accessible by switching the device ON through an RF signal energy harvesting method described below. Methods according to aspects can turn on the remote communication device just before the communication starts and switches it off when communication is over for that session.
The modem of all devices in the network (except a primary/central device 1100) can be in the switched off state by default. Therefore, the associated devices will consume no battery power will be consumed, and no periodic activities will be performed. The associated device/s perform no dedicated send/receive activities in the modem OFF state.
Referring to
That specific frequency RF signal 1102 can be filtered and pass via the RF front-end circuit 1202 of a communications module (e.g., Wi-Fi module) of that device. The components in circuit 1202 are passive and therefore no battery power is needed. This impinged RF A/C signal impinges on the coil 1103 (e.g., the coil acts as an antenna) and the col converts the RF signal to electrical current and voltage according to Maxwell's law). The coil 1103 can be designed to receive the specific frequency that has been predefined or predetermined for that given device.
The current is converted to D/C (unidirectional) signal by diode 1104 and the current will be used to charge a capacitor 1106 or other storage element. Once the stored charge or voltage in the capacitor 1106 becomes higher than the threshold voltage (Vth) 1107, as determined at comparator 1108, then an output of the comparator will power on the rest of the communication circuitry, e.g., the modem active circuitry 1204. In this way, any specific device can be switched On by using specific RF frequency signals. This could be used for Wi-Fi, mmWave, BT devices and could be extended for other wireless network Modems. Subsequent to being switched ON the device can commence signalling and communicating as usual for that type of device. Paging messages, etc. can be timed based on central or base station knowledge of typical power-on times for the device or type of device. The device can power back off again after, for example, a certain amount of time without uplink/downlink communications. The device can also power on without outside RF signals when the device determines communication is needed.
This circuitry can also be used for remote device search or location detection. For example, if a remote device is powered down, it can nonetheless be located and powered back on (and emitting a sound (e.g., “beep” or another signal to allow a user to locate the device) by transmitting the specific RF signal for that device.
The circuitry described above can be used in implementing the method of
The method can begin with operation 1302 with a central device (e.g., apparatus 1200 (
In operation 1306, a diode 1104 can convert the current to DC and voltage can be stored in a capacitive element 1106. As the RF signal is sent for some duration, this can cause charge to build up in operation 1308 until voltage is higher than a reference voltage of a comparator 1108.
In operation 1310, the device or device modem will turn on when the voltage of operation 1308 exceeds the reference voltage. In operation 1312, the device will initiate startup and communication procedures according to communication standards of the device/type of device. If communications are completed or other criteria are met for power down, the modem or device may power down again in operation 1314.
IoT devices can be kept accessible at any time by maintaining the devices in IDLE even when the devices are powered off. IDLE mode communications cause devices to consume battery even when OFF. Methods according to aspects save power by turning modems completely off, so there is no power wastage in IDLE mode. Because IoT devices are in an IDLE mode for a significant amount of time, this power savings can have a large impact on power efficiency and device lifetime in many devices used in “smart” homes, factories, etc. Devices can still remain always accessible by transmitting an RF signal specific to that device to power on the modem and other active elements.
Circuitry (e.g., processing circuitry) is a collection of circuits implemented in tangible entities of the device 1800 that include hardware (e.g., simple circuits, gates, logic, etc.). Circuitry membership may be flexible over time. Circuitries include members that may, alone or in combination, perform specified operations when operating. In an example, hardware of the circuitry may be immutably designed to carry out a specific operation (e.g., hardwired). In an example, the hardware of the circuitry may include variably connected physical components (e.g., execution units, transistors, simple circuits, etc.) including a machine readable medium physically modified (e.g., magnetically, electrically, moveable placement of invariant massed particles, etc.) to encode instructions of the specific operation.
In connecting the physical components, the underlying electrical properties of a hardware constituent are changed, for example, from an insulator to a conductor or vice versa. The instructions enable embedded hardware (e.g., the execution units or a loading mechanism) to create members of the circuitry in hardware via the variable connections to carry out portions of the specific operation when in operation. Accordingly, in an example, the machine-readable medium elements are part of the circuitry or are communicatively coupled to the other components of the circuitry when the device is operating. In an example, any of the physical components may be used in more than one member of more than one circuitry. For example, under operation, execution units may be used in a first circuit of a first circuitry at one point in time and reused by a second circuit in the first circuitry, or by a third circuit in a second circuitry at a different time. Additional examples of these components with respect to the device 1800 follow.
In some aspects, the device 1800 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other devices. In a networked deployment, the communication device 1800 may operate in the capacity of a server communication device, a client communication device, or both in server-client network environments. In an example, the communication device 1800 may act as a peer communication device in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment. The communication device 1800 may be a UE, eNB, PC, a tablet PC, a STB, a PDA, a mobile telephone, a smart phone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any communication device capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that communication device. Further, while only a single communication device is illustrated, the term “communication device” shall also be taken to include any collection of communication devices that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), other computer cluster configurations.
Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangible entities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In an example, circuits may be arranged (e.g., internally or with respect to external entities such as other circuits) in a specified manner as a module. In an example, the whole or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardware processors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g., instructions, an application portion, or an application) as a module that operates to perform specified operations. In an example, the software may reside on a communication device-readable medium. In an example, the software, when executed by the underlying hardware of the module, causes the hardware to perform the specified operations.
Accordingly, the term “module” is understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, specifically configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., transitorily) configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or to perform part or all of any operation described herein. Considering examples in which modules are temporarily configured, each of the modules need not be instantiated at any one moment in time. For example, where the modules comprise a general-purpose hardware processor configured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may be configured as respective different modules at different times. Software may accordingly configure a hardware processor, for example, to constitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitute a different module at a different instance of time.
Communication device (e.g., UE) 1800 may include a hardware processor 1802 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 1804, a static memory 1806, and mass storage 1816 (e.g., hard drive, tape drive, flash storage, or other block or storage devices), some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 1808.
The communication device 1800 may further include a display unit 1810, an alphanumeric input device 1812 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 1814 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the display unit 1810, input device 1812 and UI navigation device 1814 may be a touch screen display. The communication device 1800 may additionally include a signal generation device 1818 (e.g., a speaker), a network interface device 1820, and one or more sensors 1821, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or another sensor. The communication device 1800 may include an output controller 1823, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.).
The mass storage 1816 may include a communication device-readable medium 1822, on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 1824 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. In some aspects, registers of the processor 1802, the main memory 1804, the static memory 1806, and/or the mass storage 1816 may be, or include (completely or at least partially), the device-readable medium 1822, on which is stored the one or more sets of data structures or instructions 1824, embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 1802, the main memory 1804, the static memory 1806, or the mass storage 1816 may constitute the device-readable medium 1822.
As used herein, the term “device-readable medium” is interchangeable with “computer-readable medium” or “machine-readable medium”. While the communication device-readable medium 1822 is illustrated as a single medium, the term “communication device-readable medium” may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store the one or more instructions 1824.
The term “communication device-readable medium” may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the communication device 1800 and that cause the communication device 1800 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non-limiting communication device-readable medium examples may include solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples of communication device-readable media may include: non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; Random Access Memory (RAM); and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. In some examples, communication device-readable media may include non-transitory communication device-readable media. In some examples, communication device-readable media may include communication device-readable media that is not a transitory propagating signal.
The instructions 1824 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 1826 using a transmission medium via the network interface device 1820 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) family of standards, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) family of standards, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, the network interface device 1820 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communications network 1826. In an example, the network interface device 1820 may include a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), MIMO, or multiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. In some examples, the network interface device 1820 may wirelessly communicate using Multiple User MIMO techniques.
The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the communication device 1800, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of such software. In this regard, a transmission medium in the context of this disclosure is a device-readable medium.
In one aspect, processor 1910 has one or more processor cores 1912, . . . , 1912N, where 1912N represents the Nth processor core inside processor 1910 where N is a positive integer. In one aspect, system 1900 includes multiple processors including 1910 and 1905, where processor 1905 has logic similar or identical to the logic of processor 1910. In some aspects, processing core 1912 includes, but is not limited to, pre-fetch logic to fetch instructions, decode logic to decode the instructions, execution logic to execute instructions and the like. In some aspects, processor 1910 has a cache memory 1916 to cache instructions and/or data for system 1900. Cache memory 1916 may be organized into a hierarchal structure including one or more levels of cache memory.
In some aspects, processor 1910 includes a memory controller 1914, which is operable to perform functions that enable the processor 1910 to access and communicate with memory 1930 that includes a volatile memory 1932 and/or a non-volatile memory 1934. In some aspects, processor 1910 is coupled with memory 1930 and chipset 1920. Processor 1910 may also be coupled to a wireless antenna 1978 to communicate with any device configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals. In one aspect, an interface for wireless antenna 1978 operates in accordance with, but is not limited to, the IEEE 802.11 standard and its related family, Home Plug AV (HPAV), Ultra-Wide Band (UWB), Bluetooth, WiMax, or any form of wireless communication protocol.
In some aspects, volatile memory 1932 includes, but is not limited to, Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM), and/or any other type of random-access memory device. Non-volatile memory 1934 includes, but is not limited to, flash memory, phase change memory (PCM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or any other type of non-volatile memory device.
Memory 1930 stores information and instructions to be executed by processor 1910. In one aspect, memory 1930 may also store temporary variables or other intermediate information while processor 1910 is executing instructions. In the illustrated aspect, chipset 1920 connects with processor 1910 via Point-to-Point (PtP or P-P) interfaces 1917 and 1922. Chipset 1920 enables processor 1910 to connect to other elements in system 1900. In some aspects of the example system, interfaces 1917 and 1922 operate in accordance with a PtP communication protocol such as the Intel® QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) or the like. In other aspects, a different interconnect may be used.
In some aspects, chipset 1920 is operable to communicate with processor 1910, 1905, display device 1940, and other devices, including a bus bridge 1972, a smart TV 1976, I/O devices 1974, nonvolatile memory 1960, a storage medium (such as one or more mass storage devices) 1962, a keyboard/mouse 1964, a network interface 1966, and various forms of consumer electronics 1977 (such as a PDA, smart phone, tablet etc.), etc. In one aspect, chipset 1920 couples with these devices through an interface 1924. Chipset 1920 may also be coupled to a wireless antenna 1978 to communicate with any device configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals.
Chipset 1920 connects to display device 1940 via interface 1926. Display device 1940 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display, cathode ray tube (CRT) display, or any other form of visual display device. In some aspects of the example system, processor 1910 and chipset 1920 are merged into a single SOC. In addition, chipset 1920 connects to one or more buses 1950 and 1955 that interconnect various system elements, such as I/O devices 1974, nonvolatile memory 1960, storage medium 1962, a keyboard/mouse 1964, and network interface 1966. Buses 1950 and 1955 may be interconnected together via a bus bridge 1972.
In one aspect, storage medium 1962 includes, but is not limited to, a solid-state drive, a hard disk drive, a universal serial bus flash memory drive, or any other form of computer data storage medium. In one aspect, network interface 1966 is implemented by any type of well-known network interface standard including, but not limited to, an Ethernet interface, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) Express interface, a wireless interface and/or any other suitable type of interface. In one aspect, the wireless interface operates in accordance with, but is not limited to, the IEEE 802.11 standard and its related family, Home Plug AV (HPAV), Ultra-Wide Band (UWB), Bluetooth, WiMax, or any form of wireless communication protocol.
While the modules shown in
Discussions herein utilizing terms such as, for example, “processing”, “computing”, “calculating”, “determining”, “establishing”, “analyzing”, “checking”, or the like, may refer to operation(s) and/or process(es) of a computer, a computing platform, a computing system, or other electronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities within the computer's registers and/or memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer's registers and/or memories or other information storage medium that may store instructions to perform operations and/or processes.
The terms “plurality” and “a plurality”, as used herein, include, for example, “multiple” or “two or more”. For example, “a plurality of items” includes two or more items.
References to “one aspect”, “an aspect”, “an example aspect”, “some aspects”, “demonstrative aspect”, “various aspects” etc., indicate that the aspect(s) so described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every aspect necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Further, repeated use of the phrase “in one aspect” does not necessarily refer to the same aspect, although it may.
As used herein, unless otherwise specified the use of the ordinal adjectives “first”, “second”, “third” etc., to describe a common object, merely indicate that different instances of like objects are being referred to and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.
Some aspects may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, for example, a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Device (MD), a wireless station (STA), a Personal Computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a sensor device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a wearable device, a handheld device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless communication device, a wireless Access Point (AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audio device, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired or wireless network, a wireless area network, a Wireless Video Area Network (WVAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wireless LAN (WLAN), a Personal Area Network (PAN), a Wireless PAN (WPAN), and the like.
Some aspects may, for example, be used in conjunction with devices and/or networks operating in accordance with existing IEEE 802.11 standards (including IEEE 802.11-2016 (IEEE 802.11-2016, IEEE Standard for Information technology—Telecommunications and information exchange between systems Local and metropolitan area networks—Specific requirements Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, Dec. 7, 2016); IEEE 802.11ay (P802.11ay Standard for Information Technology—Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems Local and Metropolitan Area Networks—Specific Requirements Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications—Amendment: Enhanced Throughput for Operation in License-Exempt Bands Above 45 GHZ)) and/or future versions and/or derivatives thereof, devices and/or networks operating in accordance with existing WiFi Alliance (WFA) Peer-to-Peer (P2P) specifications (including WiFi P2P technical specification, version 1.5, Aug. 4, 2015) and/or future versions and/or derivatives thereof, devices and/or networks operating in accordance with existing Wireless-Gigabit-Alliance (WGA) specifications (including Wireless Gigabit Alliance, Inc WiGig MAC and PHY Specification Version 1.1, April 2011, Final specification) and/or future versions and/or derivatives thereof, devices and/or networks operating in accordance with existing cellular specifications and/or protocols, e.g., 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and/or future versions and/or derivatives thereof, units and/or devices which are part of the above networks, and the like.
Some aspects may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, a Personal Communication Systems (PCS) device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable Global Positioning System (GPS) device, a device which incorporates a GPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFID element or chip, a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transceiver or device, a Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) transceiver or device, a Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) transceiver or device, a device having one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devices or systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a Smartphone, a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) device, or the like.
Some aspects may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and/or systems, for example, Radio Frequency (RF), Infra-Red (IR), Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM), Orthogonal FDM (OFDM), Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Spatial Divisional Multiple Access (SDMA), FDM Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM), Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO), Extended TDMA (E-TDMA), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), extended GPRS, Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, Multi-Carrier Modulation (MDM), Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT), Bluetooth, Global Positioning System (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee™, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, Fifth Generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE advanced, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), or the like. Other aspects may be used in various other devices, systems and/or networks.
The term “wireless device”, as used herein, includes, for example, a device capable of wireless communication, a communication device capable of wireless communication, a communication station capable of wireless communication, a portable or non-portable device capable of wireless communication, or the like. In some demonstrative aspects, a wireless device may be or may include a peripheral that is integrated with a computer, or a peripheral that is attached to a computer. In some demonstrative aspects, the term “wireless device” may optionally include a wireless service.
The term “communicating” as used herein with respect to a communication signal includes transmitting the communication signal and/or receiving the communication signal. For example, a communication unit, which is capable of communicating a communication signal, may include a transmitter to transmit the communication signal to at least one other communication unit, and/or a communication receiver to receive the communication signal from at least one other communication unit. The verb communicating may be used to refer to the action of transmitting and/or the action of receiving. In one example, the phrase “communicating a signal” may refer to the action of transmitting the signal by a first device and may not necessarily include the action of receiving the signal by a second device. In another example, the phrase “communicating a signal” may refer to the action of receiving the signal by a first device and may not necessarily include the action of transmitting the signal by a second device.
Some demonstrative aspects may be used in conjunction with a wireless communication network communicating over a frequency band above 45 Gigahertz (GHz), e.g., 60 GHz. However, other aspects may be implemented utilizing any other suitable wireless communication frequency bands, for example, an Extremely High Frequency (EHF) band (the millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency band), e.g., a frequency band within the frequency band of between 20 GHz and 300 GHz, a frequency band above 45 GHZ, a frequency band below 20 GHz, e.g., a Sub 1 GHz (S1G) band, a 2.4 GHz band, a 5 GHz band, a WLAN frequency band, a WPAN frequency band, a frequency band according to the WGA specification, and the like.
As used herein, the term “circuitry” may, for example, refer to, be part of, or include, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an integrated circuit, an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some aspects, circuitry may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware. In some aspects, the circuitry may be implemented as part of and/or in the form of a radio virtual machine (RVM), for example, as part of a Radio processor (RP) configured to execute code to configured one or more operations and/or functionalities of one or more radio components.
The term “logic” may refer, for example, to computing logic embedded in circuitry of a computing apparatus and/or computing logic stored in a memory of a computing apparatus. For example, the logic may be accessible by a processor of the computing apparatus to execute the computing logic to perform computing functions and/or operations. In one example, logic may be embedded in various types of memory and/or firmware, e.g., silicon blocks of various chips and/or processors. Logic may be included in, and/or implemented as part of, various circuitry, e.g., radio circuitry, receiver circuitry, control circuitry, transmitter circuitry, transceiver circuitry, processor circuitry, and/or the like. In one example, logic may be embedded in volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory, including random access memory, read only memory, programmable memory, magnetic memory, flash memory, persistent memory, and/or the like. Logic may be executed by one or more processors using memory, e.g., registers, buffers, stacks, and the like, coupled to the one or more processors, e.g., as necessary to execute the logic.
The term “antenna” or “antenna array”, as used herein, may include any suitable configuration, structure and/or arrangement of one or more antenna elements, components, units, assemblies and/or arrays. In some aspects, the antenna may implement transmit and receive functionalities using separate transmit and receive antenna elements. In some aspects, the antenna may implement transmit and receive functionalities using common and/or integrated transmit/receive elements. The antenna may include, for example, a phased array antenna, a single element antenna, a set of switched beam antennas, and/or the like.
Example 1 is a computer-readable medium including instructions, that, when executed on simulator circuitry, cause the simulator circuitry to perform operations including: configuring a simulation of antenna gain of antenna in module (AiM) components, the simulation including as an output a cumulative distribution function (CDF) representing AiM coverage; identifying a first parameter of a set of antenna in module (AiM) placement parameters that has a largest effect on an antenna performance criterion observed in the simulation; setting a value for the first parameter to maintain antenna gain above a threshold in at least two frequency bands; adjusting radome thickness for a radome of the AiM to reduce phase difference of incident waves of AiM signals; and providing at least the value for the first parameter and the radome thickness for placement of the AiM.
In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 can optionally include wherein the first parameter defines offset, along an axis, of the AiM between a top and bottom cover of a user device.
In Example 3, the subject matter of Example 2 can optionally include wherein the operations further comprise: setting a thickness for an air gap between the radome and the AiM to be less than any wavelengths at which the AiM is to transmit and receive signals.
In Example 4, the subject matter of Example 3 can optionally include wherein the thickness is set such that a boresight error is minimized in beam steering through a desired range.
In Example 5, the subject matter of any of Examples 1-4 can optionally include wherein the operations further comprise: providing values for parameters of a sidewall opening of a chassis of a user device.
In Example 6, the subject matter of any of Examples 1-5 can optionally include wherein antenna performance criterion include a millimeter wave coverage criterion.
In Example 7, the subject matter of any of Examples 1-6 can optionally include operating the AiM in at least one millimeter wave frequency band.
Example 8 is a method for performing any of Examples 1-7.
Example 9 is a system comprising means for performing any of Examples 1-7.
In Example 10, an apparatus can comprise at least one antenna; and a radio frequency front end module (RFEM) coupled to the at least one antenna, the RFEM including: active circuitry and passive circuitry, the passive circuitry to be energized by a signal at a center frequency for the apparatus, wherein the passive circuitry is configured to: store electrical charge upon reception of the signal at the center frequency, and provide power to wake active circuitry upon stored charge reaching or exceeding a threshold charge.
In Example 11, the subject matter of Example 10 can optionally include wherein the passive circuitry includes a band pass filter configured to pass frequencies within a bandwidth of the center frequency for the apparatus.
In Example 12, the subject matter of Example 11 can optionally include wherein the passive circuitry includes a diode to convert the signal to direct current and a capacitive element to store the charge.
In Example 13, the subject matter of Example 12 can optionally include wherein the passive circuitry includes a comparator configured to provide the signal to wake active circuitry upon stored charge reaching or exceeding a threshold charge.
In Example 14, the subject matter of Example 13 can optionally include wherein the passive circuitry is further configured to remotely power a modem component upon providing the signal to wake.
In Example 15 the subject matter of Example 13 can optionally include wherein the passive circuitry is further configured to remotely power the apparatus upon providing the signal to wake.
In Example 16, the subject matter of any of Examples 10-15 can optionally include wherein the active circuitry is configured to power down a modem component at a time period subsequent to powering up.
Example 17 is a system comprising means to perform any of Examples 10-16.
Example 18 is a method including operations to perform any of Examples 10-16.
The above detailed description includes references to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of the detailed description. The drawings show, by way of illustration, specific aspects in which the invention can be practiced. These aspects are also referred to herein as “examples.” Such examples can include elements in addition to those shown or described. However, the present inventors also contemplate examples in which only those elements shown or described are provided. Moreover, the present inventors also contemplate examples using any combination or permutation of those elements shown or described (or one or more aspects thereof), either with respect to a particular example (or one or more aspects thereof), or with respect to other examples (or one or more aspects thereof) shown or described herein.
In this document, the terms “a” or “an” are used, as is common in patent documents, to include one or more than one, independent of any other instances or usages of “at least one” or “one or more.” In this document, the term “or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that “A or B” includes “A but not B,” “B but not A,” and “A and B,” unless otherwise indicated. In this document, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein.” Also, in the following claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are open-ended, that is, a system, device, article, composition, formulation, or process that includes elements in addition to those listed after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within the scope of that claim. Moreover, in the following claims, the terms “first,” “second,” and “third,” etc. are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.
The above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or more aspects thereof) may be used in combination with each other. Other aspects can be used, such as by one of ordinary skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The Abstract is provided to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Also, in the above Detailed Description, various features may be grouped together to streamline the disclosure. This should not be interpreted as intending that an unclaimed disclosed feature is essential to any claim. Rather, inventive subject matter may lie in less than all features of a particular disclosed aspect. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate aspect, and it is contemplated that such aspects can be combined with each other in various combinations or permutations. The scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are legally entitled.
