Frequency adjustment of an NFC circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10686495-B2
Application number	US-201916554236-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2019
Priority date	Aug 25, 2017
Publication date	Jun 16, 2020
Grant date	Jun 16, 2020

Abstract

A near-field communication circuit includes an oscillating circuit having a controllable capacitor. A control circuit is coupled to the oscillating circuit to control the controllable capacitor. A battery is coupled to the control circuit to enable control when the near-field communication circuit is in a standby mode. The near-field communication circuit can be utilized by a mobile communication device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A near-field communication circuit comprising:
an oscillating circuit having a controllable capacitor; and
a control circuit coupled to the oscillating circuit and comprising a controllable resistive dividing bridge, wherein the near-field communication circuit is configured to:
measure a frequency tuning of the oscillating circuit,
store data representative of the frequency tuning of the oscillating circuit, and
after storing the data, enter a standby mode, wherein the controllable resistive dividing bridge is configured to control the controllable capacitor based on the stored data.

2. The near-field communication circuit of claim 1 , further comprising a battery terminal configured to be coupled to a battery, wherein the controllable resistive dividing bridge comprises:
a first resistor coupled between the battery terminal and an output terminal coupled to a control terminal of the controllable capacitor;
a plurality of second resistors; and
a plurality of switches coupled to the output terminal, each second resistor of the plurality of second resistors coupled in series with a respective switch of the plurality of switches.

3. The near-field communication circuit of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit further comprises a latch circuit configured to be coupled to a battery, the latch circuit configured to control the controllable resistive dividing bridge.

4. The near-field communication circuit of claim 3 , wherein the controllable resistive dividing bridge comprises:
an output terminal coupled to a control terminal of the controllable capacitor;
a plurality of second resistors; and
a plurality of switches coupled to the output terminal, each second resistor of the plurality of second resistors coupled in series with a respective switch of the plurality of switches, wherein the latch circuit is configured to control the controllable resistive dividing bridge by controlling the plurality of switches.

5. The near-field communication circuit of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of switches are configured to be open before entering the standby mode.

6. The near-field communication circuit of claim 3 , wherein the control circuit further comprises a register, and wherein the data is stored in the register.

7. The near-field communication circuit of claim 6 , further comprising a level-shifter coupled between the register and the latch circuit.

8. The near-field communication circuit of claim 1 , wherein the data are obtained from an analysis of an amplitude and phase of a signal across the oscillating circuit.

9. The near-field communication circuit of claim 1 , further comprising a battery coupled to the control circuit.

10. The near-field communication circuit of claim 1 , wherein the controllable resistive dividing bridge is configured to be powered by a battery.

11. A near-field communication device comprising:
an RF interface;
an oscillating circuit having a controllable capacitor coupled to the RF interface;
a controllable resistive dividing bridge having an output coupled to the controllable capacitor;
a latch circuit having an output coupled to the controllable resistive dividing bridge;
a register having an output coupled to an input of the latch circuit; and
a battery terminal coupled to the controllable resistive dividing bridge and the latch circuit, wherein the controllable capacitor is configured to be controlled based on data representative of a frequency tuning of the oscillating circuit based on a measurement performed before the near-field communication device is set to a standby mode, the battery terminal configured to power the controllable resistive dividing bridge and the latch circuit in the standby mode.

12. The near-field communication device of claim 11 , further comprising an analysis circuit coupled to the RF interface, the analysis circuit having an output coupled to the register.

13. The near-field communication device of claim 11 , further comprising an antenna coupled to the RF interface.

14. The near-field communication device of claim 11 , wherein the controllable resistive dividing bridge comprises:
a first resistor coupled between the battery terminal and an output terminal coupled to a control terminal of the controllable capacitor;
a plurality of second resistors; and
a plurality of switches coupled to the output terminal, each second resistor of the plurality of second resistors coupled in series with a respective switch of the plurality of switches.

15. The near-field communication device of claim 14 , wherein the latch circuit is configured to control the controllable resistive dividing bridge by controlling the plurality of switches.

16. The near-field communication device of claim 14 , wherein the plurality of switches are configured to be open before entering the standby mode.

17. The near-field communication device of claim 11 , further comprising a level-shifter coupled between the register and the latch circuit.

18. A method of controlling a controllable capacitor of an oscillating circuit of a near-field communication circuit, the method comprising:
before entering a standby mode,
measuring a frequency tuning of the oscillating circuit, and
storing data representative of the frequency tuning of the oscillating circuit;

after storing the data, entering the standby mode of the near-field communication circuit; and
during the standby mode, controlling the controllable capacitor according to the data stored before the near-field communication circuit entered the standby mode by controlling switches of a controllable resistive dividing bridge that is coupled to the controllable capacitor.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising, before entering the standby mode, keeping the switches of the controllable resistive dividing bridge open.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising controlling the controllable capacitor based on a register that is coupled to an output of an analysis circuit.

Assignees

• St Microelectronics Rousset

Inventors

• Tramoni Alexandre

Classifications

• H04B5/45 Primary

  Transponders · CPC title

• H04B5/24

  Inductive coupling · CPC title

• H03H7/38

  Impedance-matching networks · CPC title

• H03B5/18

  with frequency-determining element comprising distributed inductance and capacitance · CPC title

• H04B5/0031

  Electricity · mapped topic