Transmutable MIMO wireless transceiver

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10917147-B2
Application number	US-201916374589-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 3, 2019
Priority date	May 31, 2018
Publication date	Feb 9, 2021
Grant date	Feb 9, 2021

Abstract

A multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless transceiver with “N” transmit and receive chains and a bandwidth evaluation circuit, a chain partitioning circuit and a switchable radio frequency ‘RF’ filter bank. The bandwidth evaluation circuit evaluates both the utilization of the WLAN(s) and any remaining communications channels and determines whether to operate the MIMO chains synchronously as a single radio or asynchronously as multiple radios. The chain partitioning circuit either partitions subsets of the MIMO chains for asynchronous operation as distinct radios or combines all MIMO chains for synchronous operation as a single radio. The switchable RF filter bank is responsive to a partitioning of subsets of the chains into distinct radios to add RF filters to a RF portion of the chains to isolate each radio from one another, and responsive to a combining of all MIMO chains into a single radio to remove all RF filters.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wireless transceiver comprising:
a plurality of components coupled to one another to form N transmit and receive chains supporting wireless communications on at least one wireless local area network (WLAN), each chain configured to be coupled to a different one of a plurality of antennas;
a chain partitioning circuit to either partition subsets of the chains for asynchronous operation as distinct radios each supporting their own WLAN or combine all chains for synchronous operation as a single radio supporting communications on a single WLAN; and
a switchable radio frequency (RF) filter bank responsive to a partitioning of subsets of the chains into distinct radios by the chain partitioning circuit to switchably add RF filters to a RF portion of the chains to isolate the asynchronous transmit and receive communications on each radio from one another, and further responsive to a combining of all chains into a single radio by the chain partitioning circuit to remove all RF filters from the RF portion of the chains to allow synchronous operation thereof, wherein the coupling between each of the chains and the different one of a plurality of antennas is maintained when switchably adding RF filters and removing RF filters.

2. The wireless transceiver of claim 1 , further comprising:
the switchable RF filter bank including a 1st set of RF bandpass filters each spanning a 1st set of communication channels and a 2nd set of RF bandpass filters each spanning a 2nd set of communication channels distinct from the 1st set, and
the switchable RF filter bank responsive to the partitioning of subsets of the chains into two distinct radios by the chain partitioning circuit to switchably add one of the 1st set of RF bandpass filters to an RF portion of each chain in the subset of the chains of one of the two radios and to switchably add one of the 2nd set of RF bandpass filters to each chain in the subset of the chains of the other of the two radios, to isolate the asynchronous transmit and receive communications on each radio from one another; and
the switchable RF filter bank further responsive to the combining of all chains into a single radio by the chain partitioning circuit to remove the 1st and 2nd sets of RF bandpass filters from the RF portion of all the chains to allow synchronous operation thereof.

3. The wireless transceiver of claim 1 , further comprising:
the switchable RF filter bank including sets of RF bandpass filters with each RF bandpass filter in a set spanning the same communication channels, and with each set spanning distinct communication channels from one another, and
the switchable RF filter bank responsive to the partitioning of subsets of the chains into distinct radios by the chain partitioning circuit to switchably add the RF bandpass filters in each set to the RF portion of the chains of each radio, to isolate the asynchronous transmit and receive communications on each radio from one another; and
the switchable RF filter bank further responsive to the combining of all chains into a single radio by the chain partitioning circuit to remove the RF bandpass filters from the RF portion of all the chains to allow synchronous operation thereof.

4. The wireless transceiver of claim 1 , further comprising:
the chain partitioning circuit further to determine a number of chains in the subset of chains of each distinct radio, based at least on capabilities of associated stations.

5. The wireless transceiver of claim 1 , further comprising:
a bandwidth evaluation circuit to determine whether to operate the chains synchronously as a single radio or asynchronously as multiple radios based on utilization of the at least one WLAN including per station throughput and capabilities of each associated station.

6. The wireless transceiver of claim 1 , further comprising:
a bandwidth evaluation circuit to determine whether to operate the chains synchronously as a single radio or asynchronously as multiple radios based on utilization of any remaining communication channels not used in the at least one WLAN including interference on said remaining channels resulting from either radar or from other wireless transceivers.

7. The wireless transceiver of claim 1 , operative as one of: a wireless access point (WAP) transceiver or a MESH transceiver.

8. The wireless transceiver of claim 1 , wherein each chain is configured to be coupled to the different one of a plurality of antennas and only the different one of the plurality of antennas.

9. A method comprising:
operating a wireless transceiver comprising a plurality of components coupled to one another to form multiple transmit and receive chains supporting wireless communications with associated stations on at least one wireless local area network by:
switchably connecting independently tunable voltage controlled oscillators to the chains allocated to a given radio based on determining an operation mode,
wherein
a first operation mode includes operating the chains asynchronously as multiple distinct radios each having a distinct subset of the chains by switchably connecting a different one of the independently tunable voltage controlled oscillators to each distinct subset of the chains and
a second operation mode includes operating the chains synchronously as a single radio by switchably connecting a single independently tunable voltage controlled oscillator to the chains of the single radio.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the distinct subset of chains operate in distinct communication bands on which each of the multiple distinct radios are capable of operating.

11. A method for operating a wireless transceiver, and the method comprising the acts of:
providing a plurality of components coupled to one another to form N transmit and receive chains supporting wireless communications with associated stations on at least one wireless local area network (WLAN), each chain configured to be coupled to a different one of a plurality of antennas;
determining whether to operate the chains synchronously as a single radio or asynchronously as multiple distinct radios each having a distinct subset of the N chains;
switchably adding radio frequency (RF) filters to a RF portion of each chain allocated to a given radio to isolate the asynchronous transmit and receive communications on each radio from one another, responsive to a determination in the determining act to operate subsets of the chains as distinct radios; and
switchably removing the RF filters from the RF portion of each chain responsive to a determination in the determining act, to operate the chains synchronously as a single radio, wherein the coupling between each of the chains and the different one of a plurality of antennas is maintained when switchably adding RF filters and removing RF filters.

12. The method for operating the wireless transceiver of claim 11 , wherein the determining and switchably adding acts further comprise:
determining to operate the chains asynchronously as two distinct radios each having a distinct subset of the chains; and
switchably adding one of a 1st set of RF bandpass filters each spanning a 1st set of communication channels to an RF portion of each chain in the subset of the chains of one of the two radios and one of a 2nd set of RF bandpass filters each spanning a 2nd set of communication channels to the RF portion of each chain in the subset of the chains of the other of the two radios, responsive to the determination to operate the chains as two distinct radios.

13. The method for operating the wireless transceiver of claim 11 , wherein the determining and switchably adding acts furthe

Assignees

• Quantenna Communications Inc
• On Semiconductor Connectivity Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Duxbury Simon
• Agrawal Abhishek
• Ansari Saied
• Margairaz Didier
• Liu Hongping

Classifications

• H04W72/541

  using the level of interference · CPC title

• H04B7/0874

  using subgroups of receive antennas · CPC title

• H04B7/0871

  using different reception schemes, at least one of them being a diversity reception scheme · CPC title

• H04B7/0691 Primary

  using subgroups of transmit antennas · CPC title

• H04B7/0689 Primary

  using different transmission schemes, at least one of them being a diversity transmission scheme · CPC title