Enhanced antenna utilization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11411615-B2
Application number	US-201916368556-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2019
Priority date	Mar 29, 2018
Publication date	Aug 9, 2022
Grant date	Aug 9, 2022

Abstract

In an example, an apparatus includes first and second antennas and a switched extractor coupled to the first antenna. The switched extractor includes an extractor configured to extract an extraction frequency band, a bypass line, and switching circuitry. The switching circuitry is configured to selectively establish a bypass signal path including the bypass line or a concurrent signal path including the extractor. The apparatus also includes first and second transceiver units (TRXUs) and a processor. The first TRXU is coupled to the first antenna via the switched extractor. The second TRXU is coupled to the first antenna via the switched extractor and coupled to the second antenna. The processor is configured to cause the switching circuitry to selectively connect the first TRXU to the first antenna via the bypass or the concurrent signal path based on the extraction frequency band and an operational frequency band associated with the first TRXU.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wireless communications apparatus comprising:
multiple antennas including a first antenna and a second antenna;
a switched extractor coupled to the first antenna, the switched extractor including:
an extractor having multiple filters, the extractor configured to extract an extraction frequency band using the multiple filters, the multiple filters including a band-rejection filter and a bandpass filter, the band-rejection filter configured to suppress frequencies within the extraction frequency band and pass frequencies on each side of the extraction frequency band, the bandpass filter configured to pass frequencies within the extraction frequency band;
a bypass line; and
switching circuitry coupled to the extractor and the bypass line, the switching circuitry configured to selectively establish a bypass signal path including the bypass line or a concurrent signal path including the extractor;

multiple transceiver units including a first transceiver unit configured to communicate via a wireless wide area network (WWAN) and a second transceiver unit configured to communicate via a wireless local area network (WLAN), the first transceiver unit coupled to the first antenna via the switched extractor, the second transceiver unit coupled to the first antenna via the switched extractor and coupled to the second antenna; and
at least one processor coupled to the switching circuitry, the at least one processor configured to cause the switching circuitry to selectively connect the first transceiver unit to the first antenna via the bypass signal path instead of via the concurrent signal path based on an operational frequency band associated with the first transceiver unit corresponding to a WWAN band being adjacent to or at least partially overlapping with a WLAN band associated with the second transceiver unit.

2. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the operational frequency band corresponds to a frequency band in which the first transceiver unit is currently transmitting or receiving.

3. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the operational frequency band associated with the first transceiver unit comprises a band assignment that comports with a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standard.

4. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the switching circuitry is configured to:
connect the second transceiver unit to the first antenna via the concurrent signal path responsive to connection of the first transceiver unit to the first antenna via the concurrent signal path; and
disconnect the second transceiver unit from the first antenna responsive to connection of the first transceiver unit to the first antenna via the bypass signal path.

5. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the switched extractor includes another bypass line; and
the switching circuitry is coupled to the other bypass line, the switching circuitry configured to selectively establish:
another bypass signal path including the other bypass line;
the bypass signal path including the bypass line; or
the concurrent signal path including the extractor.

6. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to cause the switching circuitry to selectively connect the second transceiver unit to the first antenna via the other bypass signal path or via the concurrent signal path.

7. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the switching circuitry is configured to:
connect the first transceiver unit to the first antenna via the concurrent signal path responsive to connection of the second transceiver unit to the first antenna via the concurrent signal path; and
disconnect the first transceiver unit from the first antenna responsive to connection of the second transceiver unit to the first antenna via the other bypass signal path.

8. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the first transceiver unit is configured to be actively communicating via the WWAN using the first antenna and the second transceiver unit is configured to be actively communicating via the WLAN using the second antenna in an operating mode based on the operational frequency band being adjacent to or at least partially overlapping with the WLAN band.

9. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the operational frequency band being adjacent to or at least partially overlapping with the WLAN band corresponds to a first operation mode, and wherein in a second operation mode:
the at least one processor is configured to cause the switching circuitry to establish a concurrent mode of the switched extractor by connecting the first transceiver unit and the second transceiver unit to the first antenna via the concurrent signal path;
the first transceiver unit is configured to be actively communicating via the WWAN using the first antenna for the concurrent mode of the switched extractor; and
the second transceiver unit is configured to be actively communicating via the WLAN using the first antenna for the concurrent mode of the switched extractor.

10. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one processor is configured to establish a concurrent mode using the concurrent signal path at a first time;
a first portion of the multiple transceiver units, including the first transceiver unit, is configured to communicate via the WWAN using a first multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) configuration at the first time; and
a second portion of the multiple transceiver units, including the second transceiver unit, is configured to communicate via the WLAN using a second MIMO configuration at the first time.

11. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 10 , wherein:
the at least one processor is configured to establish a bypass mode using the bypass signal path at a second time;
the first portion of the multiple transceiver units, including the first transceiver unit, is configured to communicate via the WWAN using the first MIMO configuration at the second time; and
at least part of the second portion of the multiple transceiver units, including the second transceiver unit, is configured to communicate via the WLAN using a third MIMO configuration at the second time, the third MIMO configuration comprising at least one fewer antenna than the second MIMO configuration.

12. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 11 , wherein:
the switched extractor includes another bypass line;
the at least one processor is configured to establish another bypass mode using another bypass signal path at a third time, the other bypass signal path including the other bypass line;
at least part of the first portion the multiple transceiver units, including the first transceiver unit, is configured to communicate via the WWAN using a fourth MIMO configuration at the third time, the fourth MIMO configuration comprising at least one fewer antenna than the first MIMO configuration; and
the second portion of the multiple transceiver units, including the second transceiver unit, is configured to communicate via the WLAN using the second MIMO configuration at the third time.

13. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the extractor is configured to:
produce a first separated signal suppressing the extraction frequency band using the band-rejection filter; and
produce a second separated signal including the extraction frequency band using the bandpass filter.

14. The wireless communications apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the bypass line comprises at least one filte

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Freisleben Stefan
• Heide Patric
• Chernyakov Alexander
• Shevelov Mykola
• Wong Wai San
• Gavryliuk Oleksandr
• Komakha Petro
• Sevskiy Georgiy
• Beaudin Steve Andre
• Maldonado David

Classifications

• H04B1/40 Primary

  Circuits · CPC title

• H04B7/0413 Primary

  MIMO systems · CPC title

• H04B1/0057

  using diplexing or multiplexing filters for selecting the desired band · CPC title

• H04B1/18

  Input circuits, e.g. for coupling to an antenna or a transmission line (coupling networks between antennas or lines and receivers independent of the nature of the receiver H03H) · CPC title