Electronic device and method for transmitting UWB signal in electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11956007-B2
Application number	US-202217940757-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 8, 2022
Priority date	Sep 8, 2021
Publication date	Apr 9, 2024
Grant date	Apr 9, 2024

Abstract

According to various embodiments, an electronic device may comprise a communication processor; an intermediate frequency integrated circuit (IFIC) to convert a baseband signal received from the communication processor into an intermediate frequency (IF) signal; a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) convert the received IF signal into a first radio frequency (RF) signal; an ultra-wideband (UWB) integrated circuit (IC) generating a UWB signal corresponding to a first frequency; at least one UWB antenna to transmit/receive the UWB signal corresponding to the first frequency; and at least one first switch connected between the UWB IC and the UWB antenna. The at least one first switch may be controlled so that the UWB signal corresponding to the first frequency, generated by the UWB IC, is transmitted to the RFIC in a state in which a communication operation, for a signal transmitted/received from the communication processor, by the RFIC is inactivated.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising,
a communication processor;
an intermediate frequency integrated circuit (IFIC) configured to convert a baseband signal received from the communication processor into an intermediate frequency (IF) signal;
a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) configured to convert the IF signal into a first radio frequency (RF) signal;
an ultra-wideband (UWB) integrated circuit (IC) configured to generate a UWB signal corresponding to a first frequency;
at least one UWB antenna configured to transmit/receive the UWB signal corresponding to the first frequency; and
at least one first switch connected between the UWB IC and the UWB antenna,
wherein the at least one first switch is controlled so that the UWB signal corresponding to the first frequency, generated by the UWB IC, is transmitted to the RFIC in a state in which a communication operation, for a signal transmitted/received from the communication processor, by the RFIC is inactivated.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the RFIC is configured to receive the UWB signal corresponding to the first frequency, generated by the UWB IC, through the at least one first switch, convert the received UWB signal corresponding to the first frequency into a second RF signal corresponding to a second frequency, and transmit, through at least one antenna, the second RF signal corresponding to the second frequency.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the RFIC comprises a mixer configured to receive, through the at least one first switch, the UWB signal corresponding to the first frequency generated by the UWB IC, and mix a signal corresponding to a difference between the second frequency and the first frequency with the UWB signal.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising at least one second switch connected with the at least one first switch,
wherein the at least one second switch is configured to receive the IF signal and the UWB signal, and control so that the UWB signal is transmitted to the RFIC in the state in which the communication operation, for the signal transmitted/received from the communication processor, by the RFIC is inactivated.

5. The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the at least one second switch is provided in the IFIC.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the communication processor is configured to transmit, to the UWB IC, information indicating whether the communication operation, for the signal transmitted/received from the communication processor, by the RFIC is inactivated.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the UWB IC is further configured to transmit, to at least one of the IFIC or the communication processor, information for controlling the RFIC, in the state in which the communication operation, for the signal transmitted/received from the communication processor, by the RFIC is inactivated.

8. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the information for controlling the RFIC comprises information for controlling a setting for at least one component provided in the RFIC.

9. The electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the information for controlling the RFIC includes at least one of:
information indicating a transmission mode or a reception mode, information indicating an activated chain among a plurality of chains of the RFIC, a phase code for each of the plurality of chains, information related to a gain of a transmit signal amplifier, information related to a gain of a receive signal amplifier, or frequency setting value information.

10. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the UWB IC is configured to transmit, through the communication processor to the IFIC, the information for controlling the RFIC, in the state in which the communication operation, for the signal transmitted/received from the communication processor, by the RFIC is inactivated.

11. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the information for controlling the RFIC is mapped to a code where a combination of preset values for each information is set and stored in a memory.

12. The electronic device of claim 11 , wherein the UWB IC transmits, to the IFIC, the code corresponding to the combination of the preset values for each information, in the state in which the communication operation, for the signal transmitted/received from the communication processor, by the RFIC is inactivated.

13. The electronic device of claim 11 , wherein the UWB IC is configured to transmit, through the communication processor to the IFIC or the RFIC, the code corresponding to the combination of the preset values for each information, in the state in which the communication operation corresponding to the communication processor and the RFIC is inactive.

14. An electronic device, comprising,
a first communication processor configured to generate a baseband signal;
an intermediate frequency integrated circuit (IFIC) configured to convert the baseband signal received from the communication processor into a first intermediate frequency (IF) signal;
a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) configured to convert the received first IF signal into a radio frequency (RF) signal;
a first antenna configured to transmit the RF signal output from the RFIC;
a second communication processor configured to generate a second IF signal;
a second antenna configured to transmit the second IF signal; and
at least one switch connected between the second communication processor and the second antenna,
wherein the at least one switch is configured to be controlled so that the second IF signal generated by the second communication processor is transmitted to the RFIC in a state in which a communication operation, for a signal transmitted/received from the first communication processor, by the RFIC is inactivated.

15. A method for operating an electronic device, the method comprising,
receiving a baseband signal generated by a communication processor;
converting the baseband signal into an intermediate frequency (IF) signal, by an intermediate frequency integrated circuit (IFIC);
receiving the IF signal and converting the IF signal into a first radio frequency (RF) signal, by a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC);
transmitting the first RF signal through a first antenna;
generating an ultra-wideband (UWB) signal corresponding to a first frequency by a UWB integrated circuit (IC);
transmitting the UWB signal corresponding to the first frequency through a second antenna;
identifying that a communication operation, for a signal transmitted/received from the communication processor, by the RFIC is in an inactive state;
transmitting the UWB signal to the RFIC, based on identifying that the communication operation for the signal transmitted/received from the communication processor is in the inactive state;
converting the UWB signal into a second RF signal by the RFIC; and
transmitting the second RF signal through the first antenna.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising mixing the UWB signal with a signal corresponding to a difference between a second frequency corresponding to the second RF signal and the first frequency, by the RFIC, based on identifying that the communication operation for the signal transmitted/received from the communication processor is in the inactive state.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising transmitting, to the UWB IC, information for whether the communication operation, for the signal transmitted/received from the communication processor, by the RFIC is inactivated.

18. The meth

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Cho Namjun

Classifications

• G01S7/03

  Details of HF subsystems specially adapted therefor, e.g. common to transmitter and receiver · CPC title

• G01S7/006

  using shared front-end circuitry, e.g. antennas (G01S13/765, G01S13/825 take precedence) · CPC title

• H04B1/0064

  with separate antennas for the more than one band (H04B1/0053 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01S13/0209

  Systems with very large relative bandwidth, i.e. larger than 10 %, e.g. baseband, pulse, carrier-free, ultrawideband · CPC title

• H04B2001/0491

  with frequency synthesizers, frequency converters or modulators · CPC title