Method and Apparatus for Directing an Antenna Beam based on a Location of a Communication Device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017195893-A1
Application number	US-201514986346-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 31, 2015
Priority date	Dec 31, 2015
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method is performed by a first communication device for directing an antenna beam based on a location of a second communication device. The method includes receiving first location data that indicates the location of the second communication device. The first location data is received over a first communication channel. The method further includes determining, based on the first location data, first antenna beam parameters for directing an antenna beam in order to communicate with the second communication device over a second communication channel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method performed by a first communication device, the method comprising:
receiving first location data that indicates the location of a second communication device, wherein the first location data is received over a first communication channel; determining, based on the first location data, a first set of antenna beam parameters for directing an antenna beam used to communicate with the second communication device over a second communication channel.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the antenna beam has a higher gain than an achievable gain when the first communication device performs an omnidirectional scan.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of antenna beam parameters is determined before obtaining multipath data for calculating a beamforming matrix of at least one or more phase values.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of antenna beam parameters is determined before completing an 802.11 association procedure with the second communication device.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second communication channels are characterized by different frequency bands for a same wireless communication technology.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the first and second communication channels are characterized by different frequency bands for Wi-Fi.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second communication channels are characterized by different communication technologies.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first communication channel has a longer range than the second communication channel.

9 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining second location data that indicates a location of the first communication device;
determining, based on the first and second location data, a first direction of the second communication device relative to the first communication device;
wherein the first set of antenna beam parameters is for directing the antenna beam in the first direction.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the first and second location data indicate one or both of:
geographic position; communication device orientation.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of antenna beam parameters is for directing the antenna beam along a direct path to the second communication device.

12 . The method of claim 11 further comprising:
determining that a first reflective path is better than the direct path for communicating with the second communication device over the second communication channel;
determining a second set of antenna beam parameters for directing the antenna beam along the reflective path.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the second set of antenna beam parameters comprises one or more of:
selecting the second set of antenna beam parameters from multiple sets of antenna beam parameters stored on the first communication device; selecting the second set of antenna beam parameters from multiple sets of antenna beam parameters stored remote from the first communication device; selecting the second set of antenna beam parameters as enabling communicating with the second communication device at a highest measured signal quality; selecting the second set of antenna beam parameters as enabling communicating with the second communication device at a signal quality that meets a signal quality threshold.

14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein determining that the first reflective path is better than the direct path comprises one of:
detecting a failure to connect to the second communication device using the first set of antenna beam parameters; or detecting a first signal quality, associated with the direct path, which fails to meet a signal quality threshold.

15 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining second location data that indicates a location of the first communication device;
determining, based on the first and second location data, a distance between the first and second communication devices;
determining beamforming based on the distance between the first and second communication devices.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein determining beamforming comprises determining, based on the distance between the first and second communication devices, a number of antenna elements to enable for directing the antenna beam using the first set of antenna beam parameters.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein determining beamforming comprises:
detecting that the distance between the first and second communication devices exceeds a distance threshold; causing the second communication device to beamform in order to communicate with the first communication device using the second communication channel.

18 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving updates to the first location data during a time frame;
determining updates to signal quality during the time frame;
determining based on updates to the first location data and updates to the signal quality that changes to the signal quality are caused by environmental conditions instead of movement by the second communication device, and responsively, maintaining the first set of antenna beam parameters for directing the antenna beam.

19 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving updates to the first location data during a time frame;
determining updates to signal quality during the time frame;
determining based on updates to the first location data and updates to the signal quality that changes to the signal quality are caused by environmental conditions instead of movement by the second communication device, and responsively, determining a second set of antenna beam parameters for temporarily directing the antenna beam along a different path than the path associated with the first set of antenna beam parameters.

20 . A first communication device configured for directing an antenna beam, the first communication device comprising:
a communication interface comprising a transceiver system operatively coupled to an antenna system, wherein the communication interface is configured to operate over a first communication channel to receive first location data that indicates the location of a second communication device, and wherein the communication interface is further configured to operate over a second communication channel having a shorter range than the first communication channel; a processing element operatively coupled to the communication interface and configured to determine, based on the first location data, a first set of antenna beam parameters for controlling the antenna system to direct an antenna beam in order to communicate with the second communication device using the second communication channel.

Assignees

• Motorola Mobility Llc

Inventors

• Lee Philip G
• Braun Mark
• Gupta Ranjeet
• Hor-Lao Mary

Classifications

• H04W64/003

  locating network equipment · CPC title

• H04W72/0453

  Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA · CPC title

• H04W16/28 Primary

  using beam steering · CPC title

• H04B7/0617 Primary

  for beam forming · CPC title

• H04L5/006

  Quality of the received signal, e.g. BER, SNR, water filling · CPC title