Method and apparatus for detecting object position relative to antenna arrays of an electronic communication device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017356980-A1
Application number	US-201615176536-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 8, 2016
Priority date	Jun 8, 2016
Publication date	Dec 14, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An electronic communication device performs a method to detect proximity of an object to the device. The method includes determining a set of mutual coupling values for at least one pair of a plurality of antennas arrays of the electronic communication device. Each mutual coupling value indicates an efficiency of a mutual coupling transmission between an antenna element of a first antenna array of a pair of antenna arrays and an antenna element of a second antenna array of the pair of antenna arrays. The method further includes determining object position relative to the plurality of antenna arrays based on the set of mutual coupling values.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
determining a first set of mutual coupling values for at least one pair of a plurality of antennas arrays of an electronic communication device, wherein each mutual coupling value indicates an efficiency of a mutual coupling transmission between an antenna element of a first antenna array of a pair of antenna arrays and an antenna element of a second antenna array of the pair of antenna arrays; determining object position relative to the plurality of antenna arrays based on the first set of mutual coupling values.

2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising adjusting a communication transmission from an antenna array of the plurality of antennas arrays based on the object position.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a mutual coupling value of the first set of mutual coupling values is determined from a mutual coupling transmission between antenna elements of a pair of antenna arrays comprising a millimeter-wave antenna array.

4 . The method of claim 3 further comprising deactivating at least a shadowed portion of a sub-6 GHz antenna array of the plurality of antenna arrays based on the object position.

5 . The method of claim 3 further comprising, based on the object position:
operating a shadowed antenna element of a first millimeter-wave antenna array and a shadowed antenna element of a second millimeter-wave antenna array for a mutual coupling transmission;
operating an un-shadowed first sub-array of the first millimeter-wave antenna array for communication transmissions;
deactivating a shadowed second sub-array of the second millimeter-wave antenna array.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the first set of mutual coupling values comprises determining a plurality of scattering parameters indicating power transferred for mutual coupling transmissions between antenna elements of multiple pairs of the plurality of antenna arrays.

7 . The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a plurality of difference values each indicating a difference calculation between a different pair of mutual coupling values of the first set of mutual coupling values, wherein the plurality of difference values is used to determine the object position relative to the plurality of antenna arrays.

8 . The method of claim 1 further comprising comparing the first set of mutual coupling values with a set of reference coupling values to determine the object position relative to the plurality of antenna arrays.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein comparing the first set of mutual coupling values with the set of reference coupling values is used to determine a hand-grip relative to the electronic communication device.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein multiple mutual coupling values of the first set of mutual coupling values are determined based on contemporaneous mutual coupling transmissions between antenna elements of different pairs of the plurality of antennas arrays, wherein each contemporaneous mutual coupling transmission occurs at a different transmission frequency.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein multiple mutual coupling values of the first set of mutual coupling values are determined based on sequential mutual coupling transmissions between antenna elements of different pairs of the plurality of antennas arrays.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of mutual coupling values comprises a plurality of mutual coupling values determined for a plurality of different pairs of antenna arrays, the method further comprising:
determining a second set of mutual coupling values for the plurality of different pairs of antenna arrays; determining a set of difference values between the second and first sets of mutual coupling values to determine object position relative to the plurality of antenna arrays.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein each mutual coupling value in the second set has a corresponding mutual coupling value in the first set determined at a different time for the same pair of antenna arrays, wherein the set of difference values comprises a difference value calculated, for each of the different pairs of antenna arrays, using the corresponding mutual coupling values determined at the different times.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein determining object position relative to the plurality of antenna arrays comprises determining, based on the set of difference values, a hand movement relative to the electronic communication device.

15 . The method of claim 14 further comprising opening, closing, or operating a context dependent application in response to the hand movement.

16 . The method of claim 14 further comprising:
detecting that the electronic communication device is in an information exchange session;
repetitively determining first and second sets of mutual coupling values and a corresponding set of difference values to track the hand movement during the information exchange session.

17 . An electronic communication device comprising:
multiple antenna arrays, with each antenna array comprising one or more antenna elements to exchange a mutual coupling transmission with another antenna array; a processor coupled to the multiple antenna arrays, the processor to:
determine a set of mutual coupling values for mutual coupling transmissions sent between different pairs of the multiple antenna arrays, wherein each mutual coupling value indicates an efficiency of a mutual coupling transmission between an antenna element of a first antenna array of a pair of antenna arrays and an antenna element of a second antenna array of the pair of antenna arrays;
determine object position relative to the multiple antenna arrays based on the set of mutual coupling values.

18 . The electronic communication device of claim 17 , wherein one or more of the multiple antenna arrays includes a parasitic antenna element.

19 . The electronic communication device of claim 17 , wherein the multiple antenna arrays includes a set of antenna arrays or antenna array portions dedicated for mutual coupling transmissions.

20 . The electronic device of claim 17 , wherein the multiple antenna arrays include a set of antenna arrays operable for both mutual coupling transmissions and communication transmissions.

Assignees

• Motorola Mobility Llc

Inventors

• Islam Md Rashidul
• Abdul-Gaffoor Mohammed
• Krenz Eric L
• Smith Hugh K

Classifications

• H01Q1/245 Primary

  with means for shaping the antenna pattern, e.g. in order to protect user against rf exposure · CPC title

• H01Q3/24

  varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching · CPC title

• H01Q1/243 Primary

  with built-in antennas · CPC title

• H04B1/3838

  Arrangements for reducing RF exposure to the user, e.g. by changing the shape of the transceiver while in use · CPC title

• H01Q1/44

  using equipment having another main function to serve additionally as an antenna {, e.g. means for giving an antenna an aesthetic aspect}(H01Q1/27 - H01Q1/34 take precedence) · CPC title