Devices, methods, and systems for antenna switching based on look-back

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9231302-B2
Application number	US-201313835360-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	May 21, 2012
Publication date	Jan 5, 2016
Grant date	Jan 5, 2016

Abstract

This disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatus for antenna switching for simultaneous communication. An can include a plurality of antennas including a first antenna and a second antenna. The apparatus can further includes a plurality of receive circuits including a first receive circuit. The apparatus can further include a controller configured to determine one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at a first time. The controller is further configured to determine a difference between the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time and one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at an earlier time. The controller is further configured to selectively switch the first receive circuit from receiving wireless communications via the first antenna to receive wireless communications via the second antenna if the difference is larger than a threshold. Other aspects, embodiments, and features are also claimed and described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wireless communication apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of antennas including a first antenna and a second antenna;
a plurality of receive circuits including a first receive circuit; and
a controller configured to:
determine one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at a first time;
determine a difference between the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time and one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at an earlier time, wherein determining a difference comprises determining a persistent drop between a first value corresponding to a plurality of performance characteristics of the first antenna determined at the first time and a second value corresponding to a plurality of performance characteristics of the first antenna determined at an earlier time; and
selectively switch the first receive circuit from receiving wireless communications via the first antenna to receive wireless communications via the second antenna if the determined difference is larger than a threshold,
wherein the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time comprise a first plurality of performance characteristics, and wherein the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the earlier time comprise a second plurality of performance characteristics, and
wherein the determining a persistent drop comprises determining a drop in each of the first plurality of performance characteristics relative to each of the second plurality of performance characteristics.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
compare the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time to a second threshold,
wherein the controller, being configured to determine a difference between the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time and one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at an earlier time, is further configured, if the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time are below the second threshold, to determine a difference between the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time and one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at an earlier time.

3. The wireless communication apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of transmit circuits including a first transmit circuit, and wherein the controller is further configured to:
selectively switch the first transmit circuit from transmitting wireless communications via the first antenna to transmit wireless communications via the second antenna if the determined difference is larger than a third threshold.

4. The wireless communication apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time include one or more downlink performance metrics at the first time.

5. The wireless communication apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the earlier time comprises an average of one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at a plurality of earlier times.

6. The wireless communication apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the threshold comprises a relative threshold.

7. The wireless communication apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the threshold comprises an absolute threshold.

8. The wireless communication apparatus of claim 1 , the controller further configured to:
determine one or more performance characteristics of the second antenna;
selectively switch the first receive circuit from receiving wireless communications via the second antenna to receive wireless communications via the first antenna if the one or more performance characteristics of the second antenna are lower than the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time.

9. The wireless communication apparatus of claim 1 , wherein determining a persistent drop comprises determining a plurality of differences between a plurality of performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time and a plurality of performance characteristics of the first antenna at an earlier time, and wherein selectively switching comprises selectively switching the first receive circuit from receiving wireless communications via the first antenna to receive wireless communications via the second antenna if each of the plurality of determined differences are larger than a respective threshold.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time comprise a first plurality of performance characteristics, and wherein the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the earlier time comprise a second plurality of performance characteristics, and
wherein the determining a persistent drop comprises:
determining an average of the first plurality of performance characteristics; and
determining an average of the second plurality of performance characteristics, and

wherein the difference between the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time and one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at an earlier time comprises a difference between the average of the first plurality of performance characteristics and the average of the second plurality of performance characteristics.

11. A method implemented in a wireless communication apparatus, the method comprising:
determining one or more performance characteristics of a first antenna at a first time;
determining a difference between the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time and one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at an earlier time, wherein determining a difference comprises determining a persistent drop between a first value corresponding to a plurality of performance characteristics of the first antenna determined at the first time and a second value corresponding to a plurality of performance characteristics of the first antenna determined at an earlier time; and
selectively switching a first receive circuit from receiving wireless communications via the first antenna to receive wireless communications via a second antenna if the determined difference is larger than a threshold,
wherein the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time comprise a first plurality of performance characteristics, and wherein the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the earlier time comprise a second plurality of performance characteristics, and
wherein the determining a persistent drop comprises determining a drop in each of the first plurality of performance characteristics relative to each of the second plurality of performance characteristics.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
comparing the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time to a second threshold,
wherein the determining a difference between the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time and one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at an earlier time comprises, if the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time are below the second threshold, determining a difference between the one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at the first time and one or more performance characteristics of the first antenna at an earlier t

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• He Ning
• Yan Hongbo
• Filipovic Daniel Fred

Classifications

• H04W72/542

  using measured or perceived quality · CPC title

• H04B7/0814

  based on current reception conditions, e.g. switching to different antenna when signal level is below threshold · CPC title

• H04B1/44

  Transmit/receive switching · CPC title

• H04B7/0604

  with predefined switching scheme · CPC title

• H04B7/0834

  based on external parameters, e.g. subscriber speed or location · CPC title