Antenna and RF front-end arrangement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9503150-B2
Application number	US-201013879396-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 13, 2010
Priority date	Oct 13, 2010
Publication date	Nov 22, 2016
Grant date	Nov 22, 2016

Abstract

An antenna and RF front-end arrangement include at least one LTE or WCDMA Tx&Rx antenna, one MIMO Rx or diversity antenna adapted for low band LTE or WCDMA and one MIMO Rx or diversity antenna adapted for high band LTE or WCDMA. At least one of the MIMO Rx or diversity antennas is adapted for transmitting and receiving WLAN and/or BlueTooth signals. Therefore, a dedicated WLAN antenna is not required and the number of antennas can be reduced.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An antenna arrangement comprising:
long term evolution (LTE) Tx&Rx antenna;
a low band antenna unit comprising a first Rx antenna which is configured for operating as a multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) Rx antenna for LTE signals in a low band;
a high band antenna unit comprising a second Rx antenna which is configured to operate as a MIMO Rx antenna for LTE signals in a high band;
a plurality of LTE high band Rx paths;
a plurality of LTE low band Rx paths;
at least one of a WLAN path or a Bluetooth path;
a switch;
a first switching component connected to the second Rx antenna of the high band antenna unit to enable connection of the second Rx antenna of the high band antenna unit to one of plurality of the LTE high band Rx paths to the switch; and
a second switching component connected to the first Rx antenna of the low band antenna unit to enable connection of the first Rx antenna of the low band antenna unit to one of the plurality of LTE low band Rx paths to the switch;
wherein at least one of the first Rx antenna or the second Rx antenna is configured for transmitting and receiving at least one of WLAN or Bluetooth signals; and
wherein the switch is configured to connect the at least one of the WLAN path or the Bluetooth path to one of the first Rx antenna or the second Rx antenna via the first and second switching components.

2. The antenna arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the low band antenna unit comprises one LTE or wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) Tx&Rx antenna and one MIMO Rx or diversity antenna and wherein the high band antenna unit comprises one Tx&Rx antenna and one MIMO Rx or diversity antenna configured for high band.

3. The antenna arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein:
the low band and high band antenna unit each comprise a common LTE or WCDMA Tx&Rx antenna configured for both low and high bands.

4. The antenna arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the antenna arrangement is configured to simultaneously use the second Rx antenna of the high band antenna unit for LTE in the high band and for at least one of WLAN or Bluetooth.

5. The antenna arrangement according to claim 1 , further comprising a Tx&Rx antenna, wherein the antenna arrangement is configured to, at a given time, use the Tx&Rx antenna and the second Rx antenna of the low band antenna unit for LTE or WCDMA and to simultaneously enable the MIMO Rx or diversity antenna of the high band antenna unit to be used for at least one of WLAN or Bluetooth.

6. The antenna arrangement according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first switching component configured to connect the second Rx antenna of the high band antenna unit to a selected one of the plurality of LTE high band receive paths, wherein the second Rx antenna of the high band antenna unit is simultaneously connected to the at least one of the WLAN path or the Bluetooth path to form a duplexing function of the at least one of the WLAN path or the Bluetooth path and the selected one of the plurality of LTE high band receive paths.

7. The antenna arrangement according to claim 6 , wherein each of the plurality of LTE high band receive paths comprises:
a filter configured to filter a corresponding WCDMA or LTE frequency band; and
a matching component.

8. The antenna arrangement according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one of the WLAN path or the Bluetooth path comprises a filtering component configured to filter at least one of WLAN frequencies or Bluetooth frequencies.

9. The antenna arrangement according to claim 1 , further comprising a Tx&Rx antenna, wherein the antenna arrangement is configured, at a given time, to use the Tx&Rx antenna and the second Rx antenna of the high band antenna unit for LTE, and to simultaneously enable the first Rx antenna of the low band antenna unit to be used for at least one of WLAN or Bluetooth.

10. The antenna arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein each path of the plurality of LTE high band Rx paths and the plurality of LTE low band Rx paths comprise a filtering component and a matching component to a corresponding frequency band.

11. The antenna arrangement according to claim 1 , further comprising a TX&Rx antenna, wherein the antenna arrangement is configured to use, at a given time, the Tx&Rx antenna and the first Rx antenna of the low band antenna unit for LTE or WCDMA and to simultaneously enable the second Rx antenna of the high band antenna unit to be used for at least one of WLAN or Bluetooth.

12. The antenna arrangement according to claim 11 , wherein each of the plurality of LTE high band Rx paths and the plurality of LTE low band Rx paths comprise a filtering component and a matching component to a corresponding frequency band.

13. The antenna arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein each of the antennas are mounted on a printed wiring board and located near corners of the printed wiring board.

14. The antenna arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein each antenna comprises a radiator.

15. The antenna arrangement according to claim 14 , wherein each radiator comprises a conductive part in phone mechanics located close to corners of a phone.

16. The antenna arrangement according to claim 14 , wherein each antenna comprises a radiator positioned above a printed wiring board and connected to the printed wiring board by a feeding tab or by a feeding tab and a grounding tab.

17. The antenna arrangement according to claim 14 , wherein each antenna comprises a radiator implemented in phone mechanics and connected to a printed wiring board by a feeding tab or by a feeding tab and a grounding tab.

18. The antenna arrangement according to claim 14 , wherein the antenna arrangement comprises a matching component configured to match the radiators to a corresponding LTE or WCDMA band.

19. An antenna arrangement comprising:
long term evolution (LTE) Tx&Rx antenna;
a low band antenna unit comprising a first Rx antenna which is configured to operating as a multiple input and multiple output (MIMO) Rx antenna for LTE signals in a low band;
a high band antenna unit comprising a second Rx antenna which is configured to operate as a MIMO Rx antenna for LTE signals in a high band;
a plurality of LTE high band Rx paths;
a plurality of LTE low band Rx paths;
at least one of a WLAN path or a Bluetooth path;
a switch;
a first switching component connected to the second Rx antenna of the high band antenna unit to enable connection of the second Rx antenna of the high band antenna unit to one of plurality of the LTE high band Rx paths to the switch; and
a second switching component connected to the first Rx antenna of the low band antenna unit to enable connection of the first Rx antenna of the low band antenna unit to one of the plurality of LTE low band Rx paths to the switch;
wherein the second Rx antenna is configured for using LTE in the high band simultaneously with at least one of WLAN or Bluetooth signals; and
wherein the switch is configured to connect the at least one of the WLAN path or the Bluetooth path to one of the first Rx antenna or the second Rx antenna via the first and second switching components.

20. An antenna arrangement comprising:
Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) Tx&Rx antenna;
a low band antenna unit comprising a first Rx antenna which is configured for operating as a diversity Rx for WCDMA signals in a low band and which is configured for receiving the same signal as the Tx&Rx antenna;
a high band antenna unit comprising a sec

Assignees

• Ikonen Pekka
• Ellae Juha
• Epcos Ag

Inventors

• Ikonen Pekka
• Ellae Juha

Classifications

• H04B7/08

  at the receiving station · CPC title

• H01Q1/243

  with built-in antennas · CPC title

• H01Q21/28

  Combinations of substantially independent non-interacting antenna units or systems {(multiple beam H01Q25/00)} · CPC title

• H01Q1/2291 Primary

  used in Bluetooth® or Wi-Fi® devices of Wireless Local Area Networks [WLAN] (H01Q1/241 takes precedence; WLAN in general H04W) · CPC title

• H04B7/06

  at the transmitting station · CPC title