Antenna tuning circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9647706-B2
Application number	US-201514645198-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2015
Priority date	Mar 11, 2015
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

A system for tuning an impedance network for optimal signal strength is disclosed. The system includes a test tone generator, a radio frequency (RF) receiver, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) coupled to the RF receiver and a controller coupled to the RSSI. The controller is configured to output a control signal based on a RSSI value measured by the RSSI.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, including an antenna, for tuning an impedance network for optimal signal strength, the system comprising:
a radio frequency (RF) receiver;
a digital to analog converter (DAC);
a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) coupled to the RF receiver;
a controller coupled to the RSSI and the DAC, wherein the controller is configured to output a control signal based on a comparison of a RSSI value measured by the RSSI and another previously-provided RSSI value, wherein the control signal is inputted into the DAC to produce an analog signal to change capacitance of a varicap, wherein the controller is configured to receive the RSSI value from the RSSI at preset intervals and store the RSSI value, wherein when a new RSSI value is received the controller compares if the new RSSI value is lower or higher than the stored RSSI value and if the new RSSI value is higher than the stored RSSI value, the controller is configured to store to replace the stored RSSI value by the new RSSI value and not to output the control signal and if the stored RSSI value is lower than the new RSSI value, the controller is configured to output the control signal; and
a tunable matching circuit, including the varicap and responsive to the analog signal, configured to provide impedance matching for signals between the antenna and the RF receiver.

2. The system of claim 1 , further including a control bus coupled to the controller.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the control bus is adapted to be coupled to the tunable matching circuit including at least one variable capacitor.

4. The system of claim 3 , where at least the one-variable capacitor is fabricated inside an integrated circuit along with the controller.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the tunable matching circuit includes a plurality of variable components and the tunable matching circuit is configured to change values of one or more of the plurality of variable components based on the control signal.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the RF receiver is adapted to receive a signal from the tunable matching circuit.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the DAC is adapted to be coupled to the varicap and configured to cause a change in capacitance of the varicap-based on a driver signal from the controller.

8. The system of claim 1 , further including a switch configured to switch an impedance tuning mode between a receiver and a transmitter.

9. A system for tuning an impedance network for optimal signal strength, the system comprising:
a reference frequency generator;
a first mixer coupled to the reference frequency generator;
a second mixer;
a local oscillator coupled to the first mixer and the second mixer;
a third mixer coupled to the second mixer and the reference frequency generator; and
a controller including circuitry and being coupled to the third mixer, wherein the controller is configured to produce a control signal, based on amplitude and phase value outputted by the third mixer, from which a tunable matching circuit in the impedance network can be tuned.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the control signal is configured to change impedance of the tunable matching circuit.

11. The system of claim 10 , further including the tunable matching circuit.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein an output of the first mixer is configured to provide a test signal to an antenna.

13. The system of claim 12 , further including the antenna.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the control signal is configured to change impedance of the tunable matching circuit, wherein an output of the first mixer is configured to provide a test signal to an antenna, and further including the tunable matching circuit and the antenna.

Assignees

• Nxp Bv

Inventors

• Salfelner Anton

Classifications

• H04B17/12

  of transmit antennas, e.g. of the amplitude or phase · CPC title

• H04B17/0085

  using test signal generators · CPC title

• H04B1/18 Primary

  Input circuits, e.g. for coupling to an antenna or a transmission line (coupling networks between antennas or lines and receivers independent of the nature of the receiver H03H) · CPC title

• H04B1/0458

  Arrangements for matching and coupling between power amplifier and antenna or between amplifying stages (matching circuits in general H03H) · CPC title

• H03H7/40 Primary

  Automatic matching of load impedance to source impedance · CPC title