Reconfigurable antenna system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9756544-B2
Application number	US-201414530414-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2014
Priority date	Oct 31, 2014
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

A user device selects a communication module from a plurality of communication modules of the user device to communicate first data to a first device in a first configuration, selects a first antenna from a plurality of antennas of the user device to communicate the first data in the first configuration, and couples the communication module to the first antenna in the first configuration. The user device additionally selects the communication module to communicate second data to a second device in a second configuration, selects the first antenna and a second antenna from the plurality of antennas to communicate the second data in the second configuration, and couples the communication module to the first antenna and the second antenna in the second configuration.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, by an antenna selector executing on a user device, signal strength data for a connection to a wireless local area network (WLAN) using a first antenna coupled to a WLAN module of the user device;
determining, based on the signal strength data, that a signal strength of the connection between the WLAN module and WLAN exceeds a threshold value;
determining that a transceiver of a wide area network (WAN) module coupled to a second antenna is idle;
causing, by the antenna selector, disconnection of the WAN module from the second antenna;
causing, by the antenna selector, connection of the WLAN module to the second antenna;
determining that an additional wireless module is idle; and
causing, by the antenna selector, decoupling of the additional wireless module from a third antenna and coupling of the WLAN module to the third antenna.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving new data indicating a disconnection of the WLAN module from the WLAN;
determining a new first priority for the WAN module and a new second priority for the WLAN module using the new data, wherein the new second priority is lower than the new first priority; and
causing disconnection of the WLAN module from the second antenna and connection of the WAN module to the second antenna.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein assigning the second antenna to the WLAN module comprises coupling the third antenna to the second antenna to radiate electromagnetic energy in a first frequency band, wherein a length of the first antenna causes a first impedance that is matched to a second frequency band and a combined length of the third antenna and the second antenna causes a second impedance that is matched to the first frequency band.

4. A method comprising:
selecting, by a user device, a first communication module from a plurality of communication modules of the user device to transmit first data, the first communication module being coupled to a first antenna, wherein the first communication module has a first priority;
determining, by the user device, that a second communication module, from the plurality of communication modules, has a second priority that is lower than the first priority and that the second communication module is not transmitting or receiving data, the second communication module being coupled to a second antenna;
decoupling, by the user device, the second antenna from the second communication module; and
coupling, by the user device, the second antenna to the first communication module.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are coupled to the first communication module in a first configuration, and wherein the first antenna is coupled to the second communication module and the second antenna is coupled to the first communication module in a second configuration.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein determining the first priority for the first communication module comprises determining a signal strength and a connection status associated with the first communication module, the first priority being based on the connection status and the signal strength, and wherein the second priority for the second communication module is based on a status of the second communication module.

7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining a signal strength of the first communication module over the first antenna;
determining whether the signal strength exceeds a threshold; and
coupling the first communication module to the second antenna responsive to determining that the signal strength exceeds the threshold.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first antenna has a length that causes the first antenna to have a first impedance that corresponds to a second frequency band used by the second communication module but does not cause the first antenna to have a second impedance that corresponds to a first frequency band used by the first communication module, and wherein coupling the first communication module to the first antenna further comprises coupling an antenna matching network to the first communication module, wherein the antenna matching network tunes a third impedance of the first antenna to the first frequency band used by the first communication module.

9. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
selecting a third communication module from the plurality of communication modules of the user device to transmit second data;
selecting a third antenna of the user device to transmit the second data; and
coupling the third communication module to the third antenna.

10. The method of claim 4 , further comprising
coupling a third antenna to the first antenna to radiate electromagnetic energy in a first frequency band used by the first communication module, wherein a length of the first antenna causes an impedance that is matched to a second frequency band and a combined length of the third antenna and the first antenna causes an impedance that is approximately matched to the first frequency band.

11. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining that the first antenna has been idle for a threshold amount of time.

12. A user device comprising:
a plurality of antennas;
a plurality of communication modules;
one or more switching devices; and
a processing device to:
select a first communication module from the plurality of communication modules of the user device to transmit first data, the first communication module being coupled to a first antenna of the plurality of antennas;
determine that a second communication module from the plurality of communication modules is not transmitting or receiving data, the second communication module being coupled to a second antenna of the plurality of antennas;
decouple the second antenna from the second communication module; and
couple the second antenna to the first communication module,
wherein the first antenna and the second antenna are coupled to the first communication module in a first configuration, and wherein the first antenna is coupled to the second communication module and the second antenna is coupled to the first communication module in a second configuration.

13. The user device of claim 12 , wherein the second communication module supports multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, and wherein, for the second configuration, the processing device is further to select the second communication module to communicate second data, select the second antenna to communicate the second data, and cause the one or more switching devices to couple the second communication module to the second antenna.

14. The user device of claim 12 , wherein, for the first configuration, the processing device is to cause the first communication module to connect to the second antenna via an antenna matching network and, for the second configuration, the processing device is to cause the second communication module to connect to the second antenna without the antenna matching network, wherein the second antenna is sized for operation in a first frequency band used by the second communication module.

15. The user device of claim 12 , wherein, for the first configuration, the processing device is to cause the first communication module to connect to the second antenna via an antenna matching network and, for the second configuration, the processing device is to cause the second communication module to connect to the second antenna via the antenna matching network, wherein the antenna matching network is a reconfigurable antenna matching network, wherein the process

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Ananthanarayanan Peruvemba Ranganathan Sai
• Lai Chun Kit
• Napoles Adrian
• Kim Namhoon
• Channabasappa Eswarappa
• Mattsson Ulf Jan Ove
• Dron Anuj
• Kim Daejoung
• Sammeta Rohit

Classifications

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04B1/0064 Primary

  with separate antennas for the more than one band (H04B1/0053 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04W36/30 Primary

  by measured or perceived connection quality data · CPC title

• H04B7/06

  at the transmitting station · CPC title

• H04B7/061

  using feedback from receiving side · CPC title