Antenna system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9780845-B2
Application number	US-201514669625-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 26, 2015
Priority date	Mar 26, 2015
Publication date	Oct 3, 2017
Grant date	Oct 3, 2017

Abstract

A communication system that includes a mobile device configured to dock with an external dock. The mobile device can include a docking interface and a transceiver having one or more antennas. The docking interface can establish a connection with the external dock. The external dock can include one or more antennas that are configured to connect to transceiver via the docking interface when the mobile device is connected to the external dock. The antenna(s) of the mobile device and the antenna(s) of the external dock can cooperatively communicate with one or more communication environments. The antenna(s) of the mobile device and the antenna(s) of the external dock can be configured as a Multiple-input Multiple-output (MIMO) antenna system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A communication system, comprising:
a mobile device including:
a first transceiver communicatively coupled to a first antenna to communicate based on a first communication protocol via the first antenna;
a second transceiver communicatively coupled to a second antenna to communicate based on a second communication protocol via the second antenna; and
a first docking component communicatively coupled to the first transceiver and the second transceiver; and

a base device including:
a third antenna;
a fourth antenna; and
a second docking component communicatively coupled to the third antenna and the fourth antenna, and configured to connect to the first docking component,
wherein the first transceiver is further configured to communicate via the third antenna and the second transceiver is further configured to communicate via the fourth antenna based on a connection between the first docking component and the second docking component.

2. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the first transceiver is configured to communicate using the third antenna cooperatively with the first antenna.

3. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the first transceiver is configured to communicate via the first and the third antennas in a Multiple-input Multiple-output (MIMO) configuration.

4. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the second docking component is configured to connect to the first docking component using a wired connection.

5. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the connection established between the second docking component and the first docking component is configured to supply electrical power from the base device to the mobile device.

6. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the base device further comprises a memory that is accessible to the mobile device via the connection established between the second docking component and the first docking component.

7. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the first communication protocol is different from the second communication protocol.

8. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the first communication protocol is a cellular communication protocol and the second communication protocol is a non-cellular communication protocol.

9. The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the base device further comprises a third transceiver communicatively coupled to one or more of the third antenna and the fourth antenna, wherein the third transceiver is configured to communicate using one or more of the respective first and the second communication protocols.

10. A mobile device, comprising:
a first transceiver coupled to a first antenna to communicate based on a first communication protocol via the first antenna;
a second transceiver having a second antenna to communicate based on a second communication protocol via the second antenna; and
a docking component communicatively coupled to the first transceiver and the second transceiver and configured to connect the mobile device to an external base device having a third antenna and a fourth antenna,
wherein, based on a connection between the docking component and the external base device, the first transceiver is further configured to communicate via the third antenna of the external base device and the second transceiver is further configured to communicate using the fourth antenna of the external base device.

11. The mobile device of claim 10 , wherein the first transceiver is configured to communicate using the third antenna cooperatively with the first antenna.

12. The mobile device of claim 10 , wherein the first transceiver is configured to communicate via the first and the third antennas in a Multiple-input Multiple-output (MIMO) configuration.

13. The mobile device of claim 10 , wherein the docking component is configured to establish a wired connection with the external device to connect the mobile device to the external base device.

14. The mobile device of claim 10 , wherein the mobile device is configured to receive electrical power from the external base device via the docking component.

15. The mobile device of claim 10 , wherein the mobile device is configured to access an external memory within the external base device via the docking component.

16. An external base device, comprising:
first and second antennas; and
a docking component communicatively coupled to the first and the second antennas, and configured to connect to a mobile device having first and second transceivers,
wherein, based on a connection between the docking component and the mobile device, the docking component is configured to communicative couple the first and the second antennas to the first transceiver and the second transceiver, respectively, in the mobile device.

17. The external base device of claim 16 , wherein the first antenna is configured to communicate based on a first communication protocol cooperatively with a third antenna within the mobile device, and the second antenna is configured to communicate based on a second communication protocol cooperatively with a fourth antenna within the mobile device.

18. The external base device of claim 16 , wherein the first antenna is configured as a Multiple-input Multiple-output (MIMO) antenna that cooperatively communicates together with the third antenna within the mobile device in a MIMO configuration.

19. The external base device of claim 16 , wherein the docking component is configured to establish a wired connection with the mobile device to connect the external base device to the mobile device.

20. The external base device of claim 18 , wherein the second antenna is configured as a MIMO antenna that cooperatively communicates together with a fourth antenna within the mobile device in a MIMO configuration.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Liu Tim
• Wang Andy B

Classifications

• G06F1/1632

  External expansion units, e.g. docking stations · CPC title

• H04M1/04

  Supports for telephone transmitters or receivers · CPC title

• H04B7/0413 Primary

  MIMO systems · CPC title

• H04B7/0404

  the mobile station comprising multiple antennas, e.g. to provide uplink diversity · CPC title

• H04B5/43

  Antennas · CPC title