Apparatus and method for selecting an antenna for uplink communication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9871641-B2
Application number	US-201514813875-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 30, 2015
Priority date	Jun 29, 2012
Publication date	Jan 16, 2018
Grant date	Jan 16, 2018

Abstract

Measures for controlling uplink antenna selection in a user equipment comprising at least two antennas. At the user equipment, at least two radio wave signals are received, fading conditions in relation to the received at least two radio wave signals are detected and uplink antenna selection in the user equipment is controlled at least on the basis of the detected fading conditions.

First claim

What is claimed:

1. An apparatus for uplink antenna selection, the apparatus comprising:
a first antenna;
a second antenna; and
control circuitry configured to:
detect a signal reception condition of the apparatus, the signal reception condition indicating motion-related characteristic information of the apparatus;
transmit detection information to a network device, the detection information associated with the detected signal reception condition;
receive uplink antenna selection control information from the network device, the uplink antenna selection control information generated by the network device based on the detection information;
select one of the first and second antennas for uplink communication according to the received uplink antenna selection control information when one or both of the first antenna and the second antenna are in line-of-sight (LOS) of a signal source; and
perform a hysteresis avoidance process, when both the first antenna and the second antenna are not in LOS of the signal source, to select one of the first antenna and the second antenna as the uplink antenna.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the signal reception condition includes a fading condition relating to radio signals received by the first and second antennas.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the control circuitry is configured to transmit at least one radio wave signal to the network device,
the network device is configured to generate network reception information based on the at least one radio wave signal received from the control circuitry, and
the network device is configured to generate the uplink antenna selection control information based on the network reception information and the uplink antenna selection control information based on the detection information.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the network device is configured to generate the uplink antenna selection control information based on the detection information.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the uplink selection control information instructs the control circuitry to
select, when both the first antenna and the second antenna are LOS of the signal source, one of the first antenna and the second antenna as an uplink antenna according to a fading condition of signals received by the first antenna and the second antenna, and
select, when one of the first antenna and the second antenna is in LOS of the signal source and the other of the first antenna and the second antenna is not in LOS of the signal source, the one antenna in LOS of the signal source as the uplink antenna.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the signal reception condition relates to one or more of a received signal strength indicator, a fading received signal strength indicator, a fading duration, a bit error rate, a quality of service parameter, a signal to noise ratio, and a signal to interference ratio.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the motion-related characteristic information comprises one or more of an angle, a magnitude, a vector, a speed, move/non-move information, a destination, a travel route, and an average speed of the apparatus.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the uplink antenna selection control information includes an uplink antenna port associated with one of the first and second antennas, and
the control circuitry is configured to select the one of the first and second antennas according to the uplink antenna port included in the uplink antenna selection control information.

9. A network device, comprising:
circuitry configured to:
receive detection information from an apparatus, the detection information including a signal reception condition for first and second antennas of the apparatus, the signal reception condition indicating motion-related characteristic information of the apparatus;
extract network reception information from at least one radio wave signal received from the apparatus;
generate uplink antenna selection control information according to the detection information and the network reception information; and
transmit the uplink antenna selection control information to the apparatus, wherein

the uplink antenna selection control information instructs the apparatus to
select one of the first and second antennas for uplink communication according to the received uplink antenna selection control information when one or both of the first antenna and the second antenna are in line-of-sight (LOS) of a signal source, and
perform a hysteresis avoidance process, when both the first antenna and the second antenna are not in LOS of the signal source, to select one of the first antenna and the second antenna as the uplink antenna.

10. The network device according to claim 9 , wherein the signal reception condition includes a fading condition relating to radio signals received by the first and second antennas.

11. The network device according to claim 9 , wherein the apparatus is configured to select one of the first and second antennas for uplink communication according to the received uplink antenna selection control information.

12. The network device according to claim 9 , wherein the uplink selection control information instructs the apparatus to
select, when both the first antenna and the second antenna are in LOS of the signal source, one of the first antenna and the second antenna as an uplink antenna according to a fading condition of signals received by the first antenna and the second antenna, and
select, when one of the first antenna and the second antenna is in LOS of the signal source and the other of the first antenna and the second antenna is not in LOS of the signal source, the one antenna in LOS of the signal source as the uplink antenna.

13. The network device according to claim 9 , wherein the signal reception condition relates to one or more of a received signal strength indicator, a fading received signal strength indicator, a fading duration, a bit error rate, a quality of service parameter, a signal to noise ratio, and a signal to interference ratio.

14. The network device according to claim 9 , wherein the motion-related characteristic information comprises one or more of an angle, a magnitude, a vector, a speed, move/non-move information, a destination, a travel route, and an average speed of the apparatus.

15. The network device according to claim 9 , wherein
the uplink antenna selection control information includes an uplink antenna port associated with one of the first and second antennas, and
the apparatus is configured to select the one of the first and second antennas according to the uplink antenna port included in the uplink antenna selection control information.

16. A method for controlling uplink antenna selection by an apparatus including a first antenna and a second antenna, the method comprising:
detecting, by circuitry of the apparatus, a signal reception condition of the apparatus, the signal reception condition indicating motion-related characteristic information of the apparatus;
transmitting, by the circuitry, detection information to a network device, the detection information associated with the detected signal reception condition;
receiving, by the circuitry, uplink antenna selection control information from the network device, the uplink antenna selection control information generated by the network device based on the detection information;
selecting, by the circuitry when one or both of the first antenna and the second antenna are in line-of-sight (LOS) of a signal

Assignees

• Avago Technologies General Ip

Inventors

• Autti Marko Tapio
• Rousu Seppo

Classifications

• H04B17/318

  Received signal strength · CPC title

• H04W72/042

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04B17/382

  for resource allocation, admission control or handover · CPC title

• H04B17/00

  Monitoring; Testing (of line transmission systems H04B3/46; arrangements for monitoring or testing transmission systems employing electromagnetic waves other than radio waves H04B10/07) · CPC title

• H04L27/28

  with simultaneous transmission of different frequencies each representing one code element · CPC title