Multiple mode RF communication device

Multi-mode RF communication device

Technical field

The present invention generally relates to radio frequency transmitters and receivers. More specifically, the present invention relates to a flexibly configured multi-mode transmitter, receiver or transceiver.

Background technique

For the purposes of this document, multi-mode transmitters, receivers, and transceivers are devices that use radio frequency circuits to communicate with multiple transceivers, transmitters, and/or receivers. One example is a radio frequency wireless cellular phone device that uses 800MHz CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) technology as the main communication technology. In addition, the device may include a 1575MHz GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver that allows the user and the device to determine location coordinates from the GPS satellite system. The device may also include, for example, a Bluetooth® compatible 2400MHz transceiver for performing communication with other Bluetooth® standard compatible devices. Such a device can therefore use three receivers and two transmitters to perform designated communications.

According to conventional considerations, the above situation can use three separate receivers and two transmitters connected to multiple antennas (the GPS device has no related transmitters), thereby realizing RF communication. Therefore, each transmitter, receiver, and/or transceiver uses its own resources (ie, transmitter circuit, receiver circuit, and antenna) as dedicated resources. When a specific operating mode is inactive, no device can schedule the available resources of the inactive mode to improve the performance of the currently used resources.

Several communication methods have been devised to advantageously use multiple antennas. Currently, a technology called MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) is proposed, which uses multiple antennas at the input of the receiver and/or multiple antennas at the output of the transmitter to increase communication by providing multiple independent transmission paths The capacity of the link. By using the antenna or antenna combination that provides the best signal, the spatial, polarization, or mode diversity provided by multiple antennas can also be advantageously used to provide improved fading resistance. However, such a system cannot utilize idle resources in a multi-mode receiver to enhance system performance.

Description of the drawings

The features of the invention believed to be novel are set forth in the claims. However, by referring to the following detailed description of the present invention, one can better understand both the structure and the method of operation of the present invention itself and its objectives and advantages. Some of the present invention is described in the following description (including the drawings). Exemplary embodiment, in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a communication device consistent with some embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a block diagram of a wireless receiver handset consistent with some embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a block diagram of a multi-band, multi-mode transceiver consistent with certain embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 4 shows the multi-band, multi-mode transceiver of Fig. 3 in an exemplary configuration consistent with certain embodiments of the present invention.

Figure 5 shows the multi-band, multi-mode transceiver of Figure 3 in another exemplary reconfiguration consistent with certain embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is an operational flowchart of an embodiment of a system manager consistent with some embodiments of the present invention.

detailed description

Although the present invention can tolerate different forms of embodiments, specific embodiments are shown in the drawings and will be described here in detail. It should be understood that the present disclosure should be regarded as an example of the principles of the present invention rather than limiting the present invention. Specific embodiments shown and described. In the following description, the same reference numerals are used to describe the same, similar or corresponding elements in the drawings.

Returning now to FIG. 1, a communication device consistent with some embodiments of the present invention is shown as 100. In this embodiment, the communication device 100 has multiple (N) communication resources 102, 104 to 106 that can be configured under the control of the system manager device 110 according to configuration rules. Generally, the communication resources 102, 104 to the Nth resource 106 can be any configurable transmitter, receiver or transceiver (transmitter and receiver combination) configuration, their individual parameters and operating parameters (carrier, frequency band, modulation) The scheme, encryption/decryption, data protocol, etc.) can be configured or reconfigured under the control of the system manager 110. The communication resources 102, 104 to 106 respectively use N independent antennas 122, 124 to 126 in this example, however, this does not exclude the allocation of multiple antennas to any or all of the communication resources in a diversity or MIMO configuration.

Through a simple example, the communication resource 102 may default to an 800 MHz CDMA2000 receiver and the communication resource 104 may default to a 1575 MHz GPS receiver. The "default" mode of operation can be considered the standard mode or initial mode of the resource as controlled by the system manager 110, but as described, it can be re-allocated later. Continuing this example, if the configuration rules stipulate that the communication resource 102 has a higher priority than the communication resource 104, and the signal quality of the communication resource 102 deteriorates, the communication resource 104 can be reconfigured under the control of the system manager 110 so that it operates as an 800MHz CDMA2000 receiver.

Each communication resource can provide feedback to the system manager 110, so that the feedback is used in applying configuration rules to establish a desired configuration of each communication resource in the system 100. The feedback may be in the form of measurement or received signal quality, or any other data, and the system manager 110 may use the feedback as a factor in determining the resource configuration. According to, for example, user preferences, priority regulations, default system configuration, hardware and software constraints, etc., the configuration rules may vary from user to system. Although it is not explicitly shown, those skilled in the art should understand that there may be some common resources in the system 100, such as audio circuits, speakers, power supplies, audio filters, and so on.

Therefore, according to the above configuration, the multi-mode RF communication device may have first RF communication resources (for example, 102 and 122), and communicate using the first communication mode (ie, frequency band, protocol, operation mode, and/or other operation parameters) by default. The second RF communication resources (such as 104 and 124) use the second communication mode to communicate by default. The system manager 110 configures at least one of the first and second communication resources according to a set of configuration rules. The configuration rule depends on communication quality parameters, priority, availability of the first and second communication resources, or other parameters.

Figure 2 shows an exemplary embodiment of a wireless handset 200 consistent with certain embodiments of the present invention. In this embodiment, the system manager 110 is not shown for the sake of simplifying the drawings, but it should be understood that it exists. The mobile phone includes three configurable receivers (each of which can be used with a transmitter to form a transceiver) which is assumed to have different personalities under the instruction of the system manager 110. The first receiver consists of an antenna 202 connected to the filter bank 206. The filter bank 206 may have multiple transformable filters or equivalent one or more electrically tunable filters. The filtered output from the filter bank 206 is sent to the RF amplifier 210, where the signal is amplified and sent to the mixer 214 (a pair of mixers if the signal is processed using quadrature processing technology). The mixed signal is then filtered at 218 baseband and converted to a digital signal processed by the receiver backend 226. In this exemplary embodiment, the receiver backend is shown as a software-defined receiver (SDR) backend 226, but it should not be considered as restrictive, as it can be used including but not limited to a hardware exchange receiver backend Other configurations of the circuit.

A similar configuration is provided in a second receiver having an antenna 228 connected to the filter bank 232. The filter bank 232 similarly has a plurality of transformable filters or equivalently one or more electrically tunable filters. The filtered output from the filter bank 232 is sent to the RF amplifier 236, where the signal is amplified and sent to the mixer 240 (or a pair of mixers if the signal is processed using quadrature processing technology). The mixed signal is then filtered at 242 baseband and converted to digital processing by the receiver backend 250. In this exemplary embodiment, the receiver backend 250 is also shown as a software defined receiver (SDR) backend, but it should not be considered restrictive.

A similar configuration is provided in a third receiver having an antenna 254 connected to the filter bank 258. The filter bank 258 similarly has a plurality of transformable filters or equivalently one or more electrically tunable filters. The filtered output from the filter bank 258 is sent to the RF amplifier 262, where the signal is amplified and sent to the mixer 266 (a pair of mixers if the signal is processed using quadrature processing techniques). The mixed signal is then filtered at 270 baseband and converted to digital processed by the receiver back end 280. In this exemplary embodiment, the receiver backend 280 is also shown as a software defined receiver (SDR) backend, but it should not be considered as limiting.

Those skilled in the art will understand that this example uses a direct conversion structure to convert the RF signal to baseband, but other configurations can also be used without departing from the present invention. These configurations include, but are not limited to, double conversion or direct RF sampling receivers, or IF instead of baseband sampling and conversion to digital receiver. Other known configurations may be adapted for use with the multi-mode communication device without departing from the invention.

Each of the three exemplary receivers may generally have a default personality. That is, when power is turned on or a set of on-site environments or user designations are given, each of the three receivers operates in the default receiving frequency band, demodulation scheme, decoding protocol, decryption algorithm (when applicable), etc. Under the command of the system manager 110, a set of rules that define the environment is applied, in which the configuration of any one receiver or possibly all receivers is reconfigured to operate in a different manner when the configuration is changed in the environment. Therefore, in this way, the receiver can be reconfigured to maximize resource utilization and achieve enhanced communication reliability or other goals. According to some embodiments, the user can determine the default configuration for each receiver, and if the configuration rules being used are deemed appropriate, the system manager 110 can change the configuration.

Therefore, according to the example of FIG. 2, the multi-mode RF communication device has a first RF communication receiver that receives RF signals in the first communication mode by default. The second RF communication receiver uses the second communication mode to receive signals by default. The system manager 110 configures at least one of the first and second communication receivers according to a set of configuration rules, where the configuration rule depends on communication quality parameters, priority, availability of the first and second communication receivers, and any other appropriate parameters . Similarly, the third receiver can be reconfigured as desired or required in a given environment. Therefore, any of the three receivers in this example can be reconfigured to perform the desired action.

Referring now to FIG. 3, another exemplary embodiment of a multi-mode communication device 300 is shown, in which three transceivers operating under the command of the system manager 110 are shown. In this example, the system manager 110 receives instructions from the user specifying the default operation mode (user-defined mode) used by the three receivers when input is provided, such as user input through a keyboard forming part of the user interface. Priority data is also provided to the system manager 110 (operator-defined mode priority) as an input for defining the operating priority of each operating mode. The operator-defined mode priority can be specified in the software of the system manager 110, dynamically downloaded through wireless, as one-by-one control information, designated by the user or received for consideration of configuration rules. Using this input, as long as the configuration rule indicates such reconfiguration, the system manager issues configuration control commands to the reconfigurable elements of the three transceivers of the current embodiment.

The first transceiver of the system 300 has an antenna 302 connected to the filter 306 and then to the multi-band, multi-mode transceiver 310. The multi-band, multi-mode transceiver 310 is connected to a multi-mode baseband circuit 314, which performs baseband processing of transmitted and received signals. In this embodiment, the multi-mode baseband circuit 314 provides feedback data to the system manager 110.

The second transceiver of the system 300 has an antenna 322 connected to the filter 326 and then to the multi-band, multi-mode transceiver 330. The multi-band, multi-mode transceiver 330 is connected to a multi-mode baseband circuit 334, which performs baseband processing of transmitted and received signals. In this embodiment, the multi-mode baseband circuit 334 also provides feedback data to the system manager 110.

The third transceiver of the system 300 has an antenna 342 connected to the filter 346 and then to the multi-band, multi-mode transceiver 350. The multi-band, multi-mode transceiver 350 is connected to a multi-mode baseband circuit 344, which performs baseband processing of transmitted and received signals. In this embodiment, the multi-mode baseband circuit 344 also provides feedback data to the system manager 110.

The configuration of FIG. 3 may be configured as, by way of example and not limitation, the transceiver system 400 shown in FIG. 4. In this configuration, the default configuration of the first transceiver is an 800MHz CDMA2000 transceiver, the default configuration of the second transceiver is a 1575MHz GPS receiver, and the default configuration of the third transceiver is a 2400MHz Bluetooth® transceiver.

In the configuration of Figure 4, the user determines which mode is being used, and the system manager configures resources (for example, the first transceiver for voice communication such as CDMA2000 cellular air interface, for short-range wireless such as Bluetooth® headset link) The second transceiver in the personal area network mode is used, such as the third transceiver in the location mode of GPS-aware billing/location services). The system operator in this embodiment determines the priority of the service. For example, if maintaining a high-quality voice link is more important than maintaining location awareness, CDMA2000 has a higher priority than GPS, and the GPS receiver can be reconfigured, for example, as a CDMA2000 diversity receiver as shown in the system 500 in FIG. 5. Due to the different physical positions and positions/directions of the two antennas, one antenna may have a receiving advantage over the other antennas in consideration of objects close to the communication device. Optionally, the signals from the two receivers can be combined by one of several methods known in the art, such as "maximum ratio" combination, which can achieve better performance than using any single receiver. The configuration priority can be defined a priori based on the combined mode lookup table, or based on the mode configuration feedback on the link or voice quality and other resources as real-time control information from the operator. Reconfigure the transceiver resources according to the current configuration and priority evaluation. In this embodiment, the system manager controls the transceiver configuration (transceiver frequency band/mode setting, etc.). The configuration can be re-evaluated periodically to determine whether the configuration can return to the user-defined configuration and still provide acceptable quality of service (for example, based on the error rate or signal quality performance of two CDMA2000 diversity receivers, if the other is deemed capable of If it operates at an acceptable quality level without diversity, one of them, such as the one with a poorer quality signal, can be reconfigured to GPS mode). Note that the subsequent configuration may be different from the previous configuration-that is, the first transceiver may be reconfigured to GPS, while the third transceiver is now kept in the CDMA2000 configuration because its antenna can be better oriented.

As another example, the first transceiver may be configured as a CDMA2000 data link. If a large file download is required, the infrastructure operator will determine that the wireless device is a unit capable of MIMO operation and request it to assume this mode of operation. The system manager 110 then determines which resource to reconfigure, in this example by temporarily reallocating GPS receivers to allow MIMO, thereby speeding up the download. Once the download is complete, the temporarily reassigned receiver will return to the previous mode, or to another mode as needed.

In the example shown above, it is assumed that all communication resources are configurable. However, this should not be considered restrictive, as one or more resources can be fixed and not configurable. Consider, for example, a GSM/EDGE (GSM evolved GSM with enhanced data rate) telephone handset. If it is known that the desired operating mode with the highest priority is always GSM/EDGE, a fixed resource can be designed. A configurable resource can supplement this resource as, for example, a GPS receiver and an IEEE 802.11 compatible transceiver. If these resources are generally low priority or at a given moment, they can be reconfigured as GSM/EDGE transceivers or receivers as needed, thereby enhancing the reliability of the GSM/EDGE communication mode.

Receivers, transmitters, and transceivers can all be used in the present invention. In the case of a multi-transmitter of a multi-mode communication device consistent with some embodiments of the present invention, the first RF communication transmitter uses the first communication mode to transmit RF signals by default. The second RF communication transmitter uses the second communication mode to transmit signals by default. The system manager configures at least one of the first and second communication transmitters according to a set of configuration rules, where the configuration rules specify conditions under which specific resources can be configured. These configuration rules can be based on communication quality parameters or other parameters. For example, if two transmitters are configured for WCDMA and 802.11b uplinks, the 802.11b transmitter can be temporarily reconfigured as a WCDMA MIMO transmitter to speed up the transmission of larger files from users.

A multi-mode transceiver configuration such as 300 may be configured to proceed according to process 600 such as FIG. 6. At 602, the user configures available communication resources until the communication resources reach their limit. If the resource overflows at 606, the user is notified at 610. Otherwise, the system manager 110 configures the available resources at 614 by sending configuration control information to different configurable components. For each defined operating mode (number k), the system manager 110 checks the quality indicator at 618. If the link quality of the current resource is acceptable at 622, the system manager 110 determines at 626 whether to use additional (auxiliary) resources for the current mode (k). If not (ie if only default resources are used to obtain acceptable quality), then at 618 the next mode (k+1) is checked. However, if additional auxiliary resources are used to obtain the acceptable quality level, the system manager 110 determines at 630 whether these resources can be released. If not, control returns to 618, where the next operation mode is checked. If the resources can be released, the system manager 110 releases these resources at 634, and control returns to 614, where the released resources can be reallocated.

If the quality of the current mode (k) is not acceptable at 622, the resource manager determines at 636 whether there are any additional auxiliary resources available for reconfiguration according to the configuration rules. If so, reconfigure these resources at 640. If not, the system manager 110 determines whether any lower priority resources can be reconfigured as auxiliary resources, thereby enhancing the quality of the current mode (k). If possible, control proceeds to 640. If not, as long as it becomes available at 648, the request for auxiliary resources is recorded and control returns to 614.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the above-mentioned processing 600 is simplified, so that it is easy to understand. In the above processing, the current mode (k) is incremented to reach the maximum number resource, and then k is reset, so that the system manager 110 continues to monitor the quality of each operation mode.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention described in accordance with the exemplary embodiments is based on the use of a programmable processor to implement the system manager 110. However, the present invention should not be limited to this, because the present invention can be implemented using hardware component equivalents, for example, equivalent to the dedicated hardware and/or dedicated processor described and requested by the present invention. Similarly, general purpose computers, computer-based microprocessors, microcontrollers, optical computers, analog computers, dedicated processors, and/or dedicated hardware wired or configurable logic circuits can all be used to construct alternative equivalent embodiments of the present invention.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the program steps and related data used to implement the above embodiments can be implemented by any suitable electronic storage medium, such as a magnetic disk memory, a read only memory (ROM) device, and a random access memory (RAM) device. ; Optical storage element, magnetic storage element, magneto-optical storage element, flash memory, magnetic core memory, and/or any other equivalent storage technology without departing from the present invention. Such replaceable storage devices should be considered equivalent.

The present invention, as described in the embodiments herein, is implemented by using a programmed processor as the system manager 110 to execute program instructions. The program instructions have been extensively described in the form of a flow, and the instructions can be stored in any appropriate electrical storage medium. , Or transmitted from any suitable electrical communication medium. However, those skilled in the art should understand that the above-mentioned processing can be executed in a variety of variations and executed in a variety of appropriate programming languages without departing from the present invention. For example, the order of certain operations performed may be changed, additional operations may be added or certain operations may be deleted without departing from the present invention. Error capture can be increased and/or enhanced, and changes can be made in user interface and information presentation without departing from the present invention. Include such a change and consider it to be equivalent.

Although the present invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments, it is obvious that a person of ordinary skill in the art can make various substitutions, modifications, arrangements, and changes based on the above description. Therefore, it is expected that the present invention encompasses all such substitutions, modifications and changes, which fall within the scope of the appended claims.