IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,211,698
Granted Patent B2
US 11,211,698 · App. 17/063,340 · Granted Dec 28, 2021

Closed loop aperture tunable antenna

Inventors: Ping Shi (Santa Clara, CA); Yonghua Wei (Santa Clara, CA)
Assignee: Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
H01Q1/50H04B17/102H04B17/12H04B17/103H04B17/18H04B17/19
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,211,698
App. No.
17/063,340
Granted
Dec 28, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

An apparatus comprises a radio frequency (RF) antenna circuit; an antenna aperture tuning circuit; an antenna impedance measurement circuit; and a processor circuit electrically coupled to the tunable antenna aperture circuit and the impedance measurement circuit. The processor circuit is configured to: set the antenna aperture tuning circuit to an antenna aperture tuning state according to one or more parameters of an RF communication network; initiate an antenna impedance measurement; and change the antenna aperture tuning state to an antenna aperture tuning state indicated by the antenna impedance.

Claims (45)

1. An apparatus comprising:

a radio frequency (RF) antenna circuit;

an antenna aperture tuning circuit electrically coupled to the RF antenna circuit;

an antenna impedance measurement circuit;

a processor electrically coupled to the antenna aperture tuning circuit and antenna impedance measurement circuit, wherein the processor is configured to:

obtain an antenna impedance measurement from the antenna impedance measurement circuit when the antenna aperture tuning circuit is set to a first antenna aperture tuning state;

determine a different second antenna aperture tuning state according to the first antenna aperture tuning state and the antenna impedance measurement; and

set the antenna aperture tuning circuit to the second antenna aperture tuning state.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine the second aperture tuning state using a refection coefficient.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to detect a change in one or more parameters of a RF communication network comprising the RF antenna circuit, and wherein the processor is configured to obtain the antenna impedance measurement from the antenna impedance measurement circuit when the change is detected.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to obtain the antenna impedance measurement when a magnitude of a transmit power exceeds a specified threshold magnitude value.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the antenna aperture tuning circuit consists of one or more of:

an inductor coupled to the RF antenna circuit by an RF switch, a capacitor coupled to the RF antenna circuit by an RF switch, at least a first antenna radiating element coupled to a second antenna radiating element by an RF switch, an antenna radiating element coupled to a circuit ground by an RF switch; and

wherein the processor is configured to set the antenna aperture tuning circuit to the second antenna aperture tuning state by configuring one or more RF switches of the antenna aperture tuning circuit.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the antenna impedance measurement circuit is configured to determine magnitude and phase of a forward signal and a reverse signal of a transmit signal, and wherein the processor is configured to determine the antenna impedance measurement using a difference in phase between the forward signal and the reverse signal and a ratio between the magnitudes of the forward signal and the reverse signal.

7. An integrated circuit chip, the chip comprising:

a memory and at least one processor, wherein

the memory is configured to store a computer program;

the at least one processor is configured to invoke the computer program and execute the computer program to cause the chip to:

obtain an antenna impedance measurement when an antenna aperture tuning circuit is set to a first antenna aperture tuning state;

determine a different second antenna aperture tuning state according to the first antenna aperture tuning state and the antenna impedance measurement; and

set the antenna aperture tuning circuit to the second antenna aperture tuning state from the first antenna aperture tuning state.

8. The chip of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to detect a change in one or more parameters of a radio frequency communication network, and wherein the processor is further configured to obtain the antenna impedance measurement when the change is detected.

9. The chip of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to obtain the antenna impedance measurement when a magnitude of a transmit power exceeds a specified threshold magnitude value.

10. The chip of claim 7 , wherein on the processor is further configured to set the antenna aperture tuning circuit to the second antenna aperture tuning state by adjusting a capacitor value of the antenna aperture tuning circuit.

11. The chip of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to set the antenna aperture tuning circuit to the second antenna aperture tuning state by configuring one or more RF switches of the antenna aperture tuning circuit.

12. The chip of claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the second aperture tuning state using a refection coefficient.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions, that when performed by processing circuitry of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform acts comprising:

obtain an antenna impedance measurement when an antenna aperture tuning circuit is working on a first antenna aperture tuning state;

determine a different second antenna aperture tuning state according to the first antenna aperture tuning state and the antenna impedance measurement; and

set the antenna aperture tuning circuit to the second antenna aperture tuning state from the first antenna aperture tuning state.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , including instructions that cause the apparatus to detect a change in one or more parameters of a radio frequency communication network, and wherein the instructions further cause the apparatus to obtain the antenna impedance measurement when the change is detected.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , including instructions that cause the apparatus to obtain the antenna impedance measurement when a magnitude of a transmit power exceeds a specified threshold magnitude value.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , including instructions that cause the apparatus to set the antenna aperture tuning circuit to the second antenna aperture tuning state by adjusting a capacitor value of the antenna aperture tuning circuit.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , including instructions that cause the apparatus to set the antenna aperture tuning circuit to the second antenna aperture tuning state by configuring one or more RF switches of the antenna aperture tuning circuit.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13 , including instructions that cause the apparatus to determine the antenna impedance measurement using a difference in phase between a forward signal and a reverse signal and a ratio between the magnitudes of the forward signal and the reverse signal.

19. A method of operating radio frequency (RF) circuitry, the method comprising:

obtaining an antenna impedance measurement when an antenna aperture tuning circuit is working on a first antenna aperture tuning state;

determining a different second antenna aperture tuning state according to the first antenna aperture tuning state and the antenna impedance measurement;

setting the antenna aperture tuning circuit to the second antenna aperture tuning state from the first antenna aperture tuning state.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising detecting a change in one or more parameters of a RF communication network, and wherein the obtaining the antenna impedance measurement is performed when the change is detected.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the obtaining the antenna impedance measurement is performed when a magnitude of a transmit power exceeds a specified threshold magnitude value.

22. The method of claim 19 , wherein the setting the antenna aperture tuning circuit to the second antenna aperture tuning state comprises adjusting a capacitor value of the antenna aperture tuning circuit.

23. The method of claim 19 , wherein the setting the antenna aperture tuning circuit to the second antenna aperture tuning state comprises configuring one or more RF switches of the antenna aperture tuning circuit.

24. The method of claim 19 , further comprising determining the second aperture tuning state using a refection coefficient.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 11, 2021
From: SHI, PING; WEI, YONGHUA
To: FUTUREWEI TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 057143/0154 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation 16822881 · Mar 18, 2020
Continuation 16426837 · May 30, 2019
Continuation 15167279 · May 27, 2016
Related Publication 20210135350A1 · May 6, 2021
Cited By (2)
US 12,519,231 US 12,700,888