Granted Patent B2

US 12,355,542 · App. 17/870,534 · Granted Jul 8, 2025

Inventors: Nishant Pattanaik (San Diego, CA); Jay P Shah (Newark, CA); Lohit Sarna (San Mateo, CA); Mehran T Baghaei (San Diego, CA); Venkateswara Rao Manepalli (San Jose, CA); Sudeep Bhattarai (Hayward, CA); Seshu Tummala (Cupertino, CA); Sudhir K Baghel (Pleasanton, CA)

Assignee: Apple Inc.

H04B7/086H04B7/0842H04B7/0894H04L25/0204H04W56/006

Abstract

Claims (58)

1. User equipment comprising:

a first antenna and a second antenna;

a receiver coupled to the first antenna and the second antenna; and

processing circuitry coupled to the receiver, the processing circuitry configured to

cause the receiver to receive a first signal via the first antenna,

cause the receiver to receive a second signal via the second antenna, each of the first signal and the second signal comprising an in-phase sample and a quadrature sample, the in-phase sample and the quadrature sample each comprising a preamble, a broadcast interval, a broadcast section, and a unicast section,

adjust the first signal based on a first time offset and a first frequency offset associated with the first signal to generate a first adjusted signal,

adjust the second signal based on a second time offset and a second frequency offset associated with the second signal to generate a second adjusted signal,

combine the first adjusted signal and the second adjusted signal to generate a combined signal, and

decode downlink information based on the combined signal.

2. The user equipment of claim 1 , wherein the first signal and the second signal are different in signal strength based on different locations and orientations of the first antenna and the second antenna.

3. The user equipment of claim 1 , wherein the first signal and the second signal correspond to a downlink signal transmitted from a communication node, wherein the user equipment is synchronized to the communication node to establish bidirectional communication.

4. The user equipment of claim 3 , wherein the communication node is configured to relay an uplink signal from the user equipment to a communication hub and relay the downlink signal based on the uplink signal from the communication hub to the user equipment.

5. The user equipment of claim 3 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine the first time offset and the first frequency offset associated with the first signal, and the second time offset and the second frequency offset associated with the second signal, based on positioning data associated with the user equipment and the communication node.

6. The user equipment of claim 1 , wherein the downlink information is encoded in the broadcast interval, the broadcast section, and the unicast section.

7. The user equipment of claim 1 , comprising a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver configured to receive GNSS signals from a GNSS network and process the GNSS signals to determine a global position of the user equipment.

8. The user equipment of claim 1 , wherein the first time offset associated with the first signal and the second time offset associated with the second signal are different based on a movement of a communication node, a movement of the user equipment, or both, and wherein the first frequency offset associated with the first signal and the second frequency offset associated with the second signal are different based on the movement of the communication node, the movement of the user equipment, or both.

9. The user equipment of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to

determine the first time offset and the first frequency offset based on a first signal analysis in both time and frequency domains using a starting time and a central frequency, and

determine the second time offset and the second frequency offset based on a second signal analysis in both the time and frequency domains using the starting time and the central frequency.

10. The user equipment of claim 9 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to adjust the first signal by

shifting the first signal based on the starting time and the first time offset in the time domain, and shifting the first signal based on the central frequency and the first frequency offset in the frequency domain.

11. The user equipment of claim 9 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to adjust the second signal by

shifting the second signal based on the starting time and the second time offset in the time domain, and shifting the second signal based on the central frequency and the second frequency offset in the frequency domain.

12. The user equipment of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the first signal comprises applying a first weighting factor to the first signal, and adjusting the second signal comprises applying a second weighting factor to the second signal.

13. The user equipment of claim 12 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to

determine a first pilot power based on a first signal-to-noise ratio associated with the first signal,

determine a second pilot power based on a second signal-to-noise ratio associated with the second signal,

determine a power ratio between the first pilot power and the second pilot power,

determine the first weighting factor based on the first pilot power and the power ratio, and

determine the second weighting factor based on the second pilot power and the power ratio.

14. A method comprising:

receiving a first signal via a receiver coupled to a first antenna of an electronic device;

receiving a second signal via the receiver coupled to a second antenna of the electronic device;

determining, via processing circuitry of the electronic device, a first weighting factor associated with the first signal based on a first pilot power of the first signal;

determining, via the processing circuitry of the electronic device, a second weighting factor associated with the second signal based on a second pilot power of the second signal;

adjusting, via the processing circuitry of the electronic device, the first signal based on a first time offset, a first frequency offset, and the first weighting factor associated with the first signal to generate a first adjusted signal;

adjusting, via the processing circuitry of the electronic device, the second signal based on a second time offset, a second frequency offset, and the second weighting factor associated with the second signal to generate a second adjusted signal;

combining, via the processing circuitry of the electronic device, the first adjusted signal and the second adjusted signal to generate a combined signal; and

decoding, via the processing circuitry of the electronic device, downlink information based on the combined signal.

15. The method of claim 14 , comprising determining, via the processing circuitry of the electronic device, the first pilot power based on a first signal-to-noise ratio associated with the first signal, and determining, via the processing circuitry of the electronic device, the second pilot power based on a second signal-to-noise ratio associated with the second signal.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first time offset, the first frequency offset, and the first pilot power associated with the first signal received at the first antenna are different from the second time offset, the second frequency offset, and the second pilot power associated with the second signal received at the second antenna, respectively.

17. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of user equipment, cause the processing circuitry to:

receive a first signal via a first antenna of an electronic device;

receive a second signal via a second antenna of the electronic device;

determine a first time offset and a first frequency offset associated with the first signal based on a first signal analysis in both time and frequency domains using a starting time and a central frequency;

determine a second time offset and a second frequency offset associated with the second signal based on a second signal analysis in both the time and frequency domains using the starting time and the central frequency;

adjust the first signal based on the first time offset and the first frequency offset to generate a first adjusted signal;

adjust the second signal based on the second time offset and the second frequency offset to generate a second adjusted signal;

combine the first adjusted signal and the second adjusted signal to generate a combined signal; and

decode downlink information based on the combined signal.

18. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the combined signal has increased signal strength and signal-to-noise ratio compared to each of that of the first signal and the second signal.

19. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein each of the first signal and the second signal comprise an in-phase sample and a quadrature sample, the in-phase sample and the quadrature sample each comprising a preamble, a broadcast interval, a broadcast section, and a unicast section.

20. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the instructions, when executed by processing circuitry of user equipment, cause the processing circuitry to:

determine a first weighting factor associated with the first signal based on a first pilot power of the first signal;

determine a second weighting factor associated with the second signal based on a second pilot power of the second signal;

adjust the first signal based on the first weighting factor, the first time offset, and the first frequency offset to generate the first adjusted signal; and

adjust the second signal based on the second weighting factor, the second time offset, and the second frequency offset to generate the second adjusted signal.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (41)