Listen-before-talk system, device and method based on in-device operation

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for operating a control signal to transmit a signal using a first antenna and a first frequency band in response to determining that an in-device operation is occurring or is expected to occur, a first amount of energy received by the first antenna is less than a threshold amount of energy, and the first antenna is not affected by the in-device operation. The control signal also delays transmission of the signal in response to determining that the in-device operation is occurring and the first amount of energy is greater than or equal to the threshold amount of energy.

Description

Background Art

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly to electronic devices that utilize radio frequency signals, transmitters, and receivers for wireless communications.

[0002] This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of the art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and / or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements should be read in this light, and not as an admission of the prior art.

[0003] The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting phone calls, many mobile devices now also provide access to the Internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the Global Positioning System (GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications that utilize these functions.

[0004] Transmitters and / or receivers may be included in various electronic devices to enable communication between devices. Many electronic devices may communicate simultaneously in the same room and / or area, at least in part. However, overlapping communications may increase the chance of interference between concurrent communications, thereby affecting the quality or success of one or more of the communications.

[0005] In order to reduce the possibility of interference between communications, the electronic device can listen to the airwaves before transmitting new communications and / or enabling the receiver to verify that there is no ongoing communication on the airwaves. The signal associated with the ongoing communication can be received by the antenna of the electronic device as signal noise or energy. The electronic device can compare the received noise with the threshold noise amount, and if the received noise is greater than the threshold noise amount, it is determined to delay the communication. This process is generally referred to as a listen-before-talk (LBT) operation. In fact, the listen-before-talk operation can include an electronic device verifying that the noise received by one or more antennas is less than the threshold noise amount before transmitting a data packet to another electronic device, thereby verifying that each antenna is idle. Although these methods allow transmission when each antenna receives less than the threshold noise amount, these methods also prevent transmission from the antenna receiving less than the threshold noise amount when another antenna receives a noise amount greater than the threshold amount. That is, if any of the antennas senses an energy level above the threshold (e.g., receives a certain amount of noise), the antenna (even the antenna sensing an energy level below the threshold) may not be allowed to transmit. This approach can drastically reduce operating efficiency (either completely or not at all) since it is assumed that a certain amount of noise received at one antenna also affects the other antenna, thereby stopping transmission from all antennas even if the amount of noise received by some antennas is less than a threshold amount of noise.

[0006] Various improvements to the above features may exist with respect to various aspects of the present invention. Other features may also be added to these various aspects. These improvements and additional features may exist alone or in any combination. For example, the various features associated with one or more of the illustrated embodiments discussed below may be incorporated into any of the above aspects of the present invention alone or in any combination. The brief summary presented above is intended to familiarize the reader with the specific aspects and context of the disclosed embodiments and does not limit the claimed subject matter. Summary of the invention

[0007] The following is a summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein. It should be understood that these aspects are presented only to provide the reader with a concise summary of these specific embodiments, and these aspects are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In fact, the present disclosure may cover a number of aspects that may not be described below.

[0008] If any antenna senses an energy level greater than a noise threshold, the previous listen-before-talk (LBT) operation causes the device to delay communications on each antenna. However, electronic devices are complex systems in which many radio components, sub-radio components, concurrent communicators, etc. are integrated into a small form factor device. When multiple radio components are operated simultaneously, and / or when some subsystems are operated simultaneously with communications (e.g., when performing communications with a universal serial bus (USB)), nearby antennas can receive some of the emitted electromagnetic waves from these operations as noise. When following the listen-before-talk (LBT) operation, the control system can sense that the amount of noise received from the corresponding antenna is greater than the noise threshold, and confuse the noise source as an ongoing communication.

[0009] To improve these operations, the systems and methods described herein involve selectively controlling antennas based on the amount of noise received from the corresponding antennas. These techniques can be compatible with listen-before-talk (LBT) operations and can reduce the likelihood that noise from sources other than ongoing communications from external antennas will trigger communication delays.

[0010] For example, if at least one antenna is idle, communications can be sent through multiple antennas instead of delaying communications using multiple antennas when only some of the antennas sense noise. In another example, communications can be sent or received only through idle antennas without using antennas that sense noise to send or receive communications. Specifically, antennas determined to be affected by the parallel operation of subsystems can be marked in the memory of the electronic device during manufacturing (e.g., hard-coded based on test results). If the electronic device determines that the subsystem is in operation, the electronic device can refer to the mark (e.g., indication) to determine whether to consider or ignore the noise received by the antenna. For example, if the noise received by the marked antenna is greater than the threshold noise amount, the electronic device can continue to use the marked antenna because the marked antenna has been previously indicated as being affected by the operation of the subsystem. In some cases, the electronic device can determine whether each antenna of the antenna panel senses a noise amount greater than the noise threshold, and can therefore indicate whether the electronic device is to delay communication.

[0011] The disclosed system can be deployed using various embodiments. For example, a device may include a first antenna that communicates through a first frequency band, a second antenna that communicates through the first frequency band, and a third antenna that communicates through a second frequency band that overlaps the first frequency band. The device may also include one or more processors that cause the transmission of signals from the first antenna and the second antenna in response to determining that the third antenna is not using the second frequency band for communication, the first energy amount received by the first antenna is less than a threshold energy amount, and the second energy amount received by the second antenna is less than a threshold energy amount. The one or more processors may delay the transmission of the signal in response to determining that the third antenna is not using the second frequency band for communication and the first energy amount or the second energy amount is greater than or equal to the threshold energy amount. The one or more processors may cause the transmission of signals from the first antenna and the second antenna in response to determining that the third antenna is using the second frequency band for communication, one of the first energy amount and the second energy amount is less than the threshold energy amount and the other of the first energy amount and the second energy amount is greater than or equal to the threshold energy amount. In addition, the one or more processors delay the transmission of the signal in response to determining that the third antenna is using the second frequency band for communication and both the first energy amount and the second energy amount are greater than or equal to the threshold energy amount.

[0012] In some embodiments, a method may include receiving an indication from a memory that communication using a first antenna is not affected by an in-device operation. The method may include transmitting a signal using the first antenna via a first frequency band in response to determining that the in-device operation is occurring, a first amount of energy received by the first antenna is less than a threshold amount of energy, and the first antenna is not affected by the in-device operation. In addition, the method may include delaying transmission of the signal in response to determining that the in-device operation is occurring and the first amount of energy is greater than or equal to the threshold amount of energy.

[0013] In yet another embodiment, one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage media include executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to cause the transmission of signals from the first antenna and the second antenna using the first frequency band in response to determining that the first energy amount received by the first antenna is less than a threshold energy amount and determining that the second energy amount received by the second antenna is less than a threshold energy amount. The instructions may also cause the one or more processors to delay the transmission of the signal in response to determining that the first energy amount and the second energy amount are greater than or equal to the threshold energy amount. The instructions may also cause the one or more processors to cause the transmission of the signal from the first antenna in response to determining that the first energy amount is less than the threshold energy amount and the second energy amount is greater than or equal to the threshold energy amount. In addition, the instructions may also cause the one or more processors to cause the transmission of the signal from the second antenna in response to determining that the first energy amount is greater than or equal to the threshold energy amount and the second energy amount is less than the threshold energy amount.

[0014] Various improvements to the above features may exist with respect to various aspects of the present invention. Other features may also be added to these various aspects. These improvements and additional features may exist alone or in any combination. For example, the various features associated with one or more of the illustrated embodiments discussed below may be incorporated into any of the above aspects of the present invention alone or in any combination. The brief summary presented above is intended to familiarize the reader with the specific aspects and context of the disclosed embodiments and does not limit the claimed subject matter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Various aspects of the present disclosure may be better understood upon reading the following detailed description and referring to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0016] Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of an electronic device including a transceiver according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0017] Figure 2 Yes means Figure 1 A perspective view of a laptop computer of a first embodiment of the electronic device;

[0018] Figure 3 Yes means Figure 1 A front view of a handheld device of a second embodiment of the electronic device;

[0019] Figure 4 Yes means Figure 1 A front view of another handheld device of the third embodiment of the electronic device;

[0020] Figure 5 Yes means Figure 1 A front view of a desktop computer of a fourth embodiment of the electronic device;

[0021] Figure 6 Yes means Figure 1 A front view and a side view of a wearable electronic device of a fifth embodiment of the electronic device;

[0022] Figure 7 is a block diagram of an electronic device including a plurality of radio frequency (RF) circuit chains (RF chains) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0023] Figure 8 It is based on the conventional listen-before-talk process with three antennas Figure 7 An illustration of an example electronic device wherein one antenna receives noise greater than a threshold amount, two antennas receive noise less than a threshold amount, and no antenna is used for communication;

[0024] Fig. 9A A wireless antenna having three antennas according to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 7An illustration of an example electronic device wherein one antenna receives noise greater than a threshold amount, two antennas receive noise less than a threshold amount, and each of the antennas is used for communication;

[0025] Fig. 9B A wireless antenna having three antennas according to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 7 An illustration of an example electronic device wherein three antennas receive noise greater than a threshold amount and no antenna is used for communication;

[0026] Fig.10 is a block diagram of a logic circuit according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the logic circuit being used to generate Figure 7 An indication of noise received by the antenna of an electronic device;

[0027] Fig.11 is a method for operating according to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 7 The electronic device responds to the Fig.10 A flowchart of a method for communicating or delaying communication based on a signal output by a logic circuit;

[0028] Fig.12 A wireless antenna having three antennas according to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 7 An illustration of an example electronic device wherein one antenna receives noise greater than a threshold amount, two antennas receive noise less than a threshold amount, and the two antennas are used for communication;

[0029] Fig.13 is a method for operating according to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 7 A flowchart of a method for an electronic device to adjust or delay transmission in response to noise received by one or more antennas;

[0030] Fig.14 is a method for operating according to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 7 A flowchart of a method for an electronic device to adjust a single-input single-output (SISO) transmission in response to noise received by one or more antennas; and

[0031] Fig.15 is a method for operating according to an embodiment of the present disclosure Figure 7 A flow chart of a method for an electronic device to adjust multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmissions in response to noise received by one or more antennas. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below. These described embodiments are examples of the presently disclosed technology. In addition, in an attempt to provide a brief description of these embodiments, all features of the actual implementation may not be described in this specification. It should be understood that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, decisions specific to many implementations must be made to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints that may change from one implementation to another. In addition, it should be understood that such development work may be complex and time-consuming, but for those of ordinary skill in the art who benefit from the present disclosure, it will still be a routine task of design, processing and manufacturing.

[0033] When introducing elements of various embodiments of the present disclosure, the articles "one / an" and "the / said" are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having" are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. Additionally, it should be understood that reference to "one embodiment" or "embodiment" of the present disclosure is not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the cited features. Also, the phrase A "based on" B is intended to mean that A is based at least in part on B. Moreover, the term "or" is intended to be inclusive (e.g., logical or) and not exclusive (e.g., logical exclusive or). In other words, the phrase A "or" B is intended to mean A, B, or both A and B.

[0034] The present disclosure as a whole describes systems, devices and methods for selectively using antennas for communication when operating according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) process. As described herein, the disclosed process brings certain advantages to operation. In view of the above, the following provides an overall description of suitable electronic devices that can include practicing such processes.

[0035] First go to Figure 1 , an electronic device 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include one or more processors 12, a memory 14, a non-volatile storage device 16, a display 18, an input structure 22, an input / output (I / O) interface 24, a network interface 26, a power supply 28, and a transceiver 30, among others. Figure 1 The various functional blocks shown in the may include hardware elements (including circuits), software elements (including computer code stored on a computer-readable medium), or a combination of both hardware elements and software elements. In addition, the combination of elements may be included in a tangible, non-transitory machine-readable medium including machine-readable instructions. The instructions may be executed by the processor 12 and may cause the processor 12 to perform operations as described herein. It should be noted that Figure 1 This is merely one example of a particular embodiment and is intended to illustrate the types of elements that may be present in electronic device 10 .

[0036] By way of example, the electronic device 10 may represent Figure 2 The laptop shown in Figure 3 The handheld device shown in Figure 4 The handheld device shown in Figure 5 The desktop computer shown in Figure 6 A block diagram of a wearable electronic device or similar device is shown in FIG. It should be noted that Figure 1 The processor 12 and other related items in the electronic device 10 may be generally referred to herein as "data processing circuitry". Such data processing circuitry may be implemented in whole or in part in software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. In addition, the data processing circuitry may be a single processing module that is contained, or may be fully or partially incorporated into any of the other elements within the electronic device 10.

[0037] exist Figure 1 In the electronic device 10 of the present invention, the processor 12 can be coupled with the memory 14 and the non-volatile storage device 16 to execute various algorithms. Such programs or instructions executed by the processor 12 can be stored in any suitable product, which includes one or more tangible computer-readable media that at least collectively store the instructions or routines, such as the memory 14 and the non-volatile storage device 16. The memory 14 and the non-volatile storage device 16 may include any suitable product for storing data and executable instructions, such as random access memory, read-only memory, rewritable flash memory, hard disk drive, and optical disk. In addition, the program (e.g., operating system) encoded on such a computer program product may also include instructions that can be executed by the processor 12 to enable the electronic device 10 to provide various functions.

[0038] In some embodiments, display 18 may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a digital micromirror display (DMD), one or more organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, or some combination of these displays, which may enable a user to view images generated by electronic device 10. In some embodiments, display 18 may include a touch screen that may facilitate user interaction with a user interface of electronic device 10.

[0039] In some cases, the one or more processors 12 may operate circuits to input or output data generated by the electronic device 10. For example, the one or more processors 12 may control and / or operate the memory 14, the non-volatile storage device 16, the display 18, the input structure 22, the input / output (I / O interface) 24, the network interface 26, the transceiver 30, the power supply 28, etc. to perform operations of the electronic device 10 and / or facilitate control of the operation of the electronic device. In particular, the one or more processors 12 may generate control signals for operating the transceiver 30 to communicate using one or more communication networks.

[0040] The input structures 22 of the electronic device 10 may enable a user to interact with the electronic device 10 (e.g., press a button to increase or decrease a volume level). As with the network interface 26, the I / O interface 24 may enable the electronic device 10 to interact with various other electronic devices. The network interface 26 may, for example, include one or more interfaces for a personal area network (PAN) such as a Network, Local Area Network (LAN) or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) such as 802.11x A network, and / or a wide area network (WAN) such as a 3rd generation (3G) cellular network, a 4th generation (4G) cellular network, an LTE cellular network, a Long Term Evolution Licensed Assisted Access (LTE-LAA) cellular network, a 5th generation (5G) cellular network, or a New Radio (NR) cellular network. The network interface 26 may also include, for example, one or more interfaces for: a broadband fixed wireless access network (e.g., ), mobile broadband wireless network (mobile ), asynchronous digital subscriber lines (e.g., ADSL, VDSL), digital video terrestrial broadcasting (DVB- ) network and its extended DVB handheld equipment (DVB- ) networks, ultra-wideband (UWB) networks, alternating current (AC) power lines, etc.

[0041] In some embodiments, the electronic device 10 uses the transceiver 30 to communicate with the user via the aforementioned wireless network (e.g., 4G, 5G) for communication. The transceiver 30 may include circuits such as a transmitter and a receiver that are usable in both wireless transmission and reception of signals (e.g., data signals, wireless data signals, wireless carrier signals, RF signals). In fact, in some embodiments, the transceiver 30 may include a transmitter and a receiver that are combined into a single unit, or in other embodiments, the transceiver 30 may include a transmitter separate from the receiver. The transceiver 30 may transmit and receive RF signals to support voice and / or data communications in wireless applications in the networks listed above or any suitable network (such as a PAN network, a WLAN network, a UWB network, etc.). As further shown, the electronic device 10 may include a power supply 28. The power supply 28 may include any suitable power supply, such as a rechargeable lithium polymer (Li-poly) battery and / or an alternating current (AC) power converter.

[0042] In some embodiments, the electronic device 10 may take the form of a computer, a portable electronic device, a wearable electronic device, or other type of electronic device. Such computers may generally be portable (such as laptops, notebook computers, and tablet computers), or used in one location (such as desktop computers, workstations, and / or servers). In some embodiments, the electronic device 10 in the form of a computer may be a computer available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California. PRO、MACBOOK mini or MAC For example, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, Figure 2 1 shows an electronic device 10 in the form of a laptop computer 10A. The laptop computer 10A may include a housing or casing 36, a display 18, input structures 22, and ports associated with an I / O interface 24. In one embodiment, the input structures 22 (such as a keyboard and / or a touchpad) may enable interaction with the laptop computer 10A, such as launching, controlling, or operating a graphical user interface (GUI) or application running on the laptop computer 10A. For example, the keyboard and / or touchpad may facilitate user interaction with a user interface, GUI, and / or application interface displayed on the display 18.

[0043] Figure 3 A front view of a handheld device 10B is depicted, which represents one embodiment of an electronic device 10. The handheld device 10B may represent, for example, a portable telephone, a media player, a personal data organizer, a handheld gaming platform, or any combination of such devices. By way of example, the handheld device 10B may be a iPod Touch available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California. or The handheld device 10B may include a housing 36 to protect the internal components from physical damage and to shield the internal components from electromagnetic interference. The housing 36 may surround the display 18. The I / O interface 24 may be opened through the housing 36 and may include, for example, an I / O port for a hardwired connection for charging and / or content manipulation using a connector and protocol such as a Lightning connector provided by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California, a universal serial bus (USB), or other similar connectors and protocols.

[0044] The input structure 22 in conjunction with the display 18 can enable the user to control the handheld device 10B. For example, the input structure 22 can activate or deactivate the handheld device 10B, navigate the user interface to the home screen, present a user editable application screen, and / or activate the voice recognition feature of the handheld device 10B. Other input structures 22 can provide volume control, or can switch between vibration and ringtone modes. The input structure 22 can also include a microphone for acquiring the user's voice for various voice-related features, and a speaker for enabling audio playback. The input structure 22 can also include a headphone input for enabling input from an external speaker and / or headphones.

[0045] Figure 4 A front view of another handheld device 10C is depicted, which represents another embodiment of the electronic device 10. The handheld device 10C may represent, for example, a tablet computer, or one of a variety of portable computing devices. By way of example, the handheld device 10C may be a tablet-sized embodiment of the electronic device 10, specifically, may be, for example, an Apple computer available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California. Type handheld device.

[0046] See also Figure 5 , the computer 10D can represent Figure 1 The computer 10D may be any computer, such as a desktop computer, a server, or a notebook computer, and / or may be a stand-alone media player or video game console. By way of example, the computer 10D may be a iPod Touch from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California. or other similar devices. It should be noted that the computer 10D may also represent a personal computer (PC) of another manufacturer. The housing 36 may protect and enclose the internal components of the computer 10D, such as the display 18. In some embodiments, a user of the computer 10D may interact with the computer 10D using various peripheral input devices such as a keyboard 22A or a mouse 22B (e.g., input structures 22) that may be operatively coupled to the computer 10D.

[0047] Similarly, Figure 6 Depicted Figure 1 Another embodiment of the electronic device 10 is a wearable electronic device 10E. By way of example, the wearable electronic device 10E that may include the wristband 43 may be an APPLE However, in other embodiments, the wearable electronic device 10E may include any wearable electronic device, such as a wearable motion monitoring device (e.g., a pedometer, an accelerometer, a heart rate monitor), or other devices from another manufacturer. The display 18 of the wearable electronic device 10E may include a display 18 (e.g., an LCD, an OLED display, an active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) display, etc.) and a touch screen version of the input structure 22, which may facilitate user interaction with the user interface of the wearable electronic device 10E. In certain embodiments, as described above, each embodiment of the electronic device 10 (e.g., a laptop 10A, a handheld device 10B, a handheld device 10C, a computer 10D, and a wearable electronic device 10E) may include a transceiver 30.

[0048] In view of the above, Figure 7 is a block diagram of an electronic device 50 including a plurality of radio frequency (RF) circuit chains (RF chains) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The electronic device 50 may also include Figure 1 For example, the electronic device 50 may include a control system 52 having a control system similar to Figure 1 The processor 12 operates the processor 54 and may be similar to Figure 1 The memory 14 operates the memory 56.

[0049] The control system 52 can control the operation of the radio frequency (RF) chains 58 (RF chain 58A, RF chain 58B) of the electronic device 50. The control system 52 can instruct the RF chain 58A when to transmit and / or receive messages on the antenna 60A, and can instruct the RF chain 58B when to transmit and / or receive messages on the antenna 60B. It should be noted that each of the RF chains 58 can include one or more antennas 60, and can include unequal numbers of antennas 60. The antennas 60 can be grouped into one or more antenna panels not specifically shown herein. In addition, the two RF chains 58A, 58B are exemplary, and there can be more than one RF chain. Figure 7 More or fewer RF chains 58 are shown.

[0050] The control system 52 may transmit a control signal to the transmitter 62A to cause the transmitter 62A to transmit a data packet using the antenna 60A. In response to receiving the control signal, the transmitter 62A may prepare or process the data packet for transmission and transmit the data packet using radio frequency waves. Similarly, the control system 52 may transmit a control signal to the transmitter circuit 62B to cause the transmitter 62B to transmit the data packet using the antenna 60B. The control system 52 may also transmit a control signal to the receiver 64A to cause the receiver 64A to receive a signal using the antenna 60A. The receiver 64A may prepare to receive a signal using the antenna 60A in response to the control signal and may process any received signal according to the configuration implemented by the control system 52. Similarly, the control system 52 may transmit a control signal to the receiver 64B to cause the receiver 64B to receive a signal using the antenna 60B.

[0051] The electronic device 50 may also include input / output (I / O) circuitry 66, which may include and / or be coupled to Figure 1 The I / O interface circuit 24 and / or the network interface 26 of the electronic device 50. In fact, the electronic device 50 can receive input data from components coupled to the electronic device 50 via the additional I / O circuit 66. For example, a USB device can be coupled to the electronic device 50 at the additional I / O circuit 66.

[0052] The control system 52 can operate the electronic device 50, and more specifically, the RF chain 58, according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) process. That is, before using one or more of the antennas 60 to transmit a data packet, the control system 52 can verify that there is no ongoing communication in the frequency range (e.g., a communication channel defined using multiple frequencies within a frequency band). Although beneficial in reducing the possibility of communication interruption or interference, these operations may not allow an "idle" antenna (e.g., an antenna that has not detected ongoing communication) to transmit a data packet when another antenna detects ongoing communication. In addition, the listen-before-talk process can assume that in-device interference (such as noise generated by a USB device or another device coupled to the I / O circuit 66 or an antenna operating simultaneously) that may not cause communication interruption or interference has caused communication interruption or interference.

[0053] For example, even when antenna 60B and antenna 60A use different types of communications (e.g., cellular communications, Wi-Fi communications), antenna 60B may use a frequency range that overlaps with the frequency range used by antenna 60A when communicating. When one antenna (e.g., 60B) is used, another antenna (e.g., 60A) may receive some of the communications from the antenna 60B used as noise. In the process of listening first and talking later, the noise may be misunderstood as disruptive or interfering, and the control system 52 may delay the communication to avoid interrupting the ongoing communication on the radio wave path. However, the noise may not cause communication interruption or interference, and therefore the communication can continue without degradation or loss.

[0054] In detail, Figure 8 is an illustration of an electronic device 50 having three antennas 60 (e.g., antenna 60A, antenna 60B, antenna 60C) according to a conventional listen-before-talk process, wherein antenna 60B receives noise greater than a threshold noise amount, antenna 60A and antenna 60C receive noise less than a threshold noise amount, and no antenna 60 is used for communication. In this case, and as Fig. 9A , Fig. 9B and Fig.12 In the example shown in , the threshold noise amount corresponds to the power of noise measured in decibel-milliwatts (dBm). Although any suitable noise power that disrupts communication via antenna 60 can be used as the threshold noise amount, for the purposes of this disclosure, the threshold noise amount is substantially approximately -75 dBm (e.g., an amount between -70 dBm and -80 dBm).

[0055] In fact, when following the listen-before-talk process, the control system 52 instructs the transmitter 62 of each of the antennas 60 to delay transmission (e.g., not transmit) even if the antenna 60A and the antenna 60C receive noise less than the threshold noise amount. For example, these listen-before-talk operations can be improved when the control system 52 selectively considers which of the known antennas 60 are affected by the USB device or another device coupled at the additional I / O circuit 66 and then determines to delay transmission only in response to the antenna 60B encountering noise, as described below with respect to at least FIGS. 9 to 11 . Fig.11Detailed description. In fact, when the listen-before-talk process is performed while taking into account the in-device operation, communication using the electronic device 50 can be improved. Communication can be improved because, for example, fewer false alarms can be detected, thereby increasing the time spent on communication. That is, the in-device operation will not be confused as speaking on a frequency band (e.g., a communication channel), and thus communication can continue without being disrupted. In some cases, the firmware and / or software application of the electronic device 50 can indicate the in-device operation to the control system 52. Therefore, these systems and methods can allow processing operations to control communication circuits via instructions to the control system 52. For example, the processor 54 of the electronic device 50 can generate a control signal and send a control signal to the control system 52, which indicates an ongoing USB device operation or another external device operation. The control system 52 can then adjust the communication operation based on which communication circuits are affected by the ongoing operation. Additionally or alternatively, when, for example, the following is directed to at least Figures 12 to 15 The control system 52 described in detail can improve listen-before-talk operation when only antenna 60B delays transmission in response to noise so that other antennas 60 can continue to communicate.

[0056] Specifically, Fig. 9A 60A, 60B, and 60C according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein antenna 60B receives noise greater than a threshold noise amount, antenna 60A and antenna 60C receive noise less than a threshold noise amount, and each of antennas 60 is used to transmit one or more data packets. In fact, in this example, the control system 52 can refer to the memory 56 (e.g., memory 14) to determine when the USB device or when another device is coupled to the I / O circuit 66. The antenna 60B is damaged (e.g., so that the USB device or another device interferes with the communication sent or received using the antenna 60B). Because the antenna 60B is damaged, the control system 52 cannot use the antenna 60B for communication. In this example, in the case where the antenna 60B is damaged when there is interference between devices (e.g., a USB device or other device is inserted into the electronic device 50), the noise level of the antenna 60B can be an inaccurate indication of whether the ongoing communication is occurring. Therefore, the control system 52 can alternatively use the indication of the noise received by the antenna 60A and / or the antenna 60C to determine when to delay the transmission operation. In this manner, control system 52 may delay transmission on one or more antennas 60 when antenna 60A and / or antenna 60C receives noise greater than a threshold amount of noise but not when antenna 60B receives noise.

[0057] This example is illustrated in an exemplary embodiment of an electronic device 50 having antennas 60A, 60B, and 60C according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 9B, where antennas 60 each receive noise greater than a threshold noise amount, and control system 52 delays the transmission scheduled for each of antennas 60. In fact, Fig. 9A As in the example of , antenna 60B is known to be affected by interference within the device and is therefore a relatively inaccurate indicator of whether ongoing communications are occurring. However, because antenna 60A and / or antenna 60C are relatively more accurate indicators of whether ongoing communications are occurring, the control system 52 can determine that the transmission operation is delayed due to these antennas 60A, 60C receiving noise greater than the threshold noise amount.

[0058] In detail, Fig.10 is a block diagram of a logic circuit 78 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, which is used to generate an indication of noise received by an antenna 60 of an electronic device 50. The logic circuit 78 can be disposed in any suitable location within the control system 52, within the Wi-Fi chipset of the electronic device 50, and / or within the electronic device 50. In fact, each RF chain 58 of the electronic device 50 can include the logic circuit 78. The logic circuit 78 can compare the noise energy 80A received by the first antenna 60 (such as antenna 60A) with the noise energy level threshold 82 using a comparator 84 or other suitable comparison circuit. The comparison can be repeated for the noise energy 80B of the other antenna 60B using a comparator 84B. When the corresponding noise energy 80A, 80B is greater than the voltage value of the noise energy level threshold 82, the signal is transmitted to the logic OR gate 86 and the logic AND gate 88. Based at least in part on the mode signal stored in the command register 90, the output of the logic OR gate 86 or the output of the logic AND gate 88 is transmitted from the multiplexer 92.

[0059] The control system 52 can control the mode (e.g., OR mode or AND mode) in which the logic circuit 78 operates. The mode can be set via configuration information (e.g., one or more configuration bits) stored in the command register 90. The output of the multiplexer 92 either matches the output of the logic OR gate 86 or the output of the logic AND gate 88. In the AND mode, the control system 52 can delay the communication of the electronic device 50 only when each antenna 60 receives a certain amount of noise energy 80 greater than or equal to the noise energy level threshold 82. However, in the OR mode, when any of the antennas 60 receives a certain amount of noise energy 80 greater than or equal to the noise energy level threshold 82, the control system 52 can delay the communication of the electronic device 50.

[0060] The resulting indication from the multiplexer 92 may be incorporated into the operational flow of the control system 52 . Fig.111 is a flow chart of a method 110 for operating an electronic device 50 to transmit or delay transmission in response to a signal output from a logic circuit 78 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be noted that, although depicted in a particular order, the blocks of method 110 may be executed in any suitable order, and at least some blocks may be skipped entirely. In addition, it should be noted that, although method 110 involves transmission operations, similar operations may be used in reception operations, such as determining when to turn on a receiver, because turning on a receiver in response to noise rather than a message may undesirably consume power. As described herein, method 110 is described as being performed by a control system 52 of an electronic device 50, however, it should be understood that any suitable processing and / or control circuitry (such as one or more of processors 12, etc.) may perform some or all of the operations of method 110.

[0061] At box 112, the control system 52 transmits a command signal to operate the logic circuit 78 in the AND mode of operation. The control system 52 may generate the control signal as a command signal for storage in the command register 90 of the logic circuit 78. In this manner, when the command signal has a first state, the logic circuit 78 operates in a first mode of operation (e.g., OR mode), and when the command signal has a second state, the logic circuit 78 operates in a second mode of operation (e.g., AND mode). Note that there may be situations where the data stored in the command register 90 as a result of the command signal may be used as a trigger mechanism to power down portions of the logic circuit 78 to save power, such as by disabling the logic gate 86 and / or the logic gate 88 when not in use.

[0062] At block 114, the control system 52 receives the output of the logic circuit 78 and determines whether the output is a voltage level indicating that each comparator 84 detects that the corresponding noise energy 80 is greater than the noise energy level threshold 82. For example, the voltage level may include a logic high voltage level (e.g., a logic high output). When the corresponding noise energy 80 received by each antenna 60 that is damaged (such that the USB device or other device coupled to the electronic device 50 negatively affects the operation of the antenna 60) and undamaged (such that the USB device or other device coupled to the electronic device 50 does not negatively affect the operation of the antenna 60) is greater than or equal to the noise energy level threshold 82, the control system 52 may deem the transmission inappropriate and may therefore delay the transmission at block 116. A similar process applies when the control system 52 sets the logic circuit 78 to an OR mode of operation; however, when any of the antennas 60 receives noise energy 80 greater than or equal to the noise energy level threshold 82, the control system 52 may delay the transmission at block 116.

[0063] At block 116, because each comparator 84 detects that the corresponding noise energy 80 is greater than the noise energy level threshold 82, the control system 52 signals the transmitter 62 to delay transmission (e.g., by not transmitting the scheduled packet). The control system 52 may resume transmission at another uplink, downlink, or other transmission opportunity (such as a transmission opportunity indicated by the communication configuration). In some cases, the control system 52 may resume transmission when the output signal from the logic circuit 78 has a logic low voltage level (e.g., a logic low output) that generally indicates that resuming transmission will not disrupt ongoing communications.

[0064] Referring back to block 114, when the signal output from the logic circuit 78 does not indicate that the comparator detected the corresponding noise energy 80 as a voltage level greater than or equal to the noise energy level threshold 82, at block 118, the control system 52 transmits a packet using each antenna 60. Note that the control system 52 may periodically poll the logic circuit 78 for the output signal, and / or may continuously receive the output signal.

[0065] As mentioned above, when for example for at least Figures 12 to 15 Listen-before-talk operation may be improved when the control system 52 described in detail delays transmission only to antenna 60B that is experiencing noise. Fig.12 is an illustration of an example electronic device 50 having three antennas 60 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein antenna 60B receives noise greater than a threshold amount, two antennas 60A, 60C receive noise less than a threshold amount, and two of the antennas 60A, 60C continue to transmit. Fig.12 The electronic device 50 of the embodiment can independently determine whether to use each of the three antennas 60 for communication. When the control system 52 determines that the antenna 60 is idle, the control system 52 can use the antenna 60 for communication. However, when the control system 52 determines that the antenna 60 is not idle, the control system 52 cannot use the antenna 60 for communication. Both of these decisions can be made independently of the decision made for the other antenna 60. Note that the independent determination can be made with Fig. 9A and Fig. 9B The aspects illustrated in are combined with a logical decision to ignore noise energy 80 received by antennas 60 that are known to be affected by in-device interference (eg, damaged antennas) when determining which antennas to use for transmission.

[0066] In detail, Fig.131 is a flow chart of a method 130 for operating an electronic device 50 to adjust or delay transmission in response to noise received by one or more antennas 60 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be noted that, although depicted in a particular order, the blocks of method 130 may be executed in any suitable order, and at least some blocks may be skipped entirely. As described herein, method 130 is described as being performed by a control system 52 of an electronic device 50, however, it should be understood that any suitable processing and / or control circuitry (such as one or more of processors 12, etc.) may perform some or all of the operations of method 130.

[0067] At block 132, the control system 52 tests the noise of the antennas 60 and / or receives an indication of the noise stored in the memory 56 (e.g., memory 14). If additional sensing circuitry is used to identify the amount of noise sensed by the antennas 60, an indication of the noise, such as the amount of noise sensed, may be generated. The noise may include noise energy 80 (e.g., energy) received at each respective antenna 60. When the received noise is less than a threshold amount of noise, the control system 52 may generate an indication of the noise, such as the amount of noise sensed. Figures 13 to 15 In each of the above, the antenna 60 may be "idle". The control system 52 may execute the method 130 to determine whether to communicate using a multiple-input multiple-output transmission or reception mode (e.g., MIMO TX mode, MIMO RX mode) or a single-input single-output transmission or reception mode (e.g., SISO TX mode, SISO RX mode). "MIMO TX mode" refers to transmission using multiple antennas 60, and "MIMO RX mode" refers to reception using multiple antennas 60. "SISO TX mode" refers to transmission using a single antenna 60, and "SISO RX mode" refers to reception using a single antenna 60.

[0068] In some cases, the receiver 64 may also be initialized to communicate in a transmission mode that matches the transmitter 62, such as when the response communication is expected to be returned in a format similar to the transmission. In fact, a device with dual MIMO and SISO capabilities can be enabled by using queues, where the control system 52 generates packets for transmission using both MIMO TX and SISO TX, adds the packets to the queue, and determines whether to use MIMO TX, SISO TX, or multiple SISO TXs at a time to transmit data before transmission. In some cases, the packets stored in the queue may be designed for transmission using MIMO TX or SISO TX, and thus the transmitter 62 can retrieve the packets from the same queue. In some cases, the first packet may be designed for transmission using MIMO TX, and the second packet may be designed for transmission using SISO TX. The control system 52 may store the first packet and the second packet in different queues (e.g., MIMO TX queue, SISO TX queue) relative to the transmission type for access at a subsequent time (such as when the first packet or the second packet is ready to be transmitted).

[0069] To decide between the SISO TX mode and the MIMO TX mode, at block 134, the control system 52 determines whether the first antenna 60 is idle. Specifically, the control system 52 may determine that the noise energy 80 and / or the indication of sensed noise from the memory 56 (or memory 14) corresponding to the first antenna 60 is less than a threshold noise amount. If the control system 52 determines that the first antenna 60 is not idle, then at block 136, the control system 52 determines whether the second antenna 60 is idle.

[0070] At block 138, if the control system 52 determines that the second antenna 60 is idle, the control system 52 configures at least the transmitter 62 to use the SISO TX mode of the second antenna 60. Note that the SISO TX mode may involve using any idle antenna 60 of the control system for communication as further described below, and should not be limited to using the first antenna 60 only when it is determined to be idle. For example, it may be preferred to use some antennas 60 in SISO TX mode for communication over other antennas 60, such as if one or more antennas are affected by in-device operations (e.g., such antennas 60 may be used if desired, but doing so may not be preferred). Once the transmitter 62 is ready to transmit, such as after performing any calibration or powering up the transmission circuitry, at block 140, the control system 52 transmits the packet. The control system 52 may use the transmitter 62 to transmit the packet. If queues are being used, the transmitter 62 may receive packets for transmission from the queue corresponding to the SISO TX mode.

[0071] Returning to block 136, when the control system 52 determines that the second antenna 60 is not idle, at block 142, the control system 52 continues to delay transmissions using at least the first antenna 60 and the second antenna 60. Note that in the event that the transmitter 62 includes additional antennas 60 (e.g., a third antenna 60), the control system 52 may continue to test each antenna 60 to determine whether any of the antennas 60 are idle for transmission. When the antenna 60 used for transmission operations is not idle, the control system 52 may delay transmissions for each of the antennas 60. Note that this control decision to delay transmissions may be made on a per RF chain 58 basis, such that the control system 52 may delay transmissions for RF chain 58A without also delaying transmissions for RF chain 58B. The control system 52 may delay transmission operations for at least one communication cycle, such as until a subsequent uplink or transmission allocation is available. In some cases, the control system 52 may monitor or repeatedly test the noise of the antenna 60 at box 132 and / or repeat access to the indication in the memory 56 (e.g., memory 14) and continue to perform operations of method 130 until an idle antenna 60 is found for transmitting data packets at box 140 according to the SISO TX or MIMO TX mode.

[0072] Returning to block 134, when the control system 52 determines that the first antenna 60 is idle, at block 144, the control system 52 may determine whether the second antenna 60 is idle. The control system 52 may access the indication of sensed noise and / or noise energy 80 from the memory 56 (or memory 14). If the control system 52 determines that the second antenna 60 is not idle, at block 146, the control system 52 may proceed to configure at least one transmitter 62 to use the SISO TX mode of the first antenna 60. Note that the SISO TX mode may involve any idle antenna 60 of the control system as described in further detail below, and should not be limited to using the first antenna 60 that is determined to be idle. Once the transmitter 62 is ready to transmit, such as after performing any calibration or powering up the transmission circuitry, at block 140, the control system 52 may transmit packets using the mode determined at block 146. If queues are being used, the transmitter 62 may receive packets for transmission from the queue corresponding to the SISO TX mode.

[0073] Returning to block 144, if the control system 52 determines that the second antenna 60 is idle, then at block 148, the control system 52 configures at least the transmitter 62 to use the MIMO TX mode of the first antenna 60 and the second antenna 60. When the electronic device 50 includes more than two antennas 60, the control system 52 may determine to transmit using each idle antenna 60, only two idle antennas 60 (e.g., the first antenna 60 and the second antenna 60), or any number of idle antennas (e.g., after performing a suitable number of idle checks, such as those at blocks 134, 136, and 144). Once the transmitter 62 is ready to transmit, such as after performing any calibration or powering on the transmission circuitry, at block 140, the control system 52 transmits packets using the mode determined at block 146. If queues are being used, the transmitter 62 may receive packets for transmission from the queue corresponding to the MIMO TX mode.

[0074] To further elaborate on how antenna 60 preferences may affect control decisions and other considerations that may be taken into account when determining how to transmit packets, Fig.14 1 is a flow chart of a method 162 for operating an electronic device 50 to adjust a single-input single-output (SISO) transmission (SISO TX) operation in response to noise received by one or more antennas 60 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Note that, although depicted in a particular order, the blocks of the method 162 may be performed in any suitable order, and at least some blocks may be skipped entirely. As described herein, the method 162 is described as being performed by a control system 52 of the electronic device 50, however, it should be understood that any suitable processing and / or control circuitry (such as one or more of the processors 12, etc.) may perform some or all of the operations of the method 162. Note that the following description of the operations assumes that each antenna 60 considered for SISO TX operation has been tested by the control system 52 and determined to be either idle or not idle.

[0075] At box 164, the control system 52 receives an indication to use the antenna 60 for communication. The antenna 60 to be used may be an antenna compatible with the protocol or frequency used for the first type of communication, such as Wi-Fi, cellular, or Bluetooth communications. The control system 52 may adjust the communication operation based on the type of antenna 60 to be used and whether an in-device operation is ongoing, because, for example, an ongoing in-device operation may reduce the ability of the antenna 60 to accurately report speech on the airwave path. In fact, based on a combination of the requested operation and the ongoing operation, the control system 52 may delay the communication and / or may adjust which antenna 60 is used for communication.

[0076] At block 166, the control system 52 may determine whether there is an indication that an in-device operation is being performed. For example, the control system 52 may communicate using a second antenna 60 that utilizes overlapping frequencies and / or may communicate with a USB, and / or other external devices may be plugged into the electronic device 50, thereby causing interference with the communication performed using the first antenna 60. The second antenna 60 may use the same type of communication as the antenna 60 and / or may use a different type of communication than the antenna 60, the frequencies of which overlap and cause noise at the antenna 60. In fact, the control system 52 may receive an indication from the memory 56, firmware, or user input, which may be used to generate and / or store an indication that an in-device operation is being performed. The indication may indicate which of the antennas 60 are affected by the in-device operation. Since some antennas may be affected by concurrent operations in the device, while other antennas may not be affected, additional checks may be performed when determining which antenna 60 to use in the SISO TX mode transmission operation. In-device operations may include concurrent operation of another antenna 60 on an overlapping frequency band, concurrent operation of another antenna 60 on a non-overlapping frequency band, concurrent communication with USB devices or other external devices, simultaneous access to power via a power connection input to the electronic device 10, etc.

[0077] In some cases, the indications may be learned by the control system 52 over time (e.g., via machine learning techniques). For example, the control system 52 may access operational logs detailing antenna performance and operational logic detailing in-device operations, and may analyze these logs to identify (e.g., over time) which in-device operations negatively affect the transmission operations of the corresponding antennas 60, and may learn over time to adjust transmissions during the identified operations. In some cases, the control system 52 also identifies which antennas 60 are affected by the in-device operations and to what extent (if any) they are affected. Indications of using in-device operations may be generated based on these analyses and / or identifications and accessed at box 170 to determine if there are antennas 60 of a type known to be affected by the in-device operations. In some cases, the control system 52 accesses indications from encoded or stored data in a memory 56 (e.g., memory 14). Additionally or alternatively, the control system 52 may associate the affected antenna with a current range of communication frequencies (e.g., frequencies used for Wi-Fi transmissions or other transmissions when the antenna 60 will be communicating using cellular frequencies, the range expected to be used) and / or with a current operating state (e.g., USB in use or no USB, external power connection in use or no external power connection).

[0078] When no indication is received, at block 168, the control system 52 transmits the data packet using the antenna 60 when the antenna 60 is idle. In some cases, the control system 52 may generate and store in the memory 56 an indication corresponding to each antenna 60 and whether the antenna 60 is affected by concurrent operations within the device and / or is determined to be idle (e.g., receiving noise energy less than a threshold level of noise energy). These flags may be accessed during subsequent iterations of the process 162 when determining which antenna 60 to use in a SISO TX mode transmission operation. After accessing the indication in the memory 56 (or memory 14), the control system 52 may transmit the packet once it is determined that the antenna 60 is idle. If the antenna 60 is not idle, the control system 52 may use the next idle antenna 60 found.

[0079] Returning to box 166, if the control system 52 determines that an indication of an in-device operation is received, then at box 170, the control system 52 determines whether the antenna 60 is known to be affected by the in-device operation or is affected by the in-device operation. Note that, as described above, the in-device operation may include the following operating conditions: using one or more overlapping frequencies relative to the operation of box 164 (e.g., the communication indicated at box 164) and / or concurrent communication using USB or other external devices coupled to the electronic device 50. The control system 52 may make this determination for each antenna 60 of a type corresponding to the communication operation based on one or more indications in the memory 56 (or memory 14). For example, the control system 52 may determine whether the communication can have a relatively low priority so that if the transmission is interrupted, an incomplete transmission will be allowed. In some embodiments, the control system 52 may refer to the antenna preferences in the memory 56 (e.g., memory 14) to determine which antenna 60 to use.

[0080] If the antenna 60 is not affected by in-device operations, then at block 168, the control system 52 transmits packets of data using the antenna 60 when the antenna 60 is idle. Decisions related to the idleness of the antenna 60 are similar to those previously described with reference to the operation of the method 130, and therefore the previous discussion is relied upon herein.

[0081] Returning to block 170, if the antenna 60 is affected by the in-device operation, at block 172, the control system 52 determines whether to allow transmission via the antenna 60 affected by the in-device operation. Specifically, the in-device operation can negatively affect the performance of communications using the antenna 60, so that there may be packet loss when communicating using the antenna 60. The control system 52 can refer to the instructions stored in the memory 56 to determine whether to allow these communications (e.g., transmission and / or reception). When, for example, the data being set has a relatively low priority, the communication can continue from the antenna 60 affected by the in-device operation so that the packet loss does not change the operation of the electronic device 50.

[0082] If, at block 172, the control system 52 determines that transmission via the antenna 60 affected by the in-device operation is not permitted, then at block 174, the control system 52 delays transmission by the antenna 60. The control system 52 may use a different antenna 60 that is not affected by the in-device operation and is determined to be idle, rather than the antenna 60 indicated as being affected by the in-device operation. That is, the control system 52 ensures that the antenna 60 affected by the in-device operation does not perform a transmission.

[0083] When it is identified that another antenna 60 is to be used, the control system 52 may refer to the antenna preference to determine which alternative antenna 60 to use and / or refer to previous sensing operations to determine which antennas 60 are idle. The antenna preference may be set during manufacturing and stored in the memory 56 (e.g., memory 14). Additionally or alternatively, the antenna preference may be learned by the control system 52 over time (and stored in the memory 56 and / or memory 14), such as the control system 52 may track which antenna 60 is relatively more reliable for communication over time based on the frequency or likelihood of incomplete transmissions occurring when using the corresponding antenna. Once the antenna 60 is selected, the control system 52 may transmit packets using the selected antenna 60 according to the SISO TX mode operation.

[0084] However, returning to block 172, if the control system 52 determines that transmission via an antenna 60 that is affected by the in-device operation is permitted, then at block 168, the control system 52 transmits data using the antenna 60 that is determined to be idle, regardless of whether the antenna 60 is affected by the in-device operation. Once an antenna 60 is selected, the control system 52 may transmit packets using the selected antenna 60 in accordance with the SISO TX mode of operation.

[0085] In some cases, it may be desirable to use a MIMO TX system instead of Fig.14 The SISO TX system described in Fig.151 is a flow chart of a method 188 for operating an electronic device 50 to adjust multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission (MIMO TX) operation in response to noise received by one or more antennas 60 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. It is noted that, although shown in a particular order, the blocks of the method 188 may be executed in any suitable order, and at least some blocks may be skipped entirely. As described herein, the method 188 is described as being performed by the control system 52 of the electronic device 50, however, it should be understood that any suitable processing and / or control circuitry (such as one or more of the processors 12, etc.) may perform some or all of the operations of the method 188. It is noted that the description of the operations below assumes that each antenna 60 considered for MIMO TX operation has been tested and / or determined to be idle or not idle by the control system 52.

[0086] When executing the method 188, the operations performed at blocks 164, 166, 170, and 172 may also be performed by the control system 52 when determining how to transmit using MIMO TX operation. Although the same determination may be made, the operations performed in response to the determination may be changed for a MIMO TX system compared to a SISO TX system (e.g., to accommodate and operate multiple antennas compared to a single antenna). For ease of description, the description of the operations performed at blocks 164, 166, 170, and 172 will not be repeated herein.

[0087] Indeed, at block 164, the control system 52 receives an indication to communicate using one or more antennas 60 (eg, one or more Wi-Fi antennas). At block 166, the control system 52 determines whether an indication of an in-device operation has been received.

[0088] If at block 166 the control system 52 determines that no indication has been received, the control system 52 transmits the packet using each idle antenna 60 at block 190. The absence of an indication (or a different indication) may communicate to the control system 52 that an in-device operation is not ongoing. When an in-device operation is not ongoing, the control system 52 may default to using each antenna 60 if each antenna 60 is idle (e.g., the unmarked noise energy 80 is above a threshold noise amount). When the in-device operation does not affect the current transmission, the noise energy 80 received by the antenna 60 corresponds to speech occurring in the airwave path and therefore will not be ignored.

[0089] However, if an in-device operation is ongoing and the control system 52 determines at block 166 that an indication of an in-device operation is received, the control system 52 determines at block 170 whether there is an antenna 60 known to be affected by the in-device operation (e.g., receiving interference when a subsystem is operating simultaneously with a communication operation, receiving interference when a USB is connected to the electronic device 50). If the control system 52 determines that there is no antenna 60 affected by the in-device operation, the control system 52 transmits using each unaffected antenna 60 that is idle at block 192. In fact, the control system 52 can determine to use an antenna 60 for communication as long as one antenna 60 is idle when each antenna 60 is affected by the in-device operation on overlapping frequencies.

[0090] Returning to block 170, the control system 52 determines that a known antenna 60 is affected by the in-device operation, and determines whether to allow transmission based on the antenna 60 affected by the in-device operation at block 172. If the control system 52 determines that transmission based on the antenna 60 affected by the in-device operation is not allowed, then at block 194, if the unaffected antenna 60 is idle, the control system 52 transmits a packet using each antenna 60. The control system 52 can generally ignore noise readings from the antenna 60 affected by the in-device operation and make control decisions based on the known unaffected antenna 60.

[0091] Returning to block 172, if the control system 52 determines that transmission based on the antenna 60 affected by the in-device operation can be allowed, then at block 196, if the antenna 60 is idle (e.g., any antenna 60 is idle), the control system 52 transmits the packet using each antenna 60. Thus, the control system 52 can determine to transmit the packet via MIMO TX based at least on the indication that the antenna 60 is idle, regardless of whether the antenna 60 is affected by the in-device operation.

[0092] In some cases, if the control system 52 determines that the antenna 60 is idle, the control system 52 can store an indication of the idle determination so that the determination may not need to be re-determined. The idle determination can expire after a duration and can be repeated continuously. It is noted that marking antennas as idle and / or unimpaired can provide an embodiment in which the control system 52 uses each antenna that is determined to be idle and impaired (or generally marked). These examples of using stored indications can reduce the amount of time the control system 52 spends preparing for communication because the control system 52 can refer to the stored indications instead of re-determining idleness before each communication.

[0093] The technical effects of the present disclosure include systems and methods for operating transceiver circuits to selectively use antennas based on noise received by the antennas. When determining not to use an antenna for transmission, considerations may be made including whether the transmission will be MIMOTX or SISO TX, whether the in-device operations overlap (e.g., an indication of in-device operations), whether one or more antennas 60 are affected by overlapping in-device operations, and / or whether transmission will be allowed based on antennas affected by overlapping in-device operations. Similar considerations may be made for some receiving operations. Logic circuits may be used in conjunction with a control system to implement at least some of the decisions, such as providing a control signal output to the control system to determine when to delay a transmission operation. The above-described systems and methods may improve the operation of electronic devices because the described techniques may reduce the possibility of interrupting ongoing communications based on a listen-before-talk operation in situations where the communication circuit is underutilized (such as when the noise actually comes from interfering subsystem operations and / or interfering transmissions from electronic devices) .

[0094] The above specific embodiments have been shown by way of example, and it should be understood that these embodiments are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. It should also be understood that the claims are not intended to be limited to the specific forms disclosed, but are intended to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives that fall within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

[0095] The technology described and claimed herein is cited and applied to specific examples of a physical and practical nature that significantly improves the art and is therefore not abstract, intangible, or purely theoretical. In addition, if any claim appended to the end of this specification contains one or more elements designated as "means for [performing] [the function] ..." or "steps for [performing] [the function] ...", then those elements will be interpreted in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f). However, for any claim containing elements designated in any other manner, those elements will not be interpreted in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f).

Claims

1. A device for communication, comprising: a first antenna configured to communicate over a first frequency band; a second antenna configured to communicate via the first frequency band; as well as one or more processors configured to cause transmission of signals from the first antenna and the second antenna using the first frequency band in response to determining that a first amount of noise received by the first antenna is less than a threshold amount of noise and a second amount of noise received by the second antenna is less than the threshold amount of noise, delaying the transmitting of the signal in response to determining that the first amount of noise and the second amount of noise are greater than or equal to the threshold amount of noise, causing the transmitting of the signal from the first antenna based on the first amount of noise being less than the threshold amount of noise and the second amount of noise being greater than the threshold amount of noise, and The transmitting of the signal from the second antenna is caused based on the first amount of noise being greater than or equal to the threshold amount of noise and the second amount of noise being less than the threshold amount of noise.

2. The device of claim 1 , the one or more processors being configured to cause the transmission of the signal from the first antenna without using the second antenna in response to determining that in-device operation is affecting the second antenna, the first amount of noise is less than the threshold amount of noise, and the second amount of noise is greater than or equal to the threshold amount of noise.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the second antenna is affected by the operation within the device when performance of the second antenna is affected by: Universal Serial Bus USB Device, Electricity connection, External device, or Any combination of the above.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine that the second antenna is affected by the in-device operation at least in part by receiving an indication flag stored in a memory or receiving a hard-coded indication indicating that the second antenna is affected by the in-device operation. 5 . The device of claim 2 , the one or more processors configured to monitor the second antenna to determine that the second antenna is affected by operations within the device.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, the threshold noise level corresponding to a level between -70 decibel-milliwatts (dBm) and -80 dBm. 7 . The device of claim 1 , the one or more processors configured to determine that one of the first amount of noise and the second amount of noise is less than the threshold amount of noise based at least in part on an indication stored in a memory.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, the transmitting of the signals from the first antenna and the second antenna corresponding to a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) operation.

9. The device of claim 1 , the one or more processors being configured to cause the transmission of the signal from the second antenna without using the first antenna in response to determining that the second noise amount is less than the threshold noise amount and the first noise amount is greater than or equal to the threshold noise amount.

10. A method for communication, comprising: receiving from the memory an indication that communications using the first antenna are not affected by operations within the device; causing signals from the first antenna and the second antenna to be transmitted using a first frequency band based on a first amount of noise received by the first antenna being less than a threshold amount of noise and a second amount of noise received by the second antenna being less than the threshold amount of noise; as well as The transmitting of the signal is delayed based on the first amount of noise and the second amount of noise being greater than or equal to the threshold amount of noise.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first antenna is affected by the in-device operation when performance of the first antenna is negatively affected by: communications from the second antenna using a second frequency band, Universal Serial Bus USB Device, Positive input power connection to the controller, an external device temporarily coupled to the controller, or Any combination of the above.

12. The method of claim 10, the threshold noise level corresponding to a level between -70 decibel-milliwatts (dBm) and -80 dBm.

13. The method according to claim 10, comprising: causing the transmitting of the signal from the first antenna based on the first amount of noise being less than the threshold amount of noise and the second amount of noise being greater than or equal to the threshold amount of noise, and The transmitting of the signal from the second antenna is caused based on the first amount of noise being greater than or equal to the threshold amount of noise and the second amount of noise being less than the threshold amount of noise.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein transmitting the signal from the first antenna comprises a single-input single-output (SISO) operation.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the first noise amount corresponds to signal noise received by the first antenna.

16. One or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: causing signals from the first antenna and the second antenna to be transmitted using a first frequency band in response to determining that a first amount of noise received by the first antenna is less than a threshold amount of noise and a second amount of noise received by the second antenna is less than the threshold amount of noise; delaying the transmitting of the signal in response to determining that the first amount of noise and the second amount of noise are greater than or equal to the threshold amount of noise; causing said transmitting of said signal from said first antenna in response to determining that said first amount of noise is less than said threshold amount of noise and said second amount of noise is greater than or equal to said threshold amount of noise; as well as The transmitting of the signal from the second antenna is caused in response to determining that the first amount of noise is greater than or equal to the threshold amount of noise and the second amount of noise is less than the threshold amount of noise.

17. The one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, the threshold noise amount corresponding to an amount between -70 decibel-milliwatts dBm and -80 dBm.

18. The one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, the transmission of the signals from the first antenna and the second antenna corresponding to a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) operation.

19. According to one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, the determining that the first noise amount and the second noise amount are greater than or equal to the threshold noise amount is performed at least in part based on an output from a logic circuit, the logic circuit comprising a first comparator for the first antenna, a second comparator for the second antenna, and a logic AND gate that receives signals associated with the first comparator and the second comparator.

20. The one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, the first amount of noise corresponding to signal noise received by the first antenna.

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