Mobile Device Antenna Signal Weighting for Cell Search
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Solution Overview
Problem
The process of cell search by wireless mobile devices in cellular networks is time-consuming due to the need to identify base stations, which can be exacerbated by variations in signal reception across multiple antennas.
Innovation Solution
The use of multiple receiving antennas in mobile devices, coupled with processing circuitry that applies weighting schemes and combination techniques to synchronize signals, allows for efficient identification of transmission boundaries and attachment to cellular networks by combining received synchronization signals effectively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple antennas are used for signal reception, then signal reception quality is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines signals from multiple antennas using coherent combining techniques, where signals from multiple receiving antennas are weighted and summed to produce a combined synchronization signal. This merging approach improves signal reception quality by leveraging diversity gain while managing the complexity through systematic signal processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The processing circuitry is designed to perform multiple functions: it processes synchronization signals for cell search, applies weighting schemes to multiple antenna signals, and identifies transmission boundaries. This multi-functionality allows the system to handle various signal processing tasks with a unified architecture, improving reliability without proportionally increasing complexity.
2Reliability
If cell search process is performed to identify base station, then network attachment is achieved, but time consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by using multiple receiving antennas to simultaneously capture synchronization signals from the base station. The processing circuitry pre-processes these signals by applying weighting schemes and combining them coherently, which accelerates the cell search process and reduces the time required to identify and attach to the base station.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces traditional single-antenna sequential signal processing with a parallel multi-antenna signal processing system. By using multiple antennas to receive and process synchronization signals simultaneously, the system substitutes the mechanical/sequential approach with a parallel electronic processing approach, significantly reducing cell search time.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are various embodiments providing selecting various schemes for combining antenna signals for synchronization. For example, processing circuitry determines a first weight for a first antenna based on a signal strength metric of the first antenna and a second weight for a second antenna based on a signal strength metric of the second antenna. The processing circuitry receives a synchronization signal via the first antenna and the second antenna. Then the processing circuitry may weight the synchronization signal received via the first antenna according to the first weight to generate a first weighted synchronization signal and weight the synchronization signal received via the second antenna according to the second weight to generate a second weighted synchronization signal. The processing circuitry further combines the first weighted synchronization signal and the second weighted synchronization signal to generate a combined synchronization signal.