Tuning matching circuits for transmitter and receiver bands as a function of the transmitter metrics

Abstract

A system can obtain an operational metric associated with the transceiver, determine a target figure of merit based on a compromise between a desired transmitter performance and a desired receiver, determine a current figure of merit based on the operational metric, and adjust the variable reactance component of the impedance matching circuit based on a comparison of the current figure of merit with the target figure of merit. Other embodiments are disclosed.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 obtaining, by a processor of a communication device, an operational metric for a transceiver of the communication device; 
 identifying a desired transmitter performance and a desired receiver performance; 
 determining, by the processor, a target figure of merit based on a compromise between the desired transmitter performance and the desired receiver performance; 
 determining, by the processor, a current figure of merit based on the operational metric; 
 comparing, by the processor, the current figure of merit to the target figure of merit; and 
 adjusting, by the processor, a variable reactance component of an impedance matching circuit a variable tuner network operably coupled with an antenna of the communication device, the adjusting of the variable reactance component being performed based on the comparing of the current and the target figures of merit, wherein the obtaining of the operational metric is during a transmit mode of the transceiver of the communication device, wherein the variable reactance component is adjusted without utilizing operational metrics measured during a receive mode of the communication device. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the obtaining of the operational metric is during a transmit mode of the transceiver, wherein the variable reactance component is adjusted without utilizing operational metrics measured during a receive mode of the communication device. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , comprising communicating, by the communication device, utilizing frequency division multiplexing. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining of the target figure of merit includes selecting a mid-point between the desired transmitter performance and the desired receiver performance. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining of the current figure of merit is based on known parameters associated with the variable reactance component and is not based on phase information. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , comprising:
 storing a tuning value based on the adjusting of the variable reactance component; and 
 utilizing the tuning value as a default value for subsequent tuning of the antenna. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , comprising:
 determining an operational state of the communication device; and 
 utilizing information associated with the operational state as a default value for subsequent tuning of the antenna. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein the operational state comprises a use case scenario selected from the group consisting essentially of hand held operation, antenna position and slider position. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the compromise between the desired transmitter performance and the desired receiver performance is based on an evaluation of total radiated power, isotropic power or a combination thereof. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the compromise between the desired transmitter performance and the desired receiver performance is based on an evaluation of total isotropic sensitivity a type of communication service. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the compromise between the desired transmitter performance and the desired receiver performance is based on an evaluation of transmitter linearity. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the compromise between the desired transmitter performance and the desired receiver performance is based on an evaluation of transmitter efficiency. 
     
     
       13. A communication device comprising:
 an antenna; 
 a transceiver; 
 an impedance matchinga variable tuner network coupled with the antenna and the transceiver, wherein the impedance matchingvariable tuner network includes a variable reactance component; 
 a memory to store computer instructions; and 
 a controller coupled with the memory and the impedance matching variable tuner network, wherein the controller, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising:
 obtaining an operational metric associated with the transceiver communication device; 
 identifying a desired transmitter performance and a desired receiver performance; 
 determining a target figure of merit based on a compromise between the desired transmitter performance and the desired receiver performance; 
 determining a current figure of merit based on the operational metric; and 
 adjusting the variable reactance component of the impedance matching circuit variable tuner network based on a comparison of the current figure of merit with and the target figure of merit, wherein the obtaining of the operational metric is during a transmit mode of the transceiver, and wherein the variable reactance component is adjusted without utilizing operational metrics measured during a receive mode of the communication device. 
 
 
     
     
       14. The communication device of  claim 13 , further comprising a transceiver, wherein the variable reactance component includes a voltage tunable capacitor, and wherein the operations of the controller further comprise:
 determining a use case for the communication device; and 
 performing an initial adjustment of the voltage tunable capacitor based on the use case without utilizing any operational metrics associated with the transceiver, wherein the initial adjustment of the voltage tunable capacitor is performed prior to the adjusting based on the comparison of the current figure of merit with the target figure of merit. 
 
     
     
       15. The communication device of  claim 13 , wherein the variable reactance component includes a Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) variable reactance component. 
     
     
       16. The communication device of  claim 13 , wherein the operations of the controller further comprise:
 storing a tuning value based on the adjusting of the variable reactance component; and 
 utilizing the tuning value as a default value for subsequent tuning of the antenna. 
 
     
     
       17. The communication device of  claim 13 , wherein the obtaining of the operational metric is during a transmit mode of the transceiver, and wherein the variable reactance component is adjusted without utilizing operational metrics measured during a receive mode of the communication device. 
     
     
       18. The communication device of  claim 13 , wherein the adjusting of the variable reactance component is associated with a communication session that utilizes frequency division multiplexing. 
     
     
       19. A method comprising:
 obtaining an operational metric for a transceiver of a communication device; 
 determining a target figure of merit based on transceiver performance of the communication device; 
 determining a current figure of merit based on the operational metric, wherein the determining of the target figure of merit is not based on phase information; 
 comparing the current figure of merit to the target figure of merit to determine a figure of merit comparison; and 
 adjusting, by a processor of the communication device, a variable reactance component of an impedance matching circuit a variable tuner network operably coupled with an antenna of the communication device, the adjusting of the variable reactance component being performed based on the figure current and target figures of merit comparison and based on previous tuning results associated with previous adjusting of the variable reactance component the variable tuner network, wherein the obtaining of the operational metric is during a transmit mode of the transceiver, and wherein the variable reactance component is adjusted without utilizing operational metrics measured during a receive mode of the communication device. 
 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 19 , comprising monitoring the previous tuning results by determining a change in the current figure of merit based on different reactance values for the variable reactance component. 
     
     
       21. The method of claim 19, wherein the operational metric comprises a return loss. 
     
     
       22. The method of claim 19, wherein the variable reactance component includes at least one of a Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) variable reactance component and a voltage tunable capacitor. 
     
     
       23. The method of claim 19, wherein the current figure of merit, the target figure of merit or both is according to a vector measurement of a transmission reflection coefficient. 
     
     
       24. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting of the variable reactance component is based on tuning values stored in a lookup table. 
     
     
       25. A communication device comprising:
 an antenna;   a transceiver;   a variable tuner network coupled with the antenna;   a memory that stores computer instructions; and
 a controller coupled with the memory and the variable tuner network, wherein the controller, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising: 
 obtaining a non-receiver operational metric; 
 identifying a first desired performance of the communication device; 
 identifying a second desired performance of the communication device; 
 determining a target figure of merit based on a compromise between the first desired performance and the second desired performance; 
 determining a current figure of merit based on the non-receiver operational metric; and 
 adjusting a variable reactance of the variable tuner network based on the current figure of merit and the target figure of merit, wherein the obtaining of the operational metric is during a transmit mode of the transceiver, and wherein the variable reactance component is adjusted without utilizing operational metrics measured during a receive mode of the communication device. 
   
     
     
       26. The communication device of claim 25, wherein the target figure of merit is stored in a lookup table. 
     
     
       27. The communication device of claim 25, wherein the first desired performance is associated with a first component of the communication device, and wherein the second desired performance is associated with a second component of the communication device. 
     
     
       28. The communication device of claim 25, wherein the variable tuner network includes a Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) variable reactance component. 
     
     
       29. The communication device of claim 25, wherein the variable tuner network includes a voltage tunable capacitor. 
     
     
       30. A communication device comprising:
 an antenna;   a transceiver;   a variable tuner network coupled with the antenna;   a memory that stores computer instructions; and   a controller coupled with the memory and the variable tuner network, wherein the controller, responsive to executing the computer instructions, performs operations comprising:
 obtaining an operational metric for communications of a communication device; 
 determining a target figure of merit based on communications performance of the communication device; 
 determining a current figure of merit based on the operational metric, wherein the determining of the target figure of merit is not based on phase information; and 
 adjusting the variable tuner network based on the current and target figures of merit, wherein the obtaining of the operational metric is during a transmit mode of the transceiver, and wherein the variable tuner network is adjusted without utilizing operational metrics measured during a receive mode of the communication device. 
   
     
     
       31. The communication device of claim 30, wherein the adjusting of the variable tuner network is further based on previous tuning results associated with previous adjusting of the variable tuner network. 
     
     
       32. The communication device of claim 30, wherein the operational metric comprises a return loss. 
     
     
       33. The communication device of claim 30, wherein the communications performance is associated with total radiated power, total isotropic sensitivity, linearity or a combination thereof. 
     
     
       34. The communication device of claim 30, wherein the variable tuner network includes a Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) variable reactance component. 
     
     
       35. The communication device of claim 30, wherein the variable tuner network includes a voltage tunable capacitor.