Patents Examined by Christian Hannon
  • Patent number: 8509718
    Abstract: An antenna tuner unit (ATU) that provides broadband tuning is disclosed. The disclosed ATU includes a radio frequency (RF) switch circuit having an N number of switch inputs, wherein N is a natural number equal to 2 or greater. An N number of reactance elements are coupled in series between an RF input and one of the N number of switch inputs. Taps between adjacent pairs of the N number of reactance elements, wherein each of the taps is coupled to a corresponding one of the N number of switch inputs. The ATU further includes a capacitive element for each of the taps, wherein each capacitive element is coupled between a corresponding one of the taps and a voltage node. In at least one embodiment, each of the capacitive elements is made up of a programmable capacitor array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2013
    Assignee: RF Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Nadim Khlat Khlat, Marcus Granger-Jones
  • Patent number: 8509835
    Abstract: In an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, a reference signal including pilot information is transmitted from a base station to one or multiple field units over a pilot channel. A message is also sent to the field units over a paging channel to indicate an effective radiated power level at which the reference signal is transmitted on the pilot channel. Based on a received power level of the reference signal at a field unit and the effective radiated power level of the reference signal, a forward path loss is estimated at the field unit for the forward link between the base station and field unit. Assuming the path loss in the reverse link is approximately the same as the estimated forward link path loss, the field unit can transmit, a reply message in the reverse link so that the base station generally receives a message at a desired power level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2013
    Assignee: IPR Licensing, Inc.
    Inventors: George R. Nelson, Jr., James A. Proctor, Jr., John E. Hoffmann, Antoine J. Rouphael
  • Patent number: 8503954
    Abstract: A system for configuring communication paths in a radio communications system including a plurality of radios, a plurality of antennas and radio frequency distribution communications equipment in communication with the plurality of radios and antennas. The configuring system includes at least one of (1) a graphical user interface display window including a list of radios and a list of paths by which the radios communicates with the antennas via the radio frequency distribution communications equipment, and (2) a block diagram including a plurality of radios, a plurality of antennas and paths by which the plurality of radios communicates with the plurality of antennas via the radio frequency distribution communications equipment. The system further includes means for changing at least one path displayed in at least one of the display window and the block diagram. Also disclosed are methods for implementing the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Assignee: R F Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Frank Arlotta
  • Patent number: 8503964
    Abstract: A symmetrical, balanced, down-conversion mixer is achieved by the coordinated layout of a balanced Local Oscillator (LO) divider circuit and a balanced Radio Frequency (RF) mixer circuit, such that the LO divider is in the center and the RF mixer is arrayed symmetrically around the LO divider. In particular, the LO divider is partitioned into four portions (e.g., Ip, In, Qp, Qn), which are placed in respective quadrants, defined by orthogonal reference axes through the LO divider center. The RF mixer is similarly partitioned into four corresponding portions, which are placed around the LO divider portions in each quadrant. By integrating the LO divider and RF mixer in the layout of the symmetric, balanced, down-conversion mixer, greater component matching and control of current paths are possible, improving operational quality parameters such as IRR, IP2, and LO feedthrough.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Assignee: St-Ericsson SA
    Inventors: Sjoerd Martijn Herder, Berend Hendrik Essink, Johannes Petrus Antonius Frambach
  • Patent number: 8503953
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a quadrature RF power amplifier (PA) architecture that uses a single-ended interface to couple a non-quadrature PA path to a quadrature PA path, which may be coupled to an antenna via an antenna port. The quadrature nature of the quadrature PA path provides tolerance for changes in antenna loading conditions. An RF splitter in the quadrature PA path presents a relatively stable input impedance, which is predominantly resistive, to the non-quadrature PA path over a wide frequency range, thereby substantially isolating the non-quadrature PA path from changes in the antenna loading conditions. Further, the input impedance substantially establishes a load line slope of a feeder PA stage in the non-quadrature PA path, thereby simplifying the quadrature RF PA architecture. One embodiment of the quadrature RF PA architecture uses two separate PA paths, either of which may incorporate a combined non-quadrature and quadrature PA architecture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Assignee: RF Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventor: Terry J. Stockert
  • Patent number: 8498588
    Abstract: A mobile wireless communications device includes a housing and circuit board in the housing and having radio frequency (RF) circuitry and a power amplifier and microphone mounted thereon. An antenna is carried within the housing and operative with the RF circuitry. An RF shield surrounds and isolates the microphone from the RF circuitry, power amplifier and antenna and shields the microphone from radiated energy generated from the RF circuitry, antenna or power amplifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2013
    Assignee: Research In Motion Limited
    Inventors: Michael Stephen Corrigan, George Soliman Mankaruse, Lizhong Zhu
  • Patent number: 8498652
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and an infrastructure arrangement for controlling power consumption of at least one User Equipment (UE) (320a-320c) in a wireless communications network (300) by initially scheduling said at least one UE and increasing power efficiency for said at least one UE (320a).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2013
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Krister Norlund, Magnus Johansson
  • Patent number: 8498598
    Abstract: An RF-demodulator includes an RF-input, a demodulator output, a mixing and amplification stage coupled between the RF-input and the demodulator output, and a calibration circuitry. The calibration circuitry is configured to apply a calibration input signal at the RF-input and sense a resulting calibration output signal at the demodulator output to derive a gain of the mixing and amplification stage based on the relationship between the calibration output signal and the calibration input signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Mobile Communications GmbH
    Inventor: Umut Basaran
  • Patent number: 8494479
    Abstract: Different components in a wireless transceiver are powered using different power supplies. For example, one or more first tasks in the wireless transceiver can be powered with a Galvanic cell, and one or more second tasks in the wireless transceiver can be powered with a fuel cell. The one or more first tasks could represent higher-current or intermittent tasks, and the one or more second tasks could represent lower-current or continuous tasks. The one or more first tasks could include transmission of a radio frequency (RF) signal, which may involve RF signal modulation or RF signal amplification. The one or more second tasks could include RF signal tuning, RF signal reception, RF signal demodulation, analog-to-digital conversion, digital-to-analog conversion, digital signal processing, operation of a controller, illumination of a display, operation of an audio speaker, operation of a microphone, or operation of a keypad.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Ramakrishna S. Budampati, Anoop K. Mathur, Hai D. Pham
  • Patent number: 8494473
    Abstract: Circuitry and a method for use in a radio frequency receiver for processing a radio frequency signal are provided. The circuitry comprises a mixer arranged to receive the radio frequency signal and down-convert the received radio frequency signal to a lower frequency. The received radio frequency signal has an interference component and the interference component in the down-converted signal is within an interference frequency range. The circuitry also comprises an LC based notch filter arranged to receive the down-converted signal from the mixer, filter the down-converted signal, and output the filtered signal for processing by a baseband processing block. The LC based notch filter has a notch centered within said interference frequency range, such that the LC based notch filter is arranged to attenuate the interference component in the down-converted signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: Icera Inc.
    Inventors: Mehmet T. Ozgun, Essam Atalla
  • Patent number: 8494476
    Abstract: A low noise amplifier (LNA) comprises: a plurality of FETs (F1, F2, F3, F4) arranged to process signals received by the amplifier; a power input (10) arranged to receive electrical power to operate the LNA; and a monolithic support integrated circuit (IC). The monolithic support IC comprises: a FET control circuit (2) arranged to monitor and control the drain current of each FET; a FET selection circuit (3, 24, 22) arranged to detect the level of a DC component of a voltage signal supplied to the power input and to provide a FET selection signal to the FET control circuit (2) according to the detected DC level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: Diodes Incorporated
    Inventor: David Bradbury
  • Patent number: 8494465
    Abstract: A system for providing independent polarization control in a radio communication system comprises a set of common antennas and a plurality of transmitters for supplying signals to said set of common antennas Said set of common antennas is used for transmitting signals supplied by the transmitters. Said set of common antennas is used to provide elliptical polarization transmission of said signals. The system furthermore comprises a combiner for each combination of a first transmitter of said plurality of transmitters and an antenna of said not of common antennas, and an adjusting element allowing for controlling the polarization of the signal provided by said first transmitter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventors: Nicholas Wymant, Charles Williams
  • Patent number: 8489161
    Abstract: A mobile wireless communications device includes a housing and circuit board carried by the housing. RF circuitry and a processor are operative with each other and carried by the circuit board. A receiver speaker and microphone are carried by the housing. Audio circuitry is carried by the circuit board and operative with the RF circuitry and processor. A microphone audio switch and receiver speaker audio switch are carried by the circuit board and are connected with audio connection lines that interconnect the processor. A filter is operative with the audio connection lines and operatively connected to at least one of the microphone audio switch or receiver speaker audio switch to reduce conducted and radiated interfering RF energy from coupling into the audio circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2013
    Assignee: Research In Motion Limited
    Inventors: Lizhong Zhu, Michael Corrigan, George Mankaruse, Perry Jarmuszewski
  • Patent number: 8483635
    Abstract: A broadcast receiving apparatus includes a first tuner configured to receive a broadcast wave from a specified broadcasting station, a second tuner configured to perform a frequency search for receivable broadcasting stations, a power supply unit configured to supply power to the first tuner and the second tuner, a traveling state detection unit configured to determine if a vehicle is moving or is stopped, a reception state detection unit configured to detect a reception state of a currently-received broadcast wave, and a control unit configured to control the first tuner, the second tuner, the power supply unit, the traveling state detection unit, and the reception state detection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: Alpine Electronics, Inc.
    Inventor: Takashi Kawano
  • Patent number: 8483650
    Abstract: Efficient utilization and management of integrated mobile base station carrier trees is provided herein. Such trees provide an organizational structure for allocating calls in a code division, tone division, time division and/or like mobile infrastructure. Calls can be allocated to portions of the carrier tree as a function of characteristic(s) associated with the call. Accordingly, like calls are grouped within the carrier tree with like calls. In addition, portions of the carrier tree can be re-allocated to different types of traffic to meet fluctuations in traffic demand. Further, calls can be re-packed from existing segments of the carrier tree to other segments to maintain calls having common characteristics in contiguous groups, and to maintain idle segments another contiguous group(s). Accordingly, the wireless carrier tree can be packed and managed more efficiently, providing greater throughput and reduced contention for resources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC
    Inventors: Yung Shirley Choi-Grogan, Arthur Brisebois, Kurt Huber
  • Patent number: 8478340
    Abstract: A device for and method of determining if a SIM card was removed and reinserted into a device by initially inserting the SIM card into the device, checking for the presence of the SIM card, if the SIM card is present then returning to the second step, if the SIM card is not present then reporting that the SIM card has been removed from the user-definable electronic device, checking for the presence of the SIM card, if the SIM card is not present then returning to the fifth step, and if the SIM card is present then reporting that the SIM card has been reinserted into the device, and returning to the second step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2013
    Assignee: The United States of America as Represented by the Director, National Security Agency
    Inventor: Daryle D. Deloatch
  • Patent number: 8473011
    Abstract: A user is allowed to select an acoustic equalizer setting from among a plurality of predetermined acoustic equalizer settings. Upon receiving an indication of a selection of a given acoustic equalizer setting, a handheld telephony device processes voice call downlink audio, based on the given acoustic equalizer setting and drives an audio output device with the processed audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2013
    Assignee: Research In Motion
    Inventors: Sean Bartholomew Simmons, Chris Forrester, Craig Eric Ranta, Magnus Hansson
  • Patent number: 8472901
    Abstract: A radio frequency (RF) transceiver integrated circuit (IC) includes a plurality of baseband Tx sections, a plurality of RF Tx sections, a plurality of RF Rx sections, and a plurality of baseband Rx sections. The RF transceiver IC further includes a static digital interface, a dynamic digital interface, and gain control, distribution, and buffering circuitry. Static digital interfaces are operable to receive static gain control commands from a coupled baseband processor. The dynamic digital interface is also operable to receive dynamic gain control commands from the coupled baseband processor. The gain control, distribution, and buffering circuitry is operable to apply the static gain control commands and dynamic gain control commands to at least some of the plurality of baseband Tx sections, the plurality of RF Tx sections, the plurality of RF Rx sections, and the plurality of baseband Rx sections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2013
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventor: Arya Reza Behzad
  • Patent number: 8463222
    Abstract: A Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna device is adapted for connecting electrically to a radio frequency (RF) circuit for transmitting and receiving RF signals. The MIMO antenna device includes a circuit board, a plurality of antenna units, and a plurality of multiplexer units. The antenna units are disposed on the circuit board proximate to a peripheral edge thereof, are arranged in a loop formation, and are divided into a plurality of groups of the antenna units. Each of the multiplexer units is connected electrically to a respective one of the groups of the antenna units for selecting one of the corresponding antenna units and for connecting electrically the selected one of the corresponding antenna units to the RF circuit, thereby achieving the MIMO technique with the independently and simultaneously operating antenna units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2013
    Assignee: Lite-On Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Saou-Wen Su, Lin-Han Tsai, Chuan-Hsing Chen
  • Patent number: 8457571
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for controlling Transmit (Tx) power when a portable terminal performs human body communication with a counterpart portable device are provided. The apparatus includes a voltage manager for determining whether the Tx power needs to be changed based on an output voltage that is based on a current that varies according to a distance between an electrode of a portable terminal and an electrode of a counterpart portable terminal, and changes the Tx power according to a result of the determination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hyung-Tae Kim, Seong-Jun Song