Patents by Inventor Thomas E. Biedka

Thomas E. Biedka has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20260095198
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods, systems, and computer-readable medium to perform operations including: determining an element of contextual information associated with a user equipment (UE) while the UE is wirelessly connected with a base station; selecting a first tuner state based at least on the element of contextual information; and generating one or more instructions that cause a change to the first tuner state of a first antenna of the UE while the UE is wirelessly connected to the base station.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2024
    Publication date: April 2, 2026
    Inventors: Vishwanth Kamala Govindaraju, Liming Xuan, Madhukar K. Shanbhag, Nan Zhang, Sanjeevi Balasubramanian, Shiva Krishna Narra, Sriram Subramanian, Sunil A. Dowray, Thomas E. Biedka, Vijay Gadde
  • Patent number: 12348255
    Abstract: A radio frequency device has a multifunctional tuner that stores measurements of reflection coefficient parameter in a register. The radio frequency device also has a transceiver that has a transmitter. The transceiver may detect a transmitter signal from the transmitter to an antenna in an initial tuning state and then determine whether the transmitter signal is stable. In response to the transmitter signal being stable, the transceiver may measuring the reflection coefficient parameters at the multifunctional tuner. Furthermore, the radio frequency device has a baseband controller that has a memory to store instructions and a processor to execute the instructions. The instructions cause the processor to determine an antenna impedance based on the reflection coefficient parameters, and in response to determining that the antenna impedance is greater than or less than a threshold antenna impedance, iteratively tune the antenna using the multifunctional tuner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2023
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2025
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Liang Han, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Thomas E. Biedka, Hongfei Hu, Erdinc Irci, Nanbo Jin, James G. Judkins, Victor C. Lee, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai, Yiren Wang, Yuancheng Xu, Yijun Zhou
  • Publication number: 20240413537
    Abstract: In some implementations, the disclosed techniques may include tuning a first antenna element to a first tuning state during an acquisition mode for establishing communication channels with satellites. The first tuning state can configure the first antenna element to receive signals in a first frequency range. The techniques may include establishing the communication channels using the first antenna element in the first tuning state during the acquisition mode. The techniques may include transitioning from the acquisition mode to a tracking mode. The techniques may include changing the tuning state of the first antenna element. The techniques may include determining a location of the mobile device during the tracking mode: (1) using the first antenna element and a second antenna element of the mobile device or (2) not using the first antenna element and using the second antenna element that is configured to receive signals in a second frequency range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2024
    Publication date: December 12, 2024
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Glenn D. MacGougan, Richard Najarian, Aditya N. Srivastava, Rajesh Bezawada, Thomas E. Biedka
  • Publication number: 20240214021
    Abstract: Obstruction detecting logic may execute touch-sensing algorithms on the electronic device, which may detect when a user is gripping the electronic device from the side, when the fingers or hand of the user is on the edge of the electronic device, when the user is using one or more fingers to touch the electronic device, and may determine thumb and finger orientation. Using the touch-sensing methods, it may be determined which antennas are obstructed. To mitigate negative antenna performance due to the determined obstruction, one or more compensation actions may be taken. The touch-sensing algorithms may estimate user thumb/finger orientation and velocity, which may be used to predict future antenna occlusion (e.g., if the hand of the user is in motion).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2022
    Publication date: June 27, 2024
    Inventors: Aditya N. Srivastava, Thomas E. Biedka, Tianchang Gu, Apexit Shah
  • Publication number: 20230170927
    Abstract: A radio frequency device has a multifunctional tuner that stores measurements of reflection coefficient parameter in a register. The radio frequency device also has a transceiver that has a transmitter. The transceiver may detect a transmitter signal from the transmitter to an antenna in an initial tuning state and then determine whether the transmitter signal is stable. In response to the transmitter signal being stable, the transceiver may measuring the reflection coefficient parameters at the multifunctional tuner. Furthermore, the radio frequency device has a baseband controller that has a memory to store instructions and a processor to execute the instructions. The instructions cause the processor to determine an antenna impedance based on the reflection coefficient parameters, and in response to determining that the antenna impedance is greater than or less than a threshold antenna impedance, iteratively tune the antenna using the multifunctional tuner.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2023
    Publication date: June 1, 2023
    Inventors: Liang Han, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Thomas E. Biedka, Hongfei Hu, Erdinc Irci, Nanbo Jin, James G. Judkins, Victor C. Lee, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai, Yiren Wang, Yuancheng Xu, Yijun Zhou
  • Publication number: 20230084948
    Abstract: An electronic device may include wireless circuitry with a baseband processor, a transceiver, and an antenna. The antenna may be coupled to one or more antenna tuning elements for tuning the antenna over multiple communications (frequency) bands of interest. The baseband processor may be configured to simultaneously broadcast, over a digital interface, an aggregate message that includes control bits for adjusting multiple antenna tuning elements coupled to the digital interface. Adjusting multiple antenna tuning elements by issuing a single broadcast command can help optimize interface efficiency while maintaining compatibility with existing industry standards.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2021
    Publication date: March 16, 2023
    Inventors: Thomas E. Biedka, James G. Judkins, Ming-Ju Tsai, Ramzi N. Aboujaoude, Theodoros Kamakaris, Victor C. Lee, Liang Han
  • Patent number: 11569858
    Abstract: A radio frequency device has a multifunctional tuner that stores measurements of reflection coefficient parameter in a register. The radio frequency device also has a transceiver that has a transmitter. The transceiver may detect a transmitter signal from the transmitter to an antenna in an initial tuning state and then determine whether the transmitter signal is stable. In response to the transmitter signal being stable, the transceiver may measuring the reflection coefficient parameters at the multifunctional tuner. Furthermore, the radio frequency device has a baseband controller that has a memory to store instructions and a processor to execute the instructions. The instructions cause the processor to determine an antenna impedance based on the reflection coefficient parameters, and in response to determining that the antenna impedance is greater than or less than a threshold antenna impedance, iteratively tune the antenna using the multifunctional tuner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Liang Han, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Thomas E. Biedka, Hongfei Hu, Erdinc Irci, Nanbo Jin, James G. Judkins, Victor C. Lee, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai, Yiren Wang, Yuancheng Xu, Yijun Zhou
  • Patent number: 11456768
    Abstract: An electronic device may include control circuitry, sensors, and wireless circuitry having antennas. The sensors may generate sensor data that is used by the control circuitry to identify an operating environment for the device. The sensor data may include a grip map generated by a touch-sensitive display, infrared facial recognition image signals or other image signals, an angle of arrival of sound received by a set of microphones, impedance data from an impedance sensor, and any other desired sensor data. The control circuitry may use the sensor data, radio-frequency spatial ranging data, information about whether audio is being played over an ear speaker, and/or information about communications protocols in use to identify the operating environment. The control circuitry may adjust antenna settings for the wireless circuitry based on the identified operating environment to ensure that the antennas operate with satisfactory antenna efficiency regardless of operating conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ruben Caballero, Thomas E. Biedka, Yuancheng Xu, Iyappan Ramachandran
  • Publication number: 20210218430
    Abstract: A radio frequency device has a multifunctional tuner that stores measurements of reflection coefficient parameter in a register. The radio frequency device also has a transceiver that has a transmitter. The transceiver may detect a transmitter signal from the transmitter to an antenna in an initial tuning state and then determine whether the transmitter signal is stable. In response to the transmitter signal being stable, the transceiver may measuring the reflection coefficient parameters at the multifunctional tuner. Furthermore, the radio frequency device has a baseband controller that has a memory to store instructions and a processor to execute the instructions. The instructions cause the processor to determine an antenna impedance based on the reflection coefficient parameters, and in response to determining that the antenna impedance is greater than or less than a threshold antenna impedance, iteratively tune the antenna using the multifunctional tuner.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2020
    Publication date: July 15, 2021
    Inventors: Liang Han, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Thomas E. Biedka, Hongfei Hu, Erdinc Irci, Nanbo Jin, James G. Judkins, Victor C. Lee, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai, Yiren Wang, Yuancheng Xu, Yijun Zhou
  • Publication number: 20200274570
    Abstract: An electronic device may include control circuitry, sensors, and wireless circuitry having antennas. The sensors may generate sensor data that is used by the control circuitry to identify an operating environment for the device. The sensor data may include a grip map generated by a touch-sensitive display, infrared facial recognition image signals or other image signals, an angle of arrival of sound received by a set of microphones, impedance data from an impedance sensor, and any other desired sensor data. The control circuitry may use the sensor data, radio-frequency spatial ranging data, information about whether audio is being played over an ear speaker, and/or information about communications protocols in use to identify the operating environment. The control circuitry may adjust antenna settings for the wireless circuitry based on the identified operating environment to ensure that the antennas operate with satisfactory antenna efficiency regardless of operating conditions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2020
    Publication date: August 27, 2020
    Inventors: Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ruben Caballero, Thomas E. Biedka, Yuancheng Xu, Iyappan Ramachandran
  • Patent number: 10693516
    Abstract: An electronic device may include control circuitry, sensors, and wireless circuitry having antennas. The sensors may generate sensor data that is used by the control circuitry to identify an operating environment for the device. The sensor data may include a grip map generated by a touch-sensitive display, infrared facial recognition image signals or other image signals, an angle of arrival of sound received by a set of microphones, impedance data from an impedance sensor, and any other desired sensor data. The control circuitry may use the sensor data, radio-frequency spatial ranging data, information about whether audio is being played over an ear speaker, and/or information about communications protocols in use to identify the operating environment. The control circuitry may adjust antenna settings for the wireless circuitry based on the identified operating environment to ensure that the antennas operate with satisfactory antenna efficiency regardless of operating conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ruben Caballero, Thomas E. Biedka, Yuancheng Xu, Iyappan Ramachandran
  • Publication number: 20190393918
    Abstract: An electronic device may include control circuitry, sensors, and wireless circuitry having antennas. The sensors may generate sensor data that is used by the control circuitry to identify an operating environment for the device. The sensor data may include a grip map generated by a touch-sensitive display, infrared facial recognition image signals or other image signals, an angle of arrival of sound received by a set of microphones, impedance data from an impedance sensor, and any other desired sensor data. The control circuitry may use the sensor data, radio-frequency spatial ranging data, information about whether audio is being played over an ear speaker, and/or information about communications protocols in use to identify the operating environment. The control circuitry may adjust antenna settings for the wireless circuitry based on the identified operating environment to ensure that the antennas operate with satisfactory antenna efficiency regardless of operating conditions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 25, 2018
    Publication date: December 26, 2019
    Inventors: Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ruben Caballero, Thomas E. Biedka, Yuancheng Xu, Iyappan Ramachandran
  • Patent number: 10498011
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry that includes an antenna. Control circuitry may perform closed loop tuning adjustments on the antenna. For example, the control circuitry may adjust a tunable component to tune the antenna to a first tuning setting. The control circuitry may gather impedance values from the antenna while tuned to the first tuning setting and may process the impedance values to determine whether to tune the antenna to a second tuning setting. If the impedance values lie within a predetermined complex impedance region, the control circuitry may tune the antenna to the second setting. If the impedance values lie outside of the region, the control circuitry may continue to gather impedance values using the first setting. These operations may compensate for detuning of the antenna due to proximity of a user regardless of how the electronic device is held during operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Thomas E. Biedka
  • Patent number: 10498012
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry that includes one or more antennas and a transceiver. An integrated circuit may be coupled between the transceiver and the antenna and may include multiple tunable components such that tune the response of the antenna. The control signals may be generated by a tuning controller external to the integrated circuit. Shared control interface circuitry may be formed on the integrated circuit for interfacing between the tuning controller and each of the tunable components on the integrated circuit. The control interface circuitry may include a conductive path and decoupling circuitry that routes the control signals to corresponding control inputs on each of the tunable components. Sharing the control interface circuitry between each tunable component on the integrated circuit may minimize the space required on the integrated circuit for controlling the response of the antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James G. Judkins, Jing Zhu, Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Ming-Ju Tsai, Thomas E. Biedka, Victor C. Lee, Xu Han
  • Patent number: 10381715
    Abstract: An electronic device may include an antenna having a resonating element, an antenna ground, and a feed. First and second tunable components may be coupled to the resonating element. Adjustable matching circuitry may be coupled to the feed. Control circuitry may use the first tunable component to tune a midband antenna resonance when sensor circuitry identifies that the device is being held in a right hand and may use the second tunable component to tune the midband resonance when the sensor circuitry identifies that the device is being held in a left hand. For tuning a low band resonance, the control circuitry may place the antenna in different tuning states by sequentially adjusting a selected one of the matching circuitry and the tunable components, potentially reverting to a previous tuning state at each step in the sequence. This may ensure that antenna efficiency is satisfactory regardless of antenna loading conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Liang Han, Thomas E. Biedka, Matthew A. Mow, Iyappan Ramachandran, Mattia Pascolini, Xu Han, Hao Xu, Jennifer M. Edwards, Salih Yarga, Yijun Zhou
  • Patent number: 10263340
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include one or more dual-frequency dual-polarization patch antennas. Each patch antenna may have a patch antenna resonating element that lies in a plane and a ground that lies in a different parallel plane. The patch antenna resonating element may have a first feed located along a first central axis and a second feed located along a second central axis that is perpendicular to the first central axis. The patch antenna resonating element may be rectangular, may be oval, or may have other shapes. A shorting pin may be located at an intersecting point between the first and second axes. The patch antennas may be used in beam steering arrays. The patch antennas may be used for wireless power transfer at microwave frequencies or other frequencies and may be used to support millimeter wave communications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Basim H. Noori, Khan M. Salam, Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ruben Caballero, Thomas E. Biedka, Yi Jiang, Yuehui Ouyang
  • Publication number: 20190027821
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with control signal generation circuitry that generates a differential pair of control signals, power supply circuitry that generates a bias voltage, and an antenna having a tuning circuit. First switching circuitry may be coupled to the power supply circuitry and the control signal generation circuitry. Second switching circuitry may be coupled to the tuning circuit. A pair of control lines may be coupled between the first and second switching circuitry. In a first switching mode, the power supply circuitry may transmit the bias voltage to the tuning circuit over one of the control lines. The bias voltage may charge storage circuitry coupled to the tuning circuit. In a second switching mode, the control signal generation circuitry may transmit the differential pair of control signals to the tuning circuit. The tuning circuit may be powered by the storage circuitry in the second switching mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2017
    Publication date: January 24, 2019
    Inventors: James G. Judkins, Jing Zhu, Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai, Thomas E. Biedka, Victor C. Lee, Xu Han
  • Publication number: 20190027809
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry that includes one or more antennas and a transceiver. An integrated circuit may be coupled between the transceiver and the antenna and may include multiple tunable components such that tune the response of the antenna. The control signals may be generated by a tuning controller external to the integrated circuit. Shared control interface circuitry may be formed on the integrated circuit for interfacing between the tuning controller and each of the tunable components on the integrated circuit. The control interface circuitry may include a conductive path and decoupling circuitry that routes the control signals to corresponding control inputs on each of the tunable components. Sharing the control interface circuitry between each tunable component on the integrated circuit may minimize the space required on the integrated circuit for controlling the response of the antenna.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2017
    Publication date: January 24, 2019
    Inventors: James G. Judkins, Jing Zhu, Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Ming-Ju Tsai, Thomas E. Biedka, Victor C. Lee, Xu Han
  • Patent number: 10186769
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with control signal generation circuitry that generates a differential pair of control signals, power supply circuitry that generates a bias voltage, and an antenna having a tuning circuit. First switching circuitry may be coupled to the power supply circuitry and the control signal generation circuitry. Second switching circuitry may be coupled to the tuning circuit. A pair of control lines may be coupled between the first and second switching circuitry. In a first switching mode, the power supply circuitry may transmit the bias voltage to the tuning circuit over one of the control lines. The bias voltage may charge storage circuitry coupled to the tuning circuit. In a second switching mode, the control signal generation circuitry may transmit the differential pair of control signals to the tuning circuit. The tuning circuit may be powered by the storage circuitry in the second switching mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: James G. Judkins, Jing Zhu, Liang Han, Matthew A. Mow, Mattia Pascolini, Ming-Ju Tsai, Thomas E. Biedka, Victor C. Lee, Xu Han
  • Publication number: 20180342794
    Abstract: An electronic device may include an antenna having a resonating element, an antenna ground, and a feed. First and second tunable components may be coupled to the resonating element. Adjustable matching circuitry may be coupled to the feed. Control circuitry may use the first tunable component to tune a midband antenna resonance when sensor circuitry identifies that the device is being held in a right hand and may use the second tunable component to tune the midband resonance when the sensor circuitry identifies that the device is being held in a left hand. For tuning a low band resonance, the control circuitry may place the antenna in different tuning states by sequentially adjusting a selected one of the matching circuitry and the tunable components, potentially reverting to a previous tuning state at each step in the sequence. This may ensure that antenna efficiency is satisfactory regardless of antenna loading conditions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2017
    Publication date: November 29, 2018
    Inventors: Liang Han, Thomas E. Biedka, Matthew A. Mow, Iyappan Ramachandran, Mattia Pascolini, Xu Han, Hao Xu, Jennifer M. Edwards, Salih Yarga, Yijun Zhou