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公开(公告)号:US12283936B2
公开(公告)日:2025-04-22
申请号:US17939616
申请日:2022-09-07
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor: Christof Pfannenmüller , Dominic Koehler , Julian W Zuber , Oliver Georg Dorn , Bjoern Lenhart , Harald Pretl , Rastislav Vazny , Christian F Tanzer
Abstract: Systems and methods combine a test signal with a wanted (downlink or uplink) signal at an input of a duplexer of a communication device, and receive the test signal at an output of the duplexer. The test signal may include a radio frequency signal having less power than the wanted signal to avoid interference, or a digital signal that is added to or extracted from the wanted signal when the wanted signal does not have a radio frequency. A processor of the communication device causes the duplexer to operate in a tuning state (e.g., to transmit signals having a transmission frequency and receive signals having a receive frequency). The measurement system determines a difference or ratio in power between the test signal at the duplexer output and the duplexer input, and adjusts the tuning state based on the difference or ratio (e.g., to decrease or minimize the difference or ratio).
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公开(公告)号:US20240088921A1
公开(公告)日:2024-03-14
申请号:US17945023
申请日:2022-09-14
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor: Bjoern Lenhart , Christof Pfannenmüller , Dominic Koehler , Harald Pretl , Rastislav Vazny
CPC classification number: H04B1/0057 , H04B1/04 , H04B1/10
Abstract: A communication device includes a duplexer differentially coupled to a receiver and a transmitter. The duplexer may include phase shifters on the differential lines to provide differential received signals to the receiver and receive differential transmission signals from the transmitter for transmission. For example, the phase shifter are positioned such that single-ended received signals may be converted to differential received signals and convert the differential transmission signals to single-ended transmission signals for transmission. Moreover, the phase shifters may provide the single-ended transmission signals to antennas for transmission and to the differential lines of the receiver for cancellation/isolation. Furthermore, the phase shifters may provide the differential received signals to the receiver for reception and provide the single-ended received signals to the differential lines of the transmitter for cancellation/isolation. Accordingly, the duplexer may convey communication signal while reducing signal interference by providing improved isolation.
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公开(公告)号:US20240088538A1
公开(公告)日:2024-03-14
申请号:US17932275
申请日:2022-09-14
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor: Christof Pfannenmüller , Dominic Koehler , Harald Pretl , Rastislav Vazny
Abstract: An electronic device may include isolation circuitry coupled between a transmitter, a receiver, and one or more antennas. The isolation circuitry may include a 90 degree hybrid coupler configured receive a transmission (TX) signal from the transmitter, split the TX signal into a first portion and a second portion, and phase-shift a portion such that the portions are +90 degrees out-of-phase. The isolation circuitry may include phase shifters that phase-shift the portions such that the portions are in-phase prior to propagating to the antenna. The phase shifters may receive a first portion and a second portion of a receiver (RX) signal from splitter circuitry. The phase shifters may phase-shift the portions such that the portions are out-of-phase by −90 degrees. The 90 degree hybrid coupler may phase-shift the first portion and/or the second portion such that the portions are in-phase and constructively combine prior to propagating to the receiver.
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公开(公告)号:US20230006629A1
公开(公告)日:2023-01-05
申请号:US17366692
申请日:2021-07-02
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor: Björn Lenhart , Joonhoi Hur , Harald Pretl , Rastislav Vazny
Abstract: This disclosure provides techniques for impedance matching. A radio frequency (RF) device includes a power detector to determine a transmitter leakage and a post-processing unit to determine a receiver leakage, and determines if isolation is acceptable based on the leakages. The RF device may include a device for measuring antenna impedance. Otherwise, the RF device may select multiple tuner settings (e.g., capacitor values) for test signals to be transmitted and received at a target frequency, determine multiple sets of leakage values, determine multiple reflection coefficients based on the multiple sets of leakage values, and determine an estimated antenna impedance at the target frequency based on the reflection coefficients. The RF device then determines impedance tuner settings based on the measured or estimated antenna impedance. Alternatively, the RF device determines impedance tuner settings using an inverse machine-learning model based on a determined matching impedance.
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公开(公告)号:US20220311413A1
公开(公告)日:2022-09-29
申请号:US17211391
申请日:2021-03-24
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor: Ehrentraud Hager , Harald Pretl
Abstract: An integrated circuit may include a resonator formed from FinFET devices. The resonator may include drive cells of alternating polarities and sense cells interposed between the drive cells. Each of the drive cells may include at least two drive transistors having fins coupled to a drive terminal. Each sense cell may include two sense transistors having one fin coupled to a sense terminal and another fin coupled to ground. Adjacent drive and sense cells may be separated by an intervening region that can accommodate a number of fins. Configured in this way, the resonator can exhibit a high quality factor, low phase noise, and can operate at a frequency that is less than the characteristic resonant frequency as defined by the fin pitch of the drive and sense transistors.
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公开(公告)号:US20210175958A1
公开(公告)日:2021-06-10
申请号:US16761441
申请日:2018-03-29
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor: Harald Pretl , Werner Schelmbauer , Josef Holzleitner
IPC: H04B7/08 , H04B1/00 , H04B7/0413
Abstract: A method and apparatus for receiving and processing multiple carriers with multiple antennas. The device includes a plurality of antennas for receiving signals over a plurality of carriers, and a plurality of receive chains connected to each antenna for processing a signal received on each antenna. The signal received on each antenna is split into multiple receive chains for receive processing. The antennas are grouped into a plurality of sub-groups and a signal on a first carrier is received on a first sub-group of antennas and a signal on a second carrier is received on a second sub-group of antennas. A signal on a third carrier may be received on all antennas. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) on the first and second carriers may be implemented using the first and second sub-group of antennas, respectively, and MIMO on the third carrier may be implemented using all antennas.
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公开(公告)号:US20250150249A1
公开(公告)日:2025-05-08
申请号:US19015313
申请日:2025-01-09
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor: Joonhoi Hur , Harald Pretl , Rastislav Vazny
Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein relate to improving an available bandwidth for a transceiver of an electronic device and to reducing a footprint of an associated integrated circuit of the electronic device. To do so, an isolation circuit is disposed between a transmit circuit and a receive circuit. The isolation circuit has first and second signal paths. A first portion of the signal propagates along the first signal path and a second portion of the signal propagates along the second signal path. A non-reciprocal phase shifter is disposed on the first signal path to shift a phase of the first portion to match a phase of the second portion and improve isolation between the transmit circuit and the receive circuit. The phase-shifted first portion may be combined with the second portion to reduce or substantially eliminate an insertion loss caused by the isolation circuit.
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公开(公告)号:US12143145B2
公开(公告)日:2024-11-12
申请号:US17939657
申请日:2022-09-07
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor: Christof Pfannenmüller , Dominic Koehler , Julian W Zuber , Oliver Georg Dorn , Bjoern Lenhart , Harald Pretl , Rastislav Vazny , Christian F Tanzer
Abstract: Systems and methods combine a test signal with a wanted (downlink or uplink) signal at an input of a duplexer of a communication device, and receive the test signal at an output of the duplexer. The test signal may include a radio frequency signal having less power than the wanted signal to avoid interference, or a digital signal that is added to or extracted from the wanted signal when the wanted signal does not have a radio frequency. A processor of the communication device causes the duplexer to operate in a tuning state (e.g., to transmit signals having a transmission frequency and receive signals having a receive frequency). The measurement system determines a difference or ratio in power between the test signal at the duplexer output and the duplexer input, and adjusts the tuning state based on the difference or ratio (e.g., to decrease or minimize the difference or ratio).
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公开(公告)号:US20240333325A1
公开(公告)日:2024-10-03
申请号:US18743593
申请日:2024-06-14
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor: Joonhoi Hur , Jochen Schrattenecker , Bin Xiao , Andre Hanke , Harald Pretl , Rastislav Vazny , Bernhard Sogl , Andreas Menkhoff
CPC classification number: H04B1/1027 , H04B1/123 , H04B15/005
Abstract: An electronic device may include wireless circuitry with a transmit antenna that transmits signals and a receive antenna that receives reflected signals. The wireless circuitry may detect a range between the device and an external object based on the transmitted signals and the reflected signals. When the range exceeds a first threshold, the wireless circuitry may use the transmitted signals and received signals to record background noise. When the range is less than a second threshold value, the wireless circuitry may detect the range based on the reflected signals and the recorded background noise. This may allow the range to be accurately measured within an ultra-short range domain even when the device is placed in different device cases, placed on different surfaces, etc.
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公开(公告)号:US11894807B2
公开(公告)日:2024-02-06
申请号:US17713338
申请日:2022-04-05
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor: Harald Pretl , Ehrentraud Hager , Aly Ismail
CPC classification number: H03B5/326 , H01L29/7851 , H03B5/04 , H03B5/1253 , H03B5/323 , H01L2924/13067
Abstract: An integrated circuit may include oscillator circuitry having a resonator formed from fin field-effect transistor (FinFET) devices. The resonator may include drive cells of alternating polarities and sense cells interposed between the drive cells. The resonator may be connected in a feedback loop within the oscillator circuitry. The oscillator circuitry may include an amplifier having an input coupled to the sense cells and an output coupled to the drive cells. The oscillator circuitry may also include a separate inductor and capacitor based oscillator, where the resonator serves as a separate output filter stage for the inductor and capacitor based oscillator.
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