Multi-transceiver wireless communication device capable of adequately adjusting parameters for Bluetooth transceiver

Abstract

Disclosed is a wireless communication device including a wireless transceiver, a Bluetooth (BT) transceiver and a BT controller. The wireless transceiver supports at least one wireless communication standard (e.g., at least one of a series of IEEE 802.11 standards) and executes wireless communication via a wireless channel in a period of time. The BT transceiver executes BT communication via a plurality of BT channels successively in the period of time. The BT controller determines that a central-frequency difference between the wireless channel and a BT channel falls within a frequency interval of N predetermined frequency intervals and thereby controls the BT transceiver to use a set of parameters related to the frequency interval, wherein the set of parameters is one of N predetermined sets of parameters.

Claims

1. A device comprising: a wireless transceiver configured to perform wireless communication via a wireless channel in a period of time, the wireless transceiver supporting at least one wireless communication standard; a Bluetooth (BT) transceiver configured to perform BT communication via a plurality of BT channels in order in the period of time, the plurality of BT channels including a first BT channel and a second BT channel; and a BT controller configured to control the BT transceiver to use one of N sets of parameters, if the BT controller determines that during the period of time that the BT transceiver is performing the BT communication via a current BT channel, a difference between a central frequency of the wireless channel and a central frequency of the current BT channel falls within one of N predetermined frequency intervals, the current BT channel being one of the first BT channel and the second BT channel, wherein the wireless transceiver and the BT transceiver use a same frequency band for communication simultaneously in the period of time, and the N is an integer greater than one.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the first BT channel falls within a first frequency interval of the N predetermined frequency intervals, the BT controller controls the BT transceiver to use a first set of parameters among the N sets of parameters; and if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the first BT channel falls within a second frequency interval of the N predetermined frequency intervals, the BT controller controls the BT transceiver to use a second set of parameters among the N sets of parameters; a difference between any frequency in the first frequency interval and the central frequency of the wireless channel is less than a difference between any frequency in the second frequency interval and the central frequency of the wireless channel; and strength of a transmission signal of the BT transceiver using the first set of parameters is weaker than strength of a transmission signal of the BT transceiver using the second set of parameters.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the BT transceiver includes a BT transmitter; if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the first BT channel falls within the first frequency interval during the period of time that the wireless transceiver performs a wireless reception operation and the BT transceiver performs a BT transmission operation, the BT controller controls the BT transmitter to use the first set of parameters to adjust the strength of the transmission signal of the BT transceiver; and if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the first BT channel falls within the second frequency interval during the period of time that the wireless transceiver performs the wireless reception operation and the BT transceiver performs the BT transmission operation, the BT controller controls the BT transmitter to use the second set of parameters to adjust the strength of the transmission signal of the BT transceiver.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein the BT transceiver includes a BT transmitter; if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the first BT channel falls within the first frequency interval during the period of time that the wireless transceiver performs a wireless transmission operation and the BT transceiver performs a BT transmission operation, the BT controller controls the BT transmitter to use the first set of parameters to adjust the strength of the transmission signal of the BT transceiver; and if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the first BT channel falls within the second frequency interval during the period of time that the wireless transceiver performs the wireless transmission operation and the BT transceiver performs the BT transmission operation, the BT controller controls the BT transmitter to use the second set of parameters to adjust the strength of the transmission signal of the BT transceiver.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the first BT channel falls within a first frequency interval of the N predetermined frequency intervals, the BT controller controls the BT transceiver to use a first set of parameters among the N sets of parameters; and if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the first BT channel falls within a second frequency interval of the N predetermined frequency intervals, the BT controller controls the BT transceiver to use a second set of parameters among the N sets of parameters; a difference between any frequency in the first frequency interval and the central frequency of the wireless channel is less than a difference between any frequency in the second frequency interval and the central frequency of the wireless channel; and an amplification gain of a reception signal of the BT transceiver using the first set of parameters is lower than an amplification gain of a reception signal of the BT transceiver using the second set of parameters.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the BT transceiver includes a BT receiver; if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the first BT channel falls within the first frequency interval during the period of time that the wireless transceiver performs a wireless transmission operation and the BT transceiver performs a BT reception operation, the BT controller controls the BT receiver to use the first set of parameters to adjust the amplification gain of the reception signal of the BT transceiver; and if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the first BT channel falls within the second frequency interval during the period of time that the wireless transceiver performs the wireless transmission operation and the BT transceiver performs the BT reception operation, the BT controller controls the BT receiver to use the second set of parameters to adjust the amplification gain of the reception signal of the BT transceiver.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the same frequency band is a 2.4 GHz band of Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) bands.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein each set of the N sets of parameters includes at least one of following parameters: an amplification gain parameter for a BT transmitter of the BT transceiver; and an automatic gain control (AGC) parameter for a BT receiver of the BT transceiver.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the wireless transceiver, the BT transceiver, and the BT controller are included in a single integrated circuit.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the second BT channel falls within a first frequency interval of the N predetermined frequency intervals, the BT controller controls the BT transceiver to use a first set of parameters among the N sets of parameters; and if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the second BT channel falls within a second frequency interval of the N predetermined frequency intervals, the BT controller controls the BT transceiver to use a second set of parameters among the N sets of parameters; a difference between any frequency in the first frequency interval and the central frequency of the wireless channel is less than a difference between any frequency in the second frequency interval and the central frequency of the wireless channel; and strength of a transmission signal of the BT transceiver using the first set of parameters is weaker than strength of a transmission signal of the BT transceiver using the second set of parameters.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the BT transceiver includes a BT transmitter; if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the second BT channel falls within the first frequency interval during the period of time that the wireless transceiver performs a wireless reception operation and the BT transceiver performs a BT transmission operation, the BT controller controls the BT transmitter to use the first set of parameters to adjust the strength of the transmission signal of the BT transceiver; and if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the second BT channel falls within the second frequency interval during the period of time that the wireless transceiver performs the wireless reception operation and the BT transceiver performs the BT transmission operation, the BT controller controls the BT transmitter to use the second set of parameters to adjust the strength of the transmission signal of the BT transceiver.

12. The device of claim 10, wherein the BT transceiver includes a BT transmitter; if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the second BT channel falls within the first frequency interval during the period of time that the wireless transceiver performs a wireless transmission operation and the BT transceiver performs a BT transmission operation, the BT controller controls the BT transmitter to use the first set of parameters to adjust the strength of the transmission signal of the BT transceiver; and if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the second BT channel falls within the second frequency interval during the period of time that the wireless transceiver performs the wireless transmission operation and the BT transceiver performs the BT transmission operation, the BT controller controls the BT transmitter to use the second set of parameters to adjust the strength of the transmission signal of the BT transceiver.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the second BT channel falls within a first frequency interval of the N predetermined frequency intervals, the BT controller controls the BT transceiver to use a first set of parameters among the N sets of parameters; and if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the second BT channel falls within a second frequency interval of the N predetermined frequency intervals, the BT controller controls the BT transceiver to use a second set of parameters among the N sets of parameters; a difference between any frequency in the first frequency interval and the central frequency of the wireless channel is less than a difference between any frequency in the second frequency interval and the central frequency of the wireless channel; and an amplification gain of a reception signal of the BT transceiver using the first set of parameters is lower than an amplification gain of a reception signal of the BT transceiver using the second set of parameters.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the BT transceiver includes a BT receiver; if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the second BT channel falls within the first frequency interval during the period of time that the wireless transceiver performs a wireless transmission operation and the BT transceiver performs a BT reception operation, the BT controller controls the BT receiver to use the first set of parameters to adjust the amplification gain of the reception signal of the BT transceiver; and if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the second BT channel falls within the second frequency interval during the period of time that the wireless transceiver performs the wireless transmission operation and the BT transceiver performs the BT reception operation, the BT controller controls the BT receiver to use the second set of parameters to adjust the amplification gain of the reception signal of the BT transceiver.

15. The device of claim 1, wherein the N is equal to or greater than three.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the wireless communication device of the present disclosure.

(2) FIG. 2 shows the wireless transceiver and the BT transceiver of FIG. 1 using the wireless channel and the first BT channel for communication respectively.

(3) FIG. 3 shows the wireless transceiver and the BT transceiver of FIG. 1 using the wireless channel and the second BT channel for communication respectively.

(4) FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the BT transceiver of FIG. 1.

(5) FIG. 5 shows the BT signal strength when the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the first BT channel falls within a first frequency interval.

(6) FIG. 6 shows the BT signal strength when the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the first BT channel falls within a second frequency interval.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(7) The present disclosure includes a wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a personal computer, a wearable electronic device) capable of adaptively adjusting the parameters of a Bluetooth (BT) transceiver according to the central frequency difference between a wireless channel and a BT channel; and this wireless communication device can improve the BT communication success rate in comparison with the prior arts.

(8) FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the wireless communication device of the present disclosure. The wireless communication device 100 of FIG. 1 includes a wireless transceiver 110, a BT transceiver 120, and a BT controller 130. The wireless transceiver 110 is wirelessly connected with a wireless device 10 (e.g., a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) device such as an access point (AP)). The BT transceiver 120 is wirelessly connected with a BT device 20 (e.g., BT speaker, or BT headset). In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the BT controller 130 is integrated into the BT transceiver 120, and all of the wireless transceiver 110, the BT transceiver 120, and the BT controller 130 are included in a single integrated chip (IC). In another embodiment, the BT controller 130 is integrated into the BT transceiver 120, the wireless transceiver 110 and the BT transceiver 120 are two separate ICs. In yet another embodiment, the BT controller 130 is set outside the BT transceiver 120, and the wireless transceiver 110, the BT transceiver 120, and the BT controller 130 are separate ICs that are independent of one another.

(9) Please refer to FIGS. 1-3. FIG. 2 shows a wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN and a first BT channel CH.sub.BT1 being respectively used by the wireless transceiver 110 and the BT transceiver 120 of FIG. 1 for communication. FIG. 3 shows the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN and a second BT channel CH.sub.BT2 being respectively used by the wireless transceiver 110 and the BT transceiver 120 of FIG. 1 for communication. The wireless transceiver 110 is configured to perform wireless communication including a wireless transmission operation and a wireless reception operation via the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN in a period of time, and the wireless transceiver 110 supports at least one wireless communication standard (e.g., at least one standard of multiple IEEE 802.11 standards including 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, and 802.11ac; or a Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard). The BT communication has the feature of frequency hopping and thus the BT transceiver 120 is configured to perform BT communication including a BT transmission operation and a BT reception operation via a plurality of BT channels in order in the period of time, in which the plurality of BT channels includes the first BT channel CH.sub.BT1 and the second BT channel CH.sub.BT2. The feature of frequency hopping can be learned from the following literature: Bluetooth SIG Proprietary, “Volume 1, Part A, Section 1.1, 1.2 and Volume 2, Part B, Section 2.6 of Bluetooth Core Specification Version 5.0”, Dec. 6, 2016.

(10) Please refer to FIGS. 1-3 again. The BT controller 130 is configured to control the BT transceiver 120 to use an X.sup.th set of parameters among N sets of parameters (e.g., each set of the N sets of parameters including the parameter(s) for setting the amplification gain of a BT transmitter of the BT transceiver 120 and/or including the parameter(s) for setting the automatic gain control (AGC) of a BT receiver of the BT transceiver 120) if the BT controller 130 determines that during the period of time that the BT transceiver 120 is performing the BT communication via a current BT channel, a difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN and the central frequency of the first BT channel CH.sub.BT1 falls within a P.sup.th interval of N predetermined frequency intervals; in this circumstance the BT transceiver 120 performs the BT communication via the first BT channel CH.sub.BT1 in the period of time. The BT controller 130 is also configured to control the BT transceiver 120 to use a Y.sup.th set of parameters among the N sets of parameters if the BT controller 130 determines that during the period of time that the BT transceiver 120 is performing the BT communication via the current BT channel, a difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN and the central frequency of the second BT channel CH.sub.BT2 falls within a Q.sup.th interval of N predetermined frequency intervals; in this circumstance the BT transceiver 120 performs the BT communication via the second BT channel CH.sub.BT2 in the period of time. The number N is an integer greater than one (e.g., N≥3). Each of the numbers P, Q, X, and Y is a positive integer equal to or smaller than the number N. Both the wireless transceiver 110 and the BT transceiver 120 use the same frequency band (e.g., the 2.4 GHz band of Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) band) to perform communication simultaneously in the period of time while the wireless channel overlaps or does not overlap with any of the plurality of BT channels.

(11) FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of the BT transceiver 120 including a BT transmitter 410 and a BT receiver 420. Please refer to FIGS. 1, 2, and 4. In regard to the control of BT transmission, if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN and the central frequency of the first BT channel CH.sub.BT1 falls within a first interval of the N predetermined frequency intervals, the BT controller 130 controls the BT transceiver 120, especially the BT transmitter 410 of the BT transceiver 120, to use a first set of parameters (e.g., the parameters for setting the amplification gain of the BT transmitter 410) among the N sets of parameters; and if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN and the central frequency of the first BT channel CH.sub.BT1 falls within a second interval of the N predetermined frequency intervals, the BT controller 130 controls the BT transceiver 120, especially the BT transmitter 410 of the BT transceiver 120, to use a second set of parameters (e.g., the parameters for setting the amplification gain of the BT transmitter 410) among the N sets of parameters. It should be noted that the difference between any frequency in the first interval and the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN is smaller than the difference between any frequency in the second interval and the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN as shown in FIGS. 5-6; in other words, any frequency in the second interval is farther from the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN than any frequency in the first interval is. In addition, a transmission signal strength (as shown in FIG. 5, in which the frequencies F1 and F2 define the first interval and the second interval) of the BT transceiver 120 using the first set of parameters is weaker than a transmission signal strength (as shown in FIG. 6, in which the frequencies F1 and F2 define the first interval and the second interval) of the BT transceiver 120 using the second set of parameters; accordingly, when the central frequency difference falls within the first interval, using the first set of parameters for the BT transmission of the BT transceiver 120 can prevent the wireless reception/transmission of the wireless transceiver 110 from being severely influenced, and when the central frequency difference falls within the second interval, using the second set of parameters for the BT transmission of the BT transceiver 120 can prevent the transmission signal of the BT transceiver 120 from being excessively reduced, and this can increase the reception success rate of a far-end BT device (i.e., the link partner of the BT transceiver 120).

(12) Please refer to FIGS. 1, 3, and 4. In regard to the control of BT transmission, the BT controller 130 can control the BT transceiver 120 to use one of the N sets of parameters in accordance with the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN and the central frequency of the second BT channel CH.sub.BT2. Since people having ordinary skill in the art can appreciate the way of the BT controller 130 making the BT transceiver 120 use one of the N sets of parameters according to the disclosure in the preceding paragraph, repeated and redundant description is omitted here. It should be noted that N sets of parameters for the coexistence between the BT transmission and the wireless reception can be the same as or different from N sets of parameters for the coexistence between the BT transmission and the wireless transmission. It should also be noted that although FIGS. 2, 3, 5, and 6 show that the central frequency of the wireless channel is higher than the central frequency of the BT channel, this is just exemplary for understanding; in other embodiments, the central frequency of the BT channel can be higher than the central frequency of the wireless channel. In light of the above, provided the absolute value of the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel and the central frequency of the BT channel is unchanged, the condition “the central frequency of the wireless channel being higher than the central frequency of the BT channel” and the condition “the central frequency of the wireless channel being lower than the central frequency of the BT channel” can be taken to be the same condition related to the same interval of the N predetermined intervals and to the same set of parameters, or can be taken to be different conditions related to different intervals of the N predetermined intervals and to different sets of parameters.

(13) Please refer to FIGS. 1, 2, and 4. In regard to the control of BT reception, if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN and the central frequency of the first BT channel CH.sub.BT1 falls within a first interval of the N predetermined frequency intervals, the BT controller 130 controls the BT transceiver 120, especially the BT receiver 420 of the BT transceiver 120, to use a first set of parameters (e.g., the parameters for setting the automatic gain control of the BT receiver 420) among the N sets of parameters; and if the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN and the central frequency of the first BT channel CH.sub.BT1 falls within a second interval of the N predetermined frequency intervals, the BT controller 130 controls the BT transceiver 120, especially the BT receiver 420 of the BT transceiver 120, to use a second set of parameters (e.g., the parameters for setting the automatic gain control of the BT receiver 420) among the N sets of parameters. It should be noted that the difference between any frequency in the first interval and the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN is smaller than the difference between any frequency in the second interval and the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN as shown in FIGS. 5-6; in other words, any frequency in the second interval is farther from the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN than any frequency in the first interval is. In addition, a reception signal amplification gain of the BT transceiver 120 using the first set of parameters is smaller than a reception signal amplification gain of the BT transceiver 120 using the second set of parameters; accordingly, when the difference (hereafter, the central frequency difference) between the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN and the central frequency of the current BT channel (i.e., any of the aforementioned plurality of BT channels) falls within the first interval, using the first set of parameters for the BT reception operation of the BT transceiver 120 can prevent the sensitivity of the BT reception operation from being too high so as to prevent the signal interference caused by the wireless transmission of the wireless transceiver 110 from being excessively amplified, and when the central frequency difference falls within the second interval, using the second set of parameters for the BT reception operation of the BT transceiver 120 can prevent the sensitivity of the BT reception operation from being too low so as to increase the reception success rate of the BT transceiver 120.

(14) Please refer to FIGS. 1, 3, and 4. In regard to the control of BT reception, the BT controller 130 can control the BT transceiver 120 to use one of the N sets of parameters in accordance with the difference between the central frequency of the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN and the central frequency of the second BT channel CH.sub.BT2. Since people having ordinary skill in the art can appreciate the way of the BT controller 130 making the BT transceiver 120 use one of the N sets of parameters according to the disclosure in the preceding paragraph, repeated and redundant description is omitted here. It should be noted that N sets of parameters for the coexistence between the BT reception and the wireless transmission can be the same as or different from N sets of parameters for the coexistence between the BT transmission and the wireless transmission/reception.

(15) It should be noted that the exchange of operation states (including the central frequency information of a selected channel) between the BT transceiver 120 and the wireless transceiver 110 can be realized with a known or self-developed technique (e.g., the technique disclosed in the applicant's TW patent application 107100083; a conventional firmware/hardware communication technique for obtaining the operation state; a conventional detection technique for obtaining the information of the channel selected by the wireless transceiver 110), and thus the detail of how to exchange operation states is omitted here. It should also be noted that the wireless transceiver 110 will not frequently change the channel for communicating with the wireless device 10 if the current wireless environment is stable, and thus in the aforementioned embodiments the wireless transceiver 110 usually use the same wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN to communicate with the wireless device 10. However, even though the wireless transceiver 110 firstly use the wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN to communicate with the wireless device 10 in the period of time and then use another wireless channel to communicate with the wireless device 10, the BT controller 130 still controls the BT transceiver 120 according to the central frequency of the original wireless channel CH.sub.WLAN without considering the central frequency of the another wireless channel before the BT controller 130 is informed of the channel update; afterward, the BT controller 130 will receive the information about the update of the communication channel between the wireless transceiver 110 and the wireless device 10, and then the BT controller 130 will control the BT transceiver 120 according to the update information.

(16) It should be noted that people of ordinary skill in the art can selectively use some or all of the features of any embodiment in this specification or selectively use some or all of the features of multiple embodiments in this specification to implement the present invention as long as such implementation is practicable; in other words, the present invention can be carried out flexibly in accordance with the present disclosure.

(17) To sum up, the wireless communication device of the present disclosure can adaptively adjust the parameters for BT transceiver according to the central frequency difference between a wireless channel and a BT channel. Therefore, the wireless communication device of the present disclosure can not only mitigate the interference caused by WLAN communication but also increase the success rate of BT communication.

(18) The aforementioned descriptions represent merely the preferred embodiments of the present invention, without any intention to limit the scope of the present invention thereto. Various equivalent changes, alterations, or modifications based on the claims of present invention are all consequently viewed as being embraced by the scope of the present invention.