CN115208438B

CN115208438B - Antenna control method and electronic equipment

Info

Publication number: CN115208438B
Application number: CN202211076941.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王毅; 刘抒民; 刘亮; 魏鲲鹏
Original assignee: Honor Device Co Ltd
Current assignee: Honor Device Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-09-05
Filing date: 2022-09-05
Publication date: 2023-02-03
Anticipated expiration: 2042-09-05
Also published as: CN115208438A

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides an antenna control method and electronic equipment, relates to the field of antennas, and can improve communication performance of terminal equipment and communication experience of users on the premise of not increasing power consumption. The method comprises the following steps: different antennas in the second type of antenna are connected to different radio frequency paths, respectively. And continuously acquiring the received signal parameters of the first type antenna and the received signal parameters of the second type antenna for m times. Wherein m is an integer greater than or equal to 2. And if the received signal parameters of the first antenna in the first antenna class and the received signal parameters of the second antenna in the second antenna class meet the preset conditions, connecting the second antenna to the radio frequency path corresponding to the first antenna, and disconnecting the antennas except the second antenna in the second antenna class and the first antenna.

Description

Antenna control method and electronic equipment

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the field of antennas, in particular to an antenna control method and electronic equipment.

Background

With The popularization of fifth generation (The 5th generation,5 g) mobile communication technology, MIMO (Multiple-input Multiple-output) antennas are also increasingly widely used. The mimo of the antenna means that a transmitting end of the antenna transmits signals by using multiple antennas or a receiving end of the antenna receives signals by using multiple antennas. For example, a 4 × 4MIMO antenna means that a transmitting end of the MIMO antenna can transmit signals by using 4 antennas at most, or a receiving end of the MIMO antenna can receive signals by using 4 antennas at most.

When the MIMO antenna is applied to terminal equipment, the communication requirement can be met only by working part of the antennas in most scenes. Therefore, to reduce power consumption, the terminal device usually only turns on a part of the MIMO antennas to transmit and receive signals.

However, when the opened antenna is affected by the outside environment to cause the signal receiving performance to be deteriorated, the communication performance of the terminal device is also reduced, and the communication experience of the user is affected.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides an antenna control method and electronic equipment, which can improve the communication performance of terminal equipment and improve the communication experience of a user on the premise of not increasing power consumption.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the following technical solutions are adopted in the embodiments of the present application.

In a first aspect, an antenna control method is provided, which is applied to a terminal device, where the terminal device includes at least three antennas, and the at least three antennas form a mimo antenna. The at least three antennas include a first type antenna and a second type antenna, the first type antenna is an antenna connected with the radio frequency path, and the second type antenna is an antenna not connected with the radio frequency path. The antenna control method comprises the following steps: different antennas in the second type of antenna are connected to different radio frequency paths, respectively. And continuously acquiring the received signal parameters of the first type antenna and the received signal parameters of the second type antenna for m times. Wherein m is an integer greater than or equal to 2. And if the received signal parameters of the first antenna in the first antenna class and the received signal parameters of the second antenna in the second antenna class meet the preset conditions, connecting the second antenna to the radio frequency path corresponding to the first antenna, and disconnecting the antennas except the second antenna in the second antenna class and the first antenna.

Based on the scheme, the first type of antenna is an antenna in a working state, and the second type of antenna is an antenna in a disconnected state. In the embodiment of the present application, when there is a second antenna in the second type of antenna and the signal receiving performance of the second antenna is stronger than that of the first antenna in the first type of antenna, the second antenna is connected to the radio frequency path of the first antenna, that is, the first antenna is replaced by the second antenna. Therefore, the number of the antennas in the working state is not changed, and the signal receiving performance of the antennas in the working state is improved, namely, the communication performance of the terminal equipment is improved while the power consumption of the terminal equipment is not increased, so that the communication experience of a user is improved.

In one possible design, the preset condition is any one of: the received signal parameters of the second antenna are all greater than the received signal parameters of the first antenna. The integrals of the received signal parameters of the first type of antennas are smaller than the integrals of the received signal parameters of the third type of antennas, wherein the third type of antennas comprise all antennas except the first antenna in the first type of antennas and the second antenna in the second type of antennas. Based on the scheme, whether the first antenna is replaced by the second antenna can be more specifically and accurately judged so as to improve the communication performance of the terminal equipment.

In one possible design, before each of the second antennas is connected to a different rf path, the method further includes: and acquiring the screen state of the terminal equipment, wherein the screen state comprises a screen-off state. And when the screen state of the terminal equipment is a screen-off state, acquiring the received signal parameters of each antenna in the first type of antenna. And determining a first antenna according to the received signal parameters of each antenna in the first type of antenna, wherein the first antenna is the antenna with the minimum received signal parameter in the first type of antenna. Connecting each antenna in the second type of antenna to a different radio frequency path, respectively, comprising: and when the first antenna has an antenna with the difference of the received signal parameters with the first antenna being larger than a preset threshold, connecting each antenna in the second antenna with different radio frequency paths respectively. Based on the scheme, when the screen state of the terminal equipment is the screen-off state, the terminal equipment is not used by the user, namely the user feels dull about the communication performance of the terminal equipment. And the antenna with the difference between the receiving signal parameters of the first antenna and the receiving signal parameters of the first antenna is larger than a preset threshold, which indicates that the antenna in the first antenna is shielded by a human body or is interfered by the outside, so that the signal receiving capability is reduced. In the embodiment of the application, each antenna in the second type of antenna is respectively connected with different radio frequency channels, so that the second antenna with higher second type of signal receiving performance is selected to replace the first antenna which is shielded by a human body or is interfered by the outside world in the first type of antenna, the communication performance of the terminal equipment is improved, and the communication experience of a user is improved.

In a possible design, before connecting each of the second antennas to a different rf path, the method further includes: and acquiring the screen state of the terminal equipment, wherein the screen state comprises a bright screen state. And when the screen state of the terminal equipment is a bright screen state, detecting the distance between each antenna in the first type of antenna and the human body. And determining the first antenna according to the distance between each antenna in the first antenna and the human body. The first antenna is the antenna with the minimum distance with the human body in the first type of antenna. Connecting each antenna in the second type of antenna with a different radio frequency path, respectively, comprising: and when the distance between the first antenna and the human body is smaller than a preset threshold value, connecting each antenna in the second type of antenna with different radio frequency paths respectively. Based on the scheme, when the screen state of the terminal device is the bright screen state, the terminal device is used by the user, namely the user has obvious perception on the communication performance of the terminal device. When a first antenna with the distance between the first antenna and the human body being smaller than a preset threshold exists in the first antenna, each antenna in the second antenna is connected with different radio frequency channels, and the second antenna with the higher second signal receiving performance is selected to replace the first antenna which is shielded by the human body or is interfered by the outside world in the first antenna, so that the communication performance of the terminal equipment is improved, and the communication experience of a user is improved.

In one possible design, before obtaining the received signal parameters of each antenna in the first class of antennas and the received signal parameters of each antenna in the second class of antennas m times consecutively, the method further includes: and acquiring the received signal parameters of each antenna in the second type of antenna. And determining a second antenna according to the received signal parameters of each antenna in the second type of antenna, wherein the second antenna is the antenna with the maximum received signal parameter in the second type of antenna. Continuously acquiring m times of received signal parameters of a first type antenna and received signal parameters of a second type antenna, comprising: and continuously acquiring the received signal parameters of the first antenna and the received signal parameters of the second antenna m times. Based on the scheme, the second antenna with the strongest signal receiving performance in the second type of antennas can be conveniently determined to replace the first antenna which is shielded by a human body or is interfered by the outside world in the first type of antennas, so that the communication performance of the terminal equipment is improved, and the communication experience of a user is improved.

In one possible design, connecting the second antenna to the rf path corresponding to the first antenna, and disconnecting the antennas other than the second antenna in the second type of antenna and the first antenna includes: and disconnecting the second antenna from the corresponding radio frequency path. And connecting the second antenna with the radio frequency path corresponding to the first antenna, and disconnecting the first antenna from the corresponding radio frequency path. And disconnecting the antennas except the second antenna in the second type of antenna from the corresponding radio frequency path. Based on the scheme, the number of the antennas in operation can be kept unchanged, and the increase of the power consumption of the terminal equipment is avoided.

In one possible design, obtaining the received signal parameters of the first type antenna and the received signal parameters of the second type antenna m times in succession includes: and acquiring the received signal parameters of the first type antenna and the second type antenna once every preset time interval, and continuously acquiring for m times. Based on the scheme, the determined second antenna has stronger and more stable signal receiving capability compared with the first antenna. The second antenna is used for replacing the first antenna, so that the communication performance of the terminal equipment can be improved, and the communication experience of a user is improved.

In one possible design, the received signal parameter is any one of: reference signal received power, received signal strength indication, received signal code power, reference signal received quality, signal to noise ratio, individual signal units. Based on the scheme, the signal receiving capability of the antenna can be more accurately reflected through the received signal parameters of the antenna.

In a second aspect, there is provided an antenna control system, including: n antennas, a switch module, at least n radio frequency channels and a system-on-chip. Wherein n is an integer greater than or equal to 3. The n antennas are respectively connected with the switch module. The switch module is also connected to at least n radio frequency paths. At least n radio frequency paths are also connected to the system-on-chip. The n antennas form a multi-input multi-output antenna. The n antennas comprise a first antenna and a second antenna, the first antenna is connected with the radio frequency path, and the second antenna is not connected with the radio frequency path. The switch module is used for connecting different antennas in the second type of antenna with different radio frequency paths respectively. The system-level chip is used for continuously acquiring m times of received signal parameters of the first antenna and received signal parameters of the second antenna. Wherein m is an integer greater than or equal to 2. The system-on-chip is further configured to instruct the switch module to connect the second antenna to the radio frequency path corresponding to the first antenna and disconnect the antennas other than the second antenna and the first antenna in the second type of antenna if the received signal parameter of the first antenna in the first type of antenna and the received signal parameter of the second antenna in the second type of antenna satisfy a preset condition.

In a third aspect, an electronic device is provided that includes one or more processors and one or more memories. One or more memories are coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memories storing computer instructions. The computer instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic device to perform the antenna control method as in any one of the first aspects.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium comprising computer instructions which, when executed, perform the antenna control method of any one of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which comprises instructions that, when run on a computer, enable the computer to perform the antenna control method according to any of the first aspect.

It should be understood that, technical features of the technical solutions provided in the second, third, fourth and fifth aspects may all correspond to the antenna control method provided in the first aspect and possible designs thereof, so that similar beneficial effects can be achieved, and details are not described herein.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of 4 x 4mimo antennas in a handset;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a user holding a handset;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an antenna control system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a system-on-chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of another antenna control system provided in the embodiments of the present application;

fig. 7 is a partial flowchart of an antenna control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a partial flowchart of another antenna control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of another antenna control system provided in the embodiments of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of another antenna control system provided in the embodiments of the present application;

fig. 11 is a partial flowchart of another antenna control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a partial flowchart of another antenna control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a chip system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The terms "first", "second", and "third" in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish different objects, and are not used to define a specific order. Furthermore, the words "exemplary" or "such as" are used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "e.g.," is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present concepts related in a concrete fashion.

To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the background of the application of the present application is described below.

The MIMO antenna can simultaneously transmit or receive a plurality of signals on the same wireless channel under the condition of not occupying more frequency spectrums, so that the signals obtain array gain, diversity gain, multiplexing gain, interference cancellation and the like in space, and the terminal equipment provided with the MIMO antenna has better communication performance.

The terminal device has better communication performance, including larger system capacity, wider coverage area, higher transmission rate and the like of signals transmitted or received by the terminal device. For example, a terminal device with 4 x 4MIMO antennas may have a signal transmission rate almost twice as high as that of a terminal device without MIMO antennas when four antennas are simultaneously operated.

However, although the communication performance of the terminal device can be improved by simultaneously operating a plurality of antennas to transmit and receive signals, the power consumption of the terminal device is also increased.

Under most use scenes of the terminal equipment, part of the MIMO antennas work simultaneously to meet the communication requirement. Therefore, in order to control power consumption, the terminal device may only turn on a part of the antennas by default to transmit and receive signals.

For example, please refer to fig. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a 4 × 4mimo antenna in a mobile phone. As shown in fig. 1, the mobile phone includes an antenna 1, an antenna 2, an antenna 3, and an antenna 4. The four antennas form 4 × 4mimo antennas.

In the default scenario, the handset only enables antenna 1 and antenna 2 to work simultaneously. The default scenes comprise scenes with signal strength larger than a preset value, scenes with signal throughput larger than preset throughput and the like. The preset value and the preset throughput can be set according to actual needs, and are not specifically limited herein. In a weak signal scene or a large flow scene, the mobile phone can start the antenna 1, the antenna 2, the antenna 3 and the antenna 4 to work simultaneously. In this embodiment, the weak signal scene may refer to a scene in which the signal strength is smaller than the preset value. The large flow rate scenario may refer to a scenario in which the signal throughput is less than the preset throughput.

In some embodiments, the special scene may further include a scene in which an operating antenna (e.g., antenna 1 or antenna 2) is occluded by a hand of a user when the terminal device is held by the user.

The antenna in the human body shielding work can influence the signal receiving capability of the antenna, and the communication performance of the corresponding terminal equipment is reduced. The reason is that signals transmitted and received by the antenna are electromagnetic waves, and the human body is a lossy medium for the electromagnetic waves. Therefore, when the electromagnetic wave approaches or penetrates the human body, the energy of the electromagnetic wave is lost to a certain extent. In addition, when a human body approaches the antenna, boundary conditions of the antenna may be changed, resulting in a decrease in radiation efficiency of the antenna itself and system efficiency.

Please refer to fig. 2, which is a schematic diagram of a user holding a mobile phone. As shown in fig. 2, when the user holds the mobile phone, the user's hand blocks the antenna 2 in operation.

Compared with the scenario in which the antenna 2 of the mobile phone in fig. 1 is not shielded, after the antenna 2 of the mobile phone in fig. 2 is shielded, parameters such as signal strength of a received signal are reduced, which causes a reduction in communication performance of the mobile phone and affects communication experience of a user.

In order to reduce the influence of the shielding of the antenna 2 by hands on the communication performance of the mobile phone, the mobile phone can start the antenna 1, the antenna 2, the antenna 3 and the antenna 4 to work simultaneously, so as to reduce the influence of interference on the communication performance of the mobile phone on the antenna 2.

However, too many antennas operating simultaneously increases power consumption. Therefore, how to reduce the influence on the communication performance of the terminal device when the antenna is shielded by a human body on the premise of not increasing the power consumption and improve the communication performance of the terminal device becomes a problem to be solved urgently.

In order to solve the above problem, embodiments of the present application provide an antenna control method and an electronic device, which can reduce the influence of a user body shielding antenna on the communication performance of a terminal device on the premise of not increasing power consumption, and improve the communication experience of a user.

The antenna method provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to terminal equipment. A terminal device may refer to a device provided with MIMO antennas, such as a mobile phone, a tablet, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch), a vehicle-mounted device, a Laptop computer (Laptop), a desktop computer, and the like. Exemplary embodiments of the terminal equipment include, but are not limited to, portable terminals that carry IOS ®, android, microsoft @, or other operating systems.

As an example, please refer to fig. 3, which is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device 300 according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 3, the terminal device 300 may include a processor 301, a communication module 302, a display 303, and the like.

Among other things, processor 301 may include one or more processing units, such as: the processor 301 may include an Application Processor (AP), a modem processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), an Image Signal Processor (ISP), a controller, a memory, a video stream codec, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a baseband processor, and/or a neural-Network Processing Unit (NPU), etc. The different processing units may be separate devices or may be integrated in one or more processors 301.

The controller may be a neural center and a command center of the terminal device 300. The controller can generate an operation control signal according to the instruction operation code and the timing signal to complete the control of instruction fetching and instruction execution.

A memory may also be provided in processor 301 for storing instructions and data. In some embodiments, the memory in the processor 301 is a cache memory. The memory may hold instructions or data that have just been used or recycled by the processor 301. If the processor 301 needs to reuse the instruction or data, it can be called directly from the memory. Avoiding repeated accesses reduces the latency of the processor 301, thereby increasing the efficiency of the system.

In some embodiments, processor 301 may include one or more interfaces. The interface may include an integrated circuit (I2C) interface, an integrated circuit built-in audio (I2S) interface, a Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) interface, a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) interface, a mobile industry processor 301 interface (mobile industry processor interface, MIPI), a general-purpose-input/output (GPIO) interface, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) interface, and/or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface 311, and the like.

The terminal device 300 realizes a display function by the GPU, the display screen 303, and the application processor 301. The GPU is a microprocessor for image processing, and is connected to a display screen 303 and an application processor 301. The GPU is used to perform mathematical and geometric calculations for graphics rendering. Processor 301 may include one or more GPUs that execute program instructions to generate or change display information.

The display screen 303 is used to display images, video streams, etc.

The communication module 302 may include an antenna 1, an antenna 2, an antenna 3, and an antenna 4. The four antennas may constitute a 4 x 4mimo antenna. That is, the terminal device 300 may simultaneously turn on the antennas 1,2, 3 and 4 to transmit or receive signals.

Each antenna in terminal device 300 may be used to cover a single or multiple communication bands. Different antennas can also be multiplexed to improve the utilization of the antennas. For example: the antenna 1 may be multiplexed as a diversity antenna of a wireless local area network.

The mobile communication module 302A may provide a solution including wireless communication of 2G/3G/4G/5G, etc. applied on the terminal device 300. The mobile communication module 302A may include at least one filter, a switch, a power amplifier, a Low Noise Amplifier (LNA), and the like. The mobile communication module 302A may receive the electromagnetic wave from the antenna 1, and may perform filtering, amplification, and other processing on the received electromagnetic wave, and transmit the electromagnetic wave to the modem processor for demodulation. The mobile communication module 302A may also amplify the signal modulated by the modem processor, and convert the signal into electromagnetic waves via the antenna to radiate the electromagnetic waves. In some embodiments, at least some of the functional modules of the mobile communication module 302A may be provided in the processor 301. In some embodiments, at least some of the functional modules of the mobile communication module 302A may be provided in the same device as at least some of the modules of the processor 301.

The modem processor may include a modulator and a demodulator. The modulator is used for modulating a low-frequency baseband signal to be transmitted into a medium-high frequency signal. The demodulator is used for demodulating the received electromagnetic wave signal into a low-frequency baseband signal. The demodulator then passes the demodulated low frequency baseband signal to a baseband processor for processing. The low frequency baseband signal is processed by the baseband processor and then transferred to the application processor. The application processor outputs a sound signal through an audio device (not limited to the speaker 306A, the receiver 306B, etc.) or displays an image or video stream through the display screen 303. In some embodiments, the modem processor may be a stand-alone device. In other embodiments, the modem processor may be provided in the same device as the mobile communication module 302A or other functional modules, independent of the processor 301.

The wireless communication module 302B may provide a solution for wireless communication applied to the terminal device 300, including Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) (e.g., wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks), bluetooth (bluetooth, BT), global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), frequency Modulation (FM), near Field Communication (NFC), infrared (IR), and the like. The wireless communication module 302B may be one or more devices integrating at least one communication processing module. The wireless communication module 302B receives electromagnetic waves via an antenna, performs frequency modulation and filtering on an electromagnetic wave signal, and transmits the processed signal to the processor 301. The wireless communication module 302B may also receive a signal to be transmitted from the processor 301, perform frequency modulation and amplification on the signal, and convert the signal into electromagnetic waves through the antenna to radiate the electromagnetic waves.

In some embodiments, the wireless communication technology may include global system for mobile communications (GSM), general Packet Radio Service (GPRS), code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA), wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), time division code division multiple access (time-division code division multiple access, TD-SCDMA), long Term Evolution (LTE), BT, GNSS, WLAN, NFC, FM, and/or IR technology, among others. The GNSS may include a Global Positioning System (GPS), a global navigation satellite system (GLONASS), a beidou navigation satellite system (BDS), a quasi-zenith satellite system (QZSS), and/or a Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS).

As shown in fig. 3, in some implementations, the terminal device 300 may further include an external memory interface 310, an internal memory 304, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, a charging management module 312, a power management module 313, a battery 314, an audio module 306, a speaker 306A, a receiver 306B, a microphone 306C, a headset interface 306D, a sensor module 305, a button 309, a motor, an indicator 308, a camera 307, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card interface, and the like.

The charging management module 312 is used to receive charging input from the charger. The charger may be a wireless charger or a wired charger. In some wired charging embodiments, the charging management module 312 may receive charging input from a wired charger via the USB interface 311. In some wireless charging embodiments, the charging management module 312 may receive a wireless charging input through a wireless charging coil of the terminal device 300. The charging management module 312 may also supply power to the terminal device 300 through the power management module 313 while charging the battery 314.

The power management module 313 is used to connect the battery 314, the charging management module 312 and the processor 301. The power management module 313 receives input from the battery 314 and/or the charging management module 312, and provides power to the processor 301, the internal memory 304, the external memory, the display 303, the camera 307, the wireless communication module 302B, and the like. The power management module 313 may also be used to monitor parameters such as the capacity of the battery 314, the number of cycles of the battery 314, and the state of health (leakage, impedance) of the battery 314. In some other embodiments, the power management module 313 may also be disposed in the processor 301. In other embodiments, the power management module 313 and the charging management module 312 may be disposed in the same device.

The external memory interface 310 may be used to connect an external memory card, such as a Micro SD card, to extend the memory capability of the terminal device 300. The external memory card communicates with the processor 301 through the external memory interface 310 to implement a data storage function. For example, files such as music, video streams, etc. are saved in the external memory card.

The internal memory 304 may be used to store computer-executable program code, which includes instructions. The processor 301 executes various functional applications of the terminal device 300 and data processing by executing instructions stored in the internal memory 304.

The internal memory 304 may also store one or more computer programs corresponding to the data transmission method provided by the embodiment of the present application.

The terminal device 300 can implement an audio function through the audio module 306, the speaker 306A, the receiver 306B, the microphone 306C, the headphone interface 306D, the application processor 301, and the like. Such as music playing, recording, etc.

The keys 309 include a power-on key, a volume key, and the like. The keys 309 may be mechanical keys 309. Or may be touch keys 309. The terminal device 300 may receive a key 309 input, and generate a key signal input related to user setting and function control of the terminal device 300.

Indicator 308 may be an indicator light that may be used to indicate a state of charge, a change in charge, or a message, missed call, notification, etc.

The SIM card interface is used for connecting the SIM card. The SIM card can be brought into and out of contact with the terminal device 300 by being inserted into or pulled out of the SIM card interface. The terminal device 300 may support 1 or N SIM card interfaces, where N is a positive integer greater than 1. The SIM card interface can support a Nano SIM card, a Micro SIM card, a SIM card and the like. Multiple cards can be inserted into the same SIM card interface at the same time. The types of the plurality of cards may be the same or different. The SIM card interface may also be compatible with different types of SIM cards. The SIM card interface may also be compatible with external memory cards. The terminal device 300 interacts with the network through the SIM card to implement functions such as communication and data communication. In some embodiments, the terminal device 300 employs eSIM, namely: an embedded SIM card. The eSIM card may be embedded in the terminal device 300 and cannot be separated from the terminal device 300.

The sensor module 305 in the terminal device 300 may include a touch sensor, a pressure sensor, a gyroscope sensor, an air pressure sensor, a magnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a distance sensor, a proximity light sensor, an ambient light sensor, a fingerprint sensor, a temperature sensor, a bone conduction sensor, and the like to implement sensing and/or acquiring functions for different signals.

It is to be understood that the illustrated structure of the present embodiment does not constitute a specific limitation to the terminal device 300. In other embodiments, terminal device 300 may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or split certain components, or a different arrangement of components. The illustrated components may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

In addition, the 4 × 4mimo antenna shown in fig. 3 described above is only an example. In some other embodiments, the 4 × 4mimo antenna may be replaced with a 6 × 6mimo antenna, an 8 × 8mimo antenna, or the like, which is not specifically limited in this application.

It can be understood that the number of antennas in the 4 x 4mimo antenna is 4. The number of antennas in 6 x 6mimo antennas is 6. The number of antennas in 8 × 8mimo antennas is 8.

The antenna control method provided by the embodiment of the application is applied to an antenna control system. The antenna control system will be described first.

Please refer to fig. 4, which is a schematic diagram of an antenna control system according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 4, the antenna control system includes n antennas 401, a switch module 402, a main set module 403, a diversity module 404, a radio frequency interface chip 405, a system on chip 406, and a sensor module (not shown). The n antennas 401 constitute n × n MIMO antennas. The n antennas 401 are connected to a switch module 402. The switch module 402 is also connected to at least one main set module 403 and a plurality of diversity modules 404, respectively. The at least one main set module 403 and the plurality of diversity modules 404 are further respectively connected to a Radio Frequency Interface Chip 405 (RFIC). The radio frequency interface Chip 405 is also connected to a System on Chip (Soc) 406. The system-on-chip 406 is also connected to the sensor module.

The antenna 401 is used for receiving radio signals. In the embodiment of the present application, the radio signal received by the antenna 401 may be referred to as a reception signal.

The switch module 402 is used to adjust the connection relationship between each antenna 401 and the main set module 403 and each diversity module 404.

For example, the switch module 402 may control one of the n antennas 401 to connect to the main set module 403, and some of the n antennas 401 are connected to the diversity module 404, and some of the antennas are in an off state. The fact that the antenna is in the disconnected state means that the corresponding antenna is not connected to the main diversity module 403 nor the diversity module 404.

It should be noted that the switch module 402 needs to receive an instruction from the system-on-chip 406, and adjust the connection relationship between the antenna 401 and the main set module 403 and the diversity modules 404 according to the instruction of the system-on-chip 406.

In this embodiment, the antenna 401 connected to the master set module 403 may be referred to as a master set antenna, and the radio frequency path in which the master set module 403 is located may be referred to as a master set path. The antenna 401 connected to the diversity module 404 may be referred to as a diversity antenna and the radio frequency path in which the diversity module 404 is located may be referred to as a diversity path.

As can be appreciated from the above description, the switch module 402 can set the antenna 401 to a main set antenna, a diversity antenna or an off state according to instructions of the system-on-chip 406.

In some embodiments, a Low Noise Amplifier (Low Noise Amplifier) may be included in the main set module 403 and/or the diversity module 404 for amplifying a signal received by the corresponding antenna 401. The low noise amplifier is an amplifier with a very low noise coefficient, and can amplify a signal and reduce interference of noise on the signal.

The radio frequency interface chip 405 is used to convert the received signal from an analog signal form into a digital signal form, and send the received signal in the digital signal form to the system-on-chip 406.

The system-on-chip 406 is used to obtain signal parameters in the received signal. Wherein the signal parameter may comprise any one of: reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), received Signal Code Power (RSCP), reference Signal Receiving Quality (RSRQ), signal to Interference Noise Ratio (SINR), independent Signal Unit (ASU).

The reference signal received power refers to a measured value of a received power level in an LTE (Long Term Evolution) cell network. In other words, the reference signal received power refers to a cell common reference signal power value received by the terminal device, and the value is a linear average value of single RE (Resource Element) power within a measurement bandwidth. In which LTE is a high-speed wireless communication standard, and the LTE network is the 4G (the 4th Generation mobile communication technology, fourth Generation mobile phone mobile communication standard) network. The reference signal received power is one of the key parameters that can represent the wireless signal strength in LTE networks and the physical layer measurement requirements.

The received signal strength indication is an optional part of the radio transmission layer and is mainly used to decide the quality of the communication link and to increase the broadcast transmission strength. In particular, the received signal strength indication is a linear average of the power of all signals received by the terminal device. All the signals comprise common-frequency useful signals and interference signals, adjacent-frequency interference signals, thermal noise and the like.

The received signal code power refers to a specific signal code power received in a physical channel. The Physical Channel may be, for example, a DPCH (Dedicated Physical Channel), a PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel), a PUSCH (Physical uplink shared Channel).

The reference signal received quality is N times the ratio of the reference signal received power to the received signal strength indication. Wherein N is the number of REs contained in the measurement bandwidth of the reference signal received power. The reference signal received quality can reflect the ratio between the signal and the interference, and the larger the ratio, the better the quality of the corresponding received signal.

The signal-to-noise ratio is a ratio whose numerator is the desired signal power and whose denominator is the sum of the interference signal power and the noise signal power. The higher the signal-to-noise ratio, the higher the quality of the corresponding received signal.

An independent signal unit refers to a signal that is mathematically a continuous function in the time domain. The larger the individual signal unit, the higher the strength of the corresponding received signal.

It should be noted that the ASU is a signal strength unit defined for the Android devices. And when the operating system of the terminal equipment is Android, the signal parameters comprise ASUs. And when the operating system of the terminal equipment is not Android, the signal parameters do not comprise ASUs.

The system-on-chip 406 is further configured to control the switch module 402 to adjust the connection relationship between each antenna 401 and the main set module 403 and each diversity module 404 according to the signal parameter of the received signal.

Please refer to fig. 5, which is a schematic structural diagram of a system-on-chip 406 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 5, the system on chip 406 may include a Modem (Modem 501), a telephone communication module 502, a system UI module 503, and the like.

The modem 501 is configured to obtain signal parameters in a received signal, and control the switch module 402 to adjust a connection relationship between each antenna 401 and the main set module 403 and between each diversity module 404 according to the signal parameters in the received signal.

The telephony communication module 502 can be used to display the strength of the received signal. Illustratively, the telephony communication module 502 may display the received signal strength in the form of a number, a percentage, an analog image, etc. on the display screen.

The system interface module 503 may be used to display the quality of the received signal. Illustratively, the system interface module 503 may display the quality of the received signal in the form of numbers, percentages, analog images, etc. on a display screen.

The sensor module is used for detecting the distance between the human body and each antenna 401 and sending the distance between the human body and each antenna 401 to the system-on-chip 406.

The system-on-chip 406 is further configured to control the switch module 402 to adjust the connection relationship between each antenna 401 and the main set module 403 and each diversity module 404 according to the signal parameter of the received signal and the distance between the human body and each antenna 401.

The above is a description of the antenna control system provided in the embodiments of the present application. The antenna control method provided by the embodiment of the present application can be applied to the antenna control system shown in fig. 4.

For convenience of description, the antenna control method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described below by taking the antenna control system shown in fig. 6 as an example. Please refer to fig. 6, which is a schematic diagram of another antenna control system according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 6, the antenna control system includes 4 antennas, which are antenna a, antenna b, antenna c, and antenna d. The antenna control system also includes 3 diversity modules 404 and 1 main set module 403. The 3 diversity modules 404 and the 1 main set module 403 are respectively connected to the rf interface chip 405. The radio frequency interface chip 405 is connected to the system-on-chip 406.

Wherein, the antenna b is connected to one diversity module 404 through the switch module 402, and the antenna a is connected to the main set module 403 through the switch module 402. That is, the antenna b is connected to the rf path where the diversity module 404 is located, and is a diversity antenna. The antenna a is connected to the rf path where the main set module 403 is located, and is a main set antenna. Antenna c and antenna d are in an off state.

As can be seen from fig. 6, the antenna a is not shielded by the human body, and the antenna b is shielded by the human body. The antenna control method provided in the embodiments of the present application is described below by taking the antenna control system shown in fig. 6 as an example.

According to the antenna control method provided by the embodiment of the application, when the screen state is the bright screen state and the screen off state, whether the antenna c and the antenna d are started or not can be judged through different steps.

It can be understood that the screen is in a bright screen state, which indicates that the terminal device is being used by the user, so that the user has a relatively obvious perception of the communication performance of the terminal device. And the screen is in the screen-off state, which indicates that the terminal device is not used by the user, so that the user feels dull about the communication performance of the terminal device.

In other words, the user's perception of the communication capabilities of the terminal device is different when the screen is in different states.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, different steps may be performed for different states of the screen to determine whether to enable the antenna c and the antenna d to adjust the communication performance of the terminal device.

Please refer to fig. 7, which is a partial flowchart of an antenna control method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 7, the flow includes S701 to S704. Wherein S704 includes S704a and S704b.

And S701, acquiring the state of the screen. The states of the screen include a bright screen state and a dead screen state.

S702, judging whether the screen is in a screen-off state or not. If yes, go to S703a. If not, go to S703b.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device is powered on, a state when the screen emits light may be referred to as being in a bright screen state. The state when the screen is not lighted may be referred to as a screen-off state.

The screen-off state and the screen-on state of the screen can be switched with each other. Illustratively, the terminal device can be provided with a key. The terminal device can respond to the pressing operation of the user on the key, and the screen is converted from the screen-off state to the screen-on state, or the screen is converted from the screen-on state to the screen-off state.

In some embodiments, the functions of the above-mentioned keys may be integrated in the on/off key of the terminal device.

The state transition manner of the screen provided above is only an example, and the state of the screen may also be transitioned by other manners. For example, the terminal device may convert the screen from the screen-off state to the screen-on state or convert the screen from the screen-on state to the screen-off state in response to a double-click operation for the screen. The embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the state transition mode of the screen.

In some embodiments, the system-on-chip in the antenna control system may perform S701 above in response to the operation for switching the screen state. Illustratively, the system on chip may acquire the state of the screen in response to a pressing operation for the power on/off key. Or, the system on chip may also acquire the state of the screen in response to a double-click operation for the screen.

In other embodiments, the soc in the antenna control system may obtain the state of the screen in response to the cell signal quality being lower than a preset signal quality threshold, or the power headroom of the antenna being lower than a preset headroom threshold, or the like. The preset signal quality threshold and the preset margin threshold may be set according to actual needs, which is not limited in the present application. The power headroom refers to a difference between the maximum transmission power of the terminal and the existing transmission power within 1 subframe.

In this embodiment of the application, when the screen state is the off-screen state, whether to enable the antenna c and the antenna d may be determined according to the signal parameter of the signal received by the antenna a and the signal parameter of the signal received by the antenna b, that is, the following S703a to S704a.

S703a, acquiring a first signal parameter and a second signal parameter. The first signal parameter refers to a signal parameter of a signal received by the antenna a. The second signal parameter refers to a signal parameter of a signal received by the antenna b.

In the embodiments of the present application, the signal parameters may also be referred to as received signal parameters. Thus, the first signal parameter is the received signal parameter of the antenna a, and the second signal parameter is the received signal parameter of the antenna b.

The signal parameter may be any one of: reference signal received power, received signal strength indication, received signal code power, reference signal received quality, signal to noise ratio, individual signal units.

The antenna a and the antenna b are both in a working state, so that the first signal parameter and the second signal parameter can be obtained only by analyzing signals received by the antenna a and the antenna b.

It should be noted that the first signal parameter and the second signal parameter are the same type of signal parameter. For example, the first signal parameter and the second signal parameter may both be a reference signal received power.

S704a, when a difference between the first signal parameter and the second signal parameter is greater than a first predetermined threshold, activating the antenna c and the antenna d.

When the antenna a and the antenna b are not shielded by the human body, the first signal parameter and the second signal parameter are relatively close.

When the antenna a is not shielded by the human body and the antenna b is shielded by the human body, the second signal parameter is reduced, so that the difference value between the first signal parameter and the second signal parameter is increased.

When the difference between the first signal parameter and the second signal parameter is greater than the first preset threshold, the diversity gain and spatial multiplexing effects of the antenna a and the antenna b are significantly reduced, resulting in a reduction in the communication performance of the corresponding terminal device.

The first preset threshold may also be referred to as a preset threshold, and may be set according to actual requirements. Illustratively, the first preset threshold may be 6dB when the first signal parameter and the second signal parameter are both the reference signal received power.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the difference between the first signal parameter and the second signal parameter is greater than the first preset threshold, the antenna c and the antenna d may be enabled, and the antenna b is replaced by the antenna with stronger signal receiving capability in the antenna c and the antenna d, so as to improve the communication performance of the corresponding terminal device without increasing power consumption.

Enabling the antenna c means connecting the antenna c with the radio frequency channel where the diversity module is located, or connecting the antenna c with the radio frequency channel where the main diversity module is located. That is, after antenna c is enabled, antenna c is either a diversity antenna or a main set antenna. The antenna d is similar and will not be described herein.

In some embodiments, enabling antenna c and antenna d may also be referred to as turning on dynamic diversity of 4 x 4mimo antennas. Therefore, the antenna a, the antenna b, the antenna c and the antenna d can receive signals at the same time, so that the signal receiving capability of the corresponding antenna can be judged according to the signal parameters of the signals received by the antennas.

In this embodiment of the application, when the screen state is the bright screen state, whether to start the antenna c and the antenna d may be determined according to the distance between the antenna a and the human body and the distance between the antenna b and the human body, that is, the following steps S703b to S704b.

And S703b, detecting the distance between the antenna a and the human body and the distance between the antenna b and the human body.

In the embodiment of the present application, the distance between the antenna a and the human body and the distance between the antenna b and the human body may be detected by the sensor module.

The sensor module may include a plurality of sensors distributed at different positions of the terminal device, and the distances between the positions and the antennas are known values. Thus, the sensor module can quickly determine the distance between each antenna and the human body according to the position of the sensor for detecting the human body.

For example, the sensor module may be a TP sensor (Touch Panel sensor).

And S704b, starting the antenna c and the antenna d when the distance between the antenna b and the human body is smaller than a preset threshold value. The preset threshold value may be set according to actual needs, and is, for example, 3mm,5mm, and the like.

And the distance between the antenna b and the human body is smaller than a preset threshold value, which indicates that the antenna b is shielded by the human body.

Reference may be made to S704a for a description of enabling the antenna c and the antenna d, which is not described herein.

It can be understood that the distance between the antenna and the human body can be directly obtained through the sensor module, and the signal parameter can be obtained only by analyzing the signal received by the antenna, so that the time for detecting the distance between the antenna and the human body is shorter than the time for acquiring the signal parameter.

Therefore, the time required to execute the above S703b to S704b is smaller than the time required to execute the above S703a to S704a. That is to say, when the antenna b is blocked by a human body and the screen of the terminal device is in a bright screen state, the antenna with stronger signal receiving capability can be quickly selected from the antenna c and the antenna d through the above S703b to S704b to replace the antenna b, so that the communication performance of the corresponding terminal device is quickly improved.

It should be noted that the above S703b-S704b may also be applied to a scene where the screen of the terminal device is in the off-screen state. The above-mentioned S703a-S704a may also be applied to a scene in which the screen of the terminal device is in a bright screen state.

That is, if the determination result in S702 is yes, S703b-S704b may be executed to determine whether to enable the antenna c and the antenna d. If the result of the determination in S702 is negative, S703a to S704a may be executed to determine whether to enable the antenna c and the antenna d. This is not a particular limitation in the embodiments of the present application.

After the antenna c and the antenna d are enabled, the antenna control method provided by the embodiment of the application further includes an antenna replacing step, that is, the antenna with stronger signal receiving capability in the antenna c and the antenna d is used for replacing the shielded antenna b.

Please refer to fig. 8, which is a partial flowchart of another antenna control method according to an embodiment of the present application. It should be noted that, steps in this partial flowchart are executed after S704a or S704b in fig. 7, and specifically, S801 in fig. 8 may be executed after S704a or S704b in fig. 7.

As shown in fig. 8, the flow includes S801-S804.

And S801, acquiring a third signal parameter and a fourth signal parameter. The third signal parameter refers to a signal parameter of a signal received by the antenna c, and the fourth signal parameter refers to a signal parameter of a signal received by the antenna d.

And S802, determining a target antenna according to the third signal parameter and the fourth signal parameter.

In this embodiment, the third signal parameter is greater than the fourth signal parameter, which indicates that the signal receiving capability of the antenna c is stronger than that of the antenna d, and then the antenna c may be determined as the target antenna. The third signal parameter is smaller than the fourth signal parameter, which indicates that the signal receiving capability of the antenna c is weaker than that of the antenna d, and then the antenna d can be determined as the target antenna.

Since the antenna b is shielded by the human body. Therefore, in the embodiment of the application, the antenna with stronger signal receiving capability in the antenna c or the antenna d can be selected to replace the antenna b, so that the communication performance of the corresponding terminal device is improved.

And S803, continuously acquiring the m times of second signal parameters and target signal parameters of the target antenna.

And S804, when the difference values between the target signal parameters acquired m times and the corresponding second signal parameters are larger than a second preset threshold, connecting the target antenna to a radio frequency path of the antenna b, and disconnecting other antennas except the antenna a and the target antenna.

It is to be understood that when the third signal parameter is greater than the fourth signal parameter, the target antenna is antenna c.

The above S803 is: and continuously acquiring the second signal parameter and the third signal parameter m times.

The step S804 is: and when the difference value between the third signal parameter obtained m times and the corresponding second signal parameter is greater than a second preset threshold, connecting the antenna c to the radio frequency channel of the antenna b, and disconnecting the antenna b and the antenna d.

In this case, in the antenna control system shown in fig. 6, after S804 is executed, the antenna b and the antenna d are disconnected, the antenna a is connected to the main diversity module, and the antenna c is connected to the diversity module.

Please refer to fig. 9, which is a schematic diagram of another antenna control system according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 9, after connecting antenna c in fig. 6 to the rf path of antenna b and disconnecting antenna b and antenna d, antenna c is connected to the diversity module 404 to which antenna b was initially connected, antenna a is still connected to the main set module 403 to which antenna b was initially connected, and neither antenna b nor antenna d is connected to the main set module 403 or the diversity module 404.

It can be understood that after the antenna c is connected to the radio frequency path, i.e. the diversity path, in which the antenna b is located, the antenna c becomes a diversity antenna, and performs signal reception in cooperation with the antenna a as the main set antenna. It can be seen that, because the signal receiving capability of the antenna c is stronger than that of the antenna b, the communication performance of the terminal device when the antenna a and the antenna c work simultaneously is higher than that when the antenna a and the antenna b work simultaneously. That is to say, the antenna control method provided by the embodiment of the present application can effectively improve the communication performance of the corresponding terminal device.

In the embodiment of the present application, disconnecting antenna b and antenna d may also be referred to as freezing the combination of antenna a and antenna c, turning off the dynamic diversity of the 4 × 4mimo antenna.

And when the third signal parameter is smaller than the fourth signal parameter, the target antenna is an antenna d.

The above S803 is: and continuously acquiring the second signal parameter and the fourth signal parameter m times.

The step S804 is: and when the difference value between the fourth signal parameter acquired m times and the corresponding second signal parameter is greater than a second preset threshold, connecting the antenna d to the radio frequency channel of the antenna b, and disconnecting the antenna b and the antenna c.

In this case, in the antenna control system shown in fig. 6, after S804 is executed, the antenna b and the antenna c are disconnected, the antenna a is connected to the main diversity module, and the antenna d is connected to the diversity module.

Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of another antenna control system according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 10, after connecting antenna d in fig. 6 to the rf path of antenna b and disconnecting antenna b and antenna c, antenna d is connected to the diversity module 404 to which antenna b was originally connected, antenna a is still connected to the main diversity module 403 to which antenna b was originally connected, and neither antenna b nor antenna c is connected to the main diversity module 403 or the diversity module 404. It can be understood that after the antenna d is connected to the radio frequency path where the antenna b is located, the antenna d becomes a diversity antenna, and performs signal reception in cooperation with the antenna a as a main set antenna.

It can be seen that, because the signal receiving capability of the antenna d is stronger than that of the antenna b, the communication performance of the terminal device when the antenna a and the antenna d work simultaneously is higher than that when the antenna a and the antenna b work simultaneously.

That is to say, the antenna control method provided by the embodiment of the present application can effectively improve the communication performance of the terminal device.

In the embodiments of the present application, m is an integer greater than or equal to 2. For example, the obtaining m times of the second signal parameter and the target signal parameter may specifically be: and acquiring the second signal parameter and the target signal parameter once every preset time interval, and continuously acquiring m times. The preset time period may be 0.2s,0.5s,1s, etc., and is not particularly limited.

In this embodiment of the present application, the second signal parameter corresponding to the target signal parameter acquired for the first time refers to the second signal parameter acquired for the first time. The second signal parameter corresponding to the target signal parameter acquired for the second time is the second signal parameter acquired for the second time. By analogy, the second signal parameter corresponding to the target signal parameter refers to a second signal parameter obtained simultaneously when the target signal parameter is obtained.

The second predetermined threshold may be a number greater than or equal to 0, such as 0,1,2. Therefore, when the difference value between the target signal parameter and the corresponding second signal parameter is greater than the second preset threshold, it indicates that the target signal parameter is greater than or equal to the second signal parameter.

It can be understood that if the target signal parameters obtained m times are all greater than the corresponding second signal parameters, it indicates that the signal receiving capability of the target antenna is stronger than that of the antenna b, and is more stable. And if the target signal parameters acquired for m times are not all larger than the corresponding second signal parameters, the signal receiving capability of the target antenna is not stable enough.

In this embodiment, if the target signal parameters obtained m times are all greater than the corresponding second signal parameters, the target antenna is connected to the radio frequency path of the antenna b, and the other antennas except the antenna a and the target antenna are disconnected.

It should be noted that, before connecting the target antenna to the rf path of the antenna b, the target antenna needs to be disconnected from the original rf path.

In other embodiments, the connection relationship between the antenna and the rf path may also be determined by an integration method. For example, S803 may be: and continuously acquiring the first signal parameter, the second signal parameter and the target signal parameter m times. Correspondingly, the step S804 may be: and if the integrals of the first signal parameter and the target signal parameter obtained each time are larger than the integrals of the corresponding first signal parameter and the second signal parameter, connecting the target antenna to the radio frequency path of the antenna b, and disconnecting the other antennas except the antenna a and the target antenna.

In the embodiments corresponding to fig. 7 to 10, the antenna a is not shielded by a human body, and the antenna b is shielded by a human body. In practical application, there may be a case where the antenna a is shielded by a human body and the antenna b is not shielded by the human body. In a scenario where the antenna a is shielded by a human body and the antenna b is not shielded by the human body, the antenna control method provided in the embodiment of the present application is similar to the above S701-S704 and S801-S804, and is not described herein again.

In addition, the signal parameters may further include Error Vector Magnitude (EVM). The error vector magnitude is the vector error between an ideal error-free reference signal and an actual received signal at a given moment, and can comprehensively measure the magnitude error and the phase error of the received signal. In particular, the error vector magnitude is defined as the ratio of the root mean square value of the error vector signal average power to the root mean square value of the ideal signal average power. The smaller the magnitude of the error vector, the better the quality of the corresponding received signal.

It can be understood that if the antenna b is shielded by the human body and the antenna a is not shielded by the human body, the magnitude of the error vector of the second signal parameter is smaller than that of the first signal parameter.

Therefore, when the signal parameter is the error vector magnitude, S704a in the above embodiment needs to be changed to: and when the difference between the first signal parameter and the second signal parameter is smaller than a first preset threshold, starting the antenna c and the antenna d. If the third signal parameter is greater than the fourth signal parameter in S802, which indicates that the signal receiving capability of the antenna c is weaker than that of the antenna d, the antenna d may be determined as the target antenna. The third signal parameter is smaller than the fourth signal parameter, which indicates that the signal receiving capability of the antenna c is stronger than that of the antenna d, and then the antenna c can be determined as the target antenna. The above S804 needs to be modified as follows: and when the difference value between the target signal parameter acquired m times and the corresponding second signal parameter is smaller than a second preset threshold, connecting the target antenna to the radio frequency path of the antenna b, and disconnecting the other antennas except the target antenna and the antenna a.

It should be particularly noted that the application scenarios of the above embodiment are as follows: the antennas in the antenna control system are 4 × 4mimo antennas, which are antenna a, antenna b, antenna c, and antenna d, respectively. Wherein antennas a and b are in an active state and antennas c and d are in an off state. The antenna a is not shielded by the human body, and the antenna b is shielded by the human body. Fig. 7 to fig. 10 and the related description thereof describe the antenna control method provided in the embodiment of the present application by taking the application scenario as an example.

Next, taking the terminal device shown in fig. 2 as an example, an execution process of the antenna control method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described. As described above, antennas 1 and 2 in fig. 2 are in the operating state, and antennas 3 and 4 are in the off state.

The system-level chip firstly acquires the screen state of the terminal equipment and judges whether the screen is in a screen-off state or a screen-on state.

If the screen is in a screen-off state, the system-on-chip acquires the signal parameters of the antenna 1 and the signal parameters of the antenna 2, and when the difference between the signal parameters of the antenna 1 and the signal parameters of the antenna 2 is greater than a first preset threshold, the antenna 3 and the antenna 4 are set to be in a working state.

If the screen is in a bright screen state, the system-on-chip detects the distance between the antenna 1 and the human body and the distance between the antenna 2 and the human body through the sensor module. As can be seen from fig. 2, the antenna 2 is shielded by the hand of the human body. Therefore, when the distance between the antenna 2 and the human body is smaller than a preset threshold value, the antenna 3 and the antenna 4 are set to the operating state.

No matter the screen is in the screen-off state or the screen-on state, after the antenna 3 and the antenna 4 are set to the working state, the signal parameter of the antenna 3 and the signal parameter of the antenna 4 need to be obtained again, and whether the signal parameter of the antenna 3 is greater than the signal parameter of the antenna 4 is judged.

As can be seen from fig. 2, the antenna 4 is also in a state of being shielded by the hand of the human body, and therefore, it can be understood that the signal parameter of the antenna 4 is smaller than that of the antenna 3. I.e. antenna 3 is the target antenna.

And when the signal parameter of the antenna 3 is larger than that of the antenna 4, continuously acquiring the signal parameter of the antenna 2 and the signal parameter of the antenna 3 for 3 times. If the signal parameter of the antenna 3 is greater than or equal to the signal parameter of the antenna 2 each time, the antenna 3 is connected to the radio frequency path of the antenna 2, the antenna 2 and the antenna 4 are set to be in a disconnected state, and the connection between the antenna 3 and the original radio frequency path is disconnected. If the signal parameters of the antenna 3 are not both greater than or equal to the signal parameters of the antenna 2 in the signal parameters obtained in 3 times, the antenna 3 and the antenna 4 are set to be in a disconnected state, and the original combination of the antenna 1 and the antenna 2 is kept unchanged.

It is easily understood that after the antenna control method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applied, the antennas 1 and 3 are in the operating state, and the antennas 2 and 4 are in the off state. In addition, since the combination of the antenna 1 and the antenna 3 is not shielded by a human body, the communication capability is significantly higher than that of the combination of the antenna 1 and the antenna 2, and the power consumption is substantially the same as that of the combination of the antenna 1 and the antenna 2.

That is to say, the antenna control method provided by the design example of the application can reduce the influence of the antenna covered by the body of the user on the communication performance of the terminal device on the premise of not increasing the power consumption, and improve the communication experience of the user.

More generally, the antenna control method provided in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to an antenna control system as shown in fig. 4, where the number of antennas in the antenna system is n, and n × n MIMO antennas are formed. n is an integer greater than or equal to 3.

For the above scenario, the embodiment of the present application may determine whether to enable the antenna in the disconnected state through the flowchart shown in fig. 11. Please refer to fig. 11, which is a partial flowchart of another antenna control method according to an embodiment of the present application. The process includes S1101-S1105, where S1105 includes S1105a and S1105b.

S1101, acquiring the state of each antenna. The state of the antenna includes a working state and a disconnection state, the working state refers to that the antenna is connected with a radio frequency path where the diversity module is located or a radio frequency path where the main set module is located, that is, the antenna is a diversity antenna or a main set antenna, and the disconnection state refers to that the antenna is not connected with the radio frequency path where the diversity module is located or the radio frequency path where the main set module is located, that is, the antenna is neither a main set antenna nor a diversity antenna.

In the embodiment of the present application, an antenna in an initial state of an operating state may be referred to as a first type antenna, and an antenna in an initial state of an off state may be referred to as a second type antenna. Here, the initial state refers to the state of each antenna acquired in S1101.

Taking the antenna in fig. 6 as an example, the antennas a and b are the first type antennas, and the antennas c and d are the second type antennas. In performing S803-S804, the antenna b is a first antenna and the target antenna is a second antenna.

There is also a third type of antenna in the embodiments of the present application. The third type of antenna includes each of the first type of antenna except the first antenna and a second antenna of the second type of antenna. Still taking the antenna in fig. 6 as an example, when S803-S804 are performed, the third type of antenna includes antenna a and a target antenna.

And S1102, when the number of the first type of antenna and the number of the second type of antenna are not zero, acquiring the state of the screen.

In the embodiment of the present application, the states of the screen may include a screen-off state and a screen-on state. For the related description of the screen-off state and the screen-on state, reference may be made to the above S702, which is not described herein again.

It should be noted that, in the antenna control method provided in the embodiment of the present application, a scenario in which the number of the first type antennas or the second type antennas is 0 is not considered.

The number of the first type of antennas is 0, that is, all the antennas are in the off state, which indicates that the terminal device does not need to operate the antennas at present, and therefore how to improve the communication performance of the terminal device does not need to be considered.

The number of the second type of antennas is 0, that is, all the antennas are in an operating state, which indicates that the terminal device is in a state with the strongest communication performance, and therefore, how to improve the communication performance of the terminal device does not need to be considered.

In the embodiment of the present application, the numbers of the first type antennas and the second type antennas are not all 0, that is, when at least one antenna in a working state and at least one antenna in a disconnected state exist in the antenna control system, the state of the screen may be obtained, and different steps may be performed according to different states of the screen to improve the communication performance of the corresponding terminal device.

S1103, judging whether the screen state is a screen-off state. If yes, go to S1104a. If not, S1104b is executed.

First, a scene in which the screen state is the off-screen state will be described.

And S1104a, acquiring signal parameters of the first antenna. The signal parameter of the antenna may also be referred to as a signal parameter of a signal received by the antenna.

It is to be understood that when the first type of antenna includes the antenna a and the antenna b, S1104a is the above-mentioned S703a, that is, the line signal parameter (the first signal parameter) of the antenna a and the signal parameter (the second signal parameter) of the antenna b are obtained.

For the description of the signal parameters, reference may be made to the above description for S703a, which is not described herein again.

S1105a, when the range of the signal parameter of the first antenna is larger than a first preset threshold, the second antenna is set to be in a working state.

The range of the signal parameter of the first antenna is the difference between the maximum signal parameter and the minimum signal parameter of the first antenna. In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna with the smallest signal parameter in the first type of antenna may be referred to as the antenna to be replaced or the first antenna.

When the first type antennas are not shielded by human bodies, the signal parameters of the first type antennas are relatively close, that is, the range of the signal parameters of the first type antennas is small. However, when there is an antenna hidden by a human body in the first type of antenna, the range of the signal parameters in the first type of antenna increases. And subtracting the minimum value from the maximum value of the signal parameters in the first type of antennas to obtain the range of the signal parameters in the first type of antennas.

When the range of the signal parameter in the first type of antenna is greater than the first preset threshold, the diversity gain and the spatial multiplexing effect between the first type of antennas are reduced, resulting in the reduction of the communication performance of the corresponding terminal device.

For the description of the first preset threshold, reference may be made to the related description for S704a, which is not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the application, when the range of the signal parameter in the first type of antenna is greater than the first preset threshold, the second type of antenna is set to be in a working state, so that an antenna with stronger signal receiving capability in the second type of antenna is subsequently selected to replace an antenna with poorer signal receiving capability in the first type of antenna.

It is understood that when the first type of antenna includes the antenna a and the antenna b in fig. 6, and the second type of antenna includes the antenna c and the antenna d in fig. 6, S1105a is: when the difference between the signal parameter (the first signal parameter) of the antenna a and the signal parameter (the second signal parameter) of the antenna b is greater than the first preset threshold, the antenna c and the antenna d are set to be in an operating state (the antenna c and the antenna d are enabled), i.e., the foregoing S704a.

The following describes a scene when the screen is in a bright state.

And S1104b, detecting the distance between the first-class antenna and the human body.

When the first type of antenna includes antenna a and antenna b, S1104b may be: the distance between the antenna a and the human body and the distance between the antenna b and the human body, i.e., the above S703b, are detected.

For the detection method of the distance between the antenna and the human body, reference may be made to the related description of the foregoing S703b, which is not described herein again.

S1105b, when there is an antenna with the distance between the first antenna and the human body being smaller than the preset threshold value, the second antenna is set to be in a working state.

In the embodiment of the present application, an antenna, whose distance from the human body is smaller than a preset threshold, in the first type of antenna may be referred to as an antenna to be replaced or a first antenna.

When the first type of antenna includes an antenna a and an antenna b, the antenna to be replaced is an antenna b, and the second type of antenna includes an antenna c and an antenna d, S1105b may be: and when the distance between the antenna b and the human body is smaller than a preset threshold value and the distance between the antenna a and the human body is not smaller than the preset threshold value, starting the antenna c and the antenna d. I.e., S704b described above.

In the embodiment of the present application, the preset threshold may be set according to actual needs, for example, 3mm,5mm, etc., and is not specifically limited herein.

In addition, when there is no antenna in the first type of antenna, the distance between the antennas and the human body is smaller than the preset threshold, it is described that there is no antenna in a state of being blocked by the human body, and therefore, there is no need to adjust the connection relationship between each antenna and each radio frequency channel.

After the second type of antennas are enabled, the antennas with stronger signal receiving capability in the second type of antennas can be used for replacing the antennas with weaker signal receiving capability in the first type of antennas.

Please refer to fig. 12, which is a partial flowchart of another antenna control method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 12, the flow includes S1201-1204. Note that S1201 may be executed after S1105a or S1105b in fig. 11 described above.

And S1201, acquiring signal parameters of the second type of antenna.

It can be seen that when the second type of antenna includes antenna c and antenna d, S1201 is: the signal parameter of the antenna c (the third signal parameter) and the signal parameter of the antenna d (the fourth signal parameter) are obtained, that is, in step S801 described above.

And S1202, determining a target antenna according to the signal parameters of the second type antenna. The target antenna is the antenna with the largest signal parameter in the second type of antennas.

In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna with the largest signal parameter, that is, the target antenna, may be determined by comparing the signal parameters of the second type of antenna. The specific method for comparing the signal parameters of the second type of antenna may be a one-by-one comparison method, a bubbling method, etc., which is not limited in this application. Wherein the target antenna may also be referred to as the second antenna.

When the second type of antenna includes an antenna c and an antenna d, the above S1202 may be: it is determined whether the signal parameter (third signal parameter) of antenna c is greater than the signal parameter (fourth signal parameter) of antenna d. If yes, the antenna c is taken as the target antenna. If not, the antenna d is taken as the target antenna, i.e., S802.

And S1203, continuously acquiring the signal parameters of the m antennas to be replaced and the signal parameters of the target antenna.

For the description of m, reference may be made to the above S708a, which is not described herein again.

It can be understood that when the antenna to be replaced is the antenna b and the target antenna is the antenna c, S1203 is: the signal parameter (second signal parameter) of the antenna b and the signal parameter (third signal parameter) of the antenna c are acquired m times in succession, that is, S803 described above.

When the antenna to be replaced is the antenna b and the target antenna is the antenna d, S1203 is: the signal parameter of the antenna b (second signal parameter) and the signal parameter of the antenna d (fourth signal parameter) are acquired m times in succession, that is, S803 described above.

S1204, when the difference value between the signal parameter of the target antenna obtained m times and the signal parameter of the corresponding antenna to be replaced is larger than a second preset threshold, connecting the target antenna to the radio frequency path of the antenna to be replaced, and setting the antenna to be replaced and other second antennas except the target antenna to be in a disconnected state.

It can be seen that, when the antenna to be replaced is the antenna b and the target antenna is the antenna c, the above S1204 may be: when the difference between the signal parameter (third signal parameter) of the antenna c obtained m times and the signal parameter (i.e., the second signal parameter) of the corresponding antenna b is greater than the second preset threshold, the antenna c is connected to the radio frequency path of the antenna b, and the antenna b and the other antennas (the antenna d) except the antenna c are disconnected, that is, the above step S804.

When the antenna to be replaced is the antenna b and the target antenna is the antenna d, the step S1204 may be: when the difference between the signal parameter (fourth signal parameter) of the antenna d obtained m times and the signal parameter (i.e., the second signal parameter) of the corresponding antenna b is greater than the second preset threshold, the antenna d is connected to the radio frequency path of the antenna b, and the antenna b and the other antennas (the antenna c) except the antenna d are disconnected, that is, the above step S804.

It should be noted that, if the difference values between the signal parameter of the target antenna obtained m times and the signal parameter of the corresponding antenna to be replaced are not both greater than the second preset threshold, which indicates that the signal receiving capability of the target antenna is not stable enough, the second antenna is set to the off state, and the first antenna is still used for receiving and transmitting signals.

According to the antenna control method provided by the embodiment of the application, no matter the screen state is the screen-off state or the screen-on state, the influence of the antenna on the communication performance of the terminal equipment, which is sheltered by the body of a user, can be reduced on the premise of not improving the power consumption, and the communication experience of the user is improved.

Please refer to fig. 13, which is a schematic diagram of an electronic device 1300 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The electronic device 1300 may be any one of the above-mentioned examples, for example, the electronic device 1300 may be a mobile phone, a computer, or the like. Illustratively, as shown in fig. 13, the electronic device 1300 may include: a processor 1301 and a memory 1302. The memory 1302 is used to store computer-executable instructions. For example, in some embodiments, the processor 1301, when executing the instructions stored in the memory 1302, may cause the electronic device 1300 to perform any of the functions of the electronic device in the above embodiments to implement any of the methods in the above examples.

It should be noted that all relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

Fig. 14 shows a schematic block diagram of a chip system 1400. The chip system 1400 may be disposed in an electronic device. The chip system 1400 may be disposed in a mobile phone, for example. Illustratively, the chip system 1400 may include: a processor 1401 and a communication interface 1402 to enable the electronic device to carry out the functions referred to in the above embodiments. In one possible design, the system-on-chip 1400 also includes memory for storing necessary program instructions and data for the electronic device. The chip system may be constituted by a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices. It should be noted that, in some implementations of the present application, the communication interface 1402 may also be referred to as an interface circuit.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer storage medium, where a computer instruction is stored in the computer storage medium, and when the computer instruction runs on a terminal device, the terminal device is enabled to execute the relevant method steps to implement the method in the foregoing embodiment.

Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the relevant steps described above, so as to implement the method in the foregoing embodiments.

In addition, embodiments of the present application also provide an apparatus, which may be specifically a chip, a component or a module, and may include a processor and a memory connected to each other; the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions, and when the device runs, the processor can execute the computer execution instructions stored in the memory, so that the chip can execute the method in the above method embodiments.

The terminal device, the computer storage medium, the computer program product, or the chip provided in the embodiments of the present application are all configured to execute the corresponding method provided above, and therefore, the beneficial effects that can be achieved by the terminal device, the computer storage medium, the computer program product, or the chip may refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding method provided above, and are not described herein again.

The scheme provided by the embodiment of the application is mainly introduced from the perspective of electronic equipment. To implement the above functions, it includes hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, the functional modules of the devices involved in the method may be divided according to the above method example, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the module is schematic, and is only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

The functions or actions or operations or steps, etc., in the above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. The procedures or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application are all or partially generated when the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or can comprise one or more data storage devices, such as a server, a data center, etc., that can be integrated with the medium. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

Although the present application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be evident that various modifications and combinations can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, the specification and figures are merely exemplary of the present application as defined in the appended claims and are intended to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents within the scope of the present application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. The antenna control method is characterized by being applied to terminal equipment, wherein the terminal equipment comprises at least three antennas, and the at least three antennas form a multi-input multi-output antenna; the at least three antennas comprise a first antenna and a second antenna, the first antenna is an antenna connected with the radio frequency channel, and the second antenna is an antenna not connected with the radio frequency channel; the antenna control method comprises the following steps:

connecting different antennas in the second type of antenna with different radio frequency paths respectively;

continuously acquiring m times of received signal parameters of the first type of antenna and received signal parameters of the second type of antenna; wherein m is an integer greater than or equal to 2;

if the received signal parameter of a first antenna in a first type of antenna and the received signal parameter of a second antenna in a second type of antenna meet a preset condition, wherein the preset condition is used for indicating that the signal receiving performance of the second antenna is stronger than that of the first antenna, connecting the second antenna to a radio frequency channel corresponding to the first antenna, and disconnecting the antennas except the second antenna in the second type of antenna and the first antenna;

the obtaining the received signal parameters of the first type of antenna and the received signal parameters of the second type of antenna m times includes:

and acquiring the received signal parameters of the first type of antenna and the received signal parameters of the second type of antenna once every preset time interval, and continuously acquiring for m times.

2. The antenna control method according to claim 1, wherein the preset condition is any one of: the received signal parameters of the second antenna are all larger than the received signal parameters of the first antenna; the integrals of the received signal parameters of the first type of antennas are smaller than the integrals of the received signal parameters of the third type of antennas, wherein the third type of antennas comprise all antennas except the first antenna in the first type of antennas and a second antenna in the second type of antennas.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein before connecting each antenna of the second type of antenna to a different rf path, the method further comprises:

acquiring a screen state of the terminal equipment, wherein the screen state comprises a screen-off state;

when the screen state of the terminal equipment is a screen-off state, acquiring the received signal parameters of each antenna in the first type of antenna;

determining a first antenna according to the received signal parameters of each antenna in the first type of antenna, wherein the first antenna is the antenna with the minimum received signal parameter in the first type of antenna;

the connecting each antenna in the second type of antenna with a different radio frequency path respectively includes:

and when the first antenna has an antenna with a difference of the received signal parameter with the first antenna being greater than a preset threshold, connecting each antenna in the second antenna with different radio frequency paths respectively.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein before connecting each antenna of the second type of antenna to a different rf path, the method further comprises:

acquiring a screen state of the terminal equipment, wherein the screen state comprises a bright screen state;

when the screen state of the terminal equipment is a bright screen state, detecting the distance between each antenna in the first type of antenna and a human body;

determining the first antenna according to the distance between each antenna in the first type of antenna and the human body; the first antenna is the antenna with the minimum distance with the human body in the first type of antenna;

and when the distance between the first antenna and the human body is smaller than a preset threshold value, connecting each antenna in the second type of antenna with different radio frequency paths respectively.

5. The antenna control method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein before the obtaining the received signal parameters of each antenna in the first class of antennas and the received signal parameters of each antenna in the second class of antennas m times, the method further comprises:

acquiring the received signal parameters of each antenna in the second type of antenna;

determining a second antenna according to the received signal parameters of each antenna in the second type of antenna, wherein the second antenna is the antenna with the largest received signal parameter in the second type of antenna;

and continuously acquiring the received signal parameters of the first antenna and the received signal parameters of the second antenna for m times.

6. The antenna control method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the connecting the second antenna to the radio frequency path corresponding to the first antenna and disconnecting the antennas other than the second antenna in the second type of antenna and the first antenna comprises:

disconnecting the second antenna from the corresponding radio frequency path; connecting the second antenna with the radio frequency path corresponding to the first antenna, and disconnecting the first antenna from the corresponding radio frequency path; and disconnecting the antennas except the second antenna in the second type of antenna from the corresponding radio frequency path.

7. The antenna control method according to any of claims 1-4, characterized in that the received signal parameter is any of: reference signal received power, received signal strength indication, received signal code power, reference signal received quality, signal to noise ratio, individual signal units.

8. An antenna control system, characterized in that the antenna control system comprises: the antenna comprises n antennas, a switch module, at least n radio frequency paths and a system-on-chip; wherein n is an integer greater than or equal to 3; the n antennas are respectively connected with the switch module; the switch module is also connected with the at least n radio frequency paths; the at least n radio frequency channels are also connected with the system-on-chip;

the n antennas form a multi-input multi-output antenna; the n antennas comprise a first type antenna and a second type antenna, the first type antenna is an antenna connected with the radio frequency path, and the second type antenna is an antenna not connected with the radio frequency path;

the switch module is used for connecting different antennas in the second type of antenna with different radio frequency paths respectively;

the system-level chip is used for continuously acquiring the received signal parameters of the first antenna and the received signal parameters of the second antenna for m times; wherein m is an integer greater than or equal to 2;

the system-on-chip is further configured to instruct the switch module to connect the second antenna to a radio frequency path corresponding to the first antenna and disconnect antennas other than the second antenna and the first antenna in the second type of antenna if a received signal parameter of the first antenna in the first type of antenna and a received signal parameter of the second antenna in the second type of antenna satisfy a preset condition, where the preset condition is used to indicate that the signal reception performance of the second antenna is stronger than that of the first antenna;

the system-on-chip is specifically configured to acquire the received signal parameters of the first antenna and the received signal parameters of the second antenna once every preset time period, and acquire the received signal parameters m times continuously.

9. An electronic device, comprising one or more processors and one or more memories; the one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors, the one or more memories storing computer instructions; the computer instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic device to perform the antenna control method of any of claims 1-7.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising computer instructions which, when executed, perform the antenna control method of any of claims 1-7.