JP2009033532A - Communications equipment, communication method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide communications equipment, a communication method, and a program with which toggle operation such as for switching the communications equipment to a diversity state again, since quality is poorer than expected when the communications equipment is switched to a non-diversity state, and with which a reception quality measurement part, and a comparison part can be reduced. <P>SOLUTION: The communications equipment is equipped with first and second receiving parts 121, 122 which demodulate signals received by first and second antennas 101, 102 to output a digital baseband signal on the basis of the received signal; a baseband processing part 181 which performs diversity-combining of both the digital baseband signals; a reception quality measurement part 131 which measures the reception quality in the first receiving part 121 to output the reception quality information; a power supply part 161 which supplies power to the second-receiving part 122; and a supply power determining part 142 which determines the power to be supplied from the power supply part 161 to the second-receiving part 122, on the basis of reception quality information output by the reception quality measurement part 131. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication device, a communication method, and a program, and more particularly, to a communication device, a communication method, and a program that perform diversity reception control.

  In a mobile communication device that receives a transmission signal from a transmission device, Rayleigh fading occurs due to a change in the relative position with the transmission device, and the phase and amplitude of the reception signal vary greatly. When the mobile communication apparatus receives a reception signal with such fluctuations and enters a state in which the signal amplitude drops significantly, the characteristics of the mobile communication apparatus are greatly deteriorated, resulting in a problem that demodulation processing cannot be performed well.

As a countermeasure against such Rayleigh fading, various methods have been proposed, and one of them is a method of obtaining a spatial diversity effect by using a plurality of antennas on the mobile communication device (receiving device) side. .
Spatial diversity means that when the amplitude of the received signal from one antenna falls significantly, demodulation is performed using the other antenna. It utilizes the property that the electric field strength varies independently.

  As a method of using a plurality of antennas, there are selection diversity, synthesis diversity, and the like. The selection diversity includes a common (single) receiver unit with a plurality of antennas, selects an antenna that receives signals from a plurality of antennas and obtains a large amplitude of the received signal, and selects the antenna with the common receiver unit. A process for demodulating a received signal from an antenna is performed. Accordingly, since only one receiving unit is required after the antenna is selected, there are advantages such as a small circuit scale and low current consumption. On the other hand, the combining diversity includes a plurality of antennas and individual receiving units corresponding to the respective antennas, receives reception signals from the plurality of antennas, respectively, and performs demodulation processing in each receiving unit to perform combining. Therefore, the circuit scale and current consumption increase, but the reception characteristics are excellent.

Further, 3GPP in W-CDMA (Wideband-Code Division Multiple Accessed) mobile communication system standardized by the ^{(3 rd Generation Partnership Project),} L1 in measuring the reception quality (Layer1) filter and L3 (Layer3) filter Are equipped with a double-structure filter.

In general, Non-Patent Document 1 and Non-Patent Document 2 describe the performance of the L1 filter and the reception quality measurement accuracy for determining cell or sector transition using reception quality.
Furthermore, the layer 3 filter is an exponential weighted averaging process in which a coefficient is specified by the network, and this filtering enables adjustments such as improvement in level accuracy and speedup at the time of cell selection in each communication carrier. .

Conventionally, a diversity receiver that performs diversity reception control has been proposed (see Patent Document 1). The diversity receiver includes first and second high-frequency receiving units that demodulate signals received by the first and second antennas, respectively, and converts output signals from the first and second receiving units into digital signals. Then, it is input to the digital baseband processing unit, where diversity combining is performed. The condition determination circuit that inputs the determination target signal of the baseband processing unit determines whether or not communication is being performed using the transmission power control application channel. A signal of the determination result is input to the control circuit, and control is performed to operate both the first and second high-frequency receiving units or one of them.
JP 2006-324816 A 3GPP TS25.133 V5.17.0 “Requirements for support of radio resource management (FDD)” 3GPP TS34.121 V5.7.0 “Terminal conformance specification, Radio transmission and reception (FDD)”

  However, according to the diversity receiver of Patent Document 1, a reception quality measurement unit is required corresponding to the first and second antennas, and the quality is worse than expected when switching from the diversity state to the non-diversity state. In some cases, there is a problem that a toggle operation for switching to the diversity state may occur again.

  The present invention can avoid the occurrence of a toggle operation in which the quality is worse than expected when switching to a non-diversity state and switching to the diversity state again in mobile radio communication performing diversity reception control, and the number of components can be reduced. It is an object to provide a communication device, a communication method, and a program.

  The communication device of the present invention includes a first receiver, a first antenna connected to the first receiver, a second receiver, and a second antenna connected to the second receiver. A baseband processing unit that receives a digital baseband signal output from each of the first receiving unit and the second receiving unit and performs diversity combining, and receives the signal at the first receiving unit. A power quality unit that measures quality and outputs reception quality information; a power source unit that supplies power to the second reception unit; and the power source unit based on the reception quality information measured by the reception quality measurement unit A power supply determining unit that determines power to be supplied to the second receiving unit.

  The communication device according to the present invention is the communication device described above, wherein the supply power determination unit, when the reception quality information is worse than a reception quality reference value, from the power supply unit to the second reception unit. It is characterized by increasing the current supplied to the.

  The communication device of the present invention is any of the communication devices described above, wherein the supply power determination unit includes a plurality of methods for determining a current to be supplied to the second reception unit, and the supply power The method includes a method selection unit that selects which determination method to use from among a plurality of determination methods possessed by the determination unit.

  The communication apparatus according to the present invention is the communication apparatus described above, wherein the reception quality measurement unit measures reception quality in the first and second reception units, and the supply power determination unit includes the first power supply determination unit. Alternatively, a determination method for comparing the reception quality information of the second reception unit and the reception quality reference value and determining the power supply to the other reception unit that is not the reception unit of the reception quality information used for the comparison, A method for determining power supply to the first and second receivers by comparing each reception quality information of the first or second receiver with a reception quality reference value, and the method selection The unit determines which one of the determination methods of the supply power determination unit to use according to the currents supplied to the first and second reception units.

  The communication apparatus according to the present invention is the communication apparatus described above, wherein the supply power determination unit compares the reception quality information with a reception quality reference value, and determines the second reception unit based on the magnitude relationship. A determination method for determining a current to be supplied, the method including a plurality of determination methods with different reception quality reference values, wherein the method selection unit is received by the first antenna and the second antenna. If the received signal is a signal for which transmission power control is performed so that the reception power is increased when the reception state is bad, the determination method used by the supply power determination unit is a reception quality standard that is inferior to other cases. It is characterized in that it is determined by a method for determining a value.

  The communication apparatus according to the present invention is the communication apparatus described above, wherein the supply power determination unit compares the reception quality information with a reception quality reference value, and determines the second reception unit based on the magnitude relationship. A determination method for determining a current to be supplied, wherein the reception quality reference value includes a plurality of determination methods different from each other, and when the method selection unit performs intermittent reception, the supply power determination unit The determination method to be used is determined to be a reception quality reference value determination method that is worse than in other cases.

  The communication apparatus according to the present invention is the communication apparatus described above, and further includes a transmission unit that transmits a signal transmitted from the baseband processing unit from the first antenna.

  The communication apparatus of the present invention is the communication apparatus described above, wherein the reception quality measurement unit measures reception quality in the second reception unit in addition to the first reception unit, and receives reception quality information. , And the supply power determination unit determines only the power supply to the first reception unit, the determination method determines only the power supply to the second reception unit, and the first and second receptions A determination method for determining power supply to a unit, wherein the method selection unit determines the supply power based on power supply states to the first and second reception units and a signal transmission state of the transmission unit. It is characterized by selecting which of the determination methods which a part has.

  The communication apparatus according to the present invention is the communication apparatus described above, wherein the supply power determination unit compares the reception quality information with a reception quality reference value, and determines the second reception unit based on the magnitude relationship. A determination method for determining a current to be supplied, wherein the reception quality reference value includes a plurality of determination methods different from each other, and the method selection unit determines from the determination methods according to a moving speed. And instructing the supply power determination unit to use the selected determination method.

  The communication apparatus of the present invention is the communication apparatus described above, further including a movement speed detection unit, wherein the method selection unit increases the reception quality as the movement speed obtained from the movement speed detection unit increases. The power supply determination unit is instructed to use a determination method with a good reference value.

  The communication apparatus according to the present invention is any of the communication apparatuses described above, wherein the reception quality measurement unit outputs a value obtained by averaging the reception quality in a predetermined period as reception quality information. .

  The communication apparatus according to the present invention is any of the communication apparatuses described above, wherein the reception quality reference value is equal to or better than a reference value for changing an antenna display.

  The communication apparatus according to the present invention is any of the communication apparatuses described above, wherein the reception quality reference value is a best state among the reception quality information that can be determined by the reception quality measurement unit. To do.

  The communication device according to the present invention is the communication device described above, wherein the second reception unit increases the current supplied from the power supply unit to the second reception unit by the supply power determination unit. When the current supplied to the second receiving unit increases, a path search is performed, and the baseband processing unit uses the path search result of the second receiving unit to improve the reception quality due to diversity. When the estimated improvement amount is less than a predetermined threshold, the current supplied from the power supply unit to the second receiving unit is reduced.

  The communication method of the present invention also includes a digital baseband signal that demodulates a signal received by the first antenna by the first receiving unit, and a digital that demodulates the signal received by the second antenna by the second receiving unit. A communication method in which a baseband signal is combined by a baseband processing unit, and a signal capable of measuring the quality of the received signal is input to the first reception unit via the baseband processing unit. The reception power information is obtained and the power supplied from the power supply unit to the second reception unit is determined by the supply power determination unit based on the reception quality information, and the baseband processing unit is configured to supply the power supply determination unit. Based on the determination report, it is determined whether or not the maximum ratio combining diversity is necessary. When the maximum ratio combining diversity is necessary, the power supply unit supplies power to the second receiving unit. It was started when unnecessary and controls to cut off the power supply.

  In addition, the program of the present invention includes a step of performing baseband processing on a digital baseband signal that is demodulated by a first receiver unit and manually outputting a signal received by the first antenna, and a received signal for the first antenna. A signal capable of measuring quality is sent to a reception quality measurement unit, and the reception quality measurement unit obtains reception signal information, and the reception signal information is sent to a supply power determination unit and compared with a reception quality reference value. Receiving the received reception quality comparison result, determining the reception quality comparison result, determining that the maximum ratio combining diversity is unnecessary, stopping the baseband processing for the second receiving unit, and then The step of cutting off the power supply to the second receiver, and when the maximum ratio combining diversity is required, the power supply starts the power supply of the second receiver, and then the second A step for starting the operation of the signal portion, further comprising a characterized.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, in the mobile radio communication which performs diversity reception control, when switching from a diversity state to a non-diversity state, it is possible to avoid a toggle operation in which the quality is worse than expected and the state is switched again to the diversity state.

  Embodiments of a mobile device according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First embodiment]
FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of a communication apparatus 100A according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
A communication apparatus 100A illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a first antenna 101, a first receiving unit 121 that demodulates a signal received by the first antenna 101, and outputs a digital baseband signal based on the received signal, The second antenna 102, the second receiving unit 122 that demodulates the signal received by the second antenna 102 and outputs a digital baseband signal, the digital baseband signal output from the first receiving unit 121, A baseband processing unit 181 that performs diversity combining with a digital baseband signal output from the second receiving unit 122, a reception quality measuring unit 131 that measures reception quality in the first receiving unit 121, and outputs reception quality information; , Based on reception quality information output from the power supply unit 161 that supplies power to the second reception unit 122 and the reception quality measurement unit 131. A power selection unit 142 that determines the power to be supplied from the unit 161 to the second receiving unit 122, and a method selection that selects a method for determining the power to be supplied to the second receiving unit 122 in the power supply determining unit 142 Part 141.

  According to the communication apparatus 100A according to the first embodiment, the power source is activated, the received signal received by the first antenna 101 is subjected to baseband processing by the baseband processing unit 181 to obtain a demodulated signal, and the received signal A signal that can measure the quality of the received signal is sent to the reception quality measurement unit 131, and the received signal information obtained by the reception quality measurement unit 131 is compared with the reception quality reference value in the supply power determination unit 142, and the reception quality comparison result If the maximum ratio combining diversity is unnecessary, the baseband processing corresponding to the second antenna 102 system is stopped when the second receiving unit 122 is in an operating state. Then, a cutoff signal is output to the power supply switching control unit 151, the power supply from the power supply unit 161 to the second receiving unit 122 is cut off, and the operation of the receiving unit 122 is stopped, and the second antenna When the operation of the 02 system is stopped and the maximum ratio combining diversity is necessary, when the second receiving unit 122 is not activated, a connection signal is output to the power supply switching control unit 151, and the power supply unit 161 starts the power supply of the second receiving unit 122, then controls the timing to start the operation of the second receiving unit 122, and further starts the baseband processing corresponding to the second antenna 102 system Perform maximum ratio combining diversity.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the communication device 100A will be described through the description of the operation.
First, the operation of the communication apparatus 100A shown in FIG. 1 in a state in which reception diversity (maximum ratio combining diversity) is performed will be described.

The communication device 100A receives signals transmitted from a base station device (not shown) using the first and second antennas 101 and 102, and sends the received signals to the first and second receiving units 121 and 122, respectively. .
The first and second receiving units 121 and 122 perform band limitation, down-conversion, complex demodulation, and the like, which are generally performed as reception operations, on the respective received signals, generate demodulated signals, and apply the demodulated signals to the demodulated signals. On the other hand, A / D conversion (analog / digital conversion) is performed to generate a digital baseband signal, and the digital baseband signal is output to the baseband signal processing unit 181.

  In order to effectively perform the A / D conversion, the first and second receiving units 121 and 122 generally generate a reception gain control circuit (auto gain control circuit: AGC circuit) to generate the demodulated signal. It is provided in the circuit part (not shown). The AGC circuit adjusts the level of the demodulated signal to some extent so that it is included in the conversion range of the A / D conversion circuit when the received electrolytic strength differs due to a difference in physical distance from the base station and fading. Gain control (AGC control) is performed.

  The baseband signal processing unit 181 obtains the amplitude of the received signal using the digital baseband signals sent from the first and second receiving units 121 and 122, and determines the control signal determined by the first and second control signals. The signal is sent to the receivers 121 and 122, and the gains of the AGC circuits of the first and second receivers 121 and 122 are controlled to operate the A / D converter circuit input amplitude.

  Since the input signal level to the first and second receivers 121 and 122 may be different due to the gain difference between the first and second antennas 101 and 102 and fading fluctuation, the first and second receptions are possible. The AGC control of the units 121 and 122 is controlled independently.

  In addition, when using W-CDMA communication used in the 3GPP standard or the like, the baseband processing unit 181 uses the spreading code used from the first and second receiving units 121 and 122. Despread processing is performed on the input digital baseband signal. As this despreading processing method, there are a matched filter method, a DLL (Delay Locked Loop) method, etc., and any method may be used.

  The baseband processing unit 181 performs despreading processing on the digital baseband signal, extracts a data portion of the despread signal, performs error correction, error detection, etc., and obtains demodulated data.

  In W-CDMA communication, a path search function is required to perform despreading processing. The path search function is necessary to know the reception timing of the spreading code being used. For the path search function, a method is used in which a matched filter is used to know the path timing from the timing at which a sufficiently large correlation output is obtained.

  In addition, since the baseband processing unit 181 has a limit on the number of multipaths that can be despread, when receiving diversity is used, the maximum reception of both outputs of the first and second receiving units 121 and 122 is performed. Select the maximum number of paths that can be used from among paths that can be used for quality, perform despread processing on the digital baseband signal at the timing obtained by the path search function, and perform demodulation processing. Do. Whatever method is used for this implementation does not particularly limit the scope of the present invention.

  In addition, when transmission is performed from the transmission unit 111, the baseband processing unit 181 performs processing opposite to reception as transmission processing. That is, the baseband processing unit 181 adds an error detection code to the data string to be transmitted, performs error correction coding, and outputs the signal subjected to the spreading process to the transmission unit 111.

  The transmission unit 111 receives the signal output from the baseband processing unit 181, performs D / A conversion (digital / analog conversion), performs up-conversion and complex modulation processing, and receives a communication device (not shown) from the first antenna 101 ( To the base station apparatus).

  In addition, communication apparatus 100A according to this embodiment outputs a signal capable of measuring the quality of the received signal received from first antenna 101 from baseband processing unit 181 to reception quality measuring unit 131.

For example, a reception quality called CPICH_Ec / Io is used.
This CPICH_Ec / Io is the received power given by the ratio of the energy per spread code chip (Ec) of the common pilot channel (CPICH) to the total received signal power (Io) received by the first antenna 101. Any signal may be output from the baseband signal processing unit 181 as long as it is a signal for obtaining CPICH_Ec / Io.

  Here, for example, the baseband processing unit 181 averages the despread power output per CPICH symbol unit received by the first antenna 101 (related to CPICH_Ec) and the symbol time received by the first antenna 101 per symbol time. The received signal total power (related to Io) is output to supply power determination section 142.

  The reception quality measuring unit 131 measures the reception quality in the first reception unit 121 and outputs reception quality information. The reception quality measurement unit 131 inputs the despread power output and the total received signal power, performs an averaging process on each of them, calculates a ratio thereof, and, as a result, a value of the above-described CPICH_Ec / Io Get.

  As described above, the reception quality measurement unit 131 performs the above averaging process, thereby making it possible to prevent a diversity reception operation erroneous determination due to a reception quality measurement error. Also, since it takes generally several ms to activate the receiving unit, it is possible to prevent the operation from becoming abnormal by performing stop determination during the activation process. In general, with respect to the averaging time of this averaging process, according to the 3GPP standard, as described above, filtering (averaging) by the layer 1 filter and further filtering the result by the layer 3 filter are performed. It has a structure. In this averaging process, it is desirable to perform averaging equal to or higher than the layer 1 filtering. With this implementation, the same processing as layer 1 filtering can be shared, and processing can be reduced.

  The supplied power determination unit 142 receives the reception quality information measured by the reception quality measurement unit 131 via the baseband processing unit 181 and compares the reception quality information with a reception quality reference value held in advance.

  In general, when the quality is excessive, sufficient error rate characteristics (a state with almost no error) can be obtained without performing diversity. However, in the 3GPP standard W-CDMA system, when communication is performed using a CDMA channel (referred to as Dedicated Channel) that is exclusively used by each user, such as voice, even a downlink channel transmitted from the base station apparatus to the communication apparatus is used. Transmission power control is carried out, and the transmission level is adjusted to satisfy the required quality.

  This is because there is a limit on the maximum value of the total transmission power even in the base station apparatus, so that it is possible to avoid a decrease in the number of accommodated users by assigning useless transmission power to each user, and under the same accommodated user number environment. The purpose is to increase the number of accommodated users by reducing the influence of interference with adjacent cells by reducing the transmission power at the terminal as much as possible.

  Therefore, when the communication device is in the vicinity of the base station device and the influence of the shielding is small, the reception quality of the communication device is considerably good, but in this case, of course, the Dedicated Channel transmission transmitted to the mobile station device The power is controlled to be considerably small. From the viewpoint of the base station device as described above, in response to the request to reduce the total transmission power, the total power is not at all even if it is reduced to what is transmitted with minimal power in the first place. There is no effect.

  For the reasons described above, the switching threshold is set to a value with a better reception state under Dedicated Channel communication than when transmission power control is not performed. Considering the number of accommodated users in the base station, it is preferable to apply the control for increasing the threshold value when the reception state is good, for example, when the antenna display is displayed as the best. This is because when the reception state is excessively good, there is a possibility that the reception state of the mobile station can be kept in a predetermined state even if only one antenna is used. In this case, there is no influence on the transmission power of the base station. . Even if the reception status of the mobile station deteriorates and the above processing is performed, the ratio of the transmission power for the mobile station to the total transmission power of the base station is small, and the influence on the base station is small. It is because it stays in. As described above, when reception with two antennas is unnecessary, it is possible to perform control for reception with one antenna, and as a result, it is possible to reduce power consumption of the antenna itself.

  As described above, by applying the maximum ratio combining diversity, there is an effect that it is possible to increase the number of accommodated persons from the effect of reducing the transmission power from the base station apparatus, but of course, the base station as a transmitter Even if it is not a device, if the mobile device (this communication device) functions as a transmitter and the base station functions as a reception device, the transmission power reduction effect is clearly obtained. The power consumption can be reduced.

As described above, the supply power determination unit 142 determines the power supplied from the power supply unit 161 to the second reception unit 122 based on the reception quality information measured by the reception quality measurement unit 131.
The method selection unit 141 selects what reception quality reference value is used and how to determine when the supply power determination unit 142 determines power. For example, as described above, under Dedicated Channel communication, a better reception quality reference value is selected than when transmission power control is not performed.

  For example, the supply power determination unit 142 outputs “High” as a logical signal to the baseband processing unit 181 when the reception quality information is greater than or equal to the reception quality reference value, and “Low” when the reception quality information is less than the reception quality reference value. . The baseband processing unit 181 inputs “High” (connection signal) or “Low” (cut-off signal) of the output of the supply power determination unit 142 and outputs the input to the power supply switching control unit 151.

  When the reception quality information output from the reception quality measurement unit 131 is the same as or better than the reception quality reference value for a predetermined period, the supply power determination unit 142 receives the second power from the power supply unit 161. The power supplied from the power supply unit 161 to the second receiving unit 122 is determined to be “Low” so as to reduce the current supplied to the receiving unit 122 and output to the baseband processing unit 181.

  In addition, when the reception quality information output from the reception quality measurement unit 131 indicates that the reception quality information is worse than the reception quality reference value as the reception quality comparison result in the supply power determination unit 142, the supply power determination unit 142 The power supplied from the power supply unit 161 to the second receiving unit 122 is determined as “High” so as to increase the current supplied from the unit 161 to the second receiving unit 122, and is output to the baseband processing unit 181.

The received power reference value in the power supply determining unit 142 is switched from non-diversity reception (reception using only the antenna 101) to non-diversity reception (reception using both the antennas 101 and 102), It is preferable to provide a hysteresis characteristic differently when switching from diversity reception to diversity reception. That is, the reception quality reference value in the former case is set to a value lower than that of the latter. The method selection unit 141 determines whether diversity reception or non-diversity reception is performed, and based on the determination, the supply power determination unit 142 selects a reception quality reference value used for determination.
In addition, the supply power determination unit 142 can set the reception quality reference value to a value representing a quality that is worse than when a signal for which transmission power control is not performed is received. Thereby, the case of “High” can be increased, and a diversity state is enabled.

  On the other hand, a power supply unit 161 is connected to a power supply part of the second receiving unit 122 via a power supply switching unit 171. For power supply from the power supply unit 161 to all other parts, the connection is generally made through a power supply switching unit (not shown) different from the power supply switching unit 171 in consideration of the non-communication state. In the present invention, the operation of the portion is not particularly limited, and thus the description and illustration are omitted.

  The baseband processing unit 181 outputs a power supply switching request signal to the power supply switching control unit 151. When receiving the power supply switching request signal from the baseband processing unit 181, the power supply switching control unit 151 generates a power supply switching unit control signal and outputs it to the power supply switching unit 171. In this example, the power supply switching control unit 151 functions to output “Low” when the power is cut off and “High” when the power is supplied.

The power supply switching unit 171 has a simple switching function, and turns on / off the connection between the power supply unit 161 and the second receiving unit 122.
A logic signal is output from the power supply switching control unit 151 as a power supply switching unit control signal, and the logic signal is input to the control terminal of the power supply switching unit 171. The power supply switching unit 171 has a control terminal. When, for example, “Low” is input as a logic signal from the power supply switching control unit 151, the power supply switching unit 171 is switched off and the power supply from the power supply unit 161 is cut off. When “High” is input, the switch is turned on and power is supplied from the power supply unit 161.

  The baseband processing unit 181 outputs a power supply switching request signal only when a change occurs, or outputs a power supply switching request signal as a logic signal. It does not limit the range.

  Next, FIG. 2 shows a receiving unit operation control flow of the baseband processing unit 181. Hereinafter, the control operation will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in the power-on state, reception signal information is obtained by the reception quality measurement unit 131 for the reception signal received by the first antenna 101, and further received by the reception quality measurement unit 131 in the supply power determination unit 142. A reception quality comparison result R1 is obtained by comparing the quality information with the reception quality reference value (threshold value) (S0001). Then, it is determined whether the reception quality comparison result R1 is “High” or “Low”.

  When the reception quality information is good with respect to the reception quality reference value and the reception quality comparison result R1 is “High” (S0002), the operation of the second reception unit 122 corresponding to the second antenna 102 is performed. It is determined that it is not necessary to check the current operation (S0003). If the second antenna 102 system does not seem to operate, the state is maintained and the first step (S0001) is performed. Return.

  If the second antenna 102 system is operating, baseband processing such as AGC processing and path search processing corresponding to the signal received by the second antenna 102 is stopped (S0007). Further, the operation of the receiving unit 122 is generally stopped before the power of the receiving unit 122 is turned off by the power supply switching unit 171, and the power of the receiving unit 122 is supplied after the power is supplied to the receiving unit 122. Since it is necessary to start, the baseband processing unit may need to manage timing. Therefore, the operation of the receiving unit 122 is stopped at this stage. Thus, the operation of the second antenna 102 system is stopped (S0007).

  Thereafter, after timing management, “Low” is output to the power supply switching control unit 151 (S0008). With this operation, “Low” is output from the power supply switching control unit 151 to the power supply switching unit 171, and the power supply from the power supply unit 161 to the second receiving unit 122 is cut off. With this operation, the second receiving unit 122 can reduce power consumption.

  Further, when the reception quality comparison result R1 is “Low” in the determination of S0002, it is determined that the maximum ratio combining diversity is necessary. Here, it is confirmed whether or not the second receiving unit 122 corresponding to the second antenna 102 is operating (S0004), and if it is activated, the process returns to the initial state (S0001).

  If it is determined in S0004 that the second receiving unit 122 is not activated, “High” is output to the power supply switching control unit 151, and power supply to the second receiving unit 122 is started (S0005). As a result of this processing, “High” is output from the power supply switching control unit 151, and the power supply switching unit 171 that receives this outputs “High”, whereby the power supply unit 161 and the second receiving unit 122 become conductive. Then, the power supply of the second receiving unit 122 is activated.

  As described above, since it is generally necessary to manage the timing and start the operation of the second receiving unit 122 after supplying power, the operation of the second receiving unit 122 is started after measuring the timing. At the same time, AGC processing, path search processing, and the like are started (S0006). This operation makes it possible to achieve maximum ratio combining diversity and ensure quality. This flow only needs to end when communication ends.

  With this operation, when the quality is not excessive, the maximum ratio combining diversity is activated. As a result, the reception quality is improved, and when the downlink transmission power control is performed, the downlink transmission power is reduced, and the communication capacity is further increased. Will be obtained.

  Further, by performing the operation as described above, when the reception quality is higher than the quality that is assumed to be ineffective for reducing the downlink transmission power, the power supply of the second reception unit 122 is stopped to reduce the reception quality. Power consumption can be reduced.

  Further, the reception quality of both antennas is not measured in the diversity state, but the determination is made based only on the reception signal quality corresponding to the antenna used in the non-diversity state (corresponding to the first antenna 101 in the above embodiment). Therefore, it is possible to know the reception quality when switching to the non-diversity state, and as a result of switching, the toggle quality that is worse than expected and switches back to the diversity state is prevented, and the reception quality measurement unit and comparison unit are reduced. Is possible.

[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 3 shows a configuration diagram of a communication apparatus 100B according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  3 includes a first and second antennas 101 and 102, a transmission unit 111, first and second reception units 121 and 122, reception quality measurement units 131 and 132, a method selection unit 143, and a supply. The power determination unit 144 includes power supply switching control units 151 and 152, a power supply unit 161, power supply switching units 171 and 172, and a baseband processing unit 182.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the communication device 100B will be described through the description of the operation.
Also in the present embodiment, as in the first embodiment, signals transmitted from a base station device (not shown) are transmitted to the first and second antennas 101 and 102, the transmission unit 111, the first and second receptions. Units 121 and 122 and baseband unit 182 perform AGC control, demodulation processing including path search, and transmission processing.

  In the present embodiment, control relating to power supply is different from that in the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the operation will be described in detail.

  First, in this communication apparatus 100B, a signal that can measure the quality of the received signal received from the first antenna 101 from the baseband processing unit 182 is output to the received quality measuring unit 131, as in the first embodiment. Then, the supply power determination unit 144 determines the current to be supplied using the reception quality measurement result. Further, the method selection unit 143 determines the supply current determination method by the supply power determination unit 144 based on the power supply state to the first and second reception units 121 and 122 and the signal transmission state of the transmission unit 111. select.

  In addition, in this mobile apparatus 100B, a signal that can measure the quality of the received signal received from the second antenna 102 is output from the baseband processing unit 182 to the reception quality measuring unit 132, and the reception quality comparison result is the baseband. The result is reported to the processing unit 182. The operation of the reception quality measurement unit 132 is the same as the operation of the reception quality measurement unit 131 described in the first embodiment.

  Receiving the reception quality comparison result, the baseband processing unit 182 outputs a power supply switching control request signal independently to each of the power supply switching control units 151 and 152. The power supply switching control request signal may be a signal similar to that described in the first embodiment. In response to the power supply switching unit control request signal, the power supply switching control units 151 and 152 generate a power supply switching unit control signal and receive the power supply switching unit 171 in the same manner as in the first embodiment. , 172 conduct / disconnect the connection from the power supply unit 161.

  The receiving unit operation control flow of the baseband processing unit 182, the method selection unit 143, and the power supply determination unit 142 is shown in FIGS. Hereinafter, the control operation will be described with reference to FIGS. This flow is a power-on state and is a state in which at least reception is performed.

  First, in FIG. 4, processing differs between the transmission state and the non-transmission state. When the program is started (S1001), the method selection unit 143 first determines whether there is a transmission state or a transmission request (S1002). If there is a transmission state or a transmission request, the flow of FIG. Move on. The transmission request in S1002 is for processing equivalent to the transmission state when transmission is not currently performed but transmission is started without time lag. The transmission request presence / absence determination is, for example, a case where there is information to be transmitted by an upper layer (such as a MAC (Media Access Control) layer) and it is determined whether a transmission request has been made to the lower layer.

  In the flow of the supply power determination unit 144 in FIG. 7, S1304 to S1311 are the same control as the operation described in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, since only the received signal quality of the first antenna 101 is used, it is first determined whether or not the receiving unit 121 corresponding to the first antenna 101 is operating when entering this flow. Confirmation (S1301), and if it is not operating, the power supply switching request signal for the power supply switching control unit 152 is set to “High” in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and the processing related to the first antenna 101 is performed. Start (S1302, S1303), and operate the receiving unit 121 corresponding to the first antenna 101.

  In addition, when the flow of FIG. 7 is entered, the reception quality measurement unit 132 is not used, so the operation is stopped. When implemented by hardware, power consumption can be reduced by cutting off power supply (not shown). Also, regarding the operation of the receiving unit, since only the second receiving unit 122 corresponding to the first antenna 101 is controlled, the power supply switching request signal to the power supply switching control unit 152 always outputs “High”. Become. When this flow process ends, the process returns to S1002 in FIG. 4 to monitor whether or not the transmission state is set.

  Returning to S1002 of FIG. 4, when there is no transmission request and there is no transmission request, only reception is in operation, and in this case, not only maximum ratio combining diversity but also operation considering selection diversity is performed. Become. In this case, in the present embodiment, the method selection unit 143 first confirms the operation of the reception unit 121 corresponding to the first antenna 101 (S1003). When the reception unit 121 is not operating, the flow proceeds to the flow of the supply power determination unit 144 in FIG. The state in which the receiving unit 121 is not operating is a state in which only the second receiving unit 122 is operating. The operation will be described below with reference to FIG.

  Since only the second reception unit 122 is operating, the reception quality measurement unit 131 is stopped, so the baseband processing unit 182 receives only the reception signal from the second reception unit 122, A signal capable of measuring the quality of the received signal is supplied to the reception quality measuring unit 132, and the supply power determining unit 144 supplies the second receiving unit from the power supply unit 161 based on the reception quality information measured by the reception quality measuring unit 131. In this state, the power to be supplied to 122 is determined and the determined content is output to the baseband processing unit 182.

  Therefore, first, reception signal information is obtained by the reception quality measurement unit 132, and further, the supply power determination unit 144 compares the reception quality information obtained by the reception quality measurement unit 132 with the reception quality reference value (threshold value). A comparison result R2 is obtained (S1201).

  The baseband processing unit 182 that has obtained the reception quality comparison result R2 determines whether or not R2 is “High” (S1202). If R2 is “High”, the reception signal quality is sufficiently good. 6 is terminated, the flow of FIG. 6 is terminated, the process returns to S1002 of FIG. 4, and the transmission state is confirmed again. Conversely, when R2 is “Low”, it is determined that the reception quality of the second antenna 102 alone is not sufficient, and here, “High” is first output to the power supply switching control unit 152, and reception is performed. Power supply to the unit 121 is started (S1203), and control is started so as to activate the reception system corresponding to the first antenna 101 (S1204). This operation is the same as the power supply operation of the second receiving unit 122 described in the first embodiment.

  After that, the baseband processing unit 182 activates the receiving unit 121 at an appropriate timing, and then starts AGC processing and path search processing for the received signal from the receiving unit 121. At the same time, the reception quality measurement unit 131, the supply power determination unit 142, and the method selection unit 141 also start up. With this operation, the reception system for the first antenna 101 operates, and as a result, the maximum ratio combining diversity operates. After realizing the maximum ratio combining diversity operation, the flow returns to the flow of FIG. 4 again (S1002). Here, since it is the maximum ratio combining diversity state, the reception quality comparison result R1 is obtained from the supply power determination unit 142 via S1002, S1003, and S1004 (S1005), and in the same manner as described above, the supply power determination unit The reception quality comparison result R2 is obtained from 144 (S1006).

  The reception quality comparison result R2 is confirmed. If the reception quality comparison result R1 is “High” (S1007), the reception quality is sufficiently good only by the reception unit 121 corresponding to the first antenna 101. The AGC process and the path search process corresponding to the second antenna 102 are stopped, and the reception quality measurement unit 132, the reception quality comparison unit 142, and the second reception unit 122 are stopped (S1008). Then, in the same manner as described above, “Low” is output to the power supply switching control unit 151 at the timing, and the power supply to the second receiving unit 122 is cut off (S1009).

  In this process, the reception operation performed only from the second antenna 102 is switched to the reception operation performed only from the first antenna 101 through the maximum ratio combining diversity, and as a result, selection diversity can be realized.

After the completion of this process, the process returns to S1002 to confirm again whether or not the transmission state.
If the reception quality comparison result R1 is “Low” in S1007, the reception quality comparison result R2 is confirmed (S1008). If the reception quality comparison result R2 is “High”, the above-described S1009 is performed. In the same manner as S1010, the operation of the first antenna 101 is stopped by S1011 and S1012, and only the operation from the second antenna 102 is performed again. Thereafter, the process returns to S1002 to confirm again whether or not the transmission state is set.

If the reception quality comparison result R2 is also “Low” in S1008, the maximum ratio combining diversity operation is maintained, and the process returns to S1002 to confirm again whether or not the transmission state is set.
In S1003, when the reception system corresponding to the first antenna 101 is operating, the reception system operating state corresponding to the second antenna 102 is subsequently confirmed (S1004). When the reception system corresponding to the second antenna 102 is operating, as a result, both are operating, the maximum ratio combining diversity operating state, and the reception quality comparison result R1 corresponding to the first antenna 101 (S1005). The following operation is similar.

  In S1004, when the reception system corresponding to the second antenna 102 is not operating, only the reception system corresponding to the first antenna 101 is operating, and the supply power determination unit 144 of FIG. It becomes a flow. The flow of FIG. 5 is obtained by replacing the second antenna 102 and the first antenna 101 with respect to the flow of FIG.

Hereinafter, the operation will be described with reference to the flow of FIG.
Since only the reception unit 121 is operating, the reception quality measurement unit 132 is stopped. The baseband processing unit 182 receives only the reception signal from the reception unit 121, supplies a signal that can measure the quality of the reception signal to the reception quality measurement unit 131, and the supply power determination unit 144 similarly receives the signal. Get quality comparison results.

  Therefore, it starts from obtaining the reception quality comparison result R1 (S1101). The power supply determining unit 144 that has obtained this result determines that the received signal quality is sufficiently good when the received quality comparison result R1 is “High” (S1102), and ends the flow of FIG. The process returns to S1002 in step 4 to return to the transmission state confirmation work. Conversely, when R1 is “Low”, it is determined that the reception quality related to the first antenna 101 alone is not sufficient, and control is started so that the reception system corresponding to the second antenna 102 is also activated. Here, first, “High” is output to the power supply switching control unit 151, and power supply to the second receiving unit 122 is started. This operation is the same as the power supply operation of the second receiving unit 122 described in the first embodiment.

  After that, the baseband processing unit 182 activates the second receiving unit 122 at an appropriate timing, and then starts AGC processing and path search processing for the received signal from the second receiving unit 122. At the same time, the reception quality measurement unit 132 also starts up. By this operation, the reception system for the second antenna 102 is operated, and as a result, the maximum ratio combining diversity is operated.

Thereafter, the flow returns to the flow shown in FIG. 4 (S1002). The operation is the same as described above.
With this operation, the flow is changed between the transmission state and the non-transmission state, and in the communication state, an antenna shared with transmission (corresponding to the first antenna 101 in this embodiment) is always used, and a reception-only antenna that is not shared (this embodiment (Corresponding to the second antenna 102 in the form) performs power supply control depending on whether or not the reception quality is good. As a result, an operation of switching only the antenna shared with transmission or maximum ratio combining diversity by both antennas is performed.

  On the other hand, if the reception quality is good in either the main antenna or the sub antenna in the non-transmission state, only one antenna is used, and if both are not good, the maximum ratio combining is performed using both antennas. Thus, at the time of non-transmission, it is possible to realize reception with only one antenna as much as possible and to realize low power consumption.

  In the present embodiment, the reception quality reference value (threshold value) provided in the supply power determination unit 144 is the same in any of the determination methods of the flows in FIGS. 4 to 7, but may be different. It does not depart from the scope of the invention.

  In this embodiment, the threshold values of the reception quality corresponding to the first antenna 101 and the second antenna 102 are independently changed. However, in the processing in the non-transmission state, when selection diversity is considered, both are compared. Thus, a process of selecting an antenna that can obtain better reception quality may be performed.

[Third embodiment]
FIG. 8 shows a configuration diagram of a communication apparatus 100C according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

  The communication apparatus 100C illustrated in FIG. 8 includes a first and second antennas 101 and 102, a transmission unit 111, first and second reception units 121 and 122, a reception quality measurement unit 131, a method selection unit 145, and supply power determination. Unit 146, power supply switching control units 151 and 152, power supply unit 161, power supply switching units 171 and 172, and baseband processing unit 183. In this configuration, the reception quality measurement unit 132 is deleted from the communication device 100B of the second embodiment, and a method selection unit 145 and a supply power determination unit 146 are added instead of the method selection unit 143 and the supply power determination unit 144. It has become a shape.

  That is, in the baseband signal processing unit 183 according to the present embodiment, the signal corresponding to the received signal from the first antenna 101, or the signal output to the supplied power determining unit 142, whose reception quality can be measured, 2 has a function of switching and outputting a signal corresponding to a received signal from the second antenna 102. Components other than the baseband signal processing unit 183 have the same functions as those described in the second embodiment. Accordingly, the receiving unit operation control of the baseband signal processing unit 183 will be described below.

  FIG. 9 summarizes the operation control flow of the baseband signal processing unit 183. The operation will be described in detail below. The flow in FIG. 9 is a power-on state, and is a flow in a state in which at least reception is performed as in the second embodiment.

  First, in the present embodiment, as in the second embodiment, the processing differs depending on the transmission state and the non-transmission state. Therefore, first, the method selection unit 145 determines whether there is a transmission state or a transmission request (S2002). If there is a transmission state or a transmission request, the method selection unit 145 proceeds to the flow of FIG.

  The flow of the supply power determination unit 145 in FIG. 12 is the same control as the operation (FIG. 7) described in the transmission state in the first embodiment and the second embodiment. However, a step set to output a signal capable of measuring the received signal corresponding to the signal received from the first antenna 101 to the reception quality measuring unit 131 is first added (S2301). Since this operation has only one system of the reception quality measurement unit 131, the method selection unit 141, and the supply power determination unit 142 as described above, measurement corresponding to either the first antenna 101 or the second antenna 102 is performed. This is because it is necessary to select and output from the baseband processing unit 183 depending on whether or not to perform.

Thereafter, the same operation as described above is performed.
When there is no transmission request and there is no transmission request, only reception is in operation. In this case, not only maximum ratio combining diversity but also selection diversity is considered. In this case, in this embodiment, first, the operating state of the antenna is confirmed (S2003 in FIG. 9). When both antennas are operating (maximum ratio combining diversity state), the baseband processing unit 183 first receives a signal that can measure the reception quality corresponding to the reception signal of the first antenna 101 from the reception quality. It selects to output to the measurement unit 131 (S2004).

  Thereafter, as described above, the reception quality comparison result R1 for the reception signal of the first antenna 101 is obtained from the reception quality measurement unit 131 (S2005), and the result is confirmed (S2006). Here, when the reception quality comparison result R1 is “High”, a good reception quality can be obtained only by the first antenna 101. Therefore, the second antenna 102 is operated by the same operation as described above (S2012, S2013). The operation of the receiving system corresponding to the above is stopped, and the power supply to the second receiving unit 122 is cut off. After this, the process returns to the state for confirming the transmission state (S2002).

  When the reception quality comparison result R1 is “Low”, the baseband processing unit 183 outputs a signal capable of measuring the reception quality corresponding to the reception signal of the second antenna 102 to the reception quality measurement unit 131. (S2007).

  Thereafter, as described above, the reception quality comparison result R2 corresponding to the reception signal from the antenna 102 is obtained from the reception quality measurement unit 131 (S2008), and the result is confirmed (S2009). Here, when the reception quality comparison result R2 is “High”, good reception quality can be obtained only by the second antenna 102, and therefore the first antenna 101 is operated by the same operation as described above (S2010, S2011). The operation of the receiving system corresponding to is stopped, the power supply to the receiving unit 121 is cut off, and the state returns to the state for confirming the transmission state again (S2002).

  Further, when the reception quality comparison result R2 is “Low”, since both the results are in a state where the reception quality is not good, the maximum ratio combining diversity state is maintained and the state returns to the state where the transmission state is confirmed again ( S2002). In this way, if either one of the quality is good, it is possible to control to operate only one system as much as possible by operating only one of them.

  When only the first antenna 101 is operating in S2003, the flow operation shown in FIG. 10 is performed. The operations from S2102 to S2105 in this flow are substantially the same as the operations described with reference to FIG. 5 in the first embodiment, and the difference is that the first antenna 101 is sent to the reception quality measurement unit 131 as the previous stage. It is only added that switching is performed so that a signal capable of measuring the corresponding received signal quality is output from the baseband processing unit 183 (S2101).

  In this operation, as compared with the second embodiment as described above, the reception quality measuring unit is reduced to one system, so that the antenna from which the received signal quality corresponding to the received signal is measured is selected. It is a step added because a need arises.

  Further, when the method selection unit 144 determines in S2003 of FIG. 9 that only the second antenna 102 is operating, the flow operation of the supply power determination unit 145 of FIG. 11 is performed. FIG. 11 is the same as FIG. 10 except that the corresponding antenna is changed from 101 to 102.

  As in the second embodiment, this operation changes the flow between the transmission state and the non-transmission state, and in the communication state, the antenna shared with transmission (corresponding to the first antenna 101 in this embodiment) is always used and shared. The reception-only antenna that does not perform (corresponding to the second antenna 102 in this embodiment) performs power supply control depending on whether the reception quality is good or not. As a result, an operation of switching only the antenna shared with transmission or maximum ratio combining diversity by both antennas is performed.

  On the other hand, if the reception quality is good in either of the sub-antennas in the non-transmission state, only one antenna is used, and if both are not good, the maximum ratio combining using both antennas is used. At the time of non-transmission, it is possible to realize reception with only one antenna as much as possible, and to realize low power consumption. Furthermore, a reduction in hardware can be realized by using a single reception quality measuring unit.

[Fourth embodiment]
FIG. 13 shows a configuration diagram of a communication device 100D according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

  The communication apparatus 100D shown in FIG. 13 includes first and second antennas 101 and 102, a transmission unit 111, first and second reception units 121 and 122, a CQI count unit 201, a CQI method selection unit 211, and CQI power supply. The determination unit 212 includes a power supply switching control unit 151, a power supply unit 161, a power supply switching unit 171, and a baseband processing unit 184.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the communication device 100D will be described through the description of the operation.
In the same manner as in the first embodiment, signals transmitted from a base station apparatus (not shown) are transmitted as first and second antennas 101 and 102, a transmission unit 111, first and second reception units 121 and 122, and a base. The band unit 184 performs AGC control, demodulation processing including path search, and transmission processing.

  In this embodiment, for example, in the best effort type communication called HSDPA (High Speed Data Packet Access) in the 3GPP standard, the reception quality (called CQI: Channel Quality Indicator) from the receiving device side (mobile device in this example). .214 V5.11.0) and is applied to the one that communicates with the most efficient modulation method and coding method that can be realized with the received quality (referred to as AMC: Adaptive Modulation and Coding). The

  In the present embodiment, control relating to power supply is different from the above-described embodiment. The operation will be described in detail below.

  First, in this communication apparatus, the baseband processing unit 184 measures the reception quality of the reception signals received from the first antenna 101 and the second antenna 102 and determines a CQI signal that is fed back to the base station apparatus. . This processing determines the CQI signal from the received signal quality after combining when maximum ratio combining diversity is performed, and from the received signal quality of only one antenna when only one antenna is used. Determine the CQI signal.

  The CQI signal obtained from the signal received by the first antenna 101 is output from the baseband processing unit 184 to the CQI counter unit 201. In addition, it is set whether to count the maximum value that can be taken as the CQI signal fed back to the CQI counter unit or to count the state that is not the maximum value.

  The CQI counter unit 201 receives a CQI signal from the baseband processing unit 184, and if the maximum value state count is set, starts counting when the maximum value is reached, and counts when receiving a state that is not the maximum value. The operation is to reset. Thereby, how many times the CQI signal has reached the maximum value can be obtained.

  Further, if the non-maximum value state count setting is set, the operation starts when the state that is not the maximum value is received, and resets when the maximum value is received. By this operation, the number of times of continuous non-maximum values is counted.

  The count result is output to the CQI power supply determination unit 212. In the CQI power supply determination unit 212, a reception quality reference value (threshold value) is set from the baseband processing unit 184 by a control line (not shown). For example, when the reception quality reference value is equal to or higher than “High”, the reception quality reference value If not exceeded, “Low” is output to the baseband processing unit 184. For example, “3” is set as the threshold value.

  The baseband processing unit 184 that has received the counter comparison result from the CQI power supply determining unit 212 outputs a power supply switching control request signal to the power supply switching control unit 151. The power supply switching control request signal may be a signal similar to that described in the first embodiment.

  In response to the power supply switching unit control request signal, the power supply switching control unit 151 generates a power supply switching unit control signal in the same manner as in the first embodiment. The connection from the part 161 is conducted / disconnected.

  FIG. 14 shows a receiving unit operation control flow of the baseband processing unit 184. Hereinafter, the control operation will be described with reference to FIG. This flow is a power-on state and is a state in which at least reception is performed. Here, the receiving unit 121 corresponding to the first antenna 101 is always in an operating state.

  First, in the present embodiment, it is determined whether or not the second receiving unit 122 corresponding to the second antenna 102 is operating (S3002), and the second reception corresponding to the second antenna 102 is performed. When the unit 122 is not operating, the baseband processing unit 184 sets the CQI count unit to perform counting when the CQI is not the maximum value (S3003). This state means that the maximum ratio combining diversity is not performed, and only the receiving unit 121 corresponding to the first antenna 101 is operating.

  The baseband processing unit 184 obtains the CQI count comparison result (C1 in the figure) (S3004) and confirms the comparison result (S3005). This means that the comparison result is “High”, that is, the state where the CQI signal is not the maximum value continues continuously for a preset count number (“3” in this example). Therefore, since the quality is not sufficiently excessive and the maximum ratio combining diversity may be implemented, it may be possible to expect more stable and improved throughput. Therefore, the reception processing corresponding to the second antenna 102 is performed in the same manner as described above. Is started (S3006, S3007). This processing results in a maximum ratio combining diversity state, and communication can be realized with better quality. Thereafter, the process returns to the confirmation of the reception operation state corresponding to the second antenna 102 (S3002).

  When C1 is “Low” in S3005, a state in which the CQI signal is maximized occasionally occurs. In this example, reception from only the receiving unit 121 corresponding to the current first antenna 101 is performed in this case. And return to the reception operation state confirmation corresponding to the second antenna 102 again (S3002).

  In addition, when the second receiving unit 122 corresponding to the second antenna 102 is in the operating state in S3002, the baseband processing unit 184 has a CQI of the CQI counter unit because it is in the maximum ratio combining diversity state. A setting is made to count when the maximum value is reached (S3008).

  The baseband processing unit 184 obtains the CQI count comparison result (C1 in the figure) (S3009), and confirms the comparison result (S3010). This means that the comparison result is “High”, that is, the state where the CQI signal is at the maximum value continues continuously for a preset count number (“3” in this example). Accordingly, since the quality is sufficiently excessive, there is a possibility that stable high throughput can be expected without performing the maximum ratio combining diversity, so the reception processing corresponding to the second antenna 102 is stopped in the same manner as described above ( S3011, S3012). By this processing, it is possible to stop the maximum ratio combining diversity and maintain communication with good quality in a low power consumption state. Thereafter, the process returns to the reception operation state confirmation corresponding to the second antenna 102 again (S3002).

  When C1 is “Low” in S3010, the CQI does not always maintain the maximum value. Therefore, the maximum ratio combining diversity is maintained, and the reception operation state confirmation corresponding to the second antenna 102 is performed again. Return (S3002). In this way, it is possible to maintain the optimum throughput by continuing to maintain the maximum ratio combined large-versity.

  By implementing this embodiment, in the state where the CQI is the maximum value in the best effort communication, the throughput is not improved even if the quality is further improved by applying the maximum ratio combining diversity. The receiving operation corresponding to the antenna 102 is not activated. If this operation is unnecessary while maintaining the maximum throughput by this operation, it is possible to reduce power consumption by stopping the maximum ratio combining diversity.

  Since this embodiment is different from the above-described first embodiment in communication mode, both can be realized together. Further, the operation can be switched between the transmission state and the non-transmission state in the same manner as described above.

In the above-described CQI power supply determination unit 212, the same reception quality reference value (threshold) is used at the time of counting the maximum value and at the time of counting the non-maximum value. When the non-maximum value is counted, the threshold value is made smaller (for example, “1
“) When the CQI is not maximum, the high-throughput state can be maintained more stably by switching to the reception diversity state at a higher speed.

[Fifth embodiment]
In the above-described embodiment, the maximum ratio combining diversity is set based on the received signal quality and the CQI count value, and thereafter, the deterioration of the received signal quality and the maximum CQI count value do not exceed the received quality reference value (threshold value). As long as the maximum ratio combining diversity was maintained.

  However, in actual operation, although the maximum ratio combining diversity is switched, the received signal quality corresponding to the second antenna 102 is not so good, and the expected effect may not be obtained.

This embodiment is an attempt to improve the above-described problem.
For example, a description will be given of an attempt to improve the first embodiment, in which it is determined whether to perform diversity reception based on the received signal quality. The configuration is the same as in FIG. 1, and the operation of a part of the baseband processing unit 181 is different.

Hereinafter, the operation of the baseband processing unit 181 will be described with reference to FIG.
Since the present embodiment is an invention for switching from the non-diversity state to the maximum ratio combining diversity, processing is added after S0006 in the control flow (FIG. 2) described in the first embodiment. Become.

  In S0006, a reception process corresponding to the second reception unit 122 is started. At this time, a path search process is performed, and what path is detected with respect to the reception signal from the second reception unit 122. It is determined whether it is used for maximum ratio synthesis.

  At the same time, it is assumed how much the diversity combining effect can be obtained for the received signal from the first antenna 101 (S4001). Based on this result, it is determined whether or not a predetermined maximum ratio combining diversity effect can be obtained.

  For example, when it is determined here that only an effect of 1 dB or less can be obtained, the reception process corresponding to the second antenna 102 is stopped by the same process as described above (S0007, S0008). At this time, the reception quality reference value (threshold value) used in the supply power determination unit 142 is reduced by Δ (for example, 1 dB) (S4003), so that it is difficult to determine that the maximum ratio combining diversity is necessary.

  This process can prevent a problem that the start / stop of the reception operation corresponding to the second antenna 102 is toggled. On the other hand, when the effect can be sufficiently obtained, the maximum ratio combining diversity state is set, and as a result, quality improvement is realized. At that time, considering the case where the reception quality reference value (threshold value) has been changed in the previous S4003, the threshold value is returned to the original value (S4004).

  As described above, when the diversity effect cannot be obtained by confirming the predetermined diversity effect from the path search result before the maximum ratio combining diversity is performed, the reception quality can be improved by setting the receiver unit operation to only one system. It is possible to reduce power consumption while maintaining the maximum.

  Obviously, this processing can be realized in combination with the second, third, and fourth embodiments described above.

In the first to fifth embodiments described above, the communication device has one receiving unit whose power is controlled, and a total of two receiving units. However, the same applies to a case where there are a plurality of receiving units whose power is controlled. The effect of the present invention is obtained and does not depart from the present invention.
Moreover, although the example which shares the 1st antenna 101 with transmission was shown, even if it considers only reception especially, it does not deviate from this invention.

  However, in general, when two antennas are mounted on a mobile device, it is difficult to mount two antennas having the same structure due to size problems. Therefore, one antenna (hereinafter referred to as a sub-antenna) is simplified and has a low antenna gain. In this case, if transmission is to be performed from the sub-antenna, if one transmission unit is used, transmission is performed from the sub-antenna via the antenna switching switch, and the maximum transmission power is reduced and the size of the antenna switching switch is increased. Various problems occur, such as an increase in power consumption accompanying an increase in gain for loss compensation.

  Therefore, as shown in the first to fifth embodiments, the transmitting unit is fixed to an antenna (first antenna 101 in this embodiment) that is not a sub-antenna (second antenna 102 in this embodiment). This solves the problem. Furthermore, in the supply power determination unit 142, the threshold value for determining the start of operation of the second reception unit 122 corresponding to the second antenna 102 and the threshold value for stopping the operation are described as the same value. It may be. For example, if the threshold value for determining start is set higher than the threshold value for determining stop and the reception quality is in the vicinity of the threshold by using a hysteresis structure, start / stop frequently occurs, It is possible to prevent such an operation.

  In the first to fifth embodiments, the case where only one sub-antenna exists in addition to the main antenna has been described. However, the case where there are a plurality of sub-antennas does not depart from the scope of the present invention. . In this case, maximum ratio combining diversity may be performed by all antennas, or maximum ratio combining diversity may be realized by using some antennas. In addition, since any antenna may be used in the selection diversity, it can be expected that the probability that the reception quality can be maintained by one antenna system can be improved, so that a low power consumption effect is further expected.

  In the first to fifth embodiments, the power supply to the receiving unit is completely stopped. For example, the receiving unit includes a memory and the like. For example, a control in which power is always supplied except when the power supply as a communication apparatus is turned off is also assumed. It does not deviate from.

  Further, threshold values used in the reception quality comparison unit in the first, second, third, and fifth embodiments will be described. In general, mobile devices use an antenna display as an index indicating reception quality on a screen. Therefore, a threshold value for switching the antenna display may be shared as a threshold value to be used. As a result, the internal parameters can be shared, and the memory can be reduced.

  It is also possible to adaptively change the threshold value used in the reception quality comparison unit. For example, in the case of a transmission state and a communication state in dedicated (individual) channel communication, it is assumed that the transmission rate control is applied in downlink transmission as described above, so that the threshold value will have sufficient error rate characteristics. Although it is necessary to set a value higher than the reception quality threshold value, it is not necessary to set the value higher because downlink transmission power control is not applied in communication using a common channel. Therefore, by setting the threshold value in consideration of the reception quality during common channel communication and setting it lower than that during communication using the dedicated channel, the rate of applying the maximum ratio combining diversity operation decreases, resulting in lower power consumption. I can plan.

  Furthermore, the supply power determination unit 142 can lower the threshold value at the time of intermittent reception (at the time of a general low power consumption operation in a mobile device), and can further shorten the time during which both reception units are activated, Lower power consumption and longer standby time can be realized.

  The supply power determination unit 142 has a plurality of determination methods with different thresholds, and the method selection unit 141 has a movement speed detection unit, and uses a determination method according to the movement speed detected by the movement speed detection unit. The power supply determining unit 142 can be instructed. It is also possible to change the threshold according to the moving speed. For example, it has a moving speed detector that can measure the moving speed of its own communication device (communication devices 100A to 100D in the above embodiment), and the supplied power determination unit 142 is a moving speed obtained from the moving speed detector. Is changed to a value equal to or higher than the reception quality reference value when the moving speed is low (the maximum ratio combining diversity operation is performed with better reception quality). In this case, it is possible to solve the problem that the reception quality measurement cannot follow the high-speed level fluctuation, and the diversity switching cannot be made in time when the reception quality suddenly drops, and stable communication is possible.

  Furthermore, parameters called Sintrasearch and Sintersearch are generally defined in the W-CDMA communication system. This parameter is used during intermittent operation such as standby, and using the threshold Thintra obtained using Sintrasearch, sufficient quality is obtained if the reception quality (for example, CPICH_Ec_Io) is higher than the threshold. Therefore, it is determined that the user is in the vicinity of the base station apparatus, and the power consumption can be reduced without performing the neighboring cell search and the neighboring cell level monitoring. Similarly, if the reception quality (for example, CPICH_Ec_Io) is higher than the threshold using the threshold Thinter obtained by using Sintersearch, cell search and level monitoring of different frequencies are not performed. Both of these are specified from the network via the base station apparatus.

  Either Sintrasearch or Sintersearch may be used as a threshold used in the reception quality comparison unit. As a result, internal parameters can be shared, memory can be reduced, and this parameter can be specified from the network, so this parameter can be used when the base station transmission power reduction effect by applying receive diversity is more desired by the network. It is possible to control it lower.

  In general, Sintrasearch is set higher than Sintersearch, and it can be said that using Sintrasearch is more optimal in consideration of the above-mentioned base station transmission power reduction effect. Of course, the use of the parameter does not necessarily mean that the averaging period of the reception quality measurement unit and the averaging time for obtaining the reception quality used when the neighboring cell search is activated are made common. The same applies to the case where a threshold value related to antenna display is used.

  In this embodiment, Ec / Io is used as information used for reception quality. However, it is possible to use either RSSI (reception field strength), path loss (subtraction of base station transmission signal, reception power), or the like. It does not depart from the scope of the invention.

  In the reception quality comparison unit in the first, second, third, and fifth embodiments, when the reception quality measurement result is equal to or higher than the threshold, the signal is “High”, and when it is less than “Low”. However, even if “High” is output when the value is greater than the threshold value and “Low” is output when the value is equal to or less than the threshold value, it does not depart from the scope of the present invention.

It is a block diagram of the moving apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the baseband process part which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram of the moving apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the baseband process part which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the baseband process part which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention, especially the flowchart in case the receiving system regarding the 1st antenna in a non-transmission state is operating. It is a flowchart of the baseband process part which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention, especially the flowchart in case the receiving system regarding the 2nd antenna in a non-transmission state is operating. It is a flowchart of the baseband process part which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention, especially the flowchart in a transmission state. It is a block diagram of the moving apparatus which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the baseband process part which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. 10 is a flowchart of a baseband processing unit according to the third embodiment of the present invention, particularly a flowchart when only the reception system related to the first antenna in a non-transmission state is operating. It is a flowchart of the baseband process part which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention, especially the flowchart in case the receiving system regarding the 2nd antenna in a non-transmission state is operating. It is a flowchart of the baseband process part which concerns on the 3rd Embodiment of this invention, especially the flowchart in a transmission state. It is a block diagram of the moving apparatus which concerns on the 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the baseband process part which concerns on the 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the baseband process part which concerns on the 5th Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

100A, 100B, 100C, 100D Communication device 101, 102 Antenna 111 Transmitter 121, 122 Receiver 131, 132 Reception quality measurement unit 141, 143, 145 Method selection unit 142, 144, 146 Supply power determination unit 151, 152 Power supply Switching control unit 161 Power supply unit 171, 172 Power supply switching control unit 181, 182, 183, 184 Baseband processing unit

Claims (16)

A first receiver;
A first antenna connected to the first receiver;
A second receiving unit;
A second antenna connected to the second receiver;
A baseband processing unit that inputs a digital baseband signal output from each of the first receiving unit and the second receiving unit and performs diversity combining;
In a communication device having
A reception quality measurement unit that measures reception quality in the first reception unit and outputs reception quality information;
A power supply for supplying power to the second receiver;
Based on the reception quality information measured by the reception quality measurement unit, a supply power determination unit that determines a current to be supplied from the power supply unit to the second reception unit;
A communication apparatus comprising:   The said supply power determination part increases the electric current supplied to the said 2nd receiving part from the said power supply part, when the said reception quality information is worse than a reception quality reference value. Communication equipment. The supply power determination unit has a plurality of methods for determining a current to be supplied to the second reception unit,
The communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a method selection unit that selects which determination method to use from among a plurality of determination methods included in the supply power determination unit. The reception quality measurement unit measures reception quality in the first and second reception units;
The supply power determination unit compares the reception quality information of the first or second reception unit and the reception quality reference value, and is not a reception unit of the reception quality information used for this comparison, but to the other reception unit A determination method for determining power supply, and each of the reception quality information of the first or second reception unit and a reception quality reference value are compared to determine power supply to the first and second reception units. A determination method,
The method selection unit determines which one of the determination methods of the supply power determination unit to use according to the currents supplied to the first and second reception units. Item 4. The communication device according to Item 3. The supply power determination unit compares the reception quality information with a reception quality reference value and determines a current to be supplied to the second reception unit based on a magnitude relationship between the reception quality information and the reception quality reference value. Has a plurality of different determination methods,
When the signal received by the first antenna and the second antenna is a signal for which transmission power control is performed such that the reception power is increased when the reception state is poor, the method selection unit is configured to supply the signal. 4. The communication apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the determination method used by the power determination unit is determined to be a reception quality reference value determination method that is worse than in other cases. The supply power determination unit compares the reception quality information with a reception quality reference value and determines a current to be supplied to the second reception unit based on a magnitude relationship between the reception quality information and the reception quality reference value. Has a plurality of different determination methods,
The method selection unit, when performing intermittent reception, determines a determination method used by the supply power determination unit as a reception quality reference value determination method that is inferior to that at other times. 3. The communication device according to 3.   The communication apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a transmission unit that transmits a signal transmitted from the baseband processing unit from the first antenna. The reception quality measurement unit measures reception quality in the second reception unit in addition to the first reception unit, and outputs reception quality information,
The supply power determination unit is a determination method for determining only power supply to the first reception unit, a determination method for determining only power supply to the second reception unit, and power to the first and second reception units. Having a determination method to determine the supply;
The method selection unit selects which of the determination methods of the supply power determination unit to use based on the power supply state to the first and second reception units and the signal transmission state of the transmission unit The communication device according to claim 7. The supply power determination unit compares the reception quality information with a reception quality reference value and determines a current to be supplied to the second reception unit based on a magnitude relationship between the reception quality information and the reception quality reference value. Has a plurality of different determination methods,
4. The method selection unit according to claim 3, wherein the method selection unit selects a determination method according to a moving speed from the determination methods, and instructs the supply power determination unit to use the selected determination method. Communication equipment. Furthermore, it has a moving speed detector,
The method selection unit instructs the supply power determination unit to use a determination method with a good reception quality reference value as the movement speed obtained from the movement speed detection unit increases. A communication device according to 1.   The communication apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 10, wherein the reception quality measurement unit outputs a value obtained by averaging reception quality in a predetermined period as reception quality information.   12. The communication apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the reception quality reference value is equal to or better than a reference value for changing an antenna display.   The communication apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 12, wherein the reception quality reference value is a best state among reception quality information that can be determined by the reception quality measurement unit. The second receiving unit determines that the supply power determining unit increases the current supplied from the power supply unit to the second receiving unit, and the current supplied to the second receiving unit increases. Do a path search,
The baseband processing unit estimates an improvement amount of reception quality due to diversity using a path search result of the second reception unit, and when the estimated improvement amount is less than a predetermined threshold, the baseband processing unit The communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a current supplied to the second receiving unit is reduced. Baseband processing of a digital baseband signal for demodulating a signal received by the first antenna by the first receiving unit and a digital baseband signal for demodulating the signal received by the second antenna by the second receiving unit A communication method for combining diversity by
Via the baseband processing unit, a signal capable of measuring the quality of the received signal is input to the first receiving unit to the signal quality measuring unit to obtain reception quality information, and further from the power source unit based on the received quality information Whether power to be supplied to the second reception unit is determined by a supply power determination unit, and whether the baseband processing unit does not require maximum ratio combining diversity based on the determination report of the supply power determination unit The communication method is characterized in that when the maximum ratio combining diversity is necessary, power supply from the power supply unit is started to supply power to the second receiving unit, and when it is not necessary, the power supply is cut off.   A step of performing baseband processing on a digital baseband signal output by demodulating a signal received by the first antenna by a first receiver unit, and receiving a signal capable of measuring the quality of the received signal for the first antenna Sending the received signal information to the quality measuring unit, receiving the received signal information at the received quality measuring unit, and sending the received signal information to the supply power determining unit and inputting the received quality comparison result obtained by comparing with the received quality reference value Determining the reception quality comparison result, and determining that the maximum ratio combining diversity is not necessary, stopping the baseband processing related to the second receiving unit, and then supplying power to the second receiving unit And when the maximum ratio combining diversity is required, the power supply unit starts to supply power to the second reception unit, and then starts the operation of the second reception unit. A program characterized by comprising the flop, the.

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