JP2010035273A - Wireless unit and charging method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To charge an auxiliary power supply 16 without utilizing the power of a captured electric wave in an external power supply and an antenna 14, in a wireless unit 10 equipped with the auxiliary power supply 16 as a secondary battery. <P>SOLUTION: A wave branching filter 13 wave-branches a modulated wave transmission signal into a desired wave and a spurious wave with respect to the modulated wave transmission signal which is amplified by an amplifier 12, the branched wave of the desired wave is fed to the antenna 14, and the branched wave of the spurious wave is sent to a power generation circuit 15. The power generation circuit 15 rectifies the branched wave of the spurious wave, and charges the auxiliary power supply 16 by using a rectifying current. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a radio device and a charging method that use spurious signals in a transmission signal.

  FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a transmission unit of a conventional wireless device 90. In the wireless device 90, the same elements as those of the wireless devices 10 (FIG. 1) and 30 (FIG. 3) described later according to the embodiment of the present invention are indicated by the same reference numerals as those used for them.

  The oscillator 11 outputs a modulated wave transmission signal obtained by modulating a carrier wave with a baseband signal. The modulated wave transmission signal is amplified by the amplifier 12, the spurious component of the harmonic component is removed by the low-pass filter 32, and finally emitted from the antenna 14 by radio waves.

  In the conventional radio device 10, spurious in the modulated wave transmission signal is only removed by the low-pass filter 32.

On the other hand, Patent Document 1 discloses a circuit that generates and stores electricity using radio waves (paragraph 0001 of Patent Document 1). The circuit includes an antenna or a coil that captures radio waves, a rectifier circuit that rectifies a signal from the antenna or coil, and a storage circuit that stores electricity by the output of the rectifier circuit (FIG. 1 of Patent Document 1).
JP-A-2005-354888

  The radio power generation circuit disclosed in Patent Document 1 receives a weak radio wave from an antenna or a coil and uses the minute electric power for charging the power storage circuit. Therefore, the charging efficiency and the charge amount are extremely small.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a radio device and a charging method in which the efficiency and amount of charging of a battery are sufficiently increased.

  According to the present invention, attention is paid to the modulated wave transmission signal amplified by the amplifier and supplied to the antenna. The predetermined portion is separated from the modulated wave transmission signal after amplification, and the separated signal as the predetermined portion is used as the charging current of the battery. The predetermined portion is, for example, spurious in the modulated wave transmission signal.

  In the present invention, the presence or absence of output of the modulated wave transmission signal from the amplifier is detected based on the presence or absence of spurious in the spurious side demultiplexing signal of the modulated wave transmission signal.

The radio of the present invention includes the following.
An amplifier that amplifies the modulated wave transmission signal and supplies it to the antenna;
A capacitor for supplying operating power to the amplifier;
A signal separator that separates a predetermined portion from an output signal of the amplifier to the antenna; and a charger that charges the battery by the separated signal separated by the signal separator.

Another radio of the present invention includes the following.
An amplifier for amplifying the modulated wave transmission signal;
A desired wave side demultiplexed signal is separated from the output signal of the amplifier and the desired wave side demultiplexed signal is supplied to the antenna, and whether there is spurious in the spurious side demultiplexed signal from the demultiplexer. A presence / absence detector for detecting presence / absence of output of a modulated wave transmission signal from the amplifier.

A radio device to which the charging method of the present invention is applied includes an amplifier that amplifies a modulated wave transmission signal and supplies the amplified signal to an antenna, and a capacitor that supplies operating power to the amplifier. The charging method includes the following steps: Is provided.
A demultiplexing step of demultiplexing a desired wave and a spurious signal from the output signal of the amplifier and supplying the demultiplexed wave of the desired wave to the antenna; and a charging step of charging the capacitor by spurious demultiplexing.

  According to the present invention, the predetermined portion is separated from the output signal of the amplifier that amplifies the modulated wave transmission signal and is supplied to the antenna, and the capacitor is stored by the separated signal. The efficiency and amount of power storage can be greatly improved as compared with the case where the battery is stored by radio waves.

  According to the present invention, the spurious is demultiplexed from the modulated wave transmission signal amplified by the amplifier, and the presence or absence of the output of the modulated wave transmission signal from the amplifier is detected based on the presence or absence of the spurious in the demultiplexing. It is possible to avoid a decrease in transmission power of the desired wave from the antenna due to detection without weakening the desired wave.

  FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a main part of the radio device 10. The oscillator 11 outputs a modulated wave transmission signal obtained by modulating a carrier wave with a baseband signal. The baseband signal includes an audio signal and a data signal related to the voice of the user of the radio device 10.

  The amplifier 12 is supplied with operating power from the auxiliary power supply 16 and amplifies the modulated wave transmission signal from the oscillator 11 and outputs it. The auxiliary power source 16 is typically composed of a secondary battery such as lithium ion or Ni—Cd, but may be another rechargeable battery such as a capacitor. In the radio device 10, the auxiliary power source 16 is not shown, but the main power source (consisting of a secondary battery or an AC power source. * AC power source is a user bringing the radio device 10 to a home or the like. The main power supply supplies power to the elements of the entire radio 10. The amplifier 12 can also receive operating power from the main power supply together with the auxiliary power supply 16.

  The output of the amplifier 12 includes one desired wave and its plurality of spurs as shown. The duplexer 13 separates the modulated wave transmission signal from the amplifier 12 into a single desired wave and all spurious signals based on the difference in frequency. As shown in the figure, the demultiplexing including the desired wave is supplied to the antenna 14, and the demultiplexing including all spurious is supplied to the power generation circuit 15.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the power generation circuit 15. The input terminal 21 and the output terminal 22 are connected to the output terminal of the power generation circuit 15 and the input terminal of the auxiliary power supply 16, respectively. The diode 23 has its anode side and cathode side connected to the input terminal 21 and output terminal 22, respectively, and the capacitor 24 is interposed between the output terminal 22 and ground.

  Spurious is applied to the input terminal 21 during the transmission period. Only when the voltage at the input terminal 21 is higher than the voltage at the positive side terminal (anti-earth side terminal) of the capacitor 24, a current flows from the input terminal 21 to the capacitor 24, whereby the capacitor 24 is maintained at a predetermined voltage. In this way, a predetermined voltage of the capacitor 24 is applied to the charging terminal of the auxiliary power supply 16, and the auxiliary power supply 16 is charged with spurious power. In addition, the low-pass filter 32 used in the conventional wireless device 90 can be omitted.

  FIG. 3 is a main part circuit diagram of another radio 30. Among the elements of the radio device 30 in FIG. 3, the same elements as those of the radio device 10 in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals as those assigned to the elements of the radio device 10, and the description thereof is omitted. Is described.

  In the wireless device 30, a distributor 31 is provided instead of the duplexer 13 of the wireless device 10. The distributor 31 distributes the output of the amplifier 12 between the antenna 14 side and the power generation circuit 15 side at an appropriate level ratio. As a result, the output signal of the amplifier 12 becomes two signals having the same waveform and a reduced level, and is distributed to the antenna 14 side and the power generation circuit 15 side. The distribution ratio is set such that the level on the antenna 14 side is higher than the level on the power generation circuit 15 side. Both distribution signals contain both one desired wave and a plurality of spurious signals.

  The low pass filter 32 removes the spurious of the higher harmonic wave than the desired wave from the antenna side distribution signal from the distributor 31 and supplies the signal to the antenna 14. Thus, a desired wave is emitted from the antenna 14. The power generation circuit 15 charges the auxiliary power supply 16 with a current rectified from the power generation circuit side distribution signal from the distributor 31. Note that, instead of the low-pass filter 32, a band-pass filter may be used to remove spurious signals having a frequency lower than that of the desired wave and pass only the desired wave.

  FIG. 4 is a main part circuit diagram of still another radio 40. Among the elements of the radio device 40, the same elements as those of the radio apparatus 10 in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals as those assigned to the elements of the radio apparatus 10, the description thereof will be omitted, and differences will be described.

  In the radio device 40, a detector 41 is provided instead of or in addition to the power generation circuit 15. That is, although the power generation circuit 15 is not shown in FIG. 4, the detector 41 and the CPU 42 may be added to the radio device 10 of FIG. The detector 41 is, for example, an envelope detector, is supplied with all spurious demultiplexing from the demultiplexer 13, generates a detection signal, and sends the detection signal to the CPU.

  During the period in which the amplifier 12 outputs the modulated wave transmission signal, the demultiplexing from the demultiplexer 13 to the detector 41 includes spurious, and the level of the detection signal of the detector 41 is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold L. On the other hand, during a period when the amplifier 12 does not output the modulated wave transmission signal, the demultiplexing from the demultiplexer 13 to the detector 41 does not include spurious, and the level of the detection signal of the detector 41 is a predetermined threshold value. It is less than L.

  When the output level of the detector 41 is equal to or higher than L and lower than L, the CPU 42 determines that the amplifier 12 outputs a modulated wave transmission signal and does not output it, respectively. In this way. The wireless device 40 can detect the presence / absence of the desired wave in the output of the amplifier 12 from only the spurious without detecting the desired wave. In this case, the desired wave can be emitted from the antenna 14 while avoiding the level reduction.

  The determination result of the CPU 42 can be used for various controls. FIG. 5 is an example.

  FIG. 5 is a main part circuit diagram of the radio device 50 that controls the switching of the selector 53 based on the presence or absence of spurious signals in the demultiplexed signal. Among the elements of the radio device 50, the same elements as those of the radio device 40 of FIG. 4 are designated by the same reference numerals as those assigned to the elements of the radio device 40, the description thereof will be omitted, and differences will be described.

  The wireless device 50 includes a transmission circuit 51 and a reception circuit 52. The transmission circuit 51 includes elements existing from the oscillator 11 to the duplexer 13 in the flow direction of the transmission signal. The demultiplexing of the desired wave from the demultiplexer 13 becomes the output of the transmission circuit 51 and is sent to the selector 53. The output of the detector 41 is sent to the control terminal of the selector 53. The selector 53 connects the antenna 14 to the output terminal of the transmission circuit 51 or the input terminal of the reception circuit 52 based on the control signal from the detector 41.

  When the control signal from the detector 41 is greater than or equal to the threshold value L, the selector 53 connects the antenna 14 to the desired wave demultiplexing terminal of the demultiplexer 13. As a result, a desired wave is emitted from the antenna 14.

  The selector 53 connects the antenna 14 to the input terminal of the receiving circuit 52 when the control signal from the detector 41 is less than the threshold value L. As a result, the RF signal of the radio wave captured by the antenna 14 is supplied to the receiving circuit 52, and the RF signal of the selected frequency is detected, and the voice of the user of the counterpart device is output from the speaker (not shown) of the radio device 10. Is done.

  In order to prevent the hunting of the selector 53, the selector 53 switches the antenna 14 from the input terminal of the receiving circuit 52 to the demultiplexing terminal of the desired wave when the output of the detector 41 becomes L1 or more. After that, when the output of the detector 41 becomes less than L2 (L2 <L1), the antenna 14 may be switched and connected to the input terminal of the desired wave demultiplexing terminal receiving circuit 52 of the demultiplexer 13. it can.

  In the radio device 50, the selector 53 switches the switching position using the output signal of the detector 41 as a control signal. Instead of using the output signal of the detector 41 as a control signal, the CPU 42 (FIG. 4) It is also possible to send a control signal to the selector 53 to switch the switching position of the selector 53.

  FIG. 6 is a main part circuit diagram of the radio 60 that connects and disconnects the antenna switch 63 based on the presence or absence of spurious signals in the demultiplexed signal. Among the elements of the radio device 60, the same elements as those of the radio device 50 in FIG. 5 are designated by the same reference numerals as those assigned to the elements of the radio device 50, the description thereof will be omitted, and differences will be described.

  In the radio device 60, an antenna switch 63 is provided instead of the selector 53, and the connection between the antenna 14 and the demultiplexing terminal of the desired wave of the demultiplexer 13 is connected.

  The antenna switch 63 is in a contact position when the control signal from the detector 41 is equal to or greater than the threshold value L, whereby a desired wave is emitted from the antenna 14.

  The antenna switch 63 is in a disconnected position when the control signal from the detector 41 is less than the threshold value L. Even during the non-transmission period, the amplifier 12 outputs power although it is weak. When the antenna switch 63 is in the disconnected position during the non-transmission period, it is possible to prevent radio waves from weak power from being emitted from the antenna 14. The amplifier 12 is often an FET type that is sensitive to static electricity, and the static electricity is easily applied to the antenna 14. Holding the antenna switch 63 in the disconnected position during the non-transmission period is meaningful in preventing static electricity from being transmitted from the antenna 14 to the amplifier 12 and damaging the amplifier 12.

  In the radio device 60, the antenna switch 63 uses the output signal of the detector 41 as a control signal to switch the switching position. Instead of using the output signal of the detector 41 as a control signal, the CPU 42 (FIG. 4) However, the antenna switch 63 may be connected or disconnected by sending a control signal to the antenna switch 63.

  In order to prevent hunting of the antenna switch 63, when the output of the detector 41 becomes L1 or more, the antenna switch 63 connects the demultiplexing terminal of the desired wave of the demultiplexer 13 and the antenna 14, and then the detector. When the output of 41 becomes less than L2 (L2 <L1), the connection between the demultiplexing terminal of the desired wave of the demultiplexer 13 and the antenna 14 can be disconnected.

  The wireless device of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “the present wireless device” as appropriate) and the wireless devices 10 (FIG. 1), 30 (FIG. 3), 40 (FIG. 4), 50 (FIG. 5), 60 as examples thereof. The relationship with FIG. 6 will be described. The present invention includes first and second radios. Radio units 10 and 30 belong to the first radio unit. Radio units 40 and 50 belong to the second radio unit. This radio is typically a radio that can transmit and receive, but may be a radio dedicated to transmission.

  The first wireless device includes an amplifier, a capacitor, a signal separator, and a charger. Specific examples of the amplifier, the capacitor, and the charger are the amplifier 12, the auxiliary power supply 16, and the power generation circuit 15, respectively. The capacitor in the first wireless device may be a main power source that is provided separately from the auxiliary power source 16 and can be charged. A specific example of the signal separator is the duplexer 13 or the divider 31.

  The amplifier amplifies the modulated wave transmission signal and supplies it to the antenna. The battery supplies the operating power to the amplifier. The signal separator separates the predetermined portion from the output signal of the amplifier to the antenna. The charger charges the battery with the separated signal separated by the signal separator.

  The signal separator in the first radio apparatus is typically a demultiplexer (for example, the demultiplexer 13 of the radio apparatus 10) having spurious as a predetermined part, or a distribution signal of the output signal of the amplifier. For example, a distributor (eg, a distributor 31 of the radio device 30) having one as a predetermined portion.

  In the case where the desired wave and the spurious are demultiplexed by the demultiplexer and the charger is charged by the spurious power, the spurious that has been discarded in the past can be reused as the electric power, which is significant.

  In the first wireless device, the charger is charged using the power contained in the modulated wave transmission signal, so that the charging efficiency and the charge amount are reduced as compared with the case where the power of the radio wave captured by the antenna is used. Can greatly increase.

  Typically, the charger of the first wireless device is a rectifier (eg, the power generation circuit 15 in FIG. 2) that rectifies a predetermined portion and supplies a rectified current to the battery.

  The second radio apparatus includes an amplifier, a duplexer, and a presence / absence detector. Specific examples of the amplifier and the duplexer are the amplifier 12 and the duplexer 13, respectively. Specific examples of the presence / absence detector are the detector 41 and the CPU 42 in the wireless device 40 (FIG. 4), and the detector 41 in the wireless devices 50 (FIG. 5) and 60 (FIG. 6).

  In the second radio apparatus, the amplifier amplifies the modulated wave transmission signal. The demultiplexer separates the desired wave and the spurious signal from the output signal of the amplifier, and supplies the desired wave side demultiplexed signal to the antenna. The presence / absence detector detects the presence / absence of the output of the modulated wave transmission signal from the amplifier based on the presence / absence of spurious in the spurious side demultiplexed signal from the demultiplexer.

  In the second wireless device, the presence or absence of the desired wave can be detected from the spurious without directly detecting the desired wave. Thereby, attenuation of the desired wave can be avoided.

  In the second preferred radio, the switch is configured to detect the desired wave side demultiplexing terminal of the demultiplexer and the antenna in a detection period in which the modulated wave transmission signal is output from the amplifier based on detection by the presence / absence detector. Connect and disconnect each connection. Specific examples of the switch are a selector 53 and an antenna switch 63. The selector 53 directly switches the antenna 14 to either the output terminal of the transmission circuit 51 or the input terminal of the reception circuit 52, but the selector 53 connects the antenna 14 to the input terminal of the reception circuit 52. It can be considered that the period between the duplexer 13 and the antenna 14 is disconnected during the period during which the signal is transmitted.

  It supplements about the charging method of this invention (henceforth "this charging method" suitably). A wireless device to which the present charging method is applied includes an amplifier that amplifies a modulated wave transmission signal and supplies the modulated wave transmission signal to an antenna, and a capacitor that supplies operating power to the amplifier.

  The charging method includes a demultiplexing step of demultiplexing a desired wave and a spurious signal from an output signal of the amplifier and supplying the demultiplexed wave of the desired wave to the antenna, and a charging step of charging the capacitor by the demultiplexing of the spurious signal. . In a typical charging step, the spurious demultiplexing is rectified, and the capacitor is charged with the rectified current.

  This specification discloses various ranges and levels of the invention. The invention is not limited to the various technical scopes and specific levels of the apparatuses and methods described in the present specification, but within the scope of obviousness of those skilled in the art, the actions and effects independent of the apparatuses and methods. Extracting one or more elements to be played, one or more elements changed within a self-evident range, and combinations of one or more elements between devices and methods Including things.

It is a principal part circuit diagram of a radio | wireless machine. It is a figure which shows an example of an electric power generation circuit. It is a principal part circuit diagram of another radio. It is a principal part circuit diagram of another radio apparatus. It is a principal part circuit diagram of the radio | wireless machine which controls switching of a selector based on the presence or absence of the spurious in a demultiplexing signal. It is a principal part circuit diagram of the radio | wireless machine which connects / disconnects a switch based on the presence or absence of the spurious in a demultiplexed signal. It is a schematic diagram of the transmission part of the conventional radio | wireless machine.

Explanation of symbols

10: Radio unit, 11: Oscillator, 12: Amplifier, 13: Splitter, 14: Antenna, 15: Power generation circuit (charger), 16: Auxiliary power supply (capacitor), 30: Radio unit, 31: Divider, 40: wireless device, 41: detector, 42: CPU, 53: selector (switch), 60: wireless device, 63: antenna switch.

Claims (8)

An amplifier that amplifies the modulated wave transmission signal and supplies it to the antenna;
A capacitor for supplying operating power to the amplifier;
A signal separator that separates the predetermined portion from the output signal of the amplifier to the antenna; and a charger that charges the battery by the separated signal separated by the signal separator;
A wireless device comprising:   The radio apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal separator is a duplexer having spurious as the predetermined portion.   2. The radio apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal separator is a distributor having one of the distribution signals of the output signal of the amplifier as the predetermined portion.   The wireless device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the charger is a rectifier that rectifies the predetermined portion and supplies a rectified current to the battery. An amplifier for amplifying the modulated wave transmission signal;
A desired wave side demultiplexed signal is separated from the output signal of the amplifier and the desired wave side demultiplexed signal is supplied to the antenna, and whether there is spurious in the spurious side demultiplexed signal from the demultiplexer. Presence / absence detector for detecting presence / absence of output of modulated wave transmission signal from the amplifier,
A wireless device comprising: Based on the detection of the presence / absence detector, the connection between the desired wave side demultiplexing terminal of the demultiplexer and the antenna is connected and disconnected in the detection period with and without the output of the modulated wave transmission signal from the amplifier. Switch to
The wireless device according to claim 5, further comprising:   The wireless device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the presence detector includes a detector. An amplifier that amplifies the modulated wave transmission signal and supplies it to the antenna; and a capacitor that supplies the operational power to the amplifier;
In a charging method of a radio device comprising:
A demultiplexing step of demultiplexing a desired wave and a spurious from the output signal of the amplifier and supplying the demultiplexed wave of the desired wave to an antenna; and a charging step of charging the capacitor by spurious demultiplexing;
A charging method comprising:

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