TW201640946A - Wireless terminal, and method for searching for cell in the wireless terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses are provided for searching for a cell by a communication processor (CP) of a wireless terminal having a plurality of antennas. One of the plurality of antennas is selected based on whether a secondary antenna is in a driving state and whether a finger of a rake receiver has been allocated. The plurality of antennas includes a primary antenna and the secondary antenna. A cell search is performed through the selected one of the plurality of antennas.

Description

Apparatus and method for finding cells in a wireless terminal

The present invention generally relates to an apparatus and a method for finding a selection antenna for a cell in a wireless terminal.

In order to meet due to the development of the 4th generation (4 ^th -generation; 4G) wireless communication system only increased demand news service, has been working to develop improved 5th generation (5 ^th -generation; 5G) or quasi-5G communications systems. The 5G or quasi 5G communication system is also referred to as a "super 4G network" communication system or a "post LTE" system.

The 5G communication system is implemented in a higher frequency (mmWave) band (e.g., the 60 GHz band) to achieve higher data rates. In order to reduce the propagation loss of radio waves and increase the transmission distance in the higher frequency band, beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), full-dimension MIMO (full) have been developed in 5G communication systems. Dimensional MIMO; FD-MIMO), array antennas, analog beamforming, and large antenna technology.

In addition, in the 5G communication system, technology development for system network improvement is being carried out based on the following: advanced small cells, cloud radio access network (RAN), ultra-dense network, Device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, mobile network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-point (CoMP), receiver-side interference cancellation, and the like.

Also in 5G systems, frequency shift keying (FSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) have been developed. As advanced coding modulation (ACM), and developed filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and sparse Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) is used as an advanced access technology.

In general, a wireless terminal needs to find a cell for initial access in the network or for synchronization with a neighboring cell (also referred to as a "neighboring cell") to support migration and measure reception quality. The wireless terminal determines whether the target cell attempts to initially access by evaluating the reception quality, or determines whether to perform the handover by evaluating the reception quality of the current cell (also referred to as a "servo cell" and the reception quality of at least one neighboring cell. Hand or cell reselection. For example, handover may be performed by the wireless terminal in mode RRC_CONNECTED (eg, active state), and cell reselection may be performed by the wireless terminal in mode RRC_IDLE (eg, idle state).

A wireless terminal using a single antenna does not need to make antenna selection when it is determined that the target cell is attempting initial access or when measuring reception quality for handover or cell reselection. However, for a wireless terminal using a plurality of antennas, an antenna to be used for measuring reception quality may be an important factor in determining communication quality.

For example, for wireless terminals that support receive (Rx) diversity based on multiple antennas in a good wireless communication environment, such as a strong electric field environment, antenna selection can have minimal impact on communication quality. That is, when a wireless terminal uses multiple antennas, an antenna selection procedure may not be required in a strong electric field environment.

However, for wireless terminals that support Rx diversity based on multiple antennas in a poor wireless communication environment, such as a weak electric field environment, antenna selection may have a large impact on communication quality. That is, when a wireless terminal uses multiple antennas, the success or failure of the cell search in a weak electric field environment may depend on the selected antenna. For example, when the reception quality of a wireless terminal having two antennas is good by the first antenna but is bad by the second antenna measurement, although the cell search is successfully performed by the first antenna, However, cell search cannot be performed with the second antenna.

To solve this problem, in a weak electric field environment, all paths obtained with multiple antennas can be activated and the search corresponding to each of the paths can be performed, thus improving the search performance. However, in this case, the time and power consumed due to the search can be increased.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus and a method for selecting an antenna in a weak electric field environment to measure signal quality in a cell.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, a wireless terminal is provided, comprising: a plurality of antennas including a primary antenna and at least one secondary antenna. The wireless terminal also includes a communication processor (CP) configured to determine whether the at least one of the at least one secondary antenna is in a driving state and whether a finger of a rake receiver has been assigned One of the plurality of antennas is selected and the cell search is performed via a selected one of the plurality of antennas.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a method of finding a cell for a CP of a wireless terminal having multiple antennas is provided. The plurality of antennas includes a primary antenna and at least one secondary antenna. One of the plurality of antennas is selected based on whether at least one of the at least one secondary antenna is in a driving state and whether a finger of the defective receiver has been assigned. Cell search is performed via selected ones of the plurality of antennas.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a method of finding a cell for a CP of a wireless terminal having multiple antennas is provided. It is determined whether the secondary antenna of the plurality of antennas is in a driving state. Multiple antennas contain the primary antenna currently in use when the wireless terminal is in an active state. When the secondary antenna is not in the driving state, the primary antenna is selected and cell finding is performed via the primary antenna. When the secondary antenna is in the driving state, one of the plurality of antennas is selected based on whether the finger of the defective receiver has been assigned and the operating state based on the wireless terminal, and cell finding is performed via a selected one of the plurality of antennas.

In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a wireless terminal is provided that includes a plurality of antennas having a primary antenna that is currently in use when the wireless terminal is in an active state. The wireless terminal also includes a CP configured to determine whether a secondary antenna of the plurality of antennas is in a driving state, and selecting a primary antenna and performing a cell search via the primary antenna when the secondary antenna is not in a driving state. The CP is also configured to select one of the plurality of antennas based on whether the finger of the defective type receiver has been assigned and the operating state based on the wireless terminal when the secondary antenna is in the driving state, and is selected via the plurality of antennas Perform cell search.

Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same or similar components may be designated by the same or similar reference numerals, but the components are illustrated in different drawings. Detailed descriptions of constructions or processing sequences known in the art may be omitted to avoid obscuring the subject matter of the present disclosure.

In this document, the expressions such as "having", "having", "including" and "including" are used to indicate the existence of a corresponding characteristic (such as a numerical value, a function, an operation, or a component) and does not exclude one or more additional The existence of features.

In this document, a expression such as "A or B", "at least one of A and B" or "one or more of A and B" may include all possible combinations of the listed items. For example, "A or B", "at least one of A and B" or "one or more of A and B" may comprise (1) at least one A; (2) at least one B; or 3) At least one A and at least one B.

The expressions such as "first", "second", "primary" or "minor" as used in the various embodiments herein may refer to various elements without regard to order and/or importance, and do not limit the corresponding element. The expression can be used to distinguish one element from another. For example, the first user device and the second user device can represent different user devices regardless of order or importance. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

When a component (such as a first component) is "coupled" or "connected" or "connected" to another component (such as a second component), the component can be directly connected to another component or can be The third component is connected to another component. However, when a component (such as a first component) is "directly connected" or "directly coupled" to another component (such as a second component), it is meant that there is no intermediate between the component and the other component. Element (such as a third element).

As used herein, the expression "configured (or set)" can be associated with, for example, "suitable", "capable", "designed", "used", "made" or "Can" is used interchangeably. The term "configured (or set)" does not always mean "specifically designed to" by hardware. Alternatively, in some contexts, the expression "a device configured to" can mean that the device "may" operate in conjunction with another device or component. For example, the phrase "configured (or set) to execute processors of A, B, and C" can be a general purpose processor (such as a central processing unit (CPU) or an application processor). It may perform a corresponding operation by executing at least one software program stored at an exclusive processor (such as an embedded processor) for performing a corresponding operation or stored at a memory device.

The terms defined herein are used to describe specific embodiments only and are not intended to limit the scope of other embodiments. A singular form may include a plural form unless explicitly stated in a different manner. The technical and scientific terms used herein may have the same meaning as those commonly understood by those skilled in the art. Common terms defined in the dictionary have the same or similar meanings as the context of the related art, and are not analyzed in an ideal or overly formal manner unless explicitly defined. In some cases, the terms defined herein are not analyzed to exclude embodiments of the invention.

In general, in a wireless communication system, a wireless terminal performs an access procedure to access a network. For example, the access procedure in LTE or LTE-A may be performed in a cell search processing sequence, a system information obtaining processing sequence, a random access processing sequence, and a paging processing sequence.

The wireless terminal can obtain synchronization with cells in the network via a cell search process. For example, the cell search processing sequence may include: obtaining frequency and symbol synchronization for the cell; obtaining frame synchronization for the cell; and then determining a cell identifier (ID) of the physical layer of the cell. The cell ID may be obtained based on a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) transmitted from the cell.

The wireless terminal can obtain cell system information (CSI) through the system information obtaining process. CSI can define the information necessary to communicate in a cell.

For example, in LTE, a CSI may include a master information block (MIB) and a system information block (SIB). The MIB may be transmitted using a broadcasting channel (BCH), and the SIB may be transmitted using a downlink shared channel (DL-SCH).

The SIB can be defined according to the type of information contained therein. For example, SIB3 may contain information about cell reselection, and SIB4 through SIB8 may contain information about neighboring cells. Once the CSI is accurately decoded, the wireless terminal can access the cell via the random access processing sequence.

In a wireless communication system, as a method of obtaining good communication quality, a cell finding and selection procedure can be performed. The cell finding and selection procedure may include measuring a signal quality of the neighboring cell and selecting a series of processing sequences of the at least one target cell based on the measurement result.

For example, the measurement of signal quality may include: receiving a reference signal transmitted from a neighboring cell, such as a pilot signal; measuring a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal from the received reference signal Signal quality defined by signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR), Ec/Io, received signal code power (RSCP), etc.; and based on measured signal quality Select at least one target cell. The wireless terminal may select at least one neighboring cell whose measured signal quality satisfies the criteria set in the network as the target cell.

Even after selecting a cell, the wireless terminal can still wake up in a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle in an idle state to measure the signal quality of the selected cell or its neighboring cells. The wireless terminal may decide whether to remain in the currently selected cell based on the measurement result, or to reselect the cell for moving to the new cell.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method is provided in which a wireless terminal using multiple antennas in a weak electric field environment selects an antenna for receiving quality measurements for any of: for determining a target cell to try Cell search initially accessed; handover for moving to another cell; and cell reselection for selecting a new cell for access.

For example, the wireless terminal can measure the signal quality when powering on to determine the target cell to attempt initial access, measure the signal quality to determine whether the handover is performed in the active state, and measure the signal quality to be idle. The status is for cell reselection.

Accordingly, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method is provided in which a wireless terminal using multiple antennas in a weak electric field environment selects an antenna for measuring signal quality based on an operational state. For example, whether the finger of the 接收-type receiver of the wireless terminal has been allocated can affect the signal quality measurement.

Accordingly, a method of antenna selection based on an operational state of a wireless terminal is provided. That is, in consideration of the initial cell search in which the finger has not been allocated, the in-flight state in which the finger is always assigned, and the idle state in which the finger is alternately assigned, the measurement signal must be selected for measurement. antenna.

For reference, if the operational state is idle, the wireless terminal wakes up in each DRX cycle to measure the reception quality, and in this case, the finger assignment and deallocation can be repeated in the wake-up cycle.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless terminal in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to Figure 1, the wireless terminal includes two antennas ANT#1 and ANT#2. A radio frequency (RF) module 110 converts an RF band signal received via a plurality of antennas into an intermediate frequency (IF) band signal, and delivers the IF band signal to a communication processor (CP) 120. The RF module 110 converts the IF band signal supplied from the CP 120 into an RF band signal and delivers the RF band signal to a plurality of antennas.

The CP 120 processes voice signals and data transmitted/received via a wireless network. The CP 120 can include communication protocols, codecs, and the like. For example, the CP 120 can support an agreement defined in the IMS standard for at least one of the following: a session initiation protocol (SIP), a session description protocol (SDP) Real-time transfer protocol (RTP), real time control protocol (RTCP), message session relay protocol (MSRP), real time streaming protocol ;RTSP) and hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP).

The CP 120 may include: a 接收-type receiver including a plurality of fingers; a seeker; an analog-to-digital converter (ADC); a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) ); digital signal processor (DSP) and the like.

The CP 120 selectively sets a communication path using a plurality of antennas, or connects or disconnects the communication path based on the set operation mode and the set handover condition.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, the CP 120 performs antenna selection based on the current operational state. For example, CP 120 may perform antenna selection for cell discovery, perform antenna selection for handover in an active state, and perform antenna selection for cell reselection in an idle state.

The CP 120 selects one of a plurality of antennas in consideration of both the driving of the secondary antenna among the plurality of antennas and the allocation of the fingers that can be defined as the current operating state. Whether the secondary antenna is in the drive state indicates whether a signal received via the secondary antenna can be delivered to the RF module 110. That is, if the secondary antenna is in the drive state, the wireless terminal can connect a path for delivering signals received via the secondary antenna to the RF module 110. Otherwise, if the secondary antenna is not in a driving state, the wireless terminal may not connect a path for delivering signals received via the secondary antenna to the RF module 110. For example, in the case of considering whether the secondary antenna is in a driving state, the wireless terminal can deliver a signal received via the secondary antenna to the 接收-type receiver.

The CP 120 selects antennas to be used for cell finding, handover, and cell reselection, and cell lookup, handover, and cell reselection are performed via selected antennas selected from among a plurality of antennas. The operating state determines whether the finger of the defective receiver has been assigned. For example, if the operating state is an active state, it can be determined that the finger has been assigned. If the operation state is the idle state or the cell search state, it may be determined that the finger has not been assigned.

More specifically, if the secondary antenna among the plurality of antennas is not in the driving state, the CP 120 selects the primary antenna among the plurality of antennas as the antenna to be used.

If the secondary antenna among the plurality of antennas is in the driving state and the finger is assigned, the CP 120 determines the candidate antenna from among the plurality of antennas. If the signal quality corresponding to the determined candidate antenna satisfies the preset reference signal quality, the CP 120 selects the determined candidate antenna as the antenna to be used. If the signal quality corresponding to the determined candidate antenna fails to satisfy the preset reference signal quality, the CP 120 excludes the candidate antenna from among the plurality of antennas to select the remaining antenna as the antenna to be used.

If the secondary antenna of the plurality of antennas is in the driving state and the finger has not been allocated, the CP 120 determines, according to the at least one preset criterion, whether the signal quality of the unselected antennas for the previous cell search for the previous cell among the plurality of antennas is better than The previous cell looks for the signal quality of the selected antenna that has been selected.

If the signal quality of the unselected antenna is better than the signal quality of the selected antenna according to at least one preset criterion, the CP 120 may select the unselected antenna as the antenna to be used. However, if the signal quality of the unselected antenna is not better than the signal quality of the selected antenna according to at least one predetermined criterion, the CP 120 can use the selected antenna as the antenna to be used.

2 is a block diagram illustrating a CP included in a wireless terminal in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, the CP 120 included in the wireless terminal includes an antenna driving module 210 and an antenna selection module 220.

As used herein, the term "module" may refer to, for example, a unit comprising one or a combination of two or more of hardware, software, and firmware. The term "module" can be used interchangeably with the terms "unit", "logic", "logical block", "component" or "circuit". The module can be the smallest unit or part of an integrated component. A module can be the smallest unit or portion thereof that performs one or more functions. The modules can be implemented mechanically or electronically.

For example, a module in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure may include at least one of known or pending developments that perform certain operations: an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) A chip, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and a programmable logic device.

The antenna driving module 210 designates at least two of the plurality of antennas as the primary antenna and the at least one secondary antenna, and controls driving based on the primary antenna and the at least one secondary antenna.

In view of the current operational state, the antenna selection module 220 selects the antenna to be used to reduce the seek time while maintaining the search performance in a weak electric field environment. For example, the antenna selection module 220 may determine whether to drive a secondary antenna of the plurality of antennas at a predetermined time point, and may select an antenna to be used at a predetermined time point based on the reception quality (RSCP or the like), and receive Quality is measured based on multiple fingers of the 耙-type receiver.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in consideration of at least one of a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) and a quality (Ec/Io), the antenna selection module 220 selects a to-be-used based on the RSCP. antenna. When the selected antenna is used, the probability of successfully performing the search process by searching for the cell through the cell and measuring the signal quality of the selected cell can be improved, and unnecessary cell search can be avoided.

3 is a flow diagram illustrating an antenna selection procedure performed by a wireless terminal in a wireless communication system in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3, in step 310, the wireless terminal determines whether the current operating state is a cell search state. For example, when powered on, the wireless terminal can determine that the current operational state is a cell search state.

When the current operational state is the cell discovery state, in step 320, the wireless terminal selects an antenna for cell search based on the selected antenna information and the RSSI of the antennas in the plurality of antennas.

If the current operational state is not a cell search state, the wireless terminal selects an antenna for handover or cell reselection based on the selected antenna information, RSCP, and Ec/Io. The operational state used to select the antenna for handover may be an active state. The operational state for selecting an antenna for cell reselection may be an idle state.

For example, in step 330, the wireless terminal may select a candidate antenna from among a plurality of antennas based on the selected antenna information and RSCP, and in step 340, the antenna may be selected based on the Ec/Io of the selected candidate antenna.

4A and 4B are flow diagrams illustrating a control flow for a wireless terminal to select an antenna in a weak electric field environment, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Referring to Figures 4A and 4B, in step 410, the wireless terminal determines if antenna selection is required. The wireless terminal can consider the current communication environment before deciding whether an antenna selection is required. That is, if the current communication environment is a weak electric field environment, the wireless terminal can determine whether antenna selection is required.

The antenna selection can be required in the initial cell search procedure, the handover procedure, and the cell reselection procedure. The initial cell search procedure can be performed when the wireless terminal is powered on, and the handover procedure can be performed to support migration when the operational state of the wireless terminal is active. When the wireless terminal wakes up from the idle state in each DRX cycle, a cell reselection procedure can be performed to find neighboring cells. The antenna selection in each of the three above-described procedures may have the same purpose of effectively measuring the strength of the received signal.

The wireless terminal determines the point in time at which the antenna is selected for each operational state. That is, in the idle state and the active state, the antenna selection can be performed when the finger is assigned, and in the initial cell search procedure, the antenna selection can be performed when the finger is not assigned.

For example, in an idle state, the wireless terminal may initially select an antenna when waking up to identify a paging indication channel (PICH) in a previous DRX cycle. When the wireless terminal wakes up to identify the PICH, the finger has been assigned to enable the wireless terminal to obtain the antenna specific RSCP. If the secondary antenna is turned "on" when the seeker is driven to measure the strength of the received signal, the wireless terminal can select the initially selected antenna. On the other hand, if the secondary antenna is turned off while the seeker is driven to measure the strength of the received signal, the wireless terminal can select the primary antenna.

For example, in an active state or initial cell lookup procedure, the wireless terminal can select an antenna to use when the seeker is driven to measure the strength of the received signal.

Referring back to FIG. 4A, if the time to select the antenna is reached, then in step 412, the wireless terminal determines whether the secondary antenna among the plurality of antennas is in the driving state. The secondary antenna may be the remaining antenna of the primary antenna used by the wireless terminal in the active state among the plurality of antennas, that is, the non-use antenna.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, in an active state (eg, "Cell_DCH State"), the wireless terminal monitors signal quality (RSCP, Ec/Io, or the like) in the primary path based on the primary antenna at each predetermined cycle. And drive the secondary antenna when the monitored signal quality does not meet the preset criteria. The wireless terminal measures the signal quality in the primary path via a finger corresponding to the primary path among the plurality of fingers of the 接收-type receiver. The preset criterion may correspond to a condition when the measured signal quality fails to satisfy the reference value. That is, the wireless terminal may supply the operating power to the secondary when the measured RSCP of the primary path is less than the preset reference value RSCP_DIVON_TH or when the measured Ec/Io of the primary path is less than the preset reference value Ec/Io_DIVON_TH antenna. In this case, in order to supply the operating voltage to the secondary antenna, it is not necessary to determine whether two conditions are satisfied.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, in an idle state, the wireless terminal can determine whether to drive the secondary antenna based on the signal quality in the primary path (RSSI or the like) based on the primary antenna in the DRX cycle. The wireless terminal measures the signal quality in the primary path via a finger corresponding to the primary path among the plurality of fingers of the 接收-type receiver.

For example, the wireless terminal wakes up in each DRX cycle, and when the RSSI measured in the primary path is less than the preset reference value RSSI_DIVON_TH, or when the RSCP measured in the primary path in the previous DRX cycle is less than the pre- When the reference value RSCP_DIVON_TH is set, or when the Ec/Io measured in the main path in the previous DRX cycle is smaller than the preset reference value Ec/Io_DIVON_TH, the operational power is supplied to the secondary antenna. In this case, to supply the operating voltage to the secondary antenna, it may be determined whether at least one of the proposed conditions, rather than all of the proposed conditions, is met.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in the initial cell search procedure, none of the fingers of the 接收-type receiver have been allocated such that if the antenna used in the previously active state is a secondary antenna or if based on the primary antenna However, if the measured signal quality in the current main path does not satisfy the preset reference value, the wireless terminal can drive the secondary antenna.

For example, in the initial cell search procedure, RSCP may not be measured when no fingers have been assigned. Therefore, the wireless terminal can supply operating power to the secondary antenna when the secondary antenna is used in the previously active state or when the RSSI in the current primary path is less than the preset reference value RSSI_DIVON_TH.

In accordance with the foregoing embodiments of the present disclosure, a solution is provided in which a wireless terminal determines a driving time point of a secondary antenna for each operational state (active state, idle state, initial cell search state, or the like).

In the foregoing embodiments, it has been assumed that RSSI or Ec/Io is measured or RSCP is calculated.

For example, the wireless terminal can obtain the RSSI in each of the plurality of antennas via an automatic gain controller (AGC). AGC can be provided for each antenna. In general, the AGC can use the RSSI measured in the received signal for gain control of the received signal. In this case, the wireless terminal can obtain the antenna-specific RSSI via the AGC. The wireless terminal may obtain Ec/Io for each antenna by combining power values in the fingers assigned to respective ones of the plurality of antennas. The wireless terminal calculates an antenna-specific RSCP for each of the plurality of antennas by using the measured RSSI and Ec/Io corresponding to each antenna.

In the following description, multiple antennas may be classified into selected antennas and unselected antennas or candidate antennas and remaining antennas. The selected antenna is selected from among a plurality of antennas in the previous antenna selection procedure, and the unselected antenna is not selected from among the plurality of antennas in the previous antenna selection procedure. The candidate antenna is selected as a candidate from among a plurality of antennas before the antenna selection, and the remaining antenna is the antenna remaining when the candidate antenna is excluded from among the plurality of antennas.

Referring back to FIG. 4A, when it is determined in step 412 that the secondary antenna is not in the driving state, the wireless terminal selects the primary antenna in step 414.

If it is determined in step 412 that the secondary antenna is in the drive state, then the wireless terminal determines in step 416 whether the finger has been assigned. If the finger has not been assigned, the wireless terminal determines in step 418 whether the current operating state is an idle state.

If the current operating state is the idle state, the wireless terminal compares the RSSI RSSI_unchosen in the unselected antenna with the RSSI RSSI_chosen in the selected antenna in step 420. If the RSSI RSSI_unchosen is greater than or equal to the combination of the RSSI RSSI_chosen and the preset value RSSI_HYS, the wireless terminal selects the unselected antenna as the antenna to be used in step 422. If the RSSI RSSI_unchosen is less than the combination of the RSSI RSSI_chosen and the preset value RSSI_HYS, the wireless terminal selects the selected antenna as the antenna to be used in step 424.

If it has been determined in step 416 that the finger has been assigned or it has been determined in step 418 that the current operating state is not idle, then the wireless terminal determines the candidate antenna from among the plurality of antennas in step 426 of FIG. 4B. If the current operational state is idle, the wireless terminal can assign and then de-allocate the finger at each DRX.

To determine the candidate antenna in step 426, the wireless terminal can compare the RSCP RSCP_unchosen in the unselected antenna with the RSCP RSCP_chosen in the selected antenna. If the RSCP RSCP_unchosen is greater than or equal to the combination of the RSCP RSCP_chosen and the preset value RSCP_HYS, the wireless terminal determines that the antenna is not selected as the candidate antenna. If the RSCP RSCP_unchosen is less than the combination of the RSCP RSCP_chosen and the preset value RSCP_HYS, the wireless terminal determines that the selected antenna is the candidate antenna.

Once the candidate antenna is determined as described above, the wireless terminal determines in step 428 through step 434 whether to select the determined candidate antenna or the remaining antenna.

More specifically, the wireless terminal compares Ec/Io Ec/Io_candidate and the preset reference value TH1 (Ec/Io_SEL_TH) in the candidate antenna to determine whether Ec/Io Ec/Io_candidate is greater than a preset reference value Ec/Io_SEL_TH in step 428. . If Ec/Io Ec/Io_candidate is less than or equal to the preset reference value Ec/Io_SEL_TH, the wireless terminal compares Ec/Io Ec/Io_candidate in the candidate antenna with Ec/Io Ec/Io_remained in the remaining antennas in step 430. If the combination of Ec/Io Ec/Io_candidate and the preset error reference value Ec/Io_HYS is smaller than Ec/Io Ec/Io_remained, the wireless terminal selects the remaining antenna as the antenna to be used in step 434.

If in step 428, Ec/Io Ec/Io_candidate is greater than the preset reference value Ec/Io_SEL_TH, or if the combination of Ec/Io Ec/Io_candidate and the preset error reference value Ec/Io_HYS is greater than or equal to Ec/Io Ec/Io_remained, The wireless terminal then selects the candidate antenna as the antenna to be used in step 432.

As is apparent from the foregoing description, the antenna selection scheme proposed in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure can reduce the seek time while maintaining the search performance in a weak electric field environment.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, at least a portion of a device (eg, a module or a function thereof) or method (eg, an operation) can be implemented by a command in the form of a program module stored in a computer readable storage medium. When a command is executed by a processor (eg, a processor), one or more processors can perform functions corresponding to the commands. The computer readable storage medium can be a memory.

The computer readable recording medium includes a hard disk, a flexible disk, a magnetic medium (for example, a magnetic tape), and an optical medium (for example, a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) or a digital versatile disc (digital). Versatile disc; DVD)), magneto-optical media (eg, soft magnetic disc), and hardware devices (eg, ROM, random access memory (RAM) or flash memory). In addition, the program instructions include machine language code generated by the compiler and high-level language code that can be executed by the computer using an interpreter. The foregoing hardware device can be configured to operate as at least one software module for performing the operations of the present disclosure, or the foregoing software module can be configured to operate at least to perform the operations of the present disclosure. A hardware device.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, a module or programming module may include one or more of the foregoing elements, some of the preceding elements may be omitted, or additional elements may be included. Operations performed by modules, programming modules, or other components may be performed in a sequential, side-by-side, repeated, or heuristic manner. Also, some of the operations may be performed in a different order, may be omitted, or may have additional operations.

The present disclosure can be utilized in connection with the fabrication of integrated circuits, wafer sets, or system-on-chip (SOC). Those skilled in the art will know how to divide the wafer and package to produce an integrated circuit. The integrated circuit thus fabricated is considered to be part of the disclosure.

While the present disclosure has been shown and described with respect to certain embodiments thereof, it is understood by those skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be practiced without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Various changes in form and detail are made in the content.

110‧‧‧RF Module
120‧‧‧Communication Processor (CP)
210‧‧‧Antenna Drive Module
220‧‧‧Antenna selection module
ANT#1‧‧‧Antenna
ANT#2‧‧‧Antenna
310, 320, 330, 340‧ ‧ steps
410, 412, 414, 416, 418, 420, 422, 424, 426, 428, 430, 432, 434 ‧ ‧ steps

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless terminal in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a communications processor (CP) of a wireless terminal in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an antenna selection procedure performed by a wireless terminal in a wireless communication system in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. 4A and 4B are flow diagrams illustrating a control flow for a wireless terminal to select an antenna in a weak electric field environment, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

110‧‧‧RF Module

120‧‧‧Communication Processor (CP)

ANT#1‧‧‧Antenna

ANT#2‧‧‧Antenna

Claims (20)

A wireless terminal, comprising: a plurality of antennas including a primary antenna and at least one secondary antenna; and a communication processor configured to determine whether at least one of the at least one secondary antenna is in a driving state and Whether the finger of the defective receiver has been assigned and one of the plurality of antennas is selected, and cell finding is performed via the selected one of the plurality of antennas. The wireless terminal of claim 1, wherein the communication processor is further configured to: if the at least one of the at least one secondary antenna is in the driving state Determining the candidate antenna, determining a candidate antenna among the plurality of antennas; selecting the candidate antenna if a signal quality corresponding to the candidate antenna satisfies a predetermined reference signal quality; and if corresponding to the candidate antenna If the signal quality fails to satisfy the predetermined reference signal quality, the candidate antenna is selected from the plurality of antennas to select a remaining antenna. The wireless terminal of claim 1, wherein the communication processor is further processed if the at least one of the at least one secondary antenna is in the driving state and the finger has not been allocated Configuring to: determine whether a signal quality corresponding to an unselected antenna that has not been selected for a previous cell among the plurality of antennas is better than a signal quality corresponding to the selected antenna selected for the previous cell search Referring to or exceeding the predetermined reference; selecting the predetermined reference or exceeding the predetermined reference if the signal quality corresponding to the unselected antenna is better than the signal quality corresponding to the selected antenna Not selecting an antenna; and selecting the selected if the signal quality corresponding to the unselected antenna is not better than the predetermined reference or exceeding the predetermined reference corresponding to the signal quality of the selected antenna antenna. The wireless terminal of claim 1, wherein the communication processor is further configured to: if the at least one of the at least one secondary antenna is not in the driving state, Then select the primary antenna. The wireless terminal of claim 1, wherein the driving state is a state in which a signal received via the at least one of the at least one secondary antenna is delivered to a state in which the defective receiver is located. The wireless terminal of claim 1, wherein the communication processor is further configured to: if the operational state is an active state, determining that the finger has been assigned; and if the operation is If the state is an idle state or a cell search state, it is determined that the finger has not been allocated. A method for a communication processor of a wireless terminal comprising a plurality of antennas to find a cell, the plurality of antennas comprising a primary antenna and at least one secondary antenna, the method comprising: based on whether at least one of the at least one secondary antenna is based Selecting one of the plurality of antennas in a driving state and whether a finger of the defective receiver has been assigned; and performing cell finding via the selected one of the plurality of antennas. A method for a communication processor for a wireless terminal including a plurality of antennas to find a cell, as described in claim 7, wherein selecting the one of the plurality of antennas comprises: if the at least one secondary antenna is Determining the candidate antenna among the plurality of antennas when the at least one of the driving states is in the driving state and assigning the finger; if the signal quality corresponding to the candidate antenna satisfies a predetermined reference signal quality, selecting the a candidate antenna; and if the signal quality corresponding to the candidate antenna fails to satisfy the predetermined reference signal quality, excluding the candidate antenna from the plurality of antennas to select a remaining antenna. A method for a communication processor for a wireless terminal including a plurality of antennas to find a cell, as described in claim 7, wherein selecting the one of the plurality of antennas comprises: if the at least one secondary antenna is Determining, in the driving state, that the finger is not in the driving state, determining whether a signal quality corresponding to an unselected antenna that has not been selected for a previous cell among the plurality of antennas corresponds to the previous Determining, by the cell, the signal quality of the selected selected antenna to be predetermined or exceeding the predetermined reference; if the signal quality corresponding to the unselected antenna is better than the signal quality corresponding to the selected antenna Selecting or not exceeding the predetermined reference, selecting the unselected antenna; and if the signal quality corresponding to the unselected antenna is not better than the signal quality corresponding to the selected antenna, the predetermined reference Or above the predetermined reference, the selected antenna is selected. A method for a communication processor for a wireless terminal including a plurality of antennas to find a cell, as described in claim 7, wherein selecting the one of the plurality of antennas comprises: if the at least one secondary antenna is The at least one of the drivers is not in the driving state, and the primary antenna is selected. A method for a communication processor for a wireless terminal including a plurality of antennas to find a cell, as described in claim 7, wherein the driving state is received via the at least one of the at least one secondary antenna The signal is delivered to the state in which the 接收-type receiver is located. The method for searching for a cell by a communication processor of a wireless terminal including a plurality of antennas according to claim 7, wherein selecting the one of the plurality of antennas comprises: if an operation state is an active state, Determining that the finger has been assigned; and if the operating state is an idle state or a cell seeking state, determining that the finger has not been assigned. A method for a communication processor of a wireless terminal including a plurality of antennas to find a cell, the method comprising: determining whether a secondary antenna of the plurality of antennas is in a driving state, wherein the plurality of antennas are included in the wireless a primary antenna currently in use when the terminal is in an active state; when the secondary antenna is not in the driving state, selecting the primary antenna and performing cell searching via the primary antenna; when the secondary antenna is in the Driving the state, selecting one of the plurality of antennas based on whether a finger of the defective receiver has been assigned and based on an operating state of the wireless terminal, and performing via the selected one of the plurality of antennas The cell is sought. A method for a communication processor for a wireless terminal including a plurality of antennas to find a cell, as described in claim 13, wherein selecting the one of the plurality of antennas comprises: if the finger or the location has been assigned Determining a candidate antenna among the plurality of antennas if the operating state is not an idle state; selecting the candidate antenna if a signal quality corresponding to the candidate antenna satisfies a preset reference signal quality; if corresponding to the candidate antenna If the signal quality fails to satisfy the preset reference signal quality, the candidate antenna is selected from the plurality of antennas to select a remaining antenna; if the finger is not allocated or the operating state is an idle state, Determining whether a signal quality corresponding to an unselected antenna that has not been selected for a previous cell among the plurality of antennas is better than a signal quality corresponding to a signal quality of the selected antenna selected for the previous cell search Setting a reference; if the signal quality corresponding to the unselected antenna is better than the signal quality corresponding to the selected antenna Selecting the unselected antenna by a preset reference or exceeding the preset reference; and if the signal quality corresponding to the unselected antenna is not better than the signal quality corresponding to the selected antenna The selected antenna is selected by reference or exceeding the preset reference. A method for a communication processor for a wireless terminal including a plurality of antennas to find a cell, according to claim 13, wherein the driving state is that a signal received via the secondary antenna is delivered to the defective receiving The state of the device. A method for finding a cell by a communication processor of a wireless terminal including a plurality of antennas, wherein the selecting the one of the plurality of antennas comprises: if the operating state is the function, If the state is the idle state or the cell search state, it is determined that the finger has not been allocated. A wireless terminal, comprising: a plurality of antennas including a primary antenna currently in use when the wireless terminal is in an active state; and a communication processor configured to: determine the plurality of antennas Whether the secondary antenna is in a driving state; when the secondary antenna is not in the driving state, selecting the primary antenna and performing cell searching via the primary antenna; and when the secondary antenna is in the driving state Selecting one of the plurality of antennas based on whether a finger of the UI receiver has been assigned and based on an operational state of the wireless terminal, and performing the method via the selected one of the plurality of antennas Looking for a community. The wireless terminal of claim 17, wherein the communication processor is further configured to: if the finger has been assigned or the operational state is not an idle state, then the plurality Determining a candidate antenna among the antennas; if the signal quality corresponding to the candidate antenna satisfies a preset reference signal quality, selecting the candidate antenna; if the signal quality corresponding to the candidate antenna fails to satisfy the preset reference Signal quality, excluding the candidate antenna from the plurality of antennas to select a remaining antenna; if the finger is not allocated or the operating state is an idle state, determining that the previous cell is searched for among the plurality of antennas Whether the signal quality of the unselected antenna that has not been selected is better than a preset reference or exceeds the preset reference corresponding to the signal quality of the selected antenna selected for the previous cell; if corresponding to the unselected antenna If the signal quality is better than the signal quality of the selected antenna, the preset reference or exceeds the preset reference, then Selecting the unselected antenna; and if the signal quality corresponding to the unselected antenna is not better than the predetermined reference or exceeding the preset reference corresponding to the signal quality of the selected antenna, Select the selected antenna. The wireless terminal of claim 17, wherein the driving state is a state in which a signal received via the secondary antenna is delivered to the type of the receiver. The wireless terminal of claim 17, wherein the communication processor is further configured to: if the operational state is the active state, determining that the finger has been assigned; If the operation state is an idle state or a cell search state, it is determined that the finger has not been allocated.