TWI781583B - Wireless transmission system and power saving method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A wireless transmission system includes an antenna element, a wireless module, a tuner and a sensor. The wireless module includes a processing unit and a power control unit. The tuner is connected between the antenna element and the wireless module, and the tuner is configured to adjust the output load of the power control unit to provide a plurality of different load values for the power control unit. The sensor is connected to the wireless module, and the sensor is used to sense and record the current consumption value corresponding to each load value. In response to the wireless module transmitting through the antenna element, the processing unit selects the load value corresponding to the lowest of the current consumption values and applies it as the output load of the power control unit

Description

Wireless transmission system and its power saving method

The present invention relates to a wireless transmission system, and in particular to a wireless transmission system capable of providing power saving effect.

When the wireless transmission system is applied to the field of wearable devices or IOT devices, these devices are powered by batteries, and the efficiency and energy saving of the wireless transmission system have always been the focus of technological development. How to achieve power saving and wireless communication The quality of reception is the goal that the industry is striving to achieve.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a wireless transmission system is provided, which includes an antenna element, a wireless module, a tuner and a sensor. The wireless module includes a processing unit and a power control unit. The tuner is connected between the antenna element and the wireless module, and the tuner is used to trigger the adjustment of the output load of the power control unit according to the received signal strength indication of the wireless transmission system is greater than a predetermined threshold, thereby providing multiple different power control units load value. The sensor is connected to the wireless module, and the sensor is used to sense and record the current consumption value corresponding to each load value. In response to when the wireless module transmits through the antenna element, the processing unit selects the load value corresponding to the lowest of the current consumption values to be applied to the output load of the power control unit.

In order to have a better understanding of the above-mentioned and other aspects of the present invention, the following specific examples are given in detail with the accompanying drawings as follows:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a wireless transmission system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The wireless transmission system 100 is, for example, a system applicable to the field of wearable devices (such as true wireless earphones, smart watches, etc.), and includes an antenna element 110 , a wireless module 120 , a tuner 130 and a sensor 140 .

The wireless module 120 is, for example, a Bluetooth module, a WiFi module or a ZigBee module, which includes a processing unit 121 and a power control unit 122 , and the processing unit 121 and the power control unit 122 are electrically connected to each other. The wireless module 120 can receive signals through the antenna element 110 and transmit signals through the antenna element 110 . Specifically, the wireless module 120 receives and processes the incoming wireless signal from the outside through the antenna element 110 through the processing unit 121 , and transmits the processed signal to the outside environment through the antenna element 110 through the processing unit 121 . The power control unit 122 is, for example, a power amplifier (Power Amplifier, PA), which is used to amplify and release the output signal of the wireless module 120 .

The tuner 130 is connected between the antenna element 110 and the wireless module 120 , and the sensor 140 is connected to the wireless module 120 . The tuner 130 is, for example, a load tuner (Load Tuner), which is used to trigger and adjust the output load of the power control unit 122 according to the received signal strength indicator (Received Signal Strength Indicator, RSSI) of the wireless transmission system 100 is greater than a predetermined threshold. , so as to provide multiple different load values for the power control unit 122 , that is, perform load (impedance) matching on the power control unit 122 . Since the adjustment operation of the output load of the power control unit 122 may reduce the output power and cause poor connection quality of the system, it can be ensured that the received signal strength indicator of the wireless transmission system 100 is greater than a predetermined threshold. Affects the connection quality of the system. The sensor 140 is, for example, a current sensor (Current Sensor), which is used to sense and record the current consumption value corresponding to each tuned load value of the output load of the power control unit 122, so as to convert the recorded power consumption The current value is transmitted to the processing unit 121 .

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the power saving method S of the wireless transmission system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the power saving method S includes the following steps S110~S130. The power saving method S is a method for the wireless transmission system 100 to maintain a certain wireless transmission connection quality and achieve a better load, so as to achieve wireless transmission. Power saving effect.

Specifically, step S110: according to the received signal strength indication of the wireless transmission system 100 being greater than a predetermined threshold, triggering to adjust the output load of the power control unit 122, thereby providing multiple different load values of the power control unit 112; that is, as described above As described above, without affecting the connection quality of the wireless transmission system 100, the output load of the power control unit 122 can be adjusted through the tuner 130, thereby providing multiple different load values of the power control unit 122. Next, step S120: sensing and recording the current consumption value corresponding to each load value; that is, as mentioned above, the output load of the power control unit 122 can be sensed and recorded through the sensor 140 according to each tuned load value Corresponding current consumption value. Next, step S3: when the wireless module 120 transmits a signal through the antenna element 110, select the load value corresponding to the lowest of the aforementioned current consumption values, and apply it to the output load of the power control unit 122; that is, according to the selected load value The lowest recorded current consumption value is known to have the lowest corresponding power consumption, and the processing unit 121 can select the load value corresponding to the lowest current consumption value to apply to the power control unit 122, and the power control unit 122 thus It has a better power-saving load to achieve the power-saving effect of wireless transmission.

FIG. 3 shows a specific configuration diagram of the tuner 130 contained in the wireless transmission system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. It can be understood that the input terminal IN shown in the figure is connected to the wireless module 120 in the first figure. Terminal OUT is connected to antenna element 120 in FIG. 1 . In one embodiment, the tuner 130 may include a first capacitor C ₁ and a second capacitor C ₂ such as a variable capacitor, a first switch SW ₁ and a second switch SW ₂ such as a single-ended switch, connected to A group of series path elements L ₁ -L _N between the first capacitor C ₁ and the second capacitor C ₂ and the third switch SW ₃ . The wireless module 120 can further control the tuner 13 to adjust the output load of the power control unit 122 through a control interface CI (as shown in FIG. 1 ). The control interface CI is, for example, a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I ² C) interface or a Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI). Through the control interface CI, the first capacitor C ₁ , the series path elements L ₁ -L _N , and the second capacitor C ₂ can be combined to form a variety of different load values, wherein the first capacitor C ₁ and the second capacitor C ₂ can be interposed, for example In 0.5pF ~ 3.5pF or based on the state of the first switch SW ₁ and the second switch SW ₂ is an open circuit end, the series path elements L ₁ ~ L _N such as impedance value L can be 0.5 nH ~ 3 nH or based on the first Switch SW3 toggles to 50 ohm transmission line or 0 ohm resistor. The following table 1 takes the experimental simulation of five states as an example to illustrate. appearance C ₁ C ₂ L(L ₁ ~L _N ) Current consumption value 1 0.5 pF open circuit 2 nH 33 mA 2 2 pF 0.5 pF 0 ohms 20 mA 3 open circuit 0.5 pF 1 nH 45 mA 4 1 pF 2 pF 0.5 nH 28 mA 5 open circuit open circuit 0 ohms 50 mA (Table 1)

That is, the tuner 130 can be used to randomly form different load combinations such as 5 types, and after sensing the current consumption values of the load combinations of the above 5 types through the sensor 140, the processing unit 121 compares and analyzes and selects The load corresponding to the one with the lowest current consumption is used as the output load of the power control unit 122 , and as shown in Table 1, aspect 2 is used as the current optimal output load.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between load and performance of the power control unit 122 included in the wireless transmission system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the wireless transmission system 100 is applied to a wireless earphone. Before a user puts the wireless earphone using the wireless transmission system 100 into his ear, the wireless transmission system 100 contains The power control unit 122 initially falls on the performance position P1, that is, on the PAE 50% of the contour line of the power added efficiency PAE. After the user puts the wireless earphone using the wireless transmission system 100 into his ear, the power control unit 122 changes from the performance position P1 to the performance position P2 due to human factors (such as differences in ear shape or wearing style), that is, it falls in Falling outside the PAE 40% of the contour line of the power-added efficiency PAE reduces the power-added efficiency. At this time, as explained above, the tuner 130 can trigger to adjust the output load of the power control unit 122 according to the received signal strength indication of the wireless transmission system 100 being greater than a predetermined threshold, so as to ensure that a certain connection quality can be maintained. A method for power saving optimization of the system.

If the received signal strength indicator of the wireless transmission system 100 is greater than a predetermined threshold (if the receiving threshold of a wireless earphone is, for example, -75dBm), the tuner 130 adjusts the output load of the power control unit 122, and the results in Table 1 above are formed randomly. There are 5 kinds of states (corresponding to performance positions Pa~Pe), and the performance positions Pa~Pe have different output load values, and their corresponding performances are also different. The sensor 140 records the current consumption of each performance position Pa~Pe, and the processing unit 121 judges and selects the performance position Pb corresponding to the lowest current consumption as the best power consumption position under the current environment, that is, according to the performance position Pb having the highest Power Added Efficiency (PAE 55% for Contour). As a result, the wireless earphones using the wireless transmission system 100 are upgraded from the original in-ear performance position P2 (corresponding to PAE below 40%) to the optimized performance position Pb (corresponding to PAE 60%), and the power added efficiency has increased by at least 20%. At the same time, it can increase the use time of wireless earphones, so as to achieve the effect of energy saving and power saving.

On the other hand, the wireless transmission system 100 and the power saving method S of the embodiment of the present invention further have the effect of optimizing the signal receiving capability during signal reception. Specifically, the wireless transmission system 100 is implemented as a time-division duplexing (Time-Division Duplexing) system, and its signal reception and signal transmission are separated, and the signal reception can be performed through the antenna element 110 in response to the wireless module 120 , the tuner 130 adjusts the power control unit 122 to an original standard load value of the power control unit 122 , and the processing unit 121 applies the original standard load value to the output load of the power control unit 122 . The original standard load value is generally required to be matched to 50 ohm, that is, the series path elements L ₁ ~L _N corresponding to the tuner 130 (shown in FIG. 3 ) are switched to a 50 ohm transmission line based on the first switch SW3, so that the power control unit 122 The output load presents the original standard load value. Therefore, the wireless transmission system 100 of the embodiment of the present invention can use different output load settings when performing signal transmission and signal reception, and can optimize the power saving effect of signal transmission without affecting the performance of signal reception and the quality of reception. , and even optimize signal reception performance through time-division duplex systems.

According to the above, the wireless transmission system of the embodiment of the present invention selects the load value corresponding to the lowest current consumption value by the processing unit to apply to the power control unit, so that the power control unit has a better output load. Therefore, the power saving effect of wireless transmission is achieved by dynamically adjusting the output load of the power control unit to achieve better power-added efficiency.

To sum up, although the present invention has been disclosed by the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Those skilled in the art of the present invention can make various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be defined by the scope of the appended patent application.

100: wireless transmission system 110: antenna element 120: wireless module 121: processing unit 122: power control unit 130: tuner 140: sensor C ₁ : first capacitor C ₂ : second capacitor CI: control interface IN: Input terminal L ₁ ~L _N : series path element OUT: output terminal P1, P2, Pa~Pe: performance position PAE: power added efficiency S: power saving method S110~S130: step SW ₁ : first switch SW ₂ : second Second switch SW ₃ : the third switch

Figure 1 shows a configuration block diagram of a wireless transmission system according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 shows a flow chart of a power saving method for a wireless transmission system according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 shows an implementation of the wireless transmission system according to the present invention FIG. 4 shows the corresponding relationship between load and performance of the power control unit included in the wireless transmission system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

100: Wireless transmission system 110: Antenna element 120: Wireless module 121: Processing unit 122: Power control unit 130: tuner 140: sensor CI: Control Interface

Claims (10)

A wireless transmission system comprising: an antenna element; A wireless module, including a processing unit and a power control unit; A tuner, connected between the antenna element and the wireless module, is used to trigger adjustment of the output load of the power control unit according to a received signal strength indication of the wireless transmission system greater than a predetermined threshold, so as to provide the power a plurality of different load values of the control unit; and a sensor connected to the wireless module for sensing and recording the current consumption value corresponding to each load value, Wherein, in response to the wireless module transmitting through the antenna element, the processing unit selects the load value corresponding to the lowest of the current consumption values to be applied to the output load of the power control unit. The wireless transmission system as claimed in claim 1, wherein in response to the wireless module receiving through the antenna element, the tuner adjusts the power control unit to an original standard load value of the power control unit, and the processing unit applies The original standard load value is based on the output load of the power control unit. The wireless transmission system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tuner includes a first capacitor, a second capacitor, and a group of series path elements connected between the first capacitor and the second capacitor to form a plurality of different combination of load values. The wireless transmission system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the power control unit is a power amplifier. The wireless transmission system as described in claim 1, wherein the wireless module further controls the tuner to adjust the output load of the power control unit through a control interface, the control interface is a serial peripheral interface (SPI), a product IC interface (I ² C) interface or a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI). The wireless transmission system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the load value corresponding to the lowest of the current consumption values has the highest power-added efficiency (PAE) relative to the load values. The wireless transmission system as described in Claim 1, wherein the wireless module is a Bluetooth module, a WiFi module or a ZigBee module. A power saving method for a wireless transmission system, comprising: triggering adjustment of an output load of a power control unit according to a received signal strength indication of the wireless transmission system greater than a predetermined threshold, thereby providing a plurality of different load values of the power control unit; sensing and recording the current consumption value corresponding to each load value; and In response to a wireless module transmitting a signal through an antenna element, the load value corresponding to the lowest of the current consumption values is selected and applied to the output load of the power control unit. The power saving method as described in claim 8 further includes: In response to the wireless module receiving signals through the antenna element, adjust the power control unit to an original standard load value of the power control unit, and apply the original standard load value to the output load of the power control unit. The power saving method according to claim 8, wherein the load value corresponding to the lowest of the current consumption values has the highest power-added efficiency (PAE) relative to the load values.

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