WO2016127558A1 - Connection detection method and apparatus, and radio frequency connector - Google Patents

Abstract

A radio frequency connector, and a connection detection method and apparatus. The radio frequency connector comprises: a housing conductor, a central conductor and an isolation medium, wherein the housing conductor is separated into a plurality of constituent components, the plurality of constituent components being insulated from one another, and each constituent component at least comprising one pin; and when a plug of an external device is connected to the radio frequency connector, the plurality of constituent components are short circuited via the plug.

Description

Connection detection method, device and RF connector Technical field

This document relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a connection detection method, device, and radio frequency connector.

Background technique

With the development of radio frequency technology, a large number of RF coaxial connectors are used in various industrial and civil fields such as wireless communication and radar. These connectors come in a variety of specifications, such as SMA, MCX, Bayonet Nut Connector (BNC), but usually consist of three parts: the outer casing conductor, the center conductor, and the isolation medium. The size and material of the coaxial connector are determined by the theoretical calculation of the proven electromagnetic field based on the required characteristic impedance.

However, on these coaxial connectors, there is a lack of a common function, that is, it is impossible to detect whether there is a plug connection. This will bring two defects: First, the device can not perform the self-test of the RF connection is not good, which is not conducive to the use and maintenance of the device; Second, in some occasions with high power transmission, the connection on the connector may also cause Damage to the equipment.

This problem is particularly prominent on the Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). Wireless CPEs often have both built-in antennas and detachable external antennas (used in weak signal links), requiring the user to select one of the antennas. After the user selects an external antenna through the UI interface or another way, the switching circuit inside the CPE switches the RF path to the corresponding external antenna. However, if the user chooses an external antenna intentionally or unintentionally, and the external antenna is not actually installed, the RF interface of the external antenna will be suspended, which may cause the device to have no signal to cause trouble to the user, and the device may cause damage.

In the related art, the RF coaxial connector cannot detect whether there is a plug connection, and an effective solution has not been proposed.

Summary of the invention

This paper provides a connection detection method, device and RF connector to solve the problem that the RF coaxial connector in the related art cannot detect whether there is a plug connection.

According to an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, a radio frequency connector is provided, including: a housing guide a body, a center conductor, and an isolating medium, the outer casing conductor being divided into a plurality of components, wherein the plurality of component parts are insulated from each other, and each of the plurality of component parts includes at least one pin When the plug of the external device is connected to the RF connector through the pin, the plurality of components are shorted by the plug.

According to another aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, a connection detecting method is further provided, comprising: separating a casing conductor of a radio frequency connector into a plurality of components, the plurality of component parts being insulated from each other, the plurality of components Each component of the component includes at least one pin for connecting the plug of the RF connector and the external device; detecting a change in a voltage value of each of the plurality of components, according to the The change determines whether the RF connector has the plug access.

Optionally, determining, according to the change, whether the radio frequency connector has the plug access comprises: determining the radio frequency connector if the change indicates that the DC voltages of the multiple components are different from each other The plug is not accessed; in the case where the change indicates that the DC voltages of the plurality of components are the same, it is determined that the radio frequency connector has the plug access.

Optionally, after determining that the radio frequency connector does not have the plug accessing, the method further includes: switching the radio frequency signal to the internal antenna of the radio frequency connector.

Optionally, after determining that the radio frequency connector has the plug accessing, the method further includes: switching the radio frequency signal to the external antenna.

Optionally, switching the radio frequency signal to the built-in antenna of the radio frequency connector comprises: when detecting a high level signal, controlling a radio frequency switch of the radio frequency connector to switch the radio frequency signal to the internal antenna, wherein When the plug is not connected to the radio frequency connector through the pin, it is determined that the high level signal is detected.

Optionally, switching the radio frequency signal to the external antenna includes: controlling the radio frequency switch of the radio frequency connector to switch the radio frequency signal to the external antenna when the low level signal is detected, where When the plug of the external device is connected to the RF connector through the pin, it is determined that the low level signal is detected.

According to another aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, there is also provided a connection detecting device, the device comprising: a partitioning module, configured to: divide a casing conductor of the radio frequency connector into a plurality of components, the plurality of components Insulating each other, each of the plurality of components Included at least one pin for connecting the plug of the RF connector and the external device; the determining module is configured to: detect a change in a voltage value of each of the plurality of components, and determine according to the change Whether the radio connector has the plug access.

Optionally, the determining module further includes: a first determining unit, configured to: determine that the radio frequency connector does not have the plug if the change indicates that the DC voltages of the multiple components are different from each other The second determining unit is configured to: when the change indicates that the DC voltages of the plurality of components are the same, determine that the radio frequency connector has the plug access.

Optionally, the device further includes: a first switching module, configured to: when the first determining unit determines that the radio frequency connector does not have the plug access, switch the radio frequency signal to the radio frequency connector Built-in antenna.

Optionally, the device further includes: a second switching module, configured to: when the second determining unit determines that the radio frequency connector has the plug access, switch the radio frequency signal to the external antenna.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions for use in the method of any of the above.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a radio frequency connector is used, comprising: a casing conductor, a center conductor and an isolation medium, and the casing conductor is divided into a plurality of components, wherein the plurality of components are insulated from each other, and the plurality of components are Each component includes at least one pin, and when the plug of the external device is connected to the RF connector through the pin, the plurality of components are shorted by the plug. The problem that the RF coaxial connector cannot detect whether there is a plug connection in the related art is solved, and the RF connector can determine whether the RF cable is connected.

BRIEF abstract

1 is a block diagram showing the structure of a radio frequency connector according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a flow chart of a connection detecting method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a block diagram showing the structure of a connection detecting device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a structural block diagram (1) of a connection detecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a structural block diagram (2) of a connection detecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

6 is a structural block diagram (3) of a connection detecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 7 is a schematic view of an SMA connector in the related art;

8 is a schematic structural view of an SMA connector according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of an SMA connector in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

10 is a hardware detection circuit of an SMA connector in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

11 is a workflow diagram of switch switching in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Embodiments of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that, in the case of no conflict, the embodiments in the embodiments and the features in the embodiments may be combined with each other.

1 is a block diagram showing the structure of a radio frequency connector according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the radio frequency connector includes a case conductor 12, a center conductor 14, and an isolation medium 16, which is divided into a plurality of components. a portion, wherein the plurality of components are insulated from each other, and each of the plurality of components includes at least one pin, and when the plug of the external device is connected to the RF connector through the pin, the plurality of components pass through The plug is shorted.

Through the above-mentioned RF connector divided into a plurality of components, when the plug of the external device is connected to the RF connector through the pin, the plurality of components are short-circuited through the plug, so that it can be judged whether or not the plug is connected, and the solution is solved. In the related art, the RF coaxial connector cannot detect whether there is a plug connection problem, and thus the RF connector can determine whether the RF cable is connected.

In this embodiment, a connection detection method is provided. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a connection detection method according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the flow includes the following steps:

Step S202, the outer casing conductor of the radio frequency connector is divided into a plurality of components, the plurality of components are insulated from each other, and each of the plurality of components includes at least one for connecting the radio frequency connector and the external device. Pin of the plug;

Step S204, detecting a change in the voltage value of each component of the plurality of components, and determining whether the radio frequency connector has a plug access according to the change.

Through the above steps, the outer casing conductor of the radio frequency connector is divided into multiple components, and multiple The change of the voltage value of each component in the component can be used to determine whether there is a plug connection, which solves the problem that the RF coaxial connector cannot detect whether there is a plug connection in the related art, thereby enabling the RF connector to judge Is there an RF cable connection?

The foregoing step S204 involves determining whether the radio frequency connector has the plug access according to the change of the voltage value. In an optional embodiment, in a case where the change of the voltage value indicates that the DC voltages of the plurality of components are different from each other, It is determined that the RF connector has no plug access, and in the case where the change of the voltage value indicates that the DC voltages of the plurality of components are the same, it is determined that the RF connector has a plug access.

After determining that the RF connector is not plugged into, in an alternative embodiment, the RF signal is switched to the internal antenna of the RF connector.

After determining that the RF connector has the plug access, in an alternative embodiment, the RF signal is switched to an external antenna.

The above steps involve switching the radio frequency signal to the internal antenna of the radio frequency connector. In an optional embodiment, when the high level signal is detected, the radio frequency switch controlling the radio frequency connector switches the radio frequency signal to the internal antenna. Wherein, when the plug is not connected to the RF connector through the pin, it is determined that the high level signal is detected.

The above steps involve switching the radio frequency signal to the external antenna. In an optional embodiment, when the low level signal is detected, the radio frequency switch that controls the radio frequency connector switches the radio frequency signal to the external antenna, where When the plug of the external device is connected to the RF connector through the pin, it is determined that the low level signal is detected.

In the embodiment, a connection detecting device is also provided, which is used to implement the above-mentioned embodiments and implementation manners, and has not been described again. As used below, the term "module" may implement a combination of software and/or hardware of a predetermined function. Although the devices described in the following embodiments may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware, is also possible and contemplated.

3 is a structural block diagram of a connection detecting device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the device includes: a partitioning module 32 configured to: divide a casing conductor of the RF connector into a plurality of components, the plurality of The components are insulated from each other, and each of the plurality of components includes at least one pin for connecting the plug of the RF connector and the external device; the determining module 34, The method is configured to: detect a change in a voltage value of each of the plurality of components, and determine, according to the change, whether the RF connector has the plug access.

4 is a structural block diagram (1) of a connection detecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the determining module 34 further includes: a first determining unit 342, configured to: in the change indicating the plurality of components When the DC voltages are different from each other, it is determined that the RF connector does not have the plug access; and the second determining unit 344 is configured to: determine the RF connection if the change indicates that the DC voltages of the plurality of components are the same The plug has access to the plug.

5 is a structural block diagram (2) of a connection detecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the apparatus further includes: a first switching module 52, configured to: when the first determining unit determines the radio frequency When the connector is not plugged in, the RF signal is switched to the built-in antenna of the RF connector.

6 is a structural block diagram (3) of a connection detecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the apparatus further includes: a second switching module 62, configured to: when the second determining unit determines the radio frequency When the connector has the plug connected, the RF signal is switched to the external antenna.

It should be noted that each of the foregoing modules may be implemented by software or hardware. For the latter, the foregoing may be implemented by, but not limited to, each of the foregoing modules are located in the same processor; or each of the above The modules are located in the first processor, the second processor, the third processor, respectively.

For the above-mentioned problems existing in the related art, the following description will be made in conjunction with an alternative embodiment in which the above-described optional embodiments and alternative embodiments thereof are combined.

This alternative embodiment provides a radio frequency coaxial connector structure that can perform a self-test on whether or not there is a plug connection. This alternative embodiment adopts the following technical solutions:

First, maintaining the center conductor of the RF coaxial connector unchanged, separating the outer casing conductor of the RF coaxial connector into a plurality of portions, each portion being insulated from each other, and each portion is assigned at least one printed circuit Printed Circuit Board (PCB) soldering pin. When a plug is connected to the RF connector, the outer casing of the plug shorts the portions that are insulated from each other. The above separation spacing should be as small as possible under the conditions of process and reliability to avoid affecting the RF signal.

Second, inside the device, several parts of the connector housing are shorted together in the AC to ensure that the RF signal can be transmitted normally; but they are separated from each other on DC and are applied with different DC voltages. When there are RF cable plugs that short-circuit them, the voltage values of these parts will become the same. The detection circuit in the device can determine whether there is a radio frequency cable insertion by detecting a change in the voltage value on the outer casing conductor.

Third, after detecting that no cable is inserted, the device will prompt the user for information and prohibit the RF signal from being output to the suspended RF channel to avoid device damage.

An ordinary SMA-size vertical connector is shown in Figure 7, which consists of a housing and two central conductors and an insulating medium filled in the outer casing conductor. The outer casing conductor includes two upper and lower portions. The upper part is cylindrical, and the outer side of the cylinder has an external thread (omitted from the figure) for fixing with the internal thread of the cable connector. The lower half is used to solder the connector to the PCB. It is a square structure with four pins for soldering at the four corners of the square.

The center conductor of the above SMA connector is a thin cylinder that extends from the top of the connector through the entire connector to the bottom. The upper end of the center conductor is used to contact and connect the plug of the cable connector, and the lower end is used as a pin for PCB soldering.

The inside of the outer casing conductor of the connector is filled with an insulating medium to fix the center conductor to the center of the outer casing conductor.

The SMA connector to which the present alternative embodiment is applied is improved on the basis of the above-described conventional SMA connector, as shown in FIG. The difference from the conventional SMA connector is that the outer casing conductor is separated into two completely symmetrical left and right portions in the longitudinal direction, and the two portions are separated by an insulating medium and insulated from each other. After the outer casing conductors are separated, each of the left and right sides contains two pins.

The schematic symbol of the SMA socket using this patented technology is shown in Figure 9, which contains 5 pins. Where pins 1, 2 are connected to the left half of the outer casing conductor, and 3, 4 are connected to the right half of the outer casing conductor. Obviously, 1 and 2, 3 and 4 are shorted inside the socket, but 1, 2 and 3, 4 are insulated from each other. Pin 5 is connected to the center conductor.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the principle of an antenna interface circuit of a wireless CPE to which the SMA socket of the present embodiment is applied, as shown in FIG. 10, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The RF signal of the CPE can be switched to 2 optional antennas, respectively The built-in antenna ANT1 and the detachable external antenna ANT2 are removed. The switching logic is: when no external antenna is inserted, it is connected to the internal antenna ANT1; when an external antenna is inserted, it is switched to the external antenna ANT2 immediately.

In order to implement the above-described switching logic, in FIG. 10, the radio frequency signal is respectively connected to the internal antenna (ANT1) and the external antenna socket (X1) described in this patent through a switch (SW1) controlled by the I/O interface of the processor. . Among the two pairs of pins of the X1 case conductor, one pair is directly grounded, and the other pair of pins is grounded by a capacitor C1. The DC pull-up is applied to the power supply VCC by a resistor R1, and the signal is taken as the resistor R2. The external antenna detection signal is sent to another I/O interface of the processor.

11 is a workflow diagram of switch switching according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 11, the antenna switching circuit works as follows: when no external antenna is inserted, two portions of the SMA socket housing conductor are separated from each other. The external antenna detection signal is high and this high level is sent to the processor's I/O. After the processor determines that the external antenna detection signal is at a high level, it outputs a high level switch control signal, controls the RF switch SW1, and switches the RF signal to the internal antenna ANT1.

When the above circuit has an external antenna inserted, the two parts of the SMA socket housing conductor are short-circuited by the plug of the external antenna ANT2. At this time, all the pins of the outer casing conductor of the SMA socket are turned to a low level, so the external antenna detection signal also goes low. After the processor determines that the external antenna detection signal is low, it outputs a low level control signal, controls the RF switch SW1, switches the RF signal to the external antenna interface X1, and then connects to the antenna ANT2.

In the above circuit, the SMA socket of the alternative embodiment is adopted, the two pins of the outer casing conductor are directly grounded, and the remaining two pins are grounded by the capacitor C1 for radio frequency. The transmission line impedance of the RF signal in the circuit is designed according to 50 ohms, and the resistances R1 and R2 are 10K ohms, which is much larger than the impedance of the transmission line. Therefore, the adverse effects of the resistors R1 and R2 on the transmission of the RF signal can be neglected.

It should be noted that, although the embodiment is described based on the SMA vertical socket, as long as it is a radio frequency coaxial socket, such as SMA horizontal, or BNC, MCX, etc., the technology described in the embodiment of the present invention can be used. Transform and implement the insertion detection function.

In addition, although the embodiment is described in terms of a CPE, the embodiment of the present invention may include all devices using a radio frequency coaxial connector, including a communication terminal, a communication base station, and a tester. Table, radar and other equipment.

In summary, with the connector of the embodiment of the invention, the device can perform self-test on whether there is a plug connection on the radio frequency interface. If the self-test fails, the user can be prompted not only to check the RF connection, but also to facilitate the user's use; and to avoid the high-power output to the radio interface that does not pass the self-test, thereby avoiding damage to the device.

In another embodiment, software is also provided for performing the technical solutions described in the above embodiments and implementations.

In another embodiment, a storage medium is further provided, wherein the software includes the above-mentioned software, including but not limited to: an optical disk, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an erasable memory, and the like.

One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or a portion of the steps of the above-described embodiments can be implemented using a computer program flow, which can be stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as on a corresponding hardware platform (eg, The system, device, device, device, etc. are executed, and when executed, include one or a combination of the steps of the method embodiments.

Alternatively, all or part of the steps of the above embodiments may also be implemented by using an integrated circuit. These steps may be separately fabricated into individual integrated circuit modules, or multiple modules or steps may be fabricated into a single integrated circuit module. achieve.

The devices/function modules/functional units in the above embodiments may be implemented by a general-purpose computing device, which may be centralized on a single computing device or distributed over a network of multiple computing devices.

When the device/function module/functional unit in the above embodiment is implemented in the form of a software function module and sold or used as a stand-alone product, it can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The above mentioned computer readable storage medium may be a read only memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk or the like.

Industrial applicability

Through the embodiment of the invention, it is possible to perform self-test on whether there is a plug connection on the radio frequency interface. If the self-test fails, the user can be prompted not only to check the RF connection, but also to facilitate the user's use; and to avoid the high-power output to the radio interface that does not pass the self-test, thereby avoiding damage to the device.

Claims (12)

An RF connector includes: a case conductor, a center conductor, and an isolation medium, wherein The outer casing conductor is divided into a plurality of components, wherein the plurality of component parts are insulated from each other, and each of the plurality of component parts includes at least one pin, and the plug of the external device passes through When the pins are connected to the RF connector, the plurality of components are shorted by the plug. A connection detection method includes: Separating the outer casing conductor of the radio frequency connector into a plurality of components, the plurality of component parts being insulated from each other, each of the plurality of component parts including at least one for connecting the radio frequency connector and the external connection The pin of the device's plug; Detecting a change in a voltage value of each of the plurality of components, and determining whether the radio frequency connector has the plug access according to the change. The method according to claim 2, wherein determining whether the radio frequency connector has the plug access according to the change comprises: Determining that the radio frequency connector does not have the plug access if the change indicates that the DC voltages of the plurality of components are different from each other; In case the change indicates that the DC voltages of the plurality of components are the same, it is determined that the RF connector has the plug access. The method of claim 3, wherein after determining that the radio frequency connector does not have the plug access, the method further comprises: Switching the RF signal to the built-in antenna of the RF connector. The method of claim 3, wherein after determining that the radio frequency connector has the plug access, the method further comprises: Switch the RF signal to an external antenna. The method of claim 4, wherein switching the radio frequency signal to the built-in antenna of the radio frequency connector comprises: When a high level signal is detected, the radio frequency switch that controls the radio frequency connector will be the radio frequency signal The number switches to the internal antenna, wherein it is determined that the high level signal is detected when the plug is not connected to the radio frequency connector through the pin. The method of claim 5 wherein switching the radio frequency signal to the external antenna comprises: When a low level signal is detected, a radio frequency switch that controls the radio frequency connector switches the radio frequency signal to the external antenna, wherein a plug of the external device is connected to the radio frequency connector through the pin It is determined that the low level signal is detected. A connection detecting device comprising: a partitioning module, configured to: divide the outer casing conductor of the radio frequency connector into a plurality of components, the plurality of component parts being insulated from each other, each of the plurality of component parts including at least one for connecting The pins of the plug of the RF connector and the external device; The determining module is configured to: detect a change in a voltage value of each of the plurality of components, and determine, according to the change, whether the RF connector has the plug access. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein said determining module comprises: a first determining unit, configured to: determine that the radio frequency connector does not have the plug access if the change indicates that the DC voltages of the plurality of components are different from each other; The second determining unit is configured to determine that the radio frequency connector has the plug access if the change indicates that the DC voltages of the plurality of components are the same. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising: The first switching module is configured to: when the first determining unit determines that the radio frequency connector does not have the plug access, switch the radio frequency signal to the internal antenna of the radio frequency connector. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said apparatus further comprises: The second switching module is configured to: when the second determining unit determines that the radio frequency connector has the plug access, switch the radio frequency signal to the external antenna. A computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions for performing the method of any of claims 2-7.

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