Millimeter Wave Antenna Management

Abstract

A mobile electronic communications device performs millimeter wave antenna management for a plurality of mm-wave antennas using a respective plurality of sensor arrays, each having at least a thermal sensor and a capacitive sensor. The sensor arrays are used to determine whether a human presence exists within a sense distance of each of the sensor arrays and manage the usage of each mm-wave antennas based on whether a human presence exists within the sense distance of its associated sensor array.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A mobile electronic communications device having millimeter wave antenna management, the mobile electronic communications device comprising:
 a plurality of mm-wave antennas;   a plurality of sensor arrays, with two or more of the sensor arrays being associated with respective mm-wave antennas and including at least a thermal sensor and a capacitive sensor, the capacitive sensor being triggerable by a presence of a human body or part thereof;   a mm-wave transceiver configured to transmit via one or more of the plurality of mm-wave antennas; and   a processor configured to update a baseline associated with each thermal sensor having an untriggered associated capacitive sensor and for each thermal sensor having a triggered associated capacitive sensor, update a baseline of such thermal sensor based on the baselines of the remaining thermal sensors, enable the plurality of mm-wave antennas, determine whether a human presence exists within a predetermined sense distance of each sensor array, and manage usage of the respective mm-wave antenna associated with each sensor array based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of the associated sensor array.   
     
     
         2 . The mobile electronic communications device in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein managing usage of the respective mm-wave antenna associated with each sensor array based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of the associated sensor array includes disabling one or more of the respective mm-wave antennas. 
     
     
         3 . The mobile electronic communications device in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein managing usage of the respective mm-wave antenna associated with each sensor array based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of the associated sensor array includes reducing a transmission power of one or more of the respective mm-wave antennas. 
     
     
         4 . The mobile electronic communications device in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein managing usage of the respective mm-wave antenna associated with each sensor array based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of the associated sensor array includes steering a transmission pattern associated with one or more of the respective mm-wave antennas. 
     
     
         5 . The mobile electronic communications device in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein managing usage of the respective mm-wave antenna associated with each sensor array based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of the associated sensor array includes:
 detecting a human presence within the sense distance of a first mm-wave antenna via the thermal sensor associated with the first mm-wave antenna;   disabling the first mm-wave antenna and freezing the baseline of the thermal sensor associated with the first mm-wave antenna;   detecting via the thermal sensor associated with the first mm-wave antenna that the detected human presence is no longer within the sense distance; and   enabling the first mm-wave antenna.   
     
     
         6 . The mobile electronic communications device in accordance with  claim 5 , wherein detecting a human presence within the sense distance of a first mm-wave antenna via the thermal sensor associated with the first mm-wave antenna comprises:
 detecting a temporal thermal gradient and thermal change magnitude via the thermal sensor associated with the first mm-wave antenna; and   determining that the detected temporal thermal gradient and thermal change magnitude are consistent with human presence and motion.   
     
     
         7 . The mobile electronic communications device in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to update the baseline of each thermal sensor not having an associated capacitive sensor, if the device is situated in a position other than resting on a flat surface, until each thermal sensor provides a signal consistent with a global average across all thermal sensors on the device. 
     
     
         8 . The mobile electronic communications device in accordance with  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to apply a delay after disabling the plurality of mm-wave antennas and prior to determining whether the mobile communications device is resting on a flat surface. 
     
     
         9 . A method of millimeter wave antenna management in a mobile electronic communications device having a plurality of mm-wave antennas, a plurality of sensor arrays, with two or more of the sensor arrays being associated with respective mm-wave antennas and including at least a thermal sensor and a capacitive sensor, and a mm-wave transceiver configured to transmit via one or more of the mm-wave antennas, the method comprising:
 updating a baseline associated with each thermal sensor having an untriggered associated capacitive sensor;   updating a baseline for each thermal sensor having a triggered associated capacitive sensor based on the baselines of the thermal sensors having untriggered associated capacitive sensors;   enabling the plurality of mm-wave antennas;   determining whether a human presence exists within a predetermined sense distance of each sensor array; and   managing usage of one or more of the mm-wave antennas based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of the sensor array associated with each of the one or more mm-wave antennas.   
     
     
         10 . The method in accordance with  claim 9 , wherein managing usage of one or more of the mm-wave antennas based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of the sensor array associated with each of the one or more mm-wave antennas comprises disabling one or more of the mm-wave antennas. 
     
     
         11 . The method in accordance with  claim 9 , wherein managing usage of one or more of the mm-wave antennas based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of the sensor array associated with each of the one or more mm-wave antennas comprises reducing a transmission power of one or more of the mm-wave antennas. 
     
     
         12 . The method in accordance with  claim 9 , wherein managing usage of one or more of the mm-wave antennas based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of the sensor array associated with each of the one or more mm-wave antennas comprises steering a transmission pattern associated with one or more of the mm-wave antennas. 
     
     
         13 . The method in accordance with  claim 9 , wherein managing usage of one or more of the mm-wave antennas based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of the sensor array associated with each of the one or more mm-wave antennas comprises:
 detecting a human presence within the sense distance of a first mm-wave antenna via the thermal sensor associated with the first mm-wave antenna;   disabling the first mm-wave antenna and freezing a baseline of the thermal sensor associated with the first mm-wave antenna;   detecting via the thermal sensor associated with the first mm-wave antenna that the detected human presence is no longer within the sense distance; and   enabling the first mm-wave antenna.   
     
     
         14 . The method in accordance with  claim 13 , wherein detecting a human presence within the sense distance of the first mm-wave antenna via the thermal sensor associated with the first mm-wave antenna comprises:
 detecting a temporal thermal gradient and thermal change magnitude via the thermal sensor associated with the first mm-wave antenna; and   determining that the detected temporal thermal gradient and thermal change magnitude are consistent with human presence and motion.   
     
     
         15 . The method in accordance with  claim 9 , further comprising:
 updating the baseline of a thermal sensor not having an associated capacitive sensor until each thermal sensor provides a signal consistent with a global average across all thermal sensors on the device; and   updating the baseline and enabling the associated mm-wave antenna, for each thermal sensor having an associated capacitive sensor that is not triggered; and   waiting until the associated capacitive sensor is released, for each thermal sensor having an associated capacitive sensor that is triggered, before updating the baseline and enabling the associated mm-wave antenna.   
     
     
         16 . The method in accordance with  claim 9 , further comprising applying a delay after disabling the plurality of mm-wave antennas and prior to determining whether the mobile communications device is resting on a flat surface. 
     
     
         17 . A mobile electronic communications device having millimeter wave antenna management, the mobile electronic communications device comprising:
 a plurality of mm-wave antennas;   a plurality of sensor arrays, with two or more of the sensor arrays being associated with respective mm-wave antennas and including at least a thermal sensor and a capacitive sensor;   a mm-wave transceiver configured to transmit via one or more of the mm-wave antennas; and   a processor configured to determine whether a human presence exists within a predetermined sense distance of each of the two or more sensor arrays and to manage usage of the respective mm-wave antenna associated with each of the two or more sensor arrays based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of associated sensor array.   
     
     
         18 . The mobile electronic communications device in accordance with  claim 17 , wherein managing usage of the respective mm-wave antenna associated with each of the two or more sensor arrays based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of associated sensor array includes disabling one or more of the respective mm-wave antennas. 
     
     
         19 . The mobile electronic communications device in accordance with  claim 17 , wherein managing usage of the respective mm-wave antenna associated with each of the two or more sensor arrays based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of associated sensor array includes reducing a transmission power of one or more of the respective mm-wave antennas. 
     
     
         20 . The mobile electronic communications device in accordance with  claim 17 , wherein managing usage of the respective mm-wave antenna associated with each of the two or more sensor arrays based on whether a human presence exists within the predetermined sense distance of associated sensor array includes steering a transmission pattern associated with one or more of the respective mm-wave antennas.