PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-11150693-B2
Application Number: US-201514641135-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Adaptable radio frequency systems and methods

Abstract:
Systems and method for improving performance of a radio frequency system are provided. One embodiment describes a radio frequency system, which may be modified based upon a detected housing and/or accessory of an electronic device. The modifications may counteract impacts of the housings and/or accessories on the radio frequency transmission.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device, comprising:
 a radio frequency system, configured to communicate with a radio frequency reader; 
 tangible, non-transitory storage, comprising configuration adjustment logic that comprises machine-readable instructions that associate a set of settings for the radio frequency system with at least one housing of an electronic device; and 
 a processor configured to:
 determine an identity of the at least one housing of the electronic device; 
 receive at least one setting from the set of settings that is associated with the identity of the at least one housing; and 
 apply the at least one setting to the radio frequency system. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
 re-determine the identity of the at least one housing of the electronic device; 
 re-receive the at least one setting associated with the identity; and 
 apply the at least one setting. 
 
     
     
       3. The electronic device of  claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to re-determine the identity of the at least one housing upon power up of the electronic device. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the configuration adjustment logic comprises a lookup table (LUT). 
     
     
       5. The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the set of settings comprise a frame delay time (FDT) setting. 
     
     
       6. The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic device comprises a watch. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the identity of the at least one housing of the electronic device based upon information that is statically stored in the electronic device&#39;s firmware or other storage. 
     
     
       8. An electronic device, comprising:
 a radio frequency system, configured to communicate with a radio frequency reader; 
 tangible, non-transitory storage, comprising configuration adjustment logic that comprises machine-readable instructions that associate a set of settings for the radio frequency system with at least one housing of an electronic device and associate a new set of settings for the radio frequency system with at least one proximate accessory, wherein the at least one proximate accessory comprises an interchangeable protective case, cover, or both; and 
 a processor configured to:
 determine an identity of the at least one housing of the electronic device; 
 receive at least one setting from the set of settings that is associated with the identity of the at least one housing; 
 apply the at least one setting to the radio frequency system; 
 determine an identity of the at least one proximate accessory; 
 select the new set of settings that is associated with the identity of the at least one proximate accessory; and 
 apply the new set of settings to the radio frequency system. 
 
 
     
     
       9. The electronic device of  claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to re-determine the identity of the at least one proximate accessory upon determining that the at least one proximate accessory is replaced or removed. 
     
     
       10. The electronic device of  claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to re-determine the identity of the at least one proximate accessory at a periodic interval. 
     
     
       11. The electronic device of  claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the identity of the at least one proximate accessory of the electronic device based upon a signal provided by the at least one proximate accessory to the electronic device. 
     
     
       12. The electronic device of  claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the identity via a manual entry provided via a graphical user interface associated with the electronic device. 
     
     
       13. A radio frequency system, configured to:
 receive a set of settings associated with a housing of an electronic watch associated with the radio frequency system, wherein the housing encloses interior components of the electronic watch, wherein the set of settings are configured to counteract an impact of the housing on communications of the radio frequency system; 
 communicate with a radio frequency reader using the set of settings; 
 apply a new set of settings associated with a watch band of the electronic watch associated with the radio frequency system, wherein the new set of settings are configured to counteract an impact of a material of the watch band; and 
 communicate with a radio frequency reader using the new set of settings.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The present disclosure relates generally to radio frequency systems and, more particularly, to adaptation of radio frequency system configuration settings based upon electronic device housing and/or accessories. 
     This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art. 
     Many electronic devices may include a radio frequency system to facilitate wireless communication of data with other electronic devices and/or a network. The radio frequency system may include a transceiver that receives a digital representation of data as a digital electrical signal and generates an analog representation of the data as an analog electrical signal. A power amplifier may then amplify the analog electrical signal to a desired output power for wireless transmittance via an antenna at a desired radio frequency, such as an assigned resource block or channel. As used herein, a “channel” is intended to describe a range of frequencies and a “resource block” is intended to describe a range of frequencies within the channel. 
     Electronic devices are becoming increasingly customizable. For example, these electronic devices may utilize any number of customizable housings and/or accessories that may have an impact on the electronic devices&#39; radio frequency performance. For example, an electronic device, such as a smart watch or tablet computer may include a customizable housing material, such as: gold, stainless steel, aluminum, ceramic, and/or plastic. Further, these electronic devices may be coupled to accessories that may impact radio frequency transmission and/or reception. For example, a watch may include interchangeable band that have varying characteristics, such as varied densities (e.g., mesh bands vs. link bands), shapes (e.g., slim vs. thick bands), materials (e.g., leather, rubber, and/or metal), etc. Similarly, a tablet computer may work with a cover, case, and/or other accessories having varying characteristics that may impact radio frequency transmission and/or reception. 
     Unfortunately, these frequency transmission and/or reception variations may result in an undesirable varied user experience. In some scenarios, the varied characteristics of the electronic device housings and/or electronic device accessories may result in reduced inter-operability with radio frequency communications systems. 
     SUMMARY 
     A summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein is set forth below. It should be understood that these aspects are presented merely to provide the reader with a brief summary of these certain embodiments and that these aspects are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Indeed, this disclosure may encompass a variety of aspects that may not be set forth below. 
     The present disclosure generally relates to improving performance of a radio frequency system by adapting operation of the electronic devices&#39; radio frequency system based at least in part on characteristics of the electronic devices&#39; housings and/or characteristics. Generally, the radio frequency system may wirelessly communicate data with other electronic devices and/or a network by modulating radio waves at a desired transmission frequency based on an analog representation of the data (e.g., an analog electrical signal). However, the analog electrical signal may contain noise or other undesirable traits introduced by the electronic device housing and/or accessories. 
     Accordingly, the techniques described herein may improve operation of the radio frequency system by enabling dynamic radio frequency transmission and/or reception control based at least in part on one or more characteristics of an electronic device housing and/or accessory. In some embodiments, one or more settings of the radio frequency system may be altered based upon one or more housings and/or accessories of the electronic device. More specifically, in some embodiments, the electronic device may determine one or more characteristics of a housing of the electronic device (e.g., size, shape, and/or material) and/or one or more characteristics of one or more accessories of the electronic device. Thus, dynamic radio frequency system settings may be applied for particular characteristics of an electronic device and/or electronic device accessories. 
     In this manner, the radio frequency system may specifically transmit and/or receive radio frequency signals based upon particular characteristics of the electronic device and/or electronic device accessories. For example, in some embodiments, the radio frequency system may adjust an amplification, frequency, phase, modulation, etc. to provide relatively uniform radio frequency transmission and/or reception, despite varied characteristics of electronic device housings and/or accessories. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Various aspects of this disclosure may be better understood upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a electronic device with an adaptable radio frequency system, in accordance with an embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  is an example of the electronic device of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment; 
         FIG. 3  is an example of the electronic device of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  is an example of the electronic device of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  is an example of the electronic device of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment; 
         FIG. 6  is a flow diagram describing a process for determining dynamic settings for the radio frequency system based upon the housing and/or accessories of the electronic device, in accordance with an embodiment; and 
         FIG. 7  is a flow diagram describing a process for dynamically configuring the radio frequency system based upon housing and/or accessories of the electronic device, in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     One or more specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below. These described embodiments are only examples of the presently disclosed techniques. Additionally, in an effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments, all features of an actual implementation may not be described in the specification. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers&#39; specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but may nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure. 
     When introducing elements of various embodiments of the present disclosure, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. Additionally, it should be understood that references to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” of the present disclosure are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features. 
     As mentioned above, an electronic device may include a radio frequency system to facilitate wirelessly communicating data with another electronic device and/or a network. More specifically, the radio frequency system may modulate radio waves at a desired radio frequency, such as an assigned one or more resource block or channel, to enable the electronic device to communicate via a personal area network (e.g., Bluetooth network), a local area network (e.g., an 802.11x Wi-Fi network), and/or a wide area network (e.g., a 4G or LTE cellular network). In other words, the radio frequency systems may utilize various wireless communication protocols to facilitate communication of data. 
     Nevertheless, radio frequency systems may generally be operationally similar regardless of the wireless communication protocol used. For example, to transmit data, processing circuitry may generate a digital representation of the data as a digital electrical signal and a transceiver (e.g., a transmitter and/or a receiver) may then convert the digital electrical signal into one or more analog electrical signals. The analog electrical signal may then be amplified by a power amplifier, filtered by one or more filters, and transmitted by an antenna. 
     However, the radio frequency system transmission and/or reception may be impacted by the electronic device housing and/or proximate electronic device accessories. In some situations, when the radio frequency system is not adjusted to counteract this impact, the characteristics of the housings and/or proximate accessories may result in distorted or other undesirable radio frequency communication traits. 
     For example, in some instances, characteristics of the housings and/or accessories may result in reduced signal strength (e.g., by impacting the amplitude, frequency, phase, etc. of the radio frequency signals). 
     Accordingly, as will be described in more detail below, performance of the radio frequency system may be improved by dynamically controlling operational parameters of the radio frequency system based at least in part on the housings and/or proximate accessories. In some embodiments, the electronic device may determine one or more attributes of the housings and/or accessories and modify the operational parameters to facilitate communications by the radio frequency system with minimal impact by the housings and/or accessories. 
     In other words, the techniques improve performance of a radio frequency system by dynamically adjusting the operational parameters of the radio frequency system based on attributes of the electronic device&#39;s housing and/or proximate accessories. To help illustrate, an electronic device  10  that may utilize a radio frequency system  12  is described in  FIG. 1 . As will be described in more detail below, the electronic device  10  may be any suitable electronic device, such as a handheld computing device, a tablet computing device, a notebook computer, smart watch, and the like. 
     Accordingly, as depicted, the electronic device  10  includes the radio frequency system  12 , configuration adjustment logic  13 , input structures  14 , memory  16 , one or more processor(s)  18 , one or more storage devices  20 , a power source  22 , input/output ports  24 , and an electronic display  26 . The various components described in  FIG. 1  may include hardware elements (including circuitry), software elements (including instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium), or a combination of both hardware and software elements. It should be noted that  FIG. 1  is merely one example of a particular implementation and is intended to illustrate the types of components that may be present in the electronic device  10 . Additionally, it should be noted that the various depicted components may be combined into fewer components or separated into additional components. For example, the memory  16  and a storage device  20  may be included in a single component. 
     As depicted, the processor  18  is operably coupled with memory  16  and the storage device  20 . More specifically, the processor  18  may execute instruction stored in memory  16  and/or the storage device  20  to perform operations in the electronic device  10 , such as instructing the radio frequency system  12  to communicate with another device. As such, the processor  18  may include one or more general purpose microprocessors, one or more application specific processors (ASICs), one or more field programmable logic arrays (FPGAs), or any combination thereof. Additionally, memory  16  and/or the storage device  20  may be a tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium that stores instructions executable by and data to be processed by the processor  18 . For example, the memory  16  may include random access memory (RAM) and the storage device  20  may include read only memory (ROM), rewritable flash memory, hard drives, optical discs, and the like. 
     Additionally, as depicted, the processor  18  is operably coupled to the power source  22 , which provides power to the various components in the electronic device  10 . As such, the power source  22  may includes any suitable source of energy, such as a rechargeable lithium polymer (Li-poly) battery and/or an alternating current (AC) power converter. Furthermore, as depicted, the processor  18  is operably coupled with I/O ports  24 , which may enable the electronic device  10  to interface with various other electronic devices, and input structures  14 , which may enable a user to interact with the electronic device  10 . Accordingly, the inputs structures  14  may include buttons, keyboards, mice, trackpads, and the like. Additionally, in some embodiments, the electronic display  26  may include touch sensitive components. 
     In addition to enabling user inputs, the electronic display  26  may display image frames, such as a graphical user interface (GUI) for an operating system, an application interface, a still image, or video content. As depicted, the display is operably coupled to the processor  18 . Accordingly, the image frames displayed by the electronic display  26  may be based on display image data received from the processor  18 . 
     As depicted, the processor  18  is also operably coupled with the radio frequency system  12 , which may facilitate communicatively coupling the electronic device  10  to one or more other electronic devices and/or networks. For example, the radio frequency system  12  may enable the electronic device  10  to communicatively couple to a personal area network (PAN), such as a Bluetooth network, a local area network (LAN), such as an 802.11x Wi-Fi network, and/or a wide area network (WAN), such as a 4G or LTE cellular network. As can be appreciated, the radio frequency system  12  may enable communication using various communication protocols. In one embodiment, the electronic device  10  may facilitate payment transactions (e.g., transactions conforming to Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMVCo) standards) using the radio frequency system  12 . 
     Operational principles of the radio frequency system  12  may be similar for each of the communication protocols (e.g., Bluetooth, LTE, 802.11x Wi-Fi, etc). More specifically, as will be described in more detail below, the radio frequency system  12  may convert a digital electrical signal containing data desired to be transmitted into an analog electrical signal using a transceiver. The analog electrical signal may then be amplified using a power amplifier, filtered using a filter, and transmitted using an antenna. In some embodiments, the configuration adjustment logic  13  may be polled to determine particular settings to apply to the radio frequency system  12 . For example, the configuration adjustment logic  13  may include a lookup table (LUT) having radio frequency system  12  configuration settings associated with a variety of housings, accessories, and/or housing and/or accessory characteristics. Thus, proper configuration settings correlating to the current housing and/or proximate accessories may be derived from the configuration adjustment logic  13  and provided to the radio frequency system  12 . 
     As described above, the electronic device  10  may be any suitable electronic device. To help illustrate, one example of a handheld device  10 A is described in  FIG. 2 , which may be a portable phone, a media player, a personal data organizer, a handheld game platform, or any combination of such devices. For example, the handheld device  10 A may be a smart phone, such as any iPhone® model available from Apple Inc. As depicted, the handheld device  10 A includes an housing  28 , which may protect interior components from physical damage and to shield them from electromagnetic interference. Further, as depicted in  FIG. 2 , one or more accessories (e.g., a case, cover, and/or protective bumper) may be added to the electronic device  10 A. The housing  28  may surround the electronic display  26 , which, in the depicted embodiment, displays a graphical user interface (GUI)  30  having an array of icons  32 . By way of example, when an icon  32  is selected either by an input structure  14  or a touch sensing component of the electronic display  26 , an application program may launch. 
     Additionally, as depicted, input structures  14  may open through the housing  28  (e.g., an enclosure). As described above, the input structures  14  may enable a user to interact with the handheld device  10 A. For example, the input structures  14  may activate or deactivate the handheld device  10 A, navigate a user interface to a home screen, navigate a user interface to a user-configurable application screen, activate a voice-recognition feature, provide volume control, and toggle between vibrate and ring modes. Furthermore, as depicted, the I/O ports  24  open through the housing  28 . In some embodiments, the I/O ports  24  may include, for example, an audio jack to connect to external devices. Additionally, the radio frequency system  12  may also be enclosed within the housing  28  and internal to the handheld device  10 A. 
     As will be discussed in more detail herein, the housing, accessories, and/or attributes of the housing and/or accessories may be discerned by the electronic device  10  (e.g., smart phone  10 A) to determine particular settings to apply to the radio frequency system  12 . In the current embodiment, the electronic device  10  presents a user prompt  34  for manual entry of an accessory model and/or characteristic. For example, the currently selected option indicates that there is an aluminum protective bumper  35  installed on the smart phone  10 A. Further, the GUI  30  may include static indications  36  of particular models and/or characteristics of the electronic device  10 , the housing  28 , and/or the accessories  29 , which may be sourced from the electronic device  10  without user intervention (e.g., sourced from firmware and/or a system configuration file of the electronic device  10 ). For example, in the current embodiment, the smart phone  10 A is the “premium phone” model, which may include a metal housing. Accordingly, based upon an identification of the particular electronic device  10 , certain characteristics or attributes of the electronic device  10  housing  28  may be discerned. 
     Information obtained via the user prompt  34  and/or the static indications  36  indications may be used to poll for proper settings from the configuration adjustment logic  13  ( FIG. 1 ) to be implemented on the radio frequency system  12 . Thus, radio frequency system  12  communications may be dynamically customized for a particular housing  28  and/or accessories of the electronic device  10 . 
     To further illustrate a suitable electronic device  10 , a tablet device  10 B is described in  FIG. 3 , such as any iPad® model available from Apple Inc. Additionally, in other embodiments, the electronic device  10  may take the form of a computer  10 C as described in  FIG. 4 , such as any Macbook® or iMac® model available from Apple Inc. As depicted, the tablet device  10 B and the computer  10 C also include an electronic display  26 , input structures  14 , I/O ports  24 , and an housing  28 . Similar to the handheld device  10 A, the radio frequency system  12  may also be enclosed within the housing  28  and internal to the tablet device  10 B and/or the computer  10 C. 
     In the embodiment of  FIG. 3 , an accessory  29  (e.g., a plastic keyboard case  38 ) is installed on the electronic device  10  (e.g., the tablet  10 B). During the pairing process or other communications of the keyboard  38  with the electronic device  10 , additional information  40  may be provided, such as the keyboard  38  model number, material types, orientation configuration (e.g., here, right-swing keyboard), etc. This information  40  may be used to poll the configuration adjustment logic  13  ( FIG. 1 ) for proper settings for the radio frequency system  12  that correlate with the use of the keyboard  38 . Thus, the impact of the keyboard  38  on the radio frequency system  12  communications may be reduced. 
     Additionally or alternatively the embodiment of  FIG. 4 , similar to the embodiment of  FIG. 2 , includes a GUI  30  that provides user prompts  34  for user provision of accessories  29  (e.g., a laptop cover  50 ). For example, in the embodiment of  FIG. 4 , the prompts  34  allow a user to specify the material type of the accessory  29  and/or the portions of the electronic device  10 C that are covered by the accessory  29 . As discussed above, the attributes of the housing  28 , the accessories  29 , and/or an identification of the housing  28  (e.g., provided by a model number of the electronic device  10 C) and/or the accessories  29  may be used to modify communications settings of the radio frequency system  12 . 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an alternative electronic device  10  in the form of a smart watch  10 D. As described above, operation of the radio frequency system  12  may be altered (e.g., by modifying operational parameters of the radio frequency system  12 ) based upon the particular housing  28  and/or accessories  29  of the smart watch  10 D. For example, operational parameters of the radio frequency system  12  may be impacted based upon the housing  28  material (e.g., gold, stainless steel, aluminum, ceramic, etc.) and/or the accessory (e.g. wrist band  60 ) characteristics, such as: material type, shape, density, size, etc. 
     One or more data stores  62  (e.g.,  62 A and  62 B in the current embodiment, which may be non-volatile memory, firmware, etc.) may store identifying information regarding the attributes of the housing  28  and/or accessories  29 . For example, in the current embodiment, a first data store  62 A may indicate attributes of the accessories  29  (e.g., the watch bands  60 ), while a second data store  62 B may indicate attributes of a body  64  of the smart watch  10 D. For example, in the current embodiment, the data store  62 A indicates that the band  60  material is gold and that the band style or type is mesh. The data store  62 B indicates that the housing  28  material is gold and the body style is a men&#39;s watch. Any number of attributes regarding the smart device  10  (e.g., the smart watch body  64 ) and/or the accessories  29  (e.g., the bands  60 ) may be stored and/or used to modify operational parameters of the radio frequency system  12 . 
     In some embodiments, the attribute information regarding the accessories may be sourced from the accessories themselves. For example, in the current embodiment, the information relating to the bands  60  may be sourced from data transmitted  64  from the bands  60 . For example, a data transfer mechanism  66  in the bands  60  may provide an indication of attributes of the bands  60 , such as: identification information, materials, sizes, shapes, styles, etc. The data transfer mechanism  66  may be a radio frequency transmission system or any other mechanism capable of transferring characteristics of the bands  60  to the body  64 . 
     To determine proper radio frequency system  12  operational parameters for particular housings  28  and/or accessories  29 , it may be beneficial to understand the impact that these housings  28  and/or accessories  29  have on the radio frequency system  12 .  FIG. 6  is a flow diagram describing a process  80  for determining dynamic settings for the radio frequency system based upon the housing and/or accessories of the electronic device, in accordance with an embodiment. For example, the output of process  80  may be stored as reference data (e.g., a lookup table) for the configuration adjustment logic  13 . 
     The process  80  begins by powering on the electronic device  10  (block  82 ). Next, the current radio frequency system  12  settings are determined and a field strength associated with the current settings is measured (block  84 ). 
     An interoperability test is performed on the electronic device  10 &#39;s radio frequency system  12 , to determine whether or not sufficient communications with another radio frequency system meets sufficiency standards (block  86 ). For example, when testing EMV payment transactions, simulated payment transactions may be performed between the electronic device  10  and a payment system. The signal strength, successful transmission ratio, transmission rate, etc. may be measured during this interoperability test. 
     Based upon the results of the interoperability test, a determination is made as to whether or not a target performance has been achieved regarding tested transactions (decision block  88 ). For example, the target performance metrics may relate to the signal strength, successful transmission ratio, transmission rate, etc. of the transactions of the interoperability tests. 
     If the interoperability test results suggest that the target performance has not been achieved, radio frequency settings are modified (block  90 ) to fine-tune the radio frequency communications of the radio frequency system  12 . For example, the accessories  29  and/or housings  28  may affect transmission power and/or phase of the radio frequency system  12 . Accordingly, the phase may be adjusted to maximize and/or optimize the transmission power of the system  12 . For example, some radio frequency readers utilize I channel (cosine wave) communications, while others use Q channel (sine wave) communications, adding a 90 degree phase to the signal. The housing  28  and/or accessory  29  characteristics may alter cosine and/or sine waves, such that the power distribution is incorrect. Thus, based upon the identity and/or attributes of the housing  28  and/or accessories  29 , the phase can be adjust to counter-act unintended consequences caused by the housing  28  and/or accessories  29  (e.g., by adding 15 degrees to the phase). For example, when the housing  28  and/or accessories  29  are metal, there may be less change than plastic and/or leather housings  28  and/or accessories  29 . Further, the modifications may change based upon a particular type of metal (e.g., stainless steel, aluminum, vs. gold). 
     Additionally, the automatic power control (APC) may be adjusted based upon the housing  28  and/or accessories  29 . The goal of the APC may be to reduce saturation of a radio frequency reader, by supplying a properly powered signal to the radio frequency reader. Supplying an over-powered signal may saturate the reader, resulting in reduced transmission quality. As may be appreciated, conductive properties of housings  28  and/or accessories  29  made of metal may result in detuning of the transmission antennae when compared to housings  28  and/or accessories  29  made of less conductive materials (e.g., leather or plastic). Accordingly, the power level may be increased when housings  28  and/or accessories  29  that include metal or other conductive materials are present. When housings  29  and/or accessories  29  made of less conductive materials are present, the power level may be reduced. 
     Additionally, the frame delay time may be modified based upon the housing  28  and/or accessories  29 . When a reader provides a command to the electronic device  10 , the electronic device  10  may abide by a standard dictating that a reply occur within a strict reply window (e.g. 400 nanoseconds). If the reply is outside of this window, the transaction may fail. Certain housings  28  and/or accessories  29  may change the waveform shape of the transmitted signal, affecting a change in the reply time. Accordingly, settings related to a frame transmission delay time may be set to send a signal either earlier or later than normal, to counteract any unintended timing issues caused by the housings  28  and/or accessories  29 . Further, load modulation amplitude settings may be modified based upon the housings  28  and/or accessories  29 , which may provide different amounts of transmitted power from the device to the reader, to counteract unintended issues caused by the housings  28  and/or accessories  29 . 
     Once the settings are modified, the interoperability test is re-run (block  86 ). This process continues until the modified operational parameters result in meeting the target performance of the interoperability test. 
     Upon satisfying the target performance, the settings are stored and associated with the housing  28 , the accessories  29 , and/or the combination of the housing  28  and the accessories  29  (block  92 ). For example, in some embodiments, these associations are stored in a lookup table or a database table that is stored on a tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium. 
     A determination is then made as to whether or not each of the housings  28  and/or accessories  29  have been tested (decision block  94 ). If there are other housings  28  and/or accessories  29  to test, the electronic device  10  housing  28  and/or accessories  29  are changed to form an untested housing  28 , accessory  29 , and/or combination of housing  28  and accessory  29  (block  96 ). The modified electronic device  10  is then put through the process  90 , starting once again with block  82 . 
     Once all of the desired housings  28 , accessories  29 , and/or housing  28  and accessory  29  combinations are complete, the reference data is complete and may be provided for incorporation in the electronic devices (block  98 ). For example, the reference data may be stored as the configuration adjustment logic  13  ( FIG. 1 ), which may be stored in the firmware and/or a file (e.g., system configuration file) of the electronic device  10  and/or other data storage  20  of the electronic device  10 . 
     Once the reference data is stored on the electronic device  10 , the data may be accessed to obtain particular radio frequency system  12  settings for a particular housings  28 , accessories  29 , or housings  28  and accessory  29  combinations.  FIG. 7  is a flow diagram describing a process  120  for dynamically configuring the radio frequency system  12  based upon housings  28  and/or accessories  29  of the electronic device  10 , in accordance with an embodiment. 
     The process  120  begins with powering on the electronic device  10  (block  122 ). Once powered-on, a determination is made as to the particular housings  28 , accessories  29 , and/or housing  28  and/or accessory  29  characteristics that are currently present with the electronic device  10  (block  124 ). For example, firmware and/or a file (e.g., system configuration file) of the electronic device may indicate the particular housing  28  and/or housing  28  characteristic of the current device, as discussed above. Additionally and/or alternatively, user inputs (e.g., via the GUI  30 ) may indicate particular characteristics and/or identities of the housings  28  and/or accessories  29 . Further, in some embodiments, the accessories  29  may provide an indication of particular characteristics and/or identities of the accessories  29 . 
     Next, the proper radio frequency system  12  settings are selected and applied to the electronic device (block  126 ). For example, as mentioned above, the configuration adjustment logic  12  may be polled for settings associated with a particular identity (e.g., model number, etc.) of a housing  28  and/or electronic device  10 , an identity of an accessory  29 , and/or one or more characteristics of the housing  28  and/or electronic device  10 . As previously mentioned, the associated settings may be associated solely with the housing  28 , solely with the accessories  29 , or with the combination of the housing  28  and the accessories  29 . Once the proper settings are returned from the configuration adjustment logic  13 , the settings are applied to the radio frequency system  12 . Thus, the radio frequency system is ready to communicate (block  128 ). 
     It may be desirable to periodically re-adjust the radio frequency system  12  settings. For example, upon detection of an imminent radio frequency communication (e.g., a user of the electronic device  10  activates a payment option on the GUI  30 , etc.), a detection of a modification to the housing  28  and/or proximate accessories  29 , and/or periodically, the electronic device  10  may re-determine the housings  28  and/or accessories  29  that are present (block  124 ) and select and apply new radio frequency system  12  settings when housing  28  and/or accessory modifications  29  are detected. For example, in some embodiments, each time a watch band  60  (or other accessory) is interchanged, (e.g., as detected by the electronic device  10 ), blocks  124 - 128  may be re-implemented). In some embodiments, these steps may be completed on a periodic basis (e.g., every one hour, two hours, one day, one week, etc.). 
     Accordingly, the technical effects of the present disclosure include improving performance of a radio frequency system by adjusting operation based at least in part on housings  28  and/or proximate accessories  29  of the electronic device  10 . More specifically, upon determination of particular housings  28 , accessories  29 , and/or combinations of housings  28  and/or  29 , radio frequency system  12  settings that are known to produce a sufficient communication experience may be applied to the radio frequency system  12 . In this manner, tailored operational parameters may be set, thereby improving efficiency and/or reliability, since the operational parameters may be dynamically adjusted for housings  28  and/or accessories  29  that might impact the radio frequency communications. 
     The specific embodiments described above have been shown by way of example, and it should be understood that these embodiments may be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. It should be further understood that the claims are not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but rather to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of this disclosure.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20150306
Publication Date: 20211019
Grant Date: 20211019
Priority Date: 20150306
Inventors: REDDY, VUSTHLA SUNIL
ZENG, XINPING
AGBOH, PETER M.
NARANG, MOHIT
CABALLERO, RUBEN
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "G06F1/1698", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1656", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/163", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1698", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1656", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1656", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1698", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/163", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 56850067