PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-9523727-B2
Application Number: US-201514980591-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Electronic device with impedance measurement circuitry

Abstract:
An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include wireless transceiver circuitry that transmits signals towards an antenna. A signal path may carry the transmitted signals to the antenna. Reflected signals from the antenna may be carried along the signal path towards the transceiver circuitry. Coupler circuitry may include a forward coupler that taps the transmitted signals, a first reverse coupler that taps the reflected signals from the antenna, and a second reverse coupler that taps the reflected signals that have passed through the first reverse coupler. Analog processing circuitry and digital processing circuitry may be used to produce an impedance measurement from the tapped signals from the coupler circuitry. The analog processing circuitry may include analog signal mixers, low pass filters, and analog-to-digital converter circuitry.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device, comprising:
 wireless circuitry that includes an antenna and a radio-frequency transceiver that transmits signals to the antenna, wherein some of the transmitted signals reflect from the antenna as reflected signals; and 
 an impedance measurement circuit having:
 a forward coupler that taps the transmitted signals; 
 a first reverse coupler that taps the reflected signals; and 
 a second reverse coupler that taps the reflected signals after the reflected signals have passed through the first reverse coupler. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the impedance measurement circuit further comprises analog processing circuitry. 
     
     
       3. The electronic device defined in  claim 2  wherein the analog processing circuitry includes analog mixing circuitry that receives the transmitted signals tapped by the forward coupler, the reflected signals tapped by the first reverse coupler, and the reflected signals tapped by the second reverse coupler. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device defined in  claim 3  wherein the analog processing circuitry further comprises low pass filter circuitry that filters signals from the analog mixing circuitry to produce filtered signals. 
     
     
       5. The electronic device defined in  claim 4  wherein the analog processing circuitry further comprises analog-to-digital converter circuitry that digitizes the filtered signals. 
     
     
       6. The electronic device defined in  claim 5  wherein the impedance measurement circuitry further comprises digital processing circuitry. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device defined in  claim 6  wherein the digital processing circuitry processes the digitized filtered signals to produce an antenna impedance measurement. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the forward coupler and the first and second reverse couplers are coupled in series between the radio-frequency transceiver and the antenna. 
     
     
       9. The electronic device defined in  claim 8  wherein the antenna comprises a tunable antenna having a tunable circuit. 
     
     
       10. The electronic device defined in  claim 9  wherein the impedance measurement circuit further comprises analog processing circuitry that includes analog mixing circuitry that receives the transmitted signals tapped by the forward coupler, the reflected signals tapped by the first reverse coupler, and the reflected signals tapped by the second reverse coupler. 
     
     
       11. Wireless circuitry, comprising:
 an antenna; 
 a radio-frequency transceiver coupled to the antenna; 
 a path that carries radio-frequency signals as the radio-frequency transceiver transmits signals with the antenna; and 
 an impedance measurement circuit having first, second, and third couplers that tap signals flowing on the path, wherein the impedance measurement circuit comprises analog signal processing circuitry and digital signal processing circuitry that process signals from the first, second, and third couplers of the impedance measurement circuit to produce an impedance measurement. 
 
     
     
       12. The wireless circuitry defined in  claim 11  wherein the first coupler is a forward coupler that taps signals flowing in a forward direction on the path. 
     
     
       13. The wireless circuitry defined in  claim 12  wherein the second and third couplers comprise reverse couplers that tap into signals flowing in a reverse direction on the path that is opposite to the forward direction. 
     
     
       14. The wireless circuitry defined in  claim 13  wherein the second and third couplers are coupled in series in the path. 
     
     
       15. The wireless circuitry defined in  claim 14  wherein the third coupler receives signals that have passed through the second coupler. 
     
     
       16. The wireless circuitry defined in  claim 15  wherein the analog signal processing circuitry includes:
 a first analog signal mixer that receives signals from the first coupler and the second coupler; 
 a second analog signal mixer that receives signals from the first coupler; and 
 a third analog signal mixer that receives signals from the first coupler and the third coupler. 
 
     
     
       17. The wireless circuitry defined in  claim 16  further comprising low pass filter circuitry that filters signals from the first, second, and third analog signal mixers. 
     
     
       18. The wireless circuitry defined in  claim 17  further comprising analog-to-digital converter circuitry that digitizes signals from the low pass filter circuitry, wherein the digital signal processing circuitry produces the impedance measurement using the digitized signals. 
     
     
       19. The wireless circuitry defined in  claim 18  wherein the analog signal processing circuitry and the digital signal processing circuitry are formed from an integrated circuit. 
     
     
       20. An impedance measurement circuit coupled in a signal path that carries radio-frequency signals within wireless circuitry in an electronic device, comprising:
 a forward coupler that taps into transmitted signals flowing on the signal path, wherein the transmitted signals are reflected to form reflected signals; 
 a first reverse coupler that taps into the reflected signals; 
 a second reverse coupler that taps into the reflected signals after the reflected signals have passed through the first reverse coupler; and 
 analog signal processing circuitry including mixer circuitry that receives the tapped transmitted signals, the tapped reflected signals from the first reverse coupler, and the tapped reflected signals from the second reverse coupler. 
 
     
     
       21. The impedance measurement circuit defined in  claim 20  further comprising:
 digital signal processing circuitry that processes signals from the analog signal processing circuitry to produce an impedance measurement.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application No. 62/102,954 filed on Jan. 13, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     This relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to electronic devices with wireless communications circuitry. 
     Electronic devices often include wireless communications circuitry. For example, cellular telephones, computers, and other devices often contain antennas and wireless transceivers for supporting wireless communications. 
     In some wireless devices, wireless performance can be influenced by environmental factors such as the presence of nearby objects that load antennas within the devices. To ensure that a device is performing satisfactorily, it may be desirable to measure antenna impedance during operation. The antenna impedance information may then be used in adjusting the antenna. If care is not taken, however, impedance measurement circuitry may consume more device resources than desired or may be insufficiently accurate to use when controlling the operation of wireless circuitry in a device. 
     It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved wireless circuitry for electronic devices such as improved impedance monitoring circuitry for wireless electronic devices. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include wireless transceiver circuitry that transmits signals to an antenna. Impedance measurement circuitry may be interposed between the transceiver and the antenna, may be incorporated into an integrated circuit associated with an antenna tuning component or other tunable antenna circuitry, may be formed as part of an antenna, or may be located elsewhere within the wireless circuitry for measuring impedances. 
     A signal path may carry transmitted signals from the transceiver circuitry to the antenna. Reflected signals from the antenna may be carried along the signal path towards the transceiver circuitry. In a configuration in which the impedance measurement circuitry is located between the transceiver and the antenna, the impedance measurement circuitry may have coupler circuitry that is located along the signal path. The coupler circuitry may include a forward coupler portion that taps the transmitted signals, a first reverse coupler portion that taps the reflected signals from the antenna, and a second reverse coupler portion that taps the reflected signals after these signals have passed through the first reverse coupler portion. 
     The impedance measurement circuitry may have analog processing circuitry and digital processing circuitry. The analog signal processing circuitry and digital signal processing circuitry may be used to produce an impedance measurement from the tapped signals from the coupler circuitry. The analog processing circuitry may include analog signal mixers, low pass filters, and analog-to-digital converter circuitry. The digital signal processing circuitry may process digital signals that have been received from the analog-to-digital converter circuitry in the analog processing circuitry. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device with wireless communications circuitry in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram of illustrative wireless circuitry in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram of an illustrative impedance monitoring circuit in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  shows illustrative signals that may be measured and processed using circuitry of the type shown in  FIG. 3  to produce impedance measurements in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a diagram showing how signals of the type shown in  FIG. 4  may be processed using circuitry of the type shown in  FIG. 3  to produce impedance measurements in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     An electronic device such as electronic device  10  of  FIG. 1  may contain wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include transceiver circuitry that is coupled to antenna structures for transmitting and receiving wireless signals. Impedance monitoring circuits may be formed within the wireless circuitry. The impedance monitoring circuits may be used to measure wireless circuit impedances. For example, antenna impedances and other impedance values may be measured. Impedance information may be used in tuning antenna structures in electronic device  10  or performing other actions. 
     Device  10  of  FIG. 1  may be a computing device such as a laptop computer, a computer monitor containing an embedded computer, a tablet computer, a cellular telephone, a media player, or other handheld or portable electronic device, a smaller device such as a wrist-watch device, a pendant device, a headphone or earpiece device, a device embedded in eyeglasses or other equipment worn on a user&#39;s head, or other wearable or miniature device, a television, a computer display that does not contain an embedded computer, a gaming device, a navigation device, an embedded system such as a system in which electronic equipment with a display is mounted in a kiosk or automobile, equipment that implements the functionality of two or more of these devices, or other electronic equipment. 
     Device  10  may have a display mounted in a housing formed of plastic, glass, ceramics, fiber composites, metal (e.g., stainless steel, aluminum, etc.), other suitable materials, or a combination of any two or more of these materials. The housing may be formed using a unibody configuration in which some or all of the housing is machined or molded as a single structure or may be formed using multiple structures (e.g., an internal frame structure, one or more structures that form exterior housing surfaces, etc.). The display may be a touch screen display that incorporates a layer of conductive capacitive touch sensor electrodes or other touch sensor components (e.g., resistive touch sensor components, acoustic touch sensor components, force-based touch sensor components, light-based touch sensor components, etc.) or may be a display that is not touch-sensitive. The display may be a liquid crystal display, an organic light-emitting diode display, or may be a display formed using other display technologies. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , device  10  may include control circuitry such as storage and processing circuitry  30 . Storage and processing circuitry  30  may include storage such as hard disk drive storage, nonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory or other electrically-programmable-read-only memory configured to form a solid state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic random-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in storage and processing circuitry  30  may be used to control the operation of device  10 . This processing circuitry may be based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, baseband processor integrated circuits, application specific integrated circuits, etc. 
     Storage and processing circuitry  30  may be used to run software on device  10 , such as internet browsing applications, voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) telephone call applications, email applications, media playback applications, operating system functions, etc. To support interactions with external equipment, storage and processing circuitry  30  may be used in implementing communications protocols. Communications protocols that may be implemented using storage and processing circuitry  30  include internet protocols, wireless local area network protocols (e.g., IEEE 802.11 protocols—sometimes referred to as WiFi®), protocols for other short-range wireless communications links such as the Bluetooth® protocol, cellular telephone protocols, MIMO protocols, antenna diversity protocols, satellite navigation system protocols, etc. 
     Device  10  may include input-output circuitry  44 . Input-output circuitry  44  may include input-output devices  32 . Input-output devices  32  may be used to allow data to be supplied to device  10  and to allow data to be provided from device  10  to external devices. Input-output devices  32  may include user interface devices, data port devices, and other input-output components. For example, input-output devices may include touch screens, displays without touch sensor capabilities, buttons, joysticks, scrolling wheels, touch pads, key pads, keyboards, microphones, cameras, speakers, status indicators, light sources, audio jacks and other audio port components, digital data port devices, light sensors, accelerometers or other components that can detect motion and device orientation relative to the Earth, capacitance sensors, proximity sensors (e.g., a capacitive proximity sensor and/or an infrared proximity sensor), magnetic sensors, a connector port sensor or other sensor that determines whether device  10  is mounted in a dock, and other sensors and input-output components. 
     Input-output circuitry  44  may include wireless communications circuitry  34  for communicating wirelessly with external equipment. Wireless communications circuitry  34  may include radio-frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry formed from one or more integrated circuits, power amplifier circuitry, low-noise input amplifiers, passive RF components, one or more antennas  40 , transmission lines, and other circuitry for handling RF wireless signals. Wireless signals can also be sent using light (e.g., using infrared communications). 
     Wireless communications circuitry  34  may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry  90  for handling various radio-frequency communications bands. For example, circuitry  34  may include transceiver circuitry  36 ,  38 , and  42 . 
     Transceiver circuitry  36  may be wireless local area network transceiver circuitry that may handle 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands for WiFi® (IEEE 802.11) communications and that may handle the 2.4 GHz Bluetooth® communications band. 
     Circuitry  34  may use cellular telephone transceiver circuitry  38  for handling wireless communications in frequency ranges such as a low communications band from 700 to 960 MHz, a midband from 1710 to 2170 MHz, and a high band from 2300 to 2700 MHz or other communications bands between 700 MHz and 2700 MHz or other suitable frequencies (as examples). Circuitry  38  may handle voice data and non-voice data. 
     Wireless communications circuitry  34  can include circuitry for other short-range and long-range wireless links if desired. For example, wireless communications circuitry  34  may include 60 GHz transceiver circuitry, circuitry for receiving television and radio signals, paging system transceivers, near field communications (NFC) circuitry, etc. 
     Wireless communications circuitry  34  may include satellite navigation system circuitry such as global positioning system (GPS) receiver circuitry  42  for receiving GPS signals at 1575 MHz or for handling other satellite positioning data (e.g., GLONASS signals at 1609 MHz). Satellite navigation system signals for receiver  42  are received from a constellation of satellites orbiting the earth. In WiFi® and Bluetooth® links and other short-range wireless links, wireless signals are typically used to convey data over tens or hundreds of feet. In cellular telephone links and other long-range links, wireless signals are typically used to convey data over thousands of feet or miles. 
     Antennas  40  in wireless communications circuitry  34  may be formed using any suitable antenna types. For example, antennas  40  may include antennas with resonating elements that are formed from loop antenna structures, patch antenna structures, inverted-F antenna structures, slot antenna structures, planar inverted-F antenna structures, helical antenna structures, hybrids of these designs, etc. If desired, one or more of antennas  40  may be cavity-backed antennas. Different types of antennas may be used for different bands and combinations of bands. For example, one type of antenna may be used in forming a local wireless link antenna and another type of antenna may be used in forming a remote wireless link antenna. Dedicated antennas may be used for receiving satellite navigation system signals or, if desired, antennas  40  can be configured to receive both satellite navigation system signals and signals for other communications bands (e.g., wireless local area network signals and/or cellular telephone signals). 
     Transmission line paths may be used to couple antenna structures  40  to transceiver circuitry  90 . Transmission lines in device  10  may include coaxial cable paths, microstrip transmission lines, stripline transmission lines, edge-coupled microstrip transmission lines, edge-coupled stripline transmission lines, transmission lines formed from combinations of transmission lines of these types, etc. Filter circuitry, switching circuitry, impedance matching circuitry, and other circuitry may be interposed within the transmission lines, if desired. 
     Device  10  may contain multiple antennas  40 . The antennas may be used together or one of the antennas may be switched into use while the other antenna(s) may be switched out of use. If desired, control circuitry  30  may be used to make wireless circuit adjustments in real time. These adjustments may include, for example, selection of an optimum antenna to use in device  10 , antenna tuning settings, impedance matching circuit settings, filter settings, wireless transceiver settings, phased antenna array settings, etc. Control circuitry  30  may make a wireless circuit adjustment based on information on received signal strength, based on sensor data (e.g., orientation information from an accelerometer), based on other sensor information (e.g., information indicating whether device  10  has been mounted in a dock in a portrait orientation), based on impedance information (e.g., an antenna impedance measurement or other impedance measurement) or based on other information about the operation of device  10 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , transceiver circuitry  90  in wireless circuitry  34  may be coupled to antenna structures  40  using paths such as path  92 . Wireless circuitry  34  may be coupled to control circuitry  30 . Control circuitry  30  may be coupled to input-output devices  32 . Input-output devices  32  may supply output from device  10  and may receive input from sources that are external to device  10 . 
     Antenna structures  40  may be provided with tunable circuitry to provide antenna structures  40  with the ability to cover communications frequencies of interest and/or the ability to be adjusted to ensure satisfactory operation when loaded due to the presence of external objects. If desired, antenna structures  40  may include filter circuitry (e.g., one or more passive filters and/or one or more tunable filter circuits) or filter circuitry may be coupled to antenna structures  40 . Discrete components such as capacitors, inductors, and resistors may be incorporated into the filter circuitry. Capacitive structures, inductive structures, and resistive structures may also be formed from patterned metal structures (e.g., part of an antenna). 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , antenna structures  40  may be provided with adjustable circuits such as tunable components  102  to tune antennas  40  over communications bands of interest or to otherwise adjust antenna structures  40 . Tunable components  102  may include tunable inductors, tunable capacitors, or other tunable components. Tunable components such as these may be based on switches and networks of fixed components, distributed metal structures that produce associated distributed capacitances and inductances, variable solid state devices for producing variable capacitance and inductance values, tunable filters, or other suitable tunable structures. If desired, an integrated circuit may be used to implement switching circuitry and associated control and communications circuits. The switching circuitry may be used with on-chip or external inductors or capacitors to form an adjustable inductor or an adjustable capacitor (i.e., the integrated circuit may be coupled to discrete components to form tunable component  102 ). During operation of device  10 , control circuitry  30  may issue control signals on one or more paths such as path  88  that adjust inductance values, capacitance values, or other parameters associated with tunable components  102 , thereby tuning antenna structures  40  to cover desired communications bands. Configurations in which antennas  40  are fixed (not tunable) may also be used. 
     Path  92  may form a transmission line. A matching network formed from components such as inductors, resistors, and capacitors may be used in matching the impedance of antenna structures  40  to the impedance of the transceiver at transmission line  90 . Matching network components may be provided as discrete components (e.g., surface mount technology components) or may be formed from housing structures, printed circuit board structures, traces on plastic supports, etc. Components such as these may also be used in forming filter circuitry in antenna structures  40 . 
     It may be desirable to monitor the performance of wireless circuitry  34  in real time. For example, it may be desirable to make impedance measurements in wireless circuitry  34  using one or more impedance monitoring circuits  104 . Portions of wireless circuitry  34  such as antenna structures  40  may become loaded due to the presence of external objects in the vicinity of antenna structures  40 . Tunable circuitry  102  can be adjusted in real time to compensate for loading effects and/or other adjustments may be made to wireless circuitry  34  based on impedance measurements made using impedance monitoring circuits  104 . 
     Circuits  104  may be implemented as part of an integrated circuit that is used in forming some or all of tunable circuitry  102 , may be incorporated into antenna structures  40  (e.g., by incorporating circuit  104  into a return path or part of an antenna resonating element), may be interposed in path  92 , may be included within impedance matching circuitry or filter circuitry in path  92 , or may be formed at other suitable locations within wireless circuitry  34 . When mounted adjacent to an antenna feed for antenna  40  (e.g., when incorporated into path  92 ), circuitry  104  may be used to measure the impedance of antenna  40 . When mounted within antenna  40  or circuitry  102 , circuitry  104  may be used to measure the impedance of part of antenna  40  and/or other impedance values in wireless circuitry  34 . 
     An illustrative impedance monitoring circuit that has been interposed within path  92  is shown in  FIG. 3 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , impedance monitoring circuit  104  may include signal taps such as forward coupler  152 , a first reverse coupler such as reverse coupler  156 , and a second reverse coupler such as reverse coupler  154 . Couplers (taps)  152 ,  154 , and  156  may be coupled in series between transceiver circuitry  90  and antenna  40 . Couplers  152 ,  154 , and  156  may be implemented as a single five port coupler, may be implemented as three separate three-port couplers, may be implemented using two couplers (e.g., a three port coupler and a four port coupler), or may be implemented using other suitable coupler circuit configurations. 
     During operation, transceiver  90  may transmit signals that are conveyed over path  92  to antenna  40  (e.g., normal signals during normal operation and/or test signals during optional dedicated impedance measurement operations). Forward coupler  152  may tap a portion of the transmitted signal. The tapped signal portion is shown as signal Si(t) in  FIG. 3 . A portion of the transmitted signal may be reflected from antenna  40 . A reflection coefficient Γ is associated with this signal reflection. First reverse coupler  156  may tap the reflected signal to produce signal Sr 1 ( t ). Second reverse coupler  154  may tap the reflected signal that has passed through tap  156 , thereby producing signal Sr 2 ( t ). 
     There is a known phase and magnitude relationship between the tapped signals from first reverse coupler  156  and the signals from second reverse coupler  154 . Using this relationship and the measured values of Si(t), Sr 2 ( t ), and Sr 1 ( t ), the signals from taps  150  can be processed to determine antenna reflection coefficient Γ and associated antenna impedance value Z. In configurations in which monitoring circuit  104  is located elsewhere in circuitry  34  (e.g., in tunable circuit  102 ), monitoring circuit  104  may measure different impedance values. The use of a monitoring circuit such as monitoring circuit  104  of  FIG. 3  to measure the impedance of antenna  40  is merely illustrative. 
     The signals from taps  150  may be processed using hardwired analog processing circuitry and/or digital processing circuitry. For example, signals from taps  150  may be processed using processing resources in a baseband processor, using processing resources in a general purpose microprocessor, using processing resources in an application-specific integrated circuit, using processing resources in an integrated circuit that is being used to control antenna tuning operations (e.g., an integrated circuit that forms tunable component  102  in antenna  40 ), using processing resources in an integrated circuit that is being used to control other wireless control operations (e.g., a wireless controller integrated circuit for controlling antenna tuning, filter tuning, matching circuit tuning, etc. that is separate from the baseband processor for device  10 ), and/or other processing resources. Signal processing may be performed using analog processing circuitry and/or digital processing circuitry. 
     In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 3 , the signals from taps  150  are processed using processing circuitry  160 . Processing circuitry  160  may include hardwired analog signal processing circuitry  162  and digital processing circuitry  164  and may be implemented as a single integrated circuit, using two integrated circuits, using all or some of three or more integrated circuits, using one or more integrated circuits and ancillary circuitry, or using other suitable circuitry. Analog processing circuitry  162  may include one or more analog signal mixers  166  (e.g., mixer circuitry that forms analog signal multipliers), low pass filter circuitry  168 , and analog-to-digital converter circuitry  170 . Digital output data from circuitry  170  may be provided to processor  164  over path  172 . 
     Taps  150  may be used to gather signals Si(t), Sr 1 ( t ), and Sr 2 ( t ). Expressions for these radio-frequency signals and definitions for the terms used in these expressions are shown in  FIG. 4 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , there is a known relationship in magnitude (ρ) and phase (φ) between the first reflected signal Sr 1  at tap  156  and the second reflected signal Sr 2  at tap  154 . This relationship may be determined by characterizing taps  156  and  154  during calibration operations, by fabricating taps  156  and  154  with a known relationship as part of a common coupler device, by interposing a transmission line segment and/or known circuit between taps  156  and  154 , etc. Based on the known magnitude and phase relationship between Sr 2  and Sr 1 , the equations of  FIG. 4  may be solved for unknown antenna reflection coefficient F (and therefore associated antenna impedance Z) for antenna under test (AUT)  40 . In configurations in which circuit  104  is placed within a tuning circuit, matching circuit, filter, transmission line, or a part of antenna  40 , the measured reflection coefficient and impedance will not necessarily correspond to the reflection coefficient and impedance for antenna  40 , but nonetheless may provide information on the current operation conditions for wireless circuitry  34  that can be exploited during operation of device  10 . 
     A signal processing arrangement of the type shown in  FIG. 5  may be used in determining the value of reflection coefficient F and impedance Z. Analog signal processing operations (e.g., analog signal mixing, filtering, and analog-to-digital conversion) may be performed using analog signal processing circuitry  162 . Digital signal processing operations may be performed using digital processing circuitry  164 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 5 , analog mixers  166  may receive signals Si, Sr 1 , and Sr 2  from taps  150 . Mixers  166  may mix the signals received at their input ports and may produce corresponding mixed signals on their output ports. For example, a first mixer  166  may mix signals Si(t) and Sr 1 ( t ) to produce mixed signal x(t), a second mixer  166  may mix signals Si(t) and Si(t) to produce mixed signal z(t), and a third mixer  166  may mix signals Si(t) and Sr 2 ( t ) to produce mixed signal y(t). Low pass filters  168  may be used to block unwanted higher frequency mixing products from signals x(t), y(t), and z(t), leaving the signals shown on paths  172 . 
     The signals on paths  172  are digitized using analog-to-digital converters  170  to produce corresponding digital signals on respective paths  174 ,  176 , and  178  in digital processing circuitry  164 . The signal  2  on path  176  may be inverted by digital signal inverter  164 C. The inverted output of inverter  164 C may be multiplied by the signal on path  174  using mixer  164 A, thereby producing the signal on path  180  (i.e., the signal on path  174  may be divided by the signal on path  176 ). The inverted output of inverter  164 C may also be multiplied by the signal on path  178  using mixer  164 B, thereby producing the signal on path  182  (i.e., the signal on path  178  may be divided by the signal on path  176 ). The signals on paths  180  and  182  may be used to solve for the complex reflection coefficient Γ (and therefore the complex impedance Z), as shown in box  184 . In box  184 , Γr represents the real portion of Γ and Γi represents the imaginary part of Γ. 
     The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20151228
Publication Date: 20161220
Grant Date: 20161220
Priority Date: 20150113
Inventors: HAN LIANG
MOW MATTHEW A.
BIEDKA THOMAS E.
TSAI MING-JU
JUDKINS JAMES G.
LEE VICTOR C.
PASCOLINI MATTIA
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04B1/18", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B1/40", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B1/0458", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G01R29/10", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B1/0458", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G01R29/10", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B1/18", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B1/40", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 55539817