US-12627052-B2 - Antenna apparatus and communication method

Abstract

This application provides an antenna apparatus and a communication method. The antenna apparatus includes a processing module and a plurality of transmission links. The processing module is configured to generate a to-be-transmitted signal, and transmit the to-be-transmitted signal to the plurality of transmission links. The plurality of transmission links are configured to transmit the to-be-transmitted signal. The plurality of transmission links include at least one electric near field transmission link and at least one magnetic near field transmission link. The electric near field transmission link includes an electric near field front end and an electric near field antenna. The electric near field front end is configured to transmit the to-be-transmitted signal to the electric near field antenna. The magnetic near field transmission link includes a magnetic near field front end and a magnetic near field antenna.

Inventors

• Stephen Wang
• Yongjun Liu
• Liang Yang

Assignees

• HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20230825

Claims (20)

1. 1 . An antenna apparatus, applied to a transmit end and comprising: a processing module, configured to generate a signal to be transmitted; and a plurality of transmission links, configured to receive the signal from the processing module and to transmit the signal, wherein the plurality of transmission links comprise one or more electric near field transmission links and one or more magnetic near field transmission links, each of the one or more electric near field transmission links comprise an electric near field front end and an electric near field antenna, the electric near field front end is configured to transmit the signal to the electric near field antenna, each of the one or more magnetic near field transmission links comprise a magnetic near field front end and a magnetic near field antenna, the magnetic near field front end is configured to transmit the signal to the magnetic near field antenna, and the electric near field antenna and the magnetic near field antenna are configured to transmit the signal, wherein at least one of the one or more electric near field transmission links and at least one of the one or more magnetic near field transmission links are mutually independent.
2. 2 . The antenna apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of transmission links are configured to simultaneously transmit the signal at a same transmit frequency.
3. 3 . The antenna apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing module is further configured to allocate transmit power of the signal on the plurality of transmission links.
4. 4 . The antenna apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the processing module is further configured to adjust the transmit power, so that when an antenna apparatus at a receive end receives the signal, a difference of received power on a plurality of transmission links of the antenna apparatus at the receive end is within a preset range.
5. 5 . The antenna apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the received power is obtained based on currents on the plurality of transmission links at the transmit end; or the received power is fed back by the antenna apparatus at the receive end to the transmit end.
6. 6 . The antenna apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the electric near field front end comprises a voltage amplifier, and the voltage amplifier is configured to increase a transmit voltage of the electric near field antenna.
7. 7 . The antenna apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a far field transmission link that comprises a far field front end and a far field antenna, wherein the far field front end is configured to transmit the signal to the far field antenna, and the far field antenna is configured to transmit the signal.
8. 8 . The antenna apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein any plurality of antennas of the electric near field antenna, the magnetic near field antenna, and the far field antenna are integrated.
9. 9 . The antenna apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing module is further configured to generate energy to be transmitted, and transmit the energy to the plurality of transmission links; the plurality of transmission links are further configured to transmit the energy; and the processing module is further configured to adjust energy allocation of the energy on the plurality of transmission links based on a status of receiving the energy by the antenna apparatus at a receive end.
10. 10 . An antenna apparatus, applied to a receiving end and comprising: a processing module; and a plurality of transmission links, configured to receive a signal or energy, wherein the plurality of transmission links comprise one or more electric near field transmission links and one or more magnetic near field transmission links, each of the one or more electric near field transmission links comprise an electric near field front end and an electric near field antenna, each of the one or more magnetic near field transmission links comprise a magnetic near field front end and a magnetic near field antenna, the electric near field antenna and the magnetic near field antenna are configured to receive the signal or the energy, the electric near field front end is configured to transmit the signal or the energy received by the electric near field antenna to the processing module, and the magnetic near field front end is configured to transmit the signal or the energy received by the magnetic near field antenna to the processing module, wherein at least one of the one or more electric near field transmission links and at least one of the one or more magnetic near field transmission links are mutually independent, and wherein the processing module is configured to process the signal or the energy.
11. 11 . The antenna apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the processing module is further configured to feed back, to an antenna apparatus at a transmit end, received power of the signal received on the plurality of transmission links, and/or configured to feed back, to the antenna apparatus at the transmit end, a status of receiving the energy on the plurality of transmission links.
12. 12 . The antenna apparatus according to claim 10 , further comprising a far field transmission link that comprises a far field front end and a far field antenna, wherein the far field antenna is configured to receive the signal or the energy, and the far field front end is configured to transmit the signal or the energy received by the far field antenna to the processing module.
13. 13 . A communication method, comprising: generating a signal to be transmitted, and transmitting the signal to a plurality of transmission links; and transmitting, by the plurality of transmission links, the signal, wherein the plurality of transmission links comprise one or more electric near field transmission links and one or more magnetic near field transmission links, each of the one or more electric near field transmission links comprise an electric near field front end and an electric near field antenna, the electric near field front end is configured to transmit the signal to the electric near field antenna, each of the one or more magnetic near field transmission links comprise a magnetic near field front end and a magnetic near field antenna, the magnetic near field front end is configured to transmit the signal to the magnetic near field antenna, and the electric near field antenna and the magnetic near field antenna are configured to transmit the signal, wherein at least one of the one or more electric near field transmission links and at least one of the one or more magnetic near field transmission links are mutually independent.
14. 14 . The communication method according to claim 13 , wherein the transmitting, by the plurality of transmission links, the signal comprises: simultaneously transmitting, by the plurality of transmission links, the signal at a same transmit frequency.
15. 15 . The communication method according to claim 13 , wherein the transmitting the signal to a plurality of transmission links comprises: allocating transmit power of the signal on the plurality of transmission links.
16. 16 . The communication method according to claim 15 , further comprising: adjusting the transmit power, so that when an antenna apparatus at a receive end receives the signal, a difference of received power on a plurality of transmission links of the antenna apparatus at the receive end is within a preset range.
17. 17 . The communication method according to claim 16 , wherein the received power is obtained based on currents on the plurality of transmission links at a transmit end; or the received power is fed back by the antenna apparatus at the receive end to the transmit end.
18. 18 . The communication method according to claim 17 , further comprising: generating energy to be transmitted, and transmitting the energy to the plurality of transmission links; transmitting, by the plurality of transmission links, the energy; and adjusting energy allocation of the energy of the antenna apparatus at the transmit end on the plurality of transmission links based on a status of receiving the energy by the antenna apparatus at the receive end.
19. 19 . A communication method, comprising: receiving, by a plurality of transmission links, a signal or energy, wherein the plurality of transmission links comprise one or more electric near field transmission links and one or more magnetic near field transmission links, each of the one or more electric near field transmission links comprise an electric near field front end and an electric near field antenna, each of the one or more magnetic near field transmission links comprise a magnetic near field front end and a magnetic near field antenna, the electric near field antenna and the magnetic near field antenna are configured to receive the signal or the energy, the electric near field front end is configured to transmit the signal or the energy received by the electric near field antenna to a processing module, and the magnetic near field front end is configured to transmit the signal or the energy received by the magnetic near field antenna to the processing module, wherein at least one of the one or more electric near field transmission links and at least one of the one or more magnetic near field transmission links are mutually independent; and processing the signal or the energy.
20. 20 . The communication method according to claim 19 , wherein the method further comprises: feeding back, to an antenna apparatus at a transmit end, received power of the signal received on the plurality of transmission links, and/or feeding back, to the antenna apparatus at the transmit end, a status of receiving the energy on the plurality of transmission links.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2021/078120, filed on Feb. 26, 2021, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD This application relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to an antenna apparatus and a communication method. BACKGROUND In a modem communications system, an electromagnetic field has become an important signal carrier. The electromagnetic field not only allows signals to propagate on devices, but also allows signals to propagate in space. The latter should be attributed to a characteristic that the electromagnetic field does not depend on any medium for propagation. This characteristic creates a prerequisite for emergence of wireless communication. Usually, an antenna apparatus is used in wireless communication to implement electromagnetic field transmission and reception. Common wireless communication based on the antenna apparatus may be classified into near field communication and far field communication depending on transmission distances. Actually, there is no strict boundary between a range of near field communication and a range of far field communication. However, within a typical near field range or far field range, the electromagnetic field has an obvious near field feature or far field feature. Therefore, in an antenna design process, these features can be fully considered, and even a dedicated matching circuit can be designed. For example, for near field communication, a principle of electric field coupling or magnetic field coupling is preferentially used for designing, but for far field communication, a principle of electromagnetic radiation is used for designing. In the conventional technology, near field communication (NFC) has been applied to a mobile phone, and is a very short range communication or a wireless charging function implemented by using a coil antenna. However, its signal or energy transmission efficiency is relatively low. Far field communication related to Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or the like mainly uses an electromagnetic wave radiated in a far field for communication. However, within a near field range of a far field radiation technology, energy transmission efficiency in communication is relatively low because a large radiation loss is caused in a process of radiating the electromagnetic wave. In other words, an antenna apparatus supporting far field communication is not applicable to a near field communication scenario. Therefore, the foregoing problem of relatively low transmission efficiency in near field communication cannot be resolved, and overall signal or energy transmission efficiency is relatively low. Therefore, how to improve signal or energy transmission efficiency is an urgent technical problem to be resolved. SUMMARY This application provides an antenna apparatus and a communication method to effectively improve signal or energy transmission efficiency. According to a first aspect, an antenna apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a processing module and a plurality of transmission links. The processing module is configured to generate a to-be-transmitted signal, and transmit the to-be-transmitted signal to the plurality of transmission links. The plurality of transmission links are configured to transmit the to-be-transmitted signal. The plurality of transmission links include at least one electric near field transmission link and at least one magnetic near field transmission link. The electric near field transmission link includes an electric near field front end and an electric near field antenna. The electric near field front end is configured to transmit the to-be-transmitted signal to the electric near field antenna. The magnetic near field transmission link includes a magnetic near field front end and a magnetic near field antenna. The magnetic near field front end is configured to transmit the to-be-transmitted signal to the magnetic near field antenna. The electric near field antenna and the magnetic near field antenna are configured to transmit the to-be-transmitted signal. In the technical solution of this application, the signal can be simultaneously transmitted from the electric near field transmission link and the magnetic near field transmission link, so that transmission efficiency in near field communication can be effectively improved. It should be noted that the antenna apparatus in the first aspect corresponds to an antenna apparatus at a transmit end, and that an antenna apparatus in a second aspect corresponds to an antenna apparatus at a receive end. In an embodiment, the plurality of transmission links are configured to simultaneously transmit the to-be-transmitted signal at a same transmit frequency. In an embodiment, the processing module is further configured to allocate transmit power of the to-be-transmitted signal on the plurality of transmission links. In an em