# US 2014/0194069 A1 · Methods for Testing Receiver Sensitivity of Wireless Electronic Devices

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- Number: US 2014/0194069 A1
- Document ID: US20140194069A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/738,506
- Filed: 2013-01-10
- Published: 2014-07-10
- Earliest claimed: 2013-01-10
- Assignees: Apple Inc.
- Applicants: Apple Inc.
- Inventors: Song Liu; Tomoki Takeya; Adil Syed; Vishwanath Venkataraman
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140194069A1

## CPC

- H04W 24/00: Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
- H04B 17/295: {Detection of non-compliance or faulty performance, e.g. response deviations (monitoring during normal operations H04B17/296)}
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)
- H04B: TRANSMISSION

## Abstract

A test system may include test equipment for testing the radio-frequency performance of wireless electronic devices. The test equipment may provide radio-frequency downlink signals to a wireless electronic device under test (DUT). The test equipment may perform a power sweep by stepping down the downlink signals in signal power level to test receiver sensitivity for the DUT. The DUT may gather measurement data from the downlink signals. The test equipment may retrieve measurement data from the DUT after downlink signal transmission has ended. The test equipment may identify a trigger in the retrieved measurement data to ensure that the data is synchronized with the power sweep in the transmitted downlink signals. The test equipment may identify path loss information associated with the test system. The test equipment may compute receiver sensitivity values for the DUT based on the path loss information and retrieved measurement data.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of testing a device under test with a test system, comprising:
with the device under test, receiving radio-frequency test signals at a plurality of power levels from the test system; and
gathering radio-frequency measurements on the radio-frequency test signals with the device under test without transmitting downlink performance information to the test system when the device under test is receiving the radio-frequency test signals from the test system.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method defined in claim 1, wherein the radio-frequency measurements comprise error rate measurement data and wherein gathering the radio-frequency measurements on the radio-frequency test signals comprises gathering the error rate measurement data.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method defined in claim 2, further comprising:
with the device under test, transmitting radio-frequency uplink signals at a selected signal power level to the test system while gathering the error rate measurement data.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method defined in claim 3, further comprising:
with the device under test, comparing the gathered error rate measurement data to a predetermined threshold; and
in response to determining that the error rate measurement data exceeds the predetermined threshold, transmitting radio-frequency uplink signals at an additional signal power level that is different than the selected signal power level to the test system.

### Claim 5 (depends on 2)

The method defined in claim 2, further comprising:
gathering time stamp values for the radio-frequency test signals received at each of the plurality of power levels.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

The method defined in claim 2, wherein gathering the radio-frequency measurements on the radio-frequency test signals without transmitting the downlink performance information comprises:
gathering the error rate measurement data without transmitting the error rate measurement data to the test system when the device under test is receiving the radio-frequency test signals from the test system.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method defined in claim 1, wherein receiving the radio-frequency test signals comprises:
receiving radio-frequency test signals at the plurality of power levels at a first frequency during a first time period; and
receiving radio-frequency test signals at the plurality of power levels at a second frequency during a second time period following the first time period.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method defined in claim 1, further comprising:
with the device under test, running a test software while receiving the radio-frequency test signals, wherein the test software identifies instructions for gathering the radio-frequency measurements, and wherein gathering the radio-frequency measurements comprises gathering the radio-frequency measurements based on the instructions identified by the test software.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method defined in claim 8, wherein the device under test comprises storage circuitry, the method further comprising:
with the device under test, storing the test software on the storage circuitry prior to receiving the radio-frequency test signals; and
with the device under test, disabling the test software after receiving the radio-frequency test signals at the plurality of power levels.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The method defined in claim 1, wherein the device under test comprises antenna circuitry, wherein the radio-frequency test signals comprise wireless radio-frequency test signals, and wherein receiving the radio-frequency test signals comprises receiving the wireless radio-frequency test signals using the antenna circuitry.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method defined in claim 1, further comprising:
with the device under test, transmitting the downlink performance information to the test system after receiving the radio-frequency test signals at the plurality of power levels.

### Claim 12

A method of using a test system to test a device under test, comprising:
with the test system, transmitting radio-frequency test signals at a plurality of power levels to the device under test, wherein the radio-frequency test signals include a test trigger signal; and
with the test system, receiving test data from the device under test, wherein the test data includes a measured trigger signal; and
with the test system, determining whether the test data is synchronized with the test signals by comparing the measured trigger signal to the test trigger signal.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method defined in claim 12, wherein the test trigger signal has a test trigger duration, wherein the measured trigger signal has a measured trigger duration, and wherein determining whether the test data is synchronized with the test signals comprises:
comparing the measured trigger duration to the test trigger duration.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method defined in claim 13, further comprising:
with the test system, computing a difference between the measured trigger duration and the test trigger duration; and
comparing the difference to a predetermined threshold to determine whether the test data is synchronized with the test signal.

### Claim 15 (depends on 12)

The method defined in claim 12, wherein the radio-frequency test signals further include a sensitivity power level sweep, and wherein the test trigger signal identifies a beginning of the sensitivity power level sweep.

### Claim 16 (depends on 12)

The method defined in claim 12, further comprising:
in response to determining that the test data is unsynchronized with the test signals, flagging the device under test as failing synchronization using the test system.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method defined in claim 16, wherein flagging the device under test further comprises:
calibrating the test data by adding offset data to the test data so that the test data is synchronized with the test signals.

### Claim 18 (depends on 12)

The method defined in claim 12, further comprising:
in response to determining that the test data is synchronized with the test signals, identifying a receiver sensitivity for the device under test using the test data.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The method defined in claim 18, wherein the test data includes error rate data, and wherein identifying the receiver sensitivity comprises:
comparing the error rate data to a predetermined threshold; and
identifying a power level in the plurality of power levels at which the device under test measures error rate data exceeding the predetermined threshold.

### Claim 20 (depends on 12)

The method defined in claim 12, further comprising:
with the test system, identifying a path loss power level associated with the device under test.

### Claim 21 (depends on 20)

The method defined in claim 20, further comprising:
in response to determining that the test data is synchronized with the test signals, computing a receiver sensitivity value for the device under test using the test data and the path loss power level.

### Claim 22

A method of testing a wireless electronic device using test equipment, comprising:
with the wireless electronic device, receiving radio-frequency test signals at a selected frequency;
with the wireless electronic device, measuring radio-frequency performance data from the radio-frequency test signals;
with the wireless electronic device, transmitting radio-frequency uplink signals at a selected power level to the test equipment while receiving the radio-frequency test signals; and
instructing the test equipment to end transmission of the radio-frequency test signals at the selected frequency by adjusting the selected power level of the uplink signals using the wireless electronic device.

### Claim 23 (depends on 22)

The method defined in claim 22, further comprising:
with the wireless electronic device, instructing the test equipment to transmit additional radio-frequency test signals at an additional frequency that is different from the selected frequency by adjusting the selected power level of the uplink signals.

### Claim 24 (depends on 23)

The method defined in claim 23, further comprising:
with the wireless electronic device, instructing the test equipment to begin transmitting the additional radio-frequency test signals after a predetermined buffer time.

### Claim 25 (depends on 22)

The method defined in claim 22, wherein adjusting the selected power level of the uplink signals comprises:
decreasing the selected power level of the uplink signals.

### Claim 26 (depends on 22)

The method defined in claim 22, further comprising:
comparing the measured radio-frequency performance data with a predetermined threshold, wherein transmitting the radio-frequency uplink signals at the selected power level while receiving the radio-frequency test signals comprises transmitting the radio-frequency uplink signals at the selected power level while the radio-frequency performance data is less than the predetermined threshold.

### Claim 27 (depends on 26)

The method defined in claim 26, further comprising:
in response to determining that the measured radio-frequency performance data exceeds the predetermined threshold, adjusting the selected power level of the uplink signals to instruct the test equipment to end transmission of the radio-frequency test signals at the selected frequency.

### Claim 28 (depends on 22)

The method defined in claim 22, wherein the radio-frequency performance data includes error rate measurement data and wherein measuring the radio-frequency performance data comprises:
gathering the error rate measurement data from the radio-frequency test signals.

### Claim 29 (depends on 22)

The method defined in claim 22, wherein the radio-frequency test signals include radio-frequency signals having a series of monotonically decreasing signal power levels and wherein measuring the radio-frequency performance data comprises:
measuring the radio-frequency performance data from the radio-frequency signals having the monotonically decreasing signal power levels.