Mobile communication devices (e.g., smartphones) have become increasingly common in current society. The prevalence of these mobile communication devices is driven in part by the many functions that are now enabled on such devices. Increased processing capabilities in such devices means that mobile communication devices have evolved from being pure communication tools into sophisticated mobile multimedia centers that enable enhanced user experiences.
The redefined user experience requires higher data rate offered by wireless communication technologies, such as long-term evolution (LTE). Particularly in light of LTE Carrier Aggregation (CA) schemes supported by modern cellular communications networks, the mobile communication devices typically support multiple frequency bands. Support for the multiple frequency bands is provided by multiple radio front-ends, each supporting one or more frequency bands. The radio front-ends are connected to a common antenna via a multiplexer (e.g., a diplexer for the dual-band scenario or a triplexer for a tri-band scenario). In addition, in order to support multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) operation, wireless devices may also include an additional antenna(s) along with a corresponding multiplexer(s) and radio front-end(s).
Sometimes, an antenna(s) in a mobile communication device can be unintentionally blocked, for example by a user's hand, thus causing degraded antenna transmission efficiency and user experience. As such, it may be desired to switch from the blocked antenna(s) to a different antenna to improve the antenna transmission efficiency and the user experience.