Patent Application
20240106402
Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claim is identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the present application are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57.
The present disclosure relates to radio frequency front-end architectures for wireless applications.
In wireless applications, a transmit signal is typically generated by a transceiver, amplified by a power amplifier, filtered by a filter, and routed to an antenna by a switch network. Such a signal transmitted through the antenna has a relatively high power.
In a generally reverse manner, a relatively weak signal received through an antenna is typically routed from the antenna by a switch network, filtered by a filter, amplified by a low-noise amplifier, and provided to the transceiver. In some applications, the amplification can be achieved close to the antenna to reduce loss of the relatively weak signal.
Modern mobile telecommunications standards continue to demand increasingly greater rates and reliability of data exchange.
One way to achieve a high data rate in a mobile device is through the use of carrier aggregation (CA). Carrier aggregation allows a single mobile device to aggregate bandwidth across one or more operating bands in the wireless spectrum. The increased bandwidth achieved as a result of carrier aggregation allows a mobile device to obtain higher data rates than have previously been available.
Similarly, multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) is a method to expand the capacity of data exchange through the use of parallel transmit and receive antennas. Using multiplexing techniques, MIMO allows a transmitter to send multiple data streams by multiple transmit antennas of various frequency bands which are received by multiple receive antennas and coupled to a receiver.
Disclosed are diversity receive front-end architectures with carrier aggregation and MIMO support. The front-end architecture provides high rates of wireless data exchange and extensive band coverage while mitigating losses and providing a reduced number of components.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module including: a plurality of initial amplification stages each configured to amplify a corresponding radio frequency receive signal; a first secondary amplification stage and a first switch, the first switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to an input of the first secondary amplification stage; and a second secondary amplification stage and a second switch, the second switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to an input of the second secondary amplification stage, one or more of the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch also received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module wherein the first switch is configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least three of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to the input of the first secondary amplification stage, and the second switch is configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least three of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to the input of the second secondary amplification stage.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module wherein two or more of the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch are also received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module further including a first tunable matching circuit connected to an output of the first secondary amplification stage and dynamically tunable based on which of the intermediate amplified outputs are selectively output by the first switch, and a second tunable matching circuit connected to an output of the second secondary amplification stage and dynamically tunable based on which of the intermediate amplified outputs are selectively output by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module further including a plurality of filters, each of the plurality of filters connected to a corresponding initial amplification stage of the plurality of amplification stages, each of the plurality of filters having a different passband.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module wherein the first secondary amplification stage has a first operational frequency range that encompasses the passbands of each of the filters connected to the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch, and the second secondary amplification stage has a second operational frequency range that encompasses the passbands of each of the filters connected to the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module wherein the first secondary amplification stage has a first operational frequency range that is wider than any of operational frequency range of the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch, and the second secondary amplification stage has a second operational frequency range that is wider than any operational frequency range of the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system including: first and second antennas; and first and second radio frequency sub-systems connected to the first and second antennas respectively, each of the first and second radio frequency sub-systems including a plurality of initial amplification stages, first and second secondary amplification stages, and first and second switches, the first switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to an input of the first secondary amplification stage, the second switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to an input of the second secondary amplification stage, one or more of the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch also received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first radio frequency sub-system is configured to aggregate at least two component carriers for downlink, and the second radio frequency sub-system is also configured to aggregate the at least two component carriers for downlink.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first radio frequency sub-system implements a diversity path and the second radio frequency sub-system implements a multi-input multi-output path.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system further including a third radio frequency sub-system that implements a primary path configured to aggregate the at least two component carriers for downlink and that also implements uplink functionality.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the primary path aggregates at least four component carriers, the diversity path also aggregates the at least four component carriers, and the multi-input multi-output path aggregates at least a subset of the at least four component carriers.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first switch is configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least three of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to the input of the first secondary amplification stage, and the second switch is configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least three of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to the input of the second secondary amplification stage.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein two or more of the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch are also received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system further including a first tunable matching circuit connected to an output of the first secondary amplification stage and dynamically tunable based on which of the intermediate amplified outputs are selectively output by the first switch, and a second tunable matching circuit connected to an output of the second secondary amplification stage and dynamically tunable based on which of the intermediate amplified outputs are selectively output by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system further including a plurality of filters, each of the plurality of filters connected to a corresponding initial amplification stage of the plurality of amplification stages, each of the plurality of filters having a different passband.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first secondary amplification stage has a first operational frequency range that encompasses the passbands of each of the filters connected to the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch, and the second secondary amplification stage has a second operational frequency range that encompasses the passbands of each of the filters connected to the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first secondary amplification stage has a first operational frequency range that is wider than any of the operational frequency ranges of the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch, and the second secondary amplification stage has a second operational frequency range that is wider than any of the operational frequency ranges the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a mobile device including: first and second antennas; a primary path radio frequency sub-system connected to the first antenna and configured to support uplink and downlink for at least two radio frequency bands, and to support carrier aggregation for at least the downlink; and a diversity path radio frequency sub-system connected to the second antenna and configured to support downlink carrier aggregation, the diversity path radio frequency sub-system including a plurality of initial amplification stages, first and second secondary amplification stages, and first and second switches, the first switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to an input of the first secondary amplification stage, the second switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to an input of the second secondary amplification stage, one or more of the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch also received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a mobile device wherein the first switch is configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least three of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to the input of the first secondary amplification stage, the second switch is configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least three of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to the input of the second secondary amplification stage.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a mobile device wherein two or more of the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch are also received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module including: a plurality of filters; a plurality of initial amplification stages each having an input connected to a corresponding filter of the plurality of filters, and each configured to amplify a radio frequency receive signal filtered by the corresponding filter; and a first secondary amplification stage, a first tunable matching circuit connected to an output of the first secondary amplification stage, and a first switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to an input of the first secondary amplification stage, the first tunable matching circuit dynamically tunable based on which of the intermediate amplified outputs are selectively output by the first switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module wherein the first tunable matching circuit includes at least one tunable capacitor.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module wherein the first tunable matching circuit includes a network including the tunable capacitor and at least one inductor.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module wherein the first tunable matching circuit is connected between the output of the first secondary amplification stage and ground.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module further including an attenuator circuit connected in series with the output of the first secondary amplification stage.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module wherein the attenuator circuit is dynamically tunable.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency module further including a second secondary amplification stage, a second tunable matching circuit connected to an output of the second secondary amplification stage, and a second switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to an input of the second secondary amplification stage, the second tunable matching circuit dynamically tunable based on which of the intermediate amplified outputs are selectively output by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency module wherein the first secondary amplification stage has a first operational frequency range that encompasses passbands of each of the filters connected to the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch, and the second secondary amplification stage has a second operational frequency range that encompasses the passbands of each of the filters connected to the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency module wherein the first secondary amplification stage has a first operational frequency range that is wider than any of the operational frequency ranges of the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch, and the second secondary amplification stage has a second operational frequency range that is wider than any of the operational frequency ranges of the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system including: first and second radio frequency sub-systems connected to first and second antennas respectively, each of the first and second radio frequency sub-systems including a plurality of filters, a plurality of initial amplification stages each having an input connected to a corresponding filter of the plurality of filters and configured to amplify a signal filter by the corresponding filter, each of the first and second radio frequency sub-system further including a first secondary amplification stage, a first tunable matching circuit connected to an output of the first secondary amplification stage, and a first switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to an input of the first secondary amplification stage, the first tunable matching circuit dynamically tunable based on which of the intermediate amplified outputs are selectively output by the first switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first tunable matching circuit includes at least one tunable capacitor.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first tunable matching circuit includes a network including the tunable capacitor and at least one inductor.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first tunable matching circuit is connected between the output of the first secondary amplification stage and ground.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system further including an attenuator circuit connected to in series with the output of the first secondary amplification stage.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the attenuator circuit is dynamically tunable.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein each of the first and second radio frequency sub-systems further includes a second secondary amplification stage, a second tunable matching circuit connected to an output of the second secondary amplification stage, and a second switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to an input of the second secondary amplification stage, the second tunable matching circuit dynamically tunable based on which of the intermediate amplified outputs are selectively output by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first radio frequency sub-system is configured to aggregate at least two component carriers for downlink, and the second radio frequency sub-system is also configured to aggregate the at least two component carriers for downlink.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first radio frequency sub-system implements a diversity path and the second radio frequency sub-system implements a multi-input multi-output path.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system further including a third radio frequency sub-system that implements a primary path configured to aggregate the at least two component carriers for downlink and that also implements uplink functionality.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the primary path aggregates at least four component carriers, the diversity path also aggregates the at least four component carriers, and the multi-input multi-output path aggregates at least a subset of the at least four component carriers.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first secondary amplification stage has a first operational frequency range that encompasses passbands of each of the filters connected to the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch, and the second secondary amplification stage has a second operational frequency range that encompasses the passbands of each of the filters connected to the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first secondary amplification stage has a first operational frequency range that is wider than any of the operational frequency ranges of the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch, and the second secondary amplification stage has a second operational frequency range that is wider than any of the operational frequency ranges of the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a mobile device including: first and second antennas; a primary path radio frequency sub-system connected to the first antenna and configured to support uplink and downlink for at least two radio frequency bands, and to support carrier aggregation for at least the downlink; and a diversity path radio frequency sub-system connected to the second antenna and configured to support downlink carrier aggregation, the diversity path radio frequency sub-system including a plurality of filters, a plurality of initial amplification stages each having an input connected to a corresponding filter of the plurality of filters and configured to amplify a signal filter by the corresponding filter, each of the first and second radio frequency sub-system further including a first secondary amplification stage, a first tunable matching circuit connected to an output of the first secondary amplification stage, and a first switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to an input of the first secondary amplification stage, the first tunable matching circuit dynamically tunable based on which of the intermediate amplified outputs are selectively output by the first switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module including: a plurality of initial amplification stages each configured to amplify a radio frequency receive signal; and a first secondary amplification stage and a first switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the initial stage outputs to an input of the first secondary amplification stage, the first secondary amplification stage having a first operational frequency range, a first of the at least two initial amplification stages having a second operational frequency range, and a second of the at least two initial amplification stages having a third operational frequency range, the first operational frequency range wider than both of, and encompassing both of, the second and third frequency ranges.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module further including a plurality of filters each having a passband and connected to an input of a corresponding initial amplification stage of the plurality of initial amplification stages, such that the radio frequency receive signal received by each of the initial amplification stages is filtered by a corresponding filter of the plurality of filters.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module wherein the first secondary amplification stage has a first operational frequency range that encompasses the passbands of each of the filters connected to the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module further including a second secondary amplification stage and a second switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the initial stage outputs to an input of the second secondary amplification stage, the second secondary amplification stage having a fourth operational frequency range, a first of the at least two initial amplification stages having a fifth operational frequency range, and a second of the at least two second initial amplification stages having a sixth operational frequency range, the fourth operational frequency range wider than both of, and encompassing both of, the fifth and sixth frequency ranges.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module wherein one or more of the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch also received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module further including a first tunable matching circuit connected to an output of the first secondary amplification stage and dynamically tunable based on which of the intermediate amplified outputs are selectively output by the first switch, and a second tunable matching circuit connected to an output of the second secondary amplification stage and dynamically tunable based on which of the intermediate amplified outputs are selectively output by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module wherein the first tunable matching circuit is connected between the output of the first secondary amplification stage and ground and the second tunable matching circuit is connected between the output of the second secondary amplification stage and ground.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end module further including a first tunable attenuator circuit connected in series with the output of the first secondary amplification stage and a second tunable attenuator circuit connected in series with the output of the second secondary amplification stage.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system including: first and second radio frequency sub-systems connected to first and second antennas respectively, each of the first and second radio frequency sub-systems including a plurality of initial amplification stages each configured to amplify a radio frequency receive signal, a first secondary amplification stage, and a first switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the initial stage outputs to an input of the first secondary amplification stage, the first secondary amplification stage having a first operational frequency range, a first of the at least two initial amplification stages having a second operational frequency range, and a second of the at least two initial amplification stages having a third operational frequency range, the first operational frequency range wider than both of, and encompassing both of, the second and third frequency ranges.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first radio frequency sub-system is configured to aggregate at least two component carriers for downlink, and the second radio frequency sub-system is also configured to aggregate the at least two component carriers for downlink.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first radio frequency sub-system implements a diversity path and the second radio frequency sub-system implements a multi-input multi-output path.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system further including a third radio frequency sub-system that implements a primary path configured to aggregate the at least two component carriers for downlink and that also implements uplink functionality.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the primary path aggregates at least four component carriers, the diversity path also aggregates the at least four component carriers, and the multi-input multi-output path aggregates at least a subset of the at least four component carriers.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein the first switch is configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least three of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the intermediate amplified outputs to the input of the first secondary amplification stage.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system further including a first tunable matching circuit connected to an output of the first secondary amplification stage and dynamically tunable based on which of the intermediate amplified outputs are selectively output by the first switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system further including a plurality of filters, each of the plurality of filters connected to a corresponding initial amplification stage of the plurality of amplification stages, each of the plurality of filters having a different passband.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a radio frequency front end system wherein each of the first and second radio frequency sub-systems further includes a second secondary amplification stage and a second switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the initial stage outputs to an input of the second secondary amplification stage, one or more of the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch also received by the second switch.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a mobile device including: first and second antennas; a primary path radio frequency sub-system connected to the first antenna and configured to support uplink and downlink for at least two radio frequency bands, and to support carrier aggregation for at least the downlink; and a diversity path radio frequency sub-system connected to the second antenna and configured to support downlink carrier aggregation, the diversity path radio frequency sub-system including a plurality of initial amplification stages each configured to amplify a radio frequency receive signal, a first secondary amplification stage, and a first switch configured to receive intermediate amplified outputs from at least two of the initial amplification stages and to selectively output one of the initial stage outputs to an input of the first secondary amplification stage, the first secondary amplification stage having a first operational frequency range, a first of the at least two initial amplification stages having a second operational frequency range, and a second of the at least two initial amplification stages having a third operational frequency range, the first operational frequency range wider than both of, and encompassing both of, the second and third frequency ranges.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a mobile device further including a plurality of filters each having a passband and connected to an input of a corresponding initial amplification stage of the plurality of initial amplification stages, such that the radio frequency receive signal received by each of the initial amplification stages is filtered by a corresponding filter of the plurality of filters.
In some aspects, the techniques described herein relate to a mobile device wherein the first secondary amplification stage has a first operational frequency range that encompasses the passbands of each of the filters connected to the at least two of the initial amplification stages that output the intermediate amplified outputs received by the first switch.
The following detailed description presents various descriptions of specific embodiments. However, the innovations described herein can be embodied in a multitude of different ways, for example, as defined and covered by the claims. In this description, reference is made to the drawings where like reference numerals can indicate identical or functionally similar elements. It will be understood that elements illustrated in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. Moreover, it will be understood that certain embodiments can include more elements than illustrated in a drawing and/or a subset of the elements illustrated in a drawing. Further, some embodiments can incorporate any suitable combination of features from two or more drawings.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) responsible for global issues concerning information and communication technologies, including the shared global use of radio spectrum.
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications standard bodies across the world, such as the Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (ARIB), the Telecommunications Technology Committee (TTC), the China Communications Standards Association (CCSA), the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA), the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), and the Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI).
Working within the scope of the ITU, 3GPP develops and maintains technical specifications for a variety of mobile communication technologies, including, for example, second generation (2G) technology (for instance, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE)), third generation (3G) technology (for instance, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and High Speed Packet Access (HSPA)), and fourth generation (4G) technology (for instance, Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced).
The technical specifications controlled by 3GPP can be expanded and revised by specification releases, which can span multiple years and specify a breadth of new features and evolutions.
In one example, 3GPP introduced carrier aggregation (CA) for LTE in Release 10. Although initially introduced with two downlink carriers, 3GPP expanded carrier aggregation in Release 14 to include up to five downlink carriers and up to three uplink carriers. Other examples of new features and evolutions provided by 3GPP releases include, but are not limited to, License Assisted Access (LAA), enhanced LAA (eLAA), Narrowband Internet of things (NB-IOT), Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), and High Power User Equipment (HPUE).
3GPP introduced Phase 1 of fifth generation (5G) technology in Release 15, and introduced Phase 2 of 5G technology in Release 16. Subsequent 3GPP releases will further evolve and expand 5G technology. 5G technology is also referred to herein as 5G New Radio (NR).
5G NR supports or plans to support a variety of features, such as communications over millimeter wave spectrum, beamforming capability, high spectral efficiency waveforms, low latency communications, multiple radio numerology, and/or non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA). Although such RF functionalities offer flexibility to networks and enhance user data rates, supporting such features can pose a number of technical challenges.
The teachings herein are applicable to a wide variety of communication systems, including, but not limited to, communication systems using advanced cellular technologies, such as LTE-Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro, and/or 5G NR.
The illustrated communication network 10 of
Various communication links of the communication network 10 have been depicted in
As shown in
In certain implementations, the mobile device 2 communicates with the macro cell base station 2 and the small cell base station 3 using 5G NR technology over one or more frequency bands that are less than 6 Gigahertz (GHz) and/or over one or more frequency bands that are greater than 6 GHz. For example, wireless communications can utilize Frequency Range 1 (FR1) in the range of about 410 MHz to about 7.125 GHz, Frequency Range 2 (FR2) in the range of about 24.250 GHz to about 52.600 GHz, or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, the mobile device 2 supports a HPUE power class specification.
The illustrated small cell base station 3 also communicates with a stationary wireless device 4. The small cell base station 3 can be used, for example, to provide broadband service using 5G NR technology. In certain implementations, the small cell base station 3 communicates with the stationary wireless device 4 over one or more millimeter wave frequency bands in the frequency range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and/or upper centimeter wave frequency bands in the frequency range of 24 GHz to 30 GHz.
In certain implementations, the small cell base station 3 communicates with the stationary wireless device 4 using beamforming. For example, beamforming can be used to focus signal strength to overcome path losses, such as high loss associated with communicating over millimeter wave frequencies.
The communication network 10 of
Although the communication network 10 is illustrated as including two base stations, the communication network 10 can be implemented to include more or fewer base stations and/or base stations of other types. As shown in
The communication network 10 of
User devices of the communication network 10 can share available network resources (for instance, available frequency spectrum) in a wide variety of ways.
In one example, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) is used to divide a frequency band into multiple frequency carriers. Additionally, one or more carriers are allocated to a particular user. Examples of FDMA include, but are not limited to, single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) and orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA). OFDMA is a multicarrier technology that subdivides the available bandwidth into multiple mutually orthogonal narrowband subcarriers, which can be separately assigned to different users.
Other examples of shared access include, but are not limited to, time division multiple access (TDMA) in which a user is allocated particular time slots for using a frequency resource, code division multiple access (CDMA) in which a frequency resource is shared amongst different users by assigning each user device a unique code, space-divisional multiple access (SDMA) in which beamforming is used to provide shared access by spatial division, and non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in which the power domain is used for multiple access. For example, NOMA can be used to serve multiple user devices at the same frequency, time, and/or code, but with different power levels.
Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) refers to technology for growing system capacity of LTE networks. For example, eMBB can refer to communications with a peak data rate of at least 10 Gbps and a minimum of 100 Mbps for each user device. Ultra-reliable low latency communications (uRLLC) refers to technology for communication with very low latency, for instance, less than 2 milliseconds. uRLLC can be used for mission-critical communications such as for autonomous driving and/or remote surgery applications. Massive machine-type communications (mMTC) refers to low cost and low data rate communications associated with wireless connections to everyday objects, such as those associated with Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
The communication network 10 of
A peak data rate of a communication link (for instance, between a base station and a user device) depends on a variety of factors. For example, peak data rate can be affected by channel bandwidth, modulation order, a number of component carriers, and/or a number of antennas used for communications.
For instance, in certain implementations, a data rate of a communication link can be about equal to M*B*log2(1+S/N), where M is the number of communication channels, B is the channel bandwidth, and S/N is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
Accordingly, data rate of a communication link can be increased by increasing the number of communication channels (for instance, transmitting and receiving using multiple antennas), using wider bandwidth (for instance, by aggregating carriers), and/or improving SNR (for instance, by increasing transmit power and/or improving receiver sensitivity).
5G NR communication systems can employ a wide variety of techniques for enhancing data rate and/or communication performance.
In the illustrated example, the communication link is provided between a base station 21 and a mobile device 22. As shown in
Although
In certain implementations, a communication link can provide asymmetrical data rates for a downlink channel and an uplink channel. For example, a communication link can be used to support a relatively high downlink data rate to enable high speed streaming of multimedia content to a mobile device, while providing a relatively slower data rate for uploading data from the mobile device to the cloud.
In the illustrated example, the base station 21 and the mobile device 22 communicate via carrier aggregation, which can be used to selectively increase bandwidth of the communication link. Carrier aggregation includes contiguous aggregation, in which contiguous carriers within the same operating frequency band are aggregated. Carrier aggregation can also be non-contiguous, and can include carriers separated in frequency within a common band or in different bands.
In the example shown in
For example, a number of aggregated carriers for uplink and/or downlink communications with respect to a particular mobile device can change over time. For example, the number of aggregated carriers can change as the device moves through the communication network and/or as network usage changes over time.
The carrier aggregation scenarios 31-33 illustrate different spectrum allocations for a first component carrier fUL1, a second component carrier fUL2, and a third component carrier fUL3. Although
The first carrier aggregation scenario 31 illustrates intra-band contiguous carrier aggregation, in which component carriers that are adjacent in frequency and in a common frequency band are aggregated. For example, the first carrier aggregation scenario 31 depicts aggregation of component carriers fUL1, fUL2, and fUL3 that are contiguous and located within a first frequency band BAND1.
With continuing reference to
The third carrier aggregation scenario 33 illustrates inter-band non-contiguous carrier aggregation, in which component carriers that are non-adjacent in frequency and in multiple frequency bands are aggregated. For example, the third carrier aggregation scenario 33 depicts aggregation of component carriers fUL1 and fUL2 of a first frequency band BAND1 with component carrier fUL3 of a second frequency band BAND2.
The first carrier aggregation scenario 34 depicts aggregation of component carriers that are contiguous and located within the same frequency band. Additionally, the second carrier aggregation scenario 35 and the third carrier aggregation scenario 36 illustrates two examples of aggregation that are non-contiguous, but located within the same frequency band. Furthermore, the fourth carrier aggregation scenario 37 and the fifth carrier aggregation scenario 38 illustrates two examples of aggregation in which component carriers that are non-adjacent in frequency and in multiple frequency bands are aggregated. As a number of aggregated component carriers increases, a complexity of possible carrier aggregation scenarios also increases.
With reference to
Certain communication networks allocate a particular user device with a primary component carrier (PCC) or anchor carrier for uplink and a PCC for downlink. Additionally, when the mobile device communicates using a single frequency carrier for uplink or downlink, the user device communicates using the PCC. To enhance bandwidth for uplink communications, the uplink PCC can be aggregated with one or more uplink secondary component carriers (SCCs). Additionally, to enhance bandwidth for downlink communications, the downlink PCC can be aggregated with one or more downlink SCCs.
In certain implementations, a communication network provides a network cell for each component carrier. Additionally, a primary cell can operate using a PCC, while a secondary cell can operate using a SCC. The primary and secondary cells may have different coverage areas, for instance, due to differences in frequencies of carriers and/or network environment.
License assisted access (LAA) refers to downlink carrier aggregation in which a licensed frequency carrier associated with a mobile operator is aggregated with a frequency carrier in unlicensed spectrum, such as WiFi. LAA employs a downlink PCC in the licensed spectrum that carries control and signaling information associated with the communication link, while unlicensed spectrum is aggregated for wider downlink bandwidth when available. LAA can operate with dynamic adjustment of secondary carriers to avoid WiFi users and/or to coexist with WiFi users. Enhanced license assisted access (eLAA) refers to an evolution of LAA that aggregates licensed and unlicensed spectrum for both downlink and uplink.
MIMO communications use multiple antennas for simultaneously communicating multiple data streams over common frequency spectrum. In certain implementations, the data streams operate with different reference signals to enhance data reception at the receiver. MIMO communications benefit from higher SNR, improved coding, and/or reduced signal interference due to spatial multiplexing differences of the radio environment.
MIMO order refers to a number of separate data streams sent or received. For instance, MIMO order for downlink communications can be described by a number of transmit antennas of a base station and a number of receive antennas for UE, such as a mobile device. For example, two-by-two (2×2) DL MIMO refers to MIMO downlink communications using two base station antennas and two UE antennas. Additionally, four-by-four (4×4) DL MIMO refers to MIMO downlink communications using four base station antennas and four UE antennas.
In the example shown in
Likewise, MIMO order for uplink communications can be described by a number of transmit antennas of UE, such as a mobile device, and a number of receive antennas of a base station. For example, 2×2 UL MIMO refers to MIMO uplink communications using two UE antennas and two base station antennas. Additionally, 4×4 UL MIMO refers to MIMO uplink communications using four UE antennas and four base station antennas.
In the example shown in
By increasing the level or order of MIMO, bandwidth of an uplink channel and/or a downlink channel can be increased.
MIMO communications are applicable to communication links of a variety of types, such as FDD communication links and TDD communication links.
Front-End Architecture with Support for Carrier Aggregation and MIMO
Described herein are various examples related to radio-frequency (RF) front-end architectures for operations of a wireless device having multiple antennas. For example, such a wireless device can include two, three, or four antennas. Although various examples are described in the context of four antennas, it will be understood that one or more features of the present disclosure can also be implemented for wireless devices having other numbers of antennas. It will also be understood that not all of such four antennas necessarily need to be utilized when one or more features of the present disclosure is/are implemented in the wireless device.
Downlink carrier aggregation (DL CA) combines two or more wireless (e.g., LTE) signals (component carriers), received (downlinked), e.g., from a wireless base station to a single user device, dramatically increasing the speed with which a user can download content and files. MIMO uses multiple antennas at both the source (transmitter) and the destination (receiver). The antennas at each end of the communications circuit are combined to reduce or minimize errors and to enhance or optimize data speed.
The mobile device 400 can be used communicate using a wide variety of communications technologies, including, but not limited to, 2G, 3G, 4G (including LTE, LTE-Advanced, and LTE-Advanced Pro), 5G NR, WLAN (for instance, WiFi), WPAN (for instance, Bluetooth and ZigBee), WMAN (for instance, WiMax), and/or GPS technologies.
The transceiver 402 generates RF signals for transmission and processes incoming RF signals received from the antennas 404. It will be understood that various functionalities associated with the transmission and receiving of RF signals can be achieved by one or more components that are collectively represented in
The front end system 403 aids in conditioning signals transmitted to and/or received from the antennas 404. In the illustrated embodiment, the front-end 403 includes antenna tuning circuitry 410, power amplifiers (PAs) 411, low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 412, filters 413, switches 414, and signal splitting/combining circuitry 415. However, other implementations are possible, as described above. The front end system 403 can be any of the front end systems described herein, including the front end systems described with respect to
In certain implementations, the mobile device 400 supports carrier aggregation functionality, thereby providing flexibility to increase peak data rates. Carrier aggregation can be used for both Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) and Time Division Duplexing (TDD), and may be used to aggregate a plurality of carriers or channels. Carrier aggregation includes contiguous aggregation, in which contiguous carriers within the same operating frequency band are aggregated. Carrier aggregation can also be non-contiguous, and can include carriers separated in frequency within a common band or in different bands.
The antennas 404 can include antennas used for a wide variety of types of communications. For example, the antennas 404 can include antennas for transmitting and/or receiving signals associated with a wide variety of frequencies and communications standards.
In certain implementations, the antennas 404 support MIMO communications functionality and/or switched diversity communications. For example, MIMO communications use multiple antennas for communicating multiple data streams over a single radio frequency channel. MIMO communications benefit from higher signal to noise ratio, improved coding, and/or reduced signal interference due to spatial multiplexing differences of the radio environment. Switched diversity refers to communications in which a particular antenna is selected for operation at a particular time. For example, a switch can be used to select a particular antenna from a group of antennas based on a variety of factors, such as an observed bit error rate and/or a signal strength indicator.
The mobile device 400 can operate with beamforming in certain implementations. For example, the front-end 403 can include amplifiers having controllable gain and phase shifters having controllable phase to provide beam formation and directivity for transmission and/or reception of signals using the antennas 404. For example, in the context of signal transmission, the amplitude and phases of the transmit signals provided to the antennas 404 are controlled such that radiated signals from the antennas 404 combine using constructive and destructive interference to generate an aggregate transmit signal exhibiting beam-like qualities with more signal strength propagating in a given direction. In the context of signal reception, the amplitude and phases are controlled such that more signal energy is received when the signal is arriving to the antennas 404 from a particular direction. In certain implementations, the antennas 404 include one or more arrays of antenna elements to enhance beamforming.
Referring again to
The memory 406 can be used for a wide variety of purposes, such as storing data and/or instructions to facilitate the operation of the mobile device 400 and/or to provide storage of user information.
The power management system 405 provides a number of power management functions of the mobile device 400. In certain implementations, the power management system 405 includes a PA supply control circuit that controls the supply voltages of the power amplifiers 411. For example, the power management system 405 can be configured to change the supply voltage(s) provided to one or more of the power amplifiers 411 to improve efficiency, such as power added efficiency (PAE).
As shown in
For transmit operations, the front-end 403 can be in communication with, for example, the transceiver 402 to receive, process, and route one or more transmit signals to one or more of the antennas 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d. The one or more transmit signals are collectively depicted as an arrow 416.
For receive operations, the front-end 403 can receive one or more signals from one or more of the antennas 404a, 404b, 404c, 404d, process such signal(s), and route such processed signal(s) to, for example, a transceiver 402 which may or may not be the same as the foregoing transceiver 402 associated with the transmit operations. The one or more received signals are collectively depicted as an arrow 417.
As discussed, the front-end 403 can also include a carrier aggregation (CA) functionality provided by one or more modules and/or other components collectively referred to as carrier aggregation architecture 418. Such a carrier aggregation functionality can include an uplink (UL) carrier aggregation (UL CA) functionality and/or a downlink (DL) carrier aggregation (DL CA) functionality. For the purpose of description, it will be understood that in a given carrier aggregation functionality, a plurality of signals associated with the carrier aggregation functionality may or may not share a common antenna or a common signal path. The front-end 403 can also include a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) functionality provided by one or more modules and/or other components collectively referred to as MIMO architecture 419.
The front-end 403 can comprise one or multiple modules (e.g., packaged modules) and/or other componentry, including discrete components. The carrier aggregation architecture 418 and MIMO architecture 419 can be distributed across some or all the modules, depending on the embodiment.
The primary path module 430 can include one or more transmit paths 434 and one or more receive paths 435. Referring also to
The diversity receive module 431 can support one or more diversity receive paths 436 to enhance the receive capability of the mobile device 400. The diversity receive modules 431 can support carrier aggregation and/or MIMO, depending on the implementation. In cases where the diversity receive module 431 supports both carrier aggregation and MIMO, the front end system 403 may or may not include a separate MIMO module 432. In some embodiments, such as where the diversity receive module 431 does not support MIMO functionality, the front end system 403 can include one or more separate MIMO modules 432, which implements one or more transmit paths 437 and receive paths 438. Depending on the embodiment, the MIMO module 432 can implement carrier aggregation in addition to MIMO.
The diversity module 431 shows an example of an implementation where each of the diversity path 440 and the MIMO path 442 are configured for selectively receiving any two of the following downlink bands: B1, B3, B7, and B40. Table 3 lists examples of frequency ranges corresponding to the illustrated frequency bands of
The diversity path 440 includes an antenna switch module 502a connected to a diversity antenna 404a, filters 413a-d, initial stage low noise amplifiers 412_1a-d, two switches 414a-b, secondary stage low noise amplifiers 412_2a-b, attenuators 504a-b, and tunable matching circuits 506a-b. The components are arranged to provide first and second diversity output paths 508a-b each outputting signal content corresponding to one of the input bands B7, B40, B3, B1 at a given time.
The filters 413a-d can be acoustic filters such as surface acoustic wave (SAW) or bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters, lumped element inductor-capacitor (LC) based filters, or other types of filters, depending on the implementation.
During operation, a controller of the mobile device 400 can provide a control signal to the antenna switching module 502a to cause it to switch between connecting to and providing received signal content to the filters 413a-d. The filters 413a-d are configured to pass signal content within the designated bands (e.g., filter 413a/B7, filter 413b/B40, filter 413c/B3, and filter 413d/B1) to the corresponding initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1a, 412_1b, 412_1c, or 412_1d.
Each initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1a-d can be configured to amplify signal content across a first, relatively narrow range, corresponding to the frequency range of the assigned frequency band. For example, some or all of the initial stage low noise amplifiers 412_1a-d can be tuned to have an operational frequency range corresponding to the first range, such that for signal content outside of the frequency range, the gain of the initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1d rops by a certain threshold amount (e.g., 3 dB) from a maximum gain of the initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1 for signal content within the frequency range. According to various embodiments, the relatively narrow range can be at least as wide as the band assigned to the initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1. In some embodiments, each initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1a-d can be designed with some margin to have an operational frequency range somewhat wider than the band assigned to the initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1. For example, some or all of the initial stage low noise amplifiers 412_1a-d can be tuned with an operational frequency range width that is anywhere from about 10% to about 20% fractional bandwidth, or anywhere from about 10% to about 20% of the center frequency of the initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1a-d. For example, referring to
Each initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1a-d can also be tuned to the output impedance of the corresponding filter 413a-d to which the initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1a-d is connected, which can be about 50 ohms, for example.
Each initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1a-d is connected to an input of one or both of the switches 414a-b. For example, the first initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1a corresponding to band B7 is connected to an input of only the switch 414a, the second initial stage low noise amplifier_1b corresponding to band B40 is connected to inputs of both of the switches 414a-b, the third initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1c corresponding to band B3 is connected to an input of only the switch 414b, and the fourth initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1d corresponding to B1 is connected to inputs of both of the switches 414a-b.
The switches 414a-b of the illustrated embodiment are three input switches configured to switch between providing the signal received on one of the three inputs to the output of the switch 414a-b at any given time. The output of the first switch 414a is connected to the first secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2a and the output of the second switch 414b is connected to the second secondary stage amplifier 412_2b.
In the illustrated embodiment, a controller of the mobile device 400 can be configured to control the switch 414a to provide signal content from any of bands B7, B40, or B1 to the first secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2a at a given time, and to control the switch 414b to provide signal content from any of bands B40, B3, and B1 to the second secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2b at a given time.
The secondary stage low noise amplifiers 412_2a-b can be relatively broadband amplifiers. For example, the secondary stage low noise amplifiers 412_2a-b can be configured to support signal frequencies across a wider range than some or all of the initial stage low noise amplifiers 412_1a-d. The decoupling of the low noise amplifiers into initial stage low noise amplifiers 412_1a-d and secondary stage low noise amplifiers 412_2a-b can allow for the relatively broadband secondary stage low noise amplifiers 412-2a-b because the Noise Figure (NF) contribution (e.g., according to the Friss equation) of the secondary stage low noise amplifiers 412_2 to the combined low noise amplifier is much less than that of the initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1, and because the secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2 is not connected directly to the relatively narrow band filters 413a-d.
In the illustrated embodiment, in order to support any of connected bands B7, B40, B1, the first secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2a can be configured to support at least signal frequencies from 2110 MHz (lower end of B1 DL range) to 2690 MHz (upper end of B7 DL range). Likewise, the second secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2b can be configured to support at least signal frequencies from 1805 MHz (lower end of B3) to 2400 MHz (upper end of B40).
In some implementations, one or both the secondary stage low noise amplifiers 412_1a-b can be tuned with an operational frequency range width that is anywhere from about 40% to about 60% fractional bandwidth, or anywhere from about 40% to about 60% of the center frequency of the secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2a-b. For example, referring to
In various implementations, one or both of the secondary stage low noise amplifiers 412_2a-b can be configured to support signal frequencies spanning a range of at least 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, or 1000 MHz, or signal frequencies spanning a range that is at least two, three, four, five, six, seven, or eight times as wide as the range supported by some or all of the initial stage low noise amplifiers 412_1 connectable to the respective secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2.
The attenuators 504a-b and/or tunable matching circuits 506a-b can be dynamically tuned to improve operation of the diversity path 440.
Depending on the embodiment, the attenuators 504a-b can be Pi-type or T-type attenuator circuits with a programmable resistor to achieve programmable attenuation. For instance, the attenuators 504a-b can be programmably adjusted to adjust the gain of the receive path 508a, 508b to compensate for gain difference between paths or align with the signal amplitude at the antenna port. Depending on the embodiment, the baseband processor 401, transceiver 402, or another processor of the mobile device 400 can provide a control signal to the front end module for programming the resistor(s) of the attenuators 504a-b, e.g., based on measured gain differences.
The tunable matching circuits 506a-b can be programmable to dynamically match the output of the respective secondary low noise amplifier stage 412_2a-b to a desired impedance (e.g., 50 ohms) over the operating band frequency range. The tunable matching circuits 506a-b can include one or more inductors and capacitors arranged in a network. As an example, the tunable matching circuit can include an inductor in parallel with a capacitor array where the value of the capacitor (e.g., programmable capacitor) is chosen such that the resonance circuit of the LC tank is at the band of interest.
For instance, the attenuators 504a-b and/or the tunable matching circuits 506a-b can be dynamically tuned based at least in part on the currently active band. The first attenuator 504a and/or the first tunable matching circuit 506a can be dynamically adjusted depending on which of the three bands B7, B40, B1 connected to the first diversity output path 508a is active on the first diversity output path 508a at a given time. Similarly, the second attenuator 504b and/or the first tunable matching circuit 506b can be dynamically adjusted depending on which of the three bands B40, B3, B1 connected to the second diversity output path 508b is active on the second diversity output path 508b at a given time.
For example, the diversity module 431 or another component of the front end 403 can include a processor or other circuitry that receives (e.g., from the baseband processor 401, transceiver 402, or another processor of the mobile device) as input a control signal representing the currently connected bands, and generates output control signals provided to the capacitor(s) of the tunable matching circuits 506a-b to achieve the dynamic tuning.
The MIMO path 442 is connected to a MIMO antenna 404b. As shown, the MIMO path 442 of the embodiment illustrated in
In embodiment of
A variety of other implementations are possible. For example,
Similar to the embodiments shown in
However, unlike the 2CA diversity receive paths 440 of
The components are arranged to provide four diversity output paths 508a-d. As shown, the switches 414a-d can include multiple inputs, each connected to a different band. In the illustrated embodiment, each switch 414a-414d has three inputs each receiving DL signal content from a different band, as follows: the first switch 414a receiving B7, B10, and B38, the second switch 414b receiving B2, B40, B9, the third switch 414c receiving B1, B65, B41, and the fourth switch 414d receiving B25, B3, B30.
The filters 413a-1 can be acoustic filters such as surface acoustic wave (SAW) or bulk acoustic wave (BAW) filters, lumped element inductor-capacitor (LC) based filters, or other types of filters, depending on the implementation.
During operation, a controller of the mobile device 400 can provide a control signal to the antenna switching module 502a to cause it to switch between connecting to and providing received signal content to the filters 413a-1, which are configured to pass signal content the corresponding bands to the corresponding initial stage low noise amplifiers 412_1a-1.
Each initial stage low noise amplifiers 412_1a-1 can be configured to amplify signal content across a first, relatively narrow range, corresponding to the frequency range of the assigned frequency band. Each initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1a-1 can also be tuned to the output impedance of the corresponding filter 413a-1 to which the initial stage low noise amplifier 412_1a-1 is connected.
As shown, each initial stage low noise amplifiers 412_1a-1 is connected to an input of one the switches 414a-d, respectively. The switches 414a-d of the illustrated embodiment are three input switches configured to switch between providing the signal received on one of the three inputs to the output of the switches 414a-d at any given time. The outputs of the switches 414a-d are each connected to a corresponding one of the secondary stage low noise amplifiers 412_2a-d.
Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, a controller of the mobile device 400 can be configured to control the switch 414a to provide signal content from any the bands B7, B10, B38 to the first secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2a, to control the switch 414b to provide signal content from any of the bands B2, B40, B9 to the second secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2b, to control the switch 414c to provide signal content from any of the bands B1, B65, B41 to the third secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2c, and to control the switch 414d to provide signal content from any of the bands B25, B3, B30 to the fourth secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2d.
The secondary stage low noise amplifiers 412_2a-d can be relatively broadband amplifiers. For example, the secondary stage low noise amplifiers 412_2a-d can be configured to support signal frequencies across a wider range than some or all of the initial stage low noise amplifiers 412_1a-1 to which they are connected via the respective switches 414a-414d. In the illustrated embodiment, for example, in order to support any of connectable bands B7, B10, or B38, the first secondary stage low noise amplifiers 412_2a is configured to support at least signal frequencies from 2110 MHz (lower end of B10 DL ranges) to 2690 MHz (upper end of B7 DL range). In order to support any of connectable bands B2, B40, or B9, the second secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2b is configured to support at least signal frequencies from 1844.9 MHz (lower end of B9) to 2400 MHz (upper end of B40). In order to support any of connectable bands B1, B65, or B41, the third secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2c is configured to support at least signal frequencies from 2110 MHz (lower ends of B1 and B65) to 2690 MHz (upper end of B41). In order to support any of connectable bands B25, B3, or B30, the fourth secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2d is configured to support at least signal frequencies from 1805 MHz (lower end of B3) to 2360 MHz (upper end of B30).
In various implementations, one or more of the secondary stage low noise amplifiers 412_2a-d can be configured to support signal frequencies spanning a range of at least at least 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, or 1000 MHz, or signal frequencies spanning a range that is at least two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, or ten times as wide as the range supported by some or all of the initial stage low noise amplifiers 412_1a-1 connectable to the respective secondary stage low noise amplifier 412_2a-d.
The attenuators 504a-d and/or tunable matching circuits 506a-d can be dynamically tuned to improve operation of the diversity path 440. For instance, the attenuators 504a-d and/or the tunable matching circuits 506a-d can be dynamically tuned based on the currently active band. For instance, the first attenuator 504a and/or the first tunable matching circuit 506a can be dynamically adjusted depending on which connectable band B7, B10, B38 is active on the first diversity output path 508a at a given time, and the attenuators 504b-d and tunable matching circuits 506b-d of the remaining output bands 508b-d are likewise dynamically tunable based on the actively switched in band.
In some embodiments, the tunable matching circuits 506a-d can include one or more inductors and capacitors arranged in a network. In the illustrated embodiment, the output filters include a dynamically tunable capacitor, where the controller of the mobile device 400 can adjust the capacitance to dynamically tune the tunable matching circuits 506a-d.
The MIMO path 442 is connected to a MIMO antenna 404b and in the illustrated embodiment is generally similar to the MIMO path 442 of
The diversity path 440 and some of the MIMO path 442 of
Mobile Device with Diversity Receive Front-End Module
The packaged module 600 includes radio frequency components 601, a semiconductor die 602, surface mount devices 603, wirebonds 608, a package substrate 620, and an encapsulation structure 640. The package substrate 620 includes pads 606 formed from conductors disposed therein. Additionally, the semiconductor die 602 includes pins or pads 604, and the wirebonds 608 have been used to connect the pads 604 of the die 602 to the pads 606 of the package substrate 620.
The semiconductor die 602 can include amplifiers including one or more power amplifiers and/or low noise amplifiers, depending on the functionality of the module 600, in addition to other appropriate componentry.
The packaging substrate 620 can be configured to receive a plurality of components such as radio frequency components 601, the semiconductor die 602 and the surface mount devices 603, which can include, for example, surface mount capacitors and/or inductors. In one implementation, the radio frequency components 601 include integrated passive devices (IPDs).
As shown in
In some embodiments, the packaged module 600 can also include one or more packaging structures to, for example, provide protection and/or facilitate handling. Such a packaging structure can include overmold or encapsulation structure 640 formed over the packaging substrate 620 and the components and die(s) disposed thereon.
It will be understood that although the packaged module 600 is described in the context of electrical connections based on wirebonds, one or more features of the present disclosure can also be implemented in other packaging configurations, including, for example, flip-chip configurations.
For the purpose of description, it will be understood that a module can be a physical module and/or a functional block configured to provide a desired modular functionality with one or more devices and/or circuits. For example, a physical module can be a packaged module implemented on a packaging substrate, a packaged die configured to be mounted on a circuit board, or any other physical device configured to provide RF functionality. It will also be understood that a module can include one or more physical devices, including a plurality of physical devices with each sometimes being referred to as a module itself.
Also for the purpose of description, it will be understood that a component can be physical device and/or an assembly of one or more devices and/or circuits configured to provide a functionality. In some situations, a component can also be referred to as a module, and vice versa.
The present disclosure describes various features, no single one of which is solely responsible for the benefits described herein. It will be understood that various features described herein may be combined, modified, or omitted, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill. Other combinations and sub-combinations than those specifically described herein will be apparent to one of ordinary skill, and are intended to form a part of this disclosure.
Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed in an inclusive sense, as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; that is to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” The word “coupled”, as generally used herein, refers to two or more elements that may be either directly connected, or connected by way of one or more intermediate elements. Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similar import, when used in this application, shall refer to this application as a whole and not to any particular portions of this application. Where the context permits, words in the above Detailed Description using the singular or plural number may also include the plural or singular number respectively. The word “or” in reference to a list of two or more items, that word covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any of the items in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combination of the items in the list. The word “exemplary” is used exclusively herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any implementation described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations.
The disclosure is not intended to be limited to the implementations shown herein. Various modifications to the implementations described in this disclosure may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other implementations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. The teachings of the invention provided herein can be applied to other methods and systems, and are not limited to the methods and systems described above, and elements and acts of the various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments. Accordingly, the novel methods and systems described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the methods and systems described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the disclosure. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63410975 | Sep 2022 | US | |
| 63410981 | Sep 2022 | US | |
| 63411002 | Sep 2022 | US |
