The invention relates to a multiple band receiver as described in the preamble of claim 1.
Frequency bands for communication networks are defined in international and national standards such as IEEE 802.11a and HIPERLAN. Their frequency bands are [2.4-2.5] GHz according to HIPERLAN and [5.2-5.8] GHz according to IEEE 802.11a. A heterodyne receiver transforms a frequency of an input signal into an intermediate frequency (IF) signal. This transformation is realized in a mixer that combines the input signal with a signal generated by a local oscillator. The result of this combination is an IF signal. The IF signal has a frequency representing either the difference between the oscillator frequency and the frequency of the input signal in so called upper heterodyning mode or the difference between the frequency of the input signal and the oscillator frequency in so called lower heterodyning mode. Normally, a receiver for receiving signals situated in different frequency bands has different oscillators, one for each band or group of bands, if possible. Reducing the number of oscillators has multiple benefits as reducing costs, reducing the size of the receiver, reducing the complexity of the circuits that are used for building the oscillator and the input circuits.
Such a solution is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,952. In this patent application a multi-band tuner with fixed broadband input filters is presented. The receiver described in this document is used for receiving broadcasting video frequency signals that are situated in two frequency bands spaced from each other. The IF band is selected such that the image frequency rejection is improved. Furthermore a mixer used in this invention could be either in upper heterodyning mode or in lower heterodyning mode. In this case two selectable band-pass filters are used. A first band-pass filter is used for selecting the frequency resulting when upper heterodyning mode is used. A second band-pass filter for selecting the frequency resulted when lower heterodyning is used. It should be mentioned here that the oscillator must be a variable frequency oscillator having a minimum frequency (fmin) and a maximum frequency (fmax). In the presented embodiments the ratio fmax/fmin is greater that 2. It must be observed that the above ratio is hard to be realized for oscillators operating in relatively high frequency ranges e.g. Ghz. The local oscillators are normally voltage controlled and when low voltage operation is necessary, as in relatively high frequency systems, the voltage range is not sufficient for controlling the oscillation frequency. Furthermore, in order to reduce costs it is desirable to use as few as possible components.
It is therefore an object of present invention to provide a multiple band receiver having a relatively low cost.
In accordance with the invention this is achieved in a device as described in the preamble of claim 1 being characterized in that the central frequency of the IF band-pass filter is substantially independent of a combining mode of the amplified signal and the periodical signal, the combining mode being selected from an upper heterodyning mode and a lower heterodyning mode.
In the upper heterodyning mode, the intermediate frequency (IF) signal has a frequency representing the difference between the frequency of the amplified signal and the frequency of the periodical signal. If the amplified signal is included in different bands a carefully chosen IF signal is such that fIF=fRF−fOSC in upper heterodyning mode and fIF=fOSC−fRF in lower heterodyning mode. In previous relations fIF is the frequency of the IF signal, fOSC is the frequency of the periodical signal generated by the oscillator and fRF is the frequency of the input signal. In this way, a receiver for receiving signals situated in different bands uses only one oscillator. Furthermore, because the frequency of the IF signal does not depend on how the signals are combined in the mixer, only one band-pass filter having a central frequency substantially equal to the frequency of the IF signal is necessary. The band-pass filter could comprise a plurality of image rejection filters for rejecting image frequencies that appear either in upper heterodyning mode or in lower heterodyning mode. It is observed that the tuned frequencies of image rejection filters are controllable using an external signal for indicating whether upper heterodyning mode or lower heterodyning mode is performed. Using only one band-pass filter for the IF signal and only one local oscillator, the multiple band receiver is relatively cheap and easy to be built.
The above and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the exemplary embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
It is observed that the input signal RFin could be generated by an antenna in a wireless communication system, could be a signal generated by a transducer e.g. a photo-detector in an optical network or could be obtained using a mutual coupling e.g. magnetic coupling or charge coupling.
It is further observed that if the input signal Rfin corresponds to the standard IEEE 802.11a e.g. fRF=5.2 GHz then the receiver 1 could be used as it is. So, it results that the receiver 1 could be used for receiving signals corresponding to three standards i.e. HIPERLAN, IEEE 802.11a,b.
The transeiver 100 is adapted to transmit signals corresponding to the above mentioned standards being relatively cheap and relatively easy to be practically implemented.
It is remarked that the scope of protection of the invention is not restricted to the embodiments described herein. Neither is the scope of protection of the invention restricted by the reference numerals in the claims. The word ‘comprising’ does not exclude other parts than those mentioned in the claims. The word ‘a(n)’ preceding an element does not exclude a plurality of those elements. Means forming part of the invention may both be implemented in the form of dedicated hardware or in the form of a programmed purpose processor. The invention resides in each new feature or combination of features.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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02075494.1 | Feb 2002 | EP | regional |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IB03/00190 | 1/21/2002 | WO |