Patent Grant
10567027
This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201810220770.5, filed on Mar. 16, 2018, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
This disclosure relates to the technical field of mobile terminals, and more particularly to a multiway switch, a radio frequency system, and a wireless communication device.
With the widespread use of electronic devices such as smart phones, the smart phone can support an increasing number of applications and is becoming more and more powerful. The smart phone is developing in a diversified and personalized way, becoming indispensable electronic products in users' life. In the fourth generation (4G) mobile communication system, the electronic device generally adopts a single-antenna or dual-antenna radio frequency system architecture. Currently, in a new radio (NR) system of the fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, an electronic device supporting a four-antenna radio frequency system architecture is proposed.
Implementations of the disclosure provide a multiway switch, a radio frequency system, and a wireless communication device, to implement a function of transmitting a sounding reference signal (SRS) through 2n antennas corresponding to 2n ports in turn (that is, 2n-port SRS) of a wireless communication device in a fifth generation new radio (5G NR).
According to a first aspect of implementations of the disclosure, a multiway switch is provided. The multiway switch includes four T ports and 2n P ports. n is an integer and n≥2. The four T ports include two first T ports and each of the two first T ports is coupled with all of the 2n P ports.
The multiway switch is configured to be coupled with a radio frequency circuit and an antenna system of a wireless communication device operable in a dual-frequency dual-transmit mode, the antenna system includes 2n antennas corresponding to the 2n P ports, and the preset function is a function of transmitting a sounding reference signal (SRS) through the 2n antennas in turn.
According to a second aspect of implementations of the disclosure, a radio frequency system is provided. The radio frequency system includes an antenna system, a radio frequency circuit, and a multiway switch coupled with the radio frequency circuit and the antenna system.
The multiway switch includes four T ports and 2n P ports, the four T ports include two first T ports at least supporting a transmission function and two second T ports supporting only a reception function, and each of the two first T ports is coupled with all of the 2n P ports. n is an integer and n≥2. The antenna system includes 2n antennas corresponding to the 2n P ports.
The multiway switch is configured to implement a preset function of transmitting an SRS through the 2n antennas in turn.
According to a third aspect of implementations of the disclosure, a wireless communication device is provided. The wireless communication device includes an antenna system, a radio frequency transceiver, a radio frequency circuit coupled with the radio frequency transceiver, and a multiway switch coupled with the radio frequency circuit and the antenna system.
The multiway switch includes four T ports and 2n P ports. The four T ports include two first T ports at least supporting a transmission function and two second T ports supporting only a reception function. Each of the two first T ports is coupled with all of the 2n P ports. n is an integer and n≥2. Each of the two second T ports is coupled with one of the 2n P ports and the two second T ports at the same frequency band are coupled with different P ports. Each of the 2n P ports is configured to be coupled with a corresponding antenna of the 2n antennas. The antenna system includes 2n antennas corresponding to the 2n P ports.
The multiway switch is configured to implement a preset function of transmitting an SRS through the 2n antennas in turn.
To describe technical solutions in implementations of the present disclosure or in the related art more clearly, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings required for describing the implementations or the related art.
Technical solutions in implementations of the present disclosure will be described clearly and completely hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings described in the previous chapter. Apparently, the described implementations are merely some rather than all implementations of the present disclosure. All other implementations obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the implementations of the present disclosure without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.
The terms “first”, “second”, and the like used in the specification, the claims, and the accompany drawings of the present disclosure are to distinguish different objects rather than describe a particular order. The terms “include”, “comprise”, and “have” as well as variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product, or apparatus including a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units. Instead, it can optionally include other steps or units that are not listed; alternatively, other steps or units inherent to the process, method, product, or device can also be included.
The term “embodiment” or “implementation” referred to herein means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in conjunction with the implementation may be contained in at least one implementation of the present disclosure. The phrase appearing in various places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same implementation, nor does it refer to an independent or alternative implementation, that is, mutually exclusive with other implementations. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that an implementation described herein may be combined with other implementations.
According to the implementations of the disclosure, a multiway switch is provided. As illustrated in
In one implementation, the four T ports further include two second T ports, each of the two second T ports is coupled with one of the 2n P ports, and the two second T ports at the same frequency band are coupled with different P ports. Each of the 2n P ports is configured to be coupled with a corresponding antenna of the 2n antennas. The two first T ports at least support a transmission function and the two second T ports support only a reception function.
In one implementation, the radio frequency circuit logically includes four transmitter circuits and 2n+1 receiver circuits and physically includes at least two independent circuit modules. The at least two independent circuit modules include first ports and second ports. The first ports are configured to be coupled with the two first T ports in one-to-one correspondence and the second ports are configured to be coupled with two second T ports in one-to-one correspondence.
According to the implementations of the disclosure, a radio frequency system is provided. The radio frequency system includes an antenna system, a radio frequency circuit, and a multiway switch coupled with the radio frequency circuit and the antenna system.
The multiway switch includes four T ports and 2n P ports, the four T ports include two first T ports at least supporting a transmission function and two second T ports supporting only a reception function, and each of the two first T ports is coupled with all of the 2n P ports. n is an integer and n≥2. The antenna system includes 2n antennas corresponding to the 2n P ports. The multiway switch is configured to implement a preset function of transmitting an SRS through the 2n antennas in turn.
In one implementation, each of the two second T ports is coupled with one of the 2n P ports and the two second T ports at the same frequency band are coupled with different P ports. Each of the 2n P ports is coupled with a corresponding antenna of the 2n antennas.
According to the implementations of the disclosure, a wireless communication device is provided. The wireless communication device includes an antenna system, a radio frequency transceiver, a radio frequency circuit coupled with the radio frequency transceiver, and a multiway switch coupled with the radio frequency circuit and the antenna system.
The multiway switch includes four T ports and 2n P ports. n is an integer and n≥2. The four T ports include two first T ports at least supporting a transmission function and two second T ports supporting only a reception function. Each of the two first T ports is coupled with all of the 2n P ports, each of the two second T ports is coupled with one of the 2n P ports, and the two second T ports at the same frequency band are coupled with different P ports. Each of the 2n P ports is coupled with a corresponding antenna of the 2n antennas. The antenna system includes 2n antennas corresponding to the 2n P ports. The multiway switch is configured to implement a preset function of transmitting an SRS through the 2n antennas in turn.
The wireless communication device involved in the implementations of the present disclosure may include an electronic device or a network device. The electronic device may include various handheld devices, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, computing devices that have wireless communication functions or other processing devices connected to the wireless modem, as well as various forms of user equipments (UE), mobile stations (MS), terminal devices, and the like. For the convenience of description, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as an electronic device.
The network device may be a base station, and the base station may be configured to communicate with one or more electronic devices, or may be configured to communicate with one or more base stations with partial electronic device functions (such as communication among a macro base station, a micro base station, and an access point). The base station may be a base transceiver station (BTS) in a time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) system, an evolutional node B (eNB) in a long term evolution (LTE) system, or a base station in a fifth generation new radio (5G NR) system. In addition, the base station may also be an access point (AP), a transmission node (Trans TRP), a central unit (CU), or other network entities, and can also include some or all of the functions of the above network entities.
The following describes an electronic device as an example of the wireless communication device and describes the case where n=2, that is, four antennas and four P ports are configured, as an example. It is to be noted that, the number of the antennas and the P ports are not limited to 4, and the number thereof can be extended to 2n (n being an integer and n≥2) in the implementations of the disclosure. In the case where 2n antennas and 2n P ports are configured, with regard to logical composition of the radio frequency circuit, physical composition of the radio frequency circuit, coupling between the independent circuit modules and the T ports, coupling between the T ports and the P ports, coupling between the P ports and the antennas, and the like, reference may be made in the following implementations. As for the principle of achieving the transmitting an SRS through the 2n antennas in turn and the structure of simplified switch, reference may further be made to related descriptions in the following implementations.
At present, sounding reference signal (SRS) switching in four antennas of a mobile phone is a mandatory option for China mobile communications corporation (CMCC) in the China mobile fifth generation (5G) Scale Test Technical White Paper_Terminal, which is optional in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). A main purpose of the SRS transmission is for a base station to determine quality and parameters of four channels via measuring uplink signals transmitted by four antennas of the mobile phone in turn, to perform a beamforming of a downlink massive multi-input multi-output (MIMO) antenna array on the four channels according to a channel reciprocity, and finally to obtain the best data transmission performance for a downlink 4×4 MIMO, where 4×4 MIMO refers to that the base station has four antennas transmitting data and the terminal device has four antennas receiving data.
In order to satisfy requirements of SRS switching in four antennas, implementations of the present disclosure provide a radio frequency architecture based on a simplified 4P4T antenna switch. Compared with a 3P3T/DPDT/multiway small switch switching scheme, the present switching scheme can reduce the number of series switches in each path (all or part of switches are integrated into the 4P4T main switch), thereby reducing link loss and optimizing the overall transmission and reception performance of the terminal. The implementations of the present disclosure are described in detail below.
The multiway switch 10 is configured to be coupled with the radio frequency circuit 20 and the antenna system 30 to implement a preset function of the electronic device 100. The preset function is a function of transmitting an SRS through the four antennas in turn, which can be understood as a four-port SRS function.
“P port” in implementations of the disclosure is the abbreviation of “pole port”, which refers to ports coupled with antennas. “T port” in implementations of the disclosure is the abbreviation of “throw port”, which refers to ports coupled with radio frequency circuits. According to the implementations of the disclosure, the four P ports and the four T ports are provided, and to facilitate an intuitive understanding of the structure of the multiway switch 10, the multiway switch 10 in the implementations of the disclosure may also be referred to as a “4P4T switch”. As illustrated in
The concept of “coupling”, “separate-coupling”, “full-coupling”, or other kinds of coupling between the T ports and the P ports of the multiway switch 10 described in the implementations of the disclosure refers to a state in which the T ports are coupled with the P ports through first switch transistors. The first switch transistors are configured to control a unidirectional conduction state between the T ports and the P ports (including a unidirectional conduction state from the T ports to the P ports and a unidirectional conduction state from the P ports to the T ports). The first switch transistor can be, for example, a switch array including three field-effect transistors (such as metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors). When the first switch transistor is disconnected and not grounded, parasitic parameters (such as parasitic capacitances and parasitic inductances) will greatly affect performance of other connected ports. Therefore, the first switch transistor is implemented with three MOS transistors, where the three MOS transistors can be in a common source connection, that is, coupled at a common source. When the first switch transistor is disconnected, two MOS transistors at two ends are disconnected and one MOS transistor in the middle is grounded. In addition to the first switch transistors between the T ports and the P ports, the multiway switch 10 further includes second switch transistors arranged around both T ports and P ports. The second switch transistor may also be referred to as a grounding switch transistor. Each T port may be provided with a grounding switch transistor and each P port may also be provided with a grounding switch transistor. When a T port or a P port does not carry out signal transmission or reception, a grounding switch transistor around the T port or the P port is switched on. When a T port or a P port receives or transmits signals, a grounding switch transistor around the T port or the P port is disconnected. The second switch transistor is configured to enable a corresponding port (T port or P port) and can be, for example, a MOS transistor. The specific configurations of the first switch transistor and the second switch transistor are not limited herein. In one implementation, the electronic device 100 can control paths between the T ports and the P ports to switch on through the first switch transistors. As one implementation, the electronic device 100 can be provided with a dedicated controller to be coupled with switch transistors of the multiway switch 10.
The concept of “fully coupled” is defined for the T ports and means that one T port is respectively coupled with all P ports. The expression of “the first T ports are fully coupled ports” means that each of the two first T ports is fully coupled with the four P ports.
The function of transmitting an SRS through the four antennas corresponding to the four P ports in turn refers to a process in which the electronic device interacts with a base station based on polling mechanism to determine quality of an uplink channel corresponding to each antenna.
The electronic device may be a mobile phone or other terminal devices supporting the fifth generation new radio (5G NR), such as customer premise equipment (CPE) or a mobile wireless-fidelity (MIFI).
The dual-frequency dual-transmit mode refers to an operating mode in which the electronic device can support dual frequency band-two uplink (UL) transmit paths or dual frequency band-four downlink (DL) receive paths.
The multiway switch 10 includes field-effect transistors. Since two of the four T ports are coupled with all of the four P ports and each of other T ports is configured to be coupled with one fixed antenna for receiving, the number of built-in field-effect transistors, volume, and cost of the 4P4T switch can be reduced, and performance of the 4P4T switch can be improved as well. Details will be described hereinafter.
For example, assume that the multiway switch includes four T ports, i.e., T port 1, T port 2, T port 3, and T port 4 illustrated in
By limiting the number of T ports that are fully coupled with the four P ports (in other words, fully coupled T ports), the number of switches of the radio frequency system of the electronic device 100 can be effectively reduced. That is to say, the number of fully coupled T ports has a great influence on performance of the radio frequency system.
As can be seen, in the implementations of the present disclosure, the multiway switch provided is applicable to the electronic device 100 operable in the dual-frequency dual-transmit mode. The electronic device 100 includes the antenna system 30, the radio frequency circuit 20, and the multiway switch 10. The antenna system 30 includes the four antennas. The multiway switch 10 includes the four T ports and the four P ports, and two of the four T ports are fully coupled with the four P ports. The multiway switch 10 is configured to be coupled with the radio frequency circuit 20 and the antenna system 30 to implement the preset function of transmitting an SRS through the four antennas corresponding to the four ports in turn of the electronic device 100.
In one possible implementation, in addition to the two first T ports, the four T ports further include two second T ports. Each of the two second T ports is coupled with a corresponding P port of the four P ports and the two second T ports at the same frequency band are coupled with different P ports. Each of the four P ports is configured to be coupled with a corresponding antenna of the four antennas, specifically, one P port is configured to be coupled with one antenna and any two P ports are configured to be coupled with different antennas. The two first T ports at least support a transmission function, that is, the two first T ports can be configured to transmit signals, and can also be configured to transmit and receive signals. The two second T ports support only a reception function, that is, the two second T ports are merely configured to receive signals.
The expression of “at least supporting the transmission function” refers to supporting a transmission-reception function (that is, a signal transmission-reception function) or supporting the transmission function.
In one implementation, the two second T ports are configured to receive signals at a first frequency band or configured to receive signals at a second frequency band, where the first frequency band is not overlapped with the second frequency band.
In one implementation, the expression of “the two second T ports at the same frequency band are coupled with different P ports” means that P ports couple with the two second T ports operable at the same frequency band are different. For example, if second T port 1 is operable at the first frequency band and second T port 2 is also operable at the first frequency band, second T port 1 may be coupled with P port 1, second T port 2 may be coupled with P port 2, and P port 1 is different from P port 2.
In this implementation, since the multiway switch includes the first T ports and the second T ports and the number of the second T ports is not zero, compared with a configuration in which all T ports are fully coupled with P ports, for the multiway switch provided herein, the number of switches is reduced. That is, the number of the switches of transmit paths and/or receive paths of the radio frequency system of the electronic device can be reduced, thereby reducing path loss, improving transmit power/sensitivity, data transmission rate in the 5G NR, and uplink and downlink coverage of the mobile phone, and reducing power consumption and cost.
In one possible implementation, the multiway switch 10 includes thirty-eight field-effect transistors.
In the case that the electronic device 100 is operable in the dual-frequency dual-transmit mode, the electronic device 100 logically includes eight receiver circuits (can be comprehended as a circuit for receiving and/or processing signals) and four transmitter circuits (can be comprehended as a circuit for transmitting and/or processing signals). Since the multiway switch 10 includes the four T ports, and the four T ports include the two first T ports, the number of field-effect transistors corresponding to the multiway switch 10 is 4+(2*4+(4−2)*1)*3+4=38. Two of the four transmitter circuits operable at different frequency bands can correspond to one first port (two first ports in total) that supports the transmission-reception function and each first port is configured to be coupled with a corresponding first T port of the two first T ports of the multiway switch 10. In addition, the eight receiver circuits are divided into two groups, and each group includes four receiver circuits, where two of the four receiver circuits are operable at a first frequency band and the remaining two of the four receiver circuits are operable at a second frequency band. Two of the four receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and two of the four transmitter circuits operable at different frequency bands are integrated to be coupled with one first port of the two first ports. The remaining two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands correspond to one second port (two second ports in total) that support only the reception function, where each second port is configured to be coupled with a corresponding second T port of two second T ports of the multiway switch 10. In this case, a schematic structure of a corresponding radio frequency circuit 20 is illustrated in
It can be seen that the multiway switch 10 of the implementation of the disclosure can enable the electronic device 100 to be operable in the dual-frequency dual-transmit mode. It is beneficial to simplifying the radio frequency architecture of the terminal supporting four-port SRS switching in the 5G NR, reducing the number of switches in transmit paths and receive paths, and reducing path loss, thereby improving transmit power/sensitivity, data transmission rate in the 5G NR, and uplink and downlink coverage of the mobile phone, and reducing power consumption.
In one possible implementation, the radio frequency circuit 20 of the electronic device 100 physically includes at least two independent circuit modules. The at least two independent circuit modules include first ports and second ports. The first ports include transmit-receive ports. Specifically, the at least two independent circuit modules may have one or more transmit-receive ports. The second ports include receive ports. Specifically, the at least two independent circuit modules may have one or more receive ports. The first ports are configured to be coupled with the two first T ports in one-to-one correspondence, and the second ports are configured to be coupled with two second T ports in one-to-one correspondence. In other words, each first port is configured to be coupled with one of the two first T ports and each second port is configured to be coupled with one of the four second T ports.
The radio frequency circuit 20 logically includes four transmitter circuits and eight receiver circuits.
Since low-noise amplifiers (LNA) in the eight receiver circuits can operate simultaneously, due to their low power and low power consumption, mutual influence can be avoided through design. Therefore, multiple LNAs in multiple receiver circuits at the same frequency band can be disposed in the same circuit module. However, two power amplifiers (PAs) at the same frequency band can work simultaneously (corresponding to UL MIMO mode), a transmit power will be high, and two signals will interfere with each other. In addition, the two PAs will affect heat dissipation efficiency when working at the same time. Four transmitter circuits are provided in the implementations of the disclosure, and it is necessary to provide two independent circuit modules or more than two independent circuit modules since only one PA can be disposed at the same frequency band.
When the radio frequency circuit 20 physically includes two independent circuit modules, a schematic structure of a corresponding electronic device 100 is illustrated in
In one possible implementation, as illustrated in
The first independent circuit module and the second independent circuit module each include two transceiver integrated circuits, one receiver integrated circuits, one first port, and one second port. Each transceiver integrated circuit includes one receiver circuit and one transmitter circuit, and two transmitter circuits of the two transceiver integrated circuits are operable at different frequency bands. Each transceiver integrated circuit has a transmit-receive port coupled with the first port of an independent circuit module to which the transceiver integrated circuit belongs. The receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port coupled with the second port of an independent circuit module to which the receiver integrated circuit belongs.
In one possible implementation, as illustrated in
The first independent circuit module includes two transceiver integrated circuits and one first port. Each transceiver integrated circuit includes one receiver circuit and one transmitter circuit, and two transmitter circuits of the two transceiver integrated circuits are operable at different frequency bands. Each transceiver integrated circuit has a transmit-receive port coupled with the first port of the first independent circuit module.
The second independent circuit module includes two transceiver integrated circuits, two receiver integrated circuits, one first port, and two second ports. Each transceiver integrated circuit includes one receiver circuit and one transmitter circuit, and two transmitter circuits of the two transceiver integrated circuits are operable at different frequency bands. Each transceiver integrated circuit has a transmit-receive port coupled with the first port of the second independent circuit module. Each receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port coupled with one of the two second ports of the second independent circuit module.
In one possible implementation, as illustrated in
The first independent circuit module and the second independent circuit module each include one transmitter integrated circuit, two receiver integrated circuits, one first port, and one second port. The transmitter integrated circuit includes two transmitter circuits operable at different frequency bands and a transmit port. Each receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port. The transmit port of the transmitter integrated circuit and the receive port of one receiver integrated circuit are coupled with the first port of an independent circuit module to which the transmitter integrated circuit and the receiver integrated circuit belong. The receive port of the other receiver integrated circuit is coupled with the second port of an independent circuit module to which the receiver integrated circuit belongs.
In one possible implementation, as illustrated in
The first independent circuit module includes one transmitter integrated circuit, one receiver integrated circuit, and one first port. The transmitter integrated circuit includes two transmitter circuits operable at different frequency bands and a transmit port. The receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port. The transmit port of the transmitter integrated circuit and the receive port of the receiver integrated circuit are coupled with the first port of the first independent circuit module.
The second independent circuit module includes one transmitter integrated circuit, three receiver integrated circuits, one first port, and two second ports. The transmitter integrated circuit includes two transmitter circuits operable at different frequency bands and a transmit port. Each receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port. The transmit port of the transmitter integrated circuit and the receive port of one receiver integrated circuit are coupled with the first port of the second independent circuit. The receive ports of the remaining two receiver integrated circuits are coupled with the two second ports of the second independent circuit.
In one possible implementation, as illustrated in
The first independent circuit module and the second independent circuit module each include two transceiver integrated circuits and one first port. Each transceiver integrated circuit includes one receiver circuit and one transmitter circuit. Two transmitter circuits of the two transceiver integrated circuits are operable at different frequency bands. Each transceiver integrated circuit has a transmission-reception port coupled with the first port of an independent circuit module to which the transceiver integrated circuit belongs.
The third independent circuit module includes two receiver integrated circuits and two second ports, and each receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port coupled with one of the two second ports of the third independent circuit module.
In one possible implementation, as illustrated in
The first independent circuit module includes two transceiver integrated circuits and one first port. Each transceiver integrated circuit includes one receiver circuit and one transmitter circuit, and two transmitter circuits of the two transceiver integrated circuits are operable at different frequency bands. Each transceiver integrated circuit has a transmit-receive port coupled with the first port of the first independent circuit module.
The second independent circuit module includes two transceiver integrated circuits, one receiver integrated circuit, one first port, and one second port. Each transceiver integrated circuit includes one receiver circuit and one transmitter circuit, and two transmitter circuits of the two transceiver integrated circuits are operable at different frequency bands. Each transceiver integrated circuit has a transmit-receive port coupled with the first port of the second independent circuit module. The receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port coupled with the second port of the second independent circuit module.
The third independent circuit module includes one receiver integrated circuit and one second port. The receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port coupled with the second port of the third independent circuit module.
In one possible implementation, as illustrated in
The first independent circuit module and the second independent circuit module each include one transmitter integrated circuit, one receiver integrated circuit, and one first port. The transmitter integrated circuit includes two transmitter circuits operable at different frequency bands and a transmit port. The receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port. The transmit port of the transmitter integrated circuit and the receive port of the receiver integrated circuit are coupled with the first port of an independent circuit module to which the transmitter integrated circuit and the receiver integrated circuit belong.
The third independent circuit module includes two receiver integrated circuits and two second ports. Each receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port coupled with one of the two second ports of the third independent circuit module.
In one possible implementation, as illustrated in
The first independent circuit module includes one transmitter integrated circuit, one receiver integrated circuit, and one first port. The transmitter integrated circuit includes two transmitter circuits operable at different frequency bands and a transmit port. The receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port. The transmit port of the transmitter integrated circuit and the receive port of the receiver integrated circuit are coupled with the first port of the first independent circuit module.
The second independent circuit module includes one transmitter integrated circuit, two receiver integrated circuits, one first port, and one second port. The transmitter integrated circuit includes two transmitter circuits operable at different frequency bands and a transmit port. Each receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port. The transmit port of the transmitter integrated circuit and the receive port of one receiver integrated circuit are coupled with the first port of the second independent circuit module. The receive port of the other receiver integrated circuit is coupled with the second port of the second independent circuit module.
The third independent circuit module includes one receiver integrated circuit and one second port. The receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port coupled with the second port of the third independent circuit module.
In one possible implementation, as illustrated in
The first independent circuit module and the second independent circuit module each include two transceiver integrated circuits and one first port. Each transceiver integrated circuit includes one receiver circuit and one transmitter circuit, and two transmitter circuits of the two transceiver integrated circuits are operable at different frequency bands. Each transceiver integrated circuit has a transmit-receive port coupled with the first port of an independent circuit module to which the transceiver integrated circuit belongs.
The third independent circuit module and the fourth independent circuit module each include one receiver integrated circuit and one second port. The receiver integrated circuit includes two receiver circuits operable at different frequency bands and a receive port coupled with the second port of an independent circuit module to which the receiver integrated circuit belongs.
It can be understood that, the above-mentioned receiver circuits and transmitter circuits can be implemented in various manners. The implementations of the disclosure are not particularly restricted.
The “transmit-receive port” refers to a port (may be composed of one or more components) which implements a corresponding transmission and/or reception function and is located on the path after integration of one transmitter circuit and one receiver circuit. The “receive port” refers to a port (may be composed of one or more components) which implements a corresponding reception function and is located on the path after integration receiver circuits. The “transmit port” refers to a port (may be composed of one or more components) which implements a corresponding transmission function and is located on the path after integration transmitter circuits. It should be noted that the ports such as transmit-receive port, transmit ports, and receive ports illustrated in the figures are exemplary and do not intend to indicate an exact port position and impose any restrictions.
Each transceiver integrated circuit involved in the foregoing implementations of the disclosure includes a power amplifier (PA), a low noise amplifier (LNA), a single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switch, a filter, and a power coupler. The PA and the LNA are coupled in parallel to be coupled with the SPDT switch, the SPDT switch is coupled with the filter, and the filter is coupled with the power coupler. The power coupler is configured to be coupled with one first T port of the multiway switch 10, and the PA and the LNA are configured to be coupled with a radio frequency transceiver.
Each receiver circuit involved in the foregoing implementations of the disclosure includes an LNA and a filter. The LNA is coupled with the filter, the filter is configured to be coupled with one second T port of the multiway switch 10, and the LNA is configured to be coupled with the radio frequency transceiver.
The transmit-receive port of one transceiver integrated circuit corresponds to one transmit-receive port of an independent circuit module, which is configured to be coupled with a corresponding first T port of the multiway switch 10. The receive port of one receiver integrated circuit corresponds to one receive port of an independent circuit module, which is configured to be coupled with a corresponding second T port of the multiway switch 10.
As illustrated in
The coupling manners of the radio frequency transceiver, the radio frequency circuit 20, and the multiway switch 10 illustrated in
Annotations of the multiway switch 10 illustrated in
Annotations of the multiway switch illustrated in
As can be seen. In the implementation of the disclosure, the electronic device 100 can achieve a function of transmitting an SRS through four antennas corresponding to the four P ports in turn of the electronic device 100 by controlling a state in which the T ports of the multiway switch 10 are coupled with the P ports of the multiway switch 10 via the switch transistors.
In one possible implementation, the four antennas include a first antenna, a second antenna, a third antenna, and a fourth antenna. These four antennas are all operable at a fifth generation new radio (5G NR) frequency band.
The 5G NR frequency band may include, for example, 3.3 GHz to 3.8 GHz and 4.4 GHz to 5 GHz.
In one possible implementation, the four antennas include a first antenna, a second antenna, a third antenna, and a fourth antenna. The first antenna and the fourth antenna are antennas operable at an LTE frequency band and a fifth generation new radio (5G NR) frequency band. The second antenna and the third antenna are antennas only operable at the 5G NR frequency band.
The first antenna and fourth antenna are intended to support DL 4×4 MIMO for some frequency bands in LTE on terminals. These two antennas are shared with the 5G NR (hereinafter, “shared antennas” for short). The LTE frequency band may include, for example, 1880 MHz to 1920 MHz and 2496 MHz to 2690 MHz.
In one possible implementation, as illustrated in
The LTE 4*4 MIMO is a downlink LTE receive circuit and can be defined as a third receive path. Since the LTE currently has two receive paths, in order to support LTE 4×4 MIMO, the third path and a fourth receive path are added.
According to performance of the four antennas, the electronic device will arrange one antenna with better performance for the circuit for PRX (primary receiver), and the antenna will be in a standby state. Moreover, first T ports of the switch having both the transmission function and the reception function can be configured for TX (transmit) and PRX purpose, and thus the antenna can be switched arbitrarily. In this way, there is no need to restrict the coupling between ports of shared antennas.
In one possible implementation, as illustrated in
The schemes of the disclosure can be combined or replaced with each other. For example, the antenna system and/or the multiway switch described above can be applied or combined into the radio frequency system and the wireless communication device below. It is to be noted that, “the antenna system and/or the multiway switch” of the disclosure means “the antenna system”, “the multiway switch”, or “the antenna system and the multiway switch”.
In one possible implementation,
The multiway switch is configured to implement a preset function of transmitting an SRS through the four antennas in turn.
In one implementation, each of the two second T ports is coupled with one of the four P ports and the two second T ports at the same frequency band are coupled with different P ports. Each of the four P ports is coupled with a corresponding antenna of the four antennas.
In one implementation, the four antennas includes a first antenna, a second antenna, a third antenna, and a fourth antenna. The first antenna, the second antenna, the third antenna, and the fourth antenna are antennas operable at a fifth generation new radio (5G NR) frequency band.
In another implementation, the four antennas include a first antenna, a second antenna, a third antenna, and a fourth antenna. The first antenna and the fourth antenna are antennas operable at an LTE frequency band and a 5G NR frequency band. The second antenna and the third antenna are antennas only operable at the 5G NR frequency band.
In one implementation, with the above structure regarding to the four antennas, the antenna system further includes a first combiner and a second combiner. The first combiner has a first port coupled with the first antenna, a second port coupled with a first receive path in LTE 4×4 MIMO configuration of the radio frequency system, and a third port coupled with a corresponding P port of the multiway switch. The second combiner has a first port coupled with the fourth antenna, a second port coupled with a second receive path in the LTE 4×4 MIMO configuration of the radio frequency system, and a third port coupled with a corresponding P port of the multiway switch.
In one implementation, with the above structure regarding to the four antennas, the antenna system 20 further includes a first single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switch and a second SPDT switch. The first SPDT switch has a first port coupled with the first antenna, a second port coupled with a first receive path in LTE 4×4 MIMO configuration of the radio frequency system, and a third port coupled with a corresponding P port of the multiway switch. The second SPDT switch has a first port coupled with the fourth antenna, a second port coupled with a second receive path in the LTE 4×4 MIMO configuration of the radio frequency system, and a third port coupled with a corresponding P port of the multiway switch.
As can be seen, for the transmit paths and the receive paths of the radio frequency system of the electronic device, the transmit paths can include one single independent switch (a 4P4T switch) or two independent switches (a SPDT switch and a 4P4T switch) and the receive paths can include one single independent switch (a 4P4T switch) or two independent switches (a SPDT switch and a 4P4T switch). That is to say, by integrating more switch functions of the transmit paths and the receive paths of the radio frequency system into the 4P4T switch, the number of independent switches of the transmit paths and the receive paths can be effectively reduced.
In one possible implementation,
The multiway switch includes four T ports and four P ports. The four T ports include two first T ports at least supporting a transmission function and two second T ports supporting only a reception function. Each of the two first T ports is coupled with all of the four P ports. Each of the two second T ports is coupled with one of the four P ports and the two second T ports at the same frequency band are coupled with different P ports. Each of the four P ports is configured to be coupled with a corresponding antenna of the four antennas. The antenna system includes four antennas corresponding to the four P ports.
The multiway switch is configured to implement a preset function of transmitting an SRS through the four antennas in turn.
In addition, as illustrated in
The receive antenna may be an antenna including at least one of the four antennas (in the case of multiple antennas, the multiple antennas are strobed via switches).
For example, as illustrated in
While the disclosure has been described in connection with certain implementations, it is to be pointed out that the disclosure is not to be limited to the disclosed implementations but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the scope of the appended claims, which scope is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures as is permitted under the law.
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