Impedance matching integrous signal combiner

• US 10,009,054 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2016
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Skyworks Solutions Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Skyworks Solutions Incorporated
• Inventors: Wloczysiak, Stephane Richard Marie
• Primary Examiner(s): Vuong, Quochien B
• Application Number:
  US15/167,130
• Publication Number:
  US 20160352374A1
• Time in Patent Office: 760 Days
• Field of Search: 455132, 455269, 455272, 455273, 455295, 455296, 455307, 455339, 4555521, 4555531
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/10 Means associated with receiver for limiting or suppressing noise or interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/163 Special arrangements for the reduction of the damping of resonant circuits of receivers amplifiers H03F; negative impedance networks for line transmission systems H04B3/16

Abstract

A front-end module (FEM) is disclosed that includes an integrous signal combiner. The integrous signal combiner can process received signals and use a set of resonant circuits to filter signal noise prior to recombination of a plurality of signal bands that form an aggregate carrier signal. These resonant circuits may be placed after a set of low noise amplifiers and can be used to more efficiently reduce noise and parasitic loading within each of a set of signal paths. Each resonant circuit may be configured to filter noise relating to a bandwidth for a signal that is to be combined with the signal of the signal path that includes the resonant circuit. The signals may be combined using a dynamic impedance matching circuit. In some implementations, the integrous signal combiner can be a tunable integrous signal combiner with resonant circuits that may be reconfigurable or dynamically configurable.

Claims

1. A method of processing a multiband signal, the method comprising:

receiving a multiband signal at an antenna of a wireless device;

filtering the multiband signal using a plurality of bandpass filters to obtain a first signal and a second signal;

determining the first bandwidth of the first signal and the second bandwidth of the second signal;

amplifying the first signal to obtain a first amplified signal;

configuring a first resonant circuit to filter first noise associated with the second bandwidth from the first amplified signal;

filtering the first noise from the first amplified signal using the first resonant circuit to obtain a first filtered amplified signal;

amplifying the second signal to obtain a second amplified signal;

configuring a second resonant circuit to filter second noise associated with the first bandwidth from the second amplified signal;

filtering the second noise from the second amplified signal using the resonant circuit to obtain a second filtered amplified signal; and

combining the first filtered amplified signal and the second filtered amplified signal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein configuring the first resonant circuit includes configuring a set of switched capacitors based on the second bandwidth.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first signal is amplified using a first low noise amplifier and the second signal is amplified using a second low noise amplifier.

4. An integrous signal combiner comprising:

a first low noise amplifier configured to process a first receive signal of a first bandwidth to obtain a first amplified receive signal;

a second low noise amplifier configured to process a second receive signal of a second bandwidth to obtain a second amplified receive signal;

a first resonant circuit in electrical communication with the first low noise amplifier, the first resonant circuit dynamically configurable to filter noise within the first amplified receive signal corresponding to at least the second bandwidth based at least in part on a frequency value of the second bandwidth;

a second resonant circuit in electrical communication with the second low noise amplifier, the second resonant circuit dynamically configurable to filter noise within the second amplified receive signal corresponding to at least the first bandwidth based at least in part on a frequency value of the first bandwidth; and

a controller configured to dynamically configure the first resonant circuit by modifying a configuration of a first set of switched capacitors based at least in part on a determination of the frequency value of the second bandwidth and to dynamically configure the second resonant circuit by modifying a configuration of a second set of switched capacitors based at least in part on a determination of the frequency value of the first bandwidth.

5. The integrous signal combiner of claim 4 wherein the first resonant circuit is further configurable to operate in a bypass mode.

6. The integrous signal combiner of claim 4 further comprising a combiner configured to combine at least the first amplified receive signal and the second amplified receive signal.

7. The integrous signal combiner of claim 4 further comprising an impedance matching network configured to:

match the impedance of at least the first resonant circuit and the second resonant circuit; and

combine at least the first amplified receive signal and the second amplified receive signal.

8. The integrous signal combiner of claim 4 further comprising a third LNA configured to process a third receive signal of a third bandwidth to obtain a third amplified receive signal.

9. The integrous signal combiner of claim 8 further comprising a third resonant circuit in electrical communication with the third low noise amplifier, the third resonant circuit configurable to filter noise within the third amplified receive signal corresponding to at least one of the first bandwidth or the second bandwidth.

10. The integrous signal combiner of claim 8 wherein the third low noise amplifier is not in electrical communication with a resonant circuit.

11. The integrous signal combiner of claim 8 wherein the third low noise amplifier is further configured to provide the third amplified receive signal to a transceiver without filtering noise within the third amplified receive signal corresponding to at least one of the first bandwidth or the second bandwidth.

12. The integrous signal combiner of claim 8 wherein at least one of the first low noise amplifier, the second low noise amplifier, or the third low noise amplifier is configured to be inactive while at least one other low noise amplifier of the first low noise amplifier, the second low noise amplifier, or the third low noise amplifier is configured to be active.

13. The integrous signal combiner of claim 4 wherein the first resonant circuit includes a first filter and the second resonant circuit includes a second filter.

14. The integrous signal combiner of claim 4 wherein the first resonant circuit includes the first set of switched capacitors and the second resonant circuit includes the second set of switched capacitors.

15. A front-end module comprising:

an integrous signal combiner including a first low noise amplifier configured to process a first receive signal of a first bandwidth to obtain a first amplified receive signal, a second low noise amplifier configured to process a second receive signal of a second bandwidth to obtain a second amplified receive signal, a first resonant circuit in electrical communication with the first low noise amplifier, the first resonant circuit dynamically configurable to filter noise within the first amplified receive signal corresponding to at least the second bandwidth based at least in part on a frequency value of the second bandwidth, a second resonant circuit in electrical communication with the second low noise amplifier, the second resonant circuit dynamically configurable to filter noise within the second amplified receive signal corresponding to at least the first bandwidth based at least in part on a frequency value of the first bandwidth, and a controller configured to dynamically configure the first resonant circuit by modifying a configuration of a configurable element based at least in part on a determination of the frequency value of the second bandwidth; and

an impedance matching network in communication with the integrous signal combiner and configured to match the impedance of at least the first resonant circuit and the second resonant circuit.

16. The front-end module of claim 15 wherein the impedance matching network is further configured to combine at least the first amplified signal and the second amplified signal.

17. The front-end module of claim 15 wherein the first resonant circuit is further configurable to operate in a bypass mode.

18. The front-end module of claim 15 wherein the first resonant circuit includes the configurable element enabling the integrous signal combiner to be dynamically tuned.