RFFE for dual connectivity

• US 10,375,754 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2018
• Issued: 08/06/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Lan, Wei-Ming, Kwok, Ming Shan
• Primary Examiner(s): Wendell, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US15/901,453
• Publication Number:
  US 20190090297A1
• Time in Patent Office: 531 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0064 with separate antennas for the more than one band H04B1/0053 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/0408 with power amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/16 Involving different core network technologies, e.g. a packet-switched [PS] bearer in combination with a circuit-switched [CS] bearer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A radio frequency front end (RFFE) is configured to support dual connectivity communications, in which two different radio access technologies such as LTE and NR are used simultaneously for uplink communications from a wireless communications device to a base station. The RFFE has two channels and two respectively associated antennas. The first channel transmits an NR signal from the first antenna. The second channel transmits an LTE signal from the second antenna. For reception, the first channel produces a main NR receive signal and LTE diversity signal. The second channel produces a main LTE receive signal and an NR diversity signal.

Claims

1. A telecommunication device comprising:

one or more processors configured to receive uplink data and split the uplink data into a first data stream associated with a first radio access technology and a second data stream associated with a second radio access technology; and

a radio frequency (RF) front end comprising;

a first power amplifier that amplifies a first RF transmit signal to create a first amplified RF transmit signal for transmission by a first antenna, wherein the first RF transmit signal represents at least a portion of the first data stream and is formatted and transmitted in accordance with the first radio access technology;

a second power amplifier that amplifies a second RF transmit signal to create a second amplified RF transmit signal for transmission by a second antenna concurrently with the transmission of the first RF transmit signal by the first antenna, wherein the second RF transmit signal represents at least a portion of the second data stream and is formatted and transmitted in accordance with the second radio access technology;

a first signal amplifier that amplifies a first RF receive signal from the first antenna to create a first amplified RF receive signal;

a first signal splitter that processes the first RF receive signal to produce a first main RF signal and a first diversity RF signal, wherein the first main RF signal represents data in accordance with the first radio access technology and the first diversity RF signal represents data in accordance with the second radio access technology;

a second signal amplifier that amplifies a second RF receive signal from the second antenna to create a second amplified RF receive signal; and

a second signal splitter that processes the second amplified RF receive signal to produce a second main RF signal and a second diversity RF signal, wherein the second main RF signal represents data in accordance with the second radio access technology and the second diversity RF signal represents data in accordance with the first radio access technology,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to;

receive the first main RF signal, the first diversity RF signal, the second main RF signal, and the second diversity RF signal,

generate, from the first main RF signal and the second diversity RF signal, a first processed RF signal representing data in accordance with the first radio access technology,

generate, from the second main RF signal and the first diversity RF signal, a second processed RF signal representing data in accordance with the second radio access technology, and

aggregate the data represented by the first processed RF signal and the data represented by the second processed RF signal to create a data stream.

2. The telecommunication device of claim 1, wherein the first radio access technology comprises a 5th Generation (5G) radio access technology and the second radio access technology comprises a 4th Generation (4G) radio access technology.

3. The telecommunication device of claim 1, wherein the first and second RF transmit signals are received concurrently by the radio frequency front end.

4. The telecommunication device of claim 1, wherein:

the first RF transmit signal has a first frequency;

the second RF transmit signal has a second frequency; and

the first frequency and the second frequency are within a band of frequencies that are designated for mobile device communications.

5. The telecommunication device of claim 1, wherein the first RF transmit signal has a first frequency and the second RF transmit signal has a second frequency, the radio frequency front end further comprising:

a first antenna tuner associated with the first antenna, the first antenna tuner being configured for the first frequency; and

a second antenna tuner associated with the second antenna, the second antenna tuner being configured for the second frequency.

6. The telecommunication device of claim 1, further comprising:

a first duplexer that connects the first power amplifier and the first signal amplifier with the first antenna; and

a second duplexer that connects the second power amplifier and the second signal amplifier with the second antenna.

7. A wireless communication device, comprising:

first and second antennas;

a radio frequency (RF) processor that (a) determines, from received data, a first data stream comprising first data in accordance with a first radio access technology and a second data stream comprising second data in accordance with a second radio access technology and (b) simultaneously provides first and second RF transmit signals, wherein the first RF transmit signal represents the first data stream and the second RF transmit signal represents the second data stream;

a first power amplifier that amplifies the first RF transmit signal to create a first amplified RF transmit signal for transmission from the first antenna; and

a second power amplifier that amplifies the second RF transmit signal to create a second amplified RF transmit signal for transmission from the second antenna concurrently with transmission of the first amplified RF transmit signal from the first antenna.

8. The wireless communication device of claim 7, wherein the first radio access technology comprises a 5th Generation (5G) radio access technology and the second radio access technology comprises a 4th Generation (4G) radio access technology, and the received data comprises uplink data.

9. The wireless communication device of claim 7, wherein:

the first RF transmit signal has a first frequency;

the second RF transmit signal has a second frequency; and

the first frequency and the second frequency are within a band of frequencies that are designated for mobile device communications.

10. The wireless communication device of claim 7, further comprising:

a first duplexer that connects the first power amplifier and the first signal amplifier with the first antenna; and

a second duplexer that connects the second power amplifier and the second signal amplifier with the second antenna.

11. The wireless communication device of claim 7, further comprising a signal amplifier that amplifies an RF receive signal from the first antenna to create an amplified RF receive signal, wherein the amplified RF receive signal represents data in accordance with the first radio access technology and data in accordance with the second radio access technology.

12. The wireless communication device of claim 7, further comprising:

a signal amplifier that amplifies an RF receive signal from the first antenna to create an amplified RF receive signal, wherein the amplified RF receive signal represents data in accordance with the second radio access technology; and

a duplexer that connects the first power amplifier and the signal amplifier with the first antenna.

13. The wireless communication device of claim 7, wherein the first RF transmit signal has a first frequency and the second RF transmit signal has a second frequency, the wireless communication device further comprising:

a first antenna tuner associated with the first antenna, the first antenna tuner being configured for the first frequency; and

a second antenna tuner associated with the second antenna, the second antenna tuner being configured for the second frequency.

14. The wireless communication device of claim 7, further comprising:

a first signal amplifier that amplifies a first RF receive signal from the first antenna to create a first amplified RF receive signal;

a first signal splitter that processes the first RF receive signal to produce a first main RF signal and a first diversity RF signal, wherein the first main RF signal represents data in accordance with the first radio access technology and the first diversity RF signal represents data in accordance with the second radio access technology;

a second signal amplifier that amplifies a second RF receive signal from the second antenna to create a second amplified RF receive signal; and

a second signal splitter that processes the second amplified RF receive signal to produce a second main RF signal and a second diversity RF signal, wherein the second main RF signal is in accordance with the second radio access technology and the second diversity RF signal is in accordance with the first radio access technology

wherein the RF processor further generates a first processed signal from the first main RF signal and the second diversity RF signal, generates a second processed signal from the second main RF signal and the first diversity RF signal, and aggregates first radio access technology data represented by the first processed signal and second radio access technology data represented by the second processed signal the second processed signal to create a data stream.

15. A method performed by a telecommunication device, comprising:

receiving uplink data to be transmitted to one or more wireless base stations;

simultaneously (a) transmitting a first transmit signal using a first antenna, and (b) transmitting a second transmit signal using a second antenna, wherein the first transmit signal represents a first portion of the uplink data in accordance with a first radio access technology and the second transmit signal represents a second portion of the uplink data in accordance with a second radio access technology;

receiving a first RF receive signal from the first antenna;

processing the first RF receive signal to produce a first main RF signal and a first diversity RF signal, wherein the first main RF signal represents first data in accordance with the first radio access technology and the first diversity RF signal represents second data in accordance with the second radio access technology;

receiving a second RF receive signal from the second antenna; and

processing the second RF receive signal to produce a second main RF signal and a second diversity RF signal, wherein the second main RF signal represents third data in accordance with the second radio access technology and the second diversity RF signal represents fourth data in accordance with the first radio access technology.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the first transmit signal has a first frequency;

and the second transmit signal has a second frequency;

the first antenna is tuned for the first frequency; and

the second antenna is tuned for the second frequency.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the first radio access technology comprises a 5th Generation (5G) radio access technology and the second radio access technology comprises a 4th Generation (4G) radio access technology.

18. The method of claim 15, the first RF signal representing downlink data in accordance with the first radio access technology.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising aggregating (a) the first data and the fourth data in accordance with the first radio access technology and (b) the second data and the third data in accordance with the second radio access technology, to create a data stream.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the processing the first RF receive signal and the processing the second RF receive signal are performed substantially simultaneously and the data stream comprises a downlink data stream.