Multi-mode satellite and terrestrial communication device

• US 20020177465A1
• Filed: 05/03/2002
• Published: 11/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Robinett, Robert L.
• Granted Patent: US 6,714,760 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/552.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/005 adapting radio receivers, transmitters andtransceivers for operation on two or more bands, i.e. frequency ranges
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/406 with more than one transmission mode, e.g. analog and digital modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18563 Arrangements for interconnecting multiple systems data switching networks H04L12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

The present invention provides a multiple band mobile radio (also referred to as a Wireless Communication Device (WCD)) capable of communicating with both a satellite communication system and a terrestrial communication system. The satellite communication system can be, for example, a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite system. The terrestrial communication system can be a Personal Communication System (PCS), or a cellular system, including either an analog or a digitally based cellular system. The cellular analog system can be AMPS. The digitally based cellular system can be a CDMA or a TDMA based communication system. The WCD can concurrently receive signals from the terrestrial communication system and the satellite communication system.

Claims

1. A multi-mode Wireless Communication Device (WCD) for communicating with a satellite communication system and a terrestrial communication system, comprising:

a satellite transmit channel to produce a satellite Radio Frequency (RF) transmit signal to be transmitted to at least one satellite of the satellite communication system;

a satellite receive channel to receive and process an RF signal transmitted by the satellite;

a terrestrial transmit channel to produce a terrestrial RF transmit signal to be transmitted to the terrestrial communication system; and

a terrestrial receive channel to receive and process an RF signal transmitted by the terrestrial communication system.

2. The WCD of claim 1, wherein the satellite communication system includes a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communication system, the satellite RF transmit signal transmitted to the satellite having a frequency corresponding to the LEO satellite communication frequency transmit band for a LEO satellite communication system Earth terminal, the RF signal transmitted by the satellite and received by the WCD satellite receive channel having a frequency compatible with the LEO satellite communication system frequency receive band for the LEO satellite communication system Earth terminal.

3. The WCD of claim 1, wherein the terrestrial communication system comprises one of an analog cellular communication system and a digital cellular communication system, the terrestrial RF transmit signal having a frequency corresponding to the cellular frequency transmit band for a cellular mobile transceiver, the RF signal transmitted by the cellular communication system having a frequency corresponding to the cellular frequency receive band for the cellular mobile transceiver.

4. The WCD of claim 1, wherein the terrestrial communication system comprises a Personal Communications Service (PCS) system, the terrestrial RF transmit signal having a frequency corresponding to a PCS frequency transmit band for a PCS mobile transceiver, the RF signal transmitted by the PCS system having a frequency corresponding to a PCS frequency receive band for the PCS mobile transceiver.

5. The WCD of claim 1, wherein each of the satellite and terrestrial transmit channels comprises:

an Intermediate Frequency (IF) section;

a frequency up-converter following the IF section; and

a Radio Frequency (RF) section following the frequency up-converter;

6. The WCD of claim 5, wherein the satellite and the terrestrial transmit channel IF sections share a common transmit IF path.

7. The WCD of claim 6, wherein the satellite and the terrestrial transmit channel up-converters are a common dual-band mixer shared between the satellite and terrestrial transmit channels to frequency up-convert a transmit IF signal produced by the common transmit IF path to one of:

a satellite RF signal having a frequency corresponding to the satellite communication system; and

a terrestrial RF signal having a frequency corresponding to the terrestrial communication system.

8. The WCD of claim 7, further comprising a Local Oscillator (LO) to provide an LO signal to an LO input of the common mixer.

9. The WCD of claim 7, wherein:

the satellite transmit channel RF section comprises a satellite RF path;

the terrestrial transmit channel RF section comprises a terrestrial RF path separate from the satellite RF path; and

the satellite and the terrestrial transmit channels comprise a first common routing mechanism, following the common mixer to selectively route satellite and terrestrial RF signals from the common mixer to the satellite and terrestrial separate RF paths, respectively.

10. The WCD of claim 9, wherein the satellite and the terrestrial channels further comprise:

a second common routing mechanism to route RF signals from the separate satellite and terrestrial RF paths, respectively, to an output of the second common routing mechanism; and

a common dual-band power amplifier following the second common routing mechanism output, to power amplify the RF signals routed to the common power amplifier.

11. The WCD of claim 10, further comprising a common routing mechanism following the common power amplifier to selectively route a power amplified RF signal produced by the common power amplifier to either of a satellite antenna and a terrestrial antenna.

12. The WCD of claim 6, wherein the satellite frequency up-converter is a mixer and the terrestrial frequency up-converter is a mixer separate from the satellite mixer, the satellite and terrestrial channels further comprise a common signal routing mechanism following the common transmit IF path to selectively route

a satellite IF signal from the common IF to the satellite transmit channel mixer, and

a terrestrial IF signal from the common 1F to the terrestrial transmit channel mixer.

13. The WCD of claim 12, further comprising a dual-band Local Oscillator (LO) to provide an LO signal to an LO input of each of the satellite and terrestrial transmit channel mixers.

14. The WCD of claim 12, wherein the satellite and terrestrial RF sections are separate from one another, and each comprises a power amplifier to provide power amplified RF signals to a respective satellite and terrestrial antenna.

15. The WCD of claim 7, wherein the satellite and terrestrial transmit channels further comprise a baseband mixer to frequency up-convert a transmit baseband signal to an IF signal, and to provide the IF signal to the common transmit IF path.

16. The WCD of claim 1, wherein each of the satellite and the terrestrial receive channels comprises:

an RF section;

a frequency down-converter following the RF section; and

an Intermediate Frequency (IF) section following the frequency down-converter.

17. The WCD of claim 16, wherein the satellite and the terrestrial receive channel IF sections share a common receive IF path.

18. The WCD of claim 17, wherein the satellite and the terrestrial receive channel frequency down-converters are a common mixer shared between the satellite and terrestrial receive channels, the satellite and the terrestrial receive channels further comprising a common RF routing mechanism preceding the common mixer to route a received RF signal from the satellite receive channel RF section and a received RF signal from the terrestrial receive channel RF section to a common output of the RF routing mechanism.

19. The WCD of claim 17, further comprising a Local Oscillator (LO) to provide an LO signal to an LO input of the common mixer.

20. The WCD of claim 18, wherein the common RF routing mechanism comprises one of an RF switch, an RF power combiner, and an RF frequency selective diplexer.

21. The WCD of claim 20, wherein

the satellite receive channel IF section comprises a satellite receive IF path, and

the terrestrial receive channel IF section comprises a terrestrial receive IF path separate from the satellite receive IF path, the satellite and terrestrial receive channels further comprising a common first IF routing mechanism following the common mixer to selectively route an IF signal from the common mixer to:

(a) the satellite IF signal path when the IF signal corresponds to a received satellite signal, and

(b) the terrestrial IF signal path when the IF signal corresponds to a received terrestrial signal.

22. The WCD of claim 21, wherein the satellite and terrestrial receive channels further comprise a second common IF routing mechanism following the satellite and terrestrial separate IF paths to route an IF signal from either of the satellite and terrestrial separate IF paths to the common received IF path.

23. The WCD of claim 22, wherein each of the common first and second IF routing mechanisms comprises one of an IF switch and a frequency selective diplexer.

24. The WCD of claim 17, wherein the satellite and terrestrial receive channel frequency down-converters comprise separate mixers, the satellite receive channel IF section comprises a satellite IF path between the satellite channel mixer and the common receive IF path, the terrestrial receive channel IF section comprises a terrestrial IF path between the terrestrial channel mixer and the common receive IF path and separate from the satellite IF path.

25. The WCD of claim 24, wherein the satellite and the terrestrial receive channels further comprise a common IF routing mechanism to route IF signals from the separate satellite and terrestrial IF paths respectively to the common receive IF path.

26. The WCD of claim 1, wherein each of the satellite and terrestrial transmit channels comprise:

a transmit Intermediate Frequency (IF) section;

a frequency up-converter following the IF section; and

a transmit Radio Frequency (RF) section following the frequency up-converter, wherein

the satellite and terrestrial transmit IF sections share a common transmit IF path; and

wherein each of the satellite and terrestrial receive channels comprises;

a receive RF section;

a frequency down-converter following the RF section; and

a receive IF section following the frequency down-converter, wherein the satellite and terrestrial receive IF sections share a common receive IF path.

27. The WCD of claim 1, wherein the terrestrial communication system comprises one or more terrestrial communication systems capable of transmitting a first signal modulated using a digital modulation technique and a second signal modulated using an analog modulation technique, the terrestrial receive channel comprising:

a first sub-channel to receive the first signal modulated using the digital modulation technique; and

a second sub-channel to receive the second signal modulated using the analog modulation technique.

28. The WCD of claim 27, further comprising a routing mechanism to selectively route the first signal to the first sub-channel and the second signal to the second sub-channel.

29. The WCD of claim 27, wherein each of the first and second sub-channels comprises:

an RF section;

a frequency down-converter following the RF section; and

an Intermediate Frequency (IF) section following the frequency down-converter.

30. A method for communicating with a satellite communication system and a terrestrial communication system, comprising:

producing a satellite Radio Frequency (RF) transmit signal to be transmitted to at least one satellite of the satellite communication system;

receiving and processing an RF signal transmitted by the satellite;

producing a terrestrial RF transmit signal to be transmitted to the terrestrial communication system; and

receiving and processing an RF signal transmitted by the terrestrial communication system.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein each of the satellite and the terrestrial receive channels comprises:

an RF section;

a frequency down-converter following the RF section; and

an Intermediate Frequency (IF) section following the frequency down-converter.

31. A method for communicating with a satellite communication system and a terrestrial communication system, comprising:

producing a satellite Radio Frequency (RF) transmit signal to be transmitted to at least one satellite of the satellite communication system over a satellite transmit channel;

receiving and processing an RF signal transmitted by the satellite over a satellite receive channel;

producing a terrestrial RF transmit signal to be transmitted to the terrestrial communication system over a terrestrial transmit channel; and

receiving and processing an RF signal transmitted by the terrestrial communication system over a terrestrial receive channel.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the satellite and the terrestrial transmit and receive channels comprise:

transferring signals over a common routing mechanism to route RF signals arriving over separate satellite and terrestrial RF paths, respectively, to an output of the common routing mechanism; and

inputting an output of the common routing mechanism into a common dual-band power amplifier, and amplifying the RF signals.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising a common routing mechanism following the common power amplifier to selectively route a power amplified RF signal produced by the common power amplifier to either of a satellite antenna and a terrestrial antenna.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the satellite and the terrestrial receive channel IF sections share a common receive IF path.

36. The method of claim 35, comprising performing frequency down-conversion by transferring the satellite and the terrestrial receive channel signals through a common mixer shared between satellite and terrestrial receive channels;

37. The method of claim 36, comprising, transferring satellite and the terrestrial receive channel signals through a common RF routing mechanism preceding the common mixer so as to route a received RF signal from the satellite receive channel RF section and a received RF signal from the terrestrial receive channel RF section to a common output of the RF routing mechanism.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising proving an output from a Local Oscillator to an LO input of the common mixer.

39. Apparatus for communicating with a satellite communication system and a terrestrial communication system, comprising:

means for producing a satellite Radio Frequency (RF) transmit signal to be transmitted to at least one satellite of the satellite communication system;

means for receiving and processing an RF signal transmitted by the satellite;

means for producing a terrestrial RF transmit signal to be transmitted to the terrestrial communication system; and

means for receiving and processing an RF signal transmitted by the terrestrial communication system.

40. Apparatus for communicating with a satellite communication system and a terrestrial communication system, comprising:

means for producing a satellite Radio Frequency (RF) transmit signal to be transmitted to at least one satellite of the satellite communication system over a satellite transmit channel;

means for receiving and processing an RF signal transmitted by the satellite over a satellite receive channel;

means for producing a terrestrial RF transmit signal to be transmitted to the terrestrial communication system over a terrestrial transmit channel; and

means for receiving and processing an RF signal transmitted by the terrestrial communication system over a terrestrial receive channel.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the satellite and the terrestrial transmit and receive channels comprise:

means for transferring signals over a common routing mechanism to route RF signals arriving over separate satellite and terrestrial RF paths, respectively, to an output of the common routing mechanism; and

means for inputting an output of the common routing mechanism into a common dual-band power amplifier, and amplifying the RF signals.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the satellite and the terrestrial transmit and receive channels comprise:

means for transferring signals over a common routing mechanism to route RF signals arriving over separate satellite and terrestrial RF paths, respectively, to an output of the common routing mechanism; and

means for inputting an output of the common routing mechanism into a common dual-band power amplifier, and amplifying the RF signals.