Amplifier apparatus

• US 20060245517A1
• Filed: 07/23/2004
• Published: 11/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ikedo, Taichi, Arayashiki, Mamoru
• Application Number:
  US10/565,369
• Publication Number:
  US 20060245517A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/297
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/0222 by using a signal derived from the input signal
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/0233 by using a signal derived from the output signal, e.g. bootstrapping the voltage supply
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/331 Sigma delta modulation being used in an amplifying circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/504 the supply voltage or current being continuously controlled by a controlling signal, e.g. the controlling signal of a transistor implemented as variable resistor in a supply path for, an IC-block showed amplifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0483 Transmitters with multiple parallel paths

Abstract

A power supply voltage control section 200 is provided with an adder 11 that adds together a baseband amplitude modulation signal 101 and a negative feedback signal, an integrator 12 that integrates the output of adder 11, a quantizer 13 that quantizes the output of integrator 12, and a low pass filter 14 that eliminates quantization noise from the output of quantizer 13, together with a compensator 15 that has an inverse characteristic of low pass filter 14 or a characteristic approximating thereto and performs compensation of the feedback amount of the negative feedback signal.

Claims

1. An amplification apparatus that has a nonlinear high-frequency power amplifier that amplifies a first input signal;

and a power supply voltage control section that forms a control signal for controlling a power supply voltage of said high-frequency amplifier based on a second input signal; and

that amplifies a signal level of said first input signal by means of said high-frequency power amplifier to a level in accordance with said second input signal,

wherein said power supply voltage control section comprises;

an adder that adds together said second input signal and a negative feedback signal;

an integrator that integrates output of said adder;

a quantizer that quantizes output of said integrator in accordance with a predetermined threshold value;

a low pass filter that eliminates quantization noise from output of said quantizer; and

a compensator that has an inverse characteristic of said low pass filter or a characteristic approximating thereto and performs compensation of a feedback amount of said negative feedback signal.

2. The amplification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said compensator is provided within a negative feedback loop from said low pass filter toward said adder, and performs compensation and feedback of part of output of said low pass filter.

3. The amplification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said compensator is provided within a main loop from said adder toward said low pass filter, and performs compensation of part of output of said adder.

4. The amplification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

said power supply voltage control section further comprises a detector that extracts said second input signal component from output of said high-frequency power amplification section; and

said compensator performs compensation and feedback of part of output of said detector.

5. The amplification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said quantizer is configured as a polyphase quantizer having a plurality of quantizers.

6. The amplification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

said power supply voltage control section further comprises an input selection section that selectively inputs either said second input signal or a fixed voltage; and

operation of said power supply voltage control section is switched between operation as a class D amplifier and operation as a DC-DC converter in accordance with input switching of said input selection section.

7. The amplification apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said high-frequency power amplification section has a switching operation mode and a linear operation mode, and executes linear operation mode when said power supply voltage control section operates as a DC-DC converter.

8. The amplification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

said power supply voltage control section further comprises an AD converter that converts analog output of said low pass filter to a digital signal;

said compensator performs compensation and feedback of part of output of said AD converter; and

said adder, said integrator, said quantizer, and said compensator are configured as digital circuits.

9. The amplification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

said power supply voltage control section comprises a variable attenuator that has an attenuation factor varying function in a negative feedback loop from said low pass filter toward said adder; and

said quantizer is configured as a variable-output quantizer that has an output level varying function, and operates so that a product of an output level of said variable-output quantizer and an attenuation factor of said variable attenuator is constant.

10. The amplification apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said variable-output quantizer comprises an output transistor switch and a power supply regulator, and varies a power supply voltage of said output transistor switch by means of said power supply regulator.

11. The amplification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

said amplification apparatus is provided in a polar modulation transmitter;

said first information signal is a phase modulation high-frequency signal in which a carrier frequency is modulated by a phase modulation signal of a baseband modulation signal; and

said second input signal is an amplitude modulation signal of said baseband modulation signal.