FILTER CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENT

• US 20080136473A1
• Filed: 11/09/2007
• Published: 06/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Bollenbeck, Jan, Oppelt, Ralph
• Granted Patent: US 7,890,070 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 327/156
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 11/1291 Current or voltage controlled filters
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 3/185 with varactors, i.e. voltage variable reactive diodes

Abstract

A filter circuit arrangement for filtering of a radio-frequency signal has a first tunable filter and a phase regulation loop in order to hold the first tunable filter to a transmission phase constant relative to the frequency of the radio-frequency signal. The filter circuit arrangement has a second tunable filter arranged parallel to the first tunable filter in the phase regulation loop. The first tunable filter and the second tunable filter exhibit different attenuation characteristics and are fashioned and connected within the phase regulation loop so that: a capture range of the filter circuit arrangement, in which a tuning of the phase regulation loop to a radio-frequency signal to be filtered is possible is dominated by the attenuation characteristic of the second tunable filter, and so that the transmission behavior of the filter circuit arrangement in operation is dominated by the attenuation characteristic of the first tunable filter, given a tuned phase regulation loop. A circuit arrangement for generation of a local oscillator signal has an oscillation generator and a filter circuit arrangement as described above arranged downstream of the oscillation generator.

Claims

1. A filter circuit arrangement for filtering a radio-frequency signal having a frequency, comprising:

a first tunable filter having an attenuation characteristic;

a phase regulation loop that holds said first tunable filter to a transmission phase that is constant relative to the frequency of the radio-frequency signal;

a second tunable filter connected in parallel with the first tunable filter in the phase regulation loop, said second tunable filter having an attenuation characteristic that is different from the attenuation characteristic of the first tunable filter; and

said first tunable filter and said second tunable filter being connected within said phase regulation loop to cause a capture range of the filter circuit arrangement, in which tuning of the phase regulation loop to the radio-frequency signal is possible, to be dominated by the attenuation characteristic of the second tunable filter, and to cause a transmission behavior of the filter circuit arrangement to be dominated by the attenuation characteristic of the first tunable filter when the phase regulation loop is tuned to said radio-frequency signal.

2. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said first tunable filter has a narrower filter bandwidth than said second tunable filter.

3. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said attenuation characteristic of said first tunable filter has at least one attenuation notch.

4. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 3 wherein said at least one attenuation notch is in a range of a harmonic of a center frequency of the first tunable filter.

5. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 1 comprising a power splitter to which said input signal is fed that splits said input signal into a first partial signal for the first tunable filter, a second partial signal for the second tunable filter, and a third partial signal that is supplied to said phase regulation loop for use by said phase regulation loop as a reference value signal.

6. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 5 wherein each of said first tunable filter and said second tunable filter has an output, and comprising an adder element connected to the respective outputs of the first tunable filter and the second tunable filter, said adder element adding the respective outputs of said first and second tunable filters to form an adder element output, said adder element output forming a feedback signal within said phase regulation loop.

7. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 6 comprising an inverter supplied with said adder element output that inverts said feedback signal to form an inverted feedback signal;

a first frequency splitter connected downstream of said inverter that halves a frequency of said inverted feedback signal;

a second frequency splitter, that halves a frequency of said reference value signal, connected downstream of an output of the power splitter;

each of said first and second frequency splitters having an output; and

a multiplier element connected to the respective outputs of the first and second frequency splitters, which multiplies the halved inverted feedback signal and the halved reference value signal to generate a control signal for said first and second tunable filters.

8. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 7 comprising a switching element connected between the output of the second tunable filter and the adder element, and a detector circuit that controls said switching element by interrupting supply of the output signal of the second tunable filter to the adder element when said phase regulation loop is tuned.

9. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said first tunable filter comprises first resonators and wherein said second tunable filter comprises second resonators, said first resonators being substantially identical to said second resonators.

10. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said attenuation characteristic of said second tunable filter exhibits a stronger fundamental attenuation than said attenuation characteristic of said first tunable filter.

11. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of said first and second tunable filters comprises an oscillating circuit comprising an inductor and an adjustable capacitor connected to a control input of the respective first and second tunable filters.

12. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 11 wherein at least said second tunable filter comprises an ohmic resistor connected in parallel with said inductor and said adjustable capacitor in said oscillating circuit.

13. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 11 comprising, in each oscillating circuit, at least one inductor connected in series with the adjustable capacitor to produce an attenuation notch in the attenuation characteristic for the respective first and second tunable filters.

14. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 11 wherein at least one of said first and second tunable filters comprises a decoupled buffer amplifier connected at an input side preceding the oscillating circuit and at an output side following the oscillating circuit.

15. A filter circuit arrangement as claimed in claim 11 wherein the oscillating circuit of at least one of said first and second tunable filters comprises a plurality of cascaded oscillating circuits.

16. A circuit arrangement for generating a local oscillator signal comprising:

an oscillator generator that generates a radio-frequency signal; and

a filter circuit arrangement that filters said radio-frequency signal, said filter circuit arrangement comprising a first tunable filter having an attenuation characteristic, a phase regulation loop that holds said first tunable filter to a transmission phase that is constant relative to the frequency of the radio-frequency signal, a second tunable filter connected in parallel with the first tunable filter in the phase regulation loop, said second tunable filter having an attenuation characteristic that is different from the attenuation characteristic of the first tunable filter, and said first tunable filter and said second tunable filter being connected within said phase regulation loop to cause a capture range of the filter circuit arrangement, in which tuning of the phase regulation loop to the radio-frequency signal is possible, to be dominated by the attenuation characteristic of the second tunable filter, and to cause a transmission behavior of the filter circuit arrangement to be dominated by the attenuation characteristic of the first tunable filter when the phase regulation loop is tuned to said radio-frequency signal, and, said filter circuit arrangement having an output connected to said first and second tunable filters at which a local oscillator signal is emitted that is generated by said first and second tunable filters from said radio-frequency signal.