CONFIGURABLE RF SECTIONS FOR RECEIVER AND TRANSMITTER AND METHODS FOR USE THEREWITH

• US 20100136922A1
• Filed: 12/02/2008
• Published: 06/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rofougaran, Ahmadreza (Reza)
• Granted Patent: US 8,121,557 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0057 using diplexing or multiplexing filters for selecting the desired band
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0483 Transmitters with multiple parallel paths
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/16 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/44 Transmit/receive switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0871 using different reception schemes, at least one of them being a diversity reception scheme

Abstract

A transceiver includes an RF receiver section having a plurality of RF receiver stages configured in parallel, and a configurable RF transmitter section. The plurality of RF receiver stages are selectively enabled in response to a control signal. The configurable RF transmitter section is configured to operate in one of: a mixed signal mode of operation and a phase modulation mode of operation, in response to the control signal.

Claims

1. A configurable receiver comprising:

an RF receiver section that generates at least one downconverted signal from at least one received RF signal, wherein the RF receiver section includes a plurality of RF receiver stages configured in parallel, and wherein each of the plurality of RF receiver stages is can be selectively enabled in response to a control signal; and

a receiver processing module, coupled to the RF receiver section, that processes at least one downconverted signal to produce a stream of inbound data.

2. The configurable receiver of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of antennas, coupled to the RF receiver section for generating the at least one received RF signal;

wherein the plurality of antennas and the RF receiver section are configurable in response to the control signal to a selected one of a plurality of antenna modes, wherein the plurality of antenna modes includes at least one of;

a single input single output mode, a multi-input single output mode, a single input multi-output mode and a multi-input multi-output mode.

3. The configurable receiver of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of RF receiver stages includes a blocking circuit that can be selectively engaged in response to the control signal to provide interference blocking.

4. The configurable receiver of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of RF receiver stages includes a blocking circuit that can be selectively engaged in response to the control signal to provide interference blocking.

5. The configurable receiver of claim 1, the RF receiver section includes a plurality of down conversion modules, and the RF receiver section is configurable, in response to the control signal, to generate a plurality of downconverted signals from a plurality of RF signals.

6. The configurable receiver of claim 1 wherein the receiver processing module, processes the at least one downconverted signal in a plurality of receiver stages to produce a stream of inbound data, and wherein the receiver processing module is configurable in response to a control signal to selectively bypass at least one of the plurality of processing stages.

7. A configurable transmitter comprising:

a transmitter processing module that processes outbound data to produce at least one baseband signal; and

an RF transmitter section, coupled to the transmitter processing module, that generates at least one RF signal from the at least one baseband signal, wherein the RF transmitter section is configurable to operate in a mixed signal mode of operation and a phase modulation mode of operation, in response to a control signal.

8. The configurable transmitter of claim 7 wherein the RF transmitter module includes:

a phase modulation up converter for upconverting the at least one baseband signal in a phase modulation mode of operation; and

a mixed signal up conversion module for upconverting the at least one baseband signal in a mixed signal mode of operation.

9. The configurable transmitter of claim 7 further comprising

a plurality of antennas, coupled to the RF transmitter section for transmitting the at least one RF signal;

wherein the plurality of antennas and the RF transmitter section are configurable in response to the control signal to a selected one of a plurality of antenna modes, wherein the plurality of antenna modes includes at least one of;

a single input single output mode, a multi-input single output mode, a single input multi-output mode and a multi-input multi-output mode.

10. The configurable transmitter of claim 7 further comprising

a plurality of antennas, coupled to the RF transmitter section for transmitting the at least one RF signal;

wherein the RF transmitter section includes a beamforming stage for generating a plurality of beamformed upconverted signals for the corresponding plurality of antennas.

11. The configurable transmitter of claim 7 wherein the RF transmitter section includes a plurality of power amplifier stages configured in parallel, and wherein each of the plurality of power amplifier stages can be selectively bypassed in response to the control signal for low power operation.

12. The configurable transmitter of claim 11 wherein the plurality of power amplifier stages each include a linear power amplifier and a nonlinear power amplifier, and wherein the linear power amplifier and the nonlinear power amplifier are independently selectable.

13. The configurable transmitter of claim 11 wherein the plurality of processing stages wherein the plurality of power amplifier stages each include a polar amplifier that operates based on the baseband signal.

14. A method for use in a transceiver that includes an RF receiver section having a plurality of RF receiver stages configured in parallel, and a configurable RF transmitter section, the method comprising

selectively enabling the plurality of RF receiver stages, in response to a control signal;

and

configuring the configurable RF transmitter section to operate in one of;

a mixed signal mode of operation and a phase modulation mode of operation, in response to the control signal.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

configuring a plurality of antennas coupled to the RF receiver section and the RF transmitter section in response to the control signal to a selected one of a plurality of antenna modes, wherein the plurality of antenna modes includes at least one of;

a single input single output mode, a multi-input single output mode, a single input multi-output mode and a multi-input multi-output mode.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

selectively enabling a beamforming stage for generating a plurality of beamformed upconverted signals for the corresponding plurality of antennas.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

selectively enabling interference blocking in at least one of the plurality of RF receiver stages.

18. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

selecting one of a plurality of power amplification modes, the plurality power amplification modes including a linear power amplification and a nonlinear power amplification.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the plurality power amplification modes further include a low power mode.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the plurality power amplification modes further include a polar power amplification mode.