SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CORRECTING INTEGRAL NONLINEARITY IN AN OSCILLATOR SYSTEM

• US 20140378073A1
• Filed: 09/05/2014
• Published: 12/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel IP Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Harnishfeger, David, Kaufman, Kris K.
• Granted Patent: US 9,106,327 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/75
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 1/0008 using a central processing unit, e.g. a microprocessor digital tuning in general H03J5/0245
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 2200/05 Alignment of transmitter with a receiver, after fabrication
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 2200/09 Calibration of oscillator in receiver, using an external carrier frequency as reference
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/40 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/405 with multiple discrete channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/11 for calibration

Abstract

A method may include measuring a frequency difference between an actual frequency and an expected frequency associated with a frequency control calibration signal value for each of a plurality of frequency control calibration signal values during a calibration phase. The method may additionally include generating integral non-linearity compensation values based on the frequency differences measured. The method may further include generating the applied frequency control signal based on a frequency control calibration signal value received by the digital-to-analog converter during the calibration phase. The method may also include generating a compensated frequency control signal value based on a frequency control signal value received by the integral non-linearity compensation module and an integral non-linearity compensation value associated with the frequency control signal value during an operation phase of the wireless communication element.

Claims

1. A wireless communication element, comprising:

a receive path configured to receive a first wireless communication signal and convert the first wireless communication signal into a first digital signal based at least on an oscillator signal;

a transmit path configured to convert a second digital signal into a second wireless communication signal based at least on the oscillator signal and transmit the second wireless communication signal;

an oscillator configured to output the oscillator signal to at least one of the receive path and the transmit path, the oscillator configured to operate at an operating frequency based on an applied frequency control signal; and

a frequency control path configured to generate the applied frequency control signal, the frequency control path comprising;

a frequency estimator configured to, for each of a plurality of frequency control calibration signal values, estimate an actual frequency of the first digital signal;

an integral non-linearity detector configured to;

for each of the plurality of frequency control calibration signal values, measure a frequency difference between the actual frequency and an expected frequency associated with the frequency control calibration signal value; and

based on the frequency differences measured for the plurality of frequency control calibration signal values, generate integral non-linearity compensation values, each integral non-linearity compensation value associated with a corresponding frequency control signal value; and

a digital-to-analog converter configured to generate the applied frequency control signal based on a frequency control calibration signal value received by the digital-to-analog converter.

2. The wireless communication element of claim 1, further comprising an integral non-linearity compensation module configure to store the integral non-linearity compensation values in a table.

3. The wireless communication element of claim 2, wherein the table is configured to include the stored integral non-linearity compensation values and corresponding frequency control signal values.

4. The wireless communication element of claim 1, wherein the corresponding frequency control signal value is an automatic frequency control code.

5. The wireless communication element of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of frequency control calibration signal values is an automatic frequency control code.

6. A method comprising:

estimating an actual frequency of a digital receiver signal for each of a plurality of frequency control calibration signal values during a calibration phase of a wireless communication element;

measuring a frequency difference between the actual frequency and an expected frequency associated with the frequency control calibration signal value for each of the plurality of frequency control calibration signal values during the calibration phase;

generating integral non-linearity compensation values based on the frequency differences measured for the plurality of frequency control calibration signal values during the calibration phase, each integral non-linearity compensation value associated with a corresponding frequency control signal value; and

generating the applied frequency control signal based on a frequency control calibration signal value received by the digital-to-analog converter during the calibration phase.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising storing the integral non-linearity compensation values.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein storing the integral non-linearity compensation values comprises storing the integral non-linearity compensation values in a table with corresponding frequency control signal values.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the corresponding frequency control signal value is an automatic frequency control code.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the plurality of frequency control calibration signal values is an automatic frequency control code.

11. A wireless communication element, comprising:

a receive path configured to receive a first wireless communication signal and convert the first wireless communication signal into a first digital signal based at least on an oscillator signal;

a transmit path configured to convert a second digital signal into a second wireless communication signal based at least on the oscillator signal and transmit the second wireless communication signal;

an oscillator configured to output the oscillator signal to at least one of the receive path and the transmit path, the oscillator configured to operate at an operating frequency based on an applied frequency control signal; and

a frequency control path configured to generate the applied frequency control signal, the frequency control path comprising;

an integral non-linearity compensation module configured to generate a compensated frequency control signal value based on a received frequency control signal value received by the integral non-linearity compensation module and an integral non-linearity compensation value associated with the received frequency control signal value; and

a digital-to-analog converter configured to generate the applied frequency control signal based on the compensated frequency control signal value generated by the integral non-linearity compensation module.

12. The wireless communication element of claim 11, wherein the integral non-linearity compensation module is further configured to read the integral non-linearity compensation value from a table.

13. The wireless communication element of claim 12, wherein the table comprises the integral non-linearity compensation value and a corresponding stored frequency control signal value.

14. The wireless communication element of claim 11, wherein the received frequency control signal value is an automatic frequency control code.

15. The wireless communication element of claim 11, wherein the compensated frequency control signal value is an automatic frequency control code.

16. A method comprising:

generating a compensated frequency control signal value based on a frequency control signal value received by the integral non-linearity compensation module and an integral non-linearity compensation value associated with the frequency control signal value during an operation phase of the wireless communication element; and

generating the applied frequency control signal based on the compensated frequency control signal value generated by the integral non-linearity compensation module during the operation phase.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising reading the integral non-linearity compensation values from a table.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the table comprises the integral non-linearity compensation value and a corresponding stored frequency control signal value.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the frequency control signal value is an automatic frequency control code.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the compensated frequency control signal value is an automatic frequency control code.