ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING TRANSMISSION POWER

• US 20160277044A1
• Filed: 03/16/2016
• Published: 09/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: SONG, Seongjun, Jo, Kyunghwan, Song, Youngseok, Park, Sungchul
• Granted Patent: US 10,097,215 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/30 Modifications of amplifiers to reduce influence of variations of temperature or supply voltage or other physical parameters in differential amplifiers H03F3/45479
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/447 the amplifier being protected to temperature influence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/451 the amplifier being a radio frequency amplifier
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/468 the temperature being sensed
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/19 with semiconductor devices only
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/245 with semiconductor devices only
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/04 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/0416 having gain or transmission power control
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A transmission power control method and an electronic device capable of adjusting a bias of a power amplifier are provided. The electronic device includes: a temperature sensor; a power amplifier (PA); and a controller configured to monitor signals from the temperature sensor, determine a bias value for the PA, based on the monitored signals, and control the PA to amplify a signal for transmission based on the determined bias value.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a temperature sensor;

a power amplifier (PA); and

a controller configured to monitor signals from the temperature sensor, determine a bias value for the PA, based on the monitored signals, and control the PA to amplify a signal for transmission based on the determined bias value.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the controller is further to receive information regarding a transmission level via the transceiver;

and determine the bias value used the PA, based on the monitored signals, when a transmission power determined using the information regarding the transmission level is less than a preset threshold value.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to determine a transmission power output from the PA, and determine the bias value for the PA, based on the monitored signals, when the determined transmission power is less than a preset threshold value.

5. An electronic device comprising:

a temperature sensor;

a radio frequency (RF) process module configured to convert an input signal into an RF signal;

a power amplifier (PA) configured to amplify the RF signal transferred from the RF process module; and

a controller configured to

determine a transmission level for a transmission signal,

measure a temperature via the temperature sensor, when the determined transmission level is less than or equal to a threshold level,

select a bias value for the PA, based on the measured temperature, and

control the PA to amplify according to the selected bias value.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the controller comprises at least one of an application processor and a communication processor.

7. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the controller is further configured to select the bias value using a temperature-based compensation table including bias values that vary according to temperature intervals, to maintain an amplification gain according to a temperature change.

8. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the controller is further configured to select, when the determined transmission level is greater than a threshold level, a single value corresponding to the determined transmission level as the bias value, and drive the PA with the selected bias value.

9. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the controller is further configured to

measure an offset condition,

adjust the selected bias value, based on a condition value determined based on the measured offset condition, and

drive the PA with the adjusted bias value.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the offset condition comprises at least one of a battery status, a received signal status, a direct current (DC)-DC voltage, transmission feedback power, and a PA load.

11. The electronic device of claim 5, further comprising a coupler configured to couple a signal output from the PA,

wherein the controller is further configured to

measure feedback power output from the coupler.

compare a transmission output power that is set corresponding to the transmission level with the measured feedback power,

vary the selected bias value, when an error range of a result of the comparing is greater than or equal to a threshold value, and

maintain the selected bias value when the error range is less than a threshold value.

12. The electronic device of claim 5, further comprising an antenna configured to transmit the amplified RF signal.

13. A method of controlling transmission power, the method comprising:

determining a temperature surrounding a power amplifier (PA);

selecting a bias value for the PA based on the determined temperature; and

controlling the PA based on the selected bias value.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein selecting the bias value comprises selecting the bias value from a temperature-based compensation table.

15. A method of controlling transmission power, the method comprising:

determining a transmission level for a transmission signal;

measuring a surrounding temperature a power amplifier (PA), when the determined transmission level is less than or equal to a threshold level;

selecting a bias value for the PA, based on the measured surrounding temperature; and

controlling the PA to amplify the transmission signal based on the selected bias value.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting the bias value comprises selecting a bias value mapped to the surrounding measured temperature, in a temperature-based compensation table including various bias values vary mapped to various temperature intervals.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising selecting, when the determined transmission level is greater than the threshold level, a bias value corresponding to the determined transmission level.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

measuring an offset condition;

determining an offset condition value based on the measured offset condition;

varying the selected bias value based on the determined offset condition value; and

driving the PA with the varied bias value.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting the bias value comprises:

measuring an offset condition; and

selecting a bias value, based on the measured offset condition and the measured surrounding temperature, from an offset table to which bias values according to offset conditions are reflected.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

measuring feedback power output from the PA;

comparing a transmission output power corresponding to the determined transmission level with the measured feedback power;

varying the selected bias value, when an error range of a result of the comparing is greater than or equal to a threshold value; and

maintaining the selected bias value, when the error range is less than a threshold value.