Low power distributed transmitter

• US 7,184,490 B1
• Filed: 12/18/2001
• Issued: 02/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: VIXS Systems Incorporated (Pixelworks Incorporated), VIXS Incorporated
• Original Assignee: VIXS Systems Incorporated (Pixelworks Incorporated)
• Inventors: Markison, Timothy, Rybicki, Mathew, Cave, Michael, May, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): TSE, YOUNG TOI
• Application Number:
  US10/026,130
• Time in Patent Office: 1,897 Days
• Field of Search: 375/260, 375/267, 375/295, 375/297, 375/146, 375/219, 375/222, 455/13.4, 455/101, 455/103, 370/208, 370/210, 330/124.R, 330/149
• US Class Current: 375/297
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/0205 in transistor amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/0277 Selecting one or more amplifiers from a plurality of amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/336 A I/Q, i.e. phase quadrature, modulator or demodulator being used in an amplifying circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/451 the amplifier being a radio frequency amplifier
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2203/21112 A filter circuit being added at the input of a power amplifier stage
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2203/7236 the gated amplifier being switched on or off by putting into parallel or not, by choosing between amplifiers by (a ) switch(es)
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/211 using a combination of several amplifiers H03F3/60 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/24 of transmitter output stages
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/602 Combinations of several amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/72 Gated amplifiers, i.e. amplifiers which are rendered operative or inoperative by means of a control signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2601 Multicarrier modulation systems

Abstract

A low power distributed transmitter includes a signal generator, signal partitioning module, signal processing module, a plurality of amplifiers, and a transmitting module. The signal generator is operably coupled to generate a signal to represent base-band data in accordance with a particular transmission protocol. The signal partitioning module is operably coupled to partition the signal into a plurality of signal partitions based on a peak-to-average ratio of the signal. The signal processing module processes the plurality of signal partitions to in accordance with the particular transmission protocol to produce processed signals. Each of the amplifiers amplifies a corresponding one of the processed signal partitions to produce amplified signal partitioned. The transmitting module transmits, via an antenna or a plurality of antennas, the amplified signal partitions as a composite amplified signal.

Claims

1. A low power transmitter comprises:

a signal generator operably coupled to generate a signal to represent data based on a first aspect of a transmission protocol, wherein the signal generator includes;

a symbol generator operably coupled to produce symbols that represent the data in a frequency domain based on the first aspect of the transmission protocol;

a frequency-to-time conversion module operably coupled to convert the symbols into a time domain signal; and

a filtering module operably coupled to filter the time domain signal to produce the signal, wherein the transmission protocol includes at least one of;

orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature shift keying (QPSK), quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and discrete multi-tone (DMT);

a signal partitioning module operably coupled to partition the signal based on peak-to-average ratio of the signal to produce a plurality of signal partitions, wherein the signal partitioning module includes;

a signal slicing module operably coupled to produce the plurality of signal partitions based on magnitude of the signal, wherein the signal slicing module slices the signal at a first level to produce a first signal partition of the plurality of signal partitions, and wherein the signal slicing module slices the signal between the first level and a second level to produce a second signal partition of the plurality of signal partitions;

a signal processing module operably coupled to process each of the plurality of signal partitions based on a second aspect of the transmission protocol to produce a plurality of processed signal partitions, wherein the signal processing module includes;

a first digital to analog converter operably coupled to convert the first signal partition into a first analog signal;

a second digital to analog converter operably coupled to convert the second signal partition into a second analog signal;

a first RF up-conversion section operably coupled to convert the first analog signal into a first RF signal; and

a second RF up-conversion section operably coupled to convert the second analog signal into a second RF signal;

a plurality of amplifiers, wherein each of the plurality of the amplifiers amplifies a corresponding one of the plurality of processed signal partitions to produce a plurality of amplified signal partitions; and

a transmitting module operably coupled to transmit the plurality of amplified signal partitions as a composite amplified signal.

2. The low power transmitter of claim 1, wherein the transmitting module comprises:

a summing module operably coupled to sum the plurality of amplified signal partitions to produce a transmission signal; and

an antenna operably coupled to transmit, as the composite amplified signal, the transmission signal.

3. The low power transmitter of claim 1, wherein:

the first signal partition including an in-phase (I) component and a quadrature (Q) component;

the second signal partition including an I component and a Q component;

the first digital to analog converter including;

a first I digital to analog conversion module operably coupled to convert the I component of the first signal partition into an I component of the first analog signal;

a first Q digital to analog conversion module operably coupled to convert the Q component of the first signal partition into a Q component of the first analog signal;

the second digital to analog converter including;

a second I digital to analog conversion module operably coupled to convert the I component of the second signal partition into an I component of the second analog signal;

a second Q digital to analog conversion module operably coupled to convert the Q component of the second signal partition into a Q component of the second analog signal.

4. The low power transmitter of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of amplifiers comprises:

a Class A power amplifier having a selected output impedance.

5. A low power transmitter comprises:

a signal generator operably coupled to generate a signal to represent data based on a first aspect of a transmission protocol, wherein the signal generator includes;

a symbol generator operably coupled to produce symbols that represent the data in a frequency domain based on the first aspect of the transmission protocol;

a frequency-to-time conversion module operably coupled to convert the symbols into a time domain signal; and

a filtering module operably coupled to filter the time domain signal to produce the signal, wherein the transmission protocol includes at least one of;

orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and discrete multi-tone (DMT);

a signal partitioning module operably coupled to partition the signal based on peak-to-average ratio of the signal to produce a plurality of signal partitions, wherein the signal partitioning module including;

a signal slicing module operably coupled to produce the plurality of signal partitions based on magnitude of the signal, wherein the signal slicing module slices the signal at a first level to produce a first signal partition of the plurality of signal partitions, and wherein the signal slicing module slices the signal between the first level and a second level to produce a second signal partition of the plurality Of signal partitions;

a first up-converting mixing module operably coupled to mix the first signal partition with a first reference frequency to produce a first mixed signal partition;

a second up-converting mixing module operably coupled to mix the second signal partition with a second reference frequency to produce a second mixed signal partition;

a signal processing module operably coupled to process each of the plurality of signal partitions based on a second aspect of the transmission protocol to produce a plurality of processed signal partitions, wherein the signal processing module including;

a summing module operably coupled to sum the first and second mixed signal partitions to produce a summed partitioned signal;

a digital to analog converter operably coupled to convert the summed partitioned signal into an analog signal;

an RF up-conversion section operably coupled to convert the analog signal into an RF signal;

a first down-conversion mixing module operably coupled to mix the RF signal with the first reference frequency to produce a first processed signal partition of the plurality of processed signal partitions; and

a second down-conversion mixing module operably coupled to mix the RF signal with the second reference frequency to produce a second processed signal partition of the plurality of processed signal partitions;

a plurality of amplifiers, wherein each of the plurality of the amplifiers amplifies a corresponding one of the plurality of processed signal partitions to produce a plurality of amplified signal partitions; and

a transmitting module operably coupled to transmit the plurality of amplified signal partitions as a composite amplified signal.

6. A low power transmitter comprises:

a signal generator operably coupled to generate a signal to represent data based on a first aspect of a transmission protocol, wherein the signal generator including;

a symbol generator operably coupled to produce symbols that represent the data in a frequency domain based on the first aspect of the transmission protocol;

a signal partitioning module operably coupled to partition the signal based on peak-to-average ratio of the signal to produce a plurality of signal partitions, wherein the signal partitioning module including;

a channel separator operably coupled to divide channels of the symbols into a plurality of sub-channels of symbols for each of the channels;

a signal processing module operably coupled to process each of the plurality of signal partitions based on a second aspect of the transmission protocol to produce a plurality of process signal partitions, wherein the signal processing module including;

a plurality of frequency-to-time conversion modules that correspondingly convert the symbols of each of the plurality of sub-channels into a plurality of time domain signal partitions;

a plurality of filtering modules that correspondingly filter the plurality of time domain signal partitions to produce a plurality of filtered signal partitions;

a plurality of digital to analog converters that correspondingly convert the plurality of filtered signal partitions into a plurality of analog signals; and

a plurality of RF up-conversion sections that correspondingly convert the plurality of analog signals into a plurality of RF signals as the plurality of processed signal partitions;

a plurality of amplifiers, wherein each of the plurality of the amplifiers amplifies a corresponding one of the plurality of processed signal partitions to produce a plurality of amplified signal partitions; and

a transmitting module operably coupled to transmit the plurality of amplified signal partitions as a composite amplified signal.

7. A low power transmitter comprises:

a signal generator operably coupled to generate a signal to represent data based on an aspect of a transmission protocol;

a digital to analog converter operably coupled to convert the signal into an analog signal;

a radio frequency (RF) up-conversion section operably coupled to up-convert frequency of the analog signal to produce an RF signal;

a plurality of amplifiers operably coupled to amplify the RF signal based on gating signals; and

a gating signal module operably coupled to produce the gating signals based on magnitude of at least one of the signal, the analog signal, and the RF signal such that the gating signal module enables one or more of the plurality of amplifiers to amplify the RF signal, wherein the gating signal module includes;

a comparator module operably coupled to compare the signal or the analog signal with at least one magnitude threshold to produce at least one indication of magnitude of the signal; and

a biasing circuit that biases the plurality of amplifiers based on the at least one indication of the magnitude of the signal.

8. The low power transmitter of claim 7 further comprises:

a summing module operably coupled to sum outputs of the plurality of amplifiers to produce a transmission signal; and

an antenna operably coupled to transmit, as a radio frequency signal, the transmission signal.

9. The low power transmission of claim 7 further comprises:

a plurality of antennas that correspondingly transmits outputs of the plurality of amplifiers such that, when transmitted, the outputs of the plurality of amplifiers sum together in air to produce a composite REF signal.

10. A method for low power transmissions, the method comprises:

generating a signal to represent data based on a first aspect of a transmission protocol;

partitioning the signal based on peak-to-average ratio of the signal to produce a plurality of signal partitions, wherein the partitioning includes;

slicing the signal at a first level to produce a first signal partition of the plurality of signal partitions;

slicing the signal between the first level and a second level to produce a second signal partition of the plurality of signal partitions;

processing each of the plurality of signal partitions based on a second aspect of the transmission protocol to produce a plurality of processed signal partitions, wherein the processing includes;

converting the first signal partition into a first analog signal;

converting the second signal partition into a second analog signal;

up-converting the first analog signal into a first RF signal; and

up-converting the second analog signal into a second RF signal; and

providing the plurality of processed signal partitions to a plurality of amplifiers such that each of the plurality of the amplifiers amplifies a corresponding one of the plurality of processed signal partitions.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the generating the signal further comprises:

producing symbols that represent the data in a frequency domain based on the first aspect of the transmission protocol;

frequency-to-time converting the symbols into a time domain signal; and

filtering the time domain signal to produce the signal, wherein the transmission protocol includes at least one of;

orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), and discrete multi-tone (DMT).

12. The method of claim 10 further comprises:

converting an I component of the first signal partition into an I component of the first analog signal;

converting a Q component of the first signal, partition into a Q component of the first analog signal;

converting an I component of the second signal partition into an I component of the second analog signal; and

converting a Q component of the second signal partition into a Q component of the second analog signal.

13. A method for low power transmissions, the method comprises:

generating a signal to represent data based on a first aspect of a transmission protocol;

partitioning the signal based on peak-to-average ratio of the signal to produce a plurality of signal partitions, wherein the partitioning includes;

slicing the signal at a first level to produce a first signal partition of the plurality of signal partitions;

slicing the signal between the first level and a second level to produce a second signal partition of the plurality of signal partitions;

up-conversion mixing the first signal partition with a first reference frequency to produce a first mixed signal partition;

up-conversion mixing the second signal partition with a second reference frequency to produce a second mixed signal partition;

processing each of the plurality of signal partitions based on a second aspect of the transmission protocol to produce a plurality of processed signal partitions, wherein the processing includes;

summing the first and second mixed signal partitions to produce a summed partioned signal;

converting the summed partitioned signal into an analog signal;

RF up-converting the analog signal into an RF signal;

down-conversion mixing the RF signal with the first reference, frequency to produce a first processed signal partition of the plurality of processed signal partitions; and

down-conversion mixing the RF signal with the second reference frequency to produce a second processed signal partition of the plurality of processed signal partitions; and

providing the plurality of processed signal partitions to a plurality of amplifiers such that each of the plurality of the amplifiers amplifies a corresponding one of the plurality of processed signal partitions.

14. A method for low power transmissions, the method comprises:

generating a signal to represent data based on a first aspect of a transmission protocol, wherein the generating includes;

producing symbols that represent the data in a frequency domain based on the first aspect of the transmission protocol;

partitioning the signal based on peak-to-average ratio of the signal to produce a plurality of signal partitions, wherein the partitioning includes;

dividing channels of the symbols into a plurality of sub-channels of symbols for each of the channels;

processing each of the plurality of signal partitions based on a second aspect of the transmission protocol to produce a plurality of processed signal partitions, wherein the processing includes;

correspondingly converting the symbols of each of the plurality of sub-channels into a plurality of time domain signal partitions;

correspondingly filtering the plurality of time domain signal partitions to produce a plurality of filtered signal partitions;

correspondingly converting the plurality of filtered signal partitions into a plurality of analog signals; and

correspondingly converting the plurality of analog signals into a plurality of RF signals as the plurality of processed signal partitions; and

providing the plurality of processed signal partitions to a plurality of amplifiers such that each of the plurality of the amplifiers amplifies a corresponding one of the plurality of processed signal partitions.

15. A low power transmitter comprises:

a signal generator operably coupled to generate a signal to represent data based on an aspect of a transmission protocol;

a digital to analog converter operably coupled to convert the signal into an analog signal;

a radio frequency (RF) up-conversion section operably coupled to up-convert frequency of the analog signal to produce an RF signal;

a plurality of amplifiers operably coupled to amplify the RF signal based on gating signals; and

a gating signal module operably coupled to produce the gating signals based on magnitude of at least one of;

the signal, the analog signal, and the RF signal such that the gating signal module enables one or more of the plurality of amplifiers to amplify the RF signal, wherein the gating signal module includes;

a digital comparator module operably coupled to compare the signal with at least one magnitude threshold to produce at least one indication of magnitude of the signal; and

a disabling circuit operably coupled to at least some of the plurality of amplifiers, wherein the disabling circuit disables the at least some of the plurality of amplifiers when the indication of magnitude is below the at least one magnitude threshold and enables at least one of the at least some of the plurality of amplifiers when the indication of magnitude is above the at least one magnitude threshold.

16. The low power transmitter of claim 15 further comprises:

a summing module operably coupled to sum outputs of the plurality of amplifiers to produce a transmission signal; and

an antenna operably coupled to transmit, as a radio frequency signal, the transmission signal.

17. The low power transmitter of claim 15 further comprises:

a plurality of antennas that correspondingly transmits outputs of the plurality of amplifiers such that, when transmitted, the outputs of the plurality of amplifiers sum together in air to produce a composite RF signal.

18. A low power transmitter comprises:

a signal generator operably coupled to generate a signal to represent data based on an aspect of a transmission protocol;

a digital to analog converter operably coupled to convert the signal into an analog signal;

a radio frequency (RF) up-conversion section operably coupled to up-convert frequency of the analog signal to produce an RF signal;

a plurality of amplifiers operably coupled to amplify the RF signal based on gating signals; and

a gating signal module operably coupled to produce the gating signals based on magnitude of at least one of;

the signal, the analog signal, and the RF signal such that the gating signal module enables one or more of the plurality of amplifiers to amplify the RF signal, wherein the gating signal module includes;

an analog comparator module operably coupled to compare the analog signal with at least one magnitude threshold to produce at least one indication of magnitude of the signal; and

a disabling circuit operably coupled to at least some of the plurality of amplifiers, wherein the disabling circuit disables the at least some of the plurality of amplifiers when the indication of magnitude is below the at least one magnitude threshold and enables at least one of the at least some of the plurality of amplifiers when the indication of magnitude is above the at least one magnitude threshold.

19. The low power transmitter of claim 18 further comprises:

a summing module operably coupled to sum outputs of the plurality of amplifiers to produce a transmission signal; and

an antenna operably coupled to transmit, as a radio frequency signal, the transmission signal.

20. The low power transmitter of claim 18 further comprises:

a plurality of antennas that correspondingly transmits outputs of the plurality of amplifiers such that, when transmitted, the outputs of the plurality of amplifiers sum together in air to produce a composite RF signal.