Communication semiconductor integrated circuit device and a wireless communication system

• US 7,205,850 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2005
• Issued: 04/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.), TTPCom Ltd. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TTPCom Ltd. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.), Renesas Technology Corporation (Renesas Electronics Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Satoru, Uozumi, Toshiya, Kimura, Yasuyuki, Osawa, Hirotaka, Henshaw, Robert Astel
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang; Joseph
• Application Number:
  US11/181,876
• Publication Number:
  US 20060014513A1
• Time in Patent Office: 641 Days
• Field of Search: 331/16, 331/2, 331/23, 455/76, 455/127.4
• US Class Current: 331/23
• CPC Class Codes: H03C 3/0925 applying frequency modulation at the divider in the feedback loop
• CPC Class Codes: H03C 3/0933 using fractional frequency division in the feedback loop of the phase locked loop
• CPC Class Codes: H03D 2200/0047 Offset of DC voltage or frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H03D 7/165 at least two frequency changers being located in different paths, e.g. in two paths with carriers in quadrature combined with amplitude demodulation H03D1/2245, combined with angle demodulation H03D3/007; N-path filters H03H19/002
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 1/005 in a loop
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/1976 using a phase accumulator for controlling the counter or frequency divider
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/04 Circuits

Abstract

In a communication semiconductor integrated circuit device using offset PLL architectures and including an oscillator circuit and a frequency divider circuit generating an intermediate frequency signal, the oscillator circuit includes an oscillator, a programmable frequency divider which frequency-divides the oscillation signal in accordance with frequency division information, a phase comparator detecting a phase difference between an output signal of the programmable frequency divider and a reference signal, and a frequency control unit for outputting a signal indicative of the phase difference and controlling the oscillation frequency of the oscillator, wherein a frequency division ratio generator circuit generates an integer part I and a fraction part F/G based on band information concerning the use frequency band and mode information along with channel information and for producing the frequency division ratio information to thereby give it to the programmable frequency divider.

Claims

1. A semiconductor integrated circuit device for communication use, said device comprising:

an oscillation circuit for generating an oscillation signal with a frequency pursuant to an externally set value;

a first frequency division circuit for frequency division of the oscillation signal as generated by said oscillation circuit to thereby generate a signal of intermediate frequency;

a modulation circuit for modulating the signal as frequency-divided by said first frequency division circuit;

a first frequency conversion circuit for converting a signal modulated by said modulation circuit into a transmission signal with higher frequency; and

a second frequency conversion circuit for combining together a signal taken out of the output side of said first frequency conversion circuit and a signal as frequency-divided by a second frequency division circuit to thereby generate a signal with its frequency equivalent to a frequency difference between these signals, said first frequency conversion circuit being arranged to form a transmission signal based on the signal converted by said second frequency conversion circuit and the signal modulated by said modulation circuit, wherein

said oscillation circuit includes an oscillator, a programmable frequency divider capable of frequency-dividing an oscillation signal of the oscillator in accordance with a frequency division ratio supplied thereto, a phase comparator for detection of a phase difference between an output signal of the programmable frequency divider and a reference signal, and frequency control means for outputting a voltage or a current pursuant to the phase difference detected by said phase comparator and for controlling the oscillation frequency of said oscillator, and

said device comprises a frequency division ratio generation circuit for generating an integer part I and a fraction part F/G based on band information concerning an externally supplied use frequency band and mode information indicative of whether signal transmission or reception and channel information as to a setup frequency, and for generating the frequency division ratio based on said integer part I and fraction part F/G.

2. A communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device as recited in claim 1, wherein said device further comprises:

a third frequency conversion circuit for synthesizing the oscillation signal generated by said oscillation circuit or the signal as frequency-divided by said second frequency division circuit thereby to convert a received signal into a signal lower in frequency.

3. A communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device as recited in claim 1, wherein said frequency division ratio generation circuit is arranged to generate the frequency division ratio of said programmable frequency divider based on said band information, said mode information, said channel information, and externally supplied setup information as to the frequency division ratio of said frequency division circuit.

4. A communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device as recited in claim 3, wherein the denominator G of said fraction part F/G is arranged to be generated based on any integer as selected from a combination of a plurality of integers prepared in advance in a way corresponding to said band information and said setup information as to the frequency division ratio.

5. A communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device as recited in claim 4, wherein a value for obtaining the numerator F of said fraction part F/G is arranged to be generated based on any integer as selected from a combination of a plurality of integers prepared in advance in a way corresponding to said band information and said mode information plus said channel information and also based on said setup information as to the frequency division ratio.

6. A communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device as recited in claim 5, wherein said frequency division ratio generation circuit comprises:

a frequency division ratio calculation circuit for outputting as the integer part I a quotient obtained by dividing said value generated based on any integer as selected from the combination of the plurality of integers prepared in advance in a way corresponding to said band information and said mode information plus said channel information and also said setup information as to the frequency division ratio by the denominator G generated based on said any integer thus selected while outputting a remainder as the numerator F; and

a delta-sigma modulation circuit for using said denominator G and for performing delta-sigma modulation of said numerator F by using said numerator F to thereby generate the fraction part F/G, wherein

the integer part I generated by said frequency division ratio calculation circuit and the fraction part F/G generated by said delta-sigma modulation circuit are combined together and supplied as a frequency division ratio to said programmable frequency divider.

7. A communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device as recited in claim 6, wherein said delta-sigma modulation circuit includes an adder for adding said numerator F for use as input data and feedback data together, a one-bit quantizer for quantization of an addition result, an arithmetic unit for increasing an output of the quantizer by a factor of a constant number, a subtracter for obtaining a difference between an output of the arithmetic unit and an output of the adder, and delay means for delaying the resultant difference for feedback to said adder.

8. A communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device as recited in claim 7, wherein said delta-sigma modulation circuit is a delta-sigma modulation circuit of more than two orders.

9. A communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device as recited in claim 8, wherein the denominator G of said fraction part F/G is an integral multiple of “

65” and

is set to fall within a range of from 1200 to 1700.

10. A communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device as recited in claim 9, wherein said first frequency division circuit is arranged so that the frequency division ratio thereof is externally supplied after selection of a certain one from among a plurality of values prepared in advance, said certain one being appropriate for preventing harmonic wave components of the intermediate frequency signal as frequency-divided by said first frequency division circuit from entering a signal reception frequency band.

11. A communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device as recited in claim 10, wherein a register capable of externally setting a value which gives decimal number data of the numerator F of said fraction part F/G to be output from said frequency division ratio generation circuit and an arithmetic unit for computing the value being set in the register and said numerator F are provided in correspondence to said delta-sigma modulation circuit.

12. A communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device as recited in claim 11, said device further comprising an oscillation circuit for generating said reference signal.

13. A wireless communication system comprising:

the communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device as claimed in claim 12;

a base band circuit for performing baseband processing of transmission and reception data; and

a high-frequency power amplifier for power amplification of a transmission signal to be output from said communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device, wherein

said band information, said mode information, said channel information and the setup information as to said frequency division ratio are supplied from said base band circuit to said communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device.

14. A wireless communication system as recited in claim 13, wherein said communication-use semiconductor integrated circuit device and said high-frequency power amplifier are arranged to operate by a power supply voltage to be supplied from the same power supply unit.