Automatic gain control and antenna selection method for a radio communication system

• US 7,212,795 B2
• Filed: 06/09/2004
• Issued: 05/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
• Original Assignee: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
• Inventors: Liu, Der-Zheng, Tang, Song-Nien, Yen, Kuang-Yu, Liu, Tai-Cheng
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, LANA N
• Application Number:
  US10/864,193
• Publication Number:
  US 20040259511A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,056 Days
• Field of Search: 455/234.1, 455/232.1, 455/273, 455/274, 455/277.1, 455/250.1, 455/67.11, 455/67.13, 455/226.1, 455/239.1, 455/245.1, 455/253.2, 375/345
• US Class Current: 455/232.1
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 2201/206 being in radio frequency
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 2201/302 being baseband signal
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 2201/305 being intermediate frequency signal
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 2201/307 being radio frequency signal
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 2201/502 by switching impedance in feedback loop
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 2201/508 by using look-up tables
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/3052 in bandpass amplifiers (H.F. or I.F.) or in frequency-changers used in a (super)heterodyne receiver H03G3/32, H03G3/34 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 1/185 the determination of the range being based on more than one digital output value, e.g. on a running average, a power estimation or the rate of change
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0814 based on current reception conditions, e.g. switching to different antenna when signal level is below threshold

Abstract

The invention provides an automatic gain control and antenna selection method used in a receiver of a radio communication system. The received signal power is estimated by digital signal processing after analog-to-digital conversion in the system, in order to adjust the gain of the front end analog signal until the magnitude of the analog signal is adjusted to an optimum range of the digital signal processing. In addition, the ADC is utilized to estimate the signal power as the basis of the antenna selection.

Claims

1. A method for performing an automatic gain control (AGC) and an antenna selection in a receiver of a radio communication system, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving an analog receiving signal by one of a first antenna and a second antenna of the receiver;

amplifying the analog receiving signal by an amplification unit with a gain;

converting the analog receiving signal into a digital receiving signal by an N-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC);

comparing the digital receiving signal with a saturation threshold value;

decreasing the gain of the amplification unit by an adjusting value if the digital receiving signal is larger than or equal to the saturation threshold value; and

selecting one of the first and the second antenna to receive the analog receiving signal if the digital receiving signal is smaller than the saturation threshold value, wherein the saturation threshold value corresponds to N.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the gain is determined such that a power of the analog receiving signal received by the receiver is larger than a first power threshold value.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the adjusting value is determined by at least one of the saturation threshold value and the first power saturation threshold value.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the selecting step, the step further comprises the steps of:

comparing the power of the analog receiving signal received by the first antenna and the power of the analog receiving signal received by the second antenna; and

selecting one of the first and the second antenna according to the result of comparing.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the selecting step, the step further comprises the steps of:

determining whether the power of the analog receiving signal received by the one of the first and the second antennas is larger than a second power threshold value;

selecting the other one of the first and the second antennas to receive the analog receiving signal if the power of the analog receiving signal is smaller than the second power threshold value;

comparing the power of the analog receiving signal received by the first antenna and the power of the analog receiving signal received by the second antenna; and

selecting one of the first and the second antenna according to the result of comparing.

6. An apparatus for performing an automatic gain control (AGC) and an antenna selection in a receiver of a radio communication system, the apparatus comprising:

a first antenna;

a second antenna;

a switch for selecting one of the first and the second antennas to receive an analog receiving signal;

an amplification unit with a gain for amplifying the analog receiving signal;

an N bits ADC for converting the analog receiving signal into a digital receiving signal; and

a DSP module further comprising;

a gain control unit for decreasing the gain of the amplification unit if the value of the digital receiving signal is larger than N bits; and

a switch control unit for selecting one of the first and the second antenna to receive the analog receiving signal if the value of the digital receiving signal is smaller than N bits.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the gain is determined such that the value of the digital receiving signal converted from the analog receiving signal is no smaller than m bits, wherein m is smaller than N.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the amplification unit further includes a low noise amplifier (LNA) for amplifying the analog receiving signal of ratio frequency (RF) and a variable gain amplifier (VGA) for amplifying the analog receiving signal of intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband (BB), wherein the LNA at least has a high gain mode and a low gain mode.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the gain is determined by the sum of the gain of LNA and the gain of the VGA and the gain is decreased by decreasing at least one of the gain of LNA and the gain of the VGA.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the gain is decreased by switching the LNA from the high gain mode to the low gain mode.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the gain is decreased by decreasing the gain of the VGA by an adjusting value.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the adjusting value is determined to be no larger than (N−

m)·

p dB, wherein p is a power multiple represented by each bit of the ADC.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein p is 6.

14. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the switch control unit selects one of the first and the second antennas through comparing the power of the analog receiving signal received by the first antenna and the power of the analog receiving signal received by the second antenna.

15. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the gain is determined by setting the LNA to the high gain mode when a received signal strength indication (RSSI) of the analog receiving signal is smaller than a threshold.