Dual-band wireless LAN RF transceiver

• US 7,444,167 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2005
• Issued: 10/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microchip Technology Incorporated, Sheng-Fuh Chang
• Original Assignee: Integrated System Solution Corp., Sheng-Fuh Chang
• Inventors: Chen, Wen-Lin, Chen, Albert, Chang, Sheng-Fuh, Chen, Hung-Cheng, Tang, Shu-Fen, Tsai, Cheng-Hua, Chien, Chin-Hung
• Primary Examiner(s): FERGUSON, KEITH
• Application Number:
  US11/149,230
• Publication Number:
  US 20060281488A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,236 Days
• Field of Search: 455/553.1, 455/552.1, 455/550, 455/73, 455/86, 455/84, 455/550.1, 455/551, 455/422.1, 455/403, 455/426.1, 455/426.2
• US Class Current: 455/553.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0071 using a common intermediate frequency for more than one band H04B1/0075 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0082 with a common local oscillator for more than one band

Abstract

The present invention discloses a dual-band RF transceiver. The transceiver comprises a first module, used as the RF front-end of the dual-band transceiver and used for receiving and transmitting a first RF signal and a second RF signal; a second module, electrically connected to the first module, used as the IF IQ modulator/demodulator of the dual-band RF transceiver; a third module, electrically connected to the first and the second modules, used as the tripe-band phase-locked frequency synthesizer of the dual-band RF transceiver and used for providing a first local oscillating signal and a second local oscillating signal to the first module, and a third local oscillating signal to the second module. The dual-band RF transceiver according to the present invention realizes the dual-band triple-mode operation of IEEE802.11 a/b/g by a single dual-band RF module, and therefore the circuit size, power dissipation, component count, and cost can be dramatically reduced.

Claims

1. A dual-band RF transceiver, comprising:

a first module, used as the RF front-end of the dual-band transceiver and used for receiving and transmitting a first RF signal and a second RF signal;

a second module, electrically connected to the first module, used as an intermediate-frequency IQ modulator/demodulator of the dual-band RF transceiver; and

a third module, electrically connected to the first and the second modules, used as a triple-band phase-locked frequency synthesizer of the dual-band RF transceiver and used for providing a first local oscillating signal and a second local oscillating signal to the first module, and a third local oscillating signal to the second module,

wherein the first module is constructed from several dual-band circuits.

2. A dual-band RF transceiver as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first module comprising:

a dual-band RF filtering unit, electrically connected to a dual-band antenna, used for processing the first RF signal and the second RF signal and transmitting them among a dual-band receiving unit, a dual-band transmitting unit, and a dual-band antenna;

a dual-band receiving unit, electrically connected to the dual-band RF filtering unit, used for processing the first RF signal and the second RF signal and transmitting them to the second module; and

a dual-band transmitting unit, electrically connected to the dual-band RF filtering unit, used for processing the first RF signal and the second RF signal from the second module.

3. A dual-band RF transceiver as claimed in claim 2, wherein the dual-band RF filtering unit comprising:

a dual-band antenna switch, used for switching the first RF signal and the second RF signal;

a dual-band RF filter, electrically connected to the dual-band antenna switch, used for filtering the first RF signal and the second RF signal; and

a dual-band transmit/receive switch, electrically connected among the dual-band RF filter, the dual-band receiving unit and the dual-band transmitting unit, used for determining the signal direction of the first RF signal and the second RF signal.

4. A dual-band RF transceiver as claimed in claim 2, wherein the dual-band receiving unit comprising:

a dual-band low-noise amplifier, used for receiving the first RF signal and the second RF signal from the dual-band transmit/receive switch, amplifying the first RF signal and the second RF signal, and reducing the noise contribution from the following circuits;

a dual-band gain amplifier, electrically connected to the dual-band low-noise amplifier, used for amplifying the first RF signal and the second RF signal;

a first dual-band image filter, electrically connected to the dual-band gain amplifier, used for suppressing the images of the first RF signal and the second RF signal;

a first broadband mixer, electrically connected to the first dual-band image filter, used for mixing the first RF signal with the first local oscillating signal of the third module to generate a first intermediate frequency (IF) signal, and used for mixing the second RF signal with the second local oscillating signal of the third module to generate a second IF signal;

a first IF filter, electrically connected to the first broadband mixer, used for suppressing the spurious response generated by the first broadband mixer to obtain the first IF signal and the second IF signal; and

a first variable-gain amplifier, electrically connected to the first IF filter, used for amplifying the first IF signal and the second IF signal and outputting the first IF signal and the second IF signal to the second module.

5. A dual-band RF transceiver as claimed in claim 4, wherein the first IF filter is a surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter.

6. A dual-band RF transceiver as claimed in claim 4, wherein the frequency of the first IF signal is equal to the frequency of the second IF signal.

7. A dual-band RF transceiver as claimed in claim 6, wherein the frequencies of the first IF signal and the second IF signal are near 374 MHz.

8. A dual-band RF transceiver as claimed in claim 6, wherein the frequencies of the third IF signal and the first IF signal are near 374 MHz.

9. A dual-band RF transceiver as claimed in claim 2, wherein the dual-band transmitting module comprising:

a second variable-gain amplifier, electrically connected to the second module, used for amplifying a third IF signal and a fourth IF signal from the second module;

a second IF filter, electrically connected to the second variable-gain amplifier, used for suppressing the spurious response generated by the second variable-gain amplifier to obtain the third IF signal;

a second broadband mixer, electrically connected to the second IF filter, used for mixing the third IF signal with the first local oscillating signal of the third module to generate the first RF signal;

a second broadband mixer, electrically connected to the second IF filter, used for mixing the fourth IF signal with the second local oscillating signal of the third module to generate the second RF signal;

a second dual-band image filter, electrically connected to the second broadband mixer, used for suppressing the spurious response generated by the broadband mixer;

a dual-band driving amplifier, electrically connected to the dual-band image filter, used for raising the power level of the first RF signal and the second RF signal from the second dual-band image filter;

a dual-band power amplifier, electrically connected to the dual-band driving amplifier, used for further raising the power level of the first RF signal and the second RF signal and then outputting to the dual-band transmit/receive switch.

10. A dual-band RF transceiver as claimed in claim 9, wherein the second IF filter is a SAW filter.

11. A dual-band RF transceiver as claimed in claim 9, wherein the frequency of the third IF signal is equal to the frequency of the first IF signal.

12. A dual-band RF transceiver as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first module uses the super-heterodyne topology.

13. A dual-band RF transceiver as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first RF signal is the RF signal of the 5.2 GHz IEEE 802.11a WLAN.

14. A dual-band RF transceiver as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second RF signal is the RF signal of the 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.11 b/g WLAN.