Over-voltage protection accounting for battery droop

• US 7,977,919 B1
• Filed: 02/27/2007
• Issued: 07/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc. (Qorvo, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: RF Micro Devices Incorporated (Qorvo, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jaoude, Fares, Arkiszewski, Roman Zbigniew, Hietala, Alexander Wayne
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso; Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): Piggush; Aaron
• Application Number:
  US11/679,194
• Time in Patent Office: 1,596 Days
• Field of Search: 320/134, 320/129, 320/136, 320/139, 320/159, 320/164, 324/429, 324/430
• US Class Current: 320/136
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/06 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/0416 having gain or transmission power control

Abstract

An over-voltage detection and correction system for a transmitter of a mobile terminal that accounts for battery droop during a transmit burst is provided. In general, prior to ramp-up for a first transmit burst, a voltage of the battery of the mobile terminal at a no-load condition is measured. After ramp-up for the transmit burst, the voltage of the battery is measured at full-load, and a current provided to a power amplifier of the transmitter at full-load is detected. Based on the measured voltage of the battery at no-load, the measured voltage of the battery at full-load, and the detected current provided to the power amplifier at full-load, a resistance of the battery is determined. The resistance of the battery is thereafter used to compensate for battery droop during over-voltage detection and correction for one or more subsequent transmit bursts.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

measuring a battery voltage of a battery of a mobile terminal at a no-load condition to provide a no-load battery voltage;

measuring the battery voltage of the battery at a full-load condition during a first transmit burst to provide a full-load battery voltage;

measuring a current provided from the battery to power amplifier circuitry in a transmit chain of the mobile terminal at a full-load condition during the first transmit burst to provide a full-load current;

determining a battery resistance based on the no-load battery voltage, the full-load battery voltage, and the full-load current; and

compensating for a voltage droop of the battery expected for a subsequent transmit burst based on the battery resistance during over-voltage detection and correction for the subsequent transmit burst.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein compensating for the voltage droop of the battery comprises:

determining a projected full-load current to be provided from the battery to the power amplifier circuitry during the subsequent transmit burst;

providing the voltage droop of the battery expected for the subsequent transmit burst based on the projected full-load current and the battery resistance;

generating an actual battery voltage for the subsequent transmit burst based on the voltage droop of the battery expected for the subsequent transmit burst; and

performing over-voltage detection and correction based on the actual battery voltage.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein determining the projected full-load current comprises determining the projected full-load current based on detected current provided from the battery to the power amplifier circuitry during ramp-up for the subsequent transmit burst.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein providing the voltage droop of the battery comprises multiplying the projected full-load current and the battery resistance to provide the voltage droop of the battery expected for the subsequent transmit burst.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein generating the actual battery voltage comprises subtracting the voltage droop of the battery expected for the subsequent transmit burst from a no-load battery voltage measured prior to ramp-up for the subsequent transmit burst.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein providing the voltage droop of the battery expected for the subsequent transmit burst and generating the actual battery voltage for the subsequent transmit burst operate to provide the actual battery voltage based on the equation:

V_ACTUAL=V<sub>BAT—

NO—

LOAD</sub>−

R_B·

I<sub>FULL—

LOAD—

PROJECTED</sub>,

where V_ACTUAL is the actual battery voltage, V<sub>BAT—

NO—

LOAD</sub> is a no-load voltage of the battery measured prior to ramp-up for the subsequent transmit burst, R_B is the battery resistance determined for the first transmit burst, and I<sub>FULL—

LOAD—

PROJECTED</sub> is the projected full-load current for the subsequent transmit burst, wherein R_B·

I<sub>FULL—

LOAD—

PROJECTED</sub> is the voltage droop of the battery expected for the subsequent transmit burst.

7. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

updating the projected full-load current for the subsequent transmit burst during ramp-up for the subsequent transmit burst;

updating the voltage droop of the battery expected for the subsequent transmit burst based on the updated projected full-load current and the battery resistance;

updating the actual battery voltage for the subsequent transmit burst based on the updated voltage droop of the battery expected for the subsequent transmit burst; and

performing over-voltage detection and correction based on the updated actual battery voltage.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein performing over-voltage detection and correction comprises:

providing a maximum voltage ramp profile based on the actual battery voltage; and

comparing the maximum voltage ramp profile to an actual voltage ramp profile to detect an over-voltage condition.

9. The method of claim 2 wherein performing over-voltage detection and correction comprises:

multiplying a signal corresponding to an actual voltage ramp profile and an essentially inverse voltage ramp profile to provide a voltage product value; and

comparing the voltage product value to the actual battery voltage to detect an over-voltage condition.

10. The method of claim 2 wherein performing over-voltage detection and correction comprises:

detecting an over-voltage condition based on the actual battery voltage; and

in response to detecting the over-voltage condition, adjusting an output power of the power amplifier circuitry to correct the over-voltage condition.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the battery resistance comprises determining the battery resistance based on the equation:

12. The method of claim 1 wherein measuring the battery voltage at a no-load condition comprises measuring the battery voltage prior to ramp-up for the first transmit burst.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein measuring the battery voltage at a full-load condition comprises measuring the battery voltage after ramp-up for the first transmit burst.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile terminal operates according to a modulation scheme having an amplitude modulation component, and measuring the battery voltage at a full-load condition comprises measuring the battery voltage during a constant envelope period occurring immediately prior to ramp-down for the first transmit burst.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile terminal operates according to an 8-Level Phase Shift Keying (8PSK) modulation scheme of the Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) standard, and measuring the battery voltage at a full-load condition comprises measuring the battery voltage during a constant envelope period beginning at 2.5 symbol periods after a center of a last data symbol of the first transmit burst and ending at a start of ramp-down for the first transmit burst.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

measuring the battery voltage of the battery of the mobile terminal at a no-load condition prior to ramp-up for the subsequent transmit burst to provide a no-load battery voltage for the subsequent transmit burst;

measuring the battery voltage of the battery at a full-load condition during the subsequent transmit burst to provide a full-load battery voltage for the subsequent transmit burst;

measuring a current provided from the battery to the power amplifier in the transmit chain of the mobile terminal at a full-load condition during the subsequent transmit burst to provide a full-load current for the subsequent transmit burst;

updating the battery resistance based on the no-load battery voltage, the full-load battery voltage, and the full-load current for the subsequent transmit burst; and

compensating for a voltage droop of the battery expected for a third transmit burst occurring after the subsequent transmit burst during over-voltage detection and correction for the third transmit burst.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein updating the battery resistance comprises updating the battery resistance if a difference between the no-load battery voltage and the full-load battery voltage for the subsequent transmit burst exceeds a predetermined threshold.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the battery resistance is a resistance of the battery plus a resistance of any elements connected between the battery and the power amplifier circuitry.