Clock multiplexing for baseband automatic frequency correction

• US 9,054,677 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2014
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell World Trade Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Uehara, Gregory, Zaslavsky, Alexander, Brunn, Brian T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuan A
• Application Number:
  US14/263,492
• Publication Number:
  US 20140235189A1
• Time in Patent Office: 407 Days
• Field of Search: 455255-265, 4551921-1923, 342 98-103, 342/199, 342/357.62, 342/357.64, 342/357.75, 331/18, 331/34, 331/60
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/23 Testing, monitoring, correcting or calibrating of receiver elements
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 1/005 in a loop
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 7/02 Automatic frequency control H03J7/18 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 7/04 where the frequency control is accomplished by varying the electrical characteristics of a non-mechanically adjustable element or where the nature of the frequency controlling element is not significant
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/0805 the loop being adapted to provide an additional control signal for use outside the loop
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/197 a time difference being used for locking the loop, the counter counting between numbers which are variable in time or the frequency divider dividing by a factor variable in time, e.g. for obtaining fractional frequency division H03L7/1806 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/22 using more than one loop
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/16 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3805 with built-in auxiliary receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A wireless communications system includes a clock module, a communications module, a receiver module, and a baseband module. The clock module is configured to generate a first clock reference. The communications module is configured to operate in response to the first clock reference and independent of a corrected clock reference. The corrected clock reference is generated by performing automatic frequency correction on the first clock reference according to an automatic frequency correction signal. The receiver module is configured to (i) receive radio frequency signals from a wireless medium, and (ii) in response to the corrected clock reference, generate baseband signals based on the received radio frequency signals. The baseband module is configured to (i) receive the baseband signals, and (ii) in response to a selected one of the first clock reference and the corrected clock reference, generate the automatic frequency correction signal based on the baseband signals.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating a first clock reference;

operating a global positioning system (GPS) module in response to the first clock reference;

in response to an automatic frequency correction signal, generating a second clock reference by performing automatic frequency correction on the first clock reference;

in response to the automatic frequency correction signal, generating a third clock reference by performing automatic frequency correction on the first clock reference;

receiving radio frequency signals from a wireless medium;

in response to the third clock reference, generating baseband signals based on the received radio frequency signals;

selecting one of the first clock reference and the second clock reference; and

in response to the selected one of the first clock reference and the second clock reference, generating the automatic frequency correction signal based on the baseband signals.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the first clock reference is performed using a temperature-compensated crystal oscillator.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising operating at least one of (i) a wireless local area network (WLAN) module in response to the first clock reference and (ii) a Bluetooth module in response to the first clock reference.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a phase difference between the first clock reference and an internal clock reference;

using a charge pump, generating an output based on the phase difference;

filtering the output;

using a voltage-controlled oscillator, generating the second clock reference based on the filtered output;

generating the internal clock reference based on the second clock reference and a divisor; and

adjusting the divisor between two or more integer values during successive intervals.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the third clock reference is a multiple of the second clock reference, the multiple being an integer greater than or equal to one.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the receiving radio frequency signals is performed based on the third clock reference,

the radio frequency signals comprise analog radio frequency signals; and

the baseband signals comprise digital baseband signals.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

using an analog to digital converter operating according to the third clock reference, generating first digital signals in response to the analog radio frequency signals; and

using a digital signal processor operating according to the third clock reference, generating the digital baseband signals in response to the first digital signals.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

generating downconverted signals in response to the radio frequency signals and a fourth clock reference; and

generating the first digital signals in response to the downconverted signals.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising generating the fourth clock reference in response to the first clock reference using a phase-locked loop.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising, in response to a fourth clock reference:

receiving digital baseband transmit signals; and

generating analog radio frequency transmit signals based on the digital baseband transmit signals.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating the fourth clock reference by performing automatic frequency correction on the first clock reference in response to the automatic frequency correction signal.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the fourth clock reference is a multiple of the second clock reference, the multiple being an integer greater than or equal to one.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

using a digital signal processor operating according to the fourth clock reference, generating intermediate digital signals based on the digital baseband transmit signals; and

using a digital to analog converter operating according to the fourth clock reference, generating the analog radio frequency transmit signals in response to the intermediate digital signals.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising, in response to a fifth clock reference, generating upconverted transmit signals based on the analog radio frequency transmit signals.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising generating the fifth clock reference in response to the first clock reference using a phase-locked loop.

16. A wireless communications system comprising:

a clock module configured to generate a first clock reference;

a communications module configured to operate in response to the first clock reference and independent of a corrected clock reference, wherein the corrected clock reference is generated by performing automatic frequency correction on the first clock reference according to an automatic frequency correction signal;

a receiver module configured to (i) receive radio frequency signals from a wireless medium, and (ii) in response to the corrected clock reference, generate baseband signals based on the received radio frequency signals; and

a baseband module configured to (i) receive the baseband signals, and (ii) in response to a selected one of the first clock reference and the corrected clock reference, generate the automatic frequency correction signal based on the baseband signals.

17. The wireless communications system of claim 16, wherein the clock module comprises a temperature-compensated crystal oscillator.

18. The wireless communications system of claim 16, wherein the communications module comprises at least one of:

a global positioning system (GPS) module configured to operate in response to the first clock reference;

a wireless local area network (WLAN) module configured to operate in response to the first clock reference; and

a Bluetooth module configured to operate in response to the first clock reference.

19. The wireless communications system of claim 16, wherein:

the baseband module is configured to operate in response to a selected one of the first clock reference and a system clock reference;

a frequency of the system clock reference is a multiple of a frequency of the corrected clock reference; and

the multiple is an integer greater than or equal to one.

20. The wireless communications system of claim 16, wherein:

the receiver module is configured to operate in response to a receiver clock reference;

a frequency of the receiver clock reference is a multiple of a frequency of the corrected clock reference; and

the multiple is an integer greater than or equal to one.

21. The wireless communications system of claim 16, further comprising a clock distribution module configured to receive the first clock reference and distribute the first clock reference to the communications module and the baseband module.

22. The wireless communications system of claim 16, further comprising a selection module configured to (i) receive the first clock reference and a system clock reference based on the corrected clock reference, and (ii) output the selected one of the first clock reference and the system clock reference to the baseband module.

23. The wireless communications system of claim 16, further comprising:

a first integrated circuit comprising the receiver module; and

a second integrated circuit comprising the baseband module.

24. The wireless communications system of claim 23, further comprising:

a third integrated circuit comprising the baseband module; and

a fourth integrated circuit comprising the communications module.

25. The wireless communications system of claim 23, wherein the second integrated circuit comprises a system phase-locked loop module configured to generate the corrected clock reference by performing automatic frequency correction on the first clock reference according to the automatic frequency correction signal.

26. The wireless communications system of claim 16, wherein:

the baseband signals comprise digital baseband signals; and

the receiver module is configured to, in response to the corrected clock reference, generate the digital baseband signals based on analog radio frequency baseband signals.

27. The wireless communications system of claim 26, wherein the receiver module further comprises a downconverter configured to, in response to a receiver phase-locked loop clock reference, generate the analog radio frequency baseband signals based on the radio frequency signals received from the wireless medium.

28. The wireless communications system of claim 27, further comprising a phase-locked loop module configured to generate the receiver phase-locked loop clock reference by performing automatic frequency correction on the first clock reference according to the automatic frequency correction signal.

29. The wireless communications system of claim 27, further comprising a phase-locked loop module configured to generate the receiver phase-locked loop clock reference in response to the corrected clock reference.

30. A method of operating a wireless communications system, the method comprising:

generating a first clock reference;

operating a wireless communications module in response to the first clock reference and independent of a corrected clock reference, wherein the corrected clock reference is generated by performing automatic frequency correction on the first clock reference according to an automatic frequency correction signal;

independent of the wireless communications module, receiving radio frequency signals from a wireless medium;

in response to the corrected clock reference, generating baseband signals based on the received radio frequency signals; and

in response to a selected one of the first clock reference and the corrected clock reference, generating the automatic frequency correction signal based on the baseband signals.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein operating the wireless communications module comprises at least one of:

receiving global positioning system (GPS) signals;

receiving wireless local area network (WLAN) signals; and

receiving Bluetooth signals.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein:

the generating the automatic frequency correction signal is performed in response to a selected one of the first clock reference and a system clock reference;

a frequency of the system clock reference is a multiple of a frequency of the corrected clock reference; and

the multiple is an integer greater than or equal to one.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein:

the receiving radio frequency signals is performed in response to a receiver clock reference;

a frequency of the receiver clock reference is a multiple of a frequency of the corrected clock reference; and

the multiple is an integer greater than or equal to one.

34. The method of claim 30, further comprising generating the corrected clock reference based on the first clock reference by using a phase-locked loop.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the generating the corrected clock includes performing automatic frequency correction on the first clock reference according to the automatic frequency correction signal.

36. The method of claim 30, wherein:

the baseband signals comprise digital baseband signals; and

the method further comprises, in response to the corrected clock reference, generating the digital baseband signals based on analog radio frequency baseband signals.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising, in response to a receiver phase-locked loop clock reference, generating the analog radio frequency baseband signals based on the radio frequency signals received from the wireless medium.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising generating the receiver phase-locked loop clock reference based on the corrected clock reference using a phase-locked loop.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the generating the receiver phase-locked loop clock reference includes performing automatic frequency correction on the first clock reference according to the automatic frequency correction signal.

40. The method of claim 30, wherein the generating the first clock reference is performed using a temperature-compensated crystal oscillator.