Low power consumption adaptive power amplifier

• US 9,246,454 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2013
• Issued: 01/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Schirmann, Ernest, Klomsdorf, Armin W., Nagode, Thomas D., Geodken, Ryan J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khanh V
• Application Number:
  US14/108,544
• Publication Number:
  US 20140266462A1
• Time in Patent Office: 770 Days
• Field of Search: 330/51, 330/98, 330/133, 330/136, 330/310, 330/127, 330/297, 330/302
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/0222 by using a signal derived from the input signal
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/025 by using a signal derived from the input signal
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/0277 Selecting one or more amplifiers from a plurality of amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/602 Combinations of several amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/72 Gated amplifiers, i.e. amplifiers which are rendered operative or inoperative by means of a control signal

Abstract

An adaptive power amplifier that may be used in a wireless communication device is configured to adjust its load line or output impedance, the number of active amplifier cells in each amplification stage, the bias of the active amplifiers, and the supply voltage input capacitive load in accordance with a supply voltage modulation type provided to the power amplifier. The supply voltage modulation types include ET, APT, DC-DC, dual, multi-state or fixed voltage supply voltages. A supply voltage converter, signaled by a baseband processor, generates the selected type of supply voltage modulation for the adaptive power amplifier. The baseband processor may also provide a control interface signal to a controller within the adaptive power amplifier. The controller, based on the received control interface signal provides a configuration signal that configures the impedance, the number of active amplifier cells, the bias of the active amplifier cells, and the supply voltage capacitive load to optimize the adaptive power amplifier based on the supply voltage modulation type.

Claims

1. A mobile communication device comprising:

an adaptive power amplifier comprising;

a RF output;

a supply voltage input;

a scalable amplifier stage operative to produce an RF output signal at the RF output and operative to adjust a number of amplifiers in the scalable amplifier stage in response to a configuration signal that is based on a supply voltage modulation type provided to the supply voltage input;

a variable impedance operative to vary the line impedance of the adaptive power amplifier in response to the configuration signal that is based on the supply voltage modulation type provided to the supply voltage input;

a bias adjustment operative to vary a bias of the amplifiers in the scalable amplifier stage in response to the configuration signal that is based on the supply voltage modulation type provided to the supply voltage input;

a voltage supply capacitance adjustment circuit operative to adjust the input capacitance of the supply voltage input of the adaptive power amplifier in response to the configuration signal that is based on the supply voltage modulation type provided to the supply voltage input; and

a controller operatively responsive to a control interface signal, the control interface signal providing an indication of the supply voltage modulation type being used to supply a supply voltage to the supply voltage input of the adaptive power amplifier, the controller configured to provide the configuration signal.

2. The mobile communication device of claim 1, further comprising a supply voltage converter operative to output the supply voltage to supply voltage input of the adaptive amplifier, the supply voltage converter configured to selectively provide the supply voltage in one of a plurality of supply voltage modulation types.

3. The mobile communication device of claim 2, wherein the plurality of supply voltage modulation types comprise an envelope tracking (ET) modulation type and an average power tracking (APT) modulation type.

4. The mobile communication device of claim 1,

wherein when the supply voltage modulation type is envelope tracking, the voltage supply capacitance adjustment circuit adjusts the input capacitance of the supply voltage input to an Envelope Tracking (ET) capacitance setting based on the configuration signal;

and

wherein when the supply voltage modulation type is average power tracking, the voltage supply capacitance adjustment circuit adjusts the input capacitance of the supply voltage input to an Average Power Tracking (APT) capacitance setting,

wherein the APT capacitance setting is greater than the ET capacitance setting.

5. The mobile communication device of claim 1, further comprising a baseband processor configured to provide the control interface signal to the controller.

6. An adaptive power amplifier circuit operative to receive an RF input signal and to produce an RF output signal, the adaptive power amplifier comprising:

a supply voltage input;

a controller, comprising a control interface, the controller configured to be responsive to a supply voltage modulation type data received at the control interface and in response thereto, to provide a configuration signal indicative of a supply voltage modulation type being provided to the supply voltage input, the supply voltage modulation type comprising one of at least two supply voltage modulation types; and

a scalable amplifier stage including an output and a plurality of selectively activated amplifier cells, each amplifier cell when activated operative to receive the RF input signal and each when activated operative to produce the RF output signal at the output, wherein the scalable amplifier stage operatively responds to the configuration signal to activate a predetermined number of selectively activated amplifier cells based on the indicated supply voltage modulation type.

7. The adaptive power amplifier circuit of claim 6, further comprising:

a variable impedance operative to vary the output impedance of the scalable amplifier stage and operatively responsive to the configuration signal to provide a predetermined output impedance based on the indicated supply voltage modulation type.

8. The adaptive power amplifier circuit of claim 6, further comprising:

a bias adjustment operative to adjust a bias of the selectively activated amplifier cells and operatively responsive to the configuration signal to adjust the bias of the selectively activated amplifier cells to a predetermined bias based on the indicated supply voltage modulation type.

9. The adaptive power amplifier circuit of claim 6, further comprising:

a voltage supply capacitance adjustment circuit operative to adjust the input capacitance of the supply voltage input and operatively responsive to the configuration signal to adjust the input capacitance of the supply voltage input to a predetermined capacitance based on the indicated supply voltage modulation type.

10. The adaptive power amplifier circuit of claim 9, wherein when the indicated supply voltage modulation type is envelope tracking, the voltage supply capacitance adjustment circuit adjusts the input capacitance of the supply voltage input to an Envelope Tracking (ET) capacitance setting based on the configuration signal;

wherein when the indicated supply voltage modulation type is average power tracking, the voltage supply capacitance adjustment circuit adjusts the input capacitance of the supply voltage input to an Average Power Tracking (APT) capacitance setting, and wherein the APT capacitance setting is greater than the ET capacitance setting.

11. A wireless device comprising:

a processor operative to produce a supply voltage modulation type data, the supply voltage modulation type data indicative of a supply voltage modulation used to produce a modulated supply voltage;

an adaptive power amplifier comprising;

an output;

a supply voltage input operative to receive the modulated supply voltage,

a controller responsive to the supply voltage modulation type data to selectively provide a configuration signal based thereon;

a configurable amplifier stage comprising a plurality of selectively activated amplifier elements, each amplifier element when activated operative to produce an RF output signal at the output, wherein the configurable amplifier stage operatively responds to the configuration signal to activate a predetermined number of selectively activated amplifier cells;

a variable impedance operative to vary the output impedance of the configurable amplifier stage in response to the configuration signal;

a bias adjustment operative to adjust a bias of the activated amplifier cells to a predetermined bias in response to the configuration signal;

a voltage supply capacitance adjustment circuit operative to adjust the input capacitance of the supply voltage input to a predetermined capacitance in response to the configuration signal; and

an antenna operatively connected to the output of the adaptive power amplifier and operative to transmit the RF output signal.

12. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein the processor is a baseband processor.

13. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein the processor is an RF transceiver.

14. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein the supply voltage modulation used to produce the modulated supply voltage comprises at least two of envelope tracking, average power tracking and fixed voltage.

15. An amplification method comprising:

setting, by a processor, one of a plurality of supply voltage modulation types for a supply voltage converter to produce as a supply voltage for an adaptive power amplifier, wherein the supply voltage converter is configurable to produce at least two different supply voltage modulation types selected from a group of supply voltage modulation types comprising envelope tracking, average power tracking and fixed supply voltage;

selectively activating at least one selectively activated amplifier cell within an amplifier stage of the adaptive power amplifier based on the set supply voltage modulation type used to provide the supply voltage for the adaptive power amplifier;

varying the output impedance of the amplifier stage of the adaptive power amplifier based on a supply voltage modulation method used to provide the supply voltage to the adaptive power amplifier;

adjusting a bias of the at least one activated amplifier cell to a predetermined bias based on the supply voltage modulation method used to provide the supply voltage for the adaptive power amplifier; and

adjusting a voltage supply capacitance of a supply voltage input on the adaptive power amplifier that receives the supply voltage to a predetermined capacitance based on the supply voltage modulation method used to provide the supply voltage for the adaptive power amplifier.

16. The amplification method of claim 15, further comprising adjusting the voltage supply capacitance of the supply voltage input to an Envelope Tracking (ET) capacitance when the supply voltage modulation type is set to envelope tracking and to an Average Power Tracking (APT) capacitance when the supply modulation type is set to average power tracking, wherein the APT capacitance is higher than the ET capacitance.