Radio receiver for carrier aggregation

• US 9,344,318 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2014
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Nilsson, Magnus, Jakobsson, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Huang, David S
• Application Number:
  US14/768,380
• Publication Number:
  US 20160072656A1
• Time in Patent Office: 615 Days
• Field of Search: 375/316
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H03D 7/1466 Passive mixer arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0053 with common antenna for more than one band
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/0067 with one or more circuit blocks in common for different bands
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2647 Arrangements specific to the receiver only equalisation H04L27/01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/001 the frequencies being arranged in component carriers

Abstract

A radio receiver circuit (10) configurable to operate in a carrier-aggregation, CA, mode and in a non-CA mode is disclosed. It comprises a first receive path (30) arranged to be operatively connected to an antenna (15) and a second receive path (40) arranged to be operatively connected to the same antenna (15). It further comprises a control unit (50) operatively connected to the first receive path (30) and the second receive path (40). In the CA mode, the control unit (50) controls the first receive path (30) to receive a first CC (6) and the second receive path to receive a second CC (8). In the non-CA mode, the control unit (50) selectively controls the first receive path (30) and the second receive path (40) to both receive the same single CC (6).

Claims

1. A radio receiver circuit configured to operate in a carrier-aggregation (CA) mode, wherein the radio receiver circuit is to receive a plurality of component carriers (CCs) and in a non-CA mode, wherein the radio receiver circuit is to receive a single CC, comprising:

a first receive path arranged to be operatively connected to an antenna;

a second receive path arranged to be operatively connected to the same antenna; and

a processing circuit operatively connected to the first receive path and the second receive path;

wherein

the processing circuit is adapted to, in the CA mode, control the first receive path to receive a first CC of said plurality of CCs and control the second receive path to receive a second CC, separate from the first CC, of said plurality of CCs; and

the processing circuit is adapted to, in the non-CA mode, selectively control the first receive path and the second receive path to both receive the same single CC.

2. The radio receiver circuit of claim 1, comprising a low-noise amplifier arranged to operatively connect both the first receive path and the second receive path to the antenna.

3. The radio receiver circuit of claim 1, wherein:

the first receive path comprises a mixer unit arranged to be driven by a first local oscillator, LO, signal;

the second receive path comprises a mixer unit arranged to be driven by a second LO signal;

the processing circuit is adapted to, in the CA mode, control the frequency of the first LO signal to enable reception of the first CC by the first receive path and control the frequency of the second LO signal to enable reception of the second CC by the second receive path.

4. The radio receiver circuit of claim 3, wherein the processing circuit is adapted to, in the non-CA mode and in order to enable reception of the same single CC by both the first receive path and the second receive path, control the frequency of the first LO signal to be the same as the frequency of the second LO signal.

5. The radio receiver circuit of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is arranged to, in the non-CA mode, combine an output signal of the first receive path with an output signal of the second receive path, thereby generating a combined output signal.

6. The radio receiver circuit of claim 5, wherein the processing circuit is adapted to, in the non-CA mode, control at least one of a gain and a frequency bandwidth of the first receive path to be the same as that of the second receive path when the first receive path and the second receive path are controlled to both receive the same single CC.

7. The radio receiver circuit of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is arranged to, in the non-CA mode, separately process an output signal of the first receive path and an output signal of the second receive path, thereby generating a first processed signal and a second processed signal, respectively.

8. The radio receiver circuit of claim 7, wherein the processing circuit is adapted to, in the non-CA mode, control a gain of one of the first receive path and the second receive path to be higher than a gain of the other one of the first receive path and the second receive path when the first receive path and the second receive path are controlled to both receive the same single CC.

9. The radio receiver circuit of claim 8, wherein the processing circuit is arranged to perform signal-strength measurements on the output signal from the first receive path and on the output signal from the second receive path.

10. The radio receiver circuit of claim 9, wherein the processing circuit is arranged to perform said signal-strength measurements to determine a gain setting to be used during further reception in the non-CA mode.

11. The radio receiver circuit of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is adapted to, in the non-CA mode, selectively disable the second receive path.

12. The radio receiver circuit of claim 1, wherein the radio receiver circuit is adapted to operate in a cellular communication system.

13. A radio communication apparatus comprising:

the radio receiver circuit of claim 1; and

an antenna, to which both the first receive path and the second receive path of the radio receiver circuit are operatively connected.

14. The radio communication apparatus of claim 13, wherein the radio communication apparatus is a terminal for a cellular communication system.

15. The radio communication apparatus of claim 14, wherein the terminal is a mobile telephone, a tablet computer, a portable computer, or a machine-type communication device.

16. A method of operating a radio receiver circuit configurable to operate in a carrier-aggregation (CA) mode, wherein the radio receiver circuit is to receive a plurality component carriers (CCs) and in a non-CA mode, wherein the radio receiver circuit is to receive a single frequency CC, wherein the radio receiver circuit comprises:

a first receive path operatively connected to an antenna;

a second receive path operatively connected to the same antenna; and

a processing circuit operatively connected to the first receive path and the second receive path;

wherein

the method comprises

controlling, in the CA mode and by the processing circuit, the first receive path to receive a first CC of said plurality of frequency bands and the second receive path to receive a second CC, separate from the first CC, of said plurality of CCs; and

selectively controlling, in the non-CA mode and by the processing circuit, the first receive path and the second receive path to both receive the same single CC.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising, stored thereupon, a computer program product comprising computer program code that, when executed by a processing circuit of a radio receiver circuit configured to operate in a carrier-aggregation (CA) mode, wherein the radio receiver circuit is to receive a plurality component carriers (CCs) and in a non-CA mode, wherein the radio receiver circuit is to receive a single frequency CC, wherein the radio receiver circuit comprises a first receive path arranged to be operatively connected to an antenna, a second receive path arranged to be operatively connected to the same antenna, and the processing circuit operatively connected to the first receive path and the second receive path, causes the processing circuit to:

in the CA mode, control the first receive path to receive a first CC of said plurality of CCs and control the second receive path to receive a second CC, separate from the first CC, of said plurality of CCs; and

in the non-CA mode, selectively control the first receive path and the second receive path to both receive the same single CC.