Diversity receiver front end system with tunable output matching circuit

• US 10,205,490 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2015
• Issued: 02/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Skyworks Solutions Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Skyworks Solutions Incorporated
• Inventors: Wloczysiak, Stephane Richard Marie
• Primary Examiner(s): Lugo, David B.
• Application Number:
  US14/944,918
• Publication Number:
  US 20160126993A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,182 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/0205 in transistor amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/56 Modifications of input or output impedances, not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/111 the amplifier being a dual or triple band amplifier, e.g. 900 and 1800 MHz, e.g. switched or not switched, simultaneously or not
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/387 A circuit being added at the output of an amplifier to adapt the output impedance of the amplifier
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/411 the output amplifying stage of an amplifier comprising two power stages
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/451 the amplifier being a radio frequency amplifier
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2203/21106 An input signal being distributed in parallel over the inputs of a plurality of power amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2203/21112 A filter circuit being added at the input of a power amplifier stage
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2203/7209 the gated amplifier being switched from a first band to a second band
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/19 with semiconductor devices only
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/195 in integrated circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/211 using a combination of several amplifiers H03F3/60 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/245 with semiconductor devices only
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/72 Gated amplifiers, i.e. amplifiers which are rendered operative or inoperative by means of a control signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/16 Circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/18 Input circuits, e.g. for coupling to an antenna or a transmission line coupling networks between antennas or lines and receivers independent of the nature of the receiver H03H
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/01 Reducing phase shift
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/08 at the receiving station
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0825 with main and with auxiliary or diversity antennas

Abstract

Diversity receiver front end system with tunable input and output matching circuits. A receiving system can include a controller configured to selectively activate one or more of a plurality of paths between an input of the receiving system and an output of the receiving system. The receiving system can include a plurality of amplifiers. Each one of the plurality of amplifiers can be disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths and can be configured to amplify a signal received at the amplifier. The receiving system can include one or more tunable matching circuits. Each one of the one or more tunable matching circuits can disposed at the input or the output and configured to present an impedance based on a tuning signal received from the controller.

Claims

1. A receiving system comprising:

an input configured to receive signals from a diversity antenna separate from a primary antenna;

an input multiplexer having an input multiplexer input coupled to the input and a plurality of input multiplexer outputs;

an output configured to transmit signals to a transceiver through a transmission line coupled to the output, the transmission line presenting an impedance to signals transmitted between the output of the receiving system and the transceiver;

an output multiplexer having a plurality of output multiplexer inputs and an output multiplexer output coupled to the output;

a controller configured to selectively activate one or more of a plurality of paths between the input of the receiving system and the output of the receiving system and to provide an impedance tuning signal and an output tuning signal;

a plurality of amplifiers, each one of the plurality of amplifiers disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths between an input multiplexer output and a corresponding output multiplexer input and configured to amplify a signal received at the amplifier;

a plurality of tunable impedance matching components, each one of the plurality of tunable impedance matching components disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths between the input multiplexer output and the corresponding output multiplexer input and configured to provide an impedance based on the impedance tuning signal that reduces an in-band noise figure for an in-band frequency and reduces an out-of-band noise figure for an out-of-band frequency; and

a tunable output matching circuit disposed between the output multiplexer output and the output of the receiving system and configured to present an impedance based on the output tuning signal configured to tune the tunable output matching circuit to match the impedance of the transmission line coupled to the output of the receiving system.

2. The receiving system of claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to selectively activate the one or more of the plurality of paths based on a band select signal received by the controller.

3. The receiving system of claim 2 wherein the controller is configured to generate the output tuning signal based on the band select signal.

4. The receiving system of claim 3 wherein the controller is configured to generate the output tuning signal based on a lookup table that associates frequency bands or sets of frequency bands with tuning parameters.

5. The receiving system of claim 3 wherein the controller is configured to generate the output tuning signal based on a plurality of frequency bands indicated by the band select signal.

6. The receiving system of claim 1 wherein the tunable output matching circuit includes at least one of a variable capacitor, a variable resistor, or a variable inductor.

7. The receiving system of claim 1 wherein the tunable output matching circuit includes at least one of a tunable T-circuit or a tunable PI-circuit.

8. The receiving system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of bandpass filters, each one of the plurality of bandpass filters disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths and configured to filter a signal received at the bandpass filter to a respective frequency band.

9. The receiving system of claim 1 wherein one of the amplifiers includes a variable-gain amplifier (VGA) configured to amplify a signal received at the VGA with a gain controlled by an amplifier control signal received from the controller, the output tuning signal being based on the amplifier control signal.

10. The receiving system of claim 1 wherein the output multiplexer comprises a signal combiner disposed between the plurality of amplifiers and the tunable output matching circuit and configured to combine signals propagating along the plurality of paths.

11. The receiving system of claim 1 further comprising a tunable input matching circuit disposed between the input multiplexer input and the input of the receiving system and configured to present an impedance based on an input tuning signal.

12. The receiving system of claim 11 wherein the input multiplexer comprises a signal splitter disposed between the plurality of amplifiers and the tunable input matching circuit and configured to split an input signal received at the input of the receiving system into a plurality of signals at a respective plurality of frequency bands propagated along the plurality of paths.

13. A radio-frequency (RF) module comprising:

a packaging substrate configured to receive a plurality of components; and

a receiving system implemented on the packaging substrate, the receiving system including an input configured to receive signals from a diversity antenna separate from a primary antenna, an input multiplexer having an input multiplexer input coupled to the input and a plurality of input multiplexer outputs, an output configured to transmit signals to a transceiver through a transmission line coupled to the output, the transmission line presenting an impedance to signals transmitted between the output of the receiving system and the transceiver, an output multiplexer having a plurality of output multiplexer inputs and an output multiplexer output coupled to the output, a controller configured to selectively activate one or more of a plurality of paths between the input of the receiving system and the output of the receiving system and to provide an impedance tuning signal and an output tuning signal, a plurality of amplifiers, each one of the plurality of amplifiers disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths between an input multiplexer output and a corresponding output multiplexer input and configured to amplify a signal received at the amplifier, a plurality of tunable impedance matching components, each one of the plurality of tunable impedance matching components disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths between the input multiplexer output and the corresponding output multiplexer input and configured to provide an impedance based on the impedance tuning signal that reduces an in-band noise figure for an in-band frequency and reduces an out-of-band noise figure for an out-of-band frequency, and a tunable output matching circuit disposed between the output multiplexer output and the output of the receiving system and configured to present an impedance based on the output tuning signal configured to tune the tunable output matching circuit to match the impedance of the transmission line coupled to the output of the receiving system.

14. The RF module of claim 13 wherein the RF module is a diversity receiver front-end module (FEM).

15. The RF module of claim 13 wherein the output multiplexer includes a signal combiner disposed between the plurality of amplifiers and the tunable output matching circuit and configured to combine signals propagating along the plurality of paths.

16. The RF module of claim 13 wherein the receiving system further includes a tunable input matching circuit disposed between the plurality of amplifiers and the input of the receiving system and configured to present an impedance based on an input tuning signal.

17. A wireless device comprising:

a primary antenna configured to receive a primary radio-frequency (RF) signal;

a diversity antenna configured to receive a diversity radio-frequency (RF) signal;

a transceiver configured to receive a processed version of the primary RF signal, to receive a processed version of the diversity RF signal, and to generate data bits based on the processed version of the primary RF signal or the diversity RF signal;

a primary front end module (FEM) in communication with the primary antenna and the transceiver, the primary FEM positioned near the transceiver; and

a diversity front-end module (FEM) in communication with the diversity antenna and the transceiver, the diversity FEM positioned further from the transceiver than the primary FEM, the diversity FEM including a packaging substrate configured to receive a plurality of components, the diversity FEM further including a receiving system implemented on the packaging substrate, the receiving system including an input configured to receive signals from the diversity antenna, an input multiplexer having an input multiplexer input coupled to the input and a plurality of input multiplexer outputs, an output configured to transmit signals to the transceiver through a transmission line coupled to the output, the transmission line presenting an impedance to signals transmitted between the output of the receiving system and the transceiver, an output multiplexer having a plurality of output multiplexer inputs and an output multiplexer output coupled to the output, a controller configured to selectively activate one or more of a plurality of paths between the input of the receiving system and the output of the receiving system and to provide an impedance tuning signal and an output tuning signal, a plurality of amplifiers, each one of the plurality of amplifiers disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths between an input multiplexer output and a corresponding output multiplexer input and configured to amplify a signal received at the amplifier, a plurality of tunable impedance matching components, each one of the plurality of tunable impedance matching components disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths between the input multiplexer output and the corresponding output multiplexer input and configured to provide an impedance based on the impedance tuning signal that reduces an in-band noise figure for an in-band frequency and reduces an out-of-band noise figure for an out-of-band frequency, and a tunable output matching circuit disposed between the output multiplexer output and the output of the receiving system and configured to present an impedance based on the output tuning signal configured to tune the tunable output matching circuit to match the impedance of the transmission line coupled to an output of the diversity FEM.

18. The wireless device of claim 17 wherein the receiving system further includes a tunable input matching circuit disposed between the plurality of amplifiers and the input of the receiving system and configured to present an impedance based on an input tuning signal.

19. The wireless device of claim 17 wherein the output multiplexer includes a signal combiner disposed between the plurality of amplifiers and the tunable output matching circuit and configured to combine signals propagating along the plurality of paths.