Integrous signal combiner

• US 9,838,056 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2016
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Skyworks Solutions Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Skyworks Solutions Incorporated
• Inventors: Wloczysiak, Stephane Richard Marie
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, NHAN T
• Application Number:
  US15/166,930
• Publication Number:
  US 20160352373A1
• Time in Patent Office: 557 Days
• Field of Search: 455131, 455313, 455323, 455334, 455338-341
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/10 Means associated with receiver for limiting or suppressing noise or interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/163 Special arrangements for the reduction of the damping of resonant circuits of receivers amplifiers H03F; negative impedance networks for line transmission systems H04B3/16

Abstract

A front-end module (FEM) is disclosed that includes an integrous signal combiner. The integrous signal combiner can process received signals and use a set of resonant circuits to filter signal noise prior to recombination of a plurality of signal bands that form an aggregate carrier signal. These resonant circuits may be placed after a set of low noise amplifiers and can be used to more efficiently reduce noise and parasitic loading within each of a set of signal paths. Each resonant circuit may be configured to filter noise relating to a bandwidth for a signal that is to be combined with the signal of the signal path that includes the resonant circuit. In some implementations, the integrous signal combiner can be a tunable integrous signal combiner with resonant circuits that may be reconfigurable or dynamically configurable.

Claims

1. An integrous signal combiner comprising:

a plurality of inputs, each input configured to receive a signal of a different frequency than the other inputs of the plurality of inputs;

an output configured to provide an integrous signal to a subsequent processing block;

a plurality of low noise amplifiers;

a plurality of resonant circuits, each resonant circuit corresponding to a different low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers; and

a combiner configured to combine a plurality of integrous signals, each of the integrous signals from the plurality of integrous signals output by a different resonant circuit from the plurality of resonant circuits.

2. The integrous signal combiner of claim 1 wherein the subsequent processing block is a transceiver.

3. The integrous signal combiner of claim 1 wherein the integrous signal is a combined signal created from a plurality of communication bands.

4. The integrous signal combiner of claim 1 wherein the integrous signal is formed from a single communication band.

5. An integrous signal combiner comprising:

a plurality of inputs, each input configured to receive a signal of a different frequency than the other inputs of the plurality of inputs;

an output configured to provide an integrous signal to a subsequent processing block;

a plurality of low noise amplifiers; and

a plurality of resonant circuits, each resonant circuit corresponding to a different low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers, at least one resonant circuit from the plurality of resonant circuits including a switch that when closed causes the at least one resonant circuit to be bypassed.

6. An integrous signal combiner comprising:

a plurality of inputs, each input configured to receive a signal of a different frequency than the other inputs of the plurality of inputs;

an output configured to provide an integrous signal to a subsequent processing block;

a plurality of low noise amplifiers;

a plurality of resonant circuits, each resonant circuit corresponding to a different low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers; and

a switch between a low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers and a corresponding resonant circuit from the plurality of resonant circuits, the switch configured to switch between the corresponding resonant circuit and a bypass path that bypasses the corresponding resonant circuit.

7. An integrous signal combiner comprising:

a plurality of inputs, each input configured to receive a signal of a different frequency than the other inputs of the plurality of inputs;

an output configured to provide an integrous signal to a subsequent processing block;

a plurality of low noise amplifiers; and

a plurality of resonant circuits, each resonant circuit corresponding to a different low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers, at least one resonant circuit from the plurality of resonant circuits including a switched capacitor enabling the at least one resonant circuit to be dynamically adjusted.

8. A front-end module comprising:

a multiplexer network configured to receive a signal from a diversity antenna and to split the signal into a plurality of signal portions corresponding to a plurality of communication bands;

an integrous signal combiner configured to receive the plurality of communication bands at a plurality of inputs, each input receiving a signal portion associated with a different communication band from the plurality of communication bands, the integrous signal combiner including the plurality of inputs, an output configured to provide an integrous signal to a subsequent processing block, a plurality of low noise amplifiers, and a plurality of resonant circuits, each resonant circuit corresponding to a different low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers; and

a plurality of filters positioned between the multiplexer network and the integrous signal combiner, each filter from the plurality of filters receiving a different signal portion from the plurality of signal portions and configured to remove out-of-band signals from the received signal portion.

9. The front-end module of claim 8 wherein the integrous signal is a multiband signal created from a plurality of communication bands.

10. A front-end module comprising:

a multiplexer network configured to receive a signal from a diversity antenna and to split the signal into a plurality of signal portions corresponding to a plurality of communication bands; and

an integrous signal combiner configured to receive the plurality of communication bands at a plurality of inputs, each input receiving a signal portion associated with a different communication band from the plurality of communication bands, the integrous signal combiner including the plurality of inputs, an output configured to provide an integrous signal to a subsequent processing block, a plurality of low noise amplifiers, a plurality of resonant circuits, each resonant circuit corresponding to a different low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers, and a combiner configured to combine a plurality of integrous signals, each of the integrous signals from the plurality of integrous signals output by a different resonant circuit from the plurality of resonant circuits.

11. A front-end module comprising:

a multiplexer network configured to receive a signal from a diversity antenna and to split the signal into a plurality of signal portions corresponding to a plurality of communication bands; and

an integrous signal combiner configured to receive the plurality of communication bands at a plurality of inputs, each input receiving a signal portion associated with a different communication band from the plurality of communication bands, the integrous signal combiner including the plurality of inputs, an output configured to provide an integrous signal to a subsequent processing block, a plurality of low noise amplifiers, and a plurality of resonant circuits, each resonant circuit corresponding to a different low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers, at least one resonant circuit from the plurality of resonant circuits including a bypass switch that when closed causes a filter circuit of the at least one resonant circuit to be bypassed.

12. A front-end module comprising:

a multiplexer network configured to receive a signal from a diversity antenna and to split the signal into a plurality of signal portions corresponding to a plurality of communication bands; and

an integrous signal combiner configured to receive the plurality of communication bands at a plurality of inputs, each input receiving a signal portion associated with a different communication band from the plurality of communication bands, the integrous signal combiner including the plurality of inputs, an output configured to provide an integrous signal to a subsequent processing block, a plurality of low noise amplifiers, a plurality of resonant circuits, each resonant circuit corresponding to a different low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers, and a switch between low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers and a corresponding resonant circuit from the plurality of resonant circuits, the switch configured to switch between a signal path that includes the corresponding resonant circuit and a bypass path that does not include the corresponding resonant circuit.

13. A front-end module comprising:

a multiplexer network configured to receive a signal from a diversity antenna and to split the signal into a plurality of signal portions corresponding to a plurality of communication bands; and

an integrous signal combiner configured to receive the plurality of communication bands at a plurality of inputs, each input receiving a signal portion associated with a different communication band from the plurality of communication bands, the integrous signal combiner including the plurality of inputs, an output configured to provide an integrous signal to a subsequent processing block, a plurality of low noise amplifiers, and a plurality of resonant circuits, each resonant circuit corresponding to a different low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers, at least one resonant circuit from the plurality of resonant circuits including an adjustable capacitor enabling the at least one resonant circuit to be dynamically adjusted.

14. A wireless device comprising:

an antenna configured to receive a carrier aggregated signal from a base station; and

a front-end module including a multiplexer network and an integrous signal combiner, the multiplexer network configured to split the carrier aggregated signal received at the antenna into a plurality of signal portions corresponding to a plurality of communication bands, the integrous signal combiner configured to receive the plurality of communication bands at a plurality of inputs, each input receiving a signal portion associated with a different communication band from the plurality of communication bands, the integrous signal combiner including the plurality of inputs, an output configured to provide an integrous signal to a subsequent processing block, a plurality of low noise amplifiers, a plurality of resonant circuits, each resonant circuit corresponding to a different low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers, and a plurality of filters positioned between the multiplexer network and the integrous signal combiner, each filter from the plurality of filters receiving a different signal portion from the plurality of signal portions and configured to remove noise components from the received signal portion.

15. The wireless device of claim 14 wherein the antenna is a diversity antenna and the front-end module is a diversity front-end module.

16. A wireless device comprising:

an antenna configured to receive a carrier aggregated signal from a base station; and

a front-end module including a multiplexer network and an integrous signal combiner, the multiplexer network configured to split the carrier aggregated signal received at the antenna into a plurality of signal portions corresponding to a plurality of communication bands, the integrous signal combiner configured to receive the plurality of communication bands at a plurality of inputs, each input receiving a signal portion associated with a different communication band from the plurality of communication bands, the integrous signal combiner including the plurality of inputs, an output configured to provide an integrous signal to a subsequent processing block, a plurality of low noise amplifiers, and a plurality of resonant circuits, each resonant circuit corresponding to a different low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers, each of the plurality of resonant circuits being deactivated when the front-end module receives a single band signal from the antenna.

17. A wireless device comprising:

an antenna configured to receive a carrier aggregated signal from a base station; and

a front-end module including a multiplexer network and an integrous signal combiner, the multiplexer network configured to split the carrier aggregated signal received at the antenna into a plurality of signal portions corresponding to a plurality of communication bands, the integrous signal combiner configured to receive the plurality of communication bands at a plurality of inputs, each input receiving a signal portion associated with a different communication band from the plurality of communication bands, the integrous signal combiner including the plurality of inputs, an output configured to provide an integrous signal to a subsequent processing block, a plurality of low noise amplifiers, and a plurality of resonant circuits, each resonant circuit corresponding to a different low noise amplifier from the plurality of low noise amplifiers, at least one resonant circuit from the plurality of resonant circuits including an adjustable circuit element enabling the at least one resonant circuit to be dynamically tuned.