Radio frequency front end circuitry with reduced insertion loss

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10141957-B2
Application number	US-201715430646-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 13, 2017
Priority date	Feb 11, 2016
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

Circuitry includes a primary antenna node, a secondary antenna node, a first set of input/output nodes, a second set of input/output nodes, a first diplexer, a second diplexer, and switching circuitry. The switching circuitry is arranged such that any one of the first set of input/output nodes and the second set of input/output nodes can be connected to the primary antenna node or the secondary antenna node, either through the first diplexer, the second diplexer, or directly by bypassing the first diplexer and the second diplexer while providing minimal insertion loss. In particular, the number of closed series switches in the signal paths provided between the one of the first set of input/output nodes and the second set of input/output nodes is minimized while still providing a large amount of flexibility in the switching paths that can be created by the switching circuitry.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. Circuitry comprising:
a primary antenna node and a secondary antenna node;
a first set of input/output nodes, each associated with radio frequency (RF) signals within a first RF frequency band;
a second set of input/output nodes, each associated with RF signals within a second RF frequency band;
a first diplexer configured to separate RF signals within the first RF frequency band from RF signals within a first subset of the second RF frequency band;
a second diplexer configured to separate RF signals within the first RF frequency band from RF signals within a second subset of the second RF frequency band;
switching circuitry coupled between the primary antenna node, the secondary antenna node, the first set of input/output nodes, the second set of input/output nodes, the first diplexer, and the second diplexer; and
means for controlling the switching circuitry configured to cause the switching circuitry to:
in a carrier aggregation mode of operation between RF signals within the first RF frequency band and RF signals within the second RF frequency band, couple at least one of the first set of input/output nodes and at least one of the second set of input/output nodes to one of the primary antenna node and the secondary antenna node via one of the first diplexer and the second diplexer such that an insertion loss due to switching elements in the path between the at least one of the first set of input/output nodes and the primary antenna node is between 0.575 dB and 0.9 dB; and
in a non-carrier aggregation mode of operation, couple at least one of the first set of input/output nodes and the second set of input/output nodes to one of the primary antenna node and the secondary antenna node such that the first diplexer and the second diplexer are bypassed and an insertion loss due to switching elements in the path between the at least one of the first set of input/output nodes and the primary antenna node is between 0.625 dB and 0.9 dB.

2. The circuitry of claim 1 further comprising:
first band filtering circuitry coupled between the first diplexer, the second diplexer, and the first set of input/output nodes, the first band filtering circuitry configured to isolate RF signals within different RF operating bands of the first RF frequency band and separately deliver them to different ones of the first set of input/output nodes; and
second band filtering circuitry coupled between the first diplexer, the second diplexer, and the second set of input/output nodes, the second band filtering circuitry configured to isolate RF signals within different RF operating bands of the second RF frequency band and separately deliver them to different ones of the second set of input/output nodes.

3. The circuitry of claim 2 further comprising a first front-end diplexer coupled between the switching circuitry and the primary antenna and a second front-end diplexer coupled between the switching circuitry and the secondary antenna.

4. The circuitry of claim 2 wherein in the carrier aggregation mode only two closed series switches are located between at least one of the first set of input/output nodes and the primary antenna node.

5. The circuitry of claim 4 further comprising a first front-end diplexer coupled between the switching circuitry and the primary antenna and a second front-end diplexer coupled between the switching circuitry and the secondary antenna.

6. The circuitry of claim 1 wherein in the carrier aggregation mode only two closed series switches are located between the at least one of the first set of input/output nodes and the primary antenna node.

7. The circuitry of claim 6 further comprising a first front-end diplexer coupled between the switching circuitry and the primary antenna and a second front-end diplexer coupled between the switching circuitry and the secondary antenna.

8. The circuitry of claim 1 wherein the first RF frequency band is a mid-band including frequencies between 1800 MHz and 2200 MHz.

9. The circuitry of claim 3 wherein the second RF frequency band is a high-band including frequencies between 2300 MHz and 2700 MHz.

10. The circuitry of claim 4 wherein the first subset of the second RF frequency band is between 2300 MHz and 2400 MHz, and the second subset of the second RF frequency band is between 2500 MHz and 2700 MHz.

11. The circuitry of claim 1 wherein in the carrier aggregation mode of operation the insertion loss due to switching elements in the path between the at least one of the first set of input/output nodes and the primary antenna node is between 0.575 dB and 0.7 dB.

12. The circuitry of claim 11 wherein in the non-carrier aggregation mode of operation the insertion loss due to switching elements in the path between the at least one of the first set of input/output nodes and the primary antenna node is between 0.625 dB and 0.7 dB.

13. Circuitry comprising:
a primary antenna node and a secondary antenna node;
a first set of input/output nodes, each associated with radio frequency (RF) signals within a first RF frequency band;
a second set of input/output nodes, each associated with RF signals within a second RF frequency band;
a first diplexer configured to separate RF signals within the first RF frequency band from RF signals within a first subset of the second RF frequency band;
a second diplexer configured to separate RF signals within the first RF frequency band from RF signals within a second subset of the second RF frequency band;
switching circuitry coupled between the primary antenna node, the first set of input/output nodes, the second set of input/output nodes, the first diplexer, and the second diplexer; and
means for controlling the switching circuitry configured to cause the switching circuitry to:
in a carrier aggregation mode of operation between RF signals within the first RF frequency band and RF signals within the second RF frequency band, couple at least one of the first set of input/output nodes and at least one of the second set of input/output nodes to one of the primary antenna node and the secondary antenna node via one of the first diplexer and the second diplexer such that only two closed series switching elements are located in the path between the at least one of the first set of input/output nodes and the primary antenna node; and
in a non-carrier aggregation mode of operation, couple at least one of the first set of input/output nodes and the second set of input/output nodes to one of the primary antenna node and the secondary antenna node such that the first diplexer and the second diplexer are bypassed and only two closed series switching elements are located in the path between the at least one of the first set of input/output nodes and the primary antenna node.

14. The circuitry of claim 13 further comprising:
first band filtering circuitry coupled between the first diplexer, the second diplexer, and the first set of input/output nodes, the first band filtering circuitry configured to isolate RF signals within different RF operating bands of the first RF frequency band and separately deliver them to different ones of the first set of input/output nodes; and
second band filtering circuitry coupled between the first diplexer, the second diplexer, and the second set of input/output nodes, the second band filtering circuitry configured to isolate RF signals within different RF operating bands of the second RF frequency band and separately deliver them to different ones of the second set of input/output nodes.

15. The circuitry of claim 14 further comprising a first front-end diplexer coupled between the switc

Assignees

• Qorvo Us Inc

Inventors

• Khlat Nadim
• Granger-Jones Marcus

Classifications

• H04B1/44 Primary

  Transmit/receive switching · CPC title

• H04B1/0057 Primary

  using diplexing or multiplexing filters for selecting the desired band · CPC title

• H04B1/0064

  with separate antennas for the more than one band (H04B1/0053 takes precedence) · CPC title