Communication receiver and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10326480-B2
Application number	US-201715803002-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 3, 2017
Priority date	May 5, 2015
Publication date	Jun 18, 2019
Grant date	Jun 18, 2019

Abstract

The communication receiver comprises a mixer being configured to mix the communication signal with a periodic mixing signal having a mixing frequency f C to obtain a mixed communication signal, wherein the mixed communication signal comprises a first frequency spectrum portion comprising the spectral region of interest being situated around a frequency f RF +f C and a second frequency spectrum portion comprising the spectral range of interest being situated around f RF −f C ; a first demodulator being configured to demodulate a first frequency channel of the plurality of frequency channels within the spectral range of interest of the first frequency spectrum portion on the basis of a first local oscillator frequency f LO1 ; and a second demodulator being configured to demodulate a second frequency channel of the plurality of frequency channels within the spectral region of interest of the second frequency spectrum portion on the basis of a second local oscillator frequency f LO2 .

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A communication receiver for demodulating a plurality of frequency channels of a communication signal, the plurality of frequency channels being arranged within a spectral range of interest of the communication signal, the spectral range of interest having a spectral bandwidth Δf and being situated around a frequency f RF , the communication receiver comprising:
a mixer being configured to mix the communication signal with a periodic mixing signal having a mixing frequency f C to obtain a mixed communication signal, wherein the mixed communication signal comprises a first frequency spectrum portion comprising the spectral region of interest being situated around a frequency f RF +f C and a second frequency spectrum portion comprising the spectral range of interest being situated around a frequency f RF −f C ;
a first demodulator being configured to demodulate a first frequency channel of the plurality of frequency channels within the spectral range of interest of the first frequency spectrum portion of the mixed communication signal on the basis of a first local oscillator frequency f LO1 ; and
a second demodulator being configured to demodulate a second frequency channel of the plurality of frequency channels within the spectral region of interest of the second frequency spectrum portion of the mixed communication signal on the basis of a second local oscillator frequency f LO2 .

2. The communication receiver of claim 1 , wherein the communication receiver further comprises a third demodulator being configured to demodulate a third frequency channel of the plurality of frequency channels within the spectral range of interest of the communication signal on the basis of a third local oscillator frequency f LO3 .

3. The communication receiver of claim 2 , wherein the first frequency channel is centered at a frequency f 1 , wherein the second frequency channel is centered at a frequency f 2 , wherein the third frequency channel is centered at a frequency f 3 , and wherein the first, second and third local oscillator frequencies are given by f LO1 =f 1 +f C , f LO2 =f 2 −f C and f LO3 =f 3 , respectively.

4. The communication receiver of claim 2 , wherein the communication receiver further comprises a first local oscillator configured to provide a first local oscillator signal having the first local oscillator frequency f LO1 , a second local oscillator configured to provide a second local oscillator signal having the second local oscillator frequency f LO2 and a third local oscillator configured to provide a third local oscillator signal having the third local oscillator frequency f LO3 .

5. The communication receiver of claim 2 , wherein the first, the second or the third demodulator comprises a demodulator mixer, wherein the demodulator mixer of the first demodulator is configured to mix the mixed communication signal with a mixing signal having the first local oscillator frequency f LO1 , wherein the demodulator mixer of the second demodulator is configured to mix the mixed communication signal with a mixing signal having the second local oscillator frequency f LO2 , and wherein the demodulator mixer of the third demodulator is configured to mix the communication signal with a mixing signal having the third local oscillator frequency f LO3 .

6. The communication receiver of claim 5 , wherein the first, the second or the third demodulator further comprises a low-pass filter being configured to filter the output of the demodulator mixer of the respective demodulator.

7. The communication receiver of claim 1 , wherein the communication receiver further comprises a multi-band-pass filter being configured to receive the mixed communication signal and to provide the mixed communication signal filtered around the frequency f RF +f C to the first demodulator and the mixed communication signal filtered around the frequency f RF −f C to the second demodulator.

8. The communication receiver of claim 1 , wherein the communication receiver further comprises a low noise amplifier being configured to amplify the communication signal.

9. The communication receiver of claim 8 , wherein the mixer is a passive mixer.

10. The communication receiver of claim 9 , wherein the communication receiver is configured to operate in current mode.

11. The communication receiver of claim 1 , wherein the communication receiver further comprises a band-pass filter configured to filter the communication signal, wherein the bandwidth of the band-pass filter is approximately equal to the spectral bandwidth Δf of the spectral region of interest of the communication signal and wherein the band-pass filter is situated around the frequency f RF .

12. The communication receiver of claim 1 , wherein the periodic mixing signal is a sinusoidal mixing signal.

13. The communication receiver of claim 1 , wherein the periodic mixing signal is a square-wave signal.

14. A method of demodulating a plurality of frequency channels of a communication signal, the plurality of frequency channels being arranged within a spectral range of interest of the communication signal, the spectral range of interest having a spectral bandwidth Δf and being situated around a frequency f RF , the method comprising the steps of:
mixing the communication signal with a periodic mixing signal having a mixing frequency f C to obtain a mixed communication signal, wherein the mixed communication signal comprises a first frequency spectrum portion comprising the spectral range of interest being situated around a frequency f RF +f C and a second frequency spectrum portion comprising the spectral range of interest being situated around a frequency f RF −f C ;
demodulating a first frequency channel of the plurality of frequency channels within the spectral range of interest of the first frequency spectrum portion of the mixed communication signal on the basis of a first local oscillator frequency f LO1 ; and
demodulating a second frequency channel of the plurality of frequency channels within the spectral range of interest of the second frequency spectrum portion of the mixed communication signal on the basis of a second local oscillator frequency f LO2 .

15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions comprises:
instructions for mixing the communication signal with a periodic mixing signal having a mixing frequency f C to obtain a mixed communication signal, wherein the mixed communication signal comprises a first frequency spectrum portion comprising the spectral range of interest being situated around a frequency f RF +f C and a second frequency spectrum portion comprising the spectral range of interest being situated around a frequency f RF −f C ;
instructions for demodulating a first frequency channel of the plurality of frequency channels within the spectral range of interest of the first frequency spectrum portion of the mixed communication signal on the basis of a first local oscillator frequency f LO1 ; and
instructions for demodulating a second frequency channel of the plurality of frequency channels within the spectral range of interest of the second frequency spectrum portion of the mixed communication signal on the basis of a second local oscillator frequency f LO2 .

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Regev Dror
• Shilo Shimon
• Ezri Doron
• Boon Chirn Chye
• Yi Xiang
• Zhang Junping
• Hu Gengen
• Liang Dong
• Liu Sheng

Classifications

• H04B1/0075

  using different intermediate frequencied for the different bands · CPC title

• H04B1/18

  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 title

• H04B1/0053 Primary

  with common antenna for more than one band · CPC title

• H04B1/006

  using switches for selecting the desired band (H04B1/0057 takes precedence) · CPC title