Digital power amplification circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10708113-B2
Application number	US-201816219176-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 13, 2018
Priority date	Dec 14, 2017
Publication date	Jul 7, 2020
Grant date	Jul 7, 2020

Abstract

A digital power amplification circuit includes a decoding block configured to receive a first stream of digital codes and to derive from the first stream a second stream of digital codes, the decoding block including a decoder configured to decode the digital codes of the first stream and the second stream at a first clock rate, a main digital power amplifier configured to receive the decoded digital codes of the first stream, an upsampler configured to upsample the decoded digital codes of the second stream to a second clock rate that is greater than the first clock rate, an auxiliary digital power amplifier configured to receive the decoded digital codes of the second stream upsampled to the second clock rate, and a summer configured to sum (i) a main output signal of the main digital power amplifier and (ii) an auxiliary output signal of the auxiliary digital power amplifier.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A digital power amplification circuit comprising:
a decoding block configured to receive a first stream of digital codes and to derive from the first stream a second stream of digital codes, the decoding block comprising a decoder configured to decode the digital codes of the first stream and the second stream at a first clock rate, wherein the decoding block is configured to derive the second stream of digital codes from the first stream by computing a difference between the first stream and a delayed version of the first stream that is delayed over one sample,
a main digital power amplifier configured to receive the decoded digital codes of the first stream,
an upsampler configured to upsample the decoded digital codes of the second stream to a second clock rate that is greater than the first clock rate,
an auxiliary digital power amplifier configured to receive the decoded digital codes of the second stream upsampled to the second clock rate, and
a summer configured to sum (i) a main output signal of the main digital power amplifier and (ii) an auxiliary output signal of the auxiliary digital power amplifier.

2. The digital power amplification circuit of claim 1 , wherein the decoding block comprises a circuit configured to delay the first stream of digital codes and a subtractor configured for determining the difference between the first stream and the delayed version of the first stream.

3. A radio device comprising the digital power amplification circuit of claim 2 .

4. The digital power amplification circuit of claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary digital power amplifier has a higher resolution than the main digital power amplifier.

5. A radio device comprising the digital power amplification circuit of claim 4 .

6. The digital power amplification circuit of claim 1 , wherein the first clock rate and the second clock rate are derived from a common clock signal.

7. A radio device comprising the digital power amplification circuit of claim 6 .

8. The digital power amplification circuit of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of upsamplers and a plurality of auxiliary digital power amplifiers.

9. The digital power amplification circuit of claim 8 , wherein each upsampler of the plurality of upsamplers is operable at its own upsampling factor.

10. A radio device comprising the digital power amplification circuit of claim 9 .

11. A radio device comprising the digital power amplification circuit of claim 8 .

12. The digital power amplification circuit of claim 1 , wherein the first stream of digital codes are modulated with a clock signal comprising phase information.

13. A radio device comprising the digital power amplification circuit of claim 12 .

14. A radio device comprising the digital power amplification circuit of claim 1 .

15. A digital power amplification circuit comprising:
a decoding block configured to receive a first stream of digital codes and to derive from the first stream a second stream of digital codes, the decoding block comprising a decoder configured to decode the digital codes of the first stream and the second stream at a first clock rate,
a main digital power amplifier configured to receive the decoded digital codes of the first stream,
an upsampler configured to upsample the decoded digital codes of the second stream to a second clock rate that is greater than the first clock rate,
an auxiliary digital power amplifier configured to receive the decoded digital codes of the second stream upsampled to the second clock rate, and
a summer configured to sum (i) a main output signal of the main digital power amplifier and (ii) an auxiliary output signal of the auxiliary digital power amplifier,
wherein the first stream of digital codes comprise amplitude information of the sum of the main output signal and the auxiliary output signal.

16. A radio device comprising the digital power amplification circuit of claim 15 .

17. A digital power amplification circuit comprising:
a decoding block configured to receive a first stream of digital codes and to derive from the first stream a second stream of digital codes, the decoding block comprising a decoder configured to decode the digital codes of the first stream and the second stream at a first clock rate, wherein the decoding block is configured to derive the second stream of digital codes from the first stream by computing a difference between a first code of the first stream and a second code of the first stream that immediately precedes the first code within the first stream,
a main digital power amplifier configured to receive the decoded digital codes of the first stream,
an upsampler configured to upsample the decoded digital codes of the second stream to a second clock rate that is greater than the first clock rate,
an auxiliary digital power amplifier configured to receive the decoded digital codes of the second stream upsampled to the second clock rate, and
a summer configured to sum (i) a main output signal of the main digital power amplifier and (ii) an auxiliary output signal of the auxiliary digital power amplifier.

18. A radio device comprising the digital power amplification circuit of claim 17 .

Assignees

• Stichting Imec Nederland

Inventors

• Ba Ao

Classifications

• H03K5/05 Primary

  by the use of clock signals or other time reference signals · CPC title

• H03M1/74

  Simultaneous conversion · CPC title

• H03F2200/09

  A balun, i.e. balanced to or from unbalanced converter, being present at the output of an amplifier · CPC title

• H03F3/211

  using a combination of several amplifiers (H03F3/60 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H03F3/2175

  using analogue-digital or digital-analogue conversion (H03F3/2173 takes precedence) · CPC title