Power management in transceivers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10715092-B2
Application number	US-201916251476-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 18, 2019
Priority date	Dec 19, 2011
Publication date	Jul 14, 2020
Grant date	Jul 14, 2020

Abstract

Various embodiments are directed to apparatuses and methods to generate a first signal representing modulation data and a second signal representing an amplitude of the modulation data, the first signal and the second signal to depend on an output signal and vary a power supply voltage to a gain stage in proportion to the amplitude of the modulation data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a radio frequency (RF) transceiver for communicating over one or more portions of a wireless communication frequency spectrum, the RF transceiver comprising:
a transmitter to generate an output signal for transmission over at least one of the one or more portions of the wireless communication frequency spectrum, the transmitter comprising:
an amplifier to amplify an input signal having a varying amplitude;
bias signal circuitry coupled to the amplifier, the bias signal circuitry to adjust a bias signal for the amplifier based on an amplitude of the input signal;
a voltage amplitude tracking stage to vary a power supply voltage for a gain stage based on an amplitude of the input signal; and
a receiver to receive one or more signals via at least one of the one or more portions of the wireless communication frequency spectrum.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the bias signal is a bias current.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , the amplifier comprising a transconductance amplifier.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , the bias signal circuitry to modulate the bias signal for the amplifier based on a current amplitude of the input signal.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , the gain stage to comprise a power amplifier.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a filter coupled to one or both of the transmitter and the receiver.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising at least one RF antenna communicatively coupled to the transceiver.

8. A mobile communication device, comprising:
a radio frequency (RF) antenna; and
signal generation circuitry coupled to the RF antenna, the signal generation circuitry to generate an output signal for transmission over one or more portions of a wireless communication frequency spectrum, the signal generation circuitry to generate the output signal based on an input signal having a varying amplitude, the signal generation circuitry to comprise:
an amplifier to amplify the input signal;
bias signal circuitry coupled to the amplifier, the bias signal circuitry to modulate a bias signal for the amplifier based on an amplitude of the input signal;
a gain stage; and
a voltage amplitude tracking stage to vary a power supply voltage for the gain stage based on an amplitude of the input signal.

9. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , wherein the bias signal is a bias current.

10. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , the amplifier to comprise a transconductance amplifier.

11. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , the bias signal circuitry to modulate the bias signal for the amplifier based on an amplitude of the input signal.

12. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , the gain stage to comprise a power amplifier.

13. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , comprising an RF transmitter coupled to the RF antenna, the RF transmitter to comprise the signal generation circuitry.

14. The mobile communication device of claim 13 , comprising an RF transceiver, the RF transceiver comprising:
the RF transmitter; and
an RF receiver to receive one or more signals via one or more portions of the wireless communication frequency spectrum.

15. The mobile communication device of claim 14 , the RF transceiver comprising at least one filter coupled to the RF transmitter.

16. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , comprising:
a radio comprising the signal generation circuitry; and
a memory coupled to the radio.

17. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , comprising:
a radio comprising the signal generation circuitry; and
processing circuitry coupled to the radio.

18. An apparatus, comprising:
means for receiving a varying-amplitude signal;
means for generating a bias signal;
means for modulating the bias signal based on an amplitude of the varying-amplitude signal;
means for amplifying the varying-amplitude signal based on the modulated bias signal;
means for varying a power supply voltage for a gain stage based on an amplitude of the varying-amplitude signal; and
means for generating, based on the amplified varying-amplitude signal, an output signal for transmission over one or more portions of a wireless communication frequency spectrum.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the bias signal is a bias current.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , comprising means for modulating the bias signal based on a current amplitude of the varying-amplitude signal.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Cowley Nicholas P
• Ali Isaac
• Barber William L

Classifications

• H03F3/24 Primary

  of transmitter output stages · CPC title

• H03G3/20

  Automatic control ({H03G3/005 takes precedence;} combined with volume compression or expansion H03G7/00) · CPC title

• H03F2200/504

  the supply voltage or current being continuously controlled by a controlling signal, e.g. the controlling signal of a transistor implemented as variable resistor in a supply path for, an IC-block showed amplifier · CPC title

• H03F2200/294

  the amplifier being a low noise amplifier [LNA] · CPC title

• H03G3/3042

  in modulators, frequency-changers, transmitters or power amplifiers · CPC title