Apparatuses and methods for wireless communication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11569849-B2
Application number	US-201716761421-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 23, 2017
Priority date	Nov 23, 2017
Publication date	Jan 31, 2023
Grant date	Jan 31, 2023

Abstract

An apparatus for wireless communication is provided. The apparatus includes a processing circuit configured to receive data to be wirelessly transmitted within a predefined frequency range. Further, the processing circuit is configured to generate a first radio frequency transmit signal of a first frequency range based on the data, and to generate a second radio frequency transmit signal of a second frequency range based on the data. The first frequency range and the second frequency range are subranges of the predefined frequency range. The apparatus further includes a front-end circuit configured to supply the first radio frequency transmit signal to a first antenna, and to supply the second radio frequency transmit signal to a second antenna.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:
a processing circuit configured to:
receive data to be wirelessly transmitted within a predefined frequency range;
generate a first radio frequency transmit signal of a first frequency range based on the data; and
generate a second radio frequency transmit signal of a second frequency range based on the data, wherein the first frequency range and the second frequency range are subranges of the predefined frequency range;

a first transmit path that supports at least two different configuration states and is configured to couple the processing circuit to a first antenna to supply the first radio frequency transmit signal to the first antenna, wherein the first transmit path comprises a first power amplifier that supports at least two different output impedance configurations and is configured to amplify the first radio frequency transmit signal;
a second transmit path configured to couple the processing circuit to a second antenna to supply the second radio frequency transmit signal to the second antenna; and
a control circuit configured to
adjust the first transmit path to one of the at least two different configuration states based on the first frequency range, and
adjust the first power amplifier to one of the at least two different output impedance configurations based on the first frequency range.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the data comprises at least two component carriers according to a communication standard, and wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:
generate the first radio frequency transmit signal based on one of the at least two component carriers; and
generate the second radio frequency transmit signal based on another one of the at least two component carriers.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first frequency range and the second frequency range are within a frequency band defined in the communication standard.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first frequency range and the second frequency range are within different frequency bands defined in the communication standard.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the communication standard is a communication standard for cellular communication.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the data is to be transmitted either contiguously or non-contiguously within the predefined frequency range.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus further comprises:
an envelope tracking circuit configured to supply a supply voltage to the first power amplifier based on only a subset of the data used by the processing circuit for generating the first radio frequency transmit signal.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first transmit path comprises a first filter circuit that supports at least two different filter configurations and is configured to perform one or more of:
filter the first radio frequency transmit signal; or
filter a radio frequency receive signal received by the first antenna;
wherein the control circuit is further configured to adjust the first filter circuit to one of the at least two filter configurations based on the first frequency range.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second transmit path supports at least two different configuration states, and wherein the control circuit is further configured to adjust the second transmit path to one of the at least two configuration states based on the second frequency range.

10. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:
a processing circuit configured to:
receive data to be wirelessly transmitted;
generate a first radio frequency transmit signal based on the data; and
generate a second radio frequency transmit signal based on the data;

a first transmit path that supports at least two different configuration states and is configured to couple the processing circuit to a first antenna to supply the first radio frequency transmit signal to the first antenna, wherein the first transmit path comprises a first power amplifier that supports at least two different output impedance configurations and is configured to amplify the first radio frequency transmit signal;
a second transmit path configured couple the processing circuit to a second antenna to supply the second radio frequency transmit signal to a second antenna; and
a control circuit configured to
adjust the first transmit path to one of the at least two different configuration states based on a characteristic of the first radio frequency transmit signal, and
adjust the first power amplifier to one of the at least two different output impedance configurations based on the characteristic of the first radio frequency transmit signal.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the characteristic of the first radio frequency transmit signal is a frequency range of the first radio frequency transmit signal and/or a communication standard according to which the first radio frequency transmit signal is generated by the processing circuit.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the second transmit path supports at least two different configuration states, and wherein the control circuit is further configured to adjust the second transmit path to one of the at least two different configuration states based on a characteristic of the second radio frequency transmit signal.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the characteristic of the second radio frequency transmit signal is a frequency range of the second radio frequency transmit signal and/or a communication standard according to which the second radio frequency transmit signal is generated by the processing circuit.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the data comprises at least two component carriers according to a communication standard, and wherein the processing circuit is configured to:
generate the first radio frequency transmit signal based on one of the at least two component carriers; and
generate the second radio frequency transmit signal based on another one of the at least two component carriers.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to generate the first radio frequency signal in a first frequency range, and to generate the second radio frequency signal in a second frequency range;
wherein the first frequency range and the second frequency range are either different from each other or equal to each other.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the first frequency range and the second frequency range are either:
within a frequency band defined in a communication standard; or
within different frequency bands defined in the communication standard.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to generate the first radio frequency transmit signal according to a first communication standard, and to generate the second radio frequency transmit signal according to a second communication standard.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Langer Andreas
• Bruder Thomas

Classifications

• H04B7/0413

  MIMO systems · CPC title

• H03F3/245

  with semiconductor devices only · CPC title

• H04B1/0475 Primary

  with means for limiting noise, interference or distortion (H04B1/0483 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04B1/0064 Primary

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

• H03F3/68

  Combinations of amplifiers, e.g. multi-channel amplifiers for stereophonics {(power amplifiers using a combination of several semiconductor amplifiers H03F3/211; combinations of amplifiers using coupling networks with distributed constants H03F3/602)} · CPC title