Diversity receiver front end system with impedance matching components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016126987-A1
Application number	US-201514734775-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 9, 2015
Priority date	Oct 31, 2014
Publication date	May 5, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A receiving system can include a controller configured to selectively activate one or more of a plurality of paths between an input of the receiving system and an output of the receiving system. The receiving system can further include a plurality of amplifiers. Each one of the plurality of amplifiers can be disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths and can be configured to amplify a signal received at the amplifier. The receiving system can further include a plurality of impedance matching components. Each one of the plurality of impedance matching components can be disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths and can be configured to reduce at least one of an out-of-band noise figure or an out-of-band gain of the one of the plurality of paths.

First claim

1 . A receiving system comprising:
a controller configured to selectively activate one or more of a plurality of paths between an input of the receiving system and an output of the receiving system; a plurality of amplifiers, each one of the plurality of amplifiers disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths and configured to amplify a signal received at the amplifier; and a plurality of impedance matching components, each one of the plurality of impedance matching components disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths and configured to reduce at least one of an out-of-band noise figure or an out-of-band gain of the one of the plurality of paths.

2 . The receiving system of claim 1 wherein a first impedance matching component of the plurality of impedance matching components disposed along a first path of the plurality of paths corresponding to a first frequency band is configured to reduce at least one of an out-of-band noise figure or an out-of-band gain for a second frequency band corresponding to a second path of the plurality of paths.

3 . The receiving system of claim 2 wherein a second impedance matching component of the plurality of impedance matching components disposed along the second path is configured to reduce at least one of an out-of-band noise figure or an out-of-band gain for the first frequency band.

4 . The receiving system of claim 2 wherein the first impedance matching component is further configured to reduce at least one of an out-of-band noise figure or an out-of-band gain for a third frequency band corresponding to a third path of the plurality of paths.

5 . The receiving system of claim 2 wherein the first impedance matching component is further configured to reduce at least one of an in-band noise figure or increase an in-band gain for the first frequency band.

6 . The receiving system of claim 5 wherein the first impedance matching component is configured to reduce an in-band metric of the in-band noise figure minus the in-band gain to within a threshold amount of an in-band metric minimum.

7 . The receiving system of claim 6 wherein the first impedance matching component is configured to reduce an out-of-band metric of the out-of-band noise figure plus the out-of-band gain to an in-band-constrained out-of-band minimum.

8 . The receiving system of claim 1 further comprising a multiplexer configured to split an input signal received at the input into a plurality of signals at a respective plurality of frequency bands propagated along the plurality of paths.

9 . The receiving system of claim 8 wherein each one of the plurality of impedance matching components is disposed between the multiplexer and a respective one of the plurality of amplifiers.

10 . The receiving system of claim 1 further comprising a signal combiner configured to combine signals propagating along the plurality of paths.

11 . The receiving system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of impedance components is a passive circuit.

12 . The receiving system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of impedance matching components is an RLC circuit.

13 . The receiving system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of impedance matching components includes a tunable impedance matching component configured to present an impedance controlled by an impedance tuning signal received from the controller.

14 . The receiving system of claim 1 wherein a first impedance matching component disposed along a first path of the plurality of paths corresponding to a first frequency band is further configured to phase-shift the second frequency band of a signal passing through the first impedance matching component such that an initial signal propagated along a second path of the plurality of paths corresponding to the second frequency band and a reflected signal propagated along the first path are at least partially in-phase.

15 . A radio-frequency (RF) module comprising:
a packaging substrate configured to receive a plurality of components; and a receiving system implemented on the packaging substrate, the receiving system including a controller configured to selectively activate one or more of a plurality of paths between an input of the receiving system and an output of the receiving system, a plurality of amplifiers, each one of the plurality of amplifiers disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths and configured to amplify a signal received at the amplifier, and a plurality of impedance matching components, each one of the plurality of impedance matching components disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths and configured to reduce at least one of an out-of-band noise figure or an out-of-band gain of the one of the plurality of paths.

16 . The RF module of claim 15 wherein the RF module is a diversity receiver front-end module (FEM).

17 . The RF module of claim 15 wherein a first impedance matching component of the plurality of impedance matching components disposed along a first path of the plurality of paths corresponding to a first frequency band is configured to reduce at least one of an out-of-band noise figure or an out-of-band gain for a second frequency band corresponding to a second path of the plurality of paths.

18 . A wireless device comprising:
a first antenna configured to receive a first radio-frequency (RF) signal; a first front-end module (FEM) in communication with the first antenna, the first FEM including a packaging substrate configured to receive a plurality of components, the first FEM further including a receiving system implemented on the packaging substrate, the receiving system including a controller configured to selectively activate one or more of a plurality of paths between an input of the receiving system and an output of the receiving system, a plurality of amplifiers, each one of the plurality of amplifiers disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths and configured to amplify a signal received at the amplifier, and a plurality of impedance matching components, each one of the plurality of impedance matching components disposed along a corresponding one of the plurality of paths and configured to reduce at least one of an out-of-band noise figure or an out-of-band gain of the one of the plurality of paths; and a transceiver configured to receive a processed version of the first RF signal from the output via a transmission line and generate data bits based on the processed version of the first RF signal.

19 . The wireless device of claim 18 further comprising a second antenna configured to receive a second radio-frequency (RF) signal and a second FEM in communication with the first antenna, the transceiver being configured to receive a processed version of the second RF signal from an output of the second FEM and generate the data bits based on the processed version of the second RF signal.

20 . The wireless device of claim 18 wherein a first impedance matching component of the plurality of impedance matching components disposed along a first path of the plurality of paths corresponding to a first frequency band is configured to reduce at least one of an out-of-band noise figure or an out-of-band gain for a second frequency band corresponding to a second path of the plurality of paths.

Assignees

• Skyworks Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Wloczysiak Stephane Richard Marie

Classifications

• H03F2203/7209

  the gated amplifier being switched from a first band to a second band · CPC title

• H04B7/0825

  with main and with auxiliary or diversity antennas · CPC title

• H03F3/72

  Gated amplifiers, i.e. amplifiers which are rendered operative or inoperative by means of a control signal · CPC title

• H03F1/56

  Modifications of input or output impedances, not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• H03F3/211

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