Uplink diversity and interband uplink carrier aggregation in front-end architecture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016127016-A1
Application number	US-201514929295-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 31, 2015
Priority date	Oct 31, 2014
Publication date	May 5, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Uplink diversity and interband uplink carrier aggregation in front-end architecture. In some embodiments, a radio-frequency (RF) front-end architecture can include a first transmit/receive (Tx/Rx) front-end system configured to operate with a first antenna, and a second Tx/Rx front-end system configured to operate with a second antenna. The second Tx/Rx front-end system can be a substantial duplicate of the first Tx/Rx front-end system to provide, for example, uplink (UL) diversity functionality and UL multiple-input-and-multiple-output (MIMO) functionality.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A radio-frequency (RF) front-end architecture comprising:
a first transmit/receive (Tx/Rx) front-end system configured to operate with a first antenna; and a second Tx/Rx front-end system configured to operate with a second antenna.

2 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 1 wherein each of the first antenna and the second antenna is capable of operating as a primary antenna.

3 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 2 wherein the second antenna is an Rx diversity antenna capable of operating as a Tx diversity antenna.

4 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 1 wherein the RF front-end architecture is configured to receive a common Tx signal from a transceiver and split the common Tx signal to each of the first and second Tx/Rx front-end systems to provide Tx diversity functionality.

5 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 4 further including a splitter configured to split the common Tx signal into first and second signal paths for the first and second Tx/Rx front-end systems, respectively.

6 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 5 wherein each of either or both of the first and second signal paths includes a phase-shifting circuit.

7 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 1 wherein the RF front-end architecture is configured to receive a separate Tx signal from a transceiver for each of the first and second Tx/Rx front-end systems.

8 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 7 wherein the separate Tx signals from the transceiver include respective dedicated datastreams such that the RF front-end architecture provides an uplink (UL) multiple-input-and-multiple-output (MIMO) functionality.

9 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first and second Tx/Rx front-end systems is configured to be capable of operating in an Rx-only mode.

10 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 9 wherein the Tx/Rx system with the Rx-only mode capability includes a low-noise amplifier (LNA) coupled to an output of an Rx filter.

11 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 10 wherein the Tx/Rx system with the Rx-only mode capability further includes a switchable path implemented to allow bypassing of the LNA.

12 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first and second Tx/Rx front-end systems includes a plurality of switch-combined filters configured to provide one or more duplexing functionalities.

13 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 1 wherein the second Tx/Rx front-end system is a substantial duplicate of the first Tx/Rx front-end system.

14 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 13 wherein the first Tx/Rx front-end system is implemented in a first uplink (UL)/downlink (DL) module and the second Tx/Rx front-end system is implemented in a second UL/DL module.

15 . The RF front-end architecture of claim 13 wherein the first UL/DL module is part of a first packaged module, and the second UL/DL module is part of a second packaged module.

16 . A method for performing diversity operations with radio-frequency (RF) signals, the method comprising:
processing transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) signals with a first Tx/Rx front-end system and a first antenna; and processing Tx and Rx signals with a second Tx/Rx front-end system and a second antenna to provide Tx diversity and Rx diversity through the first and second antennas.

17 . A wireless device comprising:
a transceiver configured to process RF signals; and a front-end (FE) architecture in communication with the transceiver, the FE architecture including a first transmit/receive (Tx/Rx) front-end system configured to operate with a first antenna, and a second Tx/Rx front-end system configured to operate with a second antenna.

18 . The wireless device of claim 17 wherein the wireless device is a cellular phone.

19 . The wireless device of claim 17 wherein the communication between the transceiver and the FE architecture includes a common Tx signal that is split into each of the first and second Tx/Rx front-end systems to provide Tx diversity through the first and second antennas.

20 . The wireless device of claim 17 wherein the communication between the transceiver and the FE architecture includes a separate Tx signal for each of the first and second Tx/Rx front-end systems to provide an uplink (UL) multiple-input-and-multiple-output (MIMO) functionality for the FE architecture.

Assignees

• Skyworks Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Pehlke David Richard
• King Joel Richard

Classifications

• H04B7/06

  at the transmitting station · CPC title

• H04B7/08

  at the receiving station · CPC title

• H04B7/0413 Primary

  MIMO systems · CPC title

• H04B1/40 Primary

  Circuits · CPC title

• H04B7/0693 Primary

  switching off a diversity branch, e.g. to save power · CPC title