Communication circuit for supporting communication function and electronic device including the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016164547-A1
Application number	US-201514959603-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 4, 2015
Priority date	Dec 5, 2014
Publication date	Jun 9, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An electronic device includes a communication circuit. The communication circuit includes at least one receive amplifier configured to connect to an antenna and to low-noise amplify at least a part of a multi-band signal, and a transceiver including a mixer configured to mix the signal low-noise amplified by the at least one receive amplifier, wherein the transceiver is configured to process the multi-band signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A communication circuit comprising:
at least one receive amplifier configured to:
connect to an antenna, and
low-noise amplify at least a part of a multi-band signal; and
a transceiver comprising a mixer configured to mix the multi-band signal low-noise amplified by the at least one receive amplifier.

2 . The communication circuit of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver further comprises:
a buffer configured to connect with an output end of the at least one receive amplifier.

3 . The communication circuit of claim 1 , further comprising:
a matching circuit configured to be disposed between the transceiver and the at least one receive amplifier.

4 . The communication circuit of claim 1 , further comprising:
a front-end switching circuit configured to connect to the antenna; and a duplexer or quadplexer configured to be disposed between the front-end switching circuit and a back-end switching circuit, wherein the at least one receive amplifier is disposed between the back-end switching circuit and the transceiver.

5 . The communication circuit of claim 4 , further comprising:
a structure in which:
a radio frequency (RF) module comprising a transmit amplifier configured to amplify a signal output from the transceiver,
a transmit band switching circuit configured to classify and transmit an output signal of the transmit amplifier for each band, and
at least one of the front-end switching circuit, the duplexer or quadplexer, the back-end switching circuit, or the at least one receive amplifier, are integrated.

6 . The communication circuit of claim 5 , wherein the RF module comprises:
a plurality of RF modules configured to support a plurality of frequency bands, respectively.

7 . The communication circuit of claim 6 , further comprising:
a diplexer configured to connect to the antenna and to divide signals of the plurality of RF modules.

8 . The communication circuit of claim 4 , wherein the RF module comprises:
a plurality of back-end switching circuits and a plurality of receive amplifiers respectively connected to the plurality of back-end switching circuits according to a carrier aggregation (CA) operation.

9 . The communication circuit of claim 8 , further comprising:
a plurality of matching circuits configured to respectively connect to output ends of the plurality of receive amplifiers.

10 . The communication circuit of claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one bypass circuit configured to connect in parallel to the at least one receive amplifier, wherein if a wireless environment is under a strong electric field of specific strength or more, the at least one bypass circuit is turned on, and wherein if the wireless environment is under a weak electric field of less than the specific strength, the at least one bypass circuit is turned off.

11 . The communication circuit of claim 1 , further comprising:
a dedicated receive RF module comprising the at least one receive amplifier and configured to be disposed between the transceiver and the antenna, wherein the dedicated receive RF module comprises:
a front-end switching circuit configured to connect with the antenna,
a band pass filter (BPF) configured to connect to the front-end switching circuit, and
at least one back-end switching circuit configured to connect to the BPF, and
wherein the at least one receive amplifier is configured to connect to an output end of the at least one back-end switching circuit.

12 . The communication circuit of claim 11 , wherein the at least one back-end switching circuit comprises:
a plurality of back-end switching circuits configured to selectively connect to a plurality of frequency bands, and wherein the at least one receive amplifier comprises: a plurality of receive amplifiers configured to respectively connect to output ends of the plurality of back-end switching circuits.

13 . The communication circuit of claim 1 , further comprising:
a plurality of dedicated receive RF modules configured to be disposed between the transceiver and the antenna, and to respectively cover a plurality of frequency bands, wherein each of dedicated receive RF module respectively includes a receive amplifier of the at least one receive amplifier.

14 . The communication circuit of claim 13 , further comprising:
a diplexer configured to be disposed between the antenna and the plurality of dedicated receive RF modules.

15 . An electronic device comprising:
a communication circuit comprising:
an antenna configured to transmit or receive at least a part of a multi-band signal,
at least one receive amplifier configured to connect to the antenna and to low-noise amplify at least a part of the multi-band signal, and
a transceiver configured to process an output signal of the at least one receive amplifier; and
a modem configured to modulate or demodulate a signal communicated through the transceiver.

16 . The electronic device of claim 15 , wherein the communication circuit comprises:
a radio frequency (RF) module comprising:
a transmit amplifier configured to amplify a signal output from the transceiver,
a transmit band switching circuit configured to classify and transmit an output signal of the transmit amplifier for each band,
a front-end switching circuit configured to connect to the antenna,
a duplexer or quadplexer configured to be disposed between the transmit band switching circuit and the front-end switching circuit,
a back-end switching circuit configured to connect with the duplexer or quadplexer, and
the at least one receive amplifier configured to be disposed at an output end of the back-end switching circuit.

17 . The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein the RF module further comprises:
a plurality of RF modules configured to support a plurality of frequency bands, respectively.

18 . The electronic device of claim 17 , wherein the RF module further comprises:
a plurality of back-end switching circuits and a plurality of receive amplifiers respectively connected to the plurality of back-end switching circuits according to a carrier aggregation (CA) support of the plurality of frequency bands.

19 . The electronic device of claim 15 , further comprising:
at least one bypass circuit configured to connect in parallel to the at least one receive amplifier.

20 . The electronic device of claim 19 , wherein the modem is further configured to:
turn on the at least one bypass circuit if a wireless environment is under a strong electric field of specific strength or more; or turn off the at least one bypass circuit if the wireless environment is under a weak electric field of less than the specific strength.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Young Ju
• Park Sung Chul

Classifications

• H04B1/0057 Primary

  using diplexing or multiplexing filters for selecting the desired band · CPC title

• H04B1/403

  using the same oscillator for generating both the transmitter frequency and the receiver local oscillator frequency · CPC title

• H04B1/44 Primary

  Transmit/receive switching · CPC title

• Y02D30/70

  in wireless communication networks · CPC title

• H04B1/0053 Primary

  with common antenna for more than one band · CPC title