M-way coupler

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8941448-B2
Application number	US-201113272802-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 13, 2011
Priority date	Oct 13, 2011
Publication date	Jan 27, 2015
Grant date	Jan 27, 2015

Abstract

An M-way coupler having a first port, M second ports, M transmission line sections, M isolation resistors and a phase shifting network is disclosed, where M is an integer number greater than 1. The M transmission line sections couple the first port to the M second ports, respectively. Each of the M isolation resistors has a first terminal and a second terminal. The first terminals of the M isolation resistors are coupled to the M second ports, respectively. The phase shifting network has M I/O terminals coupled to the second terminals of the M isolation resistors, respectively. The phase shifting network is arranged to provide a phase shift within a predetermined tolerance margin between arbitrary two I/O terminals of the M I/O terminals of the phase shifting network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An M-way coupler, comprising:
a first port and M second ports, wherein M is an integer number greater than 1;
M transmission line sections, connecting to the first port and the M second ports, respectively;
M isolation resistors, wherein each of the M isolation resistors has a first terminal and a second terminal, and the first terminals of the M isolation resistors are connected to the M second ports, respectively;
a phase shifting network, having M I/O terminals connected to the second terminals of the M isolation resistors, respectively, wherein the phase shifting network is arranged to provide a phase shift within a predetermined tolerance margin between any two I/O terminals of the M I/O terminals of the phase shifting network.

2. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a phase shift from one I/O terminal to another I/O terminal of the M I/O terminals of the phase shifting network is zero.

3. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a circuit layout of the phase shifting network is symmetric.

4. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 1 , wherein impedances from one I/O terminal of the M I/O terminals to others of the M I/O terminals are all zero.

5. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the M I/O terminals of the phase shifting network are physically spaced apart from one another.

6. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the phase shifting network comprises a plurality of electronic components, and at least one of the electronic components is coupled between two I/O terminals of the M I/O terminals of the phase shifting network.

7. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the phase shifting network comprises a plurality of phase shifters each coupled between two I/O terminals of the M I/O terminals of the phase-shifting network, and at least one of the phase shifters is an LC network or is a combination of a transmission line and a capacitor where the transmission line and the capacitor are connected in series.

8. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the transmission line is operative to carry an alternating current of a radio frequency.

9. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 7 , wherein a total number of the phase shifters is M, each of the M phase shifters has a first terminal and a second terminal, and the second terminals of the M phase shifters are connected together while the first terminals of the M phase shifters are coupled to the M I/O terminals of the phase shifting network, respectively.

10. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 7 , wherein a total number of the phase shifters is M-1, and the M-1 phase shifters are interleaved between the M I/O terminals of the phase shifting network.

11. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 7 , wherein each of the phase shifters provides a phase shift of 0 degree or 180 degrees.

12. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 7 , wherein a total number of the phase shifters is greater than M, and at least two I/O terminals of the M I/O terminals of the phase shifting network are connected by more than two phase shifters.

13. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the phase shifters have identical circuits.

14. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the phase shifting network comprises M/2 shorter transmission lines and M/4 longer transmission lines, and, for every two I/O terminals of the M I/O terminals, one shorter transmission line of the M/2 shorter transmission lines is coupled therebetween, and, for every two shorter transmission lines of the M/2 shorter transmission lines, one longer transmission line of the M/4 longer transmission lines is coupled therebetween.

15. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the shorter and longer transmission lines each is operative to a carry alternating current of a radio frequency.

16. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the phase shifting network comprises a transmission line tree connecting to the M I/O terminals of the phase shifting network.

17. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the transmission line tree comprises transmission lines, and each of the transmission lines is operative to carry an alternating current of a radio frequency.

18. The M-way coupler as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the transmission line sections are implemented by identical circuits.

Assignees

• Yu Tiku
• Zhan Jing-Hong Conan
• Mediatek Singapore Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Yu Tiku
• Zhan Jing-Hong Conan

Classifications

• H01P5/16 Primary

  Conjugate devices, i.e. devices having at least one port decoupled from one other port · CPC title