Power management in transceivers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9729112-B2
Application number	US-201514643164-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2015
Priority date	Dec 19, 2011
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

Various embodiments are directed to apparatuses and methods to generate a first signal representing modulation data and a second signal representing an amplitude of the modulation data, the first signal and the second signal to depend on an output signal and vary a power supply voltage to a gain stage in proportion to the amplitude of the modulation data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a radio frequency (RF) transceiver for communicating over one or more portions of a wireless communication frequency spectrum, the RF transceiver comprising:
a transmitter to generate an output signal for transmission over at least one of the one or more portions of the wireless communication frequency spectrum, the transmitter comprising:
an amplifier to amplify an input signal having a varying amplitude;
bias current circuitry coupled to the amplifier, the bias current circuitry to modulate a bias current for the amplifier based on an envelope of the input signal;
a voltage amplitude tracking stage to vary a power supply voltage for a gain stage based on an amplitude of the input signal; and
a receiver to receive one or more signals via at least one of the one or more portions of the wireless communication frequency spectrum.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , the amplifier comprising a transconductance amplifier.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , the bias current circuitry to modulate the bias current for the amplifier based on a current amplitude of the input signal.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , the gain stage to comprise a power amplifier.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising a filter coupled to one or both of the transmitter and the receiver.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising at least one RF antenna communicatively coupled to the transceiver.

7. A mobile communication device, comprising:
the apparatus of claim 1 ; and
a processing component.

8. A mobile communication device, comprising:
a radio frequency (RF) antenna; and
signal generation circuitry coupled to the RF antenna, the signal generation circuitry to generate an output signal for transmission over one or more portions of a wireless communication frequency spectrum, the signal generation circuitry to generate the output signal based on a signal having a varying amplitude, the signal generation circuitry to comprise:
an amplifier to amplify the signal;
bias current generation circuitry coupled to the amplifier, the bias current generation circuitry to modulate a bias current for the amplifier based the signal;
a gain stage; and
a voltage amplitude tracking stage to vary a power supply voltage for the gain stage based on an amplitude of the signal.

9. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , the amplifier to comprise a transconductance amplifier.

10. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , the bias current generation circuitry to modulate the bias current for the amplifier based on an envelope of the signal.

11. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , the bias current generation circuitry to modulate the bias current for the amplifier based on a current amplitude of the signal.

12. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , the gain stage to comprise a power amplifier.

13. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , comprising an RF transmitter coupled to the RF antenna, the RF transmitter to comprise the signal generation circuitry.

14. The mobile communication device of claim 13 , comprising an RF transceiver, the RF transceiver comprising:
the RF transmitter; and
an RF receiver to receive one or more signals via one or more portions of the wireless communication frequency spectrum.

15. The mobile communication device of claim 14 , the RF transceiver comprising at least one filter coupled to the RF transmitter.

16. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , comprising:
a radio comprising the signal generation circuitry; and
a memory coupled to the radio.

17. The mobile communication device of claim 8 , comprising:
a radio comprising the signal generation circuitry; and
processing circuitry coupled to the radio.

18. An apparatus, comprising:
means for receiving a varying-amplitude signal;
means for generating a bias current;
means for modulating the bias current based on an envelope of the varying-amplitude signal;
means for amplifying the varying-amplitude signal based on the modulated bias current;
means for varying a power supply voltage for a gain stage based on an amplitude of the varying-amplitude signal; and
means for generating, based on the amplified varying-amplitude signal, an output signal for transmission over one or more portions of a wireless communication frequency spectrum.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , comprising means for modulating the bias current based on a current amplitude of the varying-amplitude signal.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , the gain stage to comprise a transmission power amplifier.

21. A wireless communication device, comprising
a radio comprising the apparatus of claim 18 ;
a memory coupled to the radio.

22. The wireless communication device of claim 21 , comprising processing circuitry coupled to one or both of the radio and the memory.

23. A system, comprising the wireless communication device of claim 21 , coupled to at least one radio frequency (RF) antenna.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Cowley Nicholas P
• Ali Isaac
• Barber William L

Classifications

• H03F1/0211

  with control of the supply voltage or current · CPC title

• H03G3/20

  Automatic control ({H03G3/005 takes precedence;} combined with volume compression or expansion H03G7/00) · CPC title

• H03F3/24 Primary

  of transmitter output stages · CPC title

• H03F1/0216

  Continuous control · CPC title

• H03F2200/294

  the amplifier being a low noise amplifier [LNA] · CPC title