Front-end system for a radio device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9832051-B2
Application number	US-201615043768-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 15, 2016
Priority date	Feb 16, 2015
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a front-end system for a radio device comprising: a charge generator circuit arranged for receiving a digital baseband signal, a first converter circuit arranged for calculating at least one charge value based on the digital baseband signal, a second converter circuit arranged for converting the at least one charge value into at least one electrical charge, and a modulator circuit arranged for generating a radio frequency signal based on the at least one electrical charge and at least one local oscillator signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A front-end system for a radio device comprising:
a charge generator circuit arranged for receiving a digital baseband signal, and comprising a first converter circuit arranged for calculating at least one charge value based on the digital baseband signal, wherein the at least one charge value comprises a digital number, and a second converter circuit arranged for converting the at least one charge value into at least one electrical charge, and
a modulator circuit arranged for generating a radio frequency signal based on the at least one electrical charge and at least one local oscillator signal.

2. The front-end system for a radio device according to claim 1 , further comprising a charge reservoir connected between the second converter circuit and the modulator circuit, and wherein the charge reservoir comprises at least one capacitor.

3. The front-end system for a radio device according to claim 2 , wherein the second converter circuit is arranged for converting the at least one charge value into the at least one electrical charge by connecting at least one bank of switchable capacitors to the charge reservoir, the at least one bank of switchable capacitors being pre-charged to at least one pre-determined voltage.

4. The front-end system for a radio device according to claim 2 , wherein the second converter circuit is arranged for converting the at least one charge value into the at least one electrical charge by connecting, for a predetermined period of time, at least one bank of switchable resistors between at least one pre-determined reference voltage and the charge reservoir.

5. The front-end system for a radio device according to claim 1 , wherein the second converter circuit is arranged for converting the at least one charge value into the at least one electrical charge by generating at least one current for a pre-determined period of time.

6. The front-end system for a radio device according to claim 1 , wherein the modulator circuit comprises at least one switch, and is arranged for generating a radio frequency signal by transferring the at least one electrical charge to an output load via the at least one switch controlled by the at least one local oscillator signal.

7. The front-end system for a radio device according to claim 6 , wherein the output load comprises a capacitor.

8. The front-end system for a radio device according to claim 1 , wherein the digital baseband signal is a differential quadrature baseband signal.

9. The front-end system for a radio device according to claim 1 , where the modulator circuit receives four non-overlapping local oscillator signals, and is arranged for generating the radio frequency signal based on the at least one electrical charge and the four non-overlapping local oscillator signals.

10. The front-end system for a radio device according to claim 1 , further comprising a control unit connected to an input of the modulator circuit, and arranged to control the first converter circuit so that the at least one charge value is calculated by taking into account the electrical charge available at the input of the modulator circuit.

11. A radio network comprising the front-end system for the radio device.

12. A radio network system comprising the radio device according to claim 11 .

13. A method for operating a front-end system for a radio device, the method comprising:
receiving, by a first converter circuit, a digital baseband signal;
calculating, by the first converter circuit, at least one charge value based on the digital baseband signal, wherein the at least one charge value comprises a digital number;
converting, by a second converter circuit, the at least one charge value into at least one electrical charge;
filtering, by a switched-capacitor resistor comprising a charge-reservoir capacitor and the second converter circuit to improve out-of-band noise emission, the at least one electrical charge; and
generating, by a modulator circuit, a radio frequency signal based on the at least one electrical charge and at least one local oscillator signal.

Assignees

• Imec Vzw
• Univ Brussel Vrije

Inventors

• Craninckx Jan
• Ingels Mark
• Paro Filho Pedro Emiliano

Classifications

• H04B1/0483 Primary

  Transmitters with multiple parallel paths · CPC title

• H04B1/0475

  with means for limiting noise, interference or distortion (H04B1/0483 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04B2001/0491

  with frequency synthesizers, frequency converters or modulators · CPC title

• H04L27/0002 Primary

  analog front ends; means for connecting modulators, demodulators or transceivers to a transmission line (duplex arrangements H04L5/143) · CPC title

• H04B1/18

  Input circuits, e.g. for coupling to an antenna or a transmission line (coupling networks between antennas or lines and receivers independent of the nature of the receiver H03H) · CPC title