Clockless frequency detector
AssigneepSemi Corporation
InventorDavid Kovac
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Devices and methods for tuning a tunable circuit based on a frequency of operation of the tunable circuit using a clockless frequency detector circuit are described. The clockless frequency detector uses a filter having a slope in its frequency response curve that includes a frequency range of operation of the tunable circuit. Frequency-based attenuation through the filter of an RF signal provided to the tunable circuit is used to provide an indication of the frequency of operation. The tunable circuit, including the clockless frequency detector, can be integrated within a same chip that is autonomously configurable based on the frequency of operation.
Claims19
A radio frequency (RF) tunable circuit configured to operate over a frequency range of operation of an input RF signal, comprising:
- one or more tunable elements;
- a filter having at least one frequency response slope in a frequency region that covers the frequency range of operation of the tunable circuit, the at least one frequency response slope determined by one or more poles used to realize the filter;
- and
- a level detector coupled to the filter, and configured to detect an amplitude of the input RF signal through the filter,
- wherein tuning of the one or more tunable elements is based on a detected amplitude of the input RF signal through the filter, and is configured to provide a tuned frequency dependent performance of an output RF signal of the tunable circuit, and
- wherein a number of the one or more poles of the filter is based on a desired frequency resolution of the tuned frequency dependent performance.
A radio frequency (RF) tunable circuit configured to operate over a frequency range of operation of an input RF signal, comprising:
- one or more tunable elements;
- a filter having at least one frequency response slope in a frequency region that covers the frequency range of operation of the tunable circuit, the at least one frequency response slope determined by one or more poles used to realize the filter;
- a level detector coupled to the filter, and configured to detect an amplitude of the input RF signal through the filter;
- and
- an enabling circuit coupled to the level detector, the enabling circuit comprising an additional level detector,
- wherein tuning of the one or more tunable elements is based on a detected amplitude of the input RF signal through the filter, and is configured to provide a tuned frequency dependent performance of an output RF signal of the tunable circuit, and
- wherein the enabling circuit is configured to provide an enabling signal to the level detector coupled to the filter to enable the detection of the amplitude of the input RF signal through the filter when the enabling signal is active, wherein the enabling signal is active based on a detected level of the input RF signal by the additional level detector of the enabling circuit.
A method for tuning a radio frequency (RF) tunable circuit, the method comprising:
- providing one or more tunable elements of the tunable circuit;
- providing a frequency range of operation of an input RF signal to the tunable circuit;
- realizing a filter having at least one frequency response slope in a frequency region that covers the frequency range of operation of the tunable circuit, the at least one frequency response slope determined by one or more poles used to realize the filter;
- feeding an input RF signal operating at a first frequency of the frequency range to the tunable circuit and the filter;
- based on the feeding, detecting via a level detector coupled to the filter, an amplitude of the input RF signal through the filter;
- based on the detecting, tuning of the one or more tunable elements;
- and
- based on the tuning, providing a tuned frequency dependent performance of an output RF signal of the tunable circuit based on the first frequency,
- wherein the detecting via the level detector is based on an enabling signal to the level detector to enable detection of the amplitude of the input RF signal through the filter when the enabling signal is active, the enabling signal based on a detected level of the input RF signal detected by an additional level detector of an enabling circuit coupled to the level detector.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.