Power supply processing for power amplifiers
AssigneeTropian, Inc.
InventorsKenneth R. Cioffi, Nigel J. Tolson, Earl W. McCune
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Abstract
The present invention, generally speaking, uses multiple selectable power supply paths, a saturation detector, or combinations of the same to achieve efficient power supply processing. In one aspect of the invention, a power supply processing circuit includes a first switched converter stage and a second linear stage. Depending on the power supply desired, the first stage may be bypassed to avoid conversion losses. In another aspect of the invention, a saturation detector is used to control the first stage such that the second stage operates efficiently just short of saturation, thereby avoiding distortion.
Claims16
A power amplifier module, comprising:
- a power amplifier having a power setting input;
- an amplitude modulator having a power supply input, a modulation input, and a power setting output coupled to the power setting input of said power amplifier;
- and
- a DC/DC converter having a main power supply input and an output selectively coupled to the power supply input of the amplitude modulator.
A method of power amplifier envelope modulation, comprising:
- applying an envelope modulation signal to an envelope modulation input of a modulator;
- selectively coupling an output voltage of a DC/DC converter to a power supply input of the modulator;
- generating an envelope voltage using the modulator;
- and
- applying the generated envelope voltage to a power setting input of a power amplifier.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.