Radio frequency front end for television band receiver and spectrum sensor
AssigneeWi-LAN, Inc.
InventorsNeil Birkett, Shiquan Wu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A radio frequency front end for a television band receiver and spectrum sensor includes a first plurality of adaptive matching networks connected to a signal summer that combines signals received by the first plurality of antennas respectively connected to the first plurality of adaptive matching networks and outputs a combined signal to each of a second plurality of downconverter/tuners. The downconverter/tuners are respectively or collectively connected to an analog to digital converter that converts output of the second plurality of downconverter/tuners into at least one digital signal that is output to the television band receiver and spectrum sensor.
Claims48
A radio frequency front end for a television band receiver and spectrum sensor, comprising:
- a first plurality of adaptive matching networks adapted to be respectively connected to a respective one of a first plurality of antennas;
- a second plurality of downconverter/tuners connected to the first plurality of adaptive matching networks;
- and
- at least one analog to digital converter that converts output of the second plurality of downconverter/tuners into a digital signal.
An adaptive matching network for a radio frequency front end, comprising:
- an impedance translation circuit adapted to translate an impedance of one of a first plurality of antennas into a respective different impedance;
- a pin diode attenuator that is controlled to attenuate strong signals received by the one of the plurality of antennas;
- a shunt resonant circuit to inhibit a received signal band of interest from shunting to ground;
- and
- a series resonant circuit for boosting the received signal band of interest.
A radio frequency front end for a television band receiver and spectrum sensor, comprising:
- at least two adaptive matching networks respectively adapted to be connected to a respective antenna;
- a signal summer that combines received signals output by the at least two adaptive matching networks and outputs a combined signal;
- at least two downconverter/tuners that respectively receive the combined signal;
- and
- at least two analog to digital converters that respectively convert an output of one of the at least two respective downconverter/tuners into a digital signal passed to the television band receiver and spectrum sensor.
A radio frequency front, end for a television band receiver and spectrum sensor, comprising:
- at least two antennas;
- a first signal summer that combines signals received by the at least two antennas and outputs a combined signal;
- at least two downconverter/tuners that respectively receive the combined signal;
- a second signal summer that combines an output of each of the at least two downconverter/tuners into a combined tuner signal;
- and an analog to digital converter that converts the combined tuner signal into a digital signal passed to the television band receiver and spectrum sensor.
A method of sensing a television band for white space, comprising:
- dynamically tuning each of a first plurality of antennas to selectively receive a predetermined piece of television band spectrum;
- passing the pieces of television band spectrum to a second plurality of downconverter/tuners that receive the pieces of television band spectrum;
- converting an output of each of the second plurality of downconverter/tuners into a digital signal;
- and
- passing the digital signal to a spectrum sensor that searches the digital signal for the white space.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.