Reconfigurable wireless transceiver

#The invention is related to the wireless communication field, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to a reconfigurable wireless transceiver and method of use.

#Communication system designers consider existing wireless transceivers not readily reconfigurable. Specifically, although many wireless transceivers include multiple receivers, the transceivers' designs do not support dynamic over-the-air programming or tasking. In other words, today's wireless transceivers are not reconfigurable “on the fly”. Instead, existing wireless transceivers use dedicated receive channels to execute over-the-air programs or tasks, and do not support concurrent over-the-air programming while the other receiver is in operation. Traditionally, in order to reconfigure a receiver, a higher number of modem interactions and/or the use of shadow registers are needed, which increases die area and power consumption.

#Commonly, wireless transceivers use additional data storage elements (e.g., shadow registers, additional memory, etc.) to pre-store reconfiguration settings, in an attempt to reduce receive channel reconfiguration time. However, this method of reducing reconfiguration time is more than outweighed by the additional costs incurred (e.g., increased IC die area, power consumption, etc.). Also, some wireless transceivers include multiple receivers for diversity reception, in order to minimize fading effects and improve the capacity of the radio link. However, these multiple receivers typically share a common synthesizer. Consequently, the receivers are incapable of dynamically searching bands and modes independently from one another, in order to execute over-the-air programs tasks for reconfiguration as described.

#The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

#FIG. 1 depicts a schematic block diagram of a reconfigurable wireless transceiver, which can be used to implement an example embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 depicts a simplified diagram, which illustrates how a secondary receive channel of the wireless transceiver shown in FIG. 1 can be used to implement a frequency band/mode search algorithm, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the present invention;

#Example embodiments of a reconfigurable wireless transceiver and method of use are described. In one example embodiment, the wireless transceiver includes a plurality of programmable receive channels. A secondary receive channel is programmed to execute a search across different frequency bands and modes for a signal having a higher strength than the signal being processed by a primary receive channel. If the secondary receive channel detects such a higher strength signal, the configuration of the secondary channel is locked in, the mode associated with that signal is identified, and the identity of that mode is confirmed. Consequently, the wireless transceiver can reconfigure the secondary receive channel off-line and prepare it to receive over-the-air programming or tasking signals, without disrupting the reception of the signal being processed in the primary receive channel. Consequently, a reconfigurable wireless transceiver is described, which significantly minimizes receiver reconfiguration time and hardware costs (e.g., die area, package size and weight, power consumption, etc.) in comparison with prior wireless transceivers.

#With reference now to the figures, FIG. 1 depicts a schematic block diagram of a reconfigurable wireless transceiver 100, which can be used to implement an example embodiment of the present invention. For this example embodiment, wireless transceiver 100 represents a cellular phone, with a number of its components located within a Radio Frequency IC (RFIC). However, it should be understood that this example embodiment is provided for illustrative purposes only. In a different embodiment, wireless transceiver 100 may be implemented with, for example, a mobile radiotelephone, wireless handset, mobile station (MS), or any other suitable type of wireless communication device that can transmit and receive voice signals, video signals, and/or analog or digital data. Also, in a different embodiment, wireless transceiver 100 may be implemented without an RFIC.

#Referring to FIG. 1, wireless transceiver 100 includes a receiver section generally designated by reference numeral 102, and a transmitter section generally designated by reference numeral 104. Receiver section 102 and transmitter section 104 are located within an RFIC. Outside of the RFIC, wireless transceiver 100 includes two transmit/receive antennas 106 and 108 connected to a duplexer/switchplexer unit 110. The switch portion of duplexer/switchplexer unit 110 can select one of the antennas 106, 108 to receive and transmit RF signals, and the duplexer portion of unit 110 enables the selected antenna 106 or 108 to transmit and receive.