Saw-less, LNA-less low noise receiver
AssigneeSkyworks Solutions, Inc.
InventorsRajasekhar Pullela, William J. Domino
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A low noise receiver includes a downconverter configured to receive a radio frequency (RF) signal, the downconverter comprising a switching architecture configured to generate a plurality of output phases based on a respective plurality of local oscillator (LO) signals, a differencing circuit configured to combine the plurality of output phases such that an nth output phase is differenced with an (n+K)th output phase, resulting in gain-added output phases, and a summation filter configured to receive the gain-added output phases and configured to combine the gain-added output phases such that a response of the receiver effectively reduces odd harmonics of the RF signal.
Claims19
A low noise receiver, comprising:
- a passive low pass filter configured to filter a radio frequency (RF) signal directly from a switch module and to provide a voltage gain to the RF signal, the passive low pass filter including an impedance matching circuit and further configured to reduce a level of an interfering signal occurring at a frequency that is a seventh harmonic of the frequency of the RF signal;
- a downconverter coupled to the passive low pass filter and configured to receive the filtered RF signal, the downconverter including a switching architecture configured to generate a plurality of output phases based on a respective plurality of local oscillator (LO) signals, each of the plurality of output phases corresponding to a different phase within an LO period, the plurality of output phases being organized into at least K groups, K being an integer greater than one, each nth group of the K groups including an nth output phase of the plurality of output phases and an (n+K)th output phase of the plurality of output phases;
- a differencing stage configured to combine the plurality of output phases such that the nth output phase of each respective group of the K groups is differenced with the (n+K)th output phase of the respective group, resulting in gain-added output phases;
- and
- a summation filter configured to receive the gain-added output phases and configured to combine the gain-added output phases such that a response of the receiver effectively reduces odd harmonics of the RF signal including the third and fifth harmonics of the RF signal.
A method for operating on a received signal, comprising:
- filtering, with a passive low pass filter, a radio frequency (RF) signal to provide a voltage gain to the RF signal at least partly by performing impedance matching and reducing a level of an interfering signal occurring at a frequency that is a seventh harmonic of the frequency of the RF signal;
- downconverting the filtered RF signal and generating a plurality of output phases based on a respective plurality of local oscillator (LO) signals, each of the plurality of output phases corresponding to a different phase within a LO period, the plurality of output phases being organized into at least K groups, K being an integer greater than one, each nth group of the K groups including an nth output phase of the plurality of output phases and an (n+K)th output phase of the plurality of output phases;
- combining the plurality of output phases such that the nth output phase of each respective group of the K groups is differenced with the (n+K)th output phase of the respective group, resulting in gain-added output phases;
- and
- summing the gain-added output phases such that odd harmonics of the RF signal are reduced including the third and fifth harmonics of the RF signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.