Broadcom Corporation

Adedayo Ojo

Arya Behzad

Hung-Ming Chien

Yuyu Chang

Kishore Rama Rao

Guruprasad Seetharam

Shahla Khorram

Bojko F Marholev

Madjid Hafizi

C Paul Lee

Aspects of a method and system for sharing low noise amplifier (LNA) circuitry in a single chip Bluetooth and wireless local area network (WLAN) system are disclosed. Aspects of the system may comprise a chip with integrated WLAN and Bluetooth radios. RF signals may be received via a single antenna coupled to a shared LNA integrated in chip. When WLAN signals are received they are communicated from the shared LNA to a subsequent amplification stage integrated within the WLAN radio. When Bluetooth signals are received they are communicated from the shared LNA to a subsequent amplification stage that comprises a transconductance amplifier integrated within the WLAN radio and an LNA load integrated within the Bluetooth radio. Gains in the LNAs, the transconductance amplifier, and/or the subsequent WLAN amplification stage may be dynamically adjusted. Outputs from the subsequent amplification stages may be communicated to mixers for further processing.

Method and system for sharing low noise amplifier circuitry in a single chip bluetooth and wireless local area network

Aspects of a method and system for processing signals in a high performance receive chain may include amplifying a plurality of radio frequency signals in one or more respective one or ones of a plurality of amplifier chains in a multistandard radio frequency front-end, which may comprise one or more shared processing stages. The plurality of radio frequency signals may be compliant with a plurality of radio frequency communication standards and may be received concurrently. The one or more shared processing stages may be shared between two or more of the plurality of amplifier chains. Each of the two or more of the plurality of amplifier chains may be operable to amplify signals compliant with different radio frequency communication standards.

Method and system for processing signals in a high performance receive chain

An integrated circuit radio transceiver and method therefor comprises a receiver front end that further includes a plurality of in-phase and quadrature phase receive processing block operable at first and second frequency bands wherein each of the receive processing blocks defines an ingoing signal path and further includes a plurality of filtering and amplification blocks disposed within the corresponding ingoing signal path, a plurality of RSSI blocks coupled to receive an ingoing analog signal from a corresponding plurality of nodes disposed throughout the ingoing signal path, each of the plurality of received signal strength indicator blocks producing a signal strength indication, and wherein a baseband processor is operable to receive a selected signal strength indication and to produce at least one gain setting to at least one amplification block within the in-phase or quadrature phase receive processing blocks. In operation, the baseband processor receive a signal strength indication from each RSSI block to determine a total amount of gain and appropriate gain distribution within the receive signal path.

Analog received signal strength indication in an RF transceiver

Methods and systems for a single-ended input low noise amplifier (LNA) with differential output are disclosed and may include configuring the LNA and/or a balun on a chip for single-ended or differential mode, which may function as a load for the LNA. A frequency response and gain of the LNA may be configured via switched capacitors and resistors, which may include CMOS transistors. A transition frequency, and thus impedance matching and matching network gain, may be tuned via configurable gate-source capacitors. A received signal may be filtered via a surface acoustical wave (SAW) filter. The LNA may be impedance matched with an input device via the transition frequency tuning and off chip inductors and/or capacitors. The LNA may be configured for single-ended or differential input mode via switches outside of a signal path to the LNA and reverse isolation may be enabled via a cascode device.

Method and system for a single-ended input low noise amplifier with differential output

Various example embodiments are disclosed. According to an example embodiment, an apparatus may comprise a first circuit, a second circuit, a transmission line coupled between the first circuit and the second circuit, and a Q-enhancement cell coupled to the transmission line.

Transmission line coupled to circuits and Q-enhancement cell

Aspects of a method and system for configurable Active/Passive Mixer and Shared GM Stage may include configuring an RF mixer in frequency demodulator to operate in an active mode or a passive mode. An in-phase (I) processing path and a quadrature (Q) processing path of the RF mixer may utilize a single shared GM stage. One or more switches may be activated to enable the active mode or the passive mode of operation for the RF mixer.

Method and system for configurable active/passive mixer and shared GM stage

A radio frequency (RF) transmission correction module includes an RF transmission error detection module and a correction module. The error detection module includes an RF envelope detector, a signal conversion module, and an error detection module. The RF envelope detector is operably coupled to produce an envelope signal from a transmit RF signal, wherein the envelope signal represents at least one of local oscillation leakage and in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) imbalance. The signal conversion module is operably coupled to convert the envelope signal into an error signal in accordance with baseband processing of the transmit RF signal. The error detection module is operably coupled to determine at least one of a local oscillation leakage value and an I and Q imbalance value from the error signal. The correction module is operably coupled to produce at least one of a local oscillation leakage correction signal and an I and Q imbalance correction signal based on the at least one of the local oscillation leakage value and the I and Q imbalance value, respectively.

RF transmission error detection and correction module

Various embodiments are disclosed relating to Q-enhancement cells. According to an example embodiment, a circuit may include an inductor with a quality factor (Q), and a Q-enhancement cell coupled to the inductor. The Q-enhancement cell may include a current source having a variable bias current slope. Stability may, for example, be improved by providing a variable or programmable bias current slope for the Q-enhancement cell. In another example embodiment, a Q-enhancement cell may be used to compensate for Q degradation due to one or more switched capacitors in a circuit. The switched capacitors may be used, for example, for channel or frequency selection for the circuit. In another example embodiment, a Q-enhancement cell may be used to compensate for Q degradation caused by a transmission line.

Circuit with Q-enhancement cell having programmable bias current slope

Aspects of a method and system for processing signals in a high performance receive chain may include amplifying radio frequency signals in amplifier chains in a multistandard radio frequency front-end, comprising one or more shared processing stages, and combining, with substantially equal gain, a number of phase-shifted radio frequency signals of the radio frequency signals into substantially equal-gain-combined radio frequency signals. The substantially equal-gain-combined radio frequency signals may be demodulated to obtain inphase channels and quadrature channels. A number of inphase channels and quadrature channels may be processed in I-channel processing blocks and Q-channel processing blocks to generate an output analog baseband signal. The multistandard radio frequency front-end may be capable of processing Bluetooth&#xae; signals and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) signals. The amplifier chains may comprise a first amplifier and a second amplifier, where the first amplifier may be shared between Bluetooth&#xae; signal processing paths and WLAN signal processing paths.

According to an example embodiment, an amplitude feedback loop may include an RF amplifier, a detector, a comparator, and a Q-enhancement cell. In an example embodiment, the RF amplifier has an output signal, and the detector has an input coupled to the output signal of the RF amplifier and is configured to detect a level of the output signal of the RF amplifier. The comparator circuit may receive as inputs a reference voltage and the output of the detector. Also, the comparator circuit is configured to output a control signal based on a difference between the reference voltage and the output signal of the power detector. The Q-enhancement cell may be coupled to the RF amplifier and have an input coupled to an output of the comparator circuit. A bias current of the Q-enhancement cell may be adjusted based on the control signal output by the comparator circuit.

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Adedayo Ojo