The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 07, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 30, 1998
Mark J. Appel, Richardson, TX (US);
Mitchell K. Johnson, McKinney, TX (US);
Abstract
There is disclosed a power control circuit for controlling the combined effective DC bias current of a bank of parallel RF power amplifiers disposed in the transmit path of an RF transmitter. The power control circuit comprises: 1) a first signal monitor for monitoring the level of a modulated RF output signal; and 2) an amplifier bias current controller for comparing the modulated RF output signal level and a known maximum output power parameter of the active RF power amplifiers to determine if the active RF power amplifiers are operating in the linear region. If the active RF power amplifiers are operating in or near the nonlinear region, the power control circuit enables one or more inactive RF power amplifiers to increase the effective combined DC bias current and linearity of the active RF power amplifiers. Conversely, if the active RF power amplifiers are operating well within the linear region, the power control circuit may disable one or more active RF power amplifiers in order to reduce the effective combined DC bias current of the active RF power amplifiers and save power.