Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090143027 | GAIN-CONTROL METHODS OF TRANSMITTER MODULATORS - An apparatus comprising a plurality of switchable full step mixer unit cells, wherein each switchable full step unit cell is configured to, when the full step transceiver mixer unit cell is turned on, increase the gain experienced by an electronic signal by a full step increment, and wherein the step increment is substantially constant regardless of temperature; and at least one switchable partial step mixer unit cell configured to, when the partial step transceiver mixer unit is turned on, increase the gain experienced by the electronic signal by a predetermined step increment less than that of a full step, and wherein the partial step increment is substantially constant regardless of temperature | 06-04-2009 |
20090143033 | GAIN CONTROL USING A DYNAMICALLY CONFIGURABLE TRANSFORMER - An apparatus comprising: a baseband filter configured to produce a baseband signal utilizing an input signal; a mixer unit configured to produce an intermediate signal utilizing the baseband signal and a local oscillator signal; and a dynamically configurable transformer configured to provide a gain to the intermediate signal, wherein the gain is dynamically configurable. | 06-04-2009 |
20090189687 | MULTI-MODE RECONSTRUCTION FILTER - A circuit (e.g., a reconstruction filtering circuit) may include a single operational amplifier (op-amp) that is arranged to receive a voltage input and that is arranged to have a biasing of constant g | 07-30-2009 |
20100267354 | Frequency Translated Filter - Embodiments of a frequency translated filter (FTF) are presented. An FTF includes a passive mixer and a baseband impedance. The baseband impedance includes a network of one or more passive components (e.g., resistors, inductors, and capacitors) that form a low-Q filter. The passive mixer is configured to translate the baseband impedance to a higher frequency. The translated baseband impedance forms a high-Q filter and is presented at the input of the FTF. The FTF can be fully integrated in CMOS IC technology (or others, e.g., Bipolar, BiCMOS, and SiGe) and applied in wireless receiver systems including GSM, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Bluetooth, and wireless LANs (e.g., IEEE 802.11). | 10-21-2010 |
20100317308 | Area Reduction Techniques for Saw-Less Receivers - Embodiments of a SAW-less RF receiver front-end that includes a frequency translated notch filter (FTNF) are presented. An FTNF includes a passive mixer and a baseband impedance. The baseband impedance includes capacitors that form a low-Q band-stop filter. The passive mixer is configured to translate the baseband impedance to a higher frequency. The translated baseband impedance forms a high-Q notch filter and is presented at the input of the FTNF. The FTNF can be fully integrated in CMOS IC technology (or others, e.g., Bipolar, BiCMOS, and SiGe) and applied in wireless receiver systems including EDGE/GSM, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Bluetooth, and wireless LANs (e.g., IEEE 802.11). In addition, embodiments of a multi-band SAW-less RF receiver front-end and techniques to share components of FTNFs included within the multi-band SAW-less RF receiver front-end are presented. | 12-16-2010 |
20100317311 | Protection for SAW-Less Receivers - Embodiments of a SAW-less RF receiver front-end that includes a frequency translated notch filter (FTNF) are presented. An FTNF includes a passive mixer and a baseband impedance. The baseband impedance includes capacitors that form a low-Q band-stop filter. The passive mixer is configured to translate the baseband impedance to a higher frequency. The translated baseband impedance forms a high-Q notch filter and is presented at the input of the FTNF. The FTNF can be fully integrated in CMOS IC technology (or others, e.g., Bipolar, BiCMOS, and SiGe) and applied in wireless receiver systems including GSM, EDGE, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Bluetooth, and wireless LANs (e.g., IEEE 802.11). In addition, embodiments of an apparatus to protect SAW-less RF receiver front-ends are presented. | 12-16-2010 |
20100327974 | Operational amplifiers having low-power unconditionally-stable common-mode feedback - An operational amplifier is provided. The operational amplifier includes a first transistor configured to receive a first input voltage, a second transistor configured to receive a second input voltage, and a current steering module coupled to first and second transistors and configured to receive a reference voltage. The first and second transistors form a differential pair. The first transistor, second transistor, and current steering module are configured such that a current is steered from the current steering module or to the current steering module based on common-mode voltages of the first and second input voltages and the reference voltage to set a common-mode output voltage of the operational amplifier. | 12-30-2010 |
20110003569 | Frequency Translated Filters For Wideband Applications - Embodiments of a SAW-less RF receiver front-end that includes a frequency translated notch filter (FTNF) are presented. An FTNF includes a passive mixer and a baseband impedance. The baseband impedance includes capacitors that form a low-Q band-stop filter. The passive mixer is configured to translate the baseband impedance to a higher frequency. The translated baseband impedance forms a high-Q notch filter and is presented at the input of the FTNF. The FTNF can be fully integrated in CMOS IC technology (or others, e.g., Bipolar, BiCMOS, and SiGe) and applied in wireless receiver systems including EDGE/GSM, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Bluetooth, and wireless LANs (e.g., IEEE 802.11). In addition, embodiments of a generalized FTNF for wideband applications are presented. | 01-06-2011 |
20110003572 | Layout Techniques For Frequency Translated Filters - Embodiments of a SAW-less RF receiver front-end that includes a frequency translated notch filter (FTNF) are presented. An FTNF includes a passive mixer and a baseband impedance. The baseband impedance includes capacitors that form a low-Q band-stop filter. The passive mixer is configured to translate the baseband impedance to a higher frequency. The translated baseband impedance forms a high-Q notch filter and is presented at the input of the FTNF. In an embodiment, the capacitors are implemented using MOS capacitors. In another embodiment, the capacitors are partially formed from MOS capacitors and fringe capacitors. The FTNF can be fully integrated in CMOS IC technology (or others, e.g., Bipolar, BiCMOS, and SiGe) and applied in wireless receiver systems including EDGE/GSM, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Bluetooth, and wireless LANs (e.g., IEEE 802.11). | 01-06-2011 |
20110012692 | CURRENT-INPUT CURRENT-OUTPUT RECONFIGURABLE PASSIVE RECONSTRUCTION FILTER - Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to reconstruction filtering. In particular, embodiments enable highly linear, highly programmable, and easily reconfigurable reconstruction filters. Further, embodiments provide substantial power consumption, area, and cost savings compared to conventional solutions. For example, embodiments use all-passive filtering and substantially reduce active elements compared to conventional solutions. As a result, significant reductions in required area, noise, and power consumption can be achieved. In addition, embodiments perform filtering solely in the current domain, thereby eliminating the non-linear voltage-to-current conversion used in conventional circuits and enabling highly linear filtering. Furthermore, embodiments are highly programmable and easily reconfigurable without the use of tunable capacitors. As such, embodiments are very suitable solutions for multi-band multi-mode wireless transmitters. | 01-20-2011 |
20110028115 | Receiver apparatus having filters implemented using frequency translation techniques - A method and apparatus is disclosed to effectively frequency translate a filter characterized as a low quality factor (Q) filter corresponding to a baseband frequency of approximately zero Hertz or to an intermediate frequency (IF) to a filter characterized as a high Q filter at frequencies greater than the baseband frequency or the IF. A downconversion mixer is used to frequency translate a communication signal to the baseband frequency or the IF using a first local oscillator signal to provide a downconverted communication signal. A filter characterized as the low Q filter corresponding to the baseband frequency or the IF filters the downconverted communication signal to provide a filtered communication signal. An upconversion mixer is used to frequency translate a communication signal using a second local oscillator signal, the second local oscillator signal being substantially similar in frequency of the first local oscillator signal. The frequency translation by the upconversion mixer, in effect, translates the filter characterization from the low Q filter to the high Q filter at frequencies greater than the baseband frequency or the IF. | 02-03-2011 |
20110057731 | Feedback-Based Linearization of Voltage Controlled Oscillator - Embodiments of the present invention enable a feedback-based VCO linearization technique. Embodiments include a frequency locked loop formed by feeding back a VCO's output into the VCO's input in negative phase by means of a frequency-to-voltage (F/V) converter. Embodiments enable constant VCO gain over a wide input tuning range and across PVT variations. Further, embodiments can be nested within a PLL, for example, with negligible area and power consumption overhead. | 03-10-2011 |
20110189965 | Differential to Single-Ended Converter - Embodiments enable a multi-band transmitter with significantly reduced architecture area by allowing maximum reuse of transmitter stages across supported frequency bands and signal standards. Further, embodiments allow a monolithic transmitter implementation by providing an integration-friendly differential to single-ended conversion stage. According to embodiments, the differential to single-ended conversion stage is readily configurable according to the frequency band and signal standard of operation of the transmitter. | 08-04-2011 |
20120068743 | Feedback-Based Linearization of Voltage Controlled Oscillator - Embodiments of the present invention enable a feedback-based VCO linearization technique. Embodiments include a frequency locked loop formed by feeding back a VCO's output into the VCO's input in negative phase by means of a frequency-to-voltage (F/V) converter. Embodiments enable constant VCO gain over a wide input tuning range and across PVT variations. Further, embodiments can be nested within a PLL, for example, with negligible area and power consumption overhead. | 03-22-2012 |
20120071119 | GAIN-CONTROL METHODS OF TRANSMITTER MODULATORS - An apparatus comprising a plurality of switchable full step mixer unit cells, wherein each switchable full step unit cell is configured to, when the full step transceiver mixer unit cell is turned on, increase the gain experienced by an electronic signal by a full step increment, and wherein the step increment is substantially constant regardless of temperature; and at least one switchable partial step mixer unit cell configured to, when the partial step transceiver mixer unit is turned on, increase the gain experienced by the electronic signal by a predetermined step increment less than that of a full step, and wherein the partial step increment is substantially constant regardless of temperature. | 03-22-2012 |
20130070878 | RECEIVER APPARATUS HAVING FILTERS IMPLEMENTED USING FREQUENCY TRANSLATION TECHNIQUES - A method and apparatus is disclosed to effectively frequency translate a filter characterized as a low quality factor (Q) filter, corresponding to a baseband frequency of approximately zero Hertz or to an intermediate frequency (IF), to a filter characterized as a high Q filter at frequencies greater than the baseband frequency or the IF. A downconversion mixer frequency translates a communication signal to the baseband frequency or the IF using a first local oscillator signal to provide a downconverted communication signal. A filter corresponding to the baseband frequency or the IF filters the downconverted communication signal to provide a filtered communication signal. An upconversion mixer frequency translates a communication signal using a second local oscillator signal. The frequency translation by the upconversion mixer, in effect, translates the filter characterization from the low Q filter to the high Q filter at frequencies greater than the baseband frequency or the IF. | 03-21-2013 |
20130303095 | GAIN CONTROL USING A DYNAMICALLY CONFIGURABLE TRANSFORMER - An apparatus includes a dynamically configurable transformer configured to provide a gain to a target signal. The gain is dynamically configurable. The dynamically configurable transformer includes at least one parallel resistive element configured to be dynamically activated in parallel with a load. | 11-14-2013 |