Intermediate frequency filter for millimeter wave carrier aggregation

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to other aspects of a wireless communication apparatus, method, and sliding intermediate frequency filter for carrier aggregation communication. In one aspect, a high band mixer includes a radio frequency (RF) receive signal input, a local oscillator (LO) input, and an IF signal output, a tunable high pass filter includes an input and an output, an intermediate frequency (IF) receive signal multiplexer includes a merged IF CA signal output, a first input, and a second input, the LO input, and the IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the low band mmW CA receive port, and a tunable low pass filter includes an input and an output, where the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the low band mixer, and where the output is coupled to the second input of the IF receive signal multiplexer.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to electronics and wireless communications. For example, aspects of the present disclosure relate to millimeter wave (mmW) communications and architectures for carrier aggregation (CA) in mmW receivers. Background Art

[0002] Wireless communication devices and technologies are becoming increasingly common. Wireless communication devices typically send and receive communication signals. Communication signals are typically processed by a variety of different components and circuits. In some modern communication systems, many different wavelengths of electromagnetic waves may be used in a single device, and specialized transmit and receive configurations may be used to generate and receive orthogonal signals in the same wireless path. Providing consistent signals of sufficient quality to meet communication performance goals in such environments may involve additional complexity in wireless communication systems. Summary of the invention

[0003] Various implementations of systems, methods, and devices within the scope of the appended claims each have several aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for the desirable attributes described herein. Without limiting the scope of the appended claims, certain governing features are described herein.

[0004] In some aspects, a wireless communication device is provided. The wireless communication device includes: a high-band millimeter wave (mmW) carrier aggregation (CA) receive port; a high-band mixer, the high-band mixer coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port; a tunable high-pass filter, the tunable high-pass filter coupled to the high-band mixer; a low-band mmW CA receive port; a low-band mixer, the low-band mixer coupled to the low-band mmW CA receive port; a tunable low-pass filter, the tunable low-pass filter coupled to the low-band mixer; and an intermediate frequency (IF) receive signal multiplexer, the intermediate frequency (IF) receive signal multiplexer including a first input coupled to the tunable high-pass filter, a second input coupled to the tunable low-pass filter, and a combined IF CA signal output.

[0005] On the other hand, a method is provided. The method includes: receiving a first wireless data signal at a high-band millimeter wave (mmW) carrier aggregation (CA) receiving port; using a high-band mixer to down-convert the first wireless data signal to a high-band intermediate frequency (IF) signal, the high-band mixer including a radio frequency (RF) receiving signal input, a local oscillator (LO) input, and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receiving signal input is coupled to the high-band mmW CA receiving port to receive the first wireless data signal; using a tunable high-pass filter to filter the high-band IF signal, the tunable high-pass filter including an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the high-band mixer; receiving a second wireless data signal at a low-band mmW CA receiving port; using a low-band mixer including an RF receiving signal input, a LO input, and an IF signal output to down-convert the second wireless data signal to a low-band IF signal, wherein the RF receiving signal input is coupled to the low-band mmW CA receive port to receive the second wireless data signal; filtering the low-band IF signal using a tunable low-pass filter, the tunable low-pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the low-band mixer, and wherein the output is coupled to the second input of the IF receive signal multiplexer; and multiplexing the high-band IF signal and the low-band IF signal to generate a combined IF CA signal using an IF receive signal multiplexer, the IF receive signal multiplexer comprising a combined IF CA signal output, a first input, and a second input, wherein the first input is coupled to the output of the tunable high-pass filter to receive the high-band IF signal, and wherein the second input is coupled to the output of the tunable low-pass filter to receive the low-band IF signal.

[0006] On the other hand, another wireless communication device is provided. The wireless communication device includes: a high-band millimeter wave (mmW) carrier aggregation (CA) receiving port; a high-band mixer, the high-band mixer including a radio frequency (RF) receiving signal input, a local oscillator (LO) input and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receiving signal input is coupled to the high-band mmW CA receiving port; a tunable high-pass filter, the tunable high-pass filter including an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the high-band mixer; an intermediate frequency (IF) receiving signal multiplexer, the intermediate frequency (IF) receiving signal multiplexer including a combined IF CA signal output, a first input and a second input, wherein the first input is coupled to the output of the tunable high-pass filter; a low-band mmW CA receiving port; a low-band mixer, the low-band mixer including an RF receiving signal input, an LO input and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receiving signal input is coupled to the low-band mmW a CA receive port; a tunable low pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the low band mixer, and wherein the output is coupled to the second input of the IF receive signal multiplexer.

[0007] Some such aspects also include a mmW transmit path coupled to the output of the IF receive signal multiplexer. Other aspects also include an IF integrated circuit; wherein the high-band mixer, the tunable high-pass filter, the IF receive signal multiplexer, the low-band mixer, and the tunable low-pass filter are constructed as part of an RF integrated circuit; and wherein the mmW transmit path couples the combined IF CA signal output of the IF receive signal multiplexer to the IF integrated circuit.

[0008] Some such aspects further operate wherein the high-band mmW CA receive port is configured to receive a first wireless data signal in a high-band channel of a CA system; and wherein the low-band mmW CA receive port is configured to receive a second wireless data signal in a low-band channel of the CA system.

[0009] Some such aspects further operate wherein the high-band mixer is configured to use the LO signal to down-convert the first wireless data signal to a high-band IF signal; wherein the low-band mixer is configured to use the LO signal to down-convert the second wireless data signal to a low-band IF signal; and wherein the IF receive signal multiplexer is configured to combine the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal into a combined IF CA signal for transmission to the IF integrated circuit via the mmW transmit path.

[0010] Some such aspects further operate with a control circuit coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter, wherein the control circuit is configured to dynamically determine a low-band frequency range associated with the low-band channel and a high-band frequency range associated with the high-band channel, and dynamically adjust the tunable low-pass filter and the tunable high-pass filter based on the low-band frequency range and the high-band frequency range.

[0011] In other aspects, the control circuit is coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter, wherein the control circuit is configured to dynamically adjust the tunable low-pass filter to suppress in-band blocking signals of the second wireless data signal that would interfere with the high-band IF signal; and the control circuit is configured to dynamically adjust the tunable high-pass filter to suppress in-band blocking signals of the first wireless data signal that would interfere with the low-band IF signal.

[0012] In some such aspects, the threshold signal suppression amount is 30 decibels (dB), and wherein the threshold frequency distance is 2 gigahertz (GHz). In other respects, this end frequency of this low frequency band channel can be configured to a frequency from a frequency of 8.8GHz to a frequency of 10GHz. In other respects, this end frequency of this high frequency band channel can be configured to a frequency from a frequency of 10.8GHz to a frequency of 12GHz. In some respects, this end frequency of this high frequency band channel of this CA system can be configured in a first frequency range, and wherein this end frequency of this low frequency band channel of this CA system can be configured in a second frequency range, and wherein this first frequency range overlaps with this second frequency range.

[0013] Some such aspects also include a modem circuit coupled to the IF integrated circuit, wherein the IF integrated circuit is configured to separate the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal from the combined IF CA signal and down-convert the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal to corresponding baseband frequencies for communication to the modem circuit.

[0014] Some such aspects also include a first signal path and a second signal path, the first signal path and the second signal path being used to receive corresponding wireless signals for beamforming; wherein the high-band mmW CA receive port, the low-band mmW CA receive port, the high-band mixer, the tunable high-pass filter, the IF receive signal multiplexer, the low-band mixer and the tunable low-pass filter are constructed as part of the first signal path and are operable, wherein the second signal path includes: a second high-band mmW CA receive port; a second high-band mixer, the second high-band mixer including an RF receive signal input, a local oscillator (LO) input and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the second high-band mmW CA receive port; a second tunable high-pass filter, the second tunable high-pass filter including an input and an output, wherein the second input is coupled to the IF signal output of the second high-band mixer; a second IF receive signal multiplexer, the second IF receive signal multiplexer including a merged IF A CA signal output, a first input and a second input, wherein the first input is coupled to the output of the second tunable high pass filter; a second low-band mmW CA receive port; a second low-band mixer, the second low-band mixer comprising an RF receive signal input, an LO input and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the second low-band mmW CA receive port; and a second tunable low pass filter, the second tunable low pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the second low-band mixer, and wherein the output is coupled to the second input of the second IF receive signal multiplexer.

[0015] Some aspects also include a high-band antenna coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port; a low-band antenna coupled to the low-band mmW CA receive port; a control circuit coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter; and a display coupled to the control circuit.

[0016] The foregoing and other features and embodiments will become more apparent upon reference to the following description, claims and accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various views unless otherwise indicated. For reference numerals with alphabetic characters, such as "102a" or "102b", the alphabetic characters may distinguish between two similar parts or elements in the same figure. When it is intended that a reference numeral encompass all parts having the same reference numeral in all figures, the alphabetic characters of the reference numeral may be omitted.

[0018] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating a wireless communication system including multiple devices according to various aspects described herein, which can be implemented by a sliding intermediate frequency (IF) filter for improving a millimeter wave (mmW) receiver (e.g., a mmW carrier aggregation (CA) receiver).

[0019] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating a wireless communication system including a device that can be implemented with a sliding filter for a mmW CA receiver in accordance with various aspects described herein.

[0020] Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating aspects of a wireless communication device with a sliding filter for a mmW CA receiver in accordance with aspects described herein.

[0021] Figure 4

[0013] Various aspects of a wireless communication device that may be implemented with a sliding filter in a receive signal path in accordance with various aspects described herein are illustrated.

[0022] Figure 5 Aspects of a mmW CA receiver that may be implemented with a sliding (eg, tunable) filter in accordance with aspects described herein are illustrated.

[0023] Figure 6 Aspects of a mmW CA receiver that may be implemented with a sliding (eg, tunable) filter in accordance with aspects described herein are illustrated.

[0024] Figure 7 Various aspects of mmW CA receiver operation utilizing a sliding (eg, tunable) filter in accordance with various aspects described herein are illustrated.

[0025] Figure 8 Various aspects of mmW CA receiver operation utilizing a sliding (eg, tunable) filter in accordance with various aspects described herein are illustrated.

[0026] Fig. 9 Example tunable (eg, sliding) filters in accordance with various aspects described herein are illustrated.

[0027] Fig.10 Example tunable (eg, sliding) filters in accordance with various aspects described herein are illustrated.

[0028] Fig.11 Various aspects of mmW CA receiver operation utilizing a sliding (eg, tunable) filter in accordance with various aspects described herein are illustrated.

[0029] Fig.12Various aspects of mmW CA receiver operation utilizing a sliding (eg, tunable) filter having filter components including values ​​within predefined tolerances that can affect tuning operation are illustrated in accordance with various aspects described herein.

[0030] Fig.13 Various aspects of a method for correcting OAM beam misalignment according to various aspects described herein are illustrated.

[0031] Fig.14 Various aspects of an apparatus for correcting OAM beam misalignment according to various aspects described herein are illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The specific embodiments described below in conjunction with the drawings are intended as descriptions of exemplary implementations and are not intended to represent the only implementations in which the present invention may be practiced. The term "exemplary" used throughout the description means "serving as an example, instance, or illustration" and should not necessarily be interpreted as being superior to or superior to other exemplary implementations. The specific embodiments include specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the exemplary implementations. In some instances, some devices are shown in block diagram form. Common drawing elements in the following figures may be identified using the same reference numerals.

[0033] Cellular communication systems such as 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standardized communications may use different frequencies (e.g., carriers) to communicate data between devices. The use of such multi-carrier or multi-frequency communications may be referred to as carrier aggregation (CA). In some millimeter wave (mmW) receivers, the receiver path may be separated across multiple integrated circuits. In one such architecture, a radio frequency (RF) integrated circuit (RFIC) may be used to down-convert a millimeter wave (mmW) wireless data signal to an intermediate frequency (IF), and the IF data signal resulting from the down-conversion may be sent to a different circuit (e.g., IF IC) for further down-conversion to a baseband signal.

[0034] In many implementations, the coexistence of mmW cellular communications with lower frequency communication bands or other wireless technologies (e.g., ultra-wideband signals operating around 7.5-8.3 gigahertz (GHz)) results in available frequency space for IF signals at relatively high frequencies (e.g., above 8.3 GHz). Paths for communicating IF data signals between RFIC and IFIC at such frequencies can be expensive in terms of space, power usage, signal quality, and component cost. For CA communications with multiple IF data signals (e.g., one IF data signal for each carrier), such costs are multiplied.

[0035] One possible solution for reducing such costs is to multiplex the IF data signals into a combined IF CA signal that can use a single path between ICs to convey IF signals from multiple CA channels. Various aspects described herein include a sliding tunable filter circuit that can be used to multiplex IF data signals in order to improve signal integrity and suppress out-of-band signals received over one carrier that are in-band for another channel in the combined IF CA signal. Such filters improve the operation of mmW receivers by reducing space and power usage relative to alternative designs and by reducing unused frequency gap space between IF signals when compared to a receiving circuit without such tunable filters. The reduction of such unused frequency gaps allows for greater spectral efficiency and improved communication system performance.

[0036] Various aspects of the application will be described with respect to the accompanying drawings.

[0037] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating a communication system 120 that may include a device with a tunable filter in a mmW CA receiver according to various aspects described herein. The wireless communication system 120 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) system, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) system, a 5G NR (New Radio) system, or some other wireless system. The CDMA system may implement Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 1X, Evolution Data Optimized (EVDO), Time Division Synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA), or some other version of CDMA. The communication system may include an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) communication system or be designed to coexist with an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) communication system. For simplicity, Figure 1 Wireless communication system 120 is shown including base stations 130 and 132, access point 160, and system controller 140. In general, a wireless communication system may include any number of base stations, as well as any other set of network entities, that may multiplex communications using OAM in accordance with various aspects described herein.

[0038] The wireless device 110 may also be referred to as a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a terminal, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a station, etc. The wireless device 110 may be a cellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet computer, or other such mobile device (e.g., a device integrated with a display screen). Other examples of the wireless device 110 include a wireless modem, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device, a laptop computer, a smart book, a netbook, a tablet computer, a cordless phone, a medical device, a device configured to be coupled to one or more other devices (e.g., via the Internet of Things), a wireless access point (WAP) for providing a wireless area network using a WiFi front-end and a back-end wireless Internet access via a 3GPP cellular network, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a Bluetooth device, etc. The wireless device 110 may communicate with the wireless communication system 120. The wireless device 110 may also receive signals from a broadcast station (e.g., a broadcast station 134) and / or signals from a satellite (e.g., a satellite 150 in one or more global navigation satellite systems (GNSS)). The wireless device 110 may support one or more radio technologies for wireless communications, such as LTE, WCDMA, CDMA IX, EVDO, TD-SCDMA, GSM, 802.11, 5G, etc.

[0039] Figure 2 2 is a diagram illustrating an environment 200 including an electronic device 202 and a base station 204. The environment 200 may be part of the system 120, the device 202 may be similar to the device 110, and the base station 204 may be similar to the system 120. Figure 1 Although base station 204 and electronic device 202 are described, similar wireless link 206 may be applied between base stations according to various aspects described herein. Such devices may be configured for mmW CA communications. When an additional device (not shown) is in close proximity to the transmitting device and the additional device is transmitting on an adjacent channel, the combined IF CA signal may include in-band noise from the additional device. Various aspects described herein may use a tunable filter to suppress such in-band noise while efficiently using frequencies associated with the IF signal. Figure 2 In the example of , the electronic device 202 can be implemented as any suitable computing or other electronic device, such as a cellular base station, a broadband router, an access point, a cellular or mobile phone, a gaming device, a navigation device, a media device, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer, a server, a network attached storage (NAS) device, a smart appliance, a transportation-based communication system, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.

[0040] Base station 204 communicates with electronic device 202 via wireless link 206, which may be implemented as any suitable type of wireless link. Although depicted as a base station tower of a cellular radio network, base station 204 may represent or be implemented as another device, such as a satellite, a cable TV headend, a terrestrial television broadcast tower, an access point, a peer device, a mesh network node, a router, a fiber optic line, generally another electronic device, etc. Thus, electronic device 202 may communicate with base station 204 or another device via a wired connection, a wireless connection, or a combination thereof.

[0041] Wireless link 206 may include a downlink of data or control information communicated from base station 204 to electronic device 202, and an uplink of other data or control information communicated from electronic device 202 to base station 204. Wireless link 206 may use any suitable communication protocol or standard (such as 3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution (3GPP LTE), 5G New Radio (3GPP 5GNR), IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, Bluetooth TM etc.) to achieve this.

[0042] The electronic device 202 includes a processor 208 and a computer-readable storage medium (CRM 210). The processor 208 may include any type of processor configured to execute processor-executable instructions (e.g., code) stored by the CRM 210, such as an application processor or a multi-core processor. The CRM 210 may include any suitable type of data storage medium, such as volatile memory (e.g., random access memory (RAM)), non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory), optical media, magnetic media (e.g., disk or tape), etc. In the context of the present disclosure, the CRM 210 is implemented to store instructions 212, data 214, and other information of the electronic device 202, and therefore does not include transient propagated signals or carrier waves.

[0043] The electronic device 202 may also include an input / output port 216 (I / O port 216) or a display 218. The I / O port 216 enables data exchange or interaction with other devices, networks, or users. The I / O port 216 may include a serial port (e.g., a universal serial bus (USB) port), a parallel port, an audio port, an infrared (IR) port, etc. The display 218 may be implemented as a screen or projection that presents graphics of the electronic device 202, such as one or more graphic images, such as for a user interface associated with an operating system, program, or application. Alternatively or additionally, the display 218 may be implemented as a display port or a virtual interface through which the graphical content of the electronic device 202 is communicated or presented.

[0044] For communication purposes, the electronic device 202 also includes a modem 220, a wireless transceiver 222, and at least one antenna 230. The wireless transceiver 222 includes a converter unit (CU) 224 and a transceiver (TRX) unit 226. The wireless transceiver 222 uses RF wireless signals to provide a connection to a corresponding network and other electronic devices connected thereto. Additionally or alternatively, the electronic device 202 may include a wired transceiver (such as an Ethernet or fiber optic interface) for communicating through a personal or local network, an intranet, or the Internet. The wireless transceiver 222 can facilitate communication through any suitable type of wireless network described herein.

[0045] The modem 220 (such as a baseband modem) can be implemented as a system on chip (SoC) that provides a digital communication interface for data, voice, messaging, and other applications of the electronic device 202. The modem 220 may also include baseband circuits to perform high-rate sampling processes, which may include analog-to-digital conversion (ADC), digital-to-analog conversion (DAC), gain correction, tilt correction, frequency conversion, etc. The modem 220 may also include logic to perform in-phase / quadrature (I / Q) operations, such as synthesis, encoding, modulation, demodulation, and decoding. More generally, the modem 220 may be implemented as a digital signal processor (DSP) or a processor configured to perform signal processing to support communication via one or more networks. Alternatively, the ADC or DAC operations may be performed by a separate component or another illustrated component (such as a wireless transceiver 222).

[0046] The wireless transceiver 222 may include circuits, logic, and other hardware for sending or receiving wireless signals for at least one communication frequency band. In operation, the wireless transceiver 222 may implement at least one radio frequency transceiver unit to process data and / or signals associated with the communication data of the electronic device 202 via the antenna 230. Generally speaking, the wireless transceiver 222 may include filters, switches, amplifiers, etc. for routing and processing signals sent or received via the antenna 230. Generally speaking, the wireless transceiver 222 includes multiple transceiver units (e.g., for different wireless protocols such as WLAN and WWAN, or for supporting different frequency bands or frequency band combinations).

[0047] Elements of electronic device 202 are described above, and base station 204 may have similar corresponding elements, in addition to any other elements supporting base station functionality. Processor 258 may have similar structure and functionality as processor 208, and computer readable medium (CRM) 260, along with instructions 262 and data 264, may have similar structure and functionality as CRM 210, instructions 212, and data 214. I / O port 266 and modem 270 may have similar structure and functionality as I / O port 216 and modem 220 described above. Wireless transceiver 272 may include converter unit 274 and transceiver unit 276, as well as antenna 280. Transceiver 272 may include 3GPP standard structure or other communication structure described above for base stations, together with specific implementations of wireless communication devices having receivers including clutter suppression according to various aspects described herein.

[0048] Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating aspects of a wireless communication device with a tunable filter for a mmW CA receiver in accordance with aspects described herein. Figure 3 A wireless communication device 300 including blocks that operate to provide clutter suppression for mmW CA communications is shown. The wireless communication device 300 can be an element of any device or station (e.g., base station 130, 132, 204 or electronic device 202) that is part of a wireless communication system. As described above, mmW or higher frequency wireless communications can use CA to increase data throughput. In order to effectively process such signals, the receiver system can down-convert different carrier signals separately and then combine the down-converted signals into a single intermediate frequency signal, which can be digitized and transmitted to the modem as a single data stream including information from multiple carriers. When another device transmits on an adjacent channel, such an architecture can cause noise, so that when the IF signal from another CA channel is down-converted to the IF frequency, the adjacent channel signal interferes with the IF signal. Various aspects described herein include control circuits and tunable filters that can be used in mmW CA receive path circuits to suppress such in-band noise signals.

[0049] To achieve such clutter suppression, device 300 includes a codebook and automatic gain control (AGC) management block 350, a carrier aggregation block 340, a filter management block 330, and a control circuit 320. Such a device or other similar devices may include other blocks, such as a MIMO block for supporting additional communication systems to improve performance.

[0050] As described above, a communication system using CA along with other cellular communication technologies can use multiple communication bandwidths and other technologies such as MIMO to improve communication performance. The codebook and automatic gain control (AGC) management block 350 includes available combinations of communication technologies, including available carriers for CA and power limits (e.g., AGC settings) for various combinations to comply with regulations and device operations. Block 350 can identify different combinations of settings and device settings (e.g., power settings) for CA operations and communicate them to other systems. The carrier aggregation block 340 can use information from the codebook and AGC management block 350 to implement CA communication operations, and the filter management block 330 can receive information about the CA channel being used, and can manage the selection of filter settings to match the CA channel being used. In addition, the tunable filter as described herein can be subject to process changes that can affect filter performance. The filter management block 330 can perform testing of filter performance based on actual device characteristics subject to process changes, and can adjust the filter control to match the control input to the actual filter performance, rather than the target design performance (e.g., it does not take into account process changes). Once the testing is performed, the filter management block 330 may store the results of matching the control signals from the control circuit to the filters so that the CA channel frequencies are filtered based on the actual filters as manufactured rather than as designed.

[0051] Control circuitry 320 may manage the calibration process of the tunable filter as described above in conjunction with filter management block 330, as well as communicate tuning control signals to the tunable filter during device operation, as described below.

[0052] Figure 4 4 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless device 400 in which a mmW CA receiver according to various aspects described herein may be implemented. The wireless device 400 may be, for example, Figure 1 Implementation of the illustrated wireless device 110. In some examples, the wireless device 400 (or any of the devices described and / or illustrated below) may be Figure 1 An example of any of the illustrated devices.

[0053] Figure 4An example of a transceiver 420 including a transmitter 430 and a receiver 450 is shown. The transceiver 420 illustrates general aspects of a wireless communication device that may include a mmW CA receive path with tunable filters and multiplexed IF signaling in accordance with various aspects described herein. Conditioning of the signals in the transmitter 430 and the receiver 450 may be performed by one or more stages of amplifiers, filters, upconverters, downconverters, etc. Additional details of the receive mmW CA path with tunable filtering are described in the additional figures below. In some aspects, the device may include additional communication circuits for other frequencies, or repeating elements described below for various communication systems. In some implementations, Figure 4 Circuit blocks similar to the circuit blocks shown in Figure 4 The configuration shown in is arranged differently. In addition, Figure 4 Other circuit blocks not shown in FIG. 4 may also be used to condition the signals in transmitter 430 and receiver 450. Unless otherwise indicated, Figure 4 Any signal in or any other diagram in the accompanying drawings may be single-ended or differential. Figure 4 Some circuit blocks in the circuit can also be omitted.

[0054] exist Figure 4 In the example shown, the wireless device 400 generally includes a transceiver 420 and a data processor 410. The data processor 410 may include a processor 496 operatively coupled to a memory 498. The memory 498 may be configured to store data and program codes generally shown using reference numeral 499, and may generally include analog and / or digital processing components. The processor 496 may be any control or computing circuit. The transceiver 420 includes a transmitter 430 and a receiver 450 that support bidirectional communication. In general, the wireless device 400 may include any number of transmitters and / or receivers for any number of communication systems and frequency bands. All or a portion of the transceiver 420 may be implemented on one or more analog integrated circuits (ICs), RF ICs (RFICs), intermediate frequency ICs (IFICs), mixed signal ICs, etc.

[0055] In the transmit path, the data processor 410 processes the data to be transmitted and provides in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) analog output signals to the transmitter 430. In some aspects, the data processor 410 includes digital-to-analog converters (DACs) 414a and 414b for converting the digital signals generated by the data processor 410 into I and Q analog output signals (e.g., I and Q output currents) for further processing. In other embodiments, the DACs 414a and 414b are included in the transceiver 420, and the data processor 410 provides data (e.g., for I and Q) to the transceiver 420 in a digital manner.

[0056] In the transmitter 430, baseband (e.g., low pass) filters 432a and 432b filter the I and Q analog transmit signals, respectively, to remove the undesired image frequencies caused by the preceding digital-to-analog conversion. Amplifiers (Amp) 434a and 434b amplify the signals from the baseband filters 432a and 432b, respectively, and provide I and Q baseband signals. An upconverter 440 including upconverter mixers 441a and 441b upconverts the I and Q baseband signals using the I TX LO signal and the Q TX LO signal from the transmit (TX) local oscillator (LO) signal generator 490, and provides the upconverted signals. The received RF signal is amplified by the LNA 452 and filtered by the filter to obtain the desired RF input signal. Down-converter mixers 461a and 461b in down-converter 460 mix the output of the filter with I and Q receive (RX) LO signals (i.e., LO_I and LO_Q) from RX LO signal generator 480 to generate I and Q baseband signals. The I and Q baseband signals are amplified by amplifiers 462a and 462b and further filtered by baseband (e.g., low-pass) filters 464a and 464b to obtain I and Q analog input signals, which are provided to data processor 410. In the exemplary embodiment shown, data processor 410 includes analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) 416a and 416b for converting analog input signals into digital signals to be further processed by data processor 410. In some embodiments, ADCs 416a and 416b are included in transceiver 420 and provide data to data processor 410 in a digital manner.

[0057] exist Figure 4 4. In the embodiment of the present invention, the TX LO signal generator 490 generates an I TX LO signal and a Q TX LO signal for up-conversion, and the RX LO signal generator 480 generates an I RX LO signal and a Q RX LO signal for down-conversion. Each LO signal is a periodic signal having a specific base frequency. A phase-locked loop (PLL) 492 receives timing information from the data processor 410 and generates a control signal for adjusting the frequency and / or phase of the TX LO signal from the LO signal generator 490. Similarly, the PLL 482 receives timing information from the data processor 410 and generates a control signal for adjusting the frequency and / or phase of the RX LO signal from the LO signal generator 480.

[0058] In some aspects, RX PLL 482, TX PLL 492, RX LO signal generator 480, and TX LO signal generator 490 may alternatively be combined into a single LO generator circuit 495, which may include a common or shared LO signal generator circuit for providing the TX LO signal and the RX LO signal. Alternatively, separate LO generator circuits may be used to generate the TX LO signal and the RX LO signal.

[0059] The wireless device 400 may support CA and may (i) receive multiple downlink signals sent by one or more cells on multiple downlink carriers at different frequencies and / or (ii) send multiple uplink signals to one or more cells on multiple uplink carriers. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various aspects described herein may be implemented in systems, devices, and / or architectures that do not support carrier aggregation.

[0060] Figure 4 4 and 5. Certain components of the transceiver 420 are functionally illustrated in the EMBODIMENTS 400, and the configurations illustrated herein may or may not represent physical device configurations in certain specific implementations. For example, as described above, the transceiver 420 may be implemented in various integrated circuits (ICs), RF ICs (RFICs), mixed signal ICs, etc. In some embodiments, the transceiver 420 is implemented on a substrate or board (such as a printed circuit board (PCB)) including various modules, chips, and / or components.

[0061] Figure 4 The wireless device 400 is an example of a heterodyne (or superheterodyne) architecture, wherein the up-converter 440 and the down-converter 460 are configured to process communication signals between baseband and intermediate frequency (IF). For example, the up-converter 440 may be configured to provide the IF signal to the up-converter 475. In some aspects, the up-converter 475 may include a summing function 478 and an up-conversion mixer 476. The summing function 478 combines the I output and the Q output of the up-converter 440 and provides a non-orthogonal signal to the mixer 476. The non-orthogonal signal may be single-ended or differential. The mixer 476 is configured to receive the IF signal from the up-converter 440 and the TX RF LO signal from the TX RF LO signal generator 477 and provide the up-converted RF signal to the phase shift circuit 481. The dashed line extending from the output of TX PLL 492 through the TX LO signal generator and a similar line through the RX LO signal generator indicate that the output of TX PLL 492 may be used by both TX LO signal generator 490 and TX RF LO signal generator 477, and the output of RX PLL 482 may be used by both RX LO signal generator 480 and RX RF LO signal generator 479. Although PLL 492 is not used in Figure 44. Although RX PLL 482 is illustrated as being shared by signal generators 490, 477, a respective PLL for each signal generator may be implemented. Similarly, although RX PLL 482 is illustrated as being shared by signal generators 480, 479, separate PLLs may exist in alternative implementations.

[0062] In some aspects, the components in the phase shift circuit 481 may include one or more adjustable or variable phased array elements and may receive one or more control signals from the data processor 410 via connection 494 and operate these adjustable or variable phased array elements based on the received control signals. In some aspects, the phase shift circuit 481 includes a phase shifter 483 and a phased array element 487. Although three phase shifters 483 and three phased array elements 487 are shown for ease of illustration, the phase shift circuit 481 may include more or fewer phase shifters 483 and phased array elements 487.

[0063] Each phase shifter 483 can be configured to receive the RF transmit signal from the upconverter 475, change the phase by a certain amount, and provide the RF signal to the corresponding phased array element 487. Each phased array element 487 may include transmit and receive circuits including one or more filters, amplifiers, driver amplifiers, and power amplifiers. In some embodiments, the phase shifter 483 may be incorporated into the corresponding phased array element 487. As described herein, mmW CA communication can be implemented with duplicate receive paths for two CA channels (e.g., in Figure 5 , where two paths are used for two-channel CA, where line 515 is in the first path and line 535 is in the second path, where each path carries a combined IF signal with data from the same two CA channels that are out of phase and used for beamforming.

[0064] The output of the phase shift circuit 481 is provided to the antenna array 448. In some aspects, the antenna array 448 includes a number of antennas that generally corresponds to the number of phase shifters 483 and phased array elements 487, e.g., such that each antenna element is coupled to a respective phased array element 487. In some aspects, the phase shift circuit 481 and the antenna array 448 can be referred to as a phased array.

[0065] In the receive direction, the output of the phase shift circuit 481 is provided to a downconverter 485. In some aspects, the downconverter 485 may include an I / Q generation function 491 and a downconversion mixer 486. In some aspects, the mixer 486 downconverts the received RF signal provided by the phase shift circuit 481 to an IF signal based on the RX RF LO signal provided by the RX RF LO signal generator 479. The I / Q generation function 491 receives the IF signal from the mixer 486 and generates an I signal and a Q signal for the downconverter 460, which downconverts the IF signal to baseband, as described above. Although the PLL 482 is in Figure 4 4 is illustrated as being shared by the signal generators 480, 479, but a corresponding PLL for each signal generator may be implemented.

[0066] Figure 5 5 illustrates aspects of a mmW CA receiver path 500 that may be implemented by a sliding (eg, tunable) filter in accordance with aspects described herein. Figure 4 As discussed in, the transceiver may include a receive path that mixes to down-convert a high frequency signal (e.g., an RF or mmW signal) to an IF frequency signal before down-converting to a baseband signal that can be converted into digital data for processing by the device. As discussed above, such a receive path may be implemented in multiple ICs. The mmWCA receiver path 500 includes an RFIC 520 and an IFIC 510. The RFIC 520 includes an RF signal port coupled to antennas 523, 533, 543, and 553. Antennas 523 and 543 are configured to receive the same data on the same CA channel, but out of phase (e.g., 90 degrees out of phase) for the purpose of beamforming. Antennas 533 and 553 are similarly configured to receive the same data on the same CA channel, but out of phase for the purpose of beamforming. Antennas 523 and 543 are paired with low-pass filters 521 and 541 , and antennas 533 and 553 are paired with high-pass antennas, so antennas 523 and 543 receive signals on the CA channel, which are lower in frequency than signals received at antennas 533 and 553 .

[0067] Mixers 522, 532, 542, and 552 take the received signals and use IF local oscillator (LO) signals (not shown) to down-convert the mmW signals received at antennas 523, 533, 543, and 553 to IF signals. Filters 521, 531, 541, and 551 filter the IF signals to remove additional information that may have been received on the corresponding antennas (e.g., interfering transmissions on adjacent channels from devices that are not communicating with the device that includes the mmW CA receiver path 500). Lower frequency signals are filtered by low pass filters (e.g., filters 521 and 541), and higher frequency signals (e.g., from higher frequency channels) are filtered by high pass filters (e.g., filters 531 and 551). Additional details related to such filters are described below, particularly with respect to Figures 7 to 12 After the IF signal is filtered, the two separate CA signals from antennas 523 and 533 are multiplexed by multiplexer 518, and the corresponding phase-shifted signals from antennas 543 and 553 are multiplexed at multiplexer 538. Multiplexer 518 uses mmW transmit line 515 to send the combined IF CA signal to IFIC 510, and the corresponding phase-shifted signal from multiplexer 538 is similarly sent to the IFIC via mmW transmit line 535 as a combined IFCA signal.

[0068] As mentioned above and described in more detail below, the paths (e.g., mmW transmit lines 515 and mmW transmit lines 535) used to communicate IF data signals between the RFIC and IFIC at such frequencies can be expensive in terms of space, power usage, signal quality, and component costs. In some aspects, transmit lines 515 and transmit lines 535 can be many times the wavelength of the signal transmitted on the line (e.g., 10 centimeters (cm), 15 cm, 20 cm, etc.). For CA communications with multiple IF data signals (e.g., one IF data signal for each carrier), such costs are multiplied. By using two mmW transmit paths instead of four (e.g., one for each CA antenna pair instead of one for each antenna), the number of transmit paths and associated costs (e.g., space, power, etc.) are halved.

[0069] Figure 6 1 illustrates aspects of a mmW CA receiver path 600 that may be implemented by a sliding (eg, tunable) filter in accordance with aspects described herein. The mmW CA receiver path 600 may be used to implement Figure 5 Any of the paths illustrated in (eg, the path with mmW transmit line 515 or the path with mmW transmit line 535).

[0070] The mmW CA receiver path 600 includes a high-band millimeter wave (mmW) carrier aggregation (CA) receive port 628 and a low-band mmW CA receive port 638. Each of these ports may be coupled to a corresponding antenna, such as Figure 5 6. The mmW CA receiver path 600 includes a high-band mixer 637 that includes a radio frequency (RF) receive signal input 635, a radio frequency (RF) local oscillator (LO) input 636 (e.g., an LO input that can accept any suitable frequency, such as an RF frequency that can be used to down-convert a received wireless data signal to another frequency to assist in processing the wireless data signal), and an IF signal output 634. The RF receive signal input 635 is coupled to a high-band mmW CA receive port 638. An RF local oscillator (LO) signal generator 650 generates an RF signal that is used by the mixer 627 to down-convert the mmW frequency signal provided at the input 625 to an IF signal at the output 634. In the illustrated mmW receiver path 600, the same RF LO signal generator 650 provides the same LO signal to both the mixer 627 and the mixer 637. In other specific implementations, separate RF LO signal generators can be used to provide different RF LO signals to different mixers.

[0071] The mmW CA receiver path 600 includes a tunable high pass filter 631 including an input 633 and an output 632. The input 633 is coupled to an IF signal output 634 of a high band mixer 637. The mmW CA receiver path 600 includes an intermediate frequency (IF) receive signal multiplexer 618 including a combined IF CA signal output 622, a first input 613, and a second input 614. The first input 613 is coupled to the output 632 of the tunable high pass filter 631. The mmW CA receiver path 600 includes a low band mixer 627 including an RF receive signal input 625, an intermediate frequency (IF) input 626, and an IF signal output 634. The RF receive signal input 625 is coupled to a low band mmW CA receive port 628.

[0072] The mmW CA receiver path 600 includes a tunable low pass filter 621 including an input 623 and an output 622. The input 623 is coupled to an IF signal output 634 of a low band mixer 627. The output 622 is coupled to a second input 614 of an IF receive signal multiplexer 618. The mmW CA receiver path 600 includes a mmW transmit line 615 coupled to an output 612 of the IF receive signal multiplexer 618.

[0073] During operation, wireless communication signals are received at the low-band mmW port 628 and the high-band port 638. The communication signals may be in a frequency band defined by a communication standard, such as the 24 to 30 GHz band, the 37 to 43 GHz band, the 47-48 GHz band, or other such spectrum ranges set aside for mmW wireless communications. Such frequency bands may be divided into carrier bands that occupy subsets of the full band, and different carriers may be used in CA communications with a receiver including the mmW CA receiver path 600. The signal at the high-band mmW port 638 is a higher frequency carrier than the carrier received at the low-band mmW port 628 to match filtering in the associated signal path.

[0074] In addition to supporting the mmW communication bands described above, systems with mmW communication functionality may also support other communication technologies. One such technology is UWB communication, which uses frequencies around or below 8.3 GHz and other frequencies that use available frequency bands below such UWB frequencies. To prevent noise and allow coexistence with UWB and other such communication band uses, the IF frequency used by the mmW communication system (such as an architecture including the mmW CA receiver path 600) may be selected to be higher than 8.3 GHz. Although using high frequencies such as IF for IF processing consumes more power and causes phase shift issues, in some implementations, these issues are less than the problems caused by overlapping the IF frequency with the coexisting communication band.

[0075] Figure 7 Various aspects of mmW CA receiver operation utilizing a sliding (eg, tunable) filter in accordance with various aspects described herein are illustrated. Figure 7A diagram 700 is included showing various aspects of a CA IF signal according to various aspects described herein. The diagram 700 has a horizontal frequency axis 702 and a vertical power axis 701. The diagram 700 shows a high-band IF signal 742, which can be an IF signal from a down-converted high-band mmW signal output from a mixer (such as mixer 637). The diagram shows a low-band IF signal 732 and a low-band blocker 733, which can be a signal output from a mixer (such as mixer 627). The low-band IF signal 732 and the low-band blocker 733 are down-converted from the low-band mmW signal and adjacent channels (e.g., noise signals) received at a low-band port (such as port 628). Chart 700 further shows the low-band envelope 730 of the power envelope of the low-band IF signal that describes input to multiplexer (for example, multiplexer 618,518 or 538) and the high-band envelope of the power of the high-band IF signal that describes input to multiplexer (for example, multiplexer 618,518 or 538).Low-band end frequency 731 is the top corner frequency (for example, wherein the power in the low-band IF signal is mainly lower than low-band end frequency 731) of the low-band channel signal after down-conversion to IF, and high-band end frequency is the bottom corner frequency (for example, wherein the power in the high-band IF signal is mainly higher than high-band end frequency 741) of the high-band channel signal after down-conversion to IF.

[0076] The communication system with the mmW CA receiver path 600 will transmit low-band channel signals and high-band channel signals that will conform to the low-band envelope 730 and the high-band envelope 740 when down-converted to the corresponding low-band IF signal 732 and the high-band IF signal 742, wherein the mixer (e.g., mixer 627 and mixer 637) generates the IF signal 732, which will have a power below the power threshold 720 at the threshold frequency gap 721 from the corresponding end frequency 731 or 741. In the absence of other noise, the low-band signal received at the low-band port 628 will have a signal power below the threshold 720 at a frequency that is a distance of the gap 721 from the low-band end frequency 731 when it is down-converted by the mixer 627 and output from the mixer 627 as an IF signal.

[0077] Other devices in the vicinity of the device transmitting the low-band mmW signal may transmit on an adjacent channel (e.g., having a similar but inexact frequency range). Such signals may be received at the low-band port 628 along with the desired data signal that the mmW CA receiver path 600 desires to process. Such adjacent channel signals do not interfere with the intended adjacent channel signal (e.g., the low-band RF data signal received at the low-band port 628) because the adjacent frequencies are filtered out as part of the receive path of the signal. However, such signals may interfere with the combined CA IF signal (e.g., as an IB blocker 733 interfering with the high-band IF signal 742). Adjacent channel signals of the low-band mmW CA signal may be down-converted by the low-band mmW CA signal at higher frequencies, resulting in an in-band blocker 733 in the IF frequency range in the IF spectrum of the high-band IF signal 742 (e.g., down-converted from the high-band mmW CA signal). When such in-band blocker 733 signal has the power higher than the LB envelope 730 established for the signal received at the low-band port 628 and in the signal frequency of the HB envelope 740 (for example, higher than the high-band end frequency 741 and lower than the relative end frequency of the high-band IF signal), such signal can cause an error, or the high-band channel can be made unavailable. Tunable filter (such as tunable filter 621) can filter out such in-band blocking signal (for example, IB blocker 733) to keep the low-band IF signal input to the multiplexer (for example, the multiplexer 618 at the second input 614) below the threshold value 720 at the frequency gap 721 distance. Similarly, tunable filter 631 can keep similar in-band blocking signal (for example, initiating in the channel of the high-band mmW signal just lower than the high-band port 638 receiving from nearby equipment) below the threshold value 720 at the gap 721 distance (for example, the frequency difference between the end frequencies of the gap 721).

[0078] The operation of the mmW CA receiver path 600 is described in the context of the diagram 700, where a pair of CA mmW frequency signals are received at port 628 (e.g., a lower frequency mmW carrier signal) and port 638 (e.g., a high frequency mmW carrier signal). The signals are down-converted at corresponding mixers 627 and 637. Each of these signals may have adjacent signals received along with the target receive signal of the device intended to implement the mmW CA receiver path 600. Such adjacent signals are down-converted as part of the output IF signal at the IF low-band output 634. The tunable filter 621 suppresses such adjacent signals at the output 622, so that the combined CA IF signal at the output 622 and the transmit line 615 has suppressed the adjacent signals to be below the threshold 720 at the frequency gap 721 with each of the end frequencies 731 and 741 of the corresponding high and low IF ranges. The signals communicated on the transmit line 615 (e.g., from an RFIC (such as RFIC 520) to an IFIC (such as IFIC 510)) may include CA signals (e.g., low-band IF signal 732 and high-band IF signal 742) where an adjacent in-band blocker signal (e.g., in-band blocker 733) is suppressed below a threshold 720, which will limit decoding errors in data from the high-band IF signal 742 (e.g., and the corresponding high-band mmW signal).

[0079] In some aspects, the combined IF CA signal output from output 622 of multiplexer 618 is communicated via transmit line 615 to an IF integrated circuit (eg, Figure 5 In some such implementations, the high-band mixer 637, the tunable high-pass filter 631, the IF receive signal multiplexer 618, the low-band mixer 627, and the tunable low-pass filter 621 are constructed as part of an RF integrated circuit having replica circuits for beamforming the mmW CA signals received at the low-band port 628 and the high-band port 638.

[0080] Processing of the combined mmW IF CA signal from the multiplexer 618 may be performed at the IFIC, wherein the IFIC configured to downconvert is configured to separate a low-band IF signal and a high-band IF signal from the combined IF CA signal and downconvert the separated IF signals to corresponding baseband frequencies for communication to modem circuitry or other processing circuitry.

[0081] Figure 8Various aspects of mmW CA receiver operation utilizing sliding (e.g., tunable) filters according to various aspects described herein are illustrated. For fixed filters in the mmW CA receiver path, the threshold frequency gap 721 creates a dead frequency gap that may not be used for communication. In some implementations, in the case where the IF low-band end frequency is around 8.8 GHz and the high-band end frequency 741 is around 10.8 GHz, the threshold frequency gap 721 may be used to prevent the low-band IF signal 732 and the high-band IF signal 742 from interfering with each other. Such fixed gaps 721 are not required in all cases, but may be required in some environments, and therefore in the absence of tunability, a large amount of frequency space is not used to allow CA operation as described above.

[0082] Figure 8 The use of tuning settings in tunable filters, such as filters 621 and 631 , to reduce or eliminate dead space 890 is illustrated. Figure 8 Including with Figure 7 Graph 800 with the same frequency axis 802 and power axis 801 . Figure 8 The tunable filter responses of both a high pass filter (such as tunable high pass filter 631) and a low pass filter (such as tunable low pass filter 621) are illustrated. The low pass filter has a plurality of low pass filter response curves 821, 822, and 823 that can be selected for tuning by the control circuit. Similarly, the high pass filter has selectable filter response curves 831, 832, and 833 that can also be selected by the control circuit. The high pass filter and the low pass filter can be tuned together to maintain the gap 751 for each controllable setting, but the frequency dead space 890 in such a device is shrunk to less than the gap 751. In some implementations, the tunability of the filter can generate a filter response curve such that the dead space 890 is completely eliminated.

[0083] By allowing tunable filters and reducing dead space 890, the IF frequency space can be flexibly used in the frequency plan (e.g., controlled by the above blocks 350 and 340) to allow flexible use of the IF frequency space. Such IF channel use can be used, for example, to allow the frequency plan to adjust the IF frequency to avoid clutter (e.g., from noise sources such as LO harmonics, channel leakage, etc.), or to coexist with other communication standards such as UWB, WiFi, new radio, etc.

[0084] In some aspects, the mmW receiver path can implement IF multiplexing for CA as described above, wherein the low-band IF occupies a frequency range starting at about 8 GHz and the high-band IF frequency ends at about 12 GHz. In the case of a fixed filter structure, 2 GHz of the 6 GHz of such an IF band can be dedicated to dead gap space to prevent carrier conflicts between high-band carriers and low-band carriers. By using a tunable filter as described above, a 2 GHz gap can be maintained, but adjustments are made within the IF band to allow different combinations of high carriers and low carriers to be shifted within the IF band based on various criteria (e.g., clutter or other noise sources occurring within the IF band for a specific combination of carriers). The control circuit can dynamically shift the frequency used within the IF band for a given pair of high carriers and low carriers of the mmW CA system. When compared to a system using fixed IF frequencies for high and low CA IF signals, the dynamic flexibility of the above-mentioned receiver path can provide significant improvements in signal performance (e.g., reduced noise), design flexibility, and coexistence with other communication systems operating around or near the IF band. Such a system additionally supports the above-described merged IF CA signals, which improves device performance by reducing the number of chip-to-chip communication paths (eg, transmit lines 515 , 535 ) in some implementations.

[0085] Fig. 9An example tunable (e.g., sliding) high pass filter 900 according to various aspects described herein is illustrated. The high pass filter 900 has an input 901 (e.g., corresponding to the input 633 of the tunable filter 631) and an output 902 (e.g., corresponding to the output 632 of the tunable filter 631). In addition to the tunable and fixed capacitors in the capacitor bank, the tunable high pass filter 900 also includes a fixed inductor 910. The capacitor bank is composed of tunable capacitors 921a, 921b, 922a, 922b, 924a, 924b, 925a and 925b to program the corner frequency (e.g., the high band end frequency 741). The capacitor can be controlled to step the corner frequency of the tunable high pass filter 900 according to the channel step, and can be controlled by a control circuit that dynamically adapts to a given CA operating mode. The tunable capacitors may have values ​​set by the control circuit 320 based on the codebook and the CA operating mode and other operating conditions determined by the AGC management block 350, the CA block 340, and the filter management block 330. In other specific implementations, other such control circuits and filter programming structures may be used. The fixed capacitors 913a, 913b, 916a, 916b, 917a, 917b and the inductor 910 maintain the same values ​​determined by the initial system design. The high pass filter 900 illustrates one example of a tunable filter with adjustable corner frequencies (e.g., envelope end frequencies). In various examples, any number of corners may be programmed by different filter designs to produce a given performance of the combined IF CA signal and reduce or eliminate the dead space 890 in the IF frequency range.

[0086] Fig.10 An example tunable (eg, sliding) low pass filter 1000 is illustrated in accordance with various aspects described herein. Fig. 9Filter 900, low pass filter 1000 has an input 1001 (e.g., similar to input 623 of tunable filter 621) and an output 1002 (e.g., similar to output 622 of tunable filter 621). Also similar to filter 900, filter 1000 includes tunable capacitors 1021a, 1021b, 1022a, 1022b, 1024a, 1024b, 1025a, and 1025b to program the corner frequency of the filter response (e.g., associated with low band end frequency 731). Fixed capacitors 1013a, 1013b, 1016a, 1016b, 1017a, 1017b and inductor 1010 maintain the same values ​​determined by the initial system design. As with high pass filter 900, low pass filter 1000 illustrates one example of a tunable filter with adjustable corner frequencies (e.g., envelope end frequencies). In various examples, any number of selectable corners may be programmed with different filter designs to produce a given performance of combining IF CA signals and reducing or eliminating dead space 890 in the IF frequency range.

[0087] Fig.11 Various aspects of mmW CA receiver operation utilizing a sliding (eg, tunable) filter in accordance with various aspects described herein are illustrated. Fig.11 shows a similar Figure 7 and Figure 81100 with a frequency axis 1102 and a power axis 1101. Graph 1100 illustrates discrete selectable low-pass response curves 1110 that can be selected by control of the low-pass filter (e.g., by controlling tunable capacitors 1021a, 1021b, 1022a, 1022b, 1024a, 1024b, 1025a, and 1025b to program the corner frequency and the corresponding curve of the discrete selectable low-pass response curve 1110). Graph 1100 also includes discrete selectable high-pass response curves 1112 (e.g., selectable by controlling tunable capacitors 921a, 921b, 922a, 922b, 924a, 924b, 925a, and 925b to program the corner frequency and the associated response curve of the discrete selectable high-pass response curve 1112). The corner frequency may be matched to a carrier end frequency, which may be controlled by a capacitor to step according to channel steps associated with CA communications. Such channel stepping may be controlled by a control circuit that dynamically adapts to a given CA operating mode and the frequency used during a given operating state. Additionally, in some aspects, the tunable low pass filter 1000 may be tuned in conjunction with a high pass filter, such as the tunable high pass filter 900, to maintain a gap (e.g., gap 721) between corner frequencies programmed by controlling the capacitors of the filter. The chart illustrates a gap 1122 of the lowest frequency curve of each of the response curves 1110 and 1112, and a gap 1123 of the highest frequency curve of each of the response curves 1110 and 1112. Such matching tuning may be achieved by the control circuit 320 based on the CA operating mode and other operating conditions determined by the codebook and AGC management block 350, CA block 340, and filter management block 330. In other specific implementations, other such control circuits and filter programming structures may be used.

[0088] Fig.12 Various aspects of mmW CA receiver operation utilizing a sliding (e.g., tunable) filter having filter components including values ​​within predefined tolerances that can affect tuning operation are illustrated in accordance with various aspects described herein. In addition to tuning the values ​​for CA channel steps based on the CA channel in use, fabrication on ICs of tunable filters such as tunable filters 900 and 1000 may involve inaccurate components.

[0089] Fig.12A graph 1200 including a frequency axis 1202 and a power axis 1201 similar to the graphs 1200, 700, and 800 described above is included. Graph 1200 illustrates a discrete selectable high-pass response curve 1210 generated by a tunable high-pass filter (e.g., filter 900 or tunable filter 621) manufactured with components, where device tolerances (e.g., variations between planned capacitor or inductor values ​​and actual values ​​vary by the tolerance amount) can cause actual filter performance to shift from expected filter performance. The manufacture of the device can result in expected programmed values ​​for tunable capacitors in the tunable filter, resulting in corner frequencies 1212 and response curves 1210 that differ significantly from expected results. The tunable filter as described herein can therefore be associated with a calibration process, where control circuit inputs for setting a given response curve (e.g., high-pass response corner frequency 1212 and associated discrete selectable response curve 1210) are adjusted based on unknown actual filter values ​​due to component variations 1292 and 1294 that affect filter performance. In some implementations, the control circuit may be programmed by selecting one or more of the discrete selectable high-pass response curves 1210 by selecting control values ​​based on capacitor values ​​that match design values, observing the resulting actual response curves (e.g., differences between actual values ​​and design values ​​due to manufacturing variations), and calibrating the control circuit control values ​​to match the control values ​​to the actual response curves. Such a calibration process may be used to confirm that threshold rejection (e.g., associated with threshold 720) and threshold frequency gaps (e.g., threshold frequency gaps 721) are achieved to prevent degradation of communication performance in the device due to component variations in the filter. The use of a tunable filter further improves on a non-tunable filter due to the ability of a device with a tunable filter to calibrate to cancel variations in the IF filter due to component variations.

[0090] In some aspects, the mmW CA receiver path 600 may further include a control circuit (not shown) coupled to the tunable high-pass filter 631 and the tunable low-pass filter 621. The control circuit may be configured to dynamically determine a low-band frequency range (e.g., a corner or end frequency) associated with the low-band channel and a high-band frequency range associated with the high-band channel, and dynamically adjust the tunable low-pass filter 631 and the tunable high-pass filter 631 based on the low-band frequency range and the high-band frequency range.

[0091] In some aspects, such control circuitry can be configured to dynamically adjust the tunable low pass filter and the tunable high pass filter to suppress in-band blocking signals of the second wireless data signal that would interfere with the high-band IF signal. Such tuning can be based on the actual frequency of the CA signal and the settings for maintaining a gap between IF signals that are combined and used for communication between the RFIC and the IFIC.

[0092] In some respects, this type of control circuit is dynamically configured to adjust tunable low-pass filter so that at the threshold frequency gap place with the end frequency of low-band channel, generate threshold signal suppression amount and at the threshold frequency distance place with the end frequency of high-band channel, produce threshold signal suppression amount.In some specific implementations, control circuit can dynamically identify the noise and error caused by various noise sources in excessive intra-band blocking signal, noise spike or IF band, and adjust tunable filter arrangement based on this type of noise mark.In other specific implementations, if filter tuning can not reduce noise and error performance to below threshold level, CA channel can be closed.In some such specific implementations, threshold signal suppression amount (for example, threshold value 720) is 30 decibels (dB), and threshold frequency distance (for example, gap 721) is 2 gigahertz (GHz).

[0093] In a specific implementation, the end frequency of low-band channel (for example, the corner frequency of low-pass filter response) can be configured to a frequency of 10GHz from a frequency of 8.8GHz. In this type of specific implementation, the end frequency of high-band channel (for example, the corner frequency of high-pass filter response) can be configured to a frequency of 12GHz from a frequency of 10.8GHz. In some specific implementations, filter can be designed to make the highest corner frequency of low-pass filter higher than the lowest corner frequency of high-pass filter. This type of specific implementation can increase filter complexity in exchange for additional flexibility when realizing noise suppression for clutter, coexist with other communication technologies or other such improvements.

[0094] Fig.13 is a flow chart describing an example of the operations of a method 1300 for operation of a wireless communication device having a receiver including clutter suppression for mmW CA functionality in accordance with various aspects described herein. In some aspects, the operations described may be performed by a device including a memory and a processing circuit coupled to the memory and configured to perform the operations of the method 1300. In some aspects, the method 1300 may be embodied as instructions stored in a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that, when executed by a processing circuit (e.g., a control circuit) of the device, causes the device to perform the operations of the method 1300 described below. The blocks in the method 1300 may or may not be performed in the order shown, and in some embodiments, may be performed at least partially in parallel.

[0095] Method 1300 includes block 1302, which involves receiving a first wireless data signal at a high-band millimeter wave (mmW) carrier aggregation (CA) receive port. As described herein, any signal propagated through a device (e.g., a data signal received by an antenna of device 110 or base station 132) that is initially received at an antenna via a wireless signal path is a wireless data signal. Similarly, a data signal generated in a TX path configured to radiate a signal using an antenna may be referred to as a wireless data signal, even when the signal has not yet been transmitted via a wireless path between antennas.

[0096] The method 1300 also includes a box 1304, which involves using a high-band mixer to down-convert the first wireless data signal to a high-band intermediate frequency (IF) signal, the high-band mixer including a radio frequency (RF) receive signal input, a local oscillator (LO) input and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port to receive the first wireless data signal.

[0097] The method 1300 also includes block 1306 , which involves filtering the high-band IF signal using a tunable high pass filter, the tunable high pass filter including an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the high-band mixer.

[0098] The method 1300 also includes block 1308 , which involves receiving a second wireless data signal at the low-band mmW CA receive port.

[0099] Method 1300 also includes block 1310, which involves down-converting the second wireless data signal to a low-band IF signal using a low-band mixer including an RF receive signal input, an LO input, and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to a low-band mmW CA receive port to receive the second wireless data signal.

[0100] The method 1300 also includes a block 1312, which involves filtering the low-band IF signal using a tunable low pass filter, the tunable low pass filter including an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the low-band mixer, and wherein the output is coupled to a second input of the IF receive signal multiplexer; and

[0101] The method 1300 also includes a block 1314 involving multiplexing the high-band IF signal and the low-band IF signal using an IF receive signal multiplexer to generate a combined IF CA signal, the IF receive signal multiplexer including a combined IF CA signal output, a first input, and a second input, wherein the first input is coupled to an output of a tunable high pass filter to receive the high-band IF signal, and wherein the second input is coupled to an output of a tunable low pass filter to receive the low-band IF signal.

[0102] Fig.14 1400 is a functional block diagram of a wireless communication device configured for OAM multiplexing according to various aspects described herein. The device 1400 includes: a component 1402 for down-converting the first wireless data signal to a high-band intermediate frequency (IF) signal using a high-band mixer, the high-band mixer including a radio frequency (RF) receive signal input, a local oscillator (LO) input, and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port to receive the first wireless data signal; a component 1404 for filtering the high-band IF signal using a tunable high-pass filter, the tunable high-pass filter including an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the high-band mixer; a component 1406 for down-converting the second wireless data signal to a low-band IF signal using a low-band mixer including an RF receive signal input, a LO input, and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the low-band mmW a CA receive port to receive the second wireless data signal; a component 1408 for filtering the low-band IF signal using a tunable low pass filter, the tunable low pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the low-band mixer, and wherein the output is coupled to the second input of the IF receive signal multiplexer; and a component 1410 for multiplexing the high-band IF signal and the low-band IF signal to generate a combined IF CA signal using an IF receive signal multiplexer, the IF receive signal multiplexer comprising a combined IF CA signal output, a first input, and a second input, wherein the first input is coupled to the output of the tunable high pass filter to receive the high-band IF signal, and wherein the second input is coupled to the output of the tunable low pass filter to receive the low-band IF signal.

[0103] The circuit architecture described herein may be implemented on one or more ICs, analog ICs, mmWICs, mixed-signal ICs, ASICs, printed circuit boards (PCBs), electronic devices, etc. The circuit architecture described herein may also be manufactured using various IC process technologies, such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), N-channel MOS (NMOS), P-channel MOS (PMOS), bipolar junction transistor (BJT), bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS), silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT), high electron mobility transistor (HEMT), silicon on insulator (SOI), etc.

[0104] The apparatus implementing the circuits described herein may be a stand-alone device or may be part of a larger device. The device may be (i) a stand-alone IC, (ii) a collection of one or more ICs that may include a memory IC for storing data and / or instructions, (iii) an RFIC such as an RF receiver (RFR) or RF transmitter / receiver (RTR) or corresponding mmW components, (iv) an ASIC such as a mobile station modem (MSM), (v) a module that may be embedded in other devices, (vi) a receiver, a cellular phone, a wireless device, a handset or a mobile unit, (vii) and the like.

[0105] While selected aspects have been illustrated and described in detail, it should be understood that various substitutions and changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

[0106] Exemplary aspects of the present disclosure include, but are not limited to:

[0107] Aspect 1. A wireless communication device, the wireless communication device comprising: a high-band millimeter wave (mmW) carrier aggregation (CA) receive port; a high-band mixer, the high-band mixer comprising a radio frequency (RF) receive signal input, a local oscillator (LO) input and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port; a tunable high-pass filter, the tunable high-pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the high-band mixer; an intermediate frequency (IF) receive signal multiplexer, the intermediate frequency (IF) receive signal multiplexer comprising a combined IF CA signal output, a first input and a second input, wherein the first input is coupled to the output of the tunable high-pass filter; a low-band mmW A CA receive port; a low-band mixer comprising an RF receive signal input, an LO input, and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the low-band mmW CA receive port; a tunable low-pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the low-band mixer, and wherein the output is coupled to the second input of the IF receive signal multiplexer.

[0108] Aspect 2. The wireless communication device according to aspect 1, further comprising: a mmW transmit path, the mmW transmit path coupled to the output of the IF receive signal multiplexer.

[0109] Aspect 3. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 2, wherein the wireless communication device also includes: an IF integrated circuit; wherein the high-band mixer, the tunable high-pass filter, the IF receive signal multiplexer, the low-band mixer and the tunable low-pass filter are constructed as part of an RF integrated circuit; and wherein the mmW transmit path couples the combined IF CA signal output of the IF receive signal multiplexer to the IF integrated circuit.

[0110] Aspect 4. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 3, wherein the high-band mmW CA receiving port is configured to receive a first wireless data signal in a high-band channel of a CA system; and wherein the low-band mmW CA receiving port is configured to receive a second wireless data signal in a low-band channel of the CA system.

[0111] Aspect 5. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 4, wherein the high-band mixer is configured to use an LO signal to down-convert the first wireless data signal into a high-band IF signal; wherein the low-band mixer is configured to use the LO signal to down-convert the second wireless data signal into a low-band IF signal; and wherein the IF receive signal multiplexer is configured to combine the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal into a combined IF CA signal for sending to the IF integrated circuit via the mmW transmit path.

[0112] Aspect 6. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 5, wherein the wireless communication device also includes a control circuit coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter, wherein the control circuit is configured to dynamically determine a low-band frequency range associated with the low-band channel and a high-band frequency range associated with the high-band channel, and dynamically adjust the tunable low-pass filter and the tunable high-pass filter based on the low-band frequency range and the high-band frequency range.

[0113] Aspect 7. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 6, wherein the wireless communication device also includes a control circuit coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter, wherein the control circuit is configured to dynamically adjust the tunable low-pass filter to suppress an in-band blocking signal of the second wireless data signal that will interfere with the high-band IF signal; and wherein the control circuit is configured to dynamically adjust the tunable high-pass filter to suppress an in-band blocking signal of the first wireless data signal that will interfere with the low-band IF signal.

[0114] Aspect 8. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 7, wherein the wireless communication device also includes a control circuit coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter, wherein the control circuit is configured to adjust the tunable low-pass filter to generate a threshold signal suppression amount at a threshold frequency gap from the end frequency of the low-band channel; and wherein the control circuit is configured to adjust the tunable high-pass filter to generate the threshold signal suppression amount at a threshold frequency distance from the end frequency of the high-band channel.

[0115] Aspect 9. A wireless communication device according to any one of aspects 1 to 8, wherein the threshold signal suppression amount is 30 decibels (dB), and wherein the threshold frequency distance is 2 gigahertz (GHz).

[0116] Aspect 10. The wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 9, wherein the end frequency of the low frequency band channel can be configured to be a frequency from 8.8 GHz to 10 GHz.

[0117] Aspect 11. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 10, wherein the end frequency of the high-band channel can be configured to be a frequency from 10.8 GHz to 12 GHz.

[0118] Aspect 12. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 11, wherein the end frequency of the high-band channel of the CA system can be configured in a first frequency range, and wherein the end frequency of the low-band channel of the CA system can be configured in a second frequency range, wherein the first frequency range overlaps with the second frequency range.

[0119] Aspect 13. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 12, wherein the wireless communication device also includes: a modem circuit, which is coupled to the IF integrated circuit, wherein the IF integrated circuit is configured to separate the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal from the combined IF CA signal and down-convert the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal to corresponding baseband frequencies for transmission to the modem circuit.

[0120] Aspect 14. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 13, wherein the wireless communication device also includes: a first signal path and a second signal path, wherein the first signal path and the second signal path are used to receive corresponding wireless signals for beamforming; wherein the high-band mmW CA receiving port, the low-band mmW CA receiving port, the high-band mixer, the tunable high-pass filter, the IF receive signal multiplexer, the low-band mixer and the tunable low-pass filter are constructed as part of the first signal path.

[0121] Aspect 15. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 14, wherein the second signal path comprises: a second high-band mmW CA receive port; a second high-band mixer, the second high-band mixer comprising an RF receive signal input, a local oscillator (LO) input and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the second high-band mmW CA receive port; a second tunable high-pass filter, the second tunable high-pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the second input is coupled to the IF signal output of the second high-band mixer; a second IF receive signal multiplexer, the second IF receive signal multiplexer comprising a combined IF CA signal output, a first input and a second input, wherein the first input is coupled to the output of the second tunable high-pass filter; a second low-band mmW CA receive port; a second low-band mixer, the second low-band mixer comprising an RF receive signal input, an LO input and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the second low-band mmW CA receive port; and a second tunable low pass filter, the second tunable low pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the second low band mixer, and wherein the output is coupled to the second input of the second IF receive signal multiplexer.

[0122] Aspect 16. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 15, wherein the wireless communication device also includes a high-band antenna, the high-band antenna is coupled to the high-band mmW CA receiving port; a low-band antenna, the low-band antenna is coupled to the low-band mmW CA receiving port; a control circuit, the control circuit is coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter; and a display, the display is coupled to the control circuit.

[0123] Aspect 17. A wireless communication device, comprising: a high-band millimeter wave (mmW) carrier aggregation (CA) receive port; a high-band mixer, the high-band mixer coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port; a tunable high-pass filter, the tunable high-pass filter coupled to the high-band mixer; a low-band mmW CA receive port; a low-band mixer, the low-band mixer coupled to the low-band mmW CA receive port; a tunable low-pass filter, the tunable low-pass filter coupled to the low-band mixer; and an intermediate frequency (IF) receive signal multiplexer, the intermediate frequency (IF) receive signal multiplexer comprising a first input coupled to the tunable high-pass filter, a second input coupled to the tunable low-pass filter, and a combined IF CA signal output.

[0124] Aspect 18. The wireless communication apparatus of aspect 17, further comprising: a mmW transmit path coupled to an output of the IF receive signal multiplexer.

[0125] Aspect 19. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 17 to 18, wherein the wireless communication device also includes: an IF integrated circuit; wherein the high-band mixer, the tunable high-pass filter, the IF receive signal multiplexer, the low-band mixer and the tunable low-pass filter are constructed as part of an RF integrated circuit; and wherein the mmW transmit path couples the combined IF CA signal output of the IF receive signal multiplexer to the IF integrated circuit.

[0126] Aspect 20. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 17 to 19, wherein the high-band mmW CA receive port is configured to receive a first wireless data signal in a high-band channel of a CA system; wherein the low-band mmW CA receive port is configured to receive a second wireless data signal in a low-band channel of the CA system; wherein the high-band mixer is configured to use an LO signal to down-convert the first wireless data signal into a high-band IF signal; wherein the low-band mixer is configured to use the LO signal to down-convert the second wireless data signal into a low-band IF signal; wherein the IF receive signal multiplexer is configured to combine the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal into a combined IF CA signal for transmission to the IF integrated circuit via the mmW transmit path.

[0127] Aspect 21. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 17 to 20, wherein the wireless communication device also includes: a modem circuit, which is coupled to the IF integrated circuit, wherein the IF integrated circuit is configured to separate a low-band IF signal and a high-band IF signal from the combined IF CA signal and down-convert the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal to corresponding baseband frequencies for transmission to the modem circuit.

[0128] Aspect 22. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 17 to 21, the wireless communication device also includes a control circuit coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter, wherein the control circuit is configured to dynamically determine a low-band frequency range associated with the low-band mmW CA receive port and a high-band frequency range associated with the high-band mmW CA receive port, and dynamically adjust the tunable low-pass filter and the tunable high-pass filter based on the low-band frequency range and the high-band frequency range.

[0129] Aspect 23. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 17 to 22, wherein the wireless communication device also includes a control circuit coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter, wherein the control circuit is configured to adjust the tunable low-pass filter to generate a threshold signal suppression amount at a threshold frequency gap from the end frequency of a low-band channel; and wherein the control circuit is configured to adjust the tunable high-pass filter to generate the threshold signal suppression amount at a threshold frequency distance from the end frequency of a high-band channel.

[0130] Aspect 24. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 17 to 23, wherein the end frequency of the high-band channel can be configured in a first frequency range, and wherein the end frequency of the low-band channel can be configured in a second frequency range, wherein the first frequency range overlaps with the second frequency range.

[0131] Aspect 25. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 17 to 24, wherein the wireless communication device also includes: a first signal path and a second signal path, wherein the first signal path and the second signal path are used to receive corresponding wireless signals for beamforming; wherein the high-band mmW CA receiving port, the low-band mmW CA receiving port, the high-band mixer, the tunable high-pass filter, the IF receive signal multiplexer, the low-band mixer and the tunable low-pass filter are constructed as part of the first signal path.

[0132] Aspect 26. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 17 to 25, wherein the second signal path includes: a second high-band mmW CA receive port; a second high-band mixer, the second high-band mixer is coupled to the second high-band mmW CA receive port; a second tunable high-pass filter, the second tunable high-pass filter is coupled to the output of the second high-band mixer; a second IF receive signal multiplexer, the second IF receive signal multiplexer is coupled to the second tunable high-pass filter; a second low-band mmW CA receive port; a second low-band mixer, the second low-band mixer is coupled to the second low-band mmW CA receive port; and a second tunable low-pass filter, the second tunable low-pass filter is coupled to the second low-band mixer, wherein the output of the second tunable low-pass filter is coupled to the second IF receive signal multiplexer.

[0133] Aspect 27. A wireless communication device according to any one of Aspects 17 to 26, wherein the wireless communication device also includes a high-band antenna, the high-band antenna is coupled to the high-band mmW CA receiving port; a low-band antenna, the low-band antenna is coupled to the low-band mmW CA receiving port; a control circuit, the control circuit is coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter; and a display, the display is coupled to the control circuit.

[0134] Aspect 28. A method, the method comprising: receiving a first wireless data signal at a high-band millimeter wave (mmW) carrier aggregation (CA) receive port; using a high-band mixer to down-convert the first wireless data signal to a high-band intermediate frequency (IF) signal, the high-band mixer comprising a radio frequency (RF) receive signal input, a local oscillator (LO) input, and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port to receive the first wireless data signal; using a tunable high-pass filter to filter the high-band IF signal, the tunable high-pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the high-band mixer; receiving a second wireless data signal at a low-band mmW CA receive port; using a low-band mixer comprising an RF receive signal input, a LO input, and an IF signal output to down-convert the second wireless data signal to a low-band IF signal, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the low-band mmW CA receive port to receive the second wireless data signal; filtering the low-band IF signal using a tunable low-pass filter, the tunable low-pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the low-band mixer, and wherein the output is coupled to the second input of the IF receive signal multiplexer; and multiplexing the high-band IF signal and the low-band IF signal to generate a combined IF CA signal using an IF receive signal multiplexer, the IF receive signal multiplexer comprising a combined IF CA signal output, a first input, and a second input, wherein the first input is coupled to the output of the tunable high-pass filter to receive the high-band IF signal, and wherein the second input is coupled to the output of the tunable low-pass filter to receive the low-band IF signal.

[0135] Aspect 29. The method according to Aspect 28 further includes: receiving the first wireless data signal at a first antenna of a computing device, wherein the first antenna is coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port; and receiving the second wireless data signal at a second antenna of the computing device, wherein the second antenna is coupled to the low-band mmW CA receive port.

[0136] Aspect 30. The method according to any one of Aspects 28 to 29, further comprising: providing the combined IF CA signal to an IF integrated circuit, wherein the IF integrated circuit is configured to separate the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal from the combined IF CA signal and down-convert the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal to corresponding baseband frequencies for transmission to a modem circuit.

[0137] Aspect 31: A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, which when executed by a processing circuit of a device causes the device to perform operations according to any of the above aspects.

[0138] Aspect 32. An apparatus comprising means for performing operations according to any of the above aspects.

[0139] Aspect 33. The apparatus according to aspect 32 comprises elements of the apparatus according to any of the above aspects.

Claims

1. A wireless communication device, comprising: High-band millimeter wave (mmW) carrier aggregation (CA) receive port; a high-band mixer comprising a radio frequency (RF) receive signal input, a local oscillator (LO) input, and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port; a tunable high pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the high band mixer; an intermediate frequency (IF) receive signal multiplexer comprising a combined IF CA signal output, a first input, and a second input, wherein the first input is coupled to the output of the tunable high pass filter; Low-band mmW CA receive port; a low-band mixer comprising an RF receive signal input, an LO input, and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input of the low-band mixer is coupled to the low-band mmW CA receive port; and A tunable low pass filter comprises an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the low band mixer, and wherein the output is coupled to the second input of the IF receive signal multiplexer.

2. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, further comprising: A mmW transmit path is coupled to the output of the IF receive signal multiplexer.

3. The wireless communication device according to claim 2, further comprising: IF integrated circuits; wherein the high-band mixer, the tunable high-pass filter, the IF receive signal multiplexer, the low-band mixer and the tunable low-pass filter are constructed as part of an RF integrated circuit; and Wherein the mmW transmit path couples the combined IF CA signal output of the IF receive signal multiplexer to the IF integrated circuit.

4. The wireless communication device of claim 3, wherein the high-band mmW CA receiving port is configured to receive a first wireless data signal in a high-band channel of a CA system; and The low-band mmW CA receiving port is configured to receive a second wireless data signal in a low-band channel of the CA system.

5. The wireless communication device of claim 4, wherein the high-band mixer is configured to down-convert the first wireless data signal to a high-band IF signal using an LO signal; wherein the low-band mixer is configured to down-convert the second wireless data signal to a low-band IF signal using the LO signal; and The IF receive signal multiplexer is configured to combine the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal into a combined IF CA signal for transmission to the IF integrated circuit via the mmW transmit path.

6. The wireless communication device according to claim 5 further comprises a control circuit coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter, wherein the control circuit is configured to dynamically determine a low-band frequency range associated with the low-band channel and a high-band frequency range associated with the high-band channel, and dynamically adjust the tunable low-pass filter and the tunable high-pass filter based on the low-band frequency range and the high-band frequency range.

7. The wireless communication device of claim 5, further comprising a control circuit coupled to the tunable high pass filter and the tunable low pass filter, wherein the control circuit is configured to dynamically adjust the tunable low pass filter to suppress an in-band blocking signal of the second wireless data signal that would interfere with the high-band IF signal; and Wherein the control circuit is configured to dynamically adjust the tunable high pass filter to suppress an in-band blocker signal of the first wireless data signal that would interfere with the low-band IF signal.

8. The wireless communication device of claim 5, further comprising a control circuit coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter, wherein the control circuit is configured to adjust the tunable low-pass filter to generate a threshold signal suppression amount at a threshold frequency gap from an end frequency of the low-band channel; and Wherein the control circuit is configured to adjust the tunable high pass filter to generate the threshold signal suppression amount at a threshold frequency distance from an end frequency of the high band channel.

9. The wireless communication device of claim 8, wherein the threshold signal suppression amount is 30 decibels (dB), and wherein the threshold frequency distance is 2 gigahertz (GHz). 10 . The wireless communication device according to claim 8 , wherein the end frequency of the low-band channel is configurable to a frequency ranging from 8.8 GHz to 10 GHz. 11 . The wireless communication device according to claim 8 , wherein the end frequency of the high-band channel can be configured to be a frequency from 10.8 GHz to 12 GHz.

12. The wireless communication device according to claim 8, wherein the end frequency of the high-band channel of the CA system is configurable in a first frequency range, and wherein the end frequency of the low-band channel of the CA system is configurable in a second frequency range, wherein the first frequency range overlaps with the second frequency range.

13. The wireless communication device according to claim 5, further comprising: a modem circuit coupled to the IF integrated circuit, wherein the IF integrated circuit is configured to separate the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal from the combined IF CA signal and down-convert the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal to corresponding baseband frequencies for communication to the modem circuit.

14. The wireless communication device according to claim 1, further comprising: a first signal path and a second signal path, the first signal path and the second signal path being used to receive corresponding wireless signals for beamforming; The high-band mmW CA receive port, the low-band mmW CA receive port, the high-band mixer, the tunable high-pass filter, the IF receive signal multiplexer, the low-band mixer and the tunable low-pass filter are constructed as part of the first signal path.

15. The wireless communication device of claim 14, wherein the second signal path comprises: a second high-band mmW CA receive port; a second high-band mixer comprising an RF receive signal input, a local oscillator (LO) input, and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the second high-band mmW CA receive port; a second tunable high pass filter, the second tunable high pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the second input is coupled to the IF signal output of the second high band mixer; a second IF receive signal multiplexer, the second IF receive signal multiplexer comprising a combined IF CA signal output, a first input, and a second input, wherein the first input of the second IF receive signal multiplexer is coupled to the output of the second tunable high pass filter; a second low-band mmW CA receive port; a second low-band mixer comprising an RF receive signal input, an LO input, and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input of the second low-band mixer is coupled to the second low-band mmW CA receive port; and A second tunable low pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the second low band mixer, and wherein the output is coupled to the second input of the second IF receive signal multiplexer.

16. The wireless communication device of claim 1, further comprising a high-band antenna coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port; a low-band antenna coupled to the low-band mmW CA receive port; a control circuit coupled to the tunable high pass filter and the tunable low pass filter; and A display is coupled to the control circuit.

17. A wireless communication device, comprising: High-band millimeter wave (mmW) carrier aggregation (CA) receive port; a high-band mixer coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port; a tunable high pass filter coupled to the high band mixer; Low-band mmW CA receive port; a low-band mixer coupled to the low-band mmW CA receive port; a tunable low pass filter coupled to the low band mixer; and An intermediate frequency (IF) receive signal multiplexer includes a first input coupled to the tunable high pass filter, a second input coupled to the tunable low pass filter, and a combined IF CA signal output.

18. The wireless communication device according to claim 17, further comprising: A mmW transmit path is coupled to an output of the IF receive signal multiplexer.

19. The wireless communication device according to claim 18, further comprising: IF integrated circuits; wherein the high-band mixer, the tunable high-pass filter, the IF receive signal multiplexer, the low-band mixer and the tunable low-pass filter are constructed as part of an RF integrated circuit; and Wherein the mmW transmit path couples the combined IF CA signal output of the IF receive signal multiplexer to the IF integrated circuit.

20. The wireless communication device of claim 19, wherein the high-band mmW CA receiving port is configured to receive a first wireless data signal in a high-band channel of a CA system; wherein the low-band mmW CA receiving port is configured to receive a second wireless data signal in a low-band channel of the CA system; wherein the high-band mixer is configured to down-convert the first wireless data signal to a high-band IF signal using the LO signal; wherein the low-band mixer is configured to down-convert the second wireless data signal to a low-band IF signal using the LO signal; The IF receive signal multiplexer is configured to combine the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal into a combined IF CA signal for transmission to the IF integrated circuit via the mmW transmit path.

21. The wireless communication device of claim 17, further comprising a control circuit coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter, wherein the control circuit is configured to dynamically determine a low-band frequency range associated with the low-band mmW CA receive port and a high-band frequency range associated with the high-band mmW CA receive port, and dynamically adjust the tunable low-pass filter and the tunable high-pass filter based on the low-band frequency range and the high-band frequency range.

22. The wireless communication device of claim 17, further comprising a control circuit coupled to the tunable high-pass filter and the tunable low-pass filter, wherein the control circuit is configured to adjust the tunable low-pass filter to generate a threshold signal suppression amount at a threshold frequency gap from an end frequency of a low-band channel; and Wherein the control circuit is configured to adjust the tunable high pass filter to generate the threshold signal suppression amount at a threshold frequency distance from an end frequency of a high band channel.

23. wireless communication device according to claim 22, the end frequency of wherein said high-band channel can be configured in a first frequency range, and wherein the end frequency of wherein said low-band channel can be configured in a second frequency range, wherein said first frequency range overlaps with said second frequency range.

24. The wireless communication device according to claim 19, further comprising: a modem circuit coupled to the IF integrated circuit, wherein the IF integrated circuit is configured to separate a low-band IF signal and a high-band IF signal from the combined IF CA signal and down-convert the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal to corresponding baseband frequencies for communication to the modem circuit.

25. The wireless communication device according to claim 17, further comprising: a first signal path and a second signal path, the first signal path and the second signal path being used to receive corresponding wireless signals for beamforming; The high-band mmW CA receive port, the low-band mmW CA receive port, the high-band mixer, the tunable high-pass filter, the IF receive signal multiplexer, the low-band mixer and the tunable low-pass filter are constructed as part of the first signal path.

26. The wireless communication device of claim 25, wherein the second signal path comprises: a second high-band mmW CA receive port; a second high-band mixer coupled to the second high-band mmW CA receive port; a second tunable high pass filter coupled to an output of the second high band mixer; a second IF receive signal multiplexer coupled to the second tunable high pass filter; a second low-band mmW CA receive port; a second low-band mixer coupled to the second low-band mmW CA receive port; and A second tunable low pass filter is coupled to the second low band mixer, wherein an output of the second tunable low pass filter is coupled to the second IF receive signal multiplexer.

27. The wireless communication device of claim 17, further comprising a high-band antenna coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port; a low-band antenna coupled to the low-band mmW CA receive port; a control circuit coupled to the tunable high pass filter and the tunable low pass filter; and A display is coupled to the control circuit.

28. A method comprising: receiving a first wireless data signal at a high-band millimeter wave (mmW) carrier aggregation (CA) receive port; down-converting the first wireless data signal to a high-band intermediate frequency (IF) signal using a high-band mixer, the high-band mixer comprising a radio frequency (RF) receive signal input, a local oscillator (LO) input, and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input is coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port to receive the first wireless data signal; filtering the high-band IF signal using a tunable high pass filter, the tunable high pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the high-band mixer; receiving a second wireless data signal at the low-band mmW CA receive port; down-converting the second wireless data signal to a low-band IF signal using a low-band mixer including an RF receive signal input, an LO input, and an IF signal output, wherein the RF receive signal input of the low-band mixer is coupled to the low-band mmW CA receive port to receive the second wireless data signal; filtering the low-band IF signal using a tunable low pass filter, the tunable low pass filter comprising an input and an output, wherein the input is coupled to the IF signal output of the low-band mixer, and wherein the output is coupled to a second input of the IF receive signal multiplexer; as well as The high-band IF signal and the low-band IF signal are multiplexed to generate a combined IF CA signal using an IF receive signal multiplexer, the IF receive signal multiplexer comprising a combined IF CA signal output, a first input, and a second input, wherein the first input is coupled to the output of the tunable high-pass filter to receive the high-band IF signal, and wherein the second input is coupled to the output of the tunable low-pass filter to receive the low-band IF signal.

29. The method according to claim 28, further comprising: receiving the first wireless data signal at a first antenna of a computing device, wherein the first antenna is coupled to the high-band mmW CA receive port; as well as The second wireless data signal is received at a second antenna of the computing device, wherein the second antenna is coupled to the low-band mmW CA receive port.

30. The method according to claim 29, further comprising: The combined IF CA signal is provided to an IF integrated circuit, wherein the IF integrated circuit is configured to separate the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal from the combined IFCA signal and down-convert the low-band IF signal and the high-band IF signal to corresponding baseband frequencies for communication to a modem circuit.

Images