Tunable radio frequency front-end (RFFE) circuitry

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure are directed towards an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus generally includes: a first receive chain including a first tunable filter; a second receive chain including a second tunable filter, wherein at least one of the first tunable filter or the second tunable filter is configured to receive control signaling to configure the at least one of the first tunable filter or the second tunable filter in one of multiple configurations including a first configuration for processing a signal within a first band, a second configuration for processing a signal within a second band, and a third configuration for processing a signal within a wide band spanning the first band and the second band; and a switch circuit coupled to the first receive chain and the second receive chain.

Description

TUNABLE RADIO FREQUENCY FRONT-END (RFFE) CIRCUITRYCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims benefit of and priority to India Provisional Application No. 202441045708, filed June 13, 2024, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety as if fully set forth below and for all applicable purposes.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to electronic circuits and, more particularly, to techniques and apparatus for signal processing.BACKGROUND

[0003] Wireless communication devices are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such wireless communication devices may transmit and / or receive radio frequency (RF) signals via any of various suitable radio access technologies (RATs) including, but not limited to, 5G New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Global System for Mobility (GSM), Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), ZigBee, wireless local area network (WLAN) RATs (e.g., WiFi), and the like.

[0004] A wireless communication network may include a number of base stations or access points that can support communication for a number of mobile stations. A mobile station (MS) or access terminal may communicate with a base station (BS) or access point via a downlink and an uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the base station or access point to the mobile station or access terminal, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the mobile station or access terminal to the base station or access point. A base station or access point may transmit data and control information on the downlink to the mobile station or access terminal. The base station or access point may also receive data and control information on the uplink from the mobile station or access terminal. The base station oraccess point and / or mobile station or access terminal may include multiple receive chains for signal reception.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0005] So that the manner in which the above-recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to aspects, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equally effective aspects.

[0006] FIG. l is a diagram of an example wireless communications network, in which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced.

[0007] FIG. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a design of an example base station (BS) or access point (AP) and user equipment (UE), in which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced.

[0008] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example radio frequency (RF) transceiver, in which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced.

[0009] FIGs. 4A and 4B illustrate a communication circuit, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0010] FIG. 5 illustrates an example implementation of a filter circuit, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0011] FIG. 6 illustrates a circuit including an amplifier and a splitter, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0012] FIG. 7 illustrates an example inductor-capacitor (LC) splitter implementation with two LC circuits coupled to a common node.

[0013] FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations for wireless communication, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

[0014] To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one aspect may be beneficially utilized on other aspects without specific recitation.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] Certain aspects are directed towards a radio frequency front-end (RFFE) circuit capable of being tuned for multiple bands, such as n77 and n79 bands. The RFFE circuit may be capable of filtering and amplifying a wideband signal spanning the n77 and n79 bands. The RFFE may include tunable filters that allow usage for the n77 and n79 bands or a wideband signal spanning the n77 and n79 bands. The filters may be dynamically programmed based on coexistence and carrier aggregation (CA) scenarios. While examples discussed may be described with respect to n77 and n79 bands, the principles and implementations described herein may be applied to other bands (e.g., such as other wideband scenarios). The RFFE circuit described herein may be used to process a signal with a frequency spanning the n77 and n79 frequency bands and may feature a tunable power amplifier (PA), transmitter (TX) filters, a low noise amplifier (LNA), and receiver (RX) filters that adjust (e.g., are configurable) to accommodate either band or both bands to accomodate different input powers associated with signals within the n77 and n79 bands.

[0016] The RFFE circuit may employ inductor-capacitor (LC) notch filter combinations and on-die tunable capacitive elements. The RFFE circuit may include two receive paths, each with a wideband tunable filter (e.g., able to accommodate either the n77 band, the n79 band, or a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands) and an LNA tunable to amplify a signal having a bandwidth that spans just one of either band or having a bandwidth that spans both bands. Switchable paths are included at the output of each receive path to couple the receive path to specific receiver outputs depending on the configured operating band. The RFFE circuit may be a compact RFFE circuit implementation configurable with an independent gain for each of the n77 and n79 bands or an output for both bands.

[0017] Various aspects of the disclosure are described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. This disclosure may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to any specific structure or function presented throughout this disclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Based on the teachings herein one skilled in the art should appreciate that the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein, whether implemented independently of or combined with any other aspect of the disclosure. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method which is practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or other than the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.

[0018] The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects.

[0019] As used herein, the term “connected with” in the various tenses of the verb “connect” may mean that element A is directly connected to element B or that other elements may be connected between elements A and B (i.e., that element A is indirectly connected with element ). In the case of electrical components, the term “connected with” may also be used herein to mean that a wire, trace, or other electrically conductive material is used to electrically connect elements^ and B (and any components electrically connected therebetween).An Example Wireless System

[0020] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communications network 100, in which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced. For example, the wireless communications network 100 may be a New Radio (NR) system (e.g., a Fifth Generation (5G) NR network), an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) system (e.g., a Fourth Generation (4G) network), a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) (e.g., a Second Generation / Third Generation (2G / 3G) network), or a code division multiple access (CDMA) system (e.g., a 2G / 3G network), or may beconfigured for communications according to an IEEE standard such as one or more of the 802.11 standards, etc.

[0021] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the wireless communications network 100 may include a number of base stations (BSs) 1 lOa-z (each also individually referred to herein as “BS 110” or collectively as “BSs 110”) and other network entities. A BS may also be referred to as an access point (AP), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), a next generation Node B (gNodeB or gNB), or some other terminology.

[0022] A BS 110 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area, sometimes referred to as a “cell,” which may be stationary or may move according to the location of a mobile BS. In some examples, the BSs 110 may be interconnected to one another and / or to one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in wireless communications network 100 through various types of backhaul interfaces (e.g., a direct physical connection, a wireless connection, a virtual network, or the like) using any suitable transport network. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the BSs 110a, 110b, and 110c may be macro BSs for the macro cells 102a, 102b, and 102c, respectively. The BS 1 lOx may be a pico BS for a pico cell 102x. The BSs 1 lOy and 1 lOz may be femto BSs for the femto cells 102y and 102z, respectively. A BS may support one or multiple cells.

[0023] The BSs 110 communicate with one or more user equipments (UEs) 120a-y (each also individually referred to herein as “UE 120” or collectively as “UEs 120”) in the wireless communications network 100. A UE may be fixed or mobile and may also be referred to as a user terminal (UT), a mobile station (MS), an access terminal, a station (STA), a client, a wireless device, a mobile device, or some other terminology. A user terminal may be a wireless device, such as a cellular phone, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device, awearable device, a wireless modem, a laptop computer, a tablet, a personal computer, etc.

[0024] The BSs 110 are considered transmitting entities for the downlink and receiving entities for the uplink. The UEs 120 are considered transmitting entities for the uplink and receiving entities for the downlink. As used herein, a “transmitting entity” is an independently operated apparatus or device capable of transmitting data via a frequency channel, and a “receiving entity” is an independently operated apparatus or device capable of receiving data via a frequency channel. In the following description,the subscript “d ” denotes the downlink, the subscript “np” denotes the uplink. NupUEs may be selected for simultaneous transmission on the uplink, Ndn UEs may be selected for simultaneous transmission on the downlink. Nupmay or may not be equal to Ndn, and Nupand Ndn may be static values or can change for each scheduling interval. Beamsteering or some other spatial processing technique may be used at the BSs 110 and / or UEs 120.

[0025] The UEs 120 (e.g., 120x, 120y, etc.) may be dispersed throughout the wireless communications network 100, and each UE 120 may be stationary or mobile. The wireless communications network 100 may also include relay stations (e.g., relay station 1 lOr), also referred to as relays or the like, that receive a transmission of data and / or other information from an upstream station (e.g., a BS 110a or a UE 120r) and send a transmission of the data and / or other information to a downstream station (e.g., a UE 120 or a BS 110), or that relays transmissions between UEs 120, to facilitate communication between devices.

[0026] The BSs 110 may communicate with one or more UEs 120 at any given moment on the downlink and uplink. The downlink (i.e., forward link) is the communication link from the BSs 110 to the UEs 120, and the uplink (i.e., reverse link) is the communication link from the UEs 120 to the BSs 110. A UE 120 may also communicate peer-to-peer with another UE 120.

[0027] The wireless communications network 100 may use multiple transmit and multiple receive antennas for data transmission on the downlink and uplink. BSs 110 may be equipped with a number Napof antennas to achieve transmit diversity for downlink transmissions and / or receive diversity for uplink transmissions. A set Nuof UEs 120 may receive downlink transmissions and transmit uplink transmissions. Each UE 120 may transmit user-specific data to and / or receive user-specific data from the BSs 110. In general, each UE 120 may be equipped with one or multiple antennas. The NuUEs 120 can have the same or different numbers of antennas.

[0028] The wireless communications network 100 may be a time division duplex (TDD) system or a frequency division duplex (FDD) system. For a TDD system, the downlink and uplink share the same frequency band. For an FDD system, the downlinkand uplink use different frequency bands. The wireless communications network 100 may also utilize a single carrier or multiple carriers for transmission. Each UE 120 may be equipped with a single antenna (e.g., to keep costs down) or multiple antennas (e.g., where the additional cost can be supported).

[0029] A network controller 130 (also sometimes referred to as a “system controller”) may be in communication with a set of BSs 110 and provide coordination and control for these BSs 110 (e.g., via a backhaul). In certain cases (e.g., in a 5G NR system), the network controller 130 may include a centralized unit (CU) and / or a distributed unit (DU). In certain aspects, the network controller 130 may be in communication with a core network 132 (e.g., a 5G Core Network (5GC)), which provides various network functions such as Access and Mobility Management, Session Management, User Plane Function, Policy Control Function, Authentication Server Function, Unified Data Management, Application Function, Network Exposure Function, Network Repository Function, Network Slice Selection Function, etc.

[0030] In some aspects, the BS 110 or UE 120 may be implemented with receive chains that are tunable to receive signals on a first band, a second band, or a wide band spanning the first band and the second band, as described in more detail herein.

[0031] FIG. 2 illustrates example components of BS 110a and UE 120a (e.g., from the wireless communications network 100 of FIG. 1), in which aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0032] On the downlink, at the BS 110a, a transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212, control information from a controller / processor 240, and / or possibly other data (e.g., from a scheduler 244). The various types of data may be sent on different transport channels. For example, the control information may be designated for the physical broadcast channel (PBCH), physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), physical hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indicator channel (PHICH), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. The data may be designated for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. A medium access control (MAC)-control element (MAC-CE) is a MAC layer communication structure that may be used for control command exchange betweenwireless nodes. The MAC-CE may be carried in a shared channel such as a PDSCH, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

[0033] The processor 220 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols, such as for the primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0034] A transmit (TX) multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and / or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) in transceivers 232a-232t. Each modulator in transceivers 232a- 232t may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each of the transceivers 232a-232t may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Downlink signals from the transceivers 232a-232t may be transmitted via the antennas 234a-234t, respectively.

[0035] At the UE 120a, the antennas 252a-252r may receive the downlink signals from the BS 110a and may provide received signals to the transceivers 254a-254r, respectively. The transceivers 254a-254r may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator (DEMOD) in the transceivers 232a-232t may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from the demodulators in transceivers 254a-254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 120a to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information to a controller / processor 280.

[0036] On the uplink, at UE 120a, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data (e.g., for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)) from a data source 262 and control information (e.g., for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)) from thecontroller / processor 280. The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal (e.g., the sounding reference signal (SRS)). The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by the modulators (MODs) in transceivers 254a-254r (e.g., for single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM), etc.), and transmitted to the BS 110a. At the BS 110a, the uplink signals from the UE 120a may be received by the antennas 234, processed by the demodulators in transceivers 232a-232t, detected by a MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 120a. The receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to the controller / processor 240.

[0037] In some aspects, the transceivers 232 or transceivers 254 may be implemented with receive chains that are tunable to receive signals on a first band, a second band, or a wide band spanning the first band and the second band, as described in more detail herein.

[0038] The memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for BS 110a and UE 120a, respectively. The memories 242 and 282 may also interface with the controllers / processors 240 and 280, respectively. A scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0039] NR may utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the uplink and downlink. NR may support half-duplex operation using time division duplexing (TDD). OFDM and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) partition the system bandwidth into multiple orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. Modulation symbols may be sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers may be dependent on the system bandwidth. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover multiple resource blocks (RBs).Example RF Transceiver

[0040] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit 300, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The RFtransceiver circuit 300 includes at least one transmit (TX) path 302 (also known as a “transmit chain”) for transmitting signals via one or more antennas 306 and at least one receive (RX) path 304 (also known as a “receive chain”) for receiving signals via the antennas 306. When the TX path 302 and the RX path 304 share an antenna 306, the paths may be connected with the antenna via an interface 308, which may include any of various suitable RF devices, such as a switch, a duplexer, a diplexer, a multiplexer, and the like.

[0041] Receiving in-phase (I) and / or quadrature (Q) baseband analog signals from a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 310, the TX path 302 may include a baseband filter (BBF) 312, a mixer 314, a driver amplifier (DA) 316, and a power amplifier (PA) 318. The BBF 312, the mixer 314, the DA 316, and the PA 318 may be included in a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC). For certain aspects, the PA 318 may be external to the RFIC.

[0042] The BBF 312 filters the baseband signals received from the DAC 310, and the mixer 314 mixes the filtered baseband signals with a transmit local oscillator (LO) signal to convert the baseband signal of interest to a different frequency (e.g., upconvert from baseband to a radio frequency). This frequency-conversion process produces the sum and difference frequencies between the LO frequency and the frequencies of the baseband signal of interest. The sum and difference frequencies are referred to as the “beat frequencies.” The beat frequencies are typically in the RF range, such that the signals output by the mixer 314 are typically RF signals, which may be amplified by the DA 316 and / or by the PA 318 before transmission by the antenna(s) 306. While one mixer 314 is illustrated, several mixers may be used to upconvert the filtered baseband signals to one or more intermediate frequencies and to thereafter upconvert the intermediate frequency (IF) signals to a frequency for transmission.

[0043] The RX path 304 may include a low noise amplifier (LNA) 324, a mixer 326, and a baseband filter (BBF) 328. The LNA 324, the mixer 326, and the BBF 328 may be included in one or more RFICs, which may or may not be the same RFIC that includes the TX path components. RF signals received via the antenna(s) 306 may be amplified by the LNA 324, and the mixer 326 mixes the amplified RF signals with a receive local oscillator (LO) signal to convert the RF signal of interest to a different baseband frequency (e.g., downconvert). The baseband signals output by the mixer 326 may befiltered by the BBF 328 before being converted by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 330 to digital I and / or Q signals for digital signal processing.

[0044] Certain transceivers may employ frequency synthesizers with a variablefrequency oscillator (e.g., a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) or a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO)) to generate a stable, tunable LO with a particular tuning range. Thus, the transmit LO may be produced by a TX frequency synthesizer 320, which may be buffered or amplified by amplifier 322 before being mixed with the baseband signals in the mixer 314. Similarly, the receive LO may be produced by an RX frequency synthesizer 332, which may be buffered or amplified by amplifier 334 before being mixed with the RF signals in the mixer 326. For certain aspects, a single frequency synthesizer may be used for both the TX path 302 and the RX path 304. In certain aspects, the TX frequency synthesizer 320 and / or RX frequency synthesizer 332 may include a frequency multiplier, such as a frequency doubler, that is driven by an oscillator (e.g., a VCO) in the frequency synthesizer.

[0045] In some aspects, the RX path 304 may be tunable to receive signals on a first band, a second band, or a wide band spanning the first band and the second band. For example, the LNA 324 may be a tunable LNA (e.g., tunable with a gain for reception of signals in the first band, second band, or the wide band), and the BBF 328 may be tunable (e.g., with a passband or stopband for reception on the first band, second band, or the wide band), as described in more detail herein.

[0046] A controller 336 (e.g., controller / processor 280 in FIG. 2) may direct the operation of the RF transceiver circuit 300A, such as transmitting signals via the TX path 302 and / or receiving signals via the RX path 304. The controller 336 may be a processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field- programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof. A memory 338 (e.g., memory 282 in FIG. 2) may store data and / or program codes for operating the RF transceiver circuit 300. The controller 336 and / or the memory 338 may include control logic (e.g., complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) logic).

[0047] While FIGs. 1-3 provide wireless communications as an example application in which certain aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented to facilitateunderstanding, certain aspects described herein may be used for any of various other suitable systems.Example Tunable Radio Frequency (RF} Front-End (RFFE}

[0048] Certain aspects are directed towards a wideband radio frequency (RF) frontend (RFFE) circuit. The RFFE circuit facilitates connections of receiver and transmitter paths to the different antennas, implementing a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) configuration. Some RFFE circuits include an antenna switch circuit to connect to antennas, a power amplifier (PA) (e.g., PA 318 of FIG. 3) to amplify the signal for uplink operations, a transmitter (TX) filter to reduce emissions and out-of-band noise, receiver (RX) filters to filter jammers, and a low-noise amplifier (LNA) (e.g., LNA 324 of FIG. 3) to amplify a received signal and improve downlink sensitivity.

[0049] The RFFE circuit described herein may be implemented to communicate using any suitable bands, such as an n77 band that may span from 3.3 GHz to 4.2 GHz and an n79 band that may span from 4.4 GHz to 5 GHz. In some implementations, RFFE modules for n77 and n79 bands may be implemented with TX and RX circuits to implement different permutations of four receivers and one or two transmitters, although any number of receivers or transmitters may be used. A wireless device may be implemented with single-band RFFE circuits (e.g., an RFFE circuit dedicated to each of the n77 band and the n79 band) or a single RFFE circuit for both n77 and n79 bands.

[0050] A common circuit board may be manufactured for various possible implementations, where suitable components may be populated depending on a device’s use case. The common circuit board may be able to support implementations that use only the n77 band, only the n79 band, or both the n77 and n79 bands. A design may be provided where components for only the n77 band, only the n79 band, or both n77 and n79 bands are populated, depending, for example, on the geographical market for the device, or the commercial segment of the product. Although this approach may reduce cost as unique boards may not be manufactured for each use case, implementing a common circuit board for the different use cases may result in a larger circuit board area, as different components are installed in the same device. A larger circuit board area may reduce the available space for other hardware features and provide less space for a battery, resulting in less battery life and a worse user experience. Certain aspects of the presentdisclosure are directed towards a configurable RFFE circuit that can support, for example, the n77 band, the n79 band, or both the n77 and n79 bands with a reduced number of components and area consumption compared to conventional techniques.

[0051] A filter for the n77 band or the n79 band may be implemented as a network of inductive elements and capacitive elements, and in some combinations, filters can be implemented with a combination of inductor-capacitor (LC) notches. In some cases, n77 and n79 bands may be collocated (e.g., signals received via the bands may be from the same base station and have about the same received power). In some cases, the n77 and n79 bands may not be collocated and the difference in received powers should be considered. Certain aspects provide an RFFE low-noise amplifier (LNA)-power amplifier (PA)-filter (LPAF) circuit with a tunable PA and TX filter to support transmission via an n77 or n79 band, and / or a tunable LNA and RX filter to support reception via an n77 or n79 band or a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands.

[0052] FIGs. 4A and 4B illustrate an example communication circuit 400, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The communication circuit 400 may include an RF front end (RFFE) circuit 402 configured to transmit and receive signals via antennas labeled “ANTI” and “ANT2” and an RFFE circuit 404 configured to receive signals via antennas labeled “ANT3” and “ANT4.” While two RFFE circuits are shown to implemented 4x4 MIMO communications with four antennas, any number of RFFE circuits, including just one RFFE circuit, may be used with any number of antennas and associated transmit and receive chains.

[0053] The RFFE circuit 402 may include a transmit chain (labeled “TX”) including a PA 403 (e.g., corresponding to the PA 318 of FIG. 3) and a TX filter 405 that may be configurable to amplify and filter, respectively, signals within the n77 band, the n79 band, or a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands. For example, the PA 403 and / or filter 405 may be tuned (e.g., via one or more tunable components) in a first mode to amplify and filter a signal for transmission in the N77 band, in a second mode to amplify and filter a signal for transmission in the N79 band, or a third mode to amplify and filter a signal for transmission in a wide band spanning both the n77 and n79 bands.

[0054] The RFFE circuit 402 may also include a first receive chain (labeled “Rxl”) including an RX filter 408 and LNA 410 and a second receive chain (labeled “Rx2”)including an RX filter 412 and LNA 414. While two receive chains are shown, any number of receive chains may be used. The first LNA 410 and the second LNA 414 may each independently be configurable to amplify signals within the n77 band, the n79 band, or a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands. For example, the first LNA 410 and the second LNA 414, alone or in combination with corresponding filters 408, 412, may be tuned (e.g., via one or more tunable components) in a first mode for the n77 band, in a second mode for the n79 band, or a third mode for a wide band spanning both the n77 and n79 bands. The communication circuit 400 may include a switch circuit 406 for selectively coupling each of the antennas ANTI and ANT2 to the transmit chain, the first receive chain, and the second receive chain.

[0055] In some aspects, the RFFE circuit 404 may include a first receive chain (labeled “RX1”) including an RX filter 418 and LNA 420 and a second receive chain (labeled “RX2”) including an RX filter 422 and LNA 424. A switch circuit 416 may selectively couple antennas labeled “ANT3” and “ANT4” to the first and second receive chains of the RFFE circuit 404, as shown.

[0056] As described, the RFFE circuit 402 may include the PA 403 followed by a TX filter 405 and an antenna switch circuit 406. The RFFE circuit 402 includes two RX filters 408, 412 on two respective receive chains. RFFE circuit 404 includes two RX filters 418, 422 and two LNAs 420, 424 to implement two respective receive chains. With the RFFE circuit 402 coupled to antennas ANTI and ANT2 and RFFE circuit 404 coupled to antennas ANT3 and ANT4, a 4x4 receiver MIMO mode may be implemented.

[0057] In some aspects, any combination of the PA 403, LNAs 410, 414, 420, 424, and filters 405, 408, 412, 418, 422 may be tunable, as described herein. With the tunable PA, tunable LNAs, and tunable filters, the communication circuit 400 may be configured to operate with the n77 band, the n79 band, or a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands with reduced area consumption as compared to some conventional implementations that may use dedicated hardware for different operating modes / bands. For example, a specific gain setting may be used for the PA and the LNA depending on whether the communication circuit 400 is configured to operate on the n77 band, the n79 band, or a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands. The LNA may be have a tunable load that may be adjusted. The tunable filter may be configured to adjust a passband of the filter depending on whether the communication circuit 400 is configured to operateon the n77 band, the n79 band, or a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands. With the tunable components, the printed circuit board (PCB) area consumption to implement the RFFE circuitry may be reduced, the overall number of components to implement the RFFE circuitry may be reduced, and logistics can be made easier as a single design for n77 and n79 bands can be used. While some aspects of the present disclosure are directed towards communication with respect to n77 and n79 bands to facilitate understanding, any suitable bands may be used. That is, certain aspects may be scalable to other bands such as any other time-division multiplex (TDD) wide bandwidth bands.

[0058] FIG. 5 illustrates an example implementation of a filter circuit 500, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The filter circuit 500 may correspond to any of filters 405, 408, 412, 418, 422 described with respect to FIGs. 4A and 4B.

[0059] The filter circuit 500 may include one or more inductor-capacitor (LC) filters such as the LC filter including capacitive CO and inductive element L0, the LC filter including capacitive element Cl and inductive element LI, and the LC filter including capacitive element C2 and inductive element L2. Capacitive elements C4 and C5 may be coupled between the filter input labeled “FILTER IN’’ and the filter output labeled “FILTER OUT .” Each of the LC filters with particularly selected values of capacitance and inductance for each of the elements may be used to implement a notch for transmit signals (e.g., within jammer signal bands other than the n77 and n79) to reduce interference with receive operations. An inductive element L3 may be coupled between capacitive element C4 and the filter output.

[0060] In some aspects, the inductive elements L0, LI, and L2 may be implemented in laminate and the capacitive elements (e.g., capacitive elements CO, Cl, C2, C3, C4, C5) may be implemented in an integrated circuit (IC) 502, such as an RF silicon on insulator (SOI) chip. For example, the capacitive elements of the filters 405, 408, 412 may be part of the same chip used to implement LNAs 410, 414, and in some cases, control circuitry for the PA 403. By implementing the filters as part of the IC 502, higher- quality capacitive elements may be implemented to reduce the noise figure (NF) associated with the receive chain while maintaining tunability of the filters. The LC filters may be tuned to have different filter responses with respect to different scenarios / conditions. Thus, for some RF filters (e.g., mid-high tier n77 / n79 RX filters),the LC filters may be implemented with on-die tunable capacitive elements. The LC filters may be dynamically tuned based on jammer conditions by controlling the capacitance of the capacitive elements (e.g., capacitive elements CO, Cl, C2). For example, each of the capacitive elements may be implemented as a capacitor bank with switches that may be controlled to adjust the capacitance of the capacitor bank. By changing the filter characteristics, reception can be improved for different field scenarios. For example, some improvements may include higher filtering for jammer dense conditions and improved noise figure, improving sensitivity for low power field conditions. A filter configuration may be obtained with coordination of RFFE modules and DSP present in the communications modem apparatus.

[0061] As described, the RFFE circuit 402 described with respect to FIGs. 4A and 4B may provide a programmable PA tunable for the n77 or n79 band, a programmable TX filter tunable for the n77 or n79 band, at least one programmable LNA tunable for the n77 or n79 band (or a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands), and at least one programmable RX filter tunable for the n77 or n79 band (or a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands).

[0062] In some aspects, each receive chain may include a splitter (e.g., implemented with tunable LC filters or a Wilkinson splitter) to split a signal with a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands into separate signals to be provided to respective receiver outputs for the bands. For example, an amplification and gain circuit 450 of RFFE circuit 402 may include the LNA 410 and a splitter to split a signal with a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands into separate signals (e.g., for later extracting signal information according to each of the n77 and n79 bands within the wideband signal). In some aspects, independent gain settings may be provided for sign in the n77 and n79 bands after the splitting of the wideband signal, as will be described in more detail herein. With the RFFE circuit 402 and associated splitter of each RX chain, the device may be implemented without an external diplexer to separate the signals for the n77 and n79 bands, reducing insertion loss before the LNA and improving overall sensitivity. In some aspects, the removal of the diplexer may also improve the PA insertion loss and overall transmitter efficiency.

[0063] Similarly, the RFFE circuit 404 may provide at least one programmable LNA for the n77 band or n79 band (or a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands) and atleast one programmable RX filter for the n77 band or n79 band (or a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands). Similar to RFFE circuit 402, each RX chain of the RFFE circuit 404 may include a splitter to split a signal with wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands into separate signals. Independent gain settings may be implemented for the n77 and n79 bands after the splitting. Independent gain control may help to compensate for different input powers for the n77 and n79 bands. In some field conditions, one of the carriers, for example n77, may be far away from the base station (BS), while another one of the carriers, n79 for example, is near the BS. In this condition, the n77 received power could be lower than the n79 received power. With independent gain controls after the splitter, it is possible to condition the signal going in the receiver, attenuate a large signal, or amplify a small signal independently, to receive each carrier with improved signal to noise ratio.

[0064] In some aspects, the output of each LNA may be selectively coupled to receiver outputs for the n77 band and n79 band. For example, referring to FIGs. 4A and 4B, LNA 410 may be coupled to the output labeled “LNA_OUT1” and selectively coupled to the output labeled “LNA OUT3.” The LNA 414 may be coupled to the output labeled “LNA OUT2” and selectively coupled to the output labeled “LNA OUT4.” In some aspects, each of the LNAs may be coupled to a splitter as described in more detail with respect to FIG. 6.

[0065] FIG. 6 illustrates an example amplification and splitting circuit 600 including an LNA 602 and a splitter 608, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The amplification and splitting circuit 600 may correspond to the amplification and splitting circuit 450. The circuit 600 may be implemented for each RX chain of the RFFE circuits 402, 404. For example, the LNA 602 may correspond to any one of LNAs 410, 414, 420, 424.

[0066] The gain of the LNA 602 may be tuned via control signaling provided to the RFFE circuits 402, 404 as shown in FIGs. 4A and 4B. The output of the LNA 602 may be selectively coupled to a first input 650 of a switch circuit 614 (e.g., also referred to herein as an “output diplexer”) via a switch 604 or selectively coupled to an input of a splitter 608 via a switch 606. The switch 604 may be closed when operating in a singleband operating mode (e.g., receiving a signal within the n77 band or the n79 band) to couple the output of the LNA 602 to either an n77 receiver output (e.g., also referred toas an “n77 switch circuit output”) or an n79 receiver output (e.g., also referred to as an “n79 switch circuit output”) through the switch circuit 614 while switch 606 is open. In other words, the input 650 of the switch circuit may be coupled to the n77 receiver output when receiving a signal within the n77 band or the n79 receiver output when receiving a signal within the n79 band. The switch 606 may be closed when operating in a dual-band operating mode (e.g., receiving a signal within a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands) to couple the output of the LNA 602 to an input of the splitter 608 (while the switch 604 may be open). The output switch operations allow for increased flexibility in the interface with different receiver circuits and RF trancesivers port assignments.

[0067] Any suitable type of splitter may be used. For example, the splitter 608 may be implemented as a Wilkinson splitter or an LC splitter. As shown, attenuators 610, 612 may be coupled to respective outputs of the splitter 608 and respective second input 652 and third input 654 of the switch circuit 614. The splitter 608 and attenuators 610, 612 allow for improved dynamic range (DR) of receive gain settings and reduced performance degradation over the DR. For example, signals in the n77 and n79 bands may have a large power difference when received by the receive chains if not collocated. Thus, different gain settings may be used to process the signals for the two bands.

[0068] In some cases, a Wilkinson splitter (or transformer) may be used to provide isolation between the output signals of the splitter for attenuation. An LC splitter may also provide isolation between signals in the n77 and n79 bands, while also providing additional filtering of the signals and the possibility of tuning the gain associated with the receive paths by adjusting the inductance of the LC splitter inductive elements and / or capacitance of the LC splitter capacitive elements. A Wilkinson splitter or LC splitter allows to maintain isolations between the two outputs, which reduces the impact on one carriers of gain changes on the other carriers. Without high isolation, when gain is changed on one carrier, a glitch may be created on the other carrier, resulting in degraded receiver signal to noise ratio and degraded throughput.

[0069] Resistive elements 603, 605 (e.g., a 50 ohm resistive element) may be selectively coupled in shunt to the output of each of the attenuators 610, 612 via respective switches 607, 609, as shown. In split mode, the resistive elements may be used in order to not disturb a signal on the n77 band (or n79 band) when the path for the n79 band (or the n77 band) is turned off, by maintaining a balanced output impedance once one path isturned off. That is, reception via the n77 and n79 bands may be performed at the start of a call. In that case, inputs of the radio may be connected to the splitter. Then, one of the paths (e.g., either the path for the n77 band or the n79 band) may be turned off. To not disturb the carrier that is still operating, the path through the splitter may continue to be used for the path that remained turned on. In this case, the turned off path may be terminated with an impedance (e.g., 50 ohm impedance).

[0070] In some aspects, both n77 and n79 bands may be processed by a single LNA, such as the LNA 602 shown in FIG. 6. With one gain being set for both bands via the LNA 602, the attenuators 610, 612 may be used to provide different gains for the n77 and n79 bands. The attenuator gains and the LNA gain may be set based on a master-slave relationship. An algorithm may be used to select whether the primary gain (master) set via the LNA 602 is to be set for the n77 band or the n79 band (e.g., the master band), where the gain for the other band (slave band) is set via the associated attenuator. For example, if the n77 band is considered the master, the LNA gain may be set to meet the gain specifications for the n77 band, which also applies a gain for the n79 band. The attenuator 612 may then be used to adjust the gain for the n79 band. The selection of master and slave bands may be implemented in hardware, in some cases.

[0071] While the circuit 600 includes a single LNA 602 for processing signals for multiple bands (e.g., bands n77 and n79), in some implementations, separate LNAs may be implemented for each band, allowing the gains of the LNAs to be set for the respective bands separately using dedicated LNAs. In some aspects, the LNAs used to amplify the signals for the n77 and n79 bands may be coupled to a single broadband filter such as the filter 408 of FIG. 4 A.

[0072] FIG. 7 illustrates an example LC splitter 700 implemented with two LC circuits coupled to a common node 750 with a first LC circuit tuned for a first band (e.g., the n77 band) and a second LC circuit tuned for a second band (e.g., the n79 band). For example, the splitter 700 may include an LC circuit with inductive element 706 in parallel with capacitive element 704 and an LC circuit with inductive element 708 in parallel with capacitive element 710. Inductive element 702 may be coupled between node 750 and the LC circuits as shown. The node 750 may be a common node coupled to switch 606 of FIG. 6. The outputs 752, 754 of the LC splitter 700 may be coupled to respective attenuators 610, 612. Capacitive elements 716, 718 may be coupled in shunt betweenrespective outputs 752, 754 and a reference potential node (e.g., electric ground). A capacitive element 714 and a resistive element 712 may each be coupled between the outputs 752, 754, as shown. In some cases, the inductive elements 706, 708 may be magnetically coupled to one another.

[0073] Certain aspects of the present disclosure have described an RFFE circuit that can serve multiple use cases, including operations within an n77 band, n79 band, or a wide band spanning the n77 and n79 bands. While n77 and n79 bands are provided as example bands to facilitate understanding, any suitable bands may be used. Certain aspects facilitate a reduction in circuit board area and lowering of the cost associated with a wireless device while improving noise figure and PA efficiency (e.g., since an external diplexer used in some conventional implementations may be removed with the use of the RFFE circuit described herein). The programmable filter described herein allows for ad- hoc filtering, which may be used if a jammer signal or other transmission is present.

[0074] FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 800 for wireless communication. The operations 800 may be performed, for example, by an RFFE circuit, such as the RFFE circuit 402 and / or RFFE circuit 404.

[0075] At block 802, the RFFE circuit may configure a first tunable filter (e.g., an RF filter 408) of a first receive chain in one of multiple configurations including a first configuration for signal processing within a first band, a second configuration for signal processing within a second band, and a third configuration for signal processing within a wide band spanning the first band and the second band. At block 804, the RFFE circuit filters a first receive signal via the first tunable filter to yield a first filtered signal.

[0076] In some aspects, at block 806, the RFFE circuit may configure a second tunable filter (e.g., an RF filter 412) of a second receive chain in one of the multiple configurations. At block 808, the RFFE module may filter a second receive signal via the second tunable filter to yield a second filtered signal. In some aspects, the first band includes an n77 band, and / or the second band includes an n79 band.

[0077] In some aspects, the RFFE circuit amplifies the first filtered signal via a first tunable amplifier (e.g., LNA 410) of the first receive chain coupled to the first tunable filter to yield a first amplified signal and amplifies the second filtered signal via a second tunable amplifier (e.g., LNA 414) of the second receive chain coupled to the secondtunable filter to yield a second amplified signal. In some aspects, the first amplified signal may include a wideband signal spanning the first band and the second band. The RFFE module may split, via a splitter (e.g., splitter 608), the wideband signal to generate a first split signal associated with the first band and a second split signal associated with the second band. The RFFE module may attenuate (e.g., via attenuator 610) the first split signal to generate a first attenuated signal to be provided to a first receiver output. In some aspects, the RFFE module may attenuate (e.g., via attenuator 612) the second split signal to generate a second attenuated signal to be provided to a second receiver output. In some aspects, the RFFE module may set a gain of the first tunable amplifier for signal reception using the first band, the first amplified signal being generated using the gain. The second split signal may be attenuated to set a gain for signal reception using the second band.

[0078] In some aspects, the RFFE circuit may couple, via one or more first switches (e.g., switch 604), an output of the first tunable amplifier to the first receiver output or a second receiver output when in a single-band operating mode (e.g., when receiving signal via the n77 band or n79 band). In some aspects, the RFFE module may couple, via one or more second switches (e.g., switch 606), an output of the first tunable amplifier to the splitter when in a multi-band operating mode (e.g., when receiving a signal via a wide band spanning the n77 band and the n79 band).Example Aspects

[0079] In addition to the various aspects described above, specific combinations of aspects are within the scope of the present disclosure, some of which are detailed below:

[0080] Aspect 1 : An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: a low noise amplifier (LNA); a switch circuit comprising a first input coupled to an output of the LNA, a second input, and a third input; a splitter circuit having an input coupled to the output of the LNA, a first splitter output, and a second splitter output; a first attenuator coupled between the first splitter output of the splitter circuit and the second input of the switch circuit; and a second attenuator coupled between the second splitter output of the splitter circuit and the third input of the switch circuit, the switch circuit having a first switch output and a second switch output.

[0081] Aspect 2: The apparatus of Aspect 1, wherein the switch circuit is configured to selectively establish a first signal path between the first input of the switch circuit and either of the first switch output or the second switch output.

[0082] Aspect 3: The apparatus of Aspect 2, wherein the switch circuit is further configured to selectively establish a second signal path between the second input of the switch circuit and the first switch output; and selectively establish a third signal path between the third input of the switch circuit and the second switch output.

[0083] Aspect 4: The apparatus according to any of Aspects 1-3, wherein the LNA is configured to accept an input signal corresponding to either a first band, a second band, or a combination of the first and the second band.

[0084] Aspect 5: The apparatus according to any of Aspects 1-4, further comprising: a first switch coupled between the output of the LNA and the first input of the switch circuit; and a second switch coupled between the output of the LNA and the input of the splitter circuit.

[0085] Aspect 6: The apparatus according to any of Aspects 1-5, further comprising a tunable filter coupled to an input of the LNA.

[0086] Aspect 7 : The apparatus according to any of Aspects 1-6, wherein the splitter circuit comprises an inductor-capacitor (LC) filter configured to provide a signal within a first band to the first splitter output and a signal within a second band to the second splitter output.

[0087] Aspect 8: An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: a first receive chain including a first tunable radio frequency (RF) filter; a second receive chain including a second tunable RF filter, wherein at least one of the first tunable RF filter or the second tunable RF filter is configured to receive control signaling to configure the at least one of the first tunable RF filter or the second tunable RF filter in one of multiple configurations including a first configuration for processing a signal within a first band, a second configuration for processing a signal within a second band, and a third configuration for processing a signal within a wide band spanning the first band and the second band; and a switch circuit coupled to the first receive chain and the second receive chain.

[0088] Aspect 9: The apparatus of Aspect 8, wherein: the first receive chain further comprises a first tunable amplifier coupled to the first tunable RF filter; and the second receive chain further comprises a second tunable amplifier coupled to the second tunable RF filter.

[0089] Aspect 10: The apparatus of Aspect 9, wherein at least one of the first tunable amplifier or the second tunable amplifier is configured to receive control signaling to configure the at least one of the first tunable amplifier or the second tunable amplifier in one of multiple configurations including a first configuration for signal amplification within the first band, a second configuration for signal amplification within the second band, and a third configuration for signal amplification within the wide band spanning the first band and the second band.

[0090] Aspect 11 : The apparatus of Aspect 10, wherein the first band comprises an n77 band and wherein the second band comprises an n79 band.

[0091] Aspect 12: The apparatus according to any of Aspects 8-11, wherein at least one of the first tunable RF filter or the second tunable RF filter comprises one or more capacitive elements implemented within an integrated circuit (IC), wherein the IC further includes at least one of a first tunable amplifier of the first receive chain, a second tunable amplifier of the second receive chain, or control circuitry for a power amplifier of the apparatus.

[0092] Aspect 13: The apparatus according to any of Aspects 8-12, further comprising: a splitter having an input selectively coupled to an output of a tunable amplifier of the first receive chain; and a first attenuator coupled between a first output of the splitter and a first receiver output associated with the first band, wherein a second output of the splitter is coupled to a second receiver output associated with the second band.

[0093] Aspect 14: The apparatus of Aspect 13, further comprising a second attenuator coupled between the second output of the splitter and the second receiver output.

[0094] Aspect 15: The apparatus of Aspect 14, further comprising: a first resistive element selectively coupled between an output of the first attenuator and a referencepotential node; and a second resistive element selectively coupled between an output of the second attenuator and the reference potential node.

[0095] Aspect 16: The apparatus according to any of Aspects 13-15, further comprising: a first switch coupled between the output of the tunable amplifier of the first receive chain and the input of the splitter; and a second switch coupled between the output of the tunable amplifier and the first receiver output.

[0096] Aspect 17: A method for wireless communication, comprising: configuring a first tunable RF filter of a first receive chain in one of multiple configurations including a first configuration for signal processing within a first band, a second configuration for signal processing within a second band, and a third configuration for signal processing within a wide band spanning the first band and the second band; and filtering a first receive signal via the first tunable RF filter to yield a first filtered signal.

[0097] Aspect 18: The method of Aspect 17, further comprising: configuring a second tunable RF filter of a second receive chain in one of the multiple configurations; and filtering a second receive signal via the second tunable RF filter to yield a second filtered signal.

[0098] Aspect 19: The method of Aspect 18, further comprising: configuring a first tunable amplifier of the first receive chain coupled to the first tunable RF filter in one of multiple amplifier configurations including a first configuration to receive a signal within the first band, a second configuration to receive a signal within the second band, and a third configuration for receiving a signal within the wide band spanning the first band and the second band; and amplifying the first filtered signal to yield a first amplified signal.

[0099] Aspect 20: The method of Aspect 19, further comprising amplifying the second filtered signal via a second tunable amplifier of the second receive chain coupled to the second tunable RF filter to yield a second amplified signal.

[0100] Aspect 21 : The method of Aspect 19 or 20, further comprising: splitting, via a splitter, the first amplified signal to generate a first split signal associated with the first band and a second split signal associated with the second band; and attenuating the first split signal to generate a first attenuated signal to be provided to a first receiver output associated with the first band.

[0101] Aspect 22: The method of Aspect 21, further comprising attenuating the second split signal to generate a second attenuated signal to be provided to a second receiver output associated with the second band.

[0102] Aspect 23: The method of Aspect 21 or 22, further comprising setting a gain of the first tunable amplifier for signal reception using the second band, wherein the first split signal is attenuated to set a gain for signal reception using the first band.

[0103] Aspect 24: The method according to any of Aspects 21-23, further comprising: coupling, via one or more first switches, an output of the first tunable amplifier to the first receiver output associated with the first band or a second receiver output associated with the second band, when in a single-band operating mode; or coupling, via one or more second switches, an output of the first tunable amplifier to the splitter when in a multi-band operating mode.

[0104] The above description provides examples, and is not limiting of the scope, applicability, or examples set forth in the claims. Changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements discussed without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Various examples may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, the methods described may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to some examples may be combined in some other examples. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method which is practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to, or other than, the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.

[0105] The various operations of methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. The means may include various hardware and / or software component(s) and / or module(s), including, but not limited to a circuit, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or processor.Generally, where there are operations illustrated in figures, those operations may have corresponding counterpart means-plus-function components.

[0106] As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of’ a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of a, b. or c” is intended to cover: a, b. c, a-b. a-c, b-c. and a-b-c, as well as any combination with multiples of the same element (e.g., a-a. a-a-a. a-a-b. a-a-c. a-b-b, a- c-c, b-b, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c or any other ordering of a, b. and c).

[0107] The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more steps or actions for achieving the described method. The method steps and / or actions may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific steps and / or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.

[0108] It is to be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components illustrated above. Various modifications, changes, and variations may be made in the arrangement, operation, and details of the methods and apparatus described above without departing from the scope of the claims.

Claims

CLAIMS1. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: a low noise amplifier (LNA); a switch circuit comprising a first input coupled to an output of the LNA, a second input, and a third input; a splitter circuit having an input coupled to the output of the LNA, a first splitter output, and a second splitter output; a first attenuator coupled between the first splitter output of the splitter circuit and the second input of the switch circuit; and a second attenuator coupled between the second splitter output of the splitter circuit and the third input of the switch circuit, the switch circuit having a first switch output and a second switch output.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the switch circuit is configured to selectively establish a first signal path between the first input of the switch circuit and either of the first switch output or the second switch output.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the switch circuit is further configured to selectively establish a second signal path between the second input of the switch circuit and the first switch output; and selectively establish a third signal path between the third input of the switch circuit and the second switch output.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the LNA is configured to accept an input signal corresponding to either a first band, a second band, or a combination of the first and the second band.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a first switch coupled between the output of the LNA and the first input of the switch circuit; and a second switch coupled between the output of the LNA and the input of the splitter circuit.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a tunable filter coupled to an input of the LNA.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the splitter circuit comprises an inductorcapacitor (LC) filter configured to provide a signal within a first band to the first splitter output and a signal within a second band to the second splitter output.

8. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: a first receive chain including a first tunable radio frequency (RF) filter; a second receive chain including a second tunable RF filter, wherein at least one of the first tunable RF filter or the second tunable RF filter is configured to receive control signaling to configure the at least one of the first tunable RF filter or the second tunable RF filter in one of multiple configurations including a first configuration for processing a signal within a first band, a second configuration for processing a signal within a second band, and a third configuration for processing a signal within a wide band spanning the first band and the second band; and a switch circuit coupled to the first receive chain and the second receive chain.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein: the first receive chain further comprises a first tunable amplifier coupled to the first tunable RF filter; and the second receive chain further comprises a second tunable amplifier coupled to the second tunable RF filter.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein at least one of the first tunable amplifier or the second tunable amplifier is configured to receive control signaling to configure the at least one of the first tunable amplifier or the second tunable amplifier in one of multiple configurations including a first configuration for signal amplification within the first band, a second configuration for signal amplification within the second band, and a third configuration for signal amplification within the wide band spanning the first band and the second band.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first band comprises an n77 band and wherein the second band comprises an n79 band.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein at least one of the first tunable RF filter or the second tunable RF filter comprises one or more capacitive elements implemented within an integrated circuit (IC), wherein the IC further includes at least one of a first tunable amplifier of the first receive chain, a second tunable amplifier of the second receive chain, or control circuitry for a power amplifier of the apparatus.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising: a splitter having an input selectively coupled to an output of a tunable amplifier of the first receive chain; and a first attenuator coupled between a first output of the splitter and a first receiver output associated with the first band, wherein a second output of the splitter is coupled to a second receiver output associated with the second band.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a second attenuator coupled between the second output of the splitter and the second receiver output.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising: a first resistive element selectively coupled between an output of the first attenuator and a reference potential node; and a second resistive element selectively coupled between an output of the second attenuator and the reference potential node.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising: a first switch coupled between the output of the tunable amplifier of the first receive chain and the input of the splitter; and a second switch coupled between the output of the tunable amplifier and the first receiver output.

17. A method for wireless communication, comprising: configuring a first tunable RF filter of a first receive chain in one of multiple configurations including a first configuration for signal processing within a first band, a second configuration for signal processing within a second band, and a thirdconfiguration for signal processing within a wide band spanning the first band and the second band; and filtering a first receive signal via the first tunable RF filter to yield a first filtered signal.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: configuring a second tunable RF filter of a second receive chain in one of the multiple configurations; and filtering a second receive signal via the second tunable RF filter to yield a second filtered signal.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising: configuring a first tunable amplifier of the first receive chain coupled to the first tunable RF filter in one of multiple amplifier configurations including a first configuration to receive a signal within the first band, a second configuration to receive a signal within the second band, and a third configuration for receiving a signal within the wide band spanning the first band and the second band; and amplifying the first filtered signal to yield a first amplified signal.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising amplifying the second filtered signal via a second tunable amplifier of the second receive chain coupled to the second tunable RF filter to yield a second amplified signal.

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