Direct Conversion Receiver Circuit for Multi-Carrier Reception
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current direct-conversion receiver (DCR) technology is unable to concurrently receive multiple non-contiguous carriers in multi-band multi-carrier scenarios, leading to design challenges and increased costs due to the need for redundant hardware and complex routing, which degrades performance and increases power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A receiver circuit with a flexible topology that uses multiple receive branches with dedicated LNA input stages for low-band and high-band carriers, shared LNA input stages between chains, and configurable mixer banks with local oscillators, allowing for concurrent reception of multiple carriers without the need for additional hardware, thereby optimizing layout and power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single direct-conversion receiver chain is used, then device complexity and power consumption are reduced, but the ability to concurrently receive multiple non-contiguous carriers is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal receiver chain that can handle multiple carrier frequencies through configurable mixer banks. Each receive branch contains mixers that can be selectively connected to different local oscillators, allowing the same hardware chain to process multiple carriers by reconfiguring the mixing connections rather than requiring separate dedicated chains for each carrier
Solution Approach 2:
The receiver employs dynamic reconfiguration capabilities where mixer connections and local oscillator selections can be changed during operation to accommodate different multi-carrier scenarios. This dynamic switching allows a single static hardware chain to adapt to various multi-carrier configurations without physical reconfiguration
2Adaptability or versatility
If separate receive chains are used for each carrier, then concurrent multi-carrier reception is enabled, but device complexity and hardware requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple receive chains into a single shared receive chain by implementing mixer banks where mixers from different functional chains share common local oscillators and downstream processing resources. This combining approach maintains the ability to process multiple carriers concurrently while eliminating redundant hardware components that would exist in fully separate chains
3Adaptability or versatility
If additional hardware is added to support multi-carrier reception, then reception capability is improved, but power consumption and silicon area increase
Solution Approach 1:
The receiver design uses universal components that serve multiple functions across different carrier configurations. The mixer banks, local oscillators, and downstream processing elements are designed to handle multiple carriers, eliminating the need for additional dedicated hardware for each carrier and thereby avoiding the associated power consumption increases
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient concurrent reception of multiple carriers in a multi-band multi-carrier scenario with reduced hardware requirements and improved performance, maintaining backward compatibility and low power consumption, while supporting various carrier aggregation modes.
Implementation Method 1
a mixing portion for generating a second predefined number of mixed carrier signals on each receive branch by mixing a carrier signal on each one of said receive branches with a second predefined number of local oscillator frequencies
Data Source
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AI summary
A receiver circuit comprising a connection portion for guiding each one of a first predefined number of carrier signals of multiple carriers to one of a number of receive branches, each receive branch comprising at least one amplifier load structure, the number of receive branches being equal to the first predefined number. The receiver circuit also comprises a mixing portion for generating a second predefined number of mixed carrier signals on each receive branch by mixing a carrier signal on each one of the receive branches with a number of local oscillator frequencies equal to the second predefined number, and a selection portion for selecting one of the second predefined number of mixed carrier signals on each receive branch to be output via a number of output paths equal to the first predetermined number to a digital data path.