Tunable Duplexer

Abstract

A signal cancelling duplexer is provided. Duplexers of the invention add equal amounts of a transmission signal and an out-of-phase component of the same transmission signal at the receiver, so that both signals cancel. Duplexers of the invention can be switched between multiple channels by changing switch settings within the duplexer. RF transceivers including a power amplifier, receiver amplifier, and the signal cancelling duplexer are also provided.

Claims

1. A duplexer comprising: a first coupler having four ports where a signal received at a first port is divided between the other three ports such that a first portion of the signal is directed to a second port, and a second portion of the signal is split between a third port thereof and a fourth port thereof, that portion of the signal reaching the third port including a 90 phase shift, the portions of the signal reaching the second and fourth ports not being phase shifted; a second coupler identical to the first coupler; a first phase shifter coupled between the third port of the first coupler and a first port of the second coupler, another port of the second coupler being coupled to the second port of the first coupler; and a second phase shifter coupled between the fourth port of the first coupler and a same port of the second coupler.

2. The duplexer of claim 1 wherein the first coupler includes a first inductor coupled between the first and third ports, a second inductor coupled between the second and fourth ports, a first capacitor coupled between the first port and the first inductor, a second capacitor coupled between the second port and the second inductor, a third capacitor coupled between the third and fourth ports, a fourth capacitor coupled between the third port and ground, a fifth capacitor coupled between the first and second ports, a sixth capacitor coupled between the first port and ground, and a seventh capacitor coupled between the second port and ground.

3. The duplexer of claim 2 wherein the first and second capacitors are switchable.

4. The duplexer of claim 2 wherein the third and fifth capacitors are switchable.

5. The duplexer of claim 2 wherein the sixth and seventh capacitors are switchable.

6. The duplexer of claim 2 wherein the first phase shifter includes inductors in series, wherein each node between adjacent inductors is coupled to ground by a capacitor.

7. The duplexer of claim 2 wherein the second phase shifter includes capacitors in series, wherein each node between adjacent capacitors is coupled to ground by an inductor.

8. A transceiver for operation in several channels comprising: a power amplifier, a receiver amplifier, and a duplexer including a first coupler having four ports and configured such that a signal, received at a first port coupled to the power amplifier, is divided between the other three ports such that a first portion of the signal is directed to a second port thereof, and a second portion of the signal is split between a third port thereof and a fourth port thereof, that portion of the signal reaching the third port including a 90 phase shift, the portions of the signal reaching the second and fourth ports not being phase shifted, a second coupler identical to the first coupler, a first phase shifter coupled between the third port of the first coupler and a first port of the second coupler, another port of the second coupler being coupled to the second port of the first coupler, and a second phase shifter coupled between the fourth port of the first coupler and a same port of the second coupler, wherein the receiver is coupled to a last port of the second coupler.

9. The transceiver of claim 8 further comprising an antenna coupled to a node between the fourth port of the first coupler and the second phase shifter.

10. The transceiver of claim 8 wherein the transceiver is implemented on a CMOS chip.

11. The transceiver of claim 8 wherein each coupler is switchable between the several channels.

12. The transceiver of claim 11 wherein each coupler includes switchable capacitors configured to select between fixed capacitances for the several channels.

13. A method comprising: splitting a received signal into a first portion and a second portion; phase shifting a component of the first portion of the signal by 180; phase shifting a first component of the second portion of the signal by 180; combining the phase-shifted components with a second component of the second portion of the signal.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the combined phase-shifted components cancel the second component.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein splitting the received signal into the first and second portions includes splitting the received signal into equal first and second portions.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the phase-shifted components and the second component are combined at a receiver of a transceiver.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein the phase-shifted components and the second component are combined at a transmitter of a transceiver.

18. The method of claim 13 further comprising providing the received signal with a power amplifier of a transceiver.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the steps are performed by a duplexer of a transceiver and the method further comprises switching the duplexer from a first channel to a second channel.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein switching the duplexer from the first channel to the second channel includes changing a switch setting within the duplexer.

21. A coupler comprising: A first port, a second port, a third port, and a fourth port; a first inductor coupled between the first and third ports; a second inductor coupled between the second and fourth ports; a first capacitor coupled between the first port and the first inductor; a second capacitor coupled between the second port and the second inductor; a third capacitor coupled between the third and fourth ports; a fourth capacitor coupled between the third port and ground; a fifth capacitor coupled between the first and second ports; a sixth capacitor coupled between the first port and ground; and a seventh capacitor coupled between the second port and ground, wherein the first, second, third, fifth, sixth, and seventh capacitors are switchable.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of RF transceiver according to the prior art.

[0017] FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of an RF transceiver including a duplexer according to various embodiments of the present invention.

[0018] FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of the functionality of a tunable coupler, according to various embodiments of the present invention.

[0019] FIGS. 4-6 are successive representations of the flow of the Tx signal through a duplexer according to various embodiments of the present invention.

[0020] FIG. 7 is a schematic representation of a circuit for implementing a coupler according to various embodiments of the present invention.

[0021] FIGS. 8 and 9 are schematic representations of two circuits for implementing phase shifters according to various embodiments of the present invention.

[0022] FIG. 10 is a flowchart representation of a method for operating a duplexer according to various embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The present invention provides tunable duplexers, RF transceivers that include a tunable duplexer, and methods of operating RF transceivers. The tunable duplexer of the present invention simplifies the overall architecture of the RF transceiver circuit, allowing for multi-channel switching by simply reconfiguring the duplexer. The tunable duplexer presented herein isolates the Tx and Rx channels without itself performing any signal filtering; filtering to remove other unwanted signals can be performed between the duplexer and the receiver amplifier, for example. The present invention reduces the demands on such filtering.

[0024] Duplexers of the present invention employ a pair of couplers and a pair of phase shifters, where each coupler includes four ports. In use, a power amplifier 140 serves as the input to one port, a receiver amplifier 150 is coupled to another port, two ports on each coupler connect to the other coupler via the phase shifters, and the remaining port on each coupler connects to an antenna. A coupler, as used herein, provides the functionality that a signal injected into any port is split between at least two of the other three ports, with one port of the other three ports outputting a signal that is phase shifted by 90. Couplers having this functionality are sometimes known in the art as hybrid 3 dB couplers.

[0025] In various embodiments of the duplexer, an initial Tx signal received at the initial port is split multiple times and traverses two electrical paths through the duplexer that ultimately converge at the receiver amplifier 150, both of these signals being 180 out of phase with the initial Tx signal, and the two add constructively. Additionally, another part of the initial Tx signal, obtained through the same signal splitting process but traversing a third electrical path, is also added to the two out-of-phase signals at the receiver amplifier 150. For a given frequency range, the duplexer is configured to add an amount of this third signal sufficient to cancel the sum of the two out-of-phase signals.

[0026] It is noted that this process of cancelling the Tx at the receiver amplifier does not attenuate the Rx signal. The Rx signal can be similarly cancelled on the Tx line without attenuating the Tx signal, as the duplexer works the same in both directions. Tuning, or switching between channels, can be achieved by varying electrical components, such as capacitors, at select points within the duplexer circuit.

[0027] FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an exemplary transceiver 200 including a duplexer 205 according to various embodiments of the present invention. The duplexer 205 can be said to be a SAW-less duplexer in as much as it is not a SAW duplexer. The duplexer 205 comprises two couplers 210 and 220, and two phase shifters 230 and 240. The phase shifters 230, 240 each shift the phase of a received signal by 90, where one shifts a received signal by 90 and the other shifts a received signal by 90. Each phase shifter 230, 240 operates the same for signals traveling in either direction such that if a signal propagating in one direction is shifter by 90, another signal propagating in the opposite direction will also be shifted by 90.

[0028] The duplexer 205 is shown in FIG. 2 coupled to a power amplifier 140, a receiver amplifier 150, and an antenna 110 by transformer 250. For simplicity, some components of the transceiver 200 have been omitted for clarity. For example, various embodiments can include a filter (not shown) between the power amplifier 140 and the duplexer 205 as well as filtering on the side of the receiver amplifier 150 (not shown). Filtering at the receiver amplifier 150 can optionally be disposed within the receiver amplifier 150 or placed after the receiver amplifier 150. It is noted that transceiver 200 can operate in a differential mode where the power amplifier 140 produces a differential output and the receiver amplifier 150 receives a differential input. In these embodiments, a balun is disposed between the power amplifier 140 and the duplexer 205, and another balun is disposed between the duplexer 205 and the receiver amplifier 150.

[0029] FIG. 3 schematically illustrates the functionality of each of the tunable couplers 210, 220. Each coupler 210, 220 is configured to receive an input signal at a port (1) and to split the input signal into a portion that goes to port (2) and a remainder which is further split into two signals directed to ports (3) and (4). More particularly, one of the two output signals of ports (3) and (4) is out of phase by 90, and in the illustrated embodiment, the phase of the output signal at port (3) is shifted by 90 relative to the phase of the output signal at port (4) which is not shifted relative to the phase of the input signal at port (1). In various embodiments, the portion of the signal split between ports (3) and (4) is split equally between the two, though this is not a requirement, and in some instances an unequal split can be beneficial.

[0030] It will be appreciated that the couplers 210, 220 operate the same for all four ports, such that, for example, a signal received by port (4) will be split between ports (1) and (2) with one resulting signal being phase shifted and the other not. In the duplexer 205, while the coupler 210 is configured such that it can receive an input signal at a port (1) and split the input signal into a portion that goes to port (2), it is configured such that ports (1) and (2) are completely isolated in the frequency range of the Tx signal and essentially all of the input Tx signal is split between ports (3) and (4). On the other hand, coupler 220 does not completely isolate ports (1) and (2) for the same frequency band, as described further below.

[0031] FIG. 4 shows the initial paths of a Tx signal through duplexer 205. It can be seen that the Tx signal received from power amplifier 140 is first received into port (1) of coupler 210 and split into two signals, where the signal output at port (4) is not phase shifted. The output of port (4) of coupler 210 splits at a node between antenna 110 (not shown) and phase shifter 240 into two signals propagating in opposite directions, one to antenna 110 and one to phase shifter 240 which is shifted to 90 and received at port (4) of coupler 220. The signal output at port (3) of coupler 210 is phase shifted by 90 by the coupler 210 and received by the phase shifter 230 which shifts the phase back by 90, and therefore a non-phase shifted signal is received at port (1) of coupler 220.

[0032] The Tx signal received by port (1) of coupler 220 is likewise split and the portion received at port (4) of coupler 220 is again not phase shifted. The portion of the Tx signal directed to port (3) of coupler 220 is shifted by 90 and looped back to port (2) of coupler 210 which is isolated from port (1). Still another portion of the Tx signal received by port (1) of coupler 220 is directed to port (2) as discussed with reference to FIG. 5.

[0033] FIG. 5 illustrates a continuation from the flows illustrated in FIG. 4. The portion of the Tx signal received at port (2) of coupler 210 from port (3) of coupler 220 is split, with the part directed to port (3) of coupler 210 not being phase shifted and therefore received at port (3) still shifted by 90, the same as the portion of the Tx signal from port (1) of coupler 210 that is received at port (3) thereof (see FIG. 4). These two signals add constructively.

[0034] The portion of the Tx signal received at port (2) of coupler 210 that is directed to port (4) is phase shifted by an additional 90 and therefore received at port (4) shifted by 180, completely out of phase with the portion of the Tx signal received from port (1) of coupler 210 (see FIG. 4) and these signals add destructively. Because the portion of the Tx signal received at port (4) from port (1) that is not phase-shifted is stronger than the out-of-phase signal received from port (2), the residual Tx signal that continues towards the antenna 110 is completely in-phase with the original Tx signal received at port (1) of the coupler 210.

[0035] As noted above, the Tx signal from port (4) of coupler 210 travels both towards the antenna 110 and towards the phase shifter 240 and to the port (4) of coupler 220. That signal, shifted by 90 by phase shifter 240, is again shifted another 90 while traversing coupler 220 to arrive at port (2) of coupler 220, phase shifted by 180. Port (2) of coupler 220 is the output port to the receiver amplifier 150.

[0036] FIG. 6 illustrates a continuation from the flows illustrated in FIG. 5. A portion of the Tx signal received by coupler 220 at port (1) initially at 0 is directed without phase shift to port (4) of coupler 220, through a 90 phase shift by phase shifter 240, and to the node between antenna 110 and port (4) of coupler 210. Accordingly, two Tx signals are directed towards the antenna 110, a portion of this signal with the 90 phase shift, and the portion of the Tx signal first received at port (4) of coupler 210 without phase shift (see FIG. 4).

[0037] The balance of the 90 phase-shifted signal from port (4) of coupler 220 (i.e., that portion not received by antenna 110) is received at port (4) of coupler 210 and phase shifted by another 90 to emerge at port (2) of coupler 210 with a 180 phase shift. This signal propagates to port (3) of coupler 220, and without further phase shift to port (2) of coupler 220 to constructively add with the portion from port (4) of coupler 220 which is also 180 out of phase.

[0038] Lastly, an amount of power sufficient to cancel the combined 180 signal that has been received at port (2) of coupler 220 is directed from port (1) of coupler 220 with a 0 phase to port (2) of coupler 220. As discussed below with respect to FIG. 7, a capacitor can be used to tune coupler 220 to obtain the correct amount of power at 0 to cancel the combined signal at 180. It should be noted that essentially the same process works for the Rx signal and therefore, for brevity, only the Tx signal is discussed herein.

[0039] FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary circuit 700 for a coupler of the present invention. The circuit 700 has four numbered ports and a first inductor 705 coupled between a first port 710 and a third port 715, a second inductor 720 coupled between a second port 725, a fourth port 730, as well as a first capacitor 735 coupled between the first port 710 and the first inductor 705 and a second capacitor 740 coupled between the second port 725 and the second inductor 720, such that the first inductor 705 and first capacitor 735 are arranged in parallel with the second inductor 720 and second capacitor 740.

[0040] In various embodiments the circuit 700 also can also comprise one or more of a third capacitor 745 coupled between the third port 715 and the fourth port 730, a fourth capacitor 750 coupled between the third port 715 and ground, a fifth capacitor 755 coupled between the first port 710 and the second port 725, a sixth capacitor 760 coupled between the first port 710 and ground, and a seventh capacitor 765 coupled between the second port 725 and ground. In various embodiments, any of the aforementioned capacitors can be tunable so as to have a selectable capacitance. For example, a number of capacitors can be switchably coupled in parallel, as shown, to allow any of a number of fixed capacitances to be selected based on the capacitances of the capacitors selected to be coupled in parallel. Switchable capacitors are typically operated in pairs such that capacitors 745 and 755, for example, switch affect the degree of isolation between ports (1) and (2). Control logic (not shown) is used to modify switch setting to change frequency bands.

[0041] FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate two exemplary circuits 800 and 900, respectively, that can provide the functionality of the phase shifters 240, 230, respectively. The circuit 800 includes a number of inductors 810 in series, with a node 820 between adjacent inductors 810, each node 820 coupled to ground by a capacitor 830. The circuit 800 serves to induce a phase shift of 90. In the particular example of FIG. 8 there are four inductors 810 with three nodes 820 therebetween, and three capacitors 830 coupled to ground, but other numbers of inductors 820 is not limited to this embodiment. The circuit 900 includes a number of capacitors 910 in series, with a node 920 between adjacent capacitors 910, each node 920 coupled to ground by an inductor 930. The circuit 900 serves to induce a phase shift of 90. In the particular example of FIG. 9 there are five capacitors 910 with four nodes 920 therebetween, and four inductors 930 coupled to ground, but other numbers of capacitors 920 is not limited to this embodiment.

[0042] FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary method 1000 of the present invention. This method can be used for operating a duplexer to cancel a transmission signal at a receiver, for example. The method 1000 comprises a step 1010 of splitting a signal into a first portion and a second portion, a step 1020 of phase shifting a component of the first portion of the signal by 18, a step 1030 of phase shifting a component of the second portion of the signal by 180, and a step 1040 of combining the phase-shifted components with a second component of the second portion of the signal.

[0043] The step 1010 of splitting the signal into a first portion and a second portion can be performed by introducing the signal initially into a port of a first coupler. The step 1020 can comprise obtaining a first part of the initial signal and phase shifting it twice, both times by 90, to obtain a 180 phase shift. This can be performed, for example, by obtaining the first part of the initial signal from another port of the first coupler, where the output of that port is not phase shifted, and then phase shifting that part of the initial signal by 90 with a phase shifter, for instance, and then phase shifting that part of the initial signal by another 90 by passing the signal through a second coupler.

[0044] The step 1030 can comprise obtaining a second part of the initial signal and phase shifting it twice, both times by 90, to obtain a 180 phase shift. This can be performed, for example, by obtaining the second part of the initial signal from a port of the second coupler, where the output of that port is not phase shifted, and then phase shifting that part of the initial signal by 90 with a phase shifter, then phase shifting that part of the initial signal by another 90 by passing the signal through the first coupler. In some of these embodiments the second coupler receives the second part of the initial signal from the first coupler via another phase shifter. It is noted that the direction of the 180 phase shifts in steps 1020 and 1030 can be either +180 or 180, and need not both be the same.

[0045] The step 1040 of combining the phase-shifted components with a second component of the second portion of the signal can comprise obtaining the second component of the second portion from the initial port of the first coupler. This can be achieved by passing part of the initial signal through the first coupler, inducing a phase shift therein, and then passing the phase-shifted signal through a phase shifter to restore the initial phase of the signal.

[0046] In an optional step 1050 of the method 1000 the duplexer can be switched from operating in a first channel to operating in a second channel. Step 1050 can be achieved, for instance, by controlling switch settings within the duplexer. In various embodiments, the switches can vary electrical properties such as capacitance, resistance, and/or inductance at points within the duplexer to configure the duplexer to the different operating channels. For instance, switching logic can receive a command to employ a new channel and can switch the duplexer to the new channel by changing switch settings of switchable capacitors in order to reconfigure the duplexer to operate at the frequency of the new channel.

[0047] In the foregoing specification, the invention is described with reference to specific embodiments thereof, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited thereto. Various features and aspects of the above-described invention may be used individually or jointly. Further, the invention can be utilized in any number of environments and applications beyond those described herein without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the specification. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. It will be recognized that the terms comprising, including, and having, as used herein, are specifically intended to be read as open-ended terms of art. The term connect is differentiated herein from the term couple such that when two components are connected there are no other components disposed between them, whereas when two components are coupled there may be other components disposed between them. The use of the term means within a claim of this application is intended to invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f) only as to the limitation to which the term attaches and not to the whole claim, while the absence of the term means from any claim should be understood as excluding that claim from being interpreted under 112(f). As used in the claims of this application, configured to and configured for are not intended to invoke 35 U.S.C. 112(f).