Patent ID: 11949384
Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
Field: Basic communication processes (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 11:
12. A supply modulator configured to be driven in a tracking mode and provide an output voltage to a power amplifier, the tracking mode being an average power tracking mode or a discrete level-envelope tracking mode, the supply modulator comprising:
a multiple output voltage regulator configured to output a plurality of voltages in the discrete level-envelope tracking mode, the plurality of voltages having different levels from each other, and the different levels respectively corresponding to a plurality of reference output voltage signals;
a switching regulator configured to output a switching regulator voltage, the output voltage being based on the switching regulator voltage and a selected voltage among the plurality of voltages in the discrete level-envelope tracking mode, the output voltage being based on the switching regulator voltage in the average power tracking mode;
a switching regulator controller configured to
sense an output current of the multiple output voltage regulator to obtain a sensing value, and
control the switching regulator based on the sensing value in the discrete level-envelope tracking mode;

a switch array comprising a plurality of switches, the switch array configured to selectively connect the selected voltage to the power amplifier by performing a switching operation, wherein a first switch among the plurality of switches is connected to a ground voltage, and a subset of switches among the plurality of switches are connected to the multiple output voltage regulator to respectively correspond to the plurality of voltages, the subset of switches not including the first switch;
a discrete-level controller configured to generate a level control signal based on a digital envelope signal;
a switch controller configured to control the switching operation of the switch array based on the level control signal;
a coupling capacitor having an end connected to the switch array and another end connected to the power amplifier; and
a main controller configured to
generate the plurality of reference output voltage signals,
generate a target voltage signal of the coupling capacitor,
determine the tracking mode from among the average power tracking mode and the discrete level-envelope tracking mode, and
control at least one of the multiple output voltage regulator, the switch controller, the switching regulator controller, or the discrete-level controller based on the tracking mode.