Patent ID: 7215204

Claim:
An amplifier module, comprising: a substrate; an assembly having one or more integrated circuit (IC) dies mounted to the substrate and adapted to receive an input signal and generate an amplified output signal; and one or more other electronic components mounted to the substrate and adapted to perform one or more amplifier-related functions, wherein: the amplifier module is adapted to be mounted to a circuit board (CB) as a distinct electronic package; and the one or more other electronic components comprise a controller adapted to control amplifier operations within the module and at least one of: input impedance-matching circuitry adapted to provide the amplifier module with a desired input impedance level, wherein, if the one or more other electronics components comprise the input impedance-matching circuitry, then the controller is adapted to generate control signals for controlling the input impedance level provided by the input impedance-matching circuitry; output impedance-matching circuitry adapted to provide the amplifier module with a desired output impedance level, wherein, if the one or more other electronics components comprise the output impedance-matching circuitry, then the controller is adapted to generate control signals for controlling the output impedance level provided by the output impedance-matching circuitry; and a drain-current sensor adapted to sense a drain current of the assembly, wherein, if the one or more other electronics components comprise the drain-current sensor, then the controller is adapted to generate control signals for controlling the amplifier operations within the module based on the drain current sensed by the drain-current sensor.