Patent ID: 7193459

Claim:
A system comprising: a) power amplifier circuitry comprising: i) at least one input amplifier stage adapted to operate in saturation and amplify a radio frequency input signal based on a variable supply voltage to provide an amplified radio frequency signal; and ii) a final amplifier stage adapted to receive a fixed supply voltage and adapted to amplify the amplified radio frequency signal to provide an output radio frequency signal; and b) power control circuitry adapted to provide the variable supply voltage based on an adjustable power control signal, thereby controlling an output power of the power amplifier circuitry based on the adjustable power control signal, wherein when the output power is reduced from a first output power level to a second output power level via the adjustable power control signal, the power control circuitry operates to reduce the variable supply voltage and thus the RF power of the amplified radio frequency signal such that the final amplifier stage transitions from a saturation mode to a linear mode thereby increasing a gain of the final amplifier stage.