Patent ID: 8233520

Claim:
A radio frequency (RF) signal transceiver coupled with a baseband module, comprising: an antenna that transceives RF signals through a wireless communication channel; a signal receiving path through which the RF signals received by the antenna are directed to the baseband module; a signal transmission path through which digital signals from the baseband module are directed to the antenna to be delivered by the antenna, wherein the signal transmission path comprises: a modulator that receives and modulates the digital signals from the baseband module; a digital-to-analog converter that receives and processes the modulated digital signals to generate analog signals; a first mixer assembly comprising a first mixer stage and a second mixer stage, wherein the first mixer stage is operable to generate first mixed signals conveyable in a first frequency band to the second mixer stage from the analog signals, and the second mixer stage is operable to generate second mixed signals from the first mixed signals; and an amplifier that receives and amplifies the second mixed signals to generate amplified analog signals for transmission by the antenna; wherein the transceiver further comprises: a coupler that samples a portion of the amplified analog signals; a switch coupled to the signal receiving path; a controller configured for controlling the switch to selectively couple the signal receiving path to the coupler or the antenna; and a processor that controls the modulator to perform signal predistortion based on the signal portion sampled by the coupler while the signal receiving path is coupled to the coupler; wherein the signal receiving path comprises a second mixer assembly that comprises a third mixer stage and a fourth mixer stage, wherein the third mixer stage is operable to generate third mixed signal conveyable in a second frequency band to the fourth mixer stage from the RF signals received by the antenna or the signal portion sampled by the coupler, the second frequency band is different from the first frequency band, and the fourth mixer stage is operable to generate fourth mixed signals to the baseband module from the third mixed signals; wherein the transceiver comprises a first module and a second module physically isolated from the first module, the first module comprising the modulator, the digital-to-analog converter and the first mixer stage and the fourth mixer stage, wherein the second module comprises the amplifier and the second mixer stage and the third mixer stage, and wherein the modulator performs the signal predistortion to compensate for signal distortions caused by the amplification by the amplifier.