PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-10763899-B1
Application Number: US-201916584176-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B1

Title: Radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) external front-end module

Abstract:
Systems and methods for driving using a radio-frequency integrated circuit to drive one or more front end modules. The front end modules provide signal flexibility to an electronic device. The radio-frequency integrated circuit drives the one or more front end modules via dual-pole, dual-throw switches that enable a pair of radio-frequency chains in the radio-frequency integrated circuit to drive two pairs of radio-frequency chains in each of two connected front end modules.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device, comprising:
 a front-end module (FEM) comprising a plurality of FEM radio-frequency (RF) chains that enable the electronic device to utilize a plurality of frequency bands; 
 a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) comprising:
 a plurality of RFIC RF chains configured to drive the plurality of FEM RF chains; and 
 a plurality of dual-pole, dual-throw (DPDT) switches, where each of a first subset of the plurality of DPDT switches enables a pair of RFIC RF chains of the plurality of RFIC RF chains to drive a respective pair of FEM RF chains of the plurality of FEM RF chains via a respective transmission line. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device of  claim 1 , comprising a secondary FEM comprising a secondary plurality of FEM RF chains that enable the electronic device to utilize a secondary plurality of frequency bands. 
     
     
       3. The electronic device of  claim 2 , wherein each of first subset of the DPDT switches enables the pair of the plurality of RFIC RF chains to drive a respective pair of the secondary plurality of FEM RF chains. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device of  claim 3 , comprising a tertiary FEM comprising a tertiary plurality of FEM RF chains that enable the electronic device to utilize a tertiary plurality of frequency bands. 
     
     
       5. The electronic device of  claim 4 , wherein each of a second subset of the DPDT switches enables a secondary pair of the plurality of RFIC RF chains to drive a respective pair of the tertiary plurality of FEM RF chains. 
     
     
       6. The electronic device of  claim 5 , comprising a quaternary FEM comprising a quaternary plurality of FEM RF chains that enable the electronic device to utilize a quaternary plurality of frequency bands. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device of  claim 6 , wherein each of the second subset of the DPDT switches enables the secondary pair of the plurality of RFIC RF chains to drive a respective pair of the quaternary plurality of FEM RF chains. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of RFIC RF chains comprises an incoming amplifier and an outgoing amplifier. 
     
     
       9. The electronic device of  claim 8 , wherein each of the plurality of RFIC RF chains comprises a pair of switches configured to selectively route signals through the incoming amplifier or the outgoing amplifier. 
     
     
       10. The electronic device of  claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of FEM RF chains comprises a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a power amplifier (PA), and a pair of switches configured to selectively route signals through the LNA or the PA. 
     
     
       11. The electronic device of  claim 10 , wherein the FEM comprises an external FEM that is external to the RFIC. 
     
     
       12. An electronic device, comprising:
 a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), comprising a plurality of dual-pole, dual-throw (DPDT) switches; 
 a first front-end module (FEM) driven using the RFIC; 
 a second FEM driven using the RFIC; and 
 a third FEM driven using the RFIC. 
 
     
     
       13. The electronic device of  claim 12 , wherein the RFIC comprises a plurality of RF chains, and wherein a set of RF chains of the plurality of RF chains of the RFIC is configured to select between FEM RF chains in the first FEM or FEM RF chains in the second FEM. 
     
     
       14. The electronic device of  claim 12 , wherein a first set of sub-components of the RFIC comprising a first set of the plurality of DPDTs are configured to drive the first and second FEMs. 
     
     
       15. The electronic device of  claim 14 , wherein a second set of the sub-components of the RFIC comprising a second set of the plurality of DPDTs are configured to drive third FEM. 
     
     
       16. The electronic device of  claim 15 , wherein the RFIC comprises splitting circuitry that is configured to:
 receive an input signal; 
 split the input signal; and 
 transmit the split input signals to the first and second sets of sub-components. 
 
     
     
       17. The electronic device of  claim 16 , wherein the splitting circuitry comprises a switch configured to split the input signal. 
     
     
       18. A method, comprising:
 receiving an input signal at a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC); 
 splitting the input signal into split signals; 
 transmitting the split signals to respective sub-components of the RFIC; 
 routing at least a first portion of the split signals from a first set of the sub-components in the RFIC to a first front-end module (FEM) using a first set of dual-pole, dual-throw (DPDT) switches; and 
 routing at least a second portion of the split signals from the first set of the sub-components in the RFIC to a second FEM using the first set of DPDT switches. 
 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 , comprising routing at least a third portion of the split signals from a second set of the sub-components to a third FEM using a second set of DPDT switches. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 19 , comprising routing at least a fourth portion of the split signals from the second set of the sub-components to a fourth FEM using the second set of DPDT switches.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication systems and, more specifically, to systems and methods for driving multiple external front-end modules (eFEM) using a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC). 
     This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art. 
     RFICs have a number of RF chains each used to drive a respective RF chain in respective eFEMs. However, the number of RF chains that the RFIC is able to drive may limit a number of eFEMs that may be included in an electronic device that has the RFIC. In other words, the number of additional eFEMs may be limited by the number of available RF chains in the RFIC, and adding more RFICs may be impossible and/or impractical due to size limits in the electronic device. In addition, the routing path of each RF chain from RFIC to eFEM can be challenging given the space constraints in an electronic device, and routing each path can complicate a printed circuit board (PCB) layout of the electronic device. 
     SUMMARY 
     A summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein is set forth below. It should be understood that these aspects are presented merely to provide the reader with a brief summary of these certain embodiments and that these aspects are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Indeed, this disclosure may encompass a variety of aspects that may not be set forth below. 
     RFICs may utilize multi-pole, multi-throw (MPMT) switches (e.g., dual-pole, dual-throw (DPDT) switches) that enable a single RFIC to increase the number of RF chains for a given number of I/O ports and, thus, the number of eFEMs that may be driven by the RFIC. For instance, a DPDT switch may selectively couple two RF chains of the RFIC to two respective RF chains in a first eFEM and to two respective RF chains in a second eFEM. The signals from the DPDT switch are received at switches in the eFEMs. The switches in the eFEMs route the signals to appropriate RF chains in the eFEMs. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Various aspects of this disclosure may be better understood upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an electronic device that includes a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) that drives one or more external front-end modules (eFEMs), in accordance with an embodiments of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a notebook computer representing an embodiment of the electronic device of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a front view of a hand-held device representing another embodiment of the electronic device of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a front view of another hand-held device representing another embodiment of the electronic device of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a front view of a desktop computer representing another embodiment of the electronic device of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a front view and side view of a wearable electronic device representing another embodiment of the electronic device of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 7A  is a schematic diagram of the RFIC of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 7B  is a schematic diagram of the eFEM of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 8  is a block diagram of the RFIC of  FIG. 1  driving two eFEMs using DPDT switches, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 9A  is a block diagram of the RFIC of  FIG. 8 , in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 9B  is a schematic diagram of the first eFEM of  FIG. 8 , in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 9C  is a schematic diagram of the second eFEM of  FIG. 8 , in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 10  is a block diagram the RFIC of  FIG. 1  driving three eFEMs using splitting circuitry, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 11A  is a diagram of the RFIC of  FIG. 10 , in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 11B  is a diagram of one of the eFEMs of  FIG. 10 , in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS 
     One or more specific embodiments will be described below. In an effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments, not all features of an actual implementation are described in the specification. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers&#39; specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure. 
     Electronic devices may utilize radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFIC) with multiple radio-frequency (RF) chains each having an amplifier pair that includes an incoming amplifier and/or receiver and an outgoing amplifier and/or transmitter. RFICs use the RF chains to drive a respective RF chain in respective external front-end module (eFEMs) that are used to provide communication flexibility in the electronic device. However, the number of RF chains that the RFIC can drive may be limited. This limited number of RF chains may limit a number of eFEMs that may be included in an electronic device that has the RFIC. The addition of more eFEMs may be limited by the number of available RF chains in the RFIC, and adding more RFICs may be impossible and/or impractical due to size and/or power limits in the electronic device. 
     To increase a number of eFEMs in a device, RFICs may utilize multi-pole multi-throw (e.g., dual-pole, dual-throw (DPDT)) switches that enable a single RFIC to increase a number of RF chains and their eFEMs that may be driven by the RFIC. For instance, a DPDT switch may selectively couple two amplifier pairs of two RF chains of the RFIC to two RF chains in each of two different eFEMs. The signals from the DPDT switch are received at switches in the eFEMs. The switches in the eFEMs route the signals to appropriate RF chains in the eFEMs. 
     With the foregoing in mind, there are many suitable electronic devices that may benefit from the embodiments of RFICs driving eFEMs in the manner discussed herein. Turning first to  FIG. 1 , an electronic device  10  according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include, among other things, one or more processor(s)  12 , memory  14 , nonvolatile storage  16 , a display  18 , one or more antennas  20 , input structures  22 , an input/output (I/O) interface  24 , a network interface  25  having one or more RFICs  26  and one or more eFEMs  28  coupled to the antenna(s)  20 , and a power source  29 . The various functional blocks shown in  FIG. 1  may include hardware elements (including circuitry), software elements (including computer code stored on a computer-readable medium), or a combination of both hardware and software elements. It should be noted that  FIG. 1  is merely one example of a particular implementation and is intended to illustrate the types of components that may be present in electronic device  10 . 
     By way of example, the electronic device  10  may represent a block diagram of the notebook computer depicted in  FIG. 2 , the handheld device depicted in  FIG. 3 , the handheld device depicted in  FIG. 4 , the desktop computer depicted in  FIG. 5 , the wearable electronic device depicted in  FIG. 6 , or similar devices. It should be noted that the processor(s)  12  and other related items in  FIG. 1  may be generally referred to herein as “data processing circuitry.” Such data processing circuitry may be embodied wholly or in part as software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. Furthermore, the data processing circuitry may be a single contained processing module or may be incorporated wholly or partially within any of the other elements within the electronic device  10 . 
     In the electronic device  10  of  FIG. 1 , the processor(s)  12  may be operably coupled with the memory  14  and the nonvolatile storage  16  to perform various algorithms. Such programs or instructions executed by the processor(s)  12  may be stored in any suitable article of manufacture that includes one or more tangible, computer-readable media at least collectively storing the instructions or routines, such as the memory  14  and the nonvolatile storage  16 . The memory  14  and the nonvolatile storage  16  may include any suitable articles of manufacture for storing data and executable instructions, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, rewritable flash memory, hard drives, and optical discs. In addition, programs (e.g., an operating system) encoded on such a computer program product may also include instructions that may be executed by the processor(s)  12  to enable the electronic device  10  to provide various functionalities. 
     In certain embodiments, the display  18  may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), which may allow users to view images generated on the electronic device  10 . In some embodiments, the display  18  may include a touch screen, which may allow users to interact with a user interface of the electronic device  10 . Furthermore, it should be appreciated that, in some embodiments, the display  18  may include one or more organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, or some combination of LCD panels and OLED panels. 
     The input structures  22  of the electronic device  10  may enable a user to interact with the electronic device  10  (e.g., pressing a button to increase or decrease a volume level). The I/O interface  24  may enable electronic device  10  to interface with various other electronic devices, as may the network interface  25 . 
     The network interface  25  may include, for example, one or more interfaces for a personal area network (PAN), such as a Bluetooth network, for a local area network (LAN) or wireless local area network (WLAN), such as an 802.11x Wi-Fi network, and/or for a wide area network (WAN), such as a 3rd generation (3G) cellular network, universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), 4th generation (4G) cellular network, long term evolution (LTE) cellular network, a long term evolution license assisted access (LTE-LAA) cellular network, 5th generation (5G) cellular network, and/or 5G New Radio (5G NR) cellular network. The network interface  25  may also include one or more interfaces for, for example, broadband fixed wireless access networks (WiMAX), mobile broadband Wireless networks (mobile WiMAX), asynchronous digital subscriber lines (e.g., ADSL, VDSL), digital video broadcasting-terrestrial (DVB-T) and its extension DVB Handheld (DVB-H), ultra-Wideband (UWB), alternating current (AC) power lines, and so forth. For example, network interfaces  25  may be capable of joining multiple networks, and may employ the one or more antennas  20  to that end. 
     Additionally or alternatively, the network interfaces  25  may include one or more eFEMs  28 . The eFEMs  28  may be used to receive information from a transmitter for the electronic device  10  and/or pass information to a receiver for the electronic device  10 . For instance, in some embodiments, the eFEMs  28  may include power amplifiers to receive outgoing signals from the transmitter and amplify the outgoing signals to a transmission level before sending the outgoing signals to the antennas  20 . Additionally or alternatively, the eFEMs  28  may include low-noise amplifiers to amplify incoming signals before sending the signals to the receiver. The eFEMs  28  may also provide support for multiple different frequencies and/or standards that may be used by the electronic device  10 . The eFEMs  28  may be driven using the one or more RFICs  26 . 
     As further illustrated, the electronic device  10  may include a power source  29 . The power source  29  may include any suitable source of power, such as a rechargeable lithium polymer (Li-poly) battery and/or an alternating current (AC) power converter. 
     In certain embodiments, the electronic device  10  may take the form of a computer, a portable electronic device, a wearable electronic device, or other type of electronic device. Such computers may include computers that are generally portable (such as laptop, notebook, and tablet computers) as well as computers that are generally used in one place (such as conventional desktop computers, workstations, and/or servers). In certain embodiments, the electronic device  10  in the form of a computer may be a model of a MACBOOK®, MACBOOK® PRO, MACBOOK AIR®, IMAC®, MAC® MINI, OR MAC PRO® available from Apple Inc. By way of example, the electronic device  10 , taking the form of a notebook computer  10 A, is illustrated in  FIG. 2  in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. The depicted computer  10 A may include a housing or enclosure  36 , a display  18 , input structures  22 , and ports of an I/O interface  24 . In one embodiment, the input structures  22  (such as a keyboard and/or touchpad) may be used to interact with the computer  10 A, such as to start, control, or operate a GUI or applications running on computer  10 A. For example, a keyboard and/or touchpad may allow a user to navigate a user interface or application interface displayed on display  18 . 
       FIG. 3  depicts a front view of a handheld device  10 B, which represents one embodiment of the electronic device  10 . The handheld device  10 B may represent, for example, a portable phone, a media player, a personal data organizer, a handheld game platform, or any combination of such devices. By way of example, the handheld device  10 B may be a model of an IPOD® OR IPHONE® available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. The handheld device  10 B may include an enclosure  36  to protect interior components from physical damage and to shield them from electromagnetic interference. The enclosure  36  may surround the display  18 . The I/O interfaces  24  may open through the enclosure  36  and may include, for example, an I/O port for a hardwired connection for charging and/or content manipulation using a standard connector and protocol, such as the Lightning connector provided by Apple Inc., a universal serial bus (USB), or other similar connector and protocol. 
     User input structures  22 , in combination with the display  18 , may allow a user to control the handheld device  10 B. For example, the input structures  22  may activate or deactivate the handheld device  10 B, navigate user interface to a home screen, a user-configurable application screen, and/or activate a voice-recognition feature of the handheld device  10 B. Other input structures  22  may provide volume control, or may toggle between vibrate and ring modes. The input structures  22  may also include a microphone may obtain a user&#39;s voice for various voice-related features, and a speaker may enable audio playback and/or certain phone capabilities. The input structures  22  may also include a headphone input may provide a connection to external speakers and/or headphones. 
       FIG. 4  depicts a front view of another handheld device  10 C, which represents another embodiment of the electronic device  10 . The handheld device  10 C may represent, for example, a tablet computer, or one of various portable computing devices. By way of example, the handheld device  10 C may be a tablet-sized embodiment of the electronic device  10 , which may be, for example, a model of an IPAD® available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. 
     Turning to  FIG. 5 , a computer  10 D may represent another embodiment of the electronic device  10  of  FIG. 1 . The computer  10 D may be any computer, such as a desktop computer, a server, or a notebook computer, but may also be a standalone media player or video gaming machine. By way of example, the computer  10 D may be an IMAC®, a MACBOOK®, or other similar device by Apple Inc. It should be noted that the computer  10 D may also represent a personal computer (PC) by another manufacturer. A similar enclosure  36  may be provided to protect and enclose internal components of the computer  10 D such as the display  18 . In certain embodiments, a user of the computer  10 D may interact with the computer  10 D using various input structures  22 , such as the keyboard  22 A or mouse  22 B, which may connect to the computer  10 D. 
     Similarly,  FIG. 6  depicts a wearable electronic device  10 E representing another embodiment of the electronic device  10  of  FIG. 1  that may be configured to operate using the techniques described herein. By way of example, the wearable electronic device  10 E, which may include a wristband  38 , may be an APPLE WATCH® by Apple Inc. However, in other embodiments, the wearable electronic device  10 E may include any wearable electronic device such as, for example, a wearable exercise monitoring device (e.g., pedometer, accelerometer, heart rate monitor), or other device by another manufacturer. The display  18  of the wearable electronic device  10 E may include a touch screen display  18  (e.g., LCD, OLED display, active-matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) display, and so forth), as well as input structures  22 , which may allow users to interact with a user interface of the wearable electronic device  10 E. 
     As previously noted, the presence of additional RFICs may be impossible or impractical due to size and/or power limitations within the electronic device  10 . However, additional eFEMs  28  may need to be driven by some RFIC  26  and the driving resources of the RFIC  26 A may be consumed. With the foregoing in mind, the RFICs  26  drive one or more eFEMs  28 .  FIG. 7A  illustrates an embodiment of the RFIC  26  configured to drive one or more eFEMs  28 . In a transmission mode, the RFIC  26  receives and/or generates one or more signals  110  that are passed through one or more filters  114 A- 114 G (collectively referred to as filters  114 ) to generate respective filtered signals  120 A- 120 D (collectively referred to as filtered signals  120 ). The filters  114  are illustrated as bandpass filters  114 A,  114 B,  114 C,  114 E,  114 F, and  114 G along with a low pass filter  114 D to generate the filtered signals  120 . However, additional and/or alternative filters types may be included to generate the filtered signals  120 . The filters  114  may to pass multiple RF signals in different bands/frequencies, which may include another wireless technology  116  and a modulated control signal  118 . In some embodiments and when in a transmission mode, the filters  114  may be used to split the signals  110  into two different frequency signals. In other words, the filtered signals  120  may correspond to different frequencies. For instance, the filtered signals  120 A and  120 C may be in a high frequency band (e.g., around and including 39 GHz) while the filtered signals  120 B and  120 D are in a low frequency band (e.g., around and including 28 GHz). In a transmission mode, the filtered signals  120 A and  120 B are passed to a first sub-component  121 A and the filtered signals  120 C and  120 D are passed to a second sub-component  121 B. In the illustrated embodiment, both sub-components  121 A and  121 B may include a number of RF chains be used to drive a number of RF chains in respective eFEMs  28 . The illustrated number of RF chains in a sub-component  121  is four while the two sub-components  121 A and  121 B together drive eight chains in the eFEM  28 . However, in other embodiments, the number of RF chains in a sub-component may be fewer or more than four, causing the number of sub-components in the RFIC  26  to be fewer or more than eight. Furthermore, the RFIC  26  may include more than two sub-components. For example, the RFIC  26  may include four sub-components having four RF chains each thereby causing the RFIC  26  to have a total of sixteen RF chains. 
     In a transmission mode, the filtered signals  120  are then passed to a respective splitter  122 A or  122 B (collectively referred to as splitters  122 ) that splits each of the filtered signals  120  into respective split signals  124 A- 124 H (collectively referred to as split signals  124 ) for each corresponding RF chain. Although the illustrated splitters  122  are 1:2 splitters, the splitters  122  may split the filtered signals  120  into any suitable number of signals. Moreover, the splitters  122  may include any suitable mechanism for splitting the filtered signals  120  into the respective split signals  124  in a transmission mode and combining signals when in a receive mode. For example, the splitters  122  may include a switch (SW)—such as an single-pole dual-throw (SPDT) switch, an RF divider, and/or other devices suitable for creating two or more copies of an input signal. The split signals  124 A and  124 C may be split from the filtered signal  120 A while the split signals  124 B and  124 D may be split from the filtered signal  120 B. Thus, when the filtered signal  120 A has a higher frequency (e.g., 39 GHz) than a frequency (e.g., 28 GHz) of the filtered signal  120 B, the split signals  124 A and  124 C have a higher frequency than the split signals  124 B and  124 D. For the same reasons regarding the filtered signals  120 C and  120 D, the split signals  124 E and  124 G may have a higher frequency than the split signals  124 F and  124 H. 
     Since the RF chains may be bidirectional, the RFIC  26  has switches  126 A- 126 H (collectively referred to as switches  126 ) to control whether the respective split signals  124  are outgoing signals routed to outgoing amplifiers  128 A- 128 H (collectively referred to as outgoing amplifiers  128 ) or incoming signals routed to incoming amplifiers  130 A- 130 H (collectively referred to as incoming amplifiers  130 ). When an RF chain is in a transmission mode, a respective switch  126  couples a respective outgoing amplifier  128  to a respective splitter  122 . However, when in a receive mode, the same respective switch  126  couples the same incoming amplifier  130  to the same splitter  122 . Similar to the switches  126 , switches  132 A- 132 H (collectively referred to as switches  132 ) may be used to selectively couple respective splitters to output ports  134 A- 134 H (collectively referred to as output ports  134 ). For example, when an RF chain is in a transmission mode, a respective switch  132  couples a respective output port  134  to a respective splitter  122  via a respective outgoing amplifier  128 . When the same RF chain is in a receive mode, the same switch  132  couples the same output port  134  to the same splitter  122  via a respective incoming amplifier  130  where the output port  134  receives data from an antenna  20  via a respective eFEM  28 . As illustrated, the RFIC  26  may utilize a Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) group&#39;s RF Front-End Control Interface (RFFE) to simplify integration of the eFEMs  28  with operations of the electronic device  10  via the RFIC  26 . Additionally or alternatively, another interface may be used to control interaction between the RFIC  26  and the eFEM  28 . 
     Furthermore, as discussed in more detail, below adjacent RF chains may have different frequencies. For example, the RF chains corresponding to the outgoing amplifiers  128 A,  128 C,  128 E, and  128 G (and the corresponding incoming amplifiers  130 A,  130 C,  130 E, and  130 G) may operate on signals in a low-frequency band while the RF chains corresponding to the outgoing amplifiers  128 B,  128 D,  128 F, and  128 H (and the corresponding incoming amplifiers  130 A,  130 C,  130 E, and  130 G) may operate on signals in a high-frequency band. 
       FIG. 7B  is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the eFEM  28 . As illustrated, the eFEM  28  is coupled to the output ports  134  to receive signals from the RFIC  26  and/or send signals to the eFEM  28 . The eFEM  28  includes input ports  136 A- 136 H (collectively referred to as input ports  136 ), switches  140 A- 140 H (collectively referred to as switches  140 ), power amplifiers (PAs)  142 A- 142 H (collectively referred to as PAs  142 ), low-noise amplifiers (LNAs)  144 A- 144 H (collectively referred to as LNAs  144 ), and switches  146 A- 146 H (collectively referred to as switches  146 ). The input ports  136  are each coupled to a respective output port  134  of a corresponding RFIC  26 . As illustrated, the output ports  134  and the input ports  136  may be coupled linearly in parallel lines and/or coupled in non-parallel manner (e.g., output port  134 F is coupled to input port  136 C). 
     Similar to the switches  126 , the switches  140  and  146  are used to select between incoming and outgoing transmissions. A pair of switches  140  and  146  couples a respective output port  134  to a respective PA  142  for a transmission mode and couples a respective output port  134  to a respective LNA  144  for a receive mode. The switches  146  are coupled to terminals  148 A- 148 H (collectively referred to as terminals  148 ). The terminals  148  are coupled to one or more antennas  20  to provide for transmission and/or receipt. 
     In the foregoing example, each RF chain of an RFIC  26  and drives a corresponding RF chain of the eFEM  28  over a single connection (e.g., through trace from output ports  134 ). However, the number of terminals in the RFIC  26  may be limited (e.g.,  16 ) to a number of RF chains (e.g., 16 chains). Additional eFEMs  28  may be included to provide additional control and/or flexibility for communications for the electronic device  10 . For example, additional eFEMS  28  may be included in the electronic device to provide 5G new radio (NR) functionality. However, each eFEM  28  may include a number (e.g., 8) of RF chains that are available for use by the electronic device  10 . Each chain of the eFEMs  28  is driven by a corresponding RFIC  26 . However, each RFIC  26  may drive a limited number (e.g., 16 chains) of RF chains using typical connections. 
     To avoid using an additional RFIC  26 , a switching mechanism may be added and/or used in the RFIC  26  to enable the RFIC  26  to drive additional eFEMs. For example, if the switching mechanism includes a dual-pole, dual-throw (DPDT) switch, the existing RF chains in the RFIC  26  may be reused to drive separate eFEMs. The switching mechanism enables the RFIC  26  to potentially double the amount of eFEMs (and RF chains) that it can drive. Furthermore, in addition to doubling the number of eFEMs that the RFIC  26  can support, the amount of trace used in the electronic device  10  may be reduced (e.g., by half). Furthermore, this switching functionality may be at least partially enabled by the adjacent low-frequency and high-frequency RF chains in a sub-component not being used concurrently thereby enabling the inclusion of the DPDT switches to drive a single output from multiple RF chains at one time. 
       FIG. 8  is a block diagram of a single RFIC  26  using DPDT switches  160  to drive two or more eFEMs  28 A and  28 B.  FIG. 9A  is a circuit diagram of an embodiment of the RFIC  26  of  FIG. 8  including DPDT switches  160 A- 160 D (collectively referred to as the DPDT switches  160 ). As illustrated, each of the DPDT switches  160  enable a pair of the outgoing amplifiers  128  and a pair of the incoming amplifiers  130  in adjacent RF chains to be used for two different eFEMs  28 . For example, the DPDT switch  160 A enables the outgoing amplifiers  128 A and  128 B and the incoming amplifiers  130 A and  130 B to be used for eFEMs  28 A and  28 B via respective output ports  162 A and  162 B. In other words, the outgoing amplifiers  128 A and  128 B and the incoming amplifiers  130 A and  130 B may be utilized for the eFEM  28 A via the output port  162 A and may be utilized for the eFEM  28 B via the output port  162 B. 
     The remaining RF chain pairs may be used similarly to drive RF chains in the eFEMs  28 A and  28 B. Similar to the DPDT switch  160 A, the DPDT switch  160 B enables the outgoing amplifiers  128 C and  128 D and the incoming amplifiers  130 C and  130 D to be used for eFEMs  28 A and  28 B via respective output ports  162 C and  162 D. Likewise, the DPDT switch  160 C enables the outgoing amplifiers  128 E and  128 F and the incoming amplifiers  130 E and  130 F to be used for eFEMs  28 A and  28 B via respective output ports  162 E and  162 F. Furthermore, the DPDT switch  160 D enables the outgoing amplifiers  128 G and  128 H and the incoming amplifiers  130 G and  130 H to be used for eFEMs  28 A and  28 B via respective output ports  162 G and  162 H. Output ports  162 A,  162 B,  162 C,  162 D,  162 E,  162 F,  162 G, and  162 H are collectively referred to as output ports  162  herein. Based on the foregoing discussion, due to the inclusion of the DPDT switches, each pair of adjacent RF chains in the RFIC  26  is able to drive two RF chains in each of the respective eFEMs. 
       FIG. 9B  is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the eFEM  28 A coupled to the RFIC  26  of  FIG. 9A  via the output ports  162 A,  162 C,  162 E, and  162 G. The output ports  162 A,  162 C,  162 E, and  162 G are coupled to respective input ports  170 A,  170 B,  170 D, and  170 E (collectively referred to as input ports  170 ). Since the connection between respective output ports  162  of the RFIC  26  and the input ports  170  carry data for more than one RF chain in the RFIC  26 , the eFEM  28 A includes switches  172 A,  172 B,  172 C, and  172 D (collectively referred to as switches  172 ) each coupled to two respective RF chains in the eFEM  28 A. The switches  172  are configured to route data through a RF chain in the eFEM  28 A that corresponds to the RF chain used in the RFIC  26 . 
       FIG. 9C  is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the eFEM  28 B coupled to the RFIC  26  of  FIG. 9A  via the output ports  162 B,  162 D,  162 F, and  162 H. The output ports  162 B,  162 D,  162 F, and  162 H are coupled to the respective input ports  170 A,  170 B,  170 D, and  170 E. Again, since the connection between respective output ports  162  of the RFIC  26  and the input ports  170  carry data for more than one RF chain in the RFIC  26 , the eFEM  28 B includes switches  172 A,  172 B,  172 C, and  172 D each coupled to two respective RF chains in the eFEM  28 B. The switches  172  are configured to route data through a RF chain in the eFEM  28 B that corresponds to the RF chain used in the RFIC  26 . 
     Since each pair of RF chains in the RFIC  26  can drive corresponding pairs of RF chains in two different eFEMs  28  (e.g., eFEMs  28 A and  26 B), each RF chain pair in the RFIC  26  can drive four RF chains. Furthermore, since the RFIC  26  may have more RF chains than the eFEMs  28 , some of the RF chains in the RFIC  26  may be made available for other eFEMs  28 . 
     For example,  FIG. 10  is a block diagram of the RFIC  26  driving eFEMs  28 A,  28 B, and  28 C via the DPDT switches  160 . Additionally or alternatively, another eFEM  28 D may be driven by the RF chains of the RFIC  26  used to drive the RF chains of the eFEM  28 C. To handle the additional splitting for the signals  110  being sent to four sub-components  121 A,  121 B,  121 C, and  121 D, the RFIC  26  utilizes splitting circuitry  180  to generate and/or combine signals  182 A,  182 B,  182 C, and  182 D. Furthermore, each of the signals  182 A,  182 B,  182 C, and  182 D may include one or more signals. For example, the signal  182 A may include the filtered signals  120 A and  120 B of  FIGS. 9 and 12 . 
       FIG. 11A  is a block diagram of the RFIC  26  that includes the splitting circuitry  180  and the four sub-components  121 A,  121 B,  121 C, and  121 D. The splitting circuitry  180  includes the filters  114  that use the reference frequency  116  and the clock  118  to derive the signals  190 A and  190 B. The splitting circuitry  180  may include a splitter  192  that be similar to the splitters  122 . For instance, the splitter  192  may include a switch (SW), an RF divider, and/or other devices suitable for creating two or more copies of an input signals  190 A and  190 B. The splitter  192  that may be used to split the signals  190 A and  190 B to generate the signals  182 A,  182 B,  182 C, and  182 D or to combine the signals  182 A,  182 B,  182 C, and  182 D to generate the signals  190 A and  190 B. For example, the signals  182 A and  182 B may be split from signal  190 A, and the signals  182 C and  182 D may be split from signals  190 B. The sub-components  121 A and  121 B generate the signals at outputs  162 A- 162 H, as previously discussed in relation to  FIG. 9A . 
     Sub-components  121 C and  121 D function similar to the sub-components  121 A and  121 B. However, the sub-components  121 C and  121 D generate outputs  1621 - 162 P to drive eFEM  28 C (and eFEM  28 D).  FIG. 11B  is a schematic diagram of the eFEM  28 C that couples the switch  172 A to the output port  1621 , the switch  172 B to the output port  162 K, the switch  172 C to the output port  162 M, and the switch  172 D to the output port  1620 . Other than using the output ports  1621 ,  162 K,  162 M, and  1620  instead of the output ports  162 A,  162 C,  162 E, and  162 G, the eFEM  28 C functions similar to the eFEM  28 A discussed in relation to  FIG. 9B . Furthermore, the eFEM  28 D functions similar to the eFEM  28 C except that the eFEM  28 D couples the switches  172 A,  172 B,  172 C, and  172 D to the respective output ports  162 J,  162 L,  162 N, and  162 P. 
     The specific embodiments described above have been shown by way of example, and it should be understood that these embodiments may be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. For example, the methods may be applied for embodiments having different numbers and/or locations for antennas, different groupings, and/or different networks. It should be further understood that the claims are not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but rather to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. 
     The techniques presented and claimed herein are referenced and applied to material objects and concrete examples of a practical nature that demonstrably improve the present technical field and, as such, are not abstract, intangible or purely theoretical. Further, if any claims appended to the end of this specification contain one or more elements designated as “means for [perform]ing [a function] . . . ” or “step for [perform]ing [a function] . . . ”, it is intended that such elements are to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f). However, for any claims containing elements designated in any other manner, it is intended that such elements are not to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f).

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20190926
Publication Date: 20200901
Grant Date: 20200901
Priority Date: 20190926
Inventors: CETINONERI, Berke
YU, Qishan
EL AMRANI, Samia
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04B1/006", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F3/68", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F3/211", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F3/24", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F2200/111", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F2200/294", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F3/72", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F2200/451", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F2200/451", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B1/006", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F3/213", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F3/211", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F2200/294", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F3/211", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F3/213", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F2200/451", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H03F2200/294", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B1/006", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 72241816