CN112671064A

CN112671064A - Radio frequency power amplifier power supply device of wireless terminal and control method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN112671064A
Application number: CN202011523891.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张勇
Original assignee: Shanghai Li Ke Semiconductor Technology Co ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Li Ke Semiconductor Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-21
Filing date: 2020-12-21
Publication date: 2021-04-16

Abstract

The application provides a radio frequency power amplifier power supply device of a wireless terminal and a control method thereof. Wherein, this power supply unit includes: a booster circuit connected in series with a power supply that supplies a power supply voltage, the booster circuit for generating a first voltage; and a voltage-dropping circuit connected in series with the voltage-boosting circuit and having a bypass connected to the power supply, the voltage-dropping circuit for generating a second voltage to supply to the power amplifier, wherein in response to determining that the wireless terminal is in the high-power mode and that the transmission power of the wireless terminal is greater than a threshold, the voltage-boosting circuit enters the voltage-boosting mode, and the voltage-dropping circuit drops the first voltage to the second voltage; and in response to determining that the wireless terminal is not in the high power mode or that the transmit power is less than or equal to the threshold, the voltage boost circuit enters a bypass mode and the voltage buck circuit drops the power supply voltage to a second voltage. A method for controlling the power supply device to supply power to the radio frequency power amplifier is also provided.

Description

Radio frequency power amplifier power supply device of wireless terminal and control method thereof

Technical Field

The present invention relates to mobile communication systems, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for a radio frequency front end power amplifier of a wireless terminal.

Background

With the rapid development of the mobile internet, the demand of users for data throughput is rapidly increasing. Spectrum is an important bearer for carrying data resources, and operators must invest more in spectrum resources. Since low-frequency spectrum resources are less and already crowded, and high-frequency spectrum resources are relatively abundant and less occupied, in the development of 4G and 5G, operators are increasingly common in the networking of high-frequency spectrum resources. However, the high frequency spectrum has a larger path loss and a smaller coverage radius than the low frequency spectrum. Therefore, some operators require that the mobile terminal can save the networking cost by supporting high-frequency band and high-power transmission. For 4G terminals, the operator typically requires a nominal uplink output power of 23dBm under the 3GPP power standard CLASS3 to be supported (which may be abbreviated herein as 23dBm @ CLASS 3). However, for the B41 band (2575-.

To meet the requirement of 26dBm @ CLASS2 in the B41 band, the output power can be increased by optimizing the power amplifier internal circuitry to reduce matching/insertion loss or by increasing the Power Amplifier (PA) supply voltage. However, the above-described scheme may increase cost due to complexity or added radio frequency components, and may enable increased output power capabilities due to certain PCB boards not being able to meet High Performance User Equipment (HPUE) power requirements, while limiting flexibility due to most of the boost-buck common board requirements of current terminal designs.

Therefore, it is desirable to have a radio frequency power amplifier supply circuit and control method that supports HPUE that is cost efficient and has control flexibility.

Disclosure of Invention

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

It is desirable to provide a power supply circuit and control method for a radio frequency power amplifier supporting HPUE, which is cost-effective and has control flexibility.

To this end, the present application provides an apparatus for powering a power amplifier in a radio frequency front end of a wireless terminal, comprising: a boost circuit in series with a power supply providing a supply voltage, the boost circuit to generate a first voltage; and a buck circuit in series with the boost circuit and having a bypass connected to the power supply, the buck circuit to generate a second voltage to provide to the power amplifier, wherein the boost circuit and the buck circuit are configured to: in response to determining that the wireless terminal is in a high power mode and that a transmit power of the wireless terminal is greater than a threshold, the boost circuit enters a boost mode and the buck circuit drops the first voltage to the second voltage to provide to the power amplifier; and in response to determining that the wireless terminal is not in the high power mode or that a transmit power of the wireless terminal is less than or equal to the threshold, the boost circuit enters a bypass mode and the buck circuit drops the power supply voltage to the second voltage for provision to the power amplifier.

In an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, the high power mode is an HPUE mode.

In the apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, the booster circuit is not mounted in the apparatus in a case where the wireless terminal does not need to provide the specified mode.

In an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, the voltage-reducing circuit is configured to determine a magnitude of the output second voltage based on a preset configuration table, wherein the configuration table indicates respective magnitudes of the output second voltage of the voltage-reducing circuit at different transmission powers of the wireless terminal.

The present application further provides a wireless terminal, including: a radio frequency chip RFIC; a Power Amplifier (PA) coupled with the RFIC, the PA configured to amplify output radio frequency signals of the RFIC; power amplifier supply means as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 for supplying the PA; a memory having stored therein a configuration table, wherein the configuration table indicates respective magnitudes of voltages output by the power amplifier supply to the PA at different transmit powers of the wireless terminal; and a processor configured to control the power amplifier supply to output a corresponding voltage according to a transmission power of the wireless terminal.

In a wireless terminal according to an embodiment of the present application, a power supply that supplies a power supply voltage is further included.

In a wireless terminal according to an embodiment of the present application, the power source is a battery.

The present application further provides a method for controlling the above power supply apparatus to supply power to a power amplifier in a radio frequency front end of a wireless terminal, the method comprising: determining whether the wireless terminal is in a high power mode; in response to determining that the wireless terminal is in the high power mode, determining whether a transmit power of the wireless terminal is greater than a threshold; in response to determining that the transmit power of the wireless terminal is greater than the threshold, configuring a boost circuit of the wireless terminal to enter a boost mode and configuring the buck circuit to reduce a first voltage output by the boost circuit to a second voltage for provision to a power amplifier; and in response to determining that the wireless terminal is not in the high power mode or that a transmit power of the wireless terminal is less than or equal to the threshold, configuring the boost circuit to enter a bypass mode and configuring the buck circuit to drop a supply voltage to a second voltage and provide to the power amplifier.

In a method according to an embodiment of the present application, the high power mode is an HPUE mode.

In a method according to an embodiment of the present application, further comprising: storing a configuration table indicating respective magnitudes of voltages output to the power amplifier at different transmit powers of the wireless terminal, and configuring a magnitude of a second voltage output by the voltage-down circuit based on the configuration table.

By adopting the method and the system, the power supply circuit of the power amplifier is separated into two circuits of the booster circuit and the buck circuit which are connected in series, and the corresponding control is carried out, so that the function of the HPUE of the terminal is realized, and the compromise between cost and flexibility is achieved.

These and other features and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are explanatory only and are not restrictive of aspects as claimed.

Drawings

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only some typical aspects of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equally effective aspects.

Fig. 1A and 1B illustrate diagrams of examples of radio frequency front ends of wireless terminals in the prior art;

fig. 1C illustrates a diagram of an example of Average Power Tracking (APT) of transmission power of a wireless terminal in the prior art.

Fig. 2 illustrates a diagram of an example radio frequency front end including a power supply with separate boost and buck circuits according to an embodiment of the present application; and

fig. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a method for controlling a radio frequency power amplifier having separate boost and buck power supply devices to power the radio frequency power amplifier according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention is described in further detail below with reference to specific embodiments and the accompanying drawings. In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the described exemplary embodiments. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the described embodiments may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other exemplary embodiments, well-known structures or processing steps have not been described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the concepts of the present disclosure.

In the present specification, unless otherwise specified, the term "a or B" used through the present specification means "a and B" and "a or B", and does not mean that a and B are exclusive.

With the rapid development of the mobile internet, the demand of users for data throughput is rapidly increasing. Some operators require that mobile terminals can save networking costs by supporting high-band high-power transmission. For 4G terminals, operators typically require that the terminal support an uplink transmit power of 23dBm @ CLASS3, while for the B41 band, operators typically require that the terminal transmit power support 26dBm @ CLASS 2. The increased power makes radio frequency engineers always challenged when designing radio frequency front ends for mobile devices.

Fig. 1A illustrates a diagram of an example of a radio frequency front end of a wireless terminal in the prior art. Conventionally, in a radio-frequency front-end circuit of a wireless terminal, a transmission link is generally composed of the following circuits: a radio frequency chip (RFIC)101, a Power Amplifier (PA)102, a power amplifier supply circuit (DCDC)103, a filter (BPF)104, a Switch (SW)105, the coupling relationship of which is shown in detail in fig. 1. Wherein the PA 102 may be configured to amplify an output radio frequency signal of the RFIC 101; the DCDC 103 may be configured to power the PA 102; the BPF 104 may filter out spurious signals outside the operating band; and SW 105 may implement multiplexing between the various operating band signals as well as between transmit and receive signals. The output rf signal of RFIC 101 is input to PA 102, amplified, and then passed through BPF 104 to filter out-of-band spurious signals, and then transmitted to SW 105 for frequency band and/or transmit-receive multiplexing.

In the rf front-end circuit, the PA 102 carries an important role of the transmit power. The maximum transmit power of the PA 102 is affected by a number of factors, such as supply voltage, linearity, manufacturing process, pipe pressure, etc. Taking LTE B41 frequency band as an example, currently, under the condition of meeting the linearity requirement, the maximum transmit power that can meet the LTE requirement at a voltage of 3.4V is usually designed to be 28 dBm. Since the signal output by the PA 102 is then attenuated by the BPF 104 (insertion loss is typically 2.5dB) and the SW 105 (insertion loss is typically 1.5dB), the power to the antenna port is reduced by some, i.e., 28dBm-2.5dB-1.5 dB-24 dBm. Considering the further reduction of the output power of the power amplifier at high temperature, the current scheme can only meet the requirement of 23dBm @ CLASS3, but cannot meet the requirement of 26dBm @ CLASS 2.

Currently, in order to meet the requirement of 26dBm @ CLASS2 in the B41 band, the following processing scheme is generally used:

the first scheme is as follows: and optimizing the performance of the device. For example, the output power can be optimized to 30dBm at 3.4V by optimizing the PA internal circuitry to achieve 26dBm @ CLASS 2. Additionally or alternatively, the insertion loss can be reduced to 2dB by optimizing the BPF 104 internal circuitry to achieve 26dBm @ CLASS 2.

Scheme II: the supply voltage of the PA is increased. For example, for a PA, increasing the supply voltage may increase the output power. For example, the supply voltage may be increased from 3.4V to 4.4V, and the maximum linear output power may be increased from 28dBm to 32dBm, thereby achieving 26dBm @ CLASS 2. Further, the power amplifier supply circuit may be replaced with a power amplifier supply circuit capable of supporting a BOOST (BOOST) or BUCK (BUCK) (BOB) function, effectively increasing the output power, as described in detail below in conjunction with fig. 1B.

Fig. 1B illustrates a diagram of an example of a radio frequency front end with a Boost Or Buck (BOB) power amplifier supply circuit (DCDC)113 according to the prior art. Similar to that described in fig. 1A, in a wireless terminal rf front-end circuit with a BOB DCDC 113, the terminal transmit chain is typically made up of the following circuits: RFIC 101, PA 102, BPF 104, SW 105, and BOB DCDC 113, the coupling relationships of which are shown in detail in fig. 1B. Where RFIC 101, PA 102, BPF 104, SW 105 function similarly as described in fig. 1A, and DCDC 103 in fig. 1A is replaced with BOB DCDC 113 capable of supporting either a boost or buck function. The function of which will be described below in connection with fig. 1C.

Fig. 1C illustrates a diagram of an example of Average Power Tracking (APT) of transmission power of a wireless terminal in the prior art. The transmission power of the wireless terminal is constantly changing during the movement and is not at the maximum transmission power most of the time. When the transmit power is low, power is wasted if the PA supply voltage is still set at the voltage required to meet the maximum transmit power. Accordingly, the PA supply voltage can be reduced to a matching voltage, thereby improving PA operating efficiency. Therefore, based on power saving considerations, it is advantageous to design the processor of the wireless terminal to dynamically adjust the PA supply voltage according to changes in transmit power, i.e., mobile terminal signal transmission incorporates an average power tracking technique (APT). As described with reference to fig. 1C, the processor may receive feedback of the transmit power variation of the wireless terminal and control the PA supply voltage VCC according to the transmit power requirement of the wireless terminal, while the output RF _ OUT of the radio frequency terminal varies in direct proportion to the PA supply voltage VCC. Accordingly, in the example of fig. 1B, for different transmit powers, a processor (not shown) coupled to the power amplifier supply circuit may transmit APT control signal 110 to BOB DCDC 113, controlling BOB DCDC 113 to output a different voltage as PA supply voltage VCC.

As discussed above, for non-HPUE terminals that do not need to support HPUE, the PA supply circuit may select a normal voltage dropping circuit whose output voltage may be 3.7V lower than the normal supply voltage, but not higher than the supply input voltage. However, based on network coverage cost and end user experience considerations, some operators require that the operating high-band terminal be capable of supporting HPUE, i.e., need to support 26dBm @ CLASS2 output power. In 4G networks, the requirement is mainly put forward for Band41, north american Sprint is currently the mandatory requirement, china mobile is the optional requirement, so the Band 4126 dBm @ CLASS2 needs to be satisfied for terminals supporting these two operators, while HPUE may not be supported by other markets. Therefore, for the HPUE terminal, the circuit BOB DCDC 203 which simultaneously supports the buck and boost capabilities is selected to increase the PA supply voltage from 3.7V to 4.4V, so that the output power is effectively increased, the HPUE is supported, and the requirement of 26dBm @ CLASS2 is met.

The disadvantage of using the BOB DCDC 203 is the increased cost and limited output power that can be increased, some board wiring is not able to meet HPUE power requirements. In addition, the flexibility of the scheme is not enough, and most of the current terminal designs have the requirement of a common voltage boosting and voltage reducing board. Different market demands need to be met at a terminal, and for markets which do not need HPUE, APT configuration which only supports a voltage reduction circuit cannot be conveniently returned. According to the invention, the power supply circuit of the power amplifier is separated into the two circuits of the booster circuit and the buck circuit which are connected in series, and corresponding software control is carried out, so that the function of the terminal HPUE is realized, and the compromise of cost and flexibility is achieved. As described in detail below in connection with fig. 2.

Fig. 2 illustrates a diagram of an example of a radio frequency front end including a power supply circuit with separate boost 214 and buck 213 circuits, according to an embodiment of the present application. Similar to that described in fig. 1A and 1B, in a wireless terminal rf front-end circuit comprising a power supply circuit with separate voltage boost 214 and voltage buck 213 circuits, the transmit chain is typically made up of the following circuits: RFIC 201, PA 202, BPF 204, SW 205, and buck 213 and boost 214 circuits, the coupling relationship of which is shown in detail in fig. 2. Wherein DCDC 103 in fig. 1B is replaced with a boost circuit 214 and a buck circuit 213 capable of supporting a boost or buck function, respectively, the functions of which will be described in detail below.

The power supply device connects the power supply, the boost circuit 214 and the buck circuit 213 in series on a line a, and designs a line b (shown by a dotted line in fig. 2) which can bypass the boost circuit 214. When the boost circuit 214 is in the boost mode, it operates to boost the supply voltage 3.7V to a first output voltage of 4.4V, which is then stepped down by the buck circuit 213 to a second output voltage that provides a supply voltage for the PA of up to 4.4V, thereby meeting the requirement of 26dBm @ CLASS 2. When the boost circuit 214 is in the bypass mode, the supply voltage 3.7V is directly connected to the buck circuit 213, and the buck circuit 213 drops the supply voltage to the second output voltage to provide the PA supply voltage. The above operation can be realized by the processor controlling the bypass circuit b. When the booster circuit 214 is in the bypass mode, the voltage conversion loss of the booster circuit 214 is eliminated in the transmission low power region, and the power consumption reduction in the low power region is achieved. Additionally or alternatively, in the case where HPUE is not required (e.g., operators other than north american Sprint, china mobile), the boost circuit 214 may not be mounted on the PCB board, saving cost.

As described with reference to fig. 1C, a wireless terminal rf front end including a power supply with separate boost and buck circuits according to an embodiment of the present application also dynamically adjusts the PA supply voltage according to changes in transmit power, i.e., performs Average Power Tracking (APT). The operation of the wireless terminal radio frequency front end for APT is illustrated in more detail below in the following divided into a non-HPUE mode and an HPUE mode (high power mode).

non-HPUE mode:

in the case where the wireless radio terminal is operating in a non-HPUE mode, the PA need not support B41HPUE, i.e., the radio terminal maximum transmit power requirement is 23dBm @ CLASS 3. Supply voltage V_{Battery with a battery cell}By itself, meets the PA output power requirements, so the PA supply voltage does not need to be boosted. At this time, the PCB may not be mounted with the booster circuit 214, or the power supply voltage V_{Battery with a battery cell}Can be directly supplied to the step-down circuit 213 through the bypass line b, and the step-down circuit 213 outputs the voltage V_{Output of}As the PA supply voltage VCC, and the voltage reduction circuit 213 may be configured for APT operation, for example, by the processor sending an APT control signal 210, in accordance with the designed APT mode of operation. The configuration of the non-HPUE APT configuration table is shown in table 1:

b41 level of launch (dBm)	V_{Battery with a battery cell}(V)	Output voltage V at voltage reduction circuit_{Output of}(V)
			23	3.7	3.4
22	3.7	3.3
			……	……	……
10	3.7	1.4
			9	3.7	1.35
……	……	……

TABLE 1 non-HPUE APT configuration Table

As can be seen in Table 1, the non-HPUE APT configuration table indicates the voltage V output at different transmit power down circuits of the wireless terminal_{Output of}To the corresponding amplitude of (c). V at the step-down circuit when the emission level of the wireless terminal is required to be 23dBm_{Output of}It was 3.4V. The design is under the condition of meeting the linearity requirement under the current LTE B41 frequency band, namely the maximum transmitting power of 28dBm can be output under the voltage of 3.4V, the power reaching an antenna port is 24dBm through BPF 104 (the insertion loss is usually 2.5dB) and the attenuation of SW 105 (the insertion loss is usually 1.5dB), and the power is more than 23dBm which is required by the transmitting level. In an embodiment of the present application, the non-HPUE APT configuration table may be stored in a memory (e.g., a non-transitory random access memory) coupled to a power amplifier supply circuit of the radio frequency terminal, or the non-HPUE APT configuration table may be configurable by the processor.

HPUE mode (high power mode):

in the case of a wireless radio terminal operating in HPUE mode, the PA needs to support B41HPUE, i.e. the radio terminal maximum transmit power requirement is 26dBm @ CLASS 2. To meet this power, the PA supply voltage needs to be boosted, requiring a boost circuit to be installed. In one embodiment of the present application, the processor may be enabled by a control signalConfiguring the boost circuit 214 with the AND configuration 220' to boost to 4.4V to output a first output voltage V_{Output 1}The V is_{Output 1}Is supplied to a step-down circuit 213, and the step-down circuit 213 outputs a second output voltage V_{Output 2}As the PA supply voltage VCC and operating in the designed APT mode of operation, the voltage reduction circuit 213 may be configured for average power tracking, for example, by the processor sending APT control signals 210. Unlike the non-HPUE mode, when the voltage requirement for average power tracking is below a predetermined threshold (e.g., the current design under the LTE B41 band that meets the linearity requirement, i.e., 3.4V voltage), the processor may configure the boost circuit 214 to enter the bypass mode to save power consumption of the boost circuit 214. The configuration of the HPUE APT configuration table is shown in table 2:

TABLE 2 HPUE APT configuration Table

As can be seen in Table 2, the HPUE APT configuration table indicates the first output voltage V at the boost circuit at different transmit powers of the wireless terminal_{Output 1}And a second output voltage V at the voltage-reducing circuit_{Output 2}To the corresponding amplitude of (c). In HPUE mode, when the required B41 emission level is greater than 23dBm, the requirement V is_{Output 2}Greater than 3.4V, so the boost circuit 214 operates to enter boost mode with V_{Battery with a battery cell}Is raised to V_{Output 1}The V is_{Output 1}Can be constantly maintained at 4.4V. V_{Output 1}Is supplied to the step-down circuit 213 and is stepped down to V by the step-down circuit 213_{Output 2}As the PA supply voltage VCC. And when the emission level of B41 is required to be less than or equal to 23dBm, V_{Output 2}Less than or equal to 3.4V, the boost circuit 214 enters a bypass mode, V_{Battery with a battery cell}Is directly supplied to the voltage-decreasing circuit 213 and is decreased to V by the voltage-decreasing circuit 213_{Output 2}As the PA supply voltage VCC. Also, regardless of whether the boost circuit is bypassed or not, buck circuit 213 may be configured to operate in an APT mode of operation, for example, buck circuit 213 may be configured by APT control signal 210 to determine the V of the output based on the aforementioned HPUE APT configuration table_{Output 2}OfThe value is obtained.

In an embodiment of the present application, the HPUE APT configuration table may be stored in a memory (e.g., a non-transitory random access memory) coupled to a power amplifier supply circuit of the radio frequency terminal or may be configurable.

It should be noted that the predetermined threshold 3.4V that distinguishes whether the boost circuit needs to be bypassed is a design that meets the linearity requirement under the current LTE B41 frequency band. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the threshold may be any value that satisfies a condition and may be fixed or configurable. The threshold may be adapted to meet the requirements of the power mode when the wireless terminal is operating in other power modes, but the threshold may not be higher than the supply voltage.

Fig. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 300 of controlling a radio frequency power amplifier having separate boost and buck power supplies according to an embodiment of the present application.

In an embodiment of the present application, a configuration table may first be stored in a memory of the wireless terminal, the configuration table indicating respective magnitudes of the second voltages output at different transmit power step-down circuits of the wireless terminal. The configuration table may be pre-set or may be configurable by the processor of the wireless terminal. For example, an HPUE APT configuration table may be prepared according to table 2 and stored in a non-transitory random access memory (NVRAM) of the wireless terminal. In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the wireless terminal may perform operations of initializing the boost circuit, configuring the highest voltage that needs to be output for boosting, the bypass implementation mode, the first output voltage and the bypass mode switching threshold, and the like in advance.

At step 305, a processor of the wireless terminal may determine whether the operating mode of the wireless terminal is a high power mode. In an embodiment of the present application, the processor may monitor an operating mode of a modem of the wireless terminal and determine whether the wireless terminal is operating in HPUE mode, as described with reference to fig. 2.

At step 310, the processor may further determine whether a transmit power of the wireless terminal is greater than a threshold in response to the wireless terminal operating in a high power mode. In embodiments of the present application, the transmit power of the wireless terminal may be fed back to the processor, and the processor may determine whether the transmit power of the wireless terminal is greater than 23dBm when it is determined that the wireless terminal is operating in HPUE mode.

At step 315, the processor may configure the boost circuit to enter a boost mode to output the first voltage in response to determining that the transmit power of the wireless terminal is greater than a threshold. Thus, at step 325, the first voltage will be the input voltage to the voltage reduction circuit, and the voltage reduction circuit may be configured to determine the magnitude of the output second voltage based on the configuration table. In an embodiment of the present application, the processor monitors the modem mode of operation of the wireless terminal, and when the terminal is operating in HPUE mode and the terminal transmit power is greater than 23dBm, the processor may configure the boost circuit 214 to enter boost mode and output a high voltage V_{Output 1}The voltage reduction circuit 213 outputs a low voltage V according to the HPUE APT configuration table_{Output 2}As the supply voltage for the PA 202.

Additionally, at step 320, the processor may configure the boost circuit to enter a bypass mode in response to the wireless terminal not operating in the high power mode or the transmit power of the wireless terminal being less than or equal to a threshold. Thus, at step 325, the supply voltage is directly used as the input voltage to the voltage reduction circuit, which may be configured to determine the magnitude of the output second voltage based on the configuration table. In an embodiment of the present application, the processor may configure the boost circuit 214 to enter the bypass mode, i.e., bypass the boost circuit 214 via line b, when the wireless terminal is operating in the non-HPUE mode or the transmit power of the wireless terminal is less than or equal to 23 dBm. Thus, the power supply voltage V_{Battery with a battery cell}Is directly supplied to the voltage-reducing circuit 213, and the voltage-reducing circuit 213 outputs the voltage V according to the HPUE APT configuration table_{Output 2}As the supply voltage for the PA 202.

The above describes a radio frequency power amplifier power supply device for implementing a wireless terminal and a control method thereof according to the present invention, and compared with the prior art, the method of the present invention has at least the following advantages:

(1) the power supply circuit of the power amplifier of the wireless terminal is separated into a BOOST (BOOST) circuit and a BUCK (BUCK) circuit which are connected in series, and corresponding control is carried out, so that the HPUE function of the terminal is realized, and the control flexibility is realized;

(2) when the booster circuit is in the bypass mode, the voltage conversion loss of the booster circuit is eliminated in the transmission low-power region, and the reduction of the power consumption in the low-power region is realized.

(3) For the market without HPUE, the APT configuration only supporting the voltage reduction circuit can be conveniently returned, and the cost is high.

It should be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative only. The embodiments described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, or any combination thereof. For a hardware implementation, the processing units may be implemented within one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, and/or other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof.

Having thus described the basic concept, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the foregoing disclosure is by way of example only, and is not intended to limit the present application. Various modifications, improvements and adaptations to the present application may occur to those skilled in the art, although not explicitly described herein. Such modifications, improvements and adaptations are proposed in the present application and thus fall within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of the present application.

Also, this application uses specific language to describe embodiments of the application. Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," and/or "some embodiments" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with at least one embodiment of the present application is included in at least one embodiment of the present application. Therefore, it is emphasized and should be appreciated that two or more references to "an embodiment" or "one embodiment" or "an alternative embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, some features, structures, or characteristics of one or more embodiments of the present application may be combined as appropriate.

Aspects of the present application may be embodied entirely in hardware, entirely in software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or in a combination of hardware and software. The above hardware or software may be referred to as "data block," module, "" engine, "" unit, "" component, "or" system. The processor may be one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DAPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, aspects of the present application may be represented as a computer product, including computer readable program code, embodied in one or more computer readable media. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to, magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips … …), optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk (CD), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) … …), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, key drive … …).

Similarly, it should be noted that in the preceding description of embodiments of the application, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure aiding in the understanding of one or more of the embodiments. This method of disclosure, however, is not intended to require more features than are expressly recited in the claims. Indeed, the embodiments may be characterized as having less than all of the features of a single embodiment disclosed above.

Although the present application has been described with reference to the present specific embodiments, it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that the foregoing embodiments are merely illustrative of the present application and that various changes and substitutions of equivalents may be made without departing from the spirit of the application, and therefore, it is intended that all changes and modifications to the above-described embodiments that come within the spirit of the application fall within the scope of the claims of the application.

Claims

1. An apparatus for powering a power amplifier in a radio frequency front end of a wireless terminal, comprising:

a boost circuit in series with a power supply providing a supply voltage, the boost circuit to generate a first voltage; and

a voltage-reducing circuit connected in series with the voltage-boosting circuit and having a bypass connected to the power supply, the voltage-reducing circuit for generating a second voltage to supply to the power amplifier,

wherein the voltage boost circuit and the voltage buck circuit are configured to:

in response to determining that the wireless terminal is in a high power mode and that a transmit power of the wireless terminal is greater than a threshold, the boost circuit enters a boost mode and the buck circuit drops the first voltage to the second voltage to provide to the power amplifier; and

in response to determining that the wireless terminal is not in the high power mode or that a transmit power of the wireless terminal is less than or equal to the threshold, the boost circuit enters a bypass mode and the buck circuit drops the power supply voltage to the second voltage for provision to the power amplifier.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the high power mode is an HPUE mode.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the boost circuit is not mounted in the apparatus in the event that a wireless terminal does not need to provide the specified mode.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voltage-reduction circuit is configured to determine the magnitude of the output second voltage based on a preset configuration table, wherein the configuration table indicates respective magnitudes of the second voltage output by the voltage-reduction circuit at different transmit powers of the wireless terminal.

5. A wireless terminal, comprising:

a radio frequency chip RFIC;

a Power Amplifier (PA) coupled with the RFIC, the PA configured to amplify output radio frequency signals of the RFIC;

power amplifier supply means as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 for supplying the PA;

a memory having stored therein a configuration table, wherein the configuration table indicates respective magnitudes of voltages output by the power amplifier supply to the PA at different transmit powers of the wireless terminal; and

a processor configured to control the power amplifier supply to output a corresponding voltage according to a transmit power of the wireless terminal.

6. The wireless terminal of claim 5, further comprising a power supply to provide a supply voltage.

7. The wireless terminal of claim 6, wherein the power source is a battery.

8. A method for controlling the apparatus of any of claims 1-4 to power a power amplifier in a radio frequency front end of a wireless terminal, the method comprising:

determining whether the wireless terminal is in a high power mode;

in response to determining that the wireless terminal is in the high power mode, determining whether a transmit power of the wireless terminal is greater than a threshold;

in response to determining that the transmit power of the wireless terminal is greater than the threshold, configuring a boost circuit of the wireless terminal to enter a boost mode and configuring the buck circuit to reduce a first voltage output by the boost circuit to a second voltage for provision to the power amplifier; and

in response to determining that the wireless terminal is not in the high power mode or that a transmit power of the wireless terminal is less than or equal to the threshold, configuring the boost circuit to enter a bypass mode and configuring the buck circuit to drop a supply voltage to a second voltage and provide to the power amplifier.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the high power mode is an HPUE mode.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

storing a configuration table indicating respective magnitudes of voltages output to the power amplifier at different transmit powers of the wireless terminal, an

Configuring a magnitude of a second voltage output by the voltage-reduction circuit based on the configuration table.