CN117560027A - Signal receiver and signal receiving method - Google Patents

Abstract

A signal receiving method, comprising: receiving the first communication signal and/or the second communication signal through an antenna; when the antenna receives the first communication signal and the second communication signal at the same time, the first communication signal is transmitted to the first amplifying circuit through the first receiving circuit, and the second communication signal is received through the second receiving circuit; and when the antenna does not receive the first communication signal and the second communication signal at the same time, transmitting the first communication signal to the first amplifying circuit through the first receiving circuit, and transmitting the second communication signal to the second amplifying circuit through the first receiving circuit.

Description

Signal receiver and signal receiving method

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a technology for receiving a wireless signal, and more particularly to a signal receiver for simultaneously receiving different types of signals through an antenna.

Background

A signal Receiver (RF Receiver) is a device for receiving wireless signals. In order to receive signals of different wireless communication protocols, the signal receiver configures a plurality of antennas to simultaneously receive signals of different frequency bands. However, if the number of antennas can be reduced in consideration of product design, cost reduction and overall volume reduction will be effective. Therefore, how to maintain the accuracy of the received signal while reducing the number of antennas becomes an important issue at present.

Disclosure of Invention

One embodiment of the present invention is a signal receiver including an antenna, a first receiving circuit, a switching circuit, and a second receiving circuit. The first receiving circuit is coupled to the antenna. The first receiving circuit is also coupled to the first amplifying circuit and the second amplifying circuit. The switch circuit is coupled to the antenna and the first receiving circuit. The second receiving circuit is coupled to the antenna through the switching circuit. When the signal receiver is configured to receive the first communication signal and the second communication signal simultaneously, the switching circuit is turned on to cause the first amplifying circuit to process the first communication signal, and the second receiving circuit is configured to receive the second communication signal through the switching circuit and the antenna. When the signal receiver is used for receiving one of the first communication signal and the second communication signal, the switch circuit is turned off, the signal receiver controls the first amplifying circuit to process the first communication signal, and controls the second amplifying circuit to process the second communication signal. Wherein the first communication signal and the second communication signal respectively belong to different communication protocols.

Another embodiment of the present invention is a signal receiving method including: receiving the first communication signal and/or the second communication signal through an antenna; when the antenna receives the first communication signal and the second communication signal at the same time, the first communication signal is transmitted to the first amplifying circuit through the first receiving circuit, and the second communication signal is received through the second receiving circuit; and when the antenna does not receive the first communication signal and the second communication signal at the same time, transmitting the first communication signal to the first amplifying circuit through the first receiving circuit, and transmitting the second communication signal to the second amplifying circuit through the first receiving circuit.

Another embodiment of the present invention is a signal receiver including an antenna, a first receiving circuit, and a second receiving circuit. The first receiving circuit is coupled to the antenna for receiving and transmitting signals. The first receiving circuit is also coupled to the first amplifying circuit and the second amplifying circuit. The second receiving circuit is coupled to the antenna. When the signal receiver is used for receiving the first communication signal and the second communication signal simultaneously, the signal receiver turns off the second amplifying circuit, so that the first amplifying circuit is used for transmitting the first communication signal to the processing unit, and the second receiving circuit is used for transmitting the second communication signal to the processing unit. When the signal receiver is used for receiving one of the first communication signal and the second communication signal, the second receiving circuit is turned off, the signal receiver controls the first amplifying circuit to transmit the first communication signal to the processing unit, and controls the second amplifying circuit to transmit the second communication signal to the processing unit. Wherein the first communication signal and the second communication signal respectively belong to different communication protocols.

According to the invention, two independent paths for receiving the second communication signals are formed through the second receiving circuit and the second amplifying circuit, so that the second receiving circuit or the second amplifying circuit can be selected according to different conditions to process the second communication signals, and the problem that the circuit gain is difficult to adjust when the signal receiver receives the first communication signals and the second communication signals at the same time is avoided.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a signal receiver according to some embodiments of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a signal receiving method according to some embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a signal receiver according to some embodiments of the invention.

Detailed Description

In the following description, numerous practical details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understood that these practical details are not to be construed as limiting the invention. That is, in some embodiments of the invention, these practical details are unnecessary. In addition, for the sake of simplicity of the drawing, some of the conventional structures and elements are shown in the drawing in a simplified schematic manner.

Herein, when elements are referred to as being "connected" or "coupled," they may be referred to as being "electrically connected" or "electrically coupled. "connected" or "coupled" may also be used to indicate that two or more elements are in operation or interaction with each other. Furthermore, although the terms "first," "second," …, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, this term is merely intended to distinguish between elements or operations described in the same technical term. The terms do not specifically refer to or imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context, nor are they intended to be limiting.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a signal receiver 100 according to some embodiments of the invention. The signal receiver 100 includes an antenna A1, a first receiving circuit 110, and a second receiving circuit 120. The first receiving circuit 110 and the second receiving circuit 120 are respectively coupled to the antenna A1 for receiving signals through the antenna A1.

In some embodiments, the signal receiver 100 further includes a processing unit 130, where the processing unit 130 is coupled to the first receiving circuit 110 and the second receiving circuit 120, and is configured to process signals received by the first receiving circuit 110 and the second receiving circuit 120, for example, convert analog signals into digital signals.

In one embodiment, antenna A1 is configured to receive a plurality of different types of signals, such as wireless network signals (e.g., wiFi) and/or Bluetooth signals (Bluetooth). In other words, the antenna A1 can receive multiple communication signals belonging to different communication protocols, and the bandwidths corresponding to the signals of the different communication protocols are different from each other. The antenna A1 may receive communication signals of these different communication protocols simultaneously, or sequentially at different points in time. The signal receiver 100 may selectively receive and process communication signals of these different communication protocols in different ways, depending on the circumstances.

Referring to fig. 1, in one embodiment, the first receiving circuit 110 includes a low-noise amplifier L1, and the second receiving circuit 120 includes a capacitor C1 and a low-noise amplifier L2 coupled to each other. The low noise amplifiers L1, L2 are used for performing a first amplification process on the received signal to reduce the noise effect in the signal.

The low noise amplifier L1 of the first receiving circuit 110 is coupled to the first amplifying circuit WL1 and the second amplifying circuit BT1 (e.g. by magnetic coupling). The first and second amplifying circuits WL1 and BT1 may also be implemented by low noise amplifiers to perform the second amplification process after the first amplification process by the low noise amplifier L1. Specifically, the first amplifying circuit WL1 is configured to amplify a first communication signal (e.g., a WiFi signal) received by the antenna A1. The low noise amplifier L2 of the second receiving circuit 120 is coupled to the processing unit 130, and the low noise amplifier L2 and the second amplifying circuit BT1 are configured to amplify the second communication signal (e.g. bluetooth signal) received by the antenna A1 at different times/situations.

When the antenna A1 sequentially receives the first communication signal and the second communication signal (i.e., the antenna A1 receives only one of the first communication signal and the second communication signal at the same time), the first receiving circuit 110 passes the received first communication signal to the first amplifying circuit WL1, and passes the received second communication signal to the second amplifying circuit BT1. The first amplifying circuit WL1 amplifies the first communication signal, and then transmits the amplified signal to the processing unit 130. Similarly, the second amplifying circuit BT1 amplifies the second communication signal, and then transmits the amplified signal to the processing unit 130. In other words, the first amplifying circuit WL1 and the second amplifying circuit BT1 are respectively used for processing signals of different communication protocols, for example, the first amplifying circuit WL1 is used for processing WiFi signals, and the second amplifying circuit BT1 is used for processing bluetooth signals.

The aforementioned "signal transmission" may be controlled by the processing unit 130 to turn on or off each circuit, so that the signal is received by the corresponding circuit. The control method will be described in the following paragraphs.

Specifically, the signal receiver 100 may selectively open a circuit between the second amplifying circuit BT1 and the processing unit 130 (or intermittently open the antenna A1 and the second amplifying circuit BT 1) through the switch SW0, so that the first communication signal is processed by the first amplifying circuit WL 1. In other embodiments, when the antenna A1 receives the second communication signal, the control signal S1 of the first amplifying circuit WL1 is set to the disable level to turn off the first amplifying circuit WL1; when the antenna A1 receives the first communication signal, the control signal S2 of the second amplifying circuit BT1 is set to the disable level to turn off the second amplifying circuit BT1. The control signals S1, S2 and the switch SW0 can be controlled by the processing unit 130.

When the signal receiver 100 is configured to receive the first communication signal and the second communication signal simultaneously, the second amplification circuit BT1 will be turned off. At this time, the first amplifying circuit WL1 transmits the first communication signal to the processing unit 130, and the low noise amplifier L2 of the second receiving circuit 120 transmits the second communication signal to the processing unit 130. In other words, the first amplifying circuit WL1 and the second receiving circuit 120 are respectively used for processing signals of different communication protocols, for example, the first amplifying circuit WL1 is used for processing WiFi signals, and the low noise amplifier L2 of the second receiving circuit 120 is used for processing bluetooth signals. In addition, the second amplifying circuit BT1 and the low noise amplifier L2 of the second receiving circuit 120 are two paths for processing the bluetooth signal, and the signal receiver 100 selectively processes the bluetooth signal through the second amplifying circuit BT1 or the low noise amplifier L2 according to different situations.

The aforementioned "sequentially receiving the first communication signal and the second communication signal" means that the time points at which the antenna A1 receives the first communication signal and the second communication signal are spaced apart from each other by more than a preset time, or that the antenna A1 does not receive both the first communication signal and the second communication signal in the preset time. In contrast, the aforementioned "simultaneously receiving the first communication signal and the second communication signal" means that the time interval during which the antenna A1 receives the first communication signal and the second communication signal is less than the preset time. In some embodiments, the signal receiver 100 determines whether the condition of "receiving the first communication signal and the second communication signal simultaneously" is met based on "the time when the processing unit 130 receives the communication signal".

As shown in fig. 1, the low noise amplifier L1, the first amplifying circuit WL1, the second amplifying circuit BT1, and the low noise amplifier L2 are controlled by control signals S0, S1, S2, S3, respectively. Therefore, the processing unit 130 can selectively process the signals received by the antenna A1 by different circuits by changing the level of the control signals S0 to S3.

The signal receiver 100 of the present invention can selectively process the second communication signal through the second amplification circuit BT1 or the low noise amplifier L2 according to different situations (i.e., receiving signals of a plurality of communication protocols simultaneously or receiving signals of only one communication protocol at a time). When the signal receiver 100 is configured to receive the first communication signal and the second communication signal simultaneously, the signal receiver 100 adjusts the first gain of the low noise amplifier L1 in the first receiving circuit 110 according to the first signal strength of the first communication signal. Similarly, the signal receiver 100 adjusts the second gain of the low noise amplifier L2 in the second receiving circuit 120 according to the second signal strength of the second communication signal.

On the other hand, when the signal receiver 100 is configured to receive the first communication signal and the second communication signal at different times, the signal receiver 100 adjusts the first gain of the low noise amplifier L1 in the first receiving circuit 110 according to the currently received signal strength (the first signal strength of the first communication signal or the second signal strength of the second communication signal).

When the signal receiver 100 receives the first communication signal and the second communication signal simultaneously, the intensities of the first communication signal and the second communication signal may greatly differ. Therefore, if the signals are uniformly received by the low noise amplifier L1 in the first receiving circuit 110, the first gain of the low noise amplifier L1 in the first receiving circuit 110 cannot be accurately adjusted, which may result in that the first communication signal with weak signal strength cannot be correctly received and resolved. For example, when the intensity of the second communication signal is much greater than that of the first communication signal, the signal receiver 100 does not need to greatly adjust the gain of the low noise amplifier L1 of the first receiving circuit 110, so that the first communication signal with weak intensity cannot be amplified correctly. The invention uses the second amplifying circuit BT1 and the low noise amplifier L2 as two independent paths for receiving the second communication signal, so that the gains of the low noise amplifier L1 and the low noise amplifier L2 can be respectively adjusted according to the intensity of the first communication signal and the second communication signal.

In some embodiments, the signal receiver 100 further includes a switch circuit 140, and the second receiving circuit 120 is coupled to the switch circuit 140 to be coupled to the antenna A1 through the switch circuit 140. When the signal receiver 100 receives the first communication signal and the second communication signal simultaneously, the switching circuit 140 is turned on, the first amplifying circuit WL1 receives the first communication signal through the first receiving circuit 110 and the antenna A1, and the second receiving circuit 120 receives the second communication signal through the switching circuit 140 and the antenna A1. In contrast, when the signal receiver 100 receives only the first communication signal or the second communication signal, the switching circuit 140 is turned off, so that the first amplifying circuit WL1 receives the first communication signal or the second amplifying circuit BT1 receives the second communication signal.

In one embodiment, the signal receiver 100 may also set the control signal S3 of the low noise amplifier L2 of the second receiving circuit 120 to a disable level to turn off the second receiving circuit 120 when only the first communication signal or the second communication signal is received.

In other embodiments, the switching circuit 140 further includes an attenuator 141 for reducing the strength of the communication signal transmitted by the antenna A1 to the second receiving circuit 120. For example, the attenuator 141 may reduce the strength of the stronger second communication signal from-50 dBm to-70 dBm and filter out the weaker first communication signal. Accordingly, when the signal receiver 100 receives the first communication signal and the second communication signal simultaneously, it is ensured that only the second communication signal with a stronger signal is transmitted to the second receiving circuit 120.

Fig. 2 shows a flow diagram of a signal receiving method according to some embodiments of the invention. In step S201, the signal receiver 100 determines whether the antenna A1 receives signals of a plurality of different communication protocols (i.e., a first communication signal and a second communication signal) in a preset time.

If the antenna A1 receives the first communication signal and the second communication signal in a preset time, it is regarded as "the antenna A1 receives a plurality of signals at the same time". At this time, in step S202, the switch circuit 140 between the antenna A1 and the second receiving circuit 120 is turned on. Meanwhile, the second amplification circuit BT1 will be turned off.

Next, in step S203, the low noise amplifier L1 of the first receiving circuit 110 amplifies the first communication signal, and then transmits the signal amplified for the first time to the first amplifying circuit WL1, and the low noise amplifier L2 of the second receiving circuit 120 receives the second communication signal to amplify the second communication signal.

If the antenna A1 does not receive both the first communication signal and the second communication signal in the preset time, or only one of the first communication signal and the second communication signal in the preset time, it is regarded as "the antenna A1 does not receive the plurality of signals at the same time". At this time, in step S204, the switching circuit 140 coupled between the antenna A1 and the second receiving circuit 120 is turned off. As described above, in other embodiments, the signal receiver 100 may also switch off the second receiving circuit 120 by setting the control signal S3 to the disable level.

In step S205, it is determined whether the signal currently received by the antenna A1 is of the first communication protocol. If a first communication signal belonging to the first communication protocol is received, in step S206, the second amplification circuit BT1 is turned off, and the first communication signal is transferred to the first amplification circuit WL1 through the first reception circuit 110 to perform amplification processing. If a second communication signal belonging to the second communication protocol is received, in step S207, the first amplification circuit WL1 is turned off, and the second communication signal is transferred to the second amplification circuit BT1 through the first reception circuit 110 to perform amplification processing.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a signal receiver 200 according to some embodiments of the invention. In fig. 3, like elements related to the embodiment of fig. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals for ease of understanding, and the specific principles of like elements have been described in the preceding paragraphs, which are not necessarily required to be described in co-operative relationship with the elements of fig. 3 and are not repeated here.

In one embodiment, the signal receiver 200 may include a plurality of antennas A1, A2, a third receiving circuit L3, and a third amplifying circuit WL2. Antenna A2 is used to receive a first communication signal of a first communication protocol (e.g., wiFi). For example, when the signal receiver 200 does not need to receive the first communication signal of the first communication protocol, the third receiving circuit L3 and the third amplifying circuit WL2 are turned off. The third receiving circuit L3 and the third amplifying circuit WL2 may also be implemented by a low noise amplifier. In other words, when the signal receiver 200 only needs to receive the first communication signal, the capability of transmitting and receiving signals can be improved by multiple antennas such as the antenna A1 and the antenna A2. The antenna A2 is used to transfer the first communication signal to the third receiving circuit L3 and the third amplifying circuit WL2 for amplification processing.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, the signal receiver 200 may further include an antenna A3. The antenna A3 is coupled to the second receiving circuit 120. The second receiving circuit 120 is coupled to the antenna A1 and the antenna A3, respectively, to selectively receive the second communication signal through the antenna A1 or the antenna A3. As shown in fig. 3, when the signal receiver 200 is provided with the antenna A3, the signal receiver 200 may receive the first communication signal through the antenna A1 and the second communication signal through the antenna A3, and at this time, the switching circuit 140 and the second amplifying circuit BT1 will be turned off. On the other hand, if antenna A3 of signal receiver 200 is removed (e.g., for cost or volume considerations), then switching circuit 140 will be selectively turned on and signal receiver 200 will process the first communication signal and the second communication signal by way of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1.

In the foregoing embodiments, the processing unit 130 includes the down-conversion circuit 131, the plurality of analog-to-digital conversion circuits ADC, the digital signal processor DSP, and the controller 132. The down-conversion circuit 131 is configured to convert (demodulate) a received signal from a high-frequency signal to a low-frequency signal. For example, the frequency of the first communication signal is 2412MHz, the bandwidth is 20MHz (e.g., 2402-2422 MHz), and the down-conversion circuit 131 is used for reducing the frequency of the first communication signal to plus or minus 10MHz. In some embodiments, the down converter 131 receives a high-frequency signal lo_ I, LO _q generated by an oscillating circuit (not shown) through a plurality of down converters to demodulate the received signal. The high frequency signal lo_ I, LO _q is a clock signal with a phase difference of 90 degrees, and is used for splitting and restoring a composite signal (such as a first communication signal) into two independent signals, and similarly, a second communication signal can be split into two independent signals.

The ADC is coupled to the down-conversion circuit 131 to receive the first communication signal and the second communication signal (e.g. the analog signal after the down-conversion by the down-conversion circuit 131) from the first amplifying circuit WL1, the second amplifying circuit BT1, the second receiving circuit 120 and the third amplifying circuit WL2, and perform the analog-to-digital conversion. For example: the signal transmitted from the low noise amplifier L2 of the first amplification circuit WL1, the second amplification circuit BT1, the second reception circuit 120, or the third amplification circuit WL2 is converted into a digital format. The digital signal processor DSP is configured to demodulate the digital signal and perform corresponding operations. Since the operation principle of the down-conversion circuit 131, the analog-digital conversion circuit ADC, and the digital signal processor DSP can be understood by those skilled in the art, the description thereof is omitted herein.

The controller 132 is coupled to the switches SW1 and SW2 in the first receiving circuit 110, the second receiving circuit 120, the first amplifying circuit WL1, the second amplifying circuit BT1, the third receiving circuit L3, the third amplifying circuit WL2 and the switch circuit 140, and is used for controlling the on/off of the circuits respectively. In addition, the controller 132 is further coupled to the DSP, so as to determine whether the antenna A1 receives the first communication signal and the second communication signal simultaneously within a preset time according to the signal currently processed by the DSP. The controller selectively changes the levels of the control signals S0 to S5 according to the determination result to control on or off of the first receiving circuit 110, the second receiving circuit 120, the first amplifying circuit WL1, the second amplifying circuit BT1, the third receiving circuit L3, and the third amplifying circuit WL2, and the switching circuit 140. Similarly, the controller 132 may also selectively turn on or off the switches SW1 and SW2 according to the current situation.

In the foregoing embodiment, the controller 132 is part of the processing unit 130. In other embodiments, the controller 132 may be independent of the processing unit 130. For example, the controller 132 may be implemented by a microprocessor of an electronic device to which the signal receiver 200 is applied, without being integrally packaged with the signal receiver 200.

Various elements, method steps or technical features of the foregoing embodiments may also be combined with each other, and are not limited to the literal description sequence or the accompanying drawings presented in this application.

While the present invention has been disclosed in the form of embodiments thereof, it should be understood that it is not limited thereto, but various changes and modifications can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and therefore, the scope of the present invention shall be defined by the appended claims.

Reference numerals

100 signal receiver

110 first receiving circuit

120 a second receiving circuit

130 processing unit

131 frequency down-converting circuit

132 controller

140 switching circuit

141 attenuator

200 Signal receiver

L1 low noise amplifier

L2:low noise amplifier

L3:third receiving circuit

WL1 first amplifying circuit

WL2 third amplifying circuit

BT1 second amplifying circuit

ADC analog-to-digital conversion circuit

C1 capacitance

DSP digital signal processor

LO_I high frequency signal

LO_Q high frequency signal

SW0 switch

SW1 switch

SW2 switch L2

S0-S3 control signals

S201-S207.

Claims (10)

1. A signal receiver, comprising:

an antenna;

a first receiving circuit coupled to the antenna, wherein the first receiving circuit is further coupled to a first amplifying circuit and a second amplifying circuit;

a switching circuit coupled to the antenna and the first receiving circuit; and

a second receiving circuit coupled to the antenna through the switching circuit;

wherein when the signal receiver is configured to receive a first communication signal and a second communication signal simultaneously, the switch circuit is turned on to cause the first amplifying circuit to process the first communication signal, and the second receiving circuit is configured to receive the second communication signal through the switch circuit and the antenna;

wherein the switching circuit is turned off when the signal receiver is configured to receive one of the first communication signal and the second communication signal, the signal receiver controlling the first amplifying circuit to process the first communication signal and controlling the second amplifying circuit to process the second communication signal;

wherein the first communication signal and the second communication signal respectively belong to different communication protocols.

2. The signal receiver of claim 1, wherein the second amplification circuit is turned off when the signal receiver is configured to receive a first communication signal and a second communication signal simultaneously.

3. The signal receiver of claim 1, wherein the switching circuit comprises an attenuator for reducing the strength of the second communication signal transmitted by the antenna to the second receiving circuit.

4. A signal receiving method, comprising:

receiving the first communication signal and/or the second communication signal through an antenna;

when the antenna receives the first communication signal and the second communication signal simultaneously, the first communication signal is transmitted to a first amplifying circuit through a first receiving circuit, and the second communication signal is received through a second receiving circuit; and

when the antenna does not receive the first communication signal and the second communication signal at the same time, the first communication signal is transferred to the first amplifying circuit through the first receiving circuit, and the second communication signal is transferred to the second amplifying circuit through the first receiving circuit.

5. The signal receiving method of claim 4, wherein the method of receiving the second communication signal by the second receiving circuit further comprises:

a switching circuit coupled between the antenna and the second receiving circuit is turned on.

6. The signal receiving method of claim 4, further comprising:

and when the controller judges that the antenna does not receive the first communication signal and the second communication signal at the same time in the preset time, the switch circuit coupled between the antenna and the second receiving circuit is turned off.

7. The signal receiving method of claim 4, further comprising:

when the antenna receives the first communication signal and the second communication signal at the same time, the first gain of the first receiving circuit is adjusted according to the first signal intensity of the first communication signal, and the second gain of the second receiving circuit is adjusted according to the second signal intensity of the second communication signal.

8. The signal receiving method of claim 4, further comprising:

the strength of the second communication signal transmitted by the antenna to the second receiving circuit is reduced by an attenuator.

9. A signal receiver, comprising:

an antenna;

the first receiving circuit is coupled with the antenna to transmit and receive signals, and is further coupled with the first amplifying circuit and the second amplifying circuit; and

a second receiving circuit coupled to the antenna;

wherein when the signal receiver is configured to receive a first communication signal and a second communication signal simultaneously, the signal receiver turns off the second amplification circuit such that the first amplification circuit is configured to pass the first communication signal to a processing unit and the second reception circuit is configured to pass the second communication signal to the processing unit;

wherein the second receiving circuit is turned off when the signal receiver is configured to receive one of the first communication signal and the second communication signal, the signal receiver controlling the first amplifying circuit to pass the first communication signal to the processing unit and controlling the second amplifying circuit to pass the second communication signal to the processing unit;

wherein the first communication signal and the second communication signal respectively belong to different communication protocols.

10. The signal receiver of claim 9, wherein the second receiving circuit is coupled to the antenna through a switching circuit, the switching circuit comprising an attenuator for reducing the strength of the second communication signal transmitted by the antenna to the second receiving circuit.