JP2015050646A - Transmission device, transmission method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device compatible with multiband transmission which is compact and inexpensive and consumes less power.SOLUTION: The transmission device according to the present invention includes: a modulator 1001 for outputting RF (Radio Frequency) signals in a plurality of carrier frequency bands; a power amplifier 1002 for amplifying the plurality of RF signals output from the modulator 1001 to output amplified RF signals: a variable power supply 1004 for supplying a power supply to the power amplifier 1002; and a mode controller 1003 for changing the number of RF signals output from the modulator 1001, and controlling a voltage value or current value of the power supply supplied from the variable power supply 1004 to the power amplifier 1002 in accordance with the number of RF signals output from the modulator 1001.

Description

  The present invention relates to a transmission apparatus and a transmission method, and particularly to a transmission apparatus and a transmission method that are used in wireless communication and transmit RF (Radio Frequency) signals in a plurality of carrier frequency bands.

  In a transmission device used in wireless communication, a power amplifier (PA) that amplifies an RF (Radio Frequency) signal to be transmitted consumes power, among other components of the transmission device. Therefore, in the development of a transmission apparatus, improvement of power efficiency of a power amplifier (PA) is regarded as an important issue. In recent communication standards, linear modulation has become the mainstream for improving spectral efficiency. This linear modulation has severe requirements for signal distortion.

  Therefore, in the power amplifier (PA), in order to maintain linearity, the average output power is set so that the instantaneous maximum output (peak) power is equal to or lower than the saturated output power. That is, in a power amplifier (PA), the higher the ratio of the peak power to the average power of the signal to be amplified (Peak-to-Average Ratio, hereinafter abbreviated as PAR), the more the linearity is maintained. In addition, it is necessary to set the average output power lower than the saturation output power.

  However, in general, the power amplifier (PA) reduces the ratio of the supply power supplied to the power amplifier (PA) and the output power extracted from the power amplifier (PA) as the average output power is lowered from the saturated output power to a lower ratio. (Power efficiency) decreases. The decrease in power efficiency is a problem against energy saving.

  The PAR of the RF signal has a unique value for each communication standard. In high-speed wireless communication such as CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), terrestrial digital broadcasting, and LTE (Long Term Evolution) used in recent years, the PAR is as large as about several dB to several tens dB. Value. Such a PAR size is a factor that greatly reduces the power efficiency of the power amplifier (PA).

  In the power amplifier (PA), polar modulation technology has been actively studied in recent years in order to solve the problem of reduction in power efficiency when the average output power is set low.

  FIG. 21 shows an example of an envelope tracking (ET) type power amplifier which is a kind of polar modulation technique.

  In the ET method, transmission signal data is input to the input terminal 401 of the polar modulator 411. The amplitude component signal 403 of the transmission signal data is output to the output terminal 402 of the polar modulator 411. An RF modulation signal 408 is output to the output terminal 407 of the polar modulator 411. The RF modulation signal 408 is a signal in which the amplitude component and phase component of transmission signal data are placed on a carrier wave. The polar modulator 411 also has a function capable of individually setting output timings of the amplitude component signal 403 and the RF modulation signal 408 to desired values.

  The power supply modulator 404 outputs an amplitude component signal 405 obtained by amplifying the amplitude component signal 403, and modulates a power supply terminal 409 of an RF-PA (Radio Frequency Power Amplifier) 406 using the amplitude component signal 405. The RF modulation signal 408 output to the output terminal 407 of the polar modulator 411 is input to the RF-PA 406. An RF modulation signal 410 in which the amplitude component and phase component of the transmission signal data are carried on the carrier wave and amplified is output to the output terminal 412 of the RF-PA 406.

  In the above ET method, the power supply modulator 404 controls the voltage of the power supply terminal 409 of the RF-PA 406 in accordance with the amplitude of the RF modulation signal 410. In particular, when the RF modulation signal 410 has a low output power, the power supply modulator 404 reduces the voltage of the power supply terminal 409 of the RF-PA 406 accordingly. Therefore, the power amplifier (PA) prevents the power efficiency from being lowered by suppressing the power supplied from the power supply modulator 404 to the RF-PA 406 to the minimum necessary amount at the time of low output, and further wasteful power consumption. Can be suppressed.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-260509 of Patent Document 1 discloses an example of a transmitter to which the ET method is applied. FIG. 22 is a configuration diagram of a transmitter according to the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1. In FIG. The transmitter disclosed in FIG. 22 includes an interface unit 201, an RF-IC 207, a power amplifier 209, an EER control unit 210, an up converter 211, a step-down element 212, and a DC power source 213. . The RF-IC 207 frequency-converts the baseband signal output from the interface unit 201 to generate an RF signal, and outputs the RF signal to the power amplifier 209. The power amplifier 209 amplifies the RF signal, and the amplified RF signal is transmitted from the antenna. Power is supplied from the step-down element 212 to the power amplifier 209 via the DC power supply 213 and the up-converter 211.

  In FIG. 23, the voltage supplied from the step-down element 212 to the power amplifier 209 is illustrated by the output waveform 504 of the step-down element in FIG. The step-down element 212 is controlled by the EER control unit 210 so that the output waveform 504 of the step-down element becomes a waveform along the amplitude of the RF signal input to the power amplifier 209. By controlling the output voltage of the step-down element 212 (that is, the power supplied from the step-down element 212 to the power amplifier 209) to have a waveform along the amplitude of the RF signal, the power consumption of the power amplifier 209 is suppressed. .

  In Patent Document 1, the voltage output from the up-converter 211 toward the step-down element 212 is indicated by the output waveform 503 of the up-converter in FIG. The output waveform 503 of the up-converter 211 is controlled according to the fluctuation of the output waveform 504 of the step-down element 212. By this control, the power supplied from the up-converter 211 to the step-down element 212 is controlled according to the power required by the step-down element 212, so that the power consumption of the step-down element 212 is suppressed. That is, in Patent Document 1, in addition to the power amplifier 209, a device for suppressing power consumption of the step-down element 212 is added.

  In the power amplifier (PA), as another method for solving the problem of lowering power efficiency when the average output power is set to be low, there is a method of switching the power supply according to the output power of the PA (power supply switching method).

  FIG. 24 is a functional configuration diagram of a transmission device disclosed as a wireless communication device in Patent Document 2. In the transmission apparatus of FIG. 24, the power supply switching method is applied. 24 includes a power amplifier 110, DC / DC converters 130, 140, and 150, an amplitude detector 120, and a distortion compensator 160.

  The power amplifier 110 amplifies the RF signal output from the distortion compensator and outputs the transmission signal to the RFout terminal. The amplitude detector 120 detects the amplitude of the RF signal output from the distortion compensator 160. The value of the DC voltage output from the DC / DC converters 130 and 150 is controlled based on the amplitude of the RF signal detected by the amplitude detector 120. The DC / DC converter 140 supplies a necessary voltage to the DC / DC converter 130.

  FIG. 25 is a circuit block diagram showing an internal configuration of DC / DC converter 130 in FIG. As shown in FIG. 25, the DC / DC converter 130 includes a plurality of voltage sources V1 to V3 and T1 to T2, switches S1 to S3, and a logic unit 132.

  The logic unit 132 compares the amplitude (envelope signal) detected by the amplitude detector 120 with the thresholds T1 to T2, and switches the switches S1 to S3 based on the comparison result, so that the voltage sources V1 to V3 One is selected and used to supply power to the power amplifier 110. By this method, it is realized to supply power by switching to a power source having a desired voltage value according to the output power of the PA.

  In the polar modulation technique of FIG. 21, the voltage value supplied from the power supply modulator 404 to the power amplifier 406 is continuously controlled, whereas in the power supply switching system of FIG. 24, the voltage is supplied to the power amplifier 110 by the switches S1 to S3. The voltage value to be controlled is a discrete value. The polar modulation technique of FIG. 21 is difficult to output from the power supply modulator 404 a voltage value that fluctuates at high speed in conjunction with the modulation signal, whereas the power supply switching system of FIG. Even if the voltage value fluctuates at a high speed by the method, there is an advantage that it is relatively easy to realize.

  Another important issue for wireless communication is multibanding. An example of multiband communication is Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology described in Non-Patent Document 1 that collects and uses a plurality of fragmented bands. In this CA technology, a wide band can be secured and the transmission speed can be increased by bundling a plurality of bands.

Further, in the inter-band non-contiguous CA mode in which the carrier frequencies are greatly separated (the difference Δf between the carrier frequencies is sufficiently larger than the modulation bandwidth f _BB of the RF signal of each carrier) It is possible to improve the stability of communication by simultaneously communicating using different carrier frequencies. In addition, by applying the CA technology, it is possible to perform communication corresponding to a case where a plurality of operators intermittently allocate a band or a plurality of operators share a band.

  In the wireless communication system using the CA technology, a transmission apparatus and a transmission method for transmitting RF signals in a plurality of bands are required. Such a transmission apparatus is also required to improve power efficiency.

  FIG. 26 is a functional configuration diagram of a transmission device disclosed as a wireless communication device in Patent Document 3. The transmission apparatus in FIG. 26 has a function of improving power efficiency by applying a polar modulation technique in addition to a function of transmitting RF signals of a plurality of bands.

  Specifically, in the transmission apparatus shown in FIG. 26, the modulation signal generated by the modulation signal generator 261 is converted from a signal in an orthogonal coordinate system to a signal in a polar coordinate system by a polar control unit 262, and phase information And an AM signal having amplitude information. The separated PM signal is used for phase modulation for the frequency generator 211 by the PM control unit 263. Similarly, the AM signal is used for power supply modulation for the PAs 221 and 231 by the power supply modulator 264. That is, polar modulation technology is applied in which the power supplied from the power supply modulator 264 to the PA 221 and PA 231 is increased or decreased in accordance with the increase or decrease in the output power of the PA 221 and PA 231. Thereby, a reduction in power efficiency is suppressed even in a high back-off state where the average output power is low.

26, the GSM (registered trademark) (Global System for Mobile Communications) signal path 320 provided with the PA 321 and the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) signal path 330 provided with the PA 331 are provided. And path selection switches 314 and 341 for switching between and. The PA 321 amplifies a radio communication system (GSM) RF signal having a carrier frequency f _c1 , and the PA 331 amplifies a radio communication system (UMTS) RF signal having a carrier frequency f _c2 . When performing communication in a wireless communication system of the carrier frequency _{f c1,} the control signal from the controller 315, PA321 is, path selection switches 314 and 341 are switched to input and output an RF signal. In the case of performing communication in a wireless communication system of the carrier frequency _{f c2,} a control signal from the controller 315, PA331 is, path selection switches 314 and 341 are switched to input and output an RF signal.

The transmitting apparatus shown in FIG. 26 does not support the CA technology that outputs two desired frequency components f _c1 and f _c2 at the same time, but temporally switches the frequency components f _c1 and f _c2 to one frequency. It has a multi-band operation function.

  The same contents as those of the transmission apparatus shown in FIG. 26 are also disclosed in Patent Documents 4 to 7. That is, Patent Documents 4 to 7 disclose a configuration in which the same number of PAs as the number of used bands are prepared and each PA is assigned to each band. Further, in Patent Documents 4 to 7, a band selection switch is installed on the input side or output side of the PA, and the band selection switch is switched so that the PA corresponding to the band in use inputs or outputs the RF signal. Discloses a technique for applying a polar modulation technique for controlling power supplied from a power source to maintain high power efficiency even when the average output power is set low.

  FIG. 27 is a functional configuration diagram of a transmission device disclosed as a wireless communication device in Patent Document 8. In FIG. Similarly to the transmission apparatus in FIG. 26, the transmission apparatus in FIG. 27 has a function of transmitting RF signals in a plurality of bands and a function of improving power efficiency by applying a polar modulation technique.

  The transmission apparatus illustrated in FIG. 27 includes at least a polar modulator 601, a power supply modulator 602, a power amplifier 603, and a coupler 604. The polar modulator 601 and the power supply modulator 602 are connected via a terminal 607. The power supply modulator 602 and the power amplifier 603 are connected via a terminal 608. The polar modulator 601 and the power amplifier 603 are connected via a terminal 605. The coupler 604 is installed on the output side of the power amplifier 603. The coupler 604 and the polar modulator 601 are connected via a terminal 609.

Polar modulator 601 is different from the carrier frequencies _{f 1,} f 2 from each other, RF signals _{621 1,} 621 2 each having a · · · _{f n,} ..., at the same time to generate a 621 _n, and outputs to the terminal 605. The RF signals 621 ₁ , 621 ₂ ,..., 621 _n are input to the power amplifier 603 via the terminal 605. Power amplifier 603, RF signals _{621 1,} 621 2 input, ... amplify the 621 _n, the carrier frequency _{f 1,} f 2, RF signal ₆₂₂ 1 · · · _{f n,} 622 2, ..., 622 _n Is output to the terminal 606 via the coupler 604. The power amplifier 603 is a multiband power amplifier designed for a plurality of carrier frequencies f ₁ , f ₂ ,... F _n .

  In the transmission apparatus shown in FIG. 27, even when a single power amplifier 603 collectively amplifies RF signals of a plurality of bands and the power supply is controlled by the power supply modulator 602, even when the average output power is set low, the power efficiency Can be kept high. Compared with the transmission apparatus shown in FIG. 26, the transmission apparatus shown in FIG. 27 can transmit a plurality of bands of RF signals with a small number of power amplifiers, so that the cost and size of the apparatus can be reduced. .

  Patent Document 9 discloses a configuration of a transmission device that has a function of transmitting RF signals of a plurality of bands and a function of reducing power consumption by applying a power supply switching method.

  Specifically, in the transmission device disclosed in Patent Document 9, each of the plurality of power amplifiers has a function of amplifying RF signals having different frequencies. Further, Patent Document 9 discloses a function of turning on the power of a power amplifier of a band to be used among a plurality of power amplifiers and turning off the power of a power amplifier of a band that is not used. With the function, an effect that power consumption of a power amplifier not used for communication can be suppressed can be obtained.

  As with the transmitter disclosed in Patent Document 9, a plurality of PAs having the same number as the number of used bands are prepared, each PA is assigned to each band, the used PAs are turned on, and the unused PAs are turned off. A technique for suppressing power consumption by doing so is also disclosed in Patent Document 10.

JP 2004-260509 A JP-T-2005-513943 JP 2006-324878 A Special table 2011-512098 gazette JP 2005-244826 A JP 2006-270923 A JP 2008-205821 A Japanese Patent Application No. 2012-054398 Japanese Patent No. 4487695 JP-A-5-335975

Nobuhiko Miki et al., “Carrier Aggregation for Realizing Broadband in LTE-Advanced”, NTT DOCOMO Technical Journal, Vol. 18No. 2 P. Colantonio, et.al., “A Design Technique for Concurrent Dual-Band Harmonic Tuned Power Amplifier,” IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 56, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 2008, pp. 2545-2555 S. Kousai, et.al., “An Octave-Range, Watt-Level, Fully-Integrated CMOS Switching Power Mixer Array for Linearization and Back-Off-Efficiency Improvement,” IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS, VOL. 44, NO. 12, DECEMBER 2009, pp. 3376-3392 P. Saad, et.al., “Design of a Highly Efficient 2-4-GHz Octave Bandwidth GaN-HEMT Power Amplifier,” IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 58, NO. 7, JULY 2010 pp. 1677-1685

  The following analysis is given in the present invention.

  The transmission devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 support only one band and cannot be used for multiband communication. In particular, Patent Documents 1 and 2 do not describe a method for suppressing power consumption of a power amplifier corresponding to multiband communication. On the other hand, the transmission devices described in Patent Documents 3 to 10 support multiband communication. However, in the case of the transmitters described in Patent Documents 4 to 7 and 9 to 10, it is necessary to install as many power amplifiers as the number of bands used. Moreover, since it is necessary to provide a power source for each power amplifier, the same number of power sources as the number of bands used are also required. This causes a problem that the size and cost of the transmission apparatus increase particularly in a radio communication system with a large number of bands used.

  The transmission devices described in Patent Documents 1 to 8 require control for changing the power supply of the power amplifier at high speed in accordance with the change in the amplitude of the RF signal output from the power amplifier. For this reason, when the modulation bandwidth of the RF signal is wide and the amplitude change of the RF signal is fast, the realization becomes difficult. Specifically, when the amplitude change of the RF signal is high, there is a problem that the power efficiency of the power supply modulator is reduced and the power consumption is increased, and at the same time, errors in the output signals of the power supply modulator and the power amplifier are increased.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a transmission device, a transmission method, and a program that can solve the above-described problems.

  A transmitter according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a modulator that outputs RF (Radio Frequency) signals in a plurality of carrier frequency bands, and amplifies and amplifies the plurality of RF signals output from the modulator. A power amplifier that outputs the RF signal, a variable power source that supplies power to the power amplifier, and a number of the RF signals that are output from the modulator, and a number that depends on the number of the RF signals that are output from the modulator And a mode controller for controlling the voltage value or current value of the power source supplied from the variable power source to the power amplifier.

  The transmission method according to the second aspect of the present invention outputs a plurality of carrier frequency band RF signals, amplifies the plurality of output RF signals, outputs the amplified RF signals, and outputs a plurality of carrier frequency bands. When outputting the RF signal, the number of the RF signals to be output is switched, and the voltage value or the current value of the power source supplied to the power amplifier that amplifies the plurality of RF signals according to the number of the RF signals to be output Is to switch.

  According to the transmission apparatus and the transmission method of the present invention, RF signals in a plurality of carrier frequency bands are simultaneously amplified by a single power amplifier, and the power supplied to the power amplifier is reduced by the number of bands or communication standards with a single power source. Since optimization is performed according to the change, there is an effect that it is possible to realize an apparatus compatible with multiband transmission that is small in size and low in cost and reduced in power consumption.

It is a block block diagram which shows the block configuration of the transmitter in 1st Embodiment by this invention. It is a characteristic view which shows the power efficiency of the dual band power amplifier (PA) which is an example of the power amplifier of FIG. It is the figure which showed the time change of the state of a transmitter when there is no switching of the output voltage of the variable power supply of FIG. It is a characteristic view which shows the power efficiency of the dual band power amplifier (PA) which is an example of the power amplifier of FIG. It is a characteristic view which shows the power efficiency of the dual band power amplifier (PA) which is an example of the power amplifier of FIG. It is the figure which showed the time change of the state of a transmitter at the time of switching the output voltage of the variable power supply of FIG. It is a characteristic view which shows the power efficiency of the dual band power amplifier (PA) which is an example of the power amplifier of FIG. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the usage method of the transmission apparatus of 2nd embodiment by this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the usage method of the transmission apparatus of 2nd embodiment by this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the usage method of the transmission apparatus of 3rd embodiment by this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the usage method of the transmission apparatus of 3rd embodiment by this invention. It is a block block diagram which shows the block configuration of the transmitter in 4th Embodiment by this invention. It is a block block diagram which shows the block configuration of the transmitter in 4th Embodiment by this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the usage method of the transmitter of 5th Embodiment by this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the usage method of the transmitter of 5th Embodiment by this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the usage method of the transmitter of 5th Embodiment by this invention. It is a block block diagram which shows the block configuration of the transmitter in 6th Embodiment by this invention. It is a block block diagram which shows the block configuration of the transmitter in 7th Embodiment by this invention. It is a block block diagram which shows the block configuration of the transmitter in 8th Embodiment by this invention. It is a block block diagram which shows the block configuration of the transmitter in 9th Embodiment by this invention. It is a block block diagram which shows the block configuration of the transmission apparatus provided with the power amplifier to which the polar modulation technique is applied based on related technology. 10 is a block configuration diagram illustrating a block configuration of a transmission device described in Patent Literature 1. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating waveforms of output voltages of an up-converter and a step-down element in a transmission device described in Patent Document 1. FIG. 10 is a block configuration diagram showing a block configuration of a transmission device described in Patent Literature 2. FIG. 6 is a block configuration diagram showing an internal configuration of a DC / DC converter described in Patent Document 2. FIG. FIG. 10 is a block configuration diagram illustrating a block configuration of a transmission device described in Patent Literature 3. FIG. 10 is a block configuration diagram illustrating a block configuration of a transmission device described in Patent Literature 8.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a transmission device and a transmission method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following drawings, the same or corresponding portions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will not be repeated.

(Outline of the present invention)
Prior to the description of embodiments of the present invention, an outline of the present invention will be described first. One of the features of the present invention is that it realizes a transmission apparatus including a power amplifier compatible with CA (Carrier Aggregation) technology capable of simultaneously amplifying signals of a plurality of frequencies generated by a signal generator. Yes.

  That is, the transmitter of the present invention includes a modulator that outputs a plurality of carrier frequency band RF (Radio Frequency) signals, a plurality of the RF signals output from the modulator, and amplifies the amplified RF signals. A power amplifier that outputs power, a variable power source that supplies power to the power amplifier, and the number of the RF signals to be output from the modulator, and the variable power source according to the number of the RF signals to be output from the modulator And a mode controller for controlling the voltage value or current value of the power source supplied to the power amplifier.

  As described above, in the transmission apparatus of the present invention, RF signals in a plurality of carrier frequency bands are amplified by one power amplifier, so the number of power amplifiers is one regardless of the number of RF signals having carrier frequencies to be amplified. It's okay. Furthermore, since the transmission apparatus of the present invention uses only one power amplifier, only one power source may be controlled. Therefore, in the transmission apparatus of the present invention, a power-saving multiband transmission apparatus is configured with a smaller number of power amplifiers and power supplies than the transmission apparatuses described in Patent Documents 1 to 7 and Patent Documents 9 to 10. Therefore, the size and cost of the apparatus can be reduced.

  Further, in the transmission device of the present invention, the output of the power supply is not controlled according to the amplitude of the RF signal, but the power output is controlled according to a change in the number of bands to be transmitted or a communication standard. For this reason, the present invention can be applied even when the amplitude of the RF signal fluctuates at a high speed, unlike the case of controlling the output of the power supply according to the amplitude of the RF signal as in the transmission devices described in Patent Documents 1-8. .

  In the transmission apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to simultaneously amplify and simultaneously output RF signals in a plurality of carrier frequency bands. Therefore, the transmission apparatus of the present invention can cope with CA technology.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram showing a block configuration of a transmission apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The transmission apparatus according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes at least a modulator 1001, a power amplifier (PA) 1002, a mode controller 1003, and a variable power supply 1004.

Modulator 1001, different carrier frequencies _{f c1,} f c2 each other, _..., RF signal 1005 _1, 1005 ₂ each having a _{f cn,} ..., to generate a 1005 _n. Here, n is a non-negative integer and represents the number of bands to be transmitted. RF signals 1005 ₁ , 1005 ₂ ,..., 1005 _n are input to the power amplifier 1002. RF signal 1005 _1, 1005 _2, ..., 1005 _n is amplified in power amplifier 1002, RF signal 1006 _1, 1006 ₂ from the power amplifier 1002, ... are output as 1006 _n. The RF signals 1006 ₁ , 1006 ₂ ,..., 1006 _n output from the power amplifier 1002 are used for communication as transmission signals.

In the present embodiment, it is desirable to use a multiband power amplifier designed for a plurality of carrier frequencies f _c1 , f _c2 ,..., F _cn as power amplifier 1002. For example, the power amplifier 1002 may be a power amplifier in which input / output matching design is performed at two or more frequencies as disclosed in Non-Patent Document 2 described in the above Non-Patent Document section. good.

Alternatively, the power amplifier 1002 may be a broadband power amplifier that covers the frequency range from the carrier frequency f _c1 to f _cn . As the configuration of the wideband power amplifier, for example, the configuration disclosed in Non-Patent Document 3 or Non-Patent Document 4 described in the above-mentioned Non-Patent Document section may be adopted.

The mode controller 1003 has a function of switching the number of bands _n of the RF signals 1005 ₁ , 1005 ₂ ,..., 1005 _n output from the modulator 1001 and switching the power supplied from the variable power source 1004 to the power amplifier 1002. Prepare.

  The mode controller 1003 outputs band number instruction information that indicates the number of bands to be transmitted to the modulator 1001. Further, the mode controller 1003 outputs power instruction information indicating the power supplied to the power amplifier 1002 to the variable power source 1004 according to the number of bands of the RF signal output from the modulator 1001. Here, the mode controller 1003 may output the band number instruction information and the power instruction information to the modulator 1001 and the variable power source 1004 at the same time. After the band number instruction information is output to the modulator 1001, the power instruction information May be output to the variable power source 1004.

  For example, when the number of bands of the RF signal output from the modulator 1001 is reduced, the mode controller 1003 also reduces the power supplied to the power amplifier 1002. For example, when the number of bands of the RF signal output from the modulator 1001 is increased, the mode controller 1003 increases the power supplied from the power amplifier 1002.

The variable power source 1004 may be either a voltage source or a current source, and the voltage value V _DC or current value I _{DC of} the variable power source 1004 is controlled by the mode controller 1003. With the function of the mode controller 1003, the power supplied from the variable power source 1004 is optimized according to the change in the number of bands of the RF signal, and there is an advantage that the power consumption can be reduced.

Next, a desirable setting method of the output voltage _VDC when the variable power source 1004 is a voltage source in the present embodiment will be described below. For simplification of description, a case where there are two carrier frequencies, f _c1 and f _c2 , will be described first.

  As an example, a case where a dual-band power amplifier (PA) corresponding to both carrier frequencies of 800 MHz / 2 GHz is used as the power amplifier 1002 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram showing output power dependence of power efficiency of a dual-band power amplifier (PA) as an example of the power amplifier 1002 of FIG. Here, the carrier frequency f _c1 of band 1 is 800 MHz, and the carrier frequency f _c2 of band 2 is 2 GHz. The power supply voltage of the power amplifier 1002 (= the output voltage V _DC of the variable power supply 1004) is set to 1.8V. In FIG. 2, the horizontal axis represents the output power of band 2, and the power efficiency when band 1 transmission is on (band 1 output power = 10 dBm) and when band 1 transmission is off is illustrated. Yes. FIG. 2 shows actual values and theoretical values of power efficiency. When the power amplifier 1002 performs the class B operation, the power efficiency follows the following formula (1).

Here, η is the power efficiency of the power amplifier 1002, P _total is the sum of the power over all bands output from the power amplifier 1002, and _VDC is the output voltage of the variable power source 1004.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the band 1 is changed from the on state (A) to the off state (B) while the output power of the band 2 is kept constant, the power efficiency is lowered. FIG. 2 shows a case where the output power of band 2 is 5 dBm as an example. In the case shown in FIG. 2, the output voltage V _DC of the variable power source 1004 is fixed at a constant value of 1.8 V in both the on state and off state of the band 1. As shown in equation (1), the power efficiency of the power amplifier 1002 is a monotonically increasing function of the sum of the powers of all the bands, so when the band 1 transitions from the on state to the off state, the power sum is reduced. Power efficiency is also reduced.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a time change of the state of the band 1 when the output voltage V _DC of the variable power source 1004 is not switched. Before and after the transition of the band 1 from the on state (A) to the off state (B), the output voltage V _DC of the variable power source 1004 does not change. FIG. 3 shows that the power efficiency of the power amplifier 1002 is reduced as a result.

FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram showing the output power dependency of the power efficiency of the power amplifier 1002. Here, the power efficiency of the power amplifier 1002 is shown with the band 1 being in the OFF state and the horizontal axis being the output power of the band 2. As shown in FIG. 4, when the output voltage _VDC of the variable power source 1004 is lowered from 1.8V to 0.9V while the output power of the band 2 is kept constant, the power efficiency is improved. FIG. 4 also shows a case where the output power of band 2 is 5 dBm as an example. As shown in Equation (1), the power efficiency of the power amplifier 1002 is inversely proportional to the power supply voltage V _DC, and thus the power efficiency is improved by lowering the power supply voltage.

5, when the band 1 shown in FIG. 2 is turned on and the power supply voltage V _DC is 1.8V and the power efficiency in (A), the band 1 shown in FIG. 4 is turned off and the power supply voltage V _DC 0 This is illustrated by combining the power efficiency in the case of .9V (B). As shown in FIG. 5, when the output power of band 2 is 5 dBm, the power efficiency of both does not change. The reduction in power efficiency due to the change in the band 1 from the on state to the off state balances the improvement in power efficiency due to the power supply voltage being reduced from 1.8 V to 0.9 V, thereby maintaining the power efficiency. Yes. According to Expression (1), the following expression is applied to the total output power P _OUT and power supply voltage V _DC before switching the number of bands, and to the total output power P _OUT ′ and power supply voltage V _DC ′ after switching the number of bands. If the power supply voltage V _DC ′ is determined as in (2), the power efficiency can be maintained at the same value before and after switching the number of bands.

Here, when the number of bands decreases, the output power total P _OUT also decreases, and when the number of bands increases, the output power total P _OUT also increases. Therefore, the mode controller 1003 can specify the total output power from the number of bands before and after switching by predetermining the correspondence between the number of bands and the total output power. Therefore, the mode controller 1003 can determine the power supply voltage V _DC ′ by specifying the number of bands before and after switching.

The power supply voltage V _DC ′ given by the equation (2) is a standard value. If the signal distortion falls below a desired value, the power efficiency may be improved by setting the power supply voltage V _DC ′ lower than the value given by Equation (2).

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a time change of the state of the band 1 when the output voltage _VDC of the variable power source 1004 is switched. Before and after the transition of the band 1 from the on state (A) to the off state (B), the output voltage V _DC of the variable power source 1004 is switched to a low value. The state in which the power efficiency is maintained even after the band 1 is switched from the on state to the off state by switching the power supply voltage _VDC is illustrated.

As described above, when transmission signals of a plurality of bands are collectively amplified by one power amplifier, transmission of an RF signal of a certain band among the plurality of bands is stopped in a state where the power supply voltage V _DC is fixed. In this case, there is a problem that the power efficiency of the power amplifier is lowered. In the present invention, when a plurality of transmission signals of a plurality of bands are collectively amplified by a single power amplifier, a decrease in power efficiency of the power amplifier is avoided by switching the value of the power supply voltage V _DC according to increase or decrease of the number of transmission bands. The effect of doing is obtained.

  In FIG. 7, as in FIG. 2, the horizontal axis represents the output power of band 2, and the power when band 1 transmission is on (band 1 output power = 10 dBm) and when band 1 transmission is off The power efficiency of amplifier 1002 is illustrated. As shown in FIG. 7, the power efficiency of the power amplifier 1002 can be maintained by increasing the output power of the band 2 at the same time that the band 1 is shifted from the on state (A) to the off state (B). is there. However, the state transition shown in FIG. 7 is not practical from the following viewpoints. First, the output power should be set according to the request for the communication state, and it is not desirable to change the output power for the purpose of improving the power efficiency. For example, unnecessarily raising the output power causes a problem of interference with other communication devices. Considering the relationship of power consumption = output power / power efficiency, when the output power is raised while maintaining the power efficiency at a constant value as in the example shown in FIG. 7, the power consumption increases. In the case of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the power efficiency is maintained without raising the output power, so that the power consumption is reduced compared to the example shown in FIG.

  Here, the difference between the power supply switching method disclosed in the present invention and the transmission devices disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 8 will be described. In the case of the transmission apparatus disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 8, it is necessary to control the output voltage of the power supply connected to the power amplifier in accordance with the fluctuation of the amplitude of the RF signal input to the power amplifier. However, when the modulation bandwidth of the RF signal is widened to the order of several tens of MHz, the power source connected to the power amplifier must output a voltage that fluctuates at a high speed (on the order of several tens of MHz). It is difficult to realize.

  On the other hand, in the case of the present invention, the output voltage of the variable power source 1004 always outputs a constant voltage regardless of the amplitude fluctuation of the RF signal. Therefore, the present invention is applicable even when the modulation bandwidth of the RF signal is widened to the order of several tens of MHz, unlike the transmitters of Patent Documents 1 to 8. In the present invention, the output voltage of the variable power source 1004 is switched when the number of bands to be transmitted changes. Due to the specifications of the communication system, switching of the number of transmission bands is usually performed after a period of several seconds or more. For this reason, the high-speed control of the power supply voltage as performed in the transmission devices of Patent Documents 1 to 8 is not required in the present invention.

(Second embodiment)
The second embodiment according to the present invention shows an application example of the first embodiment. FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 are conceptual diagrams showing how to use the transmitting apparatus in the second embodiment according to the present invention. In the second embodiment according to the present invention shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, the terminal 1101 is equipped with the transmission device shown in FIG.

8, a terminal 1101 performs communication by transmitting RF signals 1006 ₁ , 1006 ₂ ,..., 1006 _n to a base station 1102. As shown in FIG. 8, when the number of terminals existing in a cell 1103 that is a range in which communication with a base station is small, the terminal 1101 can perform communication that occupies many bands. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 8, terminal 1101 communicates with base station 1102 using _n band RF signals 1006 ₁ , 1006 ₂ ,..., 1006 _n . On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 9, when the number of terminals existing in the cell 1103 is large, the terminal 1101 communicates with another terminal 1104 by sharing the band. That is, in the example illustrated in FIG. 9, the terminal 1101 communicates with the base station 1102 using RF signals 1006 ₁ , 1006 ₂ ,. The terminal 1104 communicates with the base station 1102 using one or more bands of RF signals 1006 _n ,.

As in the second embodiment shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the number of bands that the terminal 1101 can use varies depending on the number of terminals existing in the cell 1103. The base station 1102 transmits network parameters (for example, the number of terminals in the cell 1103) to the terminal 1101. The terminal 1101 controls the number of bands used according to the network parameter transmitted from the base station 1102. As the number of bands that can be used by the terminal 1101 changes, the output voltage V _DC of the variable power supply 1004 in the transmission apparatus (FIG. 1) of the first embodiment mounted in the terminal 1101 is switched. By switching the output voltage _VDC of the variable power source 1004, reduction of power consumption in the transmission device (particularly the power amplifier 1002) mounted in the terminal 1101 is realized.

Note that the terminal 1104 may or may not be equipped with the transmission device (FIG. 1) of the first embodiment. That is, even if a terminal equipped with the transmission apparatus (FIG. 1) of the first embodiment and a terminal not equipped are mixed in the same cell 1103, the terminal 1101 consumes power by switching the output voltage _VDC. Can be realized.

In the above description, the terminal 1101 transmits the RF signals 1006 ₁ , 1006 ₂ ,... And the terminal 1104 transmits the RF signals 1006 _n ,..., But the terminal 1101 and the terminal 1104 have a combination other than the above. Similar processing is performed when an RF signal is transmitted.

As described above, in the second embodiment according to the present invention, the output voltage of the variable power supply 1004 in the transmission device mounted in the terminal 1101 according to the communication status, that is, the variation in the number of terminals in the cell 1103. It is characterized in that _VDC is controlled to be switched.

(Third embodiment)
The third embodiment according to the present invention shows an application example of the first embodiment. 10 and 11 are conceptual diagrams showing how to use the transmitting apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In the third embodiment according to the present invention shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the base station 1102 is equipped with the transmission device shown in FIG.

10, the base station 1102 transmits _n band RF signals 1006 ₁ , 1006 ₂ ,..., 1006 _n . In FIG. 10, the terminal 1101 _i (i = 1, 2,..., N) receives the RF signal 1006 _i (i = 1, 2,..., N) transmitted from the base station 1102, respectively. It has a function to do. FIG. 11 illustrates a case where the terminal 1101 _n having the function of receiving the RF signal 1006 _n does not exist in the cell 1103. In the case of FIG. 11, the base station 1102 does not need to transmit the RF signal 1006 _n and transmits only the (n−1) band RF signals 1006 ₁ , 1006 ₂ ,. As shown in the examples of FIGS. 10 and 11, the band to be transmitted by the base station 1102 according to the presence status of the terminals in the cell 1103 (particularly the number of bands that can be received by the terminals existing in the cell 1103). The number varies. Base station 1102 detects the presence status of terminals in cell 1103 and controls the number of bands to be transmitted by base station 1102. As the number of bands to be transmitted by the base station 1102 changes, the output voltage _VDC of the variable power supply 1004 in the transmission apparatus (FIG. 1) of the first embodiment mounted in the base station 1102 is switched. By switching the output voltage _VDC of the variable power source 1004, the power consumption of the transmission apparatus (particularly the power amplifier 1002) mounted in the base station 1102 can be reduced.

In the above description, the base station 1102 describes the case _where the transmission of the RF signal 1006 _n is stopped, but the same processing is performed for the RF signals 1006 ₁ , 1006 ₂ ,... Other than the RF signal 1006 _n .

As described above, in the third embodiment of the present invention, the output voltage V _DC of the variable power supply 1004 in the transmission device mounted in the base station 1102 is switched according to the presence status of the terminals in the cell 1103. It is characterized in that it is controlled.

(Fourth embodiment)
FIG.12 and FIG.13 is a block block diagram which shows the block structure of the transmitter in 4th Embodiment by this invention. As in the first embodiment, the transmission device in the fourth embodiment shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 includes at least a modulator 1001, a power amplifier 1002, a mode controller 1003, and a variable power supply 1004. Consists of including.

In the first embodiment, the switching control of the output voltage _VDC of the variable power source 1004 is performed when the number of bands of the RF signal to be transmitted changes. In the fourth embodiment, switching control of the output voltage _VDC of the variable power source 1004 is performed when the communication standard of a signal to be transmitted changes. FIG. 12 shows the transmission device before the communication standard of the signal to be transmitted changes. FIG. 13 shows the transmission apparatus after the communication standard of the signal to be transmitted has changed.

Specifically, the signal input to the power amplifier 1002 is modified in Figure 13 RF signals 1007 _1, while a diagram 12 RF signals 1005 _1,. In FIG. 12, the RF signal 1005 ₁ is amplified by the power amplifier 1002 and output as the RF signal 1006 ₁ , and in FIG. 13, the RF signal 1007 ₁ is amplified by the power amplifier 1002 and output as the RF signal 1008 ₁ . It is assumed that the RF signal 1005 ₁ and the RF signal 1007 ₁ are signals of different communication standards. Mode controller 1003 switches the RF signal output from the modulator 1001 into an RF signal 1007 ₁ from the RF signal 1005 _1, controls switching of the output voltage _{V DC} variable power supply 1004.

For different communication standards, the power of the signal (where RF signals 1006 ₁ and the RF signal 1008 ₁₎ to be transmitted, usually different. For example, the transmission power of a mobile phone is larger than the transmission power of a wireless LAN. That is, the power sum of the RF signal output from the power amplifier 1002 changes before and after switching the communication standard. Therefore, the output power sum P _OUT and power supply voltage V _DC before switching the communication standard, and the output power sum P _OUT ′ and power supply voltage V _DC ′ after switching the communication standard are expressed in the same formulas as in the first embodiment ( If the power supply voltage V _DC ′ is determined in 2), the power efficiency can be maintained at the same value before and after the switching of the communication standard.

  For example, the mode controller 1003 may hold information related to transmission power for each communication standard in advance. As a result, the mode controller 1003 can specify the total power of the RF signal output from the power amplifier 1002 before and after switching the communication standard of the RF signal output from the modulator 1001.

Also in the fourth embodiment, the power supply voltage V _DC ′ given by the equation (2) is a standard value. If the signal distortion falls below a desired value, the power efficiency may be improved by setting the power supply voltage V _DC ′ lower than the value given by Equation (2).

In the above has been described for the case of switching the RF signal 1006 ₁ to the RF signal of another communication standard, RF signal 1006 ₁ other than ₁ RF signals 1006, 1006 _2, ..., either of another 1006 _n The same processing is performed when switching to a communication standard RF signal.

(Fifth embodiment)
The fifth embodiment according to the present invention shows an application example of the fourth embodiment. FIG. 14 to FIG. 16 are conceptual diagrams showing how to use the transmitting apparatus in the second embodiment according to the present invention. In the fifth embodiment according to the present invention shown in FIGS. 14 to 16, the terminal 1111 is equipped with the transmission device in the fourth embodiment shown in FIGS.

In FIG. 14, a terminal 1111 performs communication by transmitting RF signals 1006 ₁ , 1006 ₂ ,..., 1006 _n to a base station 1112. A cell 1113 indicates a range in which the terminal 1111 can communicate with the base station 1112. On the other hand, in FIG. 15, when the base station 1114 of base station 1112 and another communication standard exists, the terminal 1111, one of the RF signal which has been transmitted to the base station 1112, e.g. RF1006 ₁ stops, instead may transmit RF signals 1008 ₁ to the base station 1114. Upon switching from the RF signal 1006 ₁ to RF signal 1008 _1, as described in the fourth embodiment, switching of the output voltage _{V DC} of the variable power supply 1004 is performed. Thereby, switching of the output voltage V _DC of the variable power source 1004 according to the communication state is optimized, and power saving of the terminal 1111 is realized.

16, the terminal 1111, the RF signal 1006 _1, 1006 _2, ..., while transmitting the 1006 _n to the base station 1112 is transmitting RF signal 1008 ₁ to the base station 1114 at the same time. In the case of transition from the state of FIG. 14 to the state of FIG. 16, the number of bands is switched at the same time as changing the communication standard to be transmitted. Also in this case, when changing the communication standard and switching the number of bands, the output voltage _VDC of the variable power source 1004 is switched. That is, the present invention may be applied even when the change of the communication standard and the switching of the number of bands are combined. In such a case, the mode controller 1003 may hold in advance information regarding the total output power corresponding to the number of bands and information regarding transmission power for each communication standard. In the fifth embodiment, the base station 1112 may be a mobile phone base station as an example, and the base station 1114 may be a wireless LAN base station as an example.

(Sixth embodiment)
FIG. 17 is a block configuration diagram showing a block configuration of a transmission apparatus according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention. In the sixth embodiment, the following components and functions are added to the transmission apparatus of the first embodiment (FIG. 1) or the fourth embodiment (FIGS. 12 to 13). That is, in the sixth embodiment, the coupler 1009 is added to the output of the power amplifier 1002.

The coupler 1009 detects the RF signals 1006 ₁ , 1006 ₂ ,..., 1006 _n to 1008 ₁ output from the power amplifier 1002, and transmits the detected RF signals to the mode controller 1003. The mode controller 1003 detects signal distortion of the RF signals 1006 ₁ , 1006 ₂ ,..., 1006 _n to 1008 ₁ from the RF signal detected by the coupler 1009. As an index of signal distortion, adjacent channel leakage power (ACPR), EVM (Error Vector Magnitude), IMD (Inter-modulation distortion), MER (Modulation Error Ratio), or the like may be used.

The mode controller 1003 sets the value of the output voltage _VDC of the variable power supply 1004 so that the signal distortion of the detected RF signals 1006 ₁ , 1006 ₂ ,..., 1006 _n to 1008 ₁ satisfies the conditions defined by the communication standard. Set. As a result, power efficiency can be realized by maximizing the power efficiency under the condition of signal distortion defined by the communication standard. Also in the sixth embodiment, as in the first to fifth embodiments, the output voltage V4 of the variable power source 1004 is changed with the change in the number of bands or the communication standard, or with the conversion of the number of bands and the communication standard. _DC switching is performed.

(Seventh embodiment)
FIG. 18 is a block configuration diagram showing a block configuration of a transmission apparatus according to the seventh embodiment of the present invention. In the seventh embodiment, the internal configuration of the variable power source 1004 in the transmission device described in the first to sixth embodiments will be described in detail. 18, the variable power source 1004 includes at least m (m is an integer of 2 or more) power sources 1011 ₁ ,..., 1011 _m, and a switch 1012. A combination of the number m of the power supplies 1011 ₁ ,..., 1011 _m and the number n of bands to be transmitted may be arbitrary.

Power 1011 _1, ..., 1011 _m, the DC voltage _V 1 of the different values, ..., and outputs a _{V m.} The switch 1012 has a function of selecting one of the power supplies 1011 ₁ ,..., 1011 _m and connecting the selected power supply to the power supply terminal of the power amplifier 1002. The mode controller 1003 switches the switch 1012 so that a power source that outputs an optimal power source voltage when the number of bands or the communication standard is switched is selected from the power sources 1011 ₁ ,..., 1011 _m and connected to the power amplifier 1002. Has a function to control. The function of the variable power supply 1004 required by the present invention is realized by the internal configuration of the variable power supply 1004 described above.

(Eighth embodiment)
FIG. 19 is a block configuration diagram showing a block configuration of a transmission apparatus according to the eighth embodiment of the present invention. In the eighth embodiment, the internal configuration of the variable power source 1004 in the transmission device described in the first to sixth embodiments will be described in detail. In the transmission device of FIG. 19, the variable power source 1004 is configured by a switching regulator including at least a pulse modulator 1021, a switching amplifier 1022, and a low-pass filter 1023. The pulse modulator 1021 outputs a pulse wave with a constant duty to the switching amplifier 1022. The switching amplifier 1022 amplifies the input pulse wave and outputs the amplified pulse wave to the low-pass filter 1023.

The low-pass filter 1023 smoothes the pulse wave output from the switching amplifier 1022 and outputs the DC voltage _VDC toward the power supply terminal of the power amplifier 1002. The DC voltage _VDC output from the variable power source 1004 is controlled by the duty of the pulse wave output from the pulse modulator 1021. The mode controller 1003 has a function of setting the duty of the pulse wave output from the pulse modulator 1021 so that the variable power supply 1004 outputs an optimum power supply voltage when the number of bands or the communication standard is switched. The function of the variable power supply 1004 required by the present invention is realized by the internal configuration of the variable power supply 1004 described above.

(Ninth embodiment)
FIG. 20 is a block configuration diagram showing a block configuration of a transmission apparatus according to the ninth embodiment of the present invention. In the ninth embodiment, the internal configuration of the variable power supply 1004 in the transmission device described in the first to sixth embodiments will be described in detail. In the transmission device of FIG. 20, the variable power source 1004 is configured by a linear regulator including at least a bias controller 1031, a transistor 1032, and a power source 1033. The transistor 1032 may be a bipolar transistor or a field effect transistor. The output voltage V _DC of the variable power supply 1004 is controlled by the input voltage of the transistor 1032 output from the bias controller 1031. The mode controller 1003 has a function of setting the input voltage of the transistor 1032 output from the bias controller 1031 so that the variable power supply 1004 outputs an optimal power supply voltage when the number of bands or the communication standard is switched. The function of the variable power supply 1004 required by the present invention is realized by the internal configuration of the variable power supply 1004 described above.

  As described above, the present invention suppresses the power consumption of the power amplifier by controlling the power supply voltage of the power amplifier when the number of bands or the communication standard changes in a transmission device that supports multiband communication. There is an effect that power saving of the transmission apparatus is realized. Furthermore, the transmission apparatus according to the present invention has the following improvement effects as compared with the transmission apparatuses disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 10.

  The transmission devices described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 support only one band and cannot be used for multiband communication. On the other hand, the present invention has an improvement effect that it can be applied to multiband communication.

  The transmission devices described in Patent Documents 4 to 10 support multiband communication. However, in the case of the transmitters described in Patent Documents 4 to 7 and 9 to 10, it is necessary to install as many power amplifiers as the number of bands used. Moreover, since it is necessary to provide a power source for each power amplifier, the same number of power sources as the number of bands used are also required. This causes a problem of an increase in the size and cost of the transmission apparatus, particularly in a radio communication system with a large number of bands used. In the case of the present invention, since a single power amplifier and a power source support multiband communication, an increase in the size and cost of the transmission apparatus can be avoided even when the number of bands used is large.

  The transmission devices described in Patent Documents 1 to 8 require control for changing the power supply of the power amplifier at high speed in accordance with the change in the amplitude of the RF signal output from the power amplifier. For this reason, when the modulation bandwidth of the RF signal is wide and the amplitude change of the RF signal is fast, the realization becomes difficult. Specifically, when the amplitude change of the RF signal is high, there is a problem that the power efficiency of the power supply modulator is reduced and the power consumption is increased, and at the same time, errors in the output signals of the power supply modulator and the power amplifier are increased. In the present invention, the power supply voltage is controlled only when the number of bands or the communication standard changes. That is, since the power supply voltage is not controlled in accordance with the amplitude change of the RF signal, the present invention can be applied even when the amplitude change of the RF signal is high speed.

  The configuration of the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above. However, the contents disclosed in the above-mentioned patent documents and the like can also be incorporated into the present invention by reference. Within the scope of the entire disclosure (including claims) of the present invention, the embodiment can be changed and adjusted based on the basic technical concept. Further, various combinations or selections of various disclosed elements are possible within the scope of the claims of the present invention. That is, the present invention includes various modifications and corrections that can be made by those skilled in the art in accordance with the entire disclosure including the claims and the technical idea.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

(Appendix 1) A modulator that outputs RF (Radio Frequency) signals in a plurality of carrier frequency bands, a power amplifier that amplifies the plurality of RF signals output from the modulator, and outputs the amplified RF signals; The variable power supply for supplying power to the power amplifier and the number of the RF signals to be output from the modulator are switched, and the variable power supply to the power amplifier according to the number of the RF signals to be output from the modulator. And a mode controller that controls a voltage value or a current value of a power supply to be supplied.
(Supplementary note 2) When the number of the RF signals output from the modulator is increased, the mode controller increases the voltage value or current value of the power source supplied to the power amplifier, and outputs from the modulator. The transmission apparatus according to appendix 1, wherein when the number of the RF signals to be reduced is reduced, a voltage value or a current value of a power source supplied to the power amplifier is reduced.
(Additional remark 3) It further has a coupler which detects RF signal outputted from the power amplifier,
The mode controller detects signal distortion of the RF signal detected in the coupler, and when switching the number of the RF signals, the signal distortion of the RF signal satisfies a condition defined by a communication standard. The transmitter according to appendix 1 or 2, which controls the voltage value or current value of the power source supplied to the power amplifier.
(Supplementary Note 4) The variable power supply includes a plurality of power supplies and a switch that connects one of the plurality of power supplies to a power supply terminal of the power amplifier, and the mode controller outputs from the modulator. Any one of appendices 1 to 3, wherein when the number of RF signals to be switched is switched, the switch is controlled so that a desired one of the plurality of power supplies is selected and connected to the power supply terminal of the power amplifier. The transmitter according to the item.
(Supplementary Note 5) The variable power supply generates a DC voltage or a DC current by smoothing a pulse modulator that outputs a pulse signal, a switching amplifier that amplifies the pulse signal, and a pulse signal output from the switching amplifier. A low-pass filter, and the mode controller controls the duty of the pulse signal output from the pulse modulator when the number of the RF signals output from the modulator is switched. The transmitter according to any one of appendices 1 to 3, wherein the DC voltage or DC current of the power source supplied from the variable power source to the power amplifier is switched to a desired value.
(Supplementary Note 6) The variable power source is a linear regulator including a DC power source, a transistor, and a bias controller that controls a bias applied to the transistor, and the mode controller is configured to output from the modulator. When the number of RF signals is switched, the bias controller controls the bias applied to the transistor to switch the DC voltage or DC current of the power source supplied to the variable power source or power amplifier to a desired value. The transmission device according to any one of 1 to 3.
(Appendix 7) A modulator that outputs RF (Radio Frequency) signals in a plurality of carrier frequency bands, a power amplifier that amplifies the plurality of RF signals output from the modulator, and outputs the amplified RF signals Switching a communication standard applied to at least one RF signal among a plurality of RF signals output from the modulator and a variable power supply for supplying power to the power amplifier, and according to the switched communication standard And a mode controller for controlling a voltage value or a current value of a power source supplied from the variable power source to the power amplifier.
(Supplementary note 8) When the mode controller switches the communication standard applied to at least one RF signal among the plurality of RF signals output from the modulator, the mode controller outputs the RF output from the power amplifier. When the power sum of the signal increases, the voltage value or current value of the power source supplied to the power amplifier is increased, and when the power sum of the RF signal output from the power amplifier decreases, to the power amplifier. The transmitting apparatus according to appendix 7, wherein the voltage value or current value of the power supply to be supplied is decreased.
(Supplementary Note 9) A coupler that detects an RF signal output from the power amplifier is further provided, and the mode controller detects signal distortion of the RF signal detected by the coupler, and includes a plurality of the RF signals. When the communication standard applied to at least one RF signal is switched, the voltage value or current of the power supplied to the power amplifier so that the signal distortion of the RF signal satisfies the conditions defined by the communication standard The transmitting apparatus according to claim 7 or claim 8, which controls a value.
(Supplementary Note 10) The variable power source includes a plurality of power sources and a switch that connects one of the power sources to a power source terminal of the power amplifier, and the mode controller includes a plurality of the RF signals. The switch is controlled so that when a communication standard applied to at least one RF signal is switched, a desired one of the plurality of power supplies is selected and connected to the power supply terminal of the power amplifier. The transmission device according to any one of Items 9 to 9.
(Supplementary Note 11) The variable power source generates a DC voltage or a DC current by smoothing a pulse modulator that outputs a pulse signal, a switching amplifier that amplifies the pulse signal, and a pulse signal that is output from the switching amplifier. A low-pass filter having a function, wherein the mode controller switches the communication standard applied to at least one RF signal among the plurality of RF signals when the pulse modulator is switched. The transmitter according to any one of appendices 7 to 9, wherein a duty ratio of a pulse signal output from the control circuit is controlled to switch a DC voltage or a DC current supplied from the variable power source to the power amplifier to a desired value.
(Supplementary note 12) The variable power source is a linear regulator including a DC power source, a transistor, and a bias controller that controls a bias applied to the transistor, and the mode controller includes a plurality of the RF signals. When a communication standard applied to at least one RF signal is switched, a bias voltage applied to the transistor is controlled by the bias controller, whereby a DC voltage or a DC voltage supplied from the variable power source to the power amplifier is controlled. The transmitting device according to any one of appendices 7 to 9, wherein the current is switched to a desired value.
(Supplementary note 13) A terminal device having the transmission device according to any one of supplementary notes 1 to 6.
(Supplementary note 14) A base station having the transmission device according to any one of supplementary notes 1 to 6.
(Supplementary note 15) A terminal device having the transmission device according to any one of supplementary notes 7 to 12.
(Supplementary Note 16) When outputting RF signals of a plurality of carrier frequency bands, amplifying the plurality of output RF signals, outputting the amplified RF signals, and outputting an RF signal of a plurality of carrier frequency bands, A transmission method for switching the number of RF signals to be output and switching a voltage value or a current value of a power source supplied to a power amplifier that amplifies a plurality of the RF signals according to the number of RF signals to be output.
(Supplementary Note 17) When outputting RF signals of a plurality of carrier frequency bands, amplifying the plurality of output RF signals, outputting the amplified RF signals, and outputting the RF signals of the plurality of carrier frequency bands Switching a communication standard applied to at least one of the plurality of RF signals, and a voltage value of a power source supplied to a power amplifier that amplifies the plurality of RF signals according to the switched communication standard, or A transmission method for switching the current value.
(Supplementary Note 18) When outputting RF signals of a plurality of carrier frequency bands, amplifying the plurality of output RF signals, outputting the amplified RF signals, and outputting an RF signal of a plurality of carrier frequency bands, The transmission apparatus computer switches the number of RF signals to be output and switches the voltage value or current value of a power source supplied to a power amplifier that amplifies the plurality of RF signals in accordance with the number of RF signals to be output. The program to be executed.
(Supplementary note 19) When outputting RF signals of a plurality of carrier frequency bands, amplifying the plurality of output RF signals, outputting the amplified RF signals, and outputting the RF signals of the plurality of carrier frequency bands Switching a communication standard applied to at least one of the plurality of RF signals, and a voltage value of a power source supplied to a power amplifier that amplifies the plurality of RF signals according to the switched communication standard, or A program that causes a computer of a transmission apparatus to switch a current value.

1001 Modulator 1002 Power amplifier 1003 Mode controller 1004 Variable power supply 1005, 1006, 1007, 1008 RF signal 1009 Coupler 1011, 1033 Power supply 1012 Switch 1021 Pulse modulator 1022 Switching amplifier 1023 Low-pass filter 1031 Bias controller 1032 Transistor 1101 1104 1111 terminal 1102, 1112, 1114 base station 1103, 1113 cell

Claims (10)

A modulator that outputs a plurality of carrier frequency band RF (Radio Frequency) signals;
A power amplifier that amplifies the plurality of RF signals output from the modulator and outputs the amplified RF signals;
A variable power supply for supplying power to the power amplifier;
The number of the RF signals output from the modulator is switched, and the voltage value or current value of the power source supplied from the variable power source to the power amplifier is controlled according to the number of the RF signals output from the modulator. And a mode controller.   The mode controller increases a voltage value or a current value of a power source supplied to the power amplifier when increasing the number of the RF signals output from the modulator, and outputs the RF signal output from the modulator. The transmission device according to claim 1, wherein when the number of signals is reduced, a voltage value or a current value of a power source supplied to the power amplifier is reduced. A coupler for detecting an RF signal output from the power amplifier;
The mode controller detects signal distortion of the RF signal detected in the coupler, and when switching the number of the RF signals, the signal distortion of the RF signal satisfies a condition defined by a communication standard. The transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the voltage value or the current value of the power source supplied to the power amplifier is controlled. The variable power supply includes a plurality of power supplies and a switch that connects one of the plurality of power supplies to a power supply terminal of the power amplifier,
The mode controller selects the desired one of the plurality of power supplies and connects the switch to the power supply terminal of the power amplifier when the number of the RF signals output from the modulator is switched. The transmission device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission device is controlled. The variable power source includes a pulse modulator that outputs a pulse signal, a switching amplifier that amplifies the pulse signal, a low-pass filter that generates a DC voltage or a DC current by smoothing the pulse signal output from the switching amplifier, A switching regulator with
The mode controller controls the duty of the pulse signal output from the pulse modulator when the number of the RF signals output from the modulator is switched, and is supplied from the variable power source to the power amplifier. The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the DC voltage or DC current of the power source is switched to a desired value. The variable power source is a linear regulator including a DC power source, a transistor, and a bias controller that controls a bias applied to the transistor,
The mode controller controls the bias applied to the transistor with the bias controller when the number of the RF signals output from the modulator is switched, and the power supplied to the variable power source or the power amplifier The transmission apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the direct current voltage or direct current is switched to a desired value. A modulator that outputs a plurality of carrier frequency band RF (Radio Frequency) signals;
A power amplifier that amplifies the plurality of RF signals output from the modulator and outputs the amplified RF signals;
A variable power supply for supplying power to the power amplifier;
The communication standard applied to at least one RF signal among the plurality of RF signals output from the modulator is switched, and the power source supplied from the variable power source to the power amplifier according to the switched communication standard And a mode controller for controlling the voltage value or current value of the transmitter. Output RF signals of multiple carrier frequency bands,
Amplifying the plurality of output RF signals;
Output the amplified RF signal;
When outputting RF signals in a multi-carrier frequency band, the number of the RF signals to be output is switched, and the voltage of the power supply supplied to the power amplifier that amplifies the plurality of RF signals according to the number of RF signals to be output A transmission method that controls the value or current value. Output RF signals of multiple carrier frequency bands,
Amplifying the plurality of output RF signals;
Output the amplified RF signal;
When outputting the RF signals of the plurality of carrier frequency bands, the communication standard applied to at least one RF signal among the plurality of RF signals is switched, and the plurality of the RFs according to the switched communication standard. A transmission method for controlling a voltage value or a current value of a power source supplied to a power amplifier that amplifies a signal. Output RF signals of multiple carrier frequency bands,
Amplifying the plurality of output RF signals;
Output the amplified RF signal;
When outputting RF signals in a multi-carrier frequency band, the number of the RF signals to be output is switched, and the voltage of the power supply supplied to the power amplifier that amplifies the plurality of RF signals according to the number of RF signals to be output A program that causes a computer of a transmission apparatus to control a value or a current value.

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