Mixer unit

摘要

A mixer unit (30) for frequency translating, based on an LO signal, an input signal having one or more input signal components is disclosed. The mixer unit has a signal processing path (50a-d, 60a-d) from each Input terminal (32+, 32−) to each output terminal (34_I+, 34_I−, 34_Q+,34_Q−) of the mixer unit (30), The LO signal has an associated LO signal component (LO_Ia-d, LO_Qa-d) for each signal processing path. The mixer unit (30) comprises a plurality of mixer switches (70a-N) and a control unit (90). The control unit (90) is adapted to, for each signal processing path (50a-d, 60a-d), dynamically select an associated subset, in the following denoted active switch subset, of the plurality of mixer switches (70a-N) for operation in the signal processing path (50a-d, 60a˜d) such that which of the plurality of mixer switches (70a-N) belong to said active switch subset varies in time. At any instant in time, the union of all the active switch subsets is a strict subset, denoted combined active subset, of the plurality of mixer switches (70a-N). The control unit (90) is further adapted to activate only the mixer switches (70a-N) in said combined active subset by, for each mixer switch (70a-N) in the combined active subset, supplying the corresponding LO signal component to the mixer switch. A related radio receiver circuit (10), a related radio communication apparatus (1, 2), and a related method are also disclosed.

主权项

1. A mixer unit for frequency translating, based on a local oscillator, LO, signal, an input signal having one or more input signal components, said mixer unit comprising:
an input port for receiving the input signal, wherein the input port has an input terminal for each input signal component; an output port for outputting a frequency translated output signal having one or more output signal components, wherein the output port has an output terminal for each output signal component; a signal processing path from each input terminal to each output terminal, wherein the LO signal has an associated LO signal component for each signal processing path, and the LO signal components have the same LO frequency; a plurality of mixer switches; and a control unit adapted to:
for each signal processing path, dynamically select an associated subset, denoted as an active switch subset, of the plurality of mixer switches, for operation in the signal processing path such that which of the plurality of mixer switches belong to said active switch subset varies in time, and, at any instant in time, the union of all the active switch subsets, denoted as a combined active subset, is a strict subset of the plurality of mixer switches; anddrive only the mixer switches in said combined active subset by, for each mixer switch in the combined active subset, supplying, to the mixer switch, the LO signal component associated with the signal processing path in which that mixer switch is operated; wherein the input signal is a differential input signal having a first and a second input signal component; wherein the input port is a differential input port comprising a first input terminal for receiving the first input signal component and a second input terminal for receiving a second input signal component; wherein the output signal comprises one or more differential output signal pairs, wherein each differential output signal pair comprises a first output signal component of the differential output signal pair and a second output signal component of the differential output signal pair; and wherein, for each differential output signal pair:
the output port comprises a corresponding differential output terminal pair having a first output terminal of the differential output terminal pair for outputting the first output signal component of the differential output signal pair; and
a second output terminal of the differential output terminal pair for outputting the second output signal component of the differential output signal pair; and wherein, for each differential output terminal pair, there is an associated signal processing path group of four signal processing paths, namely:
a first signal processing path, which is the signal processing path from the first input terminal to the first output terminal of the differential output terminal pair;a second signal processing path, which is the signal processing path from the first input terminal to the second output terminal of the differential output terminal pair;a third signal processing path, which is the signal processing path from the second input terminal to the first output terminal of the differential output terminal pair; anda fourth signal processing path, which is the signal processing path from the second input terminal to the second output terminal of the differential output terminal pair.