CN113676208B

CN113676208B - Amplifier module, radio frequency system and communication equipment

Info

Publication number: CN113676208B
Application number: CN202110927509.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈锋; 仝林
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2021-08-12
Filing date: 2021-08-12
Publication date: 2022-07-15
Anticipated expiration: 2041-08-12
Also published as: WO2023016196A1; CN113676208A

Abstract

The application provides an amplifier module, radio frequency system and communications facilities, the MMPA module further supports the hyperfrequency signal on the basis of supporting non-hyperfrequency signal, separates receiving circuit and transmitting circuit's wave filter, can reduce two way receiving circuit's the insertion loss. And the processing circuit at the ultrahigh frequency end supports the SRS function of 4 antennas and supports the receiving processing of one path of ultrahigh frequency signals, and the SRS switching function can be conveniently realized by utilizing the 4P4T switch, so that the radio frequency front end architecture is simplified. In addition, the ultrahigh frequency signal and the non-ultrahigh frequency signal share one antenna port through the antenna multiplexing port, and compared with the externally-arranged switch circuit for de-combining the signals to realize corresponding functions, the cost and the layout area are saved, and the circuit insertion loss is reduced.

Description

Amplifier module, radio frequency system and communication equipment

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of antenna technologies, and in particular, to an amplifier module, a radio frequency system, and a communication device.

Background

For a communication device supporting the fifth generation 5G communication technology, a dual connection mode of the fourth generation 4G signal and the 5G signal is generally adopted in a Non-independent Networking (NSA) mode. In order to implement the transmitting function supporting signals of different frequency bands, a plurality of independent power amplification modules are generally used to implement power amplification for comparing different high-frequency signals, for example, a plurality of Multi-band Multi-mode power amplifiers (MMPA) for supporting 4G signal transmission and MMPA devices for supporting 5G signal transmission, so as to implement dual transmission of 4G signals and 5G signals.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides an amplifier module, a radio frequency system and communication equipment, which can improve the integration level of devices and reduce the cost.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a multi-mode multi-band power amplifier MMPA module, comprising:

the non-ultrahigh frequency amplifying circuit is configured to receive and process a non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal from the radio frequency transceiver and output the non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal to a target non-ultrahigh frequency output port through the target selection switch;

an ultra-high frequency amplification circuit comprising:

the ultrahigh frequency transmitting circuit is configured to receive and process an ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal from the radio frequency transceiver, and sequentially outputs the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal to a target ultrahigh frequency output port through the first filter, the coupler and the 4P4T switch;

a first uhf receiving circuit configured to receive and process a first uhf receiving signal of a first target uhf input port sequentially through a second filter and the 4P4T switch, and output to the rf transceiver;

a second uhf receiving circuit configured to receive and process a second uhf receiving signal of a second target uhf input port sequentially through a third filter and the 4P4T switch, and output to the rf transceiver;

the first P port of the 4P4T switch is connected to the coupler, the second P port is connected to the second filter, the third P port is connected to the third filter, the fourth P port is connected to a transmit-receive port of a target frequency band signal, two T ports of the 4P4T switch are configured to be connected to two SRS ports, respectively, the third T port is configured to be connected to the first uhf antenna port, the third T port is configured to be connected to an antenna multiplexing port, and the antenna multiplexing port is a multiplexing port of an uhf signal and a hf signal; the target ultrahigh frequency output port and the target ultrahigh frequency input port are any one of the two SRS ports, the first ultrahigh frequency antenna port and the antenna multiplexing port, and the target frequency band signal is a non-ultrahigh frequency signal.

It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the application, the MMPA module further supports the ultrahigh frequency signal on the basis of supporting the non-ultrahigh frequency signal, and separates the filters of the receiving circuit and the transmitting circuit, so that the insertion loss of the two receiving circuits can be reduced. And the processing circuit at the ultrahigh frequency end supports the SRS function of 4 antennas and supports the receiving processing of one path of ultrahigh frequency signals, and the SRS switching function can be conveniently realized by utilizing the 4P4T switch, so that the radio frequency front end architecture is simplified. In addition, the ultrahigh frequency signal and the non-ultrahigh frequency signal share one antenna port through the antenna multiplexing port, and compared with an externally-arranged switch circuit for realizing a corresponding function, the antenna multiplexing port has the advantages that the cost and the layout area are saved, and the circuit insertion loss is reduced.

In a second aspect, the present application provides an MMPA module comprising:

the non-ultrahigh frequency amplifying unit is connected with the target selection switch, is used for receiving and processing a non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal from the radio frequency transceiver, and outputs the non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal to a target non-ultrahigh frequency output port through the target selection switch;

the first ultrahigh frequency amplification unit is sequentially connected with the first filter, the coupler and the 4P4T switch and is used for receiving the ultrahigh frequency transmission signal from the radio frequency transceiver, amplifying the ultrahigh frequency transmission signal and outputting the ultrahigh frequency transmission signal to a target ultrahigh frequency output port through the first filter, the coupler and the 4P4T switch in sequence;

the second ultrahigh frequency amplifying unit is sequentially connected with a second filter and the 4P4T switch, and is used for receiving a first ultrahigh frequency receiving signal of a first target ultrahigh frequency input port sequentially through the 4P4T switch and the second filter, amplifying the first ultrahigh frequency receiving signal and outputting the first ultrahigh frequency receiving signal to the radio frequency transceiver;

the third ultrahigh frequency amplification unit is sequentially connected with a third filter and the 4P4T switch, and is used for receiving a second ultrahigh frequency receiving signal of a second target ultrahigh frequency input port sequentially through the 4P4T switch and the third filter, amplifying the second ultrahigh frequency receiving signal and outputting the amplified second ultrahigh frequency receiving signal to the radio frequency transceiver;

a first P port of the 4P4T switch is connected to the coupler, a second P port is connected to the second filter, a third P port is connected to the third filter, a fourth P port is connected to a transmit-receive port of a target frequency band signal of the MMPA module, two T ports of the 4P4T switch are connected to two SRS ports of the MMPA module in a one-to-one correspondence manner, a third T port is connected to a first ultrahigh frequency antenna port of the MMPA module, a fourth T port is connected to an antenna multiplexing port, and the antenna multiplexing port is a multiplexing port of an ultrahigh frequency signal and a high frequency signal; the target ultrahigh frequency output port and the target ultrahigh frequency input port are any one of the two SRS ports, the first ultrahigh frequency antenna port and the antenna multiplexing port, and the target frequency band signal is a non-ultrahigh frequency signal.

In a third aspect, the present application provides an MMPA module configured with a non-uhf receiving port for receiving a non-uhf transmission signal of a radio frequency transceiver, an uhf receiving port for receiving an uhf transmission signal of the radio frequency transceiver, a first uhf output port for transmitting a first uhf reception signal from an antenna, a second uhf output port for receiving a second uhf reception signal from an antenna, and a non-uhf output port for transmitting the non-uhf transmission signal, a third uhf output port for transmitting the uhf transmission signal, a transceiving port for transmitting or receiving a target frequency band signal, the third uhf output port including a first uhf antenna port, an antenna multiplexing port and two SRS ports, the antenna multiplexing port being a multiplexing port of an uhf signal and a high frequency signal, the target frequency band signal is a non-ultrahigh frequency signal; the MMPA module includes:

the non-ultrahigh frequency amplifying circuit is connected with the non-ultrahigh frequency receiving port and is used for amplifying the non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal;

the target selection switch is connected with the output end of the non-ultrahigh frequency amplification circuit and the non-ultrahigh frequency output port and used for selectively conducting a channel between the non-ultrahigh frequency amplification circuit and a target non-ultrahigh frequency output port, and the target non-ultrahigh frequency output port is any one of the non-ultrahigh frequency output ports;

the ultrahigh frequency transmitting circuit is connected with the ultrahigh frequency receiving port and is used for amplifying the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal;

the first end of the first filter is connected with the output end of the ultrahigh frequency transmitting circuit and is used for filtering the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal;

a first end of the coupler is connected with a second end of the first filter, and a second end of the coupler is connected with a coupling port of the MMPA module, and the coupler is used for detecting power information of the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal and outputting the power information through the coupling port;

the first ultrahigh frequency receiving circuit is connected with the first ultrahigh frequency output port and is used for amplifying the first ultrahigh frequency receiving signal;

the first end of the second filter is connected with the input end of the first ultrahigh frequency receiving circuit and is used for filtering the first ultrahigh frequency receiving signal;

the second ultrahigh frequency receiving circuit is connected with the second ultrahigh frequency output port and is used for amplifying the second ultrahigh frequency receiving signal;

a first end of the third filter is connected with the input end of the second ultrahigh frequency receiving circuit and is used for filtering the second ultrahigh frequency receiving signal;

a 4P4T switch, a first P port of the 4P4T switch is connected to the third end of the coupler, a second P port is connected to the second end of the second filter, a third P port is connected to the third end of the third filter, a fourth P port is connected to the transceiving port, two T ports of the 4P4T switch are connected to the two SRS ports in a one-to-one correspondence manner, a third T port is connected to the first uhf antenna port, and a fourth T port is connected to the antenna multiplexing port.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a radio frequency system comprising:

the MMPA module of any one of the first to third aspects;

the radio frequency transceiver is connected with the MMPA module and is used for transmitting and/or receiving ultrahigh frequency signals and non-ultrahigh frequency signals;

the first antenna unit is connected with a second ultrahigh frequency antenna port of the MMPA module, and the second ultrahigh frequency antenna port comprises two SRS ports, a first ultrahigh frequency antenna port and an antenna multiplexing port;

the target antenna unit is connected with a target antenna port of the MMPA module;

the radio frequency system is used for realizing the EN-DC function between the ultrahigh frequency emission signal and the non-ultrahigh frequency emission signal through the MMPA module, wherein the non-ultrahigh frequency signal comprises any one of a low frequency emission signal, an intermediate frequency emission signal and a high frequency emission signal.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising:

the radio frequency system of the fourth aspect.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1A is a schematic structural diagram of a radio frequency system 1 according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 1B is a schematic structural diagram of a conventional MMPA module according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a framework of an MMPA module according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a framework of another MMPA module according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of another MMPA module according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of another MMPA module according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a framework of another MMPA module according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of another MMPA module according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a framework of another MMPA module according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of another MMPA module according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of another MMPA module according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a framework of a radio frequency system 1 according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of another radio frequency system 1 according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a frame of another radio frequency system 1 according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic block diagram of another radio frequency system 1 according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a schematic block diagram of another radio frequency system 1 according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic diagram of a frame of another radio frequency system 1 according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 17 is a schematic frame diagram of a communication device a according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18 is a schematic frame diagram of a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the aforementioned objects, features and advantages of the present application more comprehensible, embodiments accompanying the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present application, and in the accompanying drawings, preferred embodiments of the present application are set forth. This application may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete. This application is capable of implementation in many other ways than those herein described and of similar modifications by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application and is therefore not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one such feature. In the description of the present application, "plurality" means at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless explicitly specified otherwise. In the description of the present application, "a number" means at least one, such as one, two, etc., unless specifically limited otherwise.

The radio frequency system according to the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a communication device having a wireless communication function, where the communication device may be a handheld device, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a computing device or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, and various forms of User Equipment (UE) (e.g., a Mobile phone), a Mobile Station (MS), and the like. For convenience of description, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as a communication device. The network devices may include base stations, access points, and the like.

At present, as shown in fig. 1A, a radio frequency system 1 commonly used for electronic devices such as mobile phones includes an MMPA module 10, a transmitting module 20 (the transmitting module is also called a TXM module), a radio frequency transceiver 30 and an antenna group 40, where the radio frequency transceiver 30 is connected to the MMPA module 10 and the transmitting module 20, and the MMPA module 10 and the transmitting module 20 are connected to the antenna group 40. The rf transceiver is configured to send or receive rf signals through the signal path of the MMPA module 10 and the antenna group 40, or send or receive rf signals through the transmitting module 20 and the antenna group 40, and in addition, the MMPA module 10 may also be connected to the transmitting module 20 to form a signal processing path to send or receive rf signals through a corresponding antenna.

As shown IN fig. 1B, IN an example of an MMPA module 10 provided IN this embodiment of the present application, the MMPA module 10 is configured with a low-frequency signal receiving port LB TX IN, an intermediate-frequency signal receiving port MB TX IN, a high-frequency signal receiving port HB TX IN, a first low-frequency signal transmitting port LB1, a second low-frequency signal transmitting port LB2, a third low-frequency signal transmitting port LB3, a fourth low-frequency signal transmitting port LB4, a fifth low-frequency signal transmitting port LB5, a first intermediate-frequency signal transmitting port MB1, a second intermediate-frequency signal transmitting port MB2, a third intermediate-frequency signal transmitting port MB3, a fourth intermediate-frequency signal transmitting port MB4, a fifth intermediate-frequency signal transmitting port MB5, a first high-frequency signal transmitting port HB1, a second high-frequency signal transmitting port HB2, a third high-frequency signal transmitting port HB3, a first high-frequency signal retransmitting port HB RX1, a second high-frequency signal retransmitting port HB2, First low-middle high frequency power supply port LMHB _ VCC1, second high frequency power supply port HB _ VCC2, second low-middle frequency power supply port LMB _ VCC2, port SCLK1, port SDA1, port VIO1, port VBATT1, port SCLK2, port SDA2, port VIO2, port VBATT2, this MMPA module 10 includes:

the low-frequency amplification circuit LB PA comprises a low-frequency front-stage PA (shown as a PA close to LB TX IN), a low-frequency matching circuit and a low-frequency rear-stage PA (shown as a PA far away from LB TX IN), wherein the input end of the low-frequency front-stage PA is connected with the LB TX IN, the output end of the low-frequency front-stage PA is connected with the low-frequency matching circuit, the low-frequency matching circuit is connected with the low-frequency rear-stage PA, the power supply end of the low-frequency front-stage PA is connected with LMHB _ VCC1, and the power supply end of the low-frequency rear-stage PA is connected with LMB _ VCC2 and is used for receiving and processing low-frequency signals sent by a radio frequency transceiver;

the low-frequency selective switch is an SP5T switch, a P port of the SP5T switch is connected with an output end of the low-frequency rear-stage PA, and 5T ports are connected with the LB1, the LB2, the LB3, the LB4 and the LB5 in a one-to-one correspondence manner and used for selectively conducting a path between the LB PA of the low-frequency amplifying circuit and any low-frequency signal sending port;

the intermediate frequency amplification circuit MB PA comprises an intermediate frequency front stage PA (shown as a PA close to MB TX IN), an intermediate frequency matching circuit and an intermediate frequency rear stage PA (shown as a PA far away from MB TX IN), wherein the input end of the intermediate frequency front stage PA is connected with the MB TX IN, the output end of the intermediate frequency front stage PA is connected with the intermediate frequency matching circuit, the intermediate frequency matching circuit is connected with the intermediate frequency rear stage PA, the power supply end of the intermediate frequency front stage PA is connected with the LMHB _ VCC1, and the power supply end of the intermediate frequency rear stage PA is connected with the LMB _ VCC2 and is used for receiving and processing intermediate frequency signals sent by a radio frequency transceiver;

the intermediate frequency selective switch is an SP5T switch, a P port of the SP5T switch is connected with an output end of the intermediate frequency post-stage PA, and 5T ports are connected with the MB1, the MB2, the MB3, the MB4 and the MB5 in a one-to-one correspondence manner, and are used for selectively conducting a path between the intermediate frequency amplifying circuit MB PA and any intermediate frequency signal sending port;

the high-frequency amplifying circuit HB PA comprises a high-frequency front stage PA (shown as a PA close to HB TX IN), a high-frequency matching circuit and a high-frequency rear stage PA (shown as a PA far from HB TX IN) which are cascaded, wherein the input end of the high-frequency front stage PA is connected with the MB TX IN, the output end of the high-frequency front stage PA is connected with the high-frequency matching circuit, the high-frequency matching circuit is connected with the high-frequency rear stage PA, the power supply end of the high-frequency front stage PA is connected with the LMHB _ VCC1, and the power supply end of the high-frequency rear stage PA is connected with the HB _ VCC2 and is used for receiving and processing high-frequency signals sent by a radio frequency transceiver;

the first high-frequency selection switch is an SPST switch, a P port is connected with the output end of the high-frequency post-stage PA, and a T port is connected with HB 1;

the second high-frequency selection switch is an SPDT switch, a P port is connected with HB2, one T port is connected with HB1, and the other T port is connected with HB RX 2;

the third high-frequency selective switch is an SPDT switch, a P port is connected with HB3, one T port is connected with HB1, and the other T port is connected with HB RX 1;

the first Controller CMOS Controller1 is connected to the port SCLK1, the port SDA1, the port VIO1 and the port VBATT1, and is configured to receive a first mobile processor industrial interface BUS MIPI BUS control signal of the port SCLK1 and the port SDA1, receive a first MIPI power supply signal of the VIO1, and receive a first bias voltage signal of the VBATT 1;

the second Controller CMOS Controller2 is connected to the port SCLK2, the port SDA2, the port VIO2 and the port VBATT2, and is configured to receive a second MIPI BUS control signal of the port SCLK2 and the port SDA2, receive a second MIPI power supply signal of the VIO2, and receive a second bias voltage signal of the VBATT 2.

The working frequency range of the low-frequency signal, the intermediate-frequency signal and the high-frequency signal which can be processed by the signal processing circuit of the MMPA module 10 is 663 MHz-2690 MHz. It can be seen that, the existing MMPA module only integrates circuits supporting low-frequency signal, intermediate-frequency signal and high-frequency signal processing, and with the continuous and commercial use of the fifth generation 5G ultrahigh frequency (e.g., UHB n77(3.3 GHz-4.2 GHz), n78(3.3 GHz-3.8 GHz)) in various countries, the processing of the ultrahigh frequency signal supported by the electronic devices such as mobile phones has become a necessary requirement.

In the current solution, in order to support the processing capability of the uhf signal, a terminal manufacturer needs to use an extra power amplifier module supporting the uhf signal. Meanwhile, the conventional MMPA module does not consider the situation that the fourth generation 4G radio access network and the fifth generation 5G New air interface NR are connected (E-UTRA and New radio Dual Connectivity, EN-DC) between the low frequency signal, the intermediate frequency signal and the high frequency signal in power supply, and power supplies of the signal processing circuits are connected together. In this case, an additional MMPA module is needed to realize the EN-DC before the low-frequency signal and the middle-frequency signal, and the low-frequency signal and the high-frequency signal.

As shown in fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention provides a Multi-band Multi-mode power amplifier (MMPA) module 10, including:

a non-uhf amplification circuit 500 configured to receive and process the non-uhf transmission signal from the rf transceiver 30 and output to the target non-uhf output port 800 via the target selection switch 560;

the ultrahigh frequency amplification circuit 400 includes:

the uhf transmission circuit 410 is configured to receive and process the uhf transmission signal from the rf transceiver 30, and sequentially output the uhf transmission signal to a target uhf output port through the first filter 610, the coupler 710 and the 4P4T switch 540;

a first uhf receiver circuit 420 configured to receive and process the first uhf receiver signal of the first target uhf input port sequentially through the second filter 620 and the 4P4T switch 540, and output the first uhf receiver signal to the rf transceiver 30;

a second uhf receiver circuit 430 configured to receive and process a second uhf receiver signal of a second target uhf input port sequentially through a third filter 630 and the 4P4T switch 540, and output the second uhf receiver signal to the rf transceiver 30;

wherein, a first P port of the 4P4T switch 540 is connected to the coupler 710, a second P port is connected to the second filter 620, a third P port is connected to the third filter 630, a fourth P port is connected to a transceiving port of a target frequency band signal, two T ports of the 4P4T switch 540 are configured to be respectively connected to two SRS ports 830, a third T port is configured to be connected to the first uhf antenna port 810, a third T port is configured to be connected to an antenna multiplexing port 820, and the antenna multiplexing port 820 is a multiplexing port of an uhf signal and a high frequency signal; the target ultrahigh frequency output port and the target ultrahigh frequency input port are any one of the two SRS ports 830, the first ultrahigh frequency antenna port 810 and the antenna multiplexing port 820, and the target frequency band signal is a non-ultrahigh frequency signal.

For example, the SRS port refers to an antenna port for receiving or transmitting an uhf signal, and the symbol "/" indicates or. The target frequency band signal is a radio frequency signal of a high frequency band.

In a specific implementation, the 4P4T switch 540 is used to selectively turn on signal paths between the uhf transmission circuit 410 and any one of the antenna multiplexing port, the two SRS ports, and the first uhf antenna port, so as to support a round-robin transmission function of the uhf signals between the antennas. The SRS switching4 antenna transmitting function of the mobile phone is a necessary option of China Mobile communication group CMCC in 'Chinese Mobile 5G Scale test technology white paper _ terminal', and is selectable in the third Generation partnership project 3GPP, and the main purpose is that a base station determines the quality and parameters of 4 channels by measuring uplink signals of 4 antennas of the mobile phone, and then carries out beam forming of a downlink maximum multiple input multiple output (MASSIVE) MIMO antenna array aiming at the 4 channels according to channel reciprocity, so that the downlink 4x 4MIMO obtains the best data transmission performance.

It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the application, the MMPA module further supports the ultrahigh frequency signal on the basis of supporting the non-ultrahigh frequency signal, and separates the filters of the receiving circuit and the transmitting circuit, so that the insertion loss of the two receiving circuits can be reduced. And the processing circuit at the ultrahigh frequency end supports the SRS function of 4 antennas and supports the receiving processing of one path of ultrahigh frequency signals, and the SRS switching function can be conveniently realized by utilizing the 4P4T switch, so that the radio frequency front end architecture is simplified. In addition, the ultrahigh frequency signal and the non-ultrahigh frequency signal share one antenna port through the antenna multiplexing port, and compared with the externally-arranged switch circuit for de-combining the signals to realize corresponding functions, the cost and the layout area are saved, and the circuit insertion loss is reduced.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 3, the non-uhf amplifying circuit 500 includes:

the low-frequency amplification circuit 100 is configured to receive the low-frequency transmission signal from the radio frequency transceiver 30, amplify the low-frequency transmission signal, and output the amplified low-frequency transmission signal to the target low-frequency output port 850 through the first selection switch 510;

an intermediate frequency amplifying circuit 200 configured to receive the intermediate frequency transmission signal from the radio frequency transceiver 30, amplify the intermediate frequency transmission signal, and output the amplified intermediate frequency transmission signal to a target intermediate frequency output port 860 through a second selection switch 520;

the high frequency amplifying circuit 300 is configured to receive the high frequency transmitting signal from the radio frequency transceiver 30, amplify the high frequency transmitting signal, and output the amplified high frequency transmitting signal to the target high frequency output port 870 through the third selection switch 530.

By way of example, the low-frequency signals may include low-frequency signals in a 3G, 4G, 5G network for third generation mobile communications, the intermediate-frequency signals may include intermediate-frequency signals in the 3G, 4G, 5G network, the high-frequency signals may include high-frequency signals in the 3G, 4G, 5G network, and the ultra-high-frequency signals may include ultra-high-frequency signals in the 5G network. The frequency band division of signals of the second generation mobile communication 2G network, 3G network, 4G network and 5G network is shown in table 1.

TABLE 1

Illustratively, the low-frequency amplification circuit 100 is specifically configured to amplify low-frequency transmission signals of a 3G network, a 4G network, and a 5G network; the intermediate frequency amplifying circuit 200 is specifically configured to amplify intermediate frequency signals of a 3G network, a 4G network, and a 5G network; the high-frequency amplification circuit 300 is specifically configured to amplify high-frequency signals of a 3G network, a 4G network, and a 5G network; the uhf amplification circuit 400 is specifically used to amplify an uhf signal of a 5G network.

In some embodiments, the low frequency amplification circuit 100 is configured to receive the low frequency transmit signal at a first supply voltage;

the intermediate frequency amplifying circuit 200 is configured to receive the intermediate frequency transmitting signal at a second supply voltage;

the high-frequency amplification circuit 300 configured to receive the high-frequency transmission signal at the second supply voltage;

the uhf amplification circuit 400 is configured to receive the uhf transmission signal or the uhf reception signal at the second supply voltage.

For example, the first and second supply voltages may be less than or equal to 3.6V.

As can be seen, in this example, since the first power supply voltage and the second power supply voltage are independently powered, the MMPA module can simultaneously process the low-frequency transmitting signal and the target frequency band signal, and the target frequency band signal is any one of the intermediate-frequency transmitting signal, the high-frequency transmitting signal, and the ultrahigh-frequency transmitting signal.

In some embodiments, the MMPA module 10 is configured to implement a dual-connection EN-DC function between a fourth generation 4G radio access network and a fifth generation 5G new air interface NR between a non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal and the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal.

For example, different combinations of EN-DC between the non-uhf transmission signal and the uhf transmission signal are shown in table 2.

TABLE 2

4G LTE frequency band	5G NR frequencySegment of	EN-DC
			LB	MB	LB+MB
LB	HB	LB+HB
			LB	UHB	LB+UHB

Specifically, when the low-frequency amplifying circuit and the intermediate-frequency amplifying circuit work simultaneously, the EN-DC combination of LB + MB is satisfied; when the low-frequency amplifying circuit and the intermediate-frequency amplifying circuit work simultaneously, the EN-DC combination of LB + HB is met; when the low-frequency amplifying circuit and the ultrahigh-frequency amplifying circuit work simultaneously, the EN-DC combination of LB + UHB is satisfied.

It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the application, the MMPA module can realize dual-transmission processing of multiple signal combinations through independent power supply, and the device capability is improved.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 4, the first selection switch 510 may be an SP5T switch, where the P port is connected to the output end of the low frequency amplification circuit 100, the 5T ports are connected to 5 low frequency output ports (shown as LB TX1-5) of the MMPA module 10 in a one-to-one correspondence, the 5 low frequency output ports are selectively connected to the second antenna unit (e.g., the low frequency antenna unit), and the target low frequency output port is any one of the 5 low frequency output ports.

The second selection switch 520 may be an SP5T switch, where the P port is connected to the output end of the if amplifying circuit 200, the 5T ports are connected to the 5 if output ports (shown as MB TX1-5) of the MMPA module 10 in a one-to-one correspondence, the 5 if output ports are optionally connected to a third antenna unit (for example, an if antenna unit), and the target if output port is any one of the 5 if output ports.

The third selection switch 530 may be a 3P3T switch, a first P port is connected to the output end of the high-frequency amplification circuit 300, a second P port is connected to the first high-frequency output port (shown as HB TX1) of the MMPA module 10, a third P port is connected to the second high-frequency output port (shown as HB TX2) of the MMPA module 10, a first T port is connected to the third high-frequency output port (shown as HB TX3) of the MMPA module 10, the second and third T ports are connected to 2 high-frequency transceiving ports (shown as HB TRX1 and HB TRX2) of the MMPA module 10 in a one-to-one correspondence, the first high-frequency output port and the second high-frequency output port may be connected to a high-frequency receiving module, the high-frequency receiving module is configured to receive high-frequency signals, and the third high-frequency output port and the 2 high-frequency transceiving ports are both connected to a fourth antenna unit (e.g., a high-frequency antenna unit).

The high frequency receiving Module may be, for example, a radio frequency Low Noise Amplifier (Low Noise Amplifier front end Module, LFEM), a Diversity receiving Module (Diversity Receive Module with Antenna Switch Module and filter and SAW, DFEM), a Multi-band Low Noise Amplifier (MLNA), and the like.

It can be seen that, in this example, the MMPA module supports multiple flexible processing for radio frequency signals of low frequency band, intermediate frequency band, and high frequency band.

In some possible examples, the antenna multiplexing port 820 is configured to receive a target frequency band receiving signal from a target antenna, and output the target frequency band receiving signal sequentially through the 4P4T switch 540 and the transceiving port 840, where the target antenna is an antenna connected to the antenna multiplexing port 820 and used for transmitting the target frequency band signal;

the transceiving port 840 is configured to receive a target frequency band transmission signal from the rf transceiver 30, and sequentially transmit the target frequency band transmission signal to the target antenna connected to the 4P4T switch 540, the antenna multiplexing port 820, and the antenna multiplexing port 820.

Illustratively, the high frequency band includes a 5G high frequency band, such as a band N41.

It can be seen that, in this example, the MMPA module supports the co-antenna of the ultra-high frequency signal and the high frequency signal through the antenna multiplexing port 830, and compared with the externally-built switch circuit for combining, the cost and the layout area are saved and the circuit insertion loss is reduced.

In some possible examples, the uhf transmission circuit 410 includes a single power amplifier to perform power amplification processing on the uhf transmission signal; or,

the uhf transmission circuit 410 includes a plurality of power amplifiers and a power synthesis unit, and the power amplification processing of the uhf transmission signal is realized in a power synthesis manner.

For example, the uhf transmission circuit 410 includes a first power amplifier, a matching circuit and a second power amplifier, the first power amplifier is connected to the matching circuit, the matching circuit is connected to the second power amplifier, and the second power amplifier is connected to the first filter 610.

It can be seen that, in this example, the specific implementation manner of the uhf transmission circuit 410 may be various, and is not limited herein.

In some possible examples, the first uhf receiver circuit 420 and/or the second uhf receiver circuit 430 include a single low noise amplifier to achieve power amplification of the uhf receiver signal.

In this example, the arrangement of a single power amplifier simplifies the circuit structure, reduces the cost, and improves the space utilization rate.

As shown in fig. 5, the present application provides another multi-mode multi-band power amplifier MMPA module 10, which includes:

the non-ultrahigh frequency amplifying unit 910 is connected to the target selection switch 560, and is configured to receive and process the non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal from the radio frequency transceiver 30, and output the non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal to the target non-ultrahigh frequency output port through the target selection switch 560;

the first ultrahigh frequency amplifying unit 411 is sequentially connected to the first filter 610, the coupler 710 and the 4P4T switch 540, and configured to receive the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal from the radio frequency transceiver 30, amplify the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal, and output the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal to a target ultrahigh frequency output port through the first filter 610, the coupler 710 and the 4P4T switch 540 in sequence;

the second ultrahigh frequency amplifying unit 421 is sequentially connected to the second filter 620 and the 4P4T switch 540, and configured to receive the first ultrahigh frequency received signal at the first target ultrahigh frequency input port sequentially through the 4P4T switch 540 and the second filter 620, amplify the first ultrahigh frequency received signal, and output the amplified first ultrahigh frequency received signal to the radio frequency transceiver 30;

a third uhf amplifying unit 431, sequentially connected to the third filter 630 and the 4P4T switch 540, configured to receive a second uhf received signal at a second target uhf input port sequentially through the 4P4T switch 540 and the third filter 630, amplify the second uhf received signal, and output the amplified second uhf received signal to the rf transceiver 30;

a first P port of the 4P4T switch 540 is connected to the coupler 710, a second P port is connected to the second filter 620, a third P port is connected to the third filter 630, a fourth P port is connected to the transceiver port 840 of the target frequency band signal of the MMPA module 10, two T ports of the 4P4T switch 540 are connected to two SRS ports 830 of the MMPA module in a one-to-one correspondence manner, a third T port is connected to the first uhf antenna port 810 of the MMPA module 10, a fourth T port is connected to the antenna multiplexing port 820, and the antenna multiplexing port 820 is a multiplexing port of an uhf signal and an hf signal; the target ultrahigh frequency output port and the target ultrahigh frequency input port are any one of the two SRS ports 830, the first ultrahigh frequency antenna port 810 and the antenna multiplexing port 820, and the target frequency band signal is a non-ultrahigh frequency signal.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 6, the target selection switch 560 includes a first selection switch 510, a second selection switch 520, and a third selection switch 530; the non-uhf amplification unit 500 includes:

a low frequency amplifying unit 110 connected to the first selection switch 510, configured to receive and process a low frequency transmitting signal from the radio frequency transceiver 30, amplify the low frequency transmitting signal, and output the amplified low frequency transmitting signal to a target low frequency output port 850 through the first selection switch 510;

the intermediate frequency amplifying unit 210 is connected to the second selection switch 520, and is configured to receive and process the intermediate frequency transmitting signal from the radio frequency transceiver 30, amplify the intermediate frequency transmitting signal, and output the amplified intermediate frequency transmitting signal to the target intermediate frequency output port 860 through the second selection switch 520;

the high frequency amplifying unit 310 is connected to the third selecting switch 530, and configured to receive and process the high frequency transmitting signal from the radio frequency transceiver 30, amplify the high frequency transmitting signal, and output the amplified high frequency transmitting signal to the target high frequency output port 870 through the third selecting switch 530.

For example, each of the low-frequency amplification unit 110, the intermediate-frequency amplification unit 210, the high-frequency amplification unit 310, the first uhf amplification unit 411, the second uhf amplification unit 421, and the third uhf amplification unit 431 may include a power amplifier to perform power amplification processing on the received radio frequency signal.

For example, the amplifying unit may further include a plurality of power amplifiers and a power combining unit, and the power amplifying process on the radio frequency signal is implemented in a power combining manner or the like.

In some embodiments, the low frequency amplification unit 110 is powered by a first power supply module;

the intermediate frequency amplifying unit 210, the high frequency amplifying unit 310, the first ultrahigh frequency amplifying unit 411, the second ultrahigh frequency amplifying unit 421 and the third ultrahigh frequency amplifying unit 431 are powered by a second power supply module.

It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the present application, the MMPA module supports processing of a radio frequency signal in any frequency band of a low frequency band, an intermediate frequency band, a high frequency band and an ultrahigh frequency band, and the low frequency amplification unit and the target amplification unit are independently powered, and the target amplification unit is any one of the intermediate frequency amplification unit, the high frequency amplification unit and the ultrahigh frequency amplification unit, so that the low frequency signal and other signals can be simultaneously transmitted, and further, the MMPA module can simultaneously output two paths of signals to support amplification of a 4G LTE signal and a 5G NR signal, and EN-DC of the 4G LTE signal and the 5G NR signal is realized. Meanwhile, filters of the receiving circuit and the transmitting circuit are separated, so that insertion loss of the two receiving circuits can be reduced. And the processing circuit at the ultrahigh frequency end supports the SRS function of 4 antennas and supports the receiving processing of one path of ultrahigh frequency signals, and the SRS switching function can be conveniently realized by utilizing the 4P4T switch, so that the radio frequency front end architecture is simplified. In addition, the antenna multiplexing port supports the common antenna of the ultrahigh frequency signal and the high frequency signal, and compared with an externally-arranged switch circuit for realizing the de-combination of the corresponding functions, the cost and the layout area are saved, and the circuit insertion loss is reduced.

As shown in fig. 7, the present application provides another multi-mode multi-band power amplifier MMPA module 10, which includes:

configured with a non-uhf reception port 601 for receiving a non-uhf transmission signal of the radio frequency transceiver 30, an uhf reception port 602 for receiving an uhf transmission signal of the radio frequency transceiver 30, a first uhf output port 603 for transmitting a first uhf reception signal from an antenna, a second uhf output port 604 for receiving a second uhf reception signal from an antenna, and a non-uhf output port 800 for transmitting the non-uhf transmission signal, a third uhf output port for transmitting the uhf transmission signal, including a first uhf antenna port 810, an antenna multiplexing port 820 and two SRS ports 830, a transceiving port 840 for transmitting or receiving a target band signal, the antenna multiplexing port 820 being a multiplexing port of an uhf signal and a high frequency signal, the target frequency band signal is a non-ultrahigh frequency signal; the MMPA module 10 includes:

the non-ultrahigh frequency amplifying circuit 500 is connected with the non-ultrahigh frequency receiving port 601 and is used for amplifying the non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal;

the target selection switch 560 is connected to the output end of the non-ultrahigh frequency amplification circuit 500 and the non-ultrahigh frequency output port 800, and is configured to selectively conduct a path between the non-ultrahigh frequency amplification circuit 500 and a target non-ultrahigh frequency output port, where the target non-ultrahigh frequency output port is any one of the non-ultrahigh frequency output ports 800;

the ultrahigh frequency transmitting circuit 410 is connected to the ultrahigh frequency receiving port 602, and is configured to amplify the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal;

a first end of the first filter 610 is connected to the output end of the uhf transmission circuit 410, and is configured to filter the uhf transmission signal;

a coupler 710, a first end of the coupler 710 is connected to a second end of the first filter 610, a second end of the coupler 710 is connected to a coupling port 811 of the MMPA module 10, and is configured to detect power information of the uhf transmission signal and output the power information through the coupling port 811;

the first ultrahigh frequency receiving circuit 420 is connected to the first ultrahigh frequency output port 603 and is configured to amplify the first ultrahigh frequency receiving signal;

a second filter 620, a first end of the second filter 620 is connected to the input end of the first uhf receiver circuit 420, and is configured to filter the first uhf receiver signal;

the second ultrahigh frequency receiving circuit 430 is connected to the second ultrahigh frequency output port 604 and configured to amplify the second ultrahigh frequency receiving signal;

a third filter 630, a first end of the third filter 630 is connected to the input end of the second uhf receiving circuit 430, for filtering the second uhf receiving signal;

a 4P4T switch 540, a first P port of the 4P4T switch 540 is connected to the third end of the coupler 710, a second P port is connected to the second end of the second filter 620, a third P port is connected to the third end of the third filter 630, a fourth P port is connected to the transceiving port 840, two T ports of the 4P4T switch 540 are connected to the two SRS ports 830 in a one-to-one correspondence, a third T port is connected to the first uhf antenna port 810, and a fourth T port is connected to the antenna multiplexing port 820.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 8, the non-uhf receiving port 601 includes:

a low frequency receiving port 611 for receiving a low frequency transmission signal of the radio frequency transceiver 30;

an intermediate frequency receiving port 621 for receiving an intermediate frequency transmission signal of the radio frequency transceiver 30; and

a high frequency receiving port 631 for receiving a high frequency transmission signal of the radio frequency transceiver 30;

the non-uhf output port 800 includes:

a low frequency output port 801 for transmitting the low frequency transmit signal;

an intermediate frequency output port 802 for transmitting the intermediate frequency transmission signal; and

a high frequency output port 803 for transmitting the high frequency transmit signal.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 9, the MMPA module is further configured with a first power port 812 and a second power port 813; the target selection switch 560 includes a first selection switch 510, a second selection switch 520, and a third selection switch 530; the non-ultrahigh frequency amplifying circuit 500 comprises a low frequency amplifying circuit 510, an intermediate frequency amplifying circuit 520 and a high frequency amplifying circuit 530;

the low-frequency amplifying circuit 100 is connected to the low-frequency receiving port 611 and the first power supply port 812, and configured to amplify the low-frequency transmitting signal under a first power supply voltage of the first power supply port 812;

the first selection switch 510 is connected to the output end of the low-frequency amplification circuit 100 and the low-frequency output port 801, and is configured to select a path between the low-frequency amplification circuit 100 and a target low-frequency output port, where the target low-frequency output port is any one of the low-frequency output ports 801;

the intermediate frequency amplifying circuit 200 is connected to the intermediate frequency receiving port 621 and the second power supply port 813, and configured to amplify the intermediate frequency transmitting signal at the second power supply voltage of the second power supply port 813;

the second selection switch 520 is connected to the output end of the intermediate frequency amplifying circuit 200 and the intermediate frequency output port 802, and is configured to selectively connect a path between the intermediate frequency amplifying circuit 200 and a target intermediate frequency output port, where the target intermediate frequency output port is any one of the intermediate frequency output ports 802;

the high-frequency amplification circuit 300, which is connected to the high-frequency receiving port 631 and the second power supply port 813, is configured to amplify the high-frequency transmission signal at the second power supply voltage of the second power supply port 813;

the third selection switch 530, which is connected to the output terminal of the high-frequency amplifier circuit 300 and the high-frequency output port 803, is configured to select a path for connecting the high-frequency amplifier circuit 300 and a target high-frequency output port, where the target high-frequency output port is any one of the high-frequency output ports 803;

the uhf transmitting circuit 410 is configured to amplify the uhf transmitting signal at the second supply voltage of the second supply port 813;

the first uhf receiver circuit 420 is configured to amplify the uhf receiver signal at the second supply voltage of the second supply port 813;

the second uhf receiver circuit 430 is configured to amplify the uhf receiver signal at the second supply voltage of the second supply port 813.

It should be noted that the number of the first power supply ports VCC1 and the second power supply ports VCC2 may be set according to the number of the power amplifiers included in the corresponding transmitting circuits of each frequency band, specifically, the number of the first power supply ports VCC1 may be equal to the number of the power amplifiers in the low frequency amplifying unit, for example, may be 2.

For example, as shown IN fig. 10, IN an exemplary structural schematic diagram of an MMPA module 10 provided IN this embodiment of the present application, IN addition to the low frequency processing circuit and the related port, the intermediate frequency processing circuit and the related port, the high frequency processing circuit and the related port, the first Controller (shown as a CMOS Controller1), the second Controller (shown as a CMOS Controller2) and the related port IN the MMPA module 10 shown IN fig. 1B, the MMPA module 10 is further configured with a uhf receiving port (shown as N77 TX IN) for receiving an N77-band signal of the rf transceiver, a first uhf transmitting port (shown as N77 RX1) for transmitting an N77-band signal to the rf transceiver, a second uhf transmitting port (shown as N77 RX2), 2 SRS ports (shown as N OUT1, SRS OUT2), an N77-band SRS multiplexing port and an N41-band antenna (shown as N77/N41, ANT1), A transceiving port (shown as TRX (N41)), a first uhf antenna port (N77 ANT2) coupled port (shown as CPL _ OUT), a first middle and high uhf power supply port MHB _ UHB _ VCC1, a second middle and high uhf power supply port MHB _ UHB _ VCC2, a first low frequency power supply port LB _ VCC1, and a second low frequency power supply port LB _ VCC 2; the MMPA module 10 further includes:

an uhf amplifier circuit (illustrated as UHB PA) for receiving an uhf signal of the radio frequency transceiver through a port N77 TX IN, performing amplification processing, and outputting the signal to a target uhf output port through a filter, a coupler, and a 4P4T switch, where the target uhf output port is any one of a port SRS OUT1, a port SRS OUT2, a port N77 ANT2, and a port N77/N41 ANT 1;

a first uhf receiver circuit (illustrated as a low noise filter connected to port N77 RX1) for receiving and processing the uhf signal via a target uhf receiver port, the 4P4T switch, the filter, and transmitting to the rf transceiver through port N77 RX1, the target uhf receiver port being any one of port SRS OUT1, port SRS OUT2, SRS OUT3, port N77 ANT2, port N77/N41 ANT 1;

a second uhf receiver circuit (illustrated as a low noise filter connected to port N77 RX2) for receiving and processing the uhf signal via the target uhf receiver port, the 4P4T switch, the filter, and transmitting to the rf transceiver through port N77 RX2, wherein the target uhf receiver port is any one of port SRS OUT1, port SRS OUT2, SRS OUT3, port N77 ANT2, and port N77/N41 ANT 1;

in addition, the power amplifier of the low-frequency amplification circuit part is supplied with power through ports LB _ VCC1 and LB _ VCC2, and the power amplifier of the intermediate-frequency amplification circuit, the high-frequency amplification circuit and the ultrahigh-frequency amplification circuit part is supplied with power through ports MHB _ UHB _ VCC1 and MHB _ UHB _ VCC2, so that the low-frequency signal and the target frequency band signal can be processed simultaneously through independent power supply, the target frequency band signal is any one of the intermediate-frequency signal, the high-frequency signal and the ultrahigh-frequency signal, and the EN-DC function is realized.

In addition, the transceiving port TRX (N41) can receive an N41 band signal of the radio frequency transceiver and transmit the received N41 band signal to the radio frequency transceiver through the 4P4T switch, the port N77/N41 ANT1, and the corresponding antenna, or through the corresponding antenna, the port N77/N41 ANT1, and the 4P4T switch. A module for processing the N41 frequency band signal may be disposed between the transceiver port TRX (N41) port and the rf transceiver to implement a corresponding signal processing function.

As shown in fig. 11, an embodiment of the present application provides a radio frequency system 1, including:

the MMPA module 10 according to any of the embodiments herein;

the radio frequency transceiver 30 is connected with the MMPA module 10 and used for sending and/or receiving ultrahigh frequency signals and non-ultrahigh frequency signals;

the first antenna unit 70 is connected to a second ultrahigh frequency antenna port of the MMPA module 10, where the second ultrahigh frequency antenna port includes two SRS ports 830, a first ultrahigh frequency antenna port 810, and an antenna multiplexing port 820;

a target antenna unit 80 connected to the target antenna port 804 of the MMPA module 10;

the radio frequency system 1 is configured to implement an EN-DC function between the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal and the non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal through the MMPA module 10, where the non-ultrahigh frequency signal includes any one of a low frequency transmitting signal, an intermediate frequency transmitting signal, and a high frequency transmitting signal.

For example, the signal transmitting port and the signal receiving port of each frequency band on the radio frequency transceiver 30 are respectively connected to the amplifying circuit of the corresponding frequency band, specifically, the low frequency signal transmitting port and the low frequency signal receiving port of the radio frequency transceiver 30 may be connected to a low frequency amplifying circuit, the intermediate frequency signal transmitting port and the intermediate frequency signal receiving port of the radio frequency transceiver 30 may be connected to an intermediate frequency amplifying circuit, the high frequency signal transmitting port and the high frequency signal receiving port of the radio frequency transceiver 30 may be connected to a high frequency amplifying circuit, the ultrahigh frequency signal receiving port and the ultrahigh frequency signal transmitting port of the radio frequency transceiver 30 may be connected to an ultrahigh frequency amplifying circuit, and the like. And are not intended to be limiting.

It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the present application, the radio frequency system includes the MMPA module, the MMPA module further supports the ultrahigh frequency signal on the basis of supporting the non-ultrahigh frequency signal, and the processing circuit at the ultrahigh frequency end supports the 4-antenna SRS function, and supports the receiving processing of one path of ultrahigh frequency signal, thereby simplifying the radio frequency front end architecture, in addition, the ultrahigh frequency signal and the non-ultrahigh frequency signal share one antenna port through the antenna multiplexing port, compared with the externally-connected switch circuit for de-combining the signals to realize the corresponding function, the cost and the layout area are saved, and the circuit insertion loss is reduced.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 12, the target antenna ports 804 include a low frequency antenna port 805, an intermediate frequency antenna port 806, and a high frequency antenna port 807; the target antenna unit 80 includes:

a second antenna unit 90 connected to the port 805 of the low-frequency antenna;

a third antenna unit 50 connected to the intermediate frequency antenna port 806;

and a fourth antenna unit 60 connected to the high-frequency antenna port 807.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 13, the radio frequency system 1 further includes:

the first power supply module 41 is connected to the low-frequency amplification circuit 100 of the MMPA module 10, and is configured to provide a first power supply voltage for the low-frequency amplification circuit 100;

the second power supply module 42 is configured to be connected to the intermediate frequency amplification circuit 200, the high frequency amplification circuit 300, and the ultrahigh frequency amplification circuit 400 of the MMPA module 10, and configured to provide a second power supply voltage to any one of the intermediate frequency amplification circuit 200, the high frequency amplification circuit 300, and the ultrahigh frequency amplification circuit 400;

the radio frequency system 1 is configured to provide the first power supply voltage for the low-frequency amplification circuit 100 through the first power supply module 41 to implement processing of a low-frequency transmission signal, and is configured to provide the second power supply voltage for the intermediate-frequency amplification circuit 200, the high-frequency amplification circuit 300, or the ultra-high-frequency amplification circuit 400 through the second power supply module 42 to implement processing of an intermediate-frequency transmission signal, a high-frequency transmission signal, or an ultra-high-frequency transmission signal.

For example, the input voltage of the first power supply module 41 and the second power supply module 42 may be the output voltage of the battery unit, and is typically between 3.6V and 4.2V. By adopting the first power supply voltage and the second power supply voltage to supply power to each amplifying circuit, a boost circuit can be prevented from being added in the power supply module, so that the cost of each power supply module is reduced.

Specifically, the first Power supply module 41 and the second Power supply module 42 may be Power management chips (PMICs). When the radio frequency signal is power amplified by adopting a power synthesis mode, the PMIC without a boost circuit can be adopted to supply power to each amplifying unit.

In this embodiment, the magnitudes of the first power supply voltage and the second power supply voltage are not limited uniquely, and may be set according to communication requirements and/or specific structures of the amplifying circuits. In addition, the first power supply module may include an RF PMIC #1, and the second power supply module may include an RF PMIC # 2. Neither of the RF PMIC #1 and RF PMIC #2 includes a boost circuit, i.e., the output voltage of the RF PMIC #1 and RF PMIC #2 is less than or equal to the input voltage of the RF PMIC #1 and RF PMIC # 2.

In some embodiments, the first power supply module and the second power supply module may each include a Buck power supply (Buck Source), and a supply voltage Vcc at an output terminal of the Buck power supply is less than or equal to 3.6V. The step-down power supply can be understood as a step-down type adjustable voltage-stabilizing direct-current power supply with output voltage lower than input voltage.

It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the present application, the radio frequency system includes the first power supply module, the second power supply module and each antenna unit that are matched with the MMPA module, so that the radio frequency system integrally supports processing of radio frequency signals in any frequency band of low frequency, intermediate frequency, high frequency and ultrahigh frequency, because the low frequency amplification circuit and the target amplification circuit independently supply power, the target amplification circuit is any one of the intermediate frequency amplification circuit, the high frequency amplification circuit and the ultrahigh frequency amplification circuit, so that the low frequency signals and other signals can be simultaneously transmitted, and further, the MMPA module can simultaneously output two paths of signals to support amplification of 4G LTE signals and 5G NR signals, and EN-DC of the 4G LTE signals and the 5G NR signals is realized. Meanwhile, the MMPA module supports the SRS function of 4 antennas and supports the receiving processing of one path of ultrahigh frequency signals, the radio frequency front end framework is simplified, in addition, the antenna multiplexing port 830 supports the common antenna of the ultrahigh frequency signals and the high frequency signals, and compared with the mode that an external switch circuit is arranged for combining, the cost and the layout area are saved so as to realize the corresponding function, and the circuit insertion loss is reduced.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 14, the first antenna element 70 includes:

a first antenna 71 connected to the first uhf antenna port 810;

a second antenna 72 connected to the antenna multiplexing port 820;

a third antenna 73 connected to the first SRS port 830;

and a fourth antenna 74 connected to the second SRS port 840.

Illustratively, the first antenna 71 supports uhf signals, such as N77, the second antenna 72 supports uhf signals and high frequency signals, such as N77/N41, the third antenna 73 supports uhf signals, such as N77, and the fourth antenna 74 supports uhf signals, such as N77.

As can be seen, in this example, since the first antenna unit has 5 antennas corresponding to the four ports one to one, and the antennas are arranged independently of each other, flexibility and stability of signal transceiving are improved.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 15, the radio frequency system further comprises:

the target band power amplification module 700 includes:

a target frequency band transmitting circuit 730, connected to the transceiving port 811 through a fifth selection switch 550, configured to receive a target frequency band transmitting signal from a radio frequency transceiver, amplify the target frequency band transmitting signal, and transmit the signal to the outside through the fifth selection switch 550, the transceiving port, the 4P4T switch 540, the antenna multiplexing port 820, and a target antenna connected to the antenna multiplexing port 820 in sequence;

a target frequency band receiving circuit 720, connected to the transceiving port 811 through the fifth selection switch 550, and configured to receive a target frequency band receiving signal from the target antenna sequentially through the antenna multiplexing port 820, the 4P4T switch 540, the transceiving port 811, and the fifth selection switch 550, amplify the target frequency band receiving signal, and output the amplified target frequency band receiving signal to the radio frequency transceiver 30;

the fifth selection switch 550 is an SPDT switch, a P port of the fifth selection switch 550 is connected to the transceiving port 811, one T port of the fifth selection switch 550 is connected to the output end of the target frequency band transmitting circuit 730, and another T port of the fifth selection switch 550 is connected to the input end of the target frequency band receiving circuit 720.

The target frequency range transmitting signal and the target frequency range receiving signal may be non-ultrahigh frequency signals such as a 5G high-frequency N41 frequency range signal, which is not limited herein.

Therefore, in this example, the MMPA module can cooperate with the target frequency band power amplification module to share the antenna to implement the transceiving processing of the high-frequency signal.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 16, the radio frequency system further comprises:

a first rf switch 701, which includes a P port and two T ports, where the P port is connected to the third antenna 73, and a first T port is connected to the first SRS port 830;

a first receiving module 91, connected to the second T port of the first rf switch 73, for receiving the uhf signal received by the third antenna 73;

a second rf switch 702, comprising a P port and two T ports, wherein the P port is connected to the fourth antenna 74, and the first T port is connected to the second SRS port 830;

the second receiving module 92 is connected to the second T port of the second rf switch 702, and is configured to receive the uhf signal received by the fourth antenna 74.

For example, the first receiving Module and the second receiving Module may be a Low Noise Amplifier (LFEM) Module, a Diversity Receive Module (Diversity Receive Module with Antenna Switch Module and filter and SAW, DFEM) Module with an Antenna Switch Module and a filter, a Multi-band Low Noise Amplifier (MLNA), and the like.

In an example, the first receiving module and the second receiving module are connected to 2 uhf signal receiving ports of the rf transceiver in a one-to-one correspondence manner, and are configured to output respective received uhf receiving signals to the rf transceiver to implement reception of multiple channels of uhf signals.

Therefore, in this example, by controlling the four ultrahigh frequency signal receiving channels to receive the ultrahigh frequency signals at the same time, the 4 × 4MIMO function of the ultrahigh frequency signals can be realized, and the receiving and transmitting performance of the radio frequency system on the 5G ultrahigh frequency signals can be improved.

As shown in fig. 17, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device a, including:

a radio frequency system 1 as claimed in any of the embodiments of the present application.

It can be seen that, in the embodiment of the present application, the communication device includes a radio frequency system, the radio frequency system includes an MMPA module, the MMPA module further supports the ultrahigh frequency signal on the basis of supporting the non-ultrahigh frequency signal, and the processing circuit at the ultrahigh frequency end supports the 4-antenna SRS function, and supports the receiving processing of one path of ultrahigh frequency signal, thereby simplifying the radio frequency front end architecture, in addition, the ultrahigh frequency signal and the non-ultrahigh frequency signal share one antenna port through the antenna multiplexing port, compared with the externally-connected switch circuit for de-combining to realize the corresponding function, the cost and the layout area are saved, and the circuit insertion loss is reduced.

As shown in fig. 18, further, the communication device is taken as a handset 1800 for illustration, specifically, as shown in fig. 18, the handset 1800 includes a processor 1810, a memory 1820, a communication interface 1830, a radio frequency system 1840 and one or more programs 1821, wherein the one or more programs 1821 are stored in the memory 1820 and configured to be executed by the processor 1810, and the one or more programs 1821 include instructions for executing any of the steps of the method embodiments described below.

The communication interface 1830 includes an internal interface including a radio frequency interface, a camera interface, a display screen interface, a microphone interface, and the like, and an external interface which may include a CAN interface, an RS232 interface, an RS485 interface, an I2C interface, and the like. The processor 1810 is connected to the rf system 1840 via the internal interface, and the mobile phone is configured to communicate with other electronic devices via the external interface.

The Processor 1810 may be an Application Processor or a controller, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general-purpose Processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other Programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, units, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor 1810 may also be a combination implementing computing functionality, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a combination of DSPs and microprocessors, and the like.

The memory 1820 is used to store program codes and data for the handset. The memory 1820 can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of Random Access Memory (RAM) are available, such as Static RAM (SRAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct bus RAM (DR RAM).

The rf system 1840 may be the rf system in any of the foregoing embodiments, wherein the rf system 1840 may further be configured to process rf signals of a plurality of different frequency bands. Such as satellite positioning radio frequency circuitry for receiving satellite positioning signals at 1575MHz, WiFi and bluetooth transceiver radio frequency circuitry for handling the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands of IEEE802.11 communications, and cellular telephone transceiver radio frequency circuitry for handling wireless communications in cellular telephone bands, such as the 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 1900MHz, 2100MHz bands, and Sub-6G bands. The Sub-6G band may specifically include a 2.496GHz-6GHz band and a 3.3GHz-6GHz band.

The above examples only express several embodiments of the present application, and the description thereof is more specific and detailed, but not to be construed as limiting the scope of the present application. It should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several variations and modifications can be made without departing from the concept of the present application, and these are all within the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present patent application shall be subject to the appended claims.

Claims

1. A multi-mode multi-band power amplifier (MMPA) module, comprising:

an ultra-high frequency amplification circuit comprising:

a first uhf receiving circuit configured to receive and process a first uhf receiving signal of a first target uhf input port sequentially through the 4P4T switch and a second filter, and output to the rf transceiver;

a second uhf receiving circuit configured to receive and process a second uhf receiving signal of a second target uhf input port sequentially through the 4P4T switch and a third filter, and output to the rf transceiver;

2. The MMPA module of claim 1, wherein the target selection switch comprises a first selection switch, a second selection switch, and a third selection switch, and the target output port comprises a target low frequency output port, and a target low frequency output port; the non-ultrahigh frequency amplifying circuit includes:

the low-frequency amplification circuit is configured to receive a low-frequency transmission signal from a radio frequency transceiver, amplify the low-frequency transmission signal and output the amplified low-frequency transmission signal to the target low-frequency output port through the first selection switch;

the intermediate frequency amplifying circuit is configured to receive an intermediate frequency transmitting signal from the radio frequency transceiver, amplify the intermediate frequency transmitting signal and output the amplified intermediate frequency transmitting signal to the target intermediate frequency output port through the second selection switch;

and the high-frequency amplification circuit is configured to receive the high-frequency transmission signal from the radio-frequency transceiver, amplify the high-frequency transmission signal and output the amplified high-frequency transmission signal to the target high-frequency output port through the third selection switch.

3. The MMPA module of claim 2,

the low frequency amplification circuit configured to receive the low frequency transmit signal at a first supply voltage;

the intermediate frequency amplification circuit configured to receive the intermediate frequency transmit signal at a second supply voltage;

the high-frequency amplification circuit is configured to receive the high-frequency transmission signal at the second supply voltage;

the UHF amplifying circuit is configured to receive the UHF transmitting signal or the UHF receiving signal under the second supply voltage, wherein the UHF receiving signal comprises at least one of the first UHF receiving signal and the second UHF receiving signal.

4. The MMPA module of claim 3, wherein the MMPA module is configured to implement a dual connectivity function of a fourth generation 4G radio access network and a fifth generation 5G new air interface NR between a non-UHF transmit signal and the UHF transmit signal.

5. The MMPA module of any one of claims 1-4, wherein;

the antenna multiplexing port is used for receiving a target frequency band receiving signal from a target antenna, and outputting the target frequency band receiving signal through the 4P4T switch and the transceiving port in sequence, wherein the target antenna is an antenna which is connected with the antenna multiplexing port and is used for transmitting the target frequency band signal;

the transceiving port is used for receiving a target frequency band transmitting signal from the radio frequency transceiver and transmitting the signal to the outside through the 4P4T switch, the antenna multiplexing port and the target antenna connected with the antenna multiplexing port in sequence.

6. The MMPA module of claim 5, wherein the UHF transmit circuit comprises a single power amplifier to perform power amplification on the UHF transmit signal; or,

the ultrahigh frequency transmitting circuit comprises a plurality of power amplifiers and a power synthesis unit, and the power amplification processing of the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal is realized in a power synthesis mode.

7. The MMPA module of claim 5, wherein the first UHF receive circuit and/or the second UHF receive circuit comprises a single low noise amplifier to perform power amplification processing on the UHF receive signal.

8. An MMPA module, comprising:

the non-ultrahigh frequency amplifying unit is connected with the target selection switch, is used for receiving and processing a non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal from the radio frequency transceiver, and outputs the non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal to the target non-ultrahigh frequency output port through the target selection switch;

the first ultrahigh frequency amplification unit is sequentially connected with the first filter, the coupler and the 4P4T switch and is used for receiving the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal from the radio frequency transceiver, amplifying the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal and outputting the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal to a target ultrahigh frequency output port through the first filter, the coupler and the 4P4T switch in sequence;

the second ultrahigh frequency amplification unit is sequentially connected with a second filter and the 4P4T switch, and is used for receiving a first ultrahigh frequency receiving signal of a first target ultrahigh frequency input port sequentially through the 4P4T switch and the second filter, amplifying the first ultrahigh frequency receiving signal and outputting the amplified first ultrahigh frequency receiving signal to the radio frequency transceiver;

9. The MMPA module of claim 8, wherein the target selection switches comprise a first selection switch, a second selection switch, and a third selection switch, and the target output ports comprise a target low frequency output port, and a target low frequency output port; the non-ultrahigh frequency amplification unit comprises:

the low-frequency amplification unit is connected with the first selection switch and is used for receiving and processing a low-frequency transmission signal from the radio frequency transceiver, amplifying the low-frequency transmission signal and outputting the amplified low-frequency transmission signal to the target low-frequency output port through the first selection switch;

the intermediate frequency amplification unit is connected with the second selection switch and is used for receiving and processing an intermediate frequency transmission signal from the radio frequency transceiver, amplifying the intermediate frequency transmission signal and outputting the amplified intermediate frequency transmission signal to the target intermediate frequency output port through the second selection switch;

and the high-frequency amplification unit is connected with the third selection switch and used for receiving and processing the high-frequency transmission signal from the radio frequency transceiver, amplifying the high-frequency transmission signal and outputting the amplified high-frequency transmission signal to the target high-frequency output port through the third selection switch.

10. The MMPA module of claim 9, wherein the low frequency amplification unit is powered by a first power supply module;

the intermediate frequency amplification unit, the high frequency amplification unit, the first ultrahigh frequency amplification unit, the second ultrahigh frequency amplification unit and the third ultrahigh frequency amplification unit are powered by a second power supply module.

11. An MMPA module is characterized by being configured with a non-ultrahigh frequency receiving port for receiving non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signals of a radio frequency transceiver, an ultrahigh frequency receiving port for receiving ultrahigh frequency transmitting signals of the radio frequency transceiver, a first ultrahigh frequency output port for sending first ultrahigh frequency receiving signals from an antenna, a second ultrahigh frequency output port for receiving second ultrahigh frequency receiving signals from the antenna, a non-ultrahigh frequency output port for sending the non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signals, a third ultrahigh frequency output port for sending the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signals, a transceiving port for sending or receiving target frequency band signals, wherein the third ultrahigh frequency output port comprises a first ultrahigh frequency antenna port, an antenna multiplexing port and two SRS (sounding reference signal) ports, the antenna multiplexing port is a multiplexing port of ultrahigh frequency signals and high frequency signals, the target frequency band signal is a non-ultrahigh frequency signal; the MMPA module includes:

a first end of the second filter is connected with the input end of the first ultrahigh frequency receiving circuit and is used for filtering the first ultrahigh frequency receiving signal;

12. The MMPA module of claim 11, wherein the non-uhf receive port comprises:

a low frequency receiving port for receiving a low frequency transmit signal of the radio frequency transceiver;

an intermediate frequency receive port for receiving an intermediate frequency transmit signal of the radio frequency transceiver; and

a high frequency receiving port for receiving a high frequency transmit signal of the radio frequency transceiver;

the non-ultrahigh frequency output port comprises:

a low frequency output port for transmitting the low frequency transmit signal;

an intermediate frequency output port for transmitting the intermediate frequency transmission signal; and

a high frequency output port for transmitting the high frequency transmit signal.

13. The MMPA module of claim 12, wherein the MMPA module is further configured with a first power port and a second power port; the target selection switch comprises a first selection switch, a second selection switch and a third selection switch; the non-ultrahigh frequency amplifying circuit comprises a low frequency amplifying circuit, an intermediate frequency amplifying circuit and a high frequency amplifying circuit;

the low-frequency amplification circuit is connected with the low-frequency receiving port and the first power supply port and is used for amplifying the low-frequency transmitting signal under the first power supply voltage of the first power supply port;

the first selection switch is connected with the output end of the low-frequency amplification circuit and the low-frequency output port and used for selectively conducting a path between the low-frequency amplification circuit and a target low-frequency output port, and the target low-frequency output port is any one of the low-frequency output ports;

the intermediate frequency amplifying circuit is connected with the intermediate frequency receiving port and the second power supply port, and is configured to amplify the intermediate frequency transmitting signal under the second power supply voltage of the second power supply port;

the second selection switch is connected with the output end of the intermediate frequency amplifying circuit and the intermediate frequency output port and is used for selectively conducting a path between the intermediate frequency amplifying circuit and a target intermediate frequency output port, and the target intermediate frequency output port is any one of the intermediate frequency output ports;

the high-frequency amplification circuit is connected with the high-frequency receiving port and the second power supply port and is used for amplifying the high-frequency transmitting signal under the second power supply voltage of the second power supply port;

the third selection switch is connected with the output end of the high-frequency amplification circuit and the high-frequency output port and used for selecting and conducting a path between the high-frequency amplification circuit and a target high-frequency output port, and the target high-frequency output port is any one of the high-frequency output ports;

the ultrahigh frequency transmitting circuit is used for amplifying the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal under the second power supply voltage of the second power supply port;

the first ultrahigh frequency receiving circuit is used for amplifying the ultrahigh frequency receiving signal under the second power supply voltage of the second power supply port;

the first ultrahigh frequency receiving circuit is used for amplifying the ultrahigh frequency receiving signal under the second power supply voltage of the second power supply port.

14. A radio frequency system, comprising:

the MMPA module of any of claims 1-13;

the radio frequency system is used for realizing the double connection function of a fourth generation 4G wireless access network and a fifth generation 5G new air interface NR between the ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal and the non-ultrahigh frequency transmitting signal through the MMPA module, wherein the non-ultrahigh frequency signal comprises any one of a low frequency transmitting signal, an intermediate frequency transmitting signal and a high frequency transmitting signal.

15. The radio frequency system of claim 14, wherein the target antenna ports comprise a low frequency antenna port, an intermediate frequency antenna port, and a high frequency antenna port; the target antenna unit includes:

the second antenna unit is connected with the low-frequency antenna port;

the third antenna unit is connected with the intermediate frequency antenna port;

and the fourth antenna unit is connected with the high-frequency antenna port.

16. The radio frequency system of claim 15, further comprising:

the first power supply module is connected with the low-frequency amplification circuit of the MMPA module and used for providing a first power supply voltage for the low-frequency amplification circuit;

the second power supply module is used for connecting the intermediate frequency amplification circuit, the high frequency amplification circuit and the ultrahigh frequency amplification circuit of the MMPA module and providing a second power supply voltage for any one of the intermediate frequency amplification circuit, the high frequency amplification circuit and the ultrahigh frequency amplification circuit;

the radio frequency system is used for providing the first power supply voltage for the low-frequency amplifying circuit through the first power supply module so as to process low-frequency transmitting signals, and is also used for providing the second power supply voltage for the intermediate-frequency amplifying circuit, the high-frequency amplifying circuit or the ultrahigh-frequency amplifying circuit through the second power supply module so as to process intermediate-frequency transmitting signals, high-frequency transmitting signals or ultrahigh-frequency transmitting signals.

17. The radio frequency system according to any of claims 14-16, wherein the first antenna element comprises:

the first antenna is connected with the first ultrahigh frequency antenna port;

the second antenna is connected with the antenna multiplexing port;

a third antenna connected to the first SRS port;

and the fourth antenna is connected with the second SRS port.

18. The radio frequency system of claim 17, further comprising:

target frequency range power amplification module includes:

the target frequency band transmitting circuit is connected with the transceiving port through a fifth selection switch, and is used for receiving a target frequency band transmitting signal from a radio frequency transceiver, amplifying the target frequency band transmitting signal, and transmitting the target frequency band transmitting signal to the outside through the fifth selection switch, the transceiving port, the 4P4T switch, the antenna multiplexing port and a target antenna connected with the antenna multiplexing port in sequence;

the target frequency band receiving circuit is connected with the transceiving port through the fifth selection switch, and is used for receiving a target frequency band receiving signal from the target antenna through the antenna multiplexing port, the 4P4T switch, the transceiving port and the fifth selection switch in sequence, amplifying the target frequency band receiving signal and outputting the signal to the radio frequency transceiver;

the fifth selector switch is an SPDT switch, a P port of the fifth selector switch is connected to the transceiving port, a T port of the fifth selector switch is connected to the output end of the target frequency band transmitting circuit, and another T port of the fifth selector switch is connected to the input end of the target frequency band receiving circuit.

19. The radio frequency system of claim 18, further comprising:

the first radio frequency switch comprises a P port and two T ports, the P port is connected with the third antenna, and the first T port is connected with the first SRS port;

the first receiving module is connected with the second T port of the first radio frequency switch and used for receiving the ultrahigh frequency signal received by the third antenna;

a second radio frequency switch, including a P port and two T ports, where the P port is connected to the fourth antenna, and the first T port is connected to the second SRS port;

and the second receiving module is connected with the second T port of the second radio frequency switch and used for receiving the ultrahigh frequency signal received by the fourth antenna.

20. A communication device, comprising:

a radio-frequency transceiver for receiving and transmitting radio-frequency signals,

the radio frequency system of any one of claims 14-19.