Inventors:
Ralph E. Kaufman - La Mesa CA
Darin Hunzeker - San Diego CA
Richard J. Camarillo - San Diego CA
Assignee:
Qualcomm, Inc - San Diego CA
International Classification:
H03F1/14
Abstract:
A power amplifier circuit arrangement including a driver amplifier, a switch, an amplifier path having a band pass filter and a power amplifier, and a bypass path which bypasses the power amplifier when excess gain and output power are not needed. When an RF-analog signal from the driver amplifier is switched to the amplifier path, the signal is band-pass filtered and amplified. Then the signal is split into an in-phase and a quadrature signal. Either the in-phase or the quadrature signal is inverted and summed with the other of the in-phase or quadrature signal, and the summed signal is transmitted to an output port. When the RF-signal from the driver amplified is switched to the bypass path, the power amplifier is turned off and the bypass path directs the signal to the output of the power amplifier, which appears as a high impedance to the signal. The signal reflects off the power amplifier to the output port. This design preserves the benefits of bypassing the power amplifier by reducing the amount of switching loss introduced into the circuit.