TechnoConcepts has filed a provisional patent application with the U.S. Patent Office for a "Single Input, Single Output, Multi-Band RF Front End" that allows a single RF receiver chip to replace multiple tuned RF front-end transceivers.
Antonio Turgeon, CEO and chairman of TechnoConcepts, described the technology this way: "To understand the technology this invention replaces, imagine a number of parallel railroad tracks, each representing a separate frequency band. To switch a train from one track to another requires a mechanical switch in a specific location. This invention effectively replaces the multiple fixed tracks with a multilane super highway, eliminating the mechanical switches and allowing vehicles to shift smoothly from one lane (or frequency band) to another, in an instant and at will."
Turgeon said that the new technology would be important in providing fully programmable and reconfigurable wireless receivers and transmitters designed for mobile devices operating in multiple frequency bands, and with different standards and protocols.
Ronald Hickling, chief technology officer at TechnoConcepts, said, "The typical approach to multiband communications is to interface multiple tuned RF front-end amplifiers to multiple antennas. This invention provides for a single front-end interface, replacing those multiple, separate components."
The company said this invention will become part of TechnoConcepts' True Software Radio transmitter/receiver chip technology. The initial production run of commercial chips is targeted for the first quarter of 2007.
