US 12,261,930 B1
Local oscillator (LO) and reference clock signal distribution
Sean Timothy Nicolson, Bellevue, WA (US); Joung Won Park, Sammamish, WA (US); and Satwik Patnaik, Tampa, FL (US)
Assigned to Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA (US)
Filed by Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA (US)
Filed on May 2, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/734,888.
Int. Cl. H04L 7/00 (2006.01); H04L 7/033 (2006.01)
CPC H04L 7/0091 (2013.01) [H04L 7/033 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A communication unit comprising:
a plurality of antenna elements;
a first beamforming circuit coupled to a first antenna element of the plurality of antenna elements; and
a signal distribution circuit comprising:
a first phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit that generates a local oscillator (LO) signal having a first frequency;
a second PLL circuit that generates a reference clock signal having a second frequency that is lower than the first frequency;
a first driver coupled to the first PLL circuit, wherein the first driver outputs the LO signal;
a second driver coupled to the second PLL circuit, wherein the second driver outputs the reference clock signal; and
a diplexer comprising input terminals coupled to the first driver, output terminals, and a center tap coupled to the second driver, wherein:
the diplexer sends, via the output terminals, a combined signal over a first signal path between the signal distribution circuit and the first beamforming circuit, the combined signal comprises the LO signal and the reference clock signal.