Patents by Inventor Ronald Duane McCallister

Ronald Duane McCallister has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20120108189
    Abstract: A transmitter (50) includes a low power memoryless nonlinear predistorter (58) that inserts predistortion configured to address a nonlinearity (146) corresponding to gain droop and another nonlinearity (148) corresponding to deviations from an average bias condition. When efforts are taken to reduce memory effects, such as configuring a network of components (138) that couple to an HPA (114) to avoid resonance frequencies within a video bandwidth (140), high performance linearization at low power results without extending linearization beyond that provided by the memoryless nonlinear predistorter (58). Each nonlinearity is addressed by applying gain to a communication signal (54). The amount of gain applied is determined by a look-up table (170) for one nonlinearity (146) and by a look-up table (198) in combination with a differentiator (202) for the other nonlinearity (148). The look-up tables (170, 198) are updated in accordance with modified LMS control loops.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2010
    Publication date: May 3, 2012
    Applicant: CrestCom, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald Duane McCallister, Eric M. Brombaugh
  • Publication number: 20120106676
    Abstract: A transmitter (50) includes a low power nonlinear predistorter (58) that inserts predistortion configured to compensate for a memoryless nonlinearity (146) corresponding to gain droop and another memoryless nonlinearity (148) corresponding to a video signal. When efforts are taken to reduce memory effects, such as configuring a network of components (138) that couple to an HPA (114) to avoid resonance frequencies within a video bandwidth (140), high performance linearization at low power results without extending linearization beyond that provided by the memoryless nonlinear predistorter (58). A look-up table (282) has address inputs responsive to a magnitude parameter (152) of a communication signal (54), a magnitude derivative parameter (204) of the communication signal (54), and possibly one or more variable bias parameters (85). The look-up table (282) produces a gain-correcting signal (284) that adjusts the gain applied to the communication signal (54) prior to amplification.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2011
    Publication date: May 3, 2012
    Applicant: CrestCom, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald Duane McCallister, Eric M. Brombaugh
  • Publication number: 20120034887
    Abstract: A transmitter (50) includes a nonlinear predistorter (58) having two instances of an inverting transform (106, 106?) that may be implemented in a look-up table (122) and that implements a transform which is the inverse of an average terms component (96) of a nonlinear transform model (94) for an amplifier (70). The look-up table (122) may be updated using a continuous process control loop that avoids Cartesian to polar coordinate conversions. One of the two instances of the inverting transform (106) is cascaded with a non-inversing transform (108) within a residual cancellation section (110) of the predistorter (58). The non-inversing transform (108) implements a transform which is an estimate of a deviation terms component (98) of the nonlinear transform model (94). The residual cancellation section (110) produces a weak signal that replaces an unwanted residual term in an amplified communication signal (76) with a much weaker residual term.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2010
    Publication date: February 9, 2012
    Applicant: CRESTCOM, INC.
    Inventors: Ronald Duane McCallister, Eric M. Brombaugh
  • Publication number: 20120034886
    Abstract: A transmitter (50) includes a nonlinear predistorter (58) having two instances of an inverting transform (106, 106?) that may be implemented in a look-up table (122) and that implements a transform which is the inverse of an average terms component (96) of a nonlinear transform model (94) for an amplifier (70). The look-up table (122) may be updated using a continuous process control loop that avoids Cartesian to polar coordinate conversions. One of the two instances of the inverting transform (106) is cascaded with a non-inversing transform (108) within a residual cancellation section (110) of the predistorter (58). The non-inversing transform (108) implements a transform which is an estimate of a deviation terms component (98) of the nonlinear transform model (94). The residual cancellation section (110) produces a weak signal that replaces an unwanted residual term in an amplified communication signal (76) with a much weaker residual term.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2010
    Publication date: February 9, 2012
    Applicant: CRESTCOM, INC.
    Inventors: Ronald Duane McCallister, Eric M. Brombaugh
  • Patent number: 8064851
    Abstract: An RF transmitter (60) generates non-DC bias signals (104, 106) configured to improved power-added efficiency (PAE) in the operation of an RF amplifier (94). The RF amplifier (94) generates an amplified RF signal (126) which, due to the addition of the bias signals (104, 106), includes bias-signal-induced RF distortion (48, 50). The bias signals (104, 106) drive a bias-induced distortion cancellation circuit (152) that adjusts the bias signals to compensate for the influence of impedances experienced by the bias signals (104, 106) before being applied to the RF amplifier (94). After mixing with a baseband communication signal (64), adjusted bias signals (186, 188) are combined into a composite baseband signal (76), upconverted to RF in an upconversion section 84, and applied to the RF amplifier (94) where they cancel at least a portion of the bias-signal-induced RF distortion (48, 50).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2011
    Assignee: Crestcom, Inc.
    Inventor: Ronald Duane McCallister
  • Patent number: 7978749
    Abstract: A direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) transmitter (12) is configured to form ā€œNā€ multiple excess-bandwidth channels (44) in an allocated bandwidth (54), where N is an integer. Each excess-bandwidth channel (44) includes a lower rolloff band (40), a minimum-bandwidth channel (38), and an upper rolloff band (42). The N excess-bandwidth channels (44) are placed in the allocated bandwidth (54) so that two of the rolloff bands (40, 42) reside within allocated bandwidth 54 and outside all of minimum-bandwidth channels 38 and so that N?2 of the rolloff bands (40, 42) predominately reside within adjacent minimum-bandwidth channels (38). The excess-bandwidth channels (44) substantially conform to EV-DO standards, and four of the excess-bandwidth channels (44) are supported for each 5 MHz of allocated bandwidth (54).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: Crestcom, Inc.
    Inventor: Ronald Duane McCallister
  • Publication number: 20110092173
    Abstract: A transmitting unit (12) clips a communication signal (14) to form a threshold-responsive signal (36, 36?) which includes in-band distortion (40) and out-of-band distortion (38). A portion of the out-of-band distortion (38) is notched within rejection bands (48, 50) adjacent to the communication signal's bandwidth (24). But remaining portions of the out-of-band distortion (38) and portions of the in-band distortion (40) are included with the communication signal (14). The remaining portion of the out-of-band distortion (38) causes the communication signal (14) to be in violation of a spectral mask (30). The mask-violating communication signal 14 with out-of-band distortion (38) and in-band distortion (40) is amplified by an RF power amplifier (22). After amplification, a bandpass filter (92) exhibiting fast rolloff regions (110) attenuates the amplified out-of-band distortion (38) causing compliance with the spectral mask (30).
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2009
    Publication date: April 21, 2011
    Applicant: CRESTCOM, INC.
    Inventors: Ronald Duane McCallister, Eric M. Brombaugh
  • Publication number: 20110064162
    Abstract: A communication system (10) includes a transmitting unit (12) with a peak to average power (PAPR) reduction section (30). The PAPR reduction section (30) modifies the PAPR reduction it effects in a communication signal (14) in accordance with two different error vector magnitude (EVM) constraints for each channel type (102), where a channel type (102) is a distinct combination of a modulation order and a coding rate. The EVM constraint followed for each subcarrier (25) in an OFDM or OFDMA application is selected in response to whether the subcarrier (25) conveys voice or non-voice data. The PAPR reduction section (30) may include a scaling filter (72). The scaling filter (72) is efficiently defined through the use of a predetermined sinc function (94) and a first stage scale factor (67) that is calculated in response to a weighted average of excursion signal subcarrier gains (150), where the weighting follows the distribution of channel types (102) through the subcarriers (25).
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2009
    Publication date: March 17, 2011
    Applicant: CrestCom, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald Duane McCallister, Eric M. Brombaugh
  • Patent number: 7899416
    Abstract: An RF transmitter (10) includes an RF amplifier (22) that experiences gain-droop distortion as a result of self-heating. A heat compensator (20) is included to insert a gain boost of an amount which is the inverse of the gain droop experienced by the RF amplifier (22). The amount of gain boost is determined by generating a heat signal (88) from low-pass filtering (86) the squared magnitude (82) of a communication signal (14). The heat signal (88) is scaled by a weighting signal (68) estimated by monitoring the amplified RF signal (42) at the output of the RF amplifier (22). A nonlinear relationship section (96) then transforms the scaled signal into a gain-boost signal (94) that corresponds to the inverse of gain droop in the RF amplifier (22).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2011
    Assignee: Crestcom, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald Duane McCallister, Eric M. Brombaugh
  • Publication number: 20100265927
    Abstract: A cellular communication system includes a plurality of base stations (20), each of which assigns all frequency division multiplex, forward link carriers (32) to either a high-power set (42) of carriers (32) or a low-power set (44) of carriers (32) to improve system capacity and reduce boundary interference in a K=1 frequency reuse plan. The low-power set (44) has fewer members than the high-power set (42). The carriers (32) are simultaneously transmitted, preferably from an omnidirectional antenna (26). Access terminals (76) are configured to select carriers (32) from low-power set (44) for the receipt of data from base stations (20) when such carriers (32) from low-power set (44) provide an acceptable data rate, even though other carriers (32) may have higher SINR.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2009
    Publication date: October 21, 2010
    Applicant: CrestCom, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel Davidson MacFarlane Shearer, III, Ronald Duane McCallister
  • Patent number: 7724840
    Abstract: An RF transmitter (10) includes a linear predistorter (22) and a nonlinear predistorter (24) which together drive analog transmitter components (14). The linear and nonlinear predistorters (22, 24) are implemented using a collection of adaptive equalizers (30). A feedback signal (20) is developed by downconverting an RF communication signal (16) obtained from the analog components (14). The feedback signal (20) are used in driving tap coefficients (34) for the adaptive equalizers (30?, 30?) in the nonlinear predistorter (24). An intermodulation-product canceller (94) uses signal cancellation to cancel intermodulation products from the feedback signal (20) and generate an intermodulation-neutralized feedback signal (96). The intermodulation-neutralized feedback signal (96) is used along with a modulated convergence factor (43) in driving tap coefficients (34) for the adaptive equalizer (30) in the linear predistorter (22).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2010
    Assignee: Crestcom, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald Duane McCallister, Eric M. Brombaugh
  • Publication number: 20100048146
    Abstract: A transceiver (10) includes an RF transmitter (12) and an RF receiver (14) coupled together through a duplexer (30) or non-filtering multiport device (30?). Either device may leak significant portions (56, 58) of the transmit signal (20) into the receive signal (44), and may significantly distort the transmit signal (20). Distortion is compensated in the transmitter (12) through the use of a linear predistorter (68) that is adjusted in response to an RF feedback signal obtained from the antenna-side of the device. Transmit signal leakage is compensated in the receiver (14) by producing an RF cancellation signal (106) that, when combined with the receive signal (44) at RF at least partially cancels the transmit signal portions (56, 58) leaked into the receive signal (44). Residual leakage signal and intermodulation products thereof may be cancelled digitally.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2007
    Publication date: February 25, 2010
    Applicant: CRESTCOM, INC.
    Inventor: Ronald Duane McCallister
  • Publication number: 20090323856
    Abstract: A transmit-canceling transceiver (10) generates a heat signal (84) that estimates heating in analog components which process a transmit signal (22). An equalizer (74) having taps (77) provided by a tap update section (78) processes the transmit signal (22) for use in a cancellation operation. The tap update section (78) includes a coefficient update section (82) and a heat adjustment section (80). The coefficient update section (82) implements a feedback loop to generate coefficients (86) which are substantially unresponsive to the heat signal (84). The heat adjustment section (80) closes a feedback loop which is responsive to the heat signal (84) and generates offsets (142) that are used to adjust the coefficients (86) to compensate for heating. The loop bandwidth of the feedback loop of coefficient update section (82) is sufficiently narrow so as to be unable to track dynamic heat effects from the analog components.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2008
    Publication date: December 31, 2009
    Applicant: CrestCom, Inc.
    Inventor: Ronald Duane McCallister
  • Publication number: 20090227215
    Abstract: An RF transmitter (60) generates non-DC bias signals (104, 106) configured to improved power-added efficiency (PAE) in the operation of an RF amplifier (94). The RF amplifier (94) generates an amplified RF signal (126) which, due to the addition of the bias signals (104, 106), includes bias-signal-induced RF distortion (48, 50). The bias signals (104, 106) drive a bias-induced distortion cancellation circuit (152) that adjusts the bias signals to compensate for the influence of impedances experienced by the bias signals (104, 106) before being applied to the RF amplifier (94). After mixing with a baseband communication signal (64), adjusted bias signals (186, 188) are combined into a composite baseband signal (76), upconverted to RF in an upconversion section 84, and applied to the RF amplifier (94) where they cancel at least a portion of the bias-signal-induced RF distortion (48, 50).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2008
    Publication date: September 10, 2009
    Applicant: CRESTCOM, INC.
    Inventor: Ronald Duane McCallister
  • Patent number: 7570931
    Abstract: An RF transmitter (30) includes an RF power amplifier (32) for which the power input bias voltage (40) and signal input bias voltage (80) are controlled within feedback loops. A peak detector (44) generates a lowered-spectrum, peak-tracking signal (34) that follows the largest amplitude peaks of a wide bandwidth communication signal (16) but exhibits a lower bandwidth. This signal (34) is scaled in response to the operation of a drain bias tracking loop (146) then used to control a switching power supply (36) that generates the power input bias voltage. The tracking loop (146) is responsive to out-of-band power detected in a portion of the amplified RF communication signal (16?). A ratio of out-of-band power (128) to in-band power (126) is manipulated in the tracking loop (146) so that the power input bias voltage is modulated in a way that holds the out-of-band power at a desired predetermined level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2009
    Assignee: Crestcom, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald Duane McCallister, Eric M. Brombaugh
  • Patent number: 7542519
    Abstract: An RF transmitter (10) is configured to transmit either wideband multichannel modulations or narrowband multichannel modulations in a variety of licensed frequency bands (70) using a single set of hardware. For narrowband modulations, a digital IF upconversion stage is performed so that, after upconversion to RF, image signals 74 are sufficiently displaced from the licensed frequency band (70) so as to be filtered off. For wideband modulations, no IF modulation stage occurs, and a direct upconversion takes place from baseband to RF. LO leakage is cancelled using a negative feedback loop that combines a digital DC signal with a communication signal (26, 52) prior to a direct or final analog upconversion stage (62).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2009
    Assignee: Crestcom, Inc.
    Inventor: Ronald Duane McCallister
  • Publication number: 20090124218
    Abstract: An RF transmitter (10) includes an RF amplifier (22) that experiences gain-droop distortion as a result of self-heating. A heat compensator (20) is included to insert a gain boost of an amount which is the inverse of the gain droop experienced by the RF amplifier (22). The amount of gain boost is determined by generating a heat signal (88) from low-pass filtering (86) the squared magnitude (82) of a communication signal (14). The heat signal (88) is scaled by a weighting signal (68) estimated by monitoring the amplified RF signal (42) at the output of the RF amplifier (22). A nonlinear relationship section (96) then transforms the scaled signal into a gain-boost signal (94) that corresponds to the inverse of gain droop in the RF amplifier (22).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2007
    Publication date: May 14, 2009
    Applicant: CRESTCOM, INC.
    Inventors: Ronald Duane McCallister, Eric M. Brombaugh
  • Publication number: 20090097590
    Abstract: An RF transmitter (10) includes an RF amplifier (28) that generates an amplified RF signal (36) including a linear RF signal (92) and a spurious baseband signal (94). The spurious baseband signal (94) interacts with bias feed networks (56, 66) to cause the RF amplifier (28) to generate an unwanted RF distortion at or near the allocated RF bandwidth. A baseband compensation signal (98) is generated and equalized in an adaptive equalizer (102) then fed to the RF amplifier (28). A feedback signal (46) is obtained from the RF amplifier (28) and used to drive the adaptive equalizer (102). A feedback loop causes the adaptive equalizer to adjust a baseband signal (24, 32) supplied to the RF amplifier (28) so that the RF distortion is minimized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 10, 2007
    Publication date: April 16, 2009
    Applicant: CRESTCOM, INC.
    Inventors: Ronald Duane McCallister, Eric M. Brombaugh
  • Publication number: 20090016411
    Abstract: A direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) transmitter (12) is configured to form ā€œNā€ multiple excess-bandwidth channels (44) in an allocated bandwidth (54), where N is an integer. Each excess-bandwidth channel (44) includes a lower rolloff band (40), a minimum-bandwidth channel (38), and an upper rolloff band (42). The N excess-bandwidth channels (44) are placed in the allocated bandwidth (54) so that two of the rolloff bands (40, 42) reside within allocated bandwidth 54 and outside all of minimum-bandwidth channels 38 and so that N?2 of the rolloff bands (40, 42) predominately reside within adjacent minimum-bandwidth channels (38). The excess-bandwidth channels (44) substantially conform to EV-DO standards, and four of the excess-bandwidth channels (44) are supported for each 5 MHz of allocated bandwidth (54).
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 13, 2007
    Publication date: January 15, 2009
    Applicant: CrestCom, Inc.
    Inventor: Ronald Duane McCallister
  • Patent number: 7469491
    Abstract: A digital communications transmitter (100) includes a digital linear-and-nonlinear predistortion section (200, 1800, 2800) to compensate for linear and nonlinear distortion introduced by transmitter-analog components (120). A direct-digital-downconversion section (300) generates a complex digital return-data stream (254) from the analog components (120) without introducing quadrature imbalance. A relatively low resolution exhibited by the return-data stream (254) is effectively increased through arithmetic processing. Distortion introduced by an analog-to-digital converter (304) may be compensated using a variety of adaptive techniques. Linear distortion is compensated using adaptive techniques with an equalizer (246) positioned in the forward-data stream (112). Nonlinear distortion is then compensated using adaptive techniques with a plurality of equalizers (226) that filter a plurality of orthogonal, higher-ordered-basis functions (214) generated from the forward-data stream (112).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2008
    Assignee: Crestcom, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald Duane McCallister, Eric M. Brombaugh