Highly integrated radio-frequency apparatus and associated methods

1. A method of communicating radio-frequency (RF) signals in a time-division-multiplexed (TDM) communications system using radio-frequency (RF) and signal-processing circuitry in a mobile telephone apparatus, the method comprising:

operating the radio-frequency circuitry during a first time period that is a TDM receive slot to generate a set of data that digitally represents in-phase signals and quadrature signals from a radio-frequency signal received by the mobile telephone apparatus;

during the first time period, restricting operations performed by the signal processing circuitry on the set of data;

storing the set of data in a storage device;

operating the signal-processing circuitry during a second time period to process the set of data, the second time period being one of a TDM idle slot and a period during which ramp bits are received; and

storing the processed data for use by the mobile telephone apparatus.

2. A method of operating a radio-frequency (RF) circuitry and a signal-processing circuitry in a mobile telephone apparatus, the method comprising:

operating the signal-processing circuitry during a first time period to generate a set of data, the first time period being one of a TDM idle slot and a period during which ramp bits are received;

storing the set of data in a storage device;

operating the radio-frequency circuitry in a second time period that is a TDM transmit slot to generate radio-frequency signals from the set of data;

during the second time period restricting operations performed by the signal processing circuitry; and

transmitting the radio-frequency signals as output signals of the mobile telephone apparatus.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of restricting operations includes removing, from the processor, one of a power signal and a clock signal, and wherein the step of storing the processed data for use by the mobile telephone apparatus includes conveying in formation to a user of a mobile telephone apparatus.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stored the processed data is audio data for use in producing sound by a speaker in the mobile telephone apparatus.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of restricting operations includes removing, from the processor, one of a power signal and a clock signal.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the stored set of data is a digital version of an audio signal received from a microphone in the mobile telephone apparatus.

7. A method of communicating radio-frequency (RF) signals in a time-division-multiplexed (TDM) communications system by operating radio-frequency (RF) and signal-processing circuitry in a mobile telephone apparatus, the method comprising:

operating the radio-frequency circuitry during a TDM receive slots to generate a set of data that digitally represents in-phase signals and digital signals from a radio-frequency signal received by the mobile telephone apparatus;

during the TDM receive slots, restricting operations performed by the signal processing circuitry on the set of data;

storing the set of data in a storage device;

during time periods, operating the signal-processing circuitry to process the set of data, the time periods defined as a TDM idle slot and a period during which ramp bits are received;

storing the processed data for use by the mobile telephone apparatus;

operating the signal-processing circuitry during the time periods to generate transmission data;

storing the transmission data in the storage device;

during a TDM transmit slot, operating the radio-frequency circuitry to generate radio-frequency signals from the transmission data and conveying information between a user of the mobile telephone apparatus and the communications system.