Mobile wireless communications device having low-IF receiver circuitry that adapts to radio environment

1. A mobile wireless communications device, comprising:

a housing; and

a circuit board carried by the housing and including radio frequency (RF) circuitry and a processor operative with each other, said RF circuitry comprising a low-IF receiver circuit that is operative for maintaining an interferer signal at a same frequency side as a wanted signal relative to a local oscillator frequency setting, creating an interferer image signal, and filtering the image signal at substantially baseband frequency.

2. A mobile wireless communications device according to claim 1 , wherein said RF circuitry comprises a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) circuit operative for filtering said interferer image signal.

3. A mobile wireless communications device according to claim 1 , wherein said RF circuitry is operative for placing the interferer signal in the substantially baseband frequency where a highest out-of-band signal attenuation is implemented.

4. A mobile wireless communications device according to claim 1 , wherein said RF circuitry further comprises a mixer circuit and a local oscillator circuit operative with the mixer circuit, and a demodulator circuit for demodulating signals from the mixer circuit and oscillator circuit, wherein said RF circuitry is operative for determining a better performing local oscillator frequency setting and a poorer performing local oscillator frequency setting based on signal-to-noise values obtained during demodulation.

5. A mobile wireless communications device according to claim 4 , wherein said RF circuitry is operative for using different low-IF local oscillator frequency settings for an RE channel based on the signal-to-noise values.

6. A mobile wireless communications device according to claim 4 , wherein communications signals comprise data bursts in accordance with the Global System for Mobile communications.

7. A mobile wireless communications device according to claim 4 , wherein said RF circuitry is operative for returning to the poorer performing local oscillator frequency setting from the better performing local oscillator frequency setting after a predetermined number of received data bursts to determine if the local oscillator frequency setting should be changed to adapt to a changed radio environment.

8. A method for enhancing low-IF receiver performance and rejecting an interferer signal, which comprises:

maintaining an interferer signal at a same frequency side as a wanted signal relative to a local oscillator frequency setting;

creating an interferer image signal; and

filtering the image signal at substantially baseband frequency.

9. A method according to claim 8 , which further comprises filtering the interferer image signal within a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) circuit.

10. A method according to claim 8 , which further comprises placing the interferer signal in the substantially baseband frequency where a highest out-of-band signal attenuation is implemented.

11. A method according to claim 8 , which further comprises:

downconverting signals from a received communications signal;

demodulating the downconverted signals; and

determining between a better performing local oscillator frequency setting and a poorer performing local oscillator frequency setting based on signal-to-noise values obtained during demodulation.

12. A method according to claim 11 , which further comprises using different low-IF local oscillator frequency settings for an RF channel based on the signal-to-noise values.

13. A method according to claim 11 , wherein said communications signals comprise data bursts in accordance with the Global System for Mobile communications.

14. A method according to claim 11 , which further comprises returning to the poorer performing local oscillator frequency setting from the better performing local oscillator frequency setting after a predetermined number of received data bursts to determine if the local oscillator frequency setting should be changed to adapt to a changed radio environment.

15. A method according to claim 11 , which further comprises downconverting signals within a mixer and local oscillator circuit.

16. A method according to claim 8 , which further comprises creating the interferer image signal from a wanted signal band.

17. A low-IF receiver, comprising:

a local oscillator and mixer circuit for downconverting RF communications signals to low intermediate frequency (IF) signals near baseband;

an analog-to-digital converter circuit that receives the low IF signals and converts the low IF signals to digital signals; and

a digital mixer circuit and a processor connected thereto that receives the digital signals and processes them at baseband, wherein said local oscillator and mixer circuit is operative with said digital mixer circuit and processor for maintaining an interferer signal at a same frequency side as a wanted signal relative to a local oscillator frequency setting, creating an interferer image signal and filtering the image signal at substantially baseband frequency.

18. A low-IF receiver according to claim 17 , and further comprising a direct digital synthesizer operative with said digital mixer circuit.

19. A low-IF receiver according to claim 17 , and further comprising an antenna, a low-noise amplifier (LNA) connected thereto, and a splitter circuit connected to said local oscillator and mixer circuit that receives the RF communications signals and splits said RF communications signals for mixing within said local oscillator and mixer circuit.

20. A low-IF receiver according to claim 17 , wherein said processor is operative for producing in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) output signals.