Adaptive adjustment of active area for power amplifier

1. A transmitter circuit, comprising:

a power amplifier, having a plurality of transistor cells that can be selectively activated or de-activated, configured to provide an output signal from a power amplifier output to an antenna; and

a control circuit configured to receive information about the output signal from a feedback loop extending from the power amplifier output to the control circuit,

wherein the control circuit utilizes the received information to determine a measured signal quality of the output signal, and wherein the control circuit is configured to iteratively activate or deactivate a number of the plurality of transistor cells to cause the measured signal quality to converge upon a predetermined quality threshold value, thereby optimizing a current consumption of the power amplifier.

2. The transmitter circuit of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is configured to activate or deactivate the number of the plurality of transistor cells by operating one or more switching mechanisms to couple or decouple one or more transistor cells from the power amplifier.

3. The transmitter circuit of claim 1 , wherein the number of activated transistor cells is reduced if the measured signal quality of the output signal is above the predetermined quality threshold value; and

wherein the number of activated transistor cells is increased if the measured signal quality of the output signal is below the predetermined quality threshold value.

4. The transmitter of claim 1 , wherein the power amplifier comprises a selection circuit configured to receive a control word from the control circuit, wherein the control word selects which of the plurality of transistor cells that can be activated or de- activated.

5. The transmitter circuit of claim 1 , further comprising one or more additional sensor coupled to the control circuit, wherein the additional sensors are configured to measure external variables that may be used to assist determining the measured signal quality.

6. The transmitter circuit of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to dynamically adjust a bias voltage or a bias current of the power amplifier.

7. The transmitter circuit of claim 6 , wherein the control signal is configured to sequentially adjust the number of the plurality of transistor cells that are activated or deactivated, the bias voltage, and the bias current.

8. The transmitter circuit of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to dynamically adjust an operating point of an active filter or a digital-to-analog converter within a transmission chain comprising the power amplifier.

9. The transmitter circuit of claim 1 , further comprising an output load tuner, configured to match the load between the output of the power amplifier, which depends on the number of activated transistor cells in the power amplifier, and the antenna.

10. The transmitter circuit of claim 1 , wherein the information about the output signal comprises the instantaneous amplitude of the output signal.

11. A transmitter circuit, comprising:

a power amplifier, having a plurality of transistor cells that can be selectively activated or de-activated, configured to provide an output signal from a power amplifier output to an antenna; and

a control circuit configured to receive information about the output signal from a feedback loop extending from the power amplifier output to the control circuit and determine a measured signal quality from the received information,

wherein based upon the measured signal quality the control circuit activates a first number of the plurality of transistor cells having a first current consumption level, at a first time, by operating first switching mechanisms to respectively couple or decouple a first number of transistor cells from the power amplifier; and

wherein the control circuit activates a second number of the plurality of transistor cells having a second current consumption level smaller than the first current consumption level, at a second time, by operating second switching mechanisms to respectively couple or decouple a second number of transistor cells from the power amplifier.

12. The transmitter circuit of claim 11 , wherein the number of activated transistor cells is reduced if the measured signal quality of the output signal is above the predetermined quality threshold value; and

wherein the number of activated transistor cells is increased if the measured signal quality of the output signal is below the predetermined quality threshold value.

13. The transmitter circuit of claim 11 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to dynamically adjust a bias voltage or a bias current of the power amplifier.

14. The transmitter circuit of claim 11 , further comprising an output load tuner, configured to match the load between the output of the power amplifier, which depends on the number of activated transistor cells in the power amplifier, and the antenna.

15. A method of power efficient transmission, comprising:

generating a measured signal quality based on a feedback signal from an output of a power amplifier having a plurality of transistor cells that can be selectively activated or de-activated; and

iteratively activating or deactivating a number of the plurality of transistor cells based upon the measured signal quality to cause the measured signal quality to converge upon a predetermined quality threshold value, thereby optimizing a current consumption of the power amplifier.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising providing an initial number of activated transistor cells that causes the power amplifier to operate with good linearity for a corresponding output power.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising resetting the number of active transistor cells to the initial number if the measured signal quality of the output signal is below a predetermined quality threshold value.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising

iteratively reducing the number of active transistor cells when the measured signal quality of the output signal is above a predetermined threshold value; and

increasing the number of active transistor cells when the measured signal quality of the output signal is below a predetermined quality threshold value.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising dynamically adjusting a bias voltage or a bias current of the power amplifier based upon the measured signal quality.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the number of the plurality of transistor cells that are activated or deactived, the bias voltage, and the bias current are sequentially adjusted to optimize the current consumption of the power amplifier.