Low power radio receiver

1. A frequency converting element comprising:

a mixer having first and second input nodes and an output node; and

a charge pump,

wherein an input node of the charge pump is coupled to the output node of the mixer, and

wherein the charge pump receives a mixer output signal at the input node of the charge pump, and outputs an amplified version of the mixer output signal, and

wherein the input node of the charge pump is directly coupled to the output node of the mixer.

2. A wireless receiver comprising:

the frequency converting element of claim 1 ;

an oscillator coupled to the first input node of the mixer of the frequency converting element; and

an antenna operatively coupled to the second input node of the mixer of the frequency converting element,

wherein the mixer receives a signal from the antenna at the first input node and outputs a mixed version of the signal received from the antenna at the output node, and the charge pump operates on the mixed version of the signal received from the antenna to output an amplified version of the mixed version of the signal received from the antenna.

3. The wireless receiver of claim 2 , wherein the mixer is a passive mixer.

4. The wireless receiver of claim 3 , further comprising:

a buffer having an input coupled to the antenna and an output coupled to the second input node of the mixer of the frequency converting element, such that the antenna is operatively coupled to the mixer through the buffer,

wherein an operative coupling between the antenna and the buffer is passive.

5. The wireless receiver of claim 2 , wherein the charge pump receives a clock signal having a frequency lower than a frequency of the oscillator coupled to the first input node of the mixer.

6. The frequency converting element of claim 1 , wherein:

the charge pump is a first charge pump,

the frequency converting element further comprises a second charge pump having an input node coupled to the output node of the mixer,

the first and second charge pumps each alternate between sampling and gain phases of operation, and

the first and second charge pumps are operated out of phase with each other such that the first charge pump operates in the sampling phase of operation while the second charge pump operates in the gain phase of operation.

7. A wireless receiver comprising:

a first frequency converting element in accordance with claim 1 ;

a second frequency converting element in accordance with claim 1 ; and

an antenna operatively coupled to the first input nodes of the mixers of each of the first and second frequency converting elements,

wherein the mixers of the first and second frequency converting elements receive respective local oscillator signals at respective second input nodes thereof.

8. The wireless receiver of claim 7 , wherein each of the first and second frequency converting elements includes first and second charge pumps that operate out of phase with each other.

9. The frequency converting element of claim 1 , wherein the charge pump provides a frequency-filtering characteristic.

10. The frequency converting element of claim 1 , wherein the charge pump provides passive voltage gain by processing a charge presented to the input of the charge pump.

11. A frequency converting element comprising:

a mixer having first and second input nodes and an output node; and

a charge pump,

wherein:

an input node of the charge pump is coupled to the output node of the mixer,

the charge pump receives a mixer output signal at the input node of the charge pump, and outputs an amplified version of the mixer output signal,

the charge pump is a first charge pump, and

the frequency converting element further comprises a second charge pump having an input node coupled to an output node of the first charge pump.

12. The frequency converting element of claim 11 , wherein:

the first charge pump and the second charge pump each include a plurality of switches and capacitors, and

the switches and capacitors in the second charge pump are smaller than switches and capacitors in the first charge pump.

13. The frequency converting element of claim 11 , wherein the first and second charge pumps are connected in series, and the series-connected first and second charge pumps operate at different frequencies.

14. The frequency converting element of claim 11 , wherein the first and second charge pumps are connected in series, and the series-connected first and second charge pumps operate at a same frequency.

15. A frequency converting element comprising:

a mixer having first and second input nodes and an output node; and

a charge pump,

wherein:

an input node of the charge pump is coupled to the output node of the mixer,

the charge pump receives a mixer output signal at the input node of the charge pump, and outputs an amplified version of the mixer output signal, and

the charge pump comprises first and second capacitors, and the charge pump is operative to configure the first and second capacitors in parallel at the input node of the charge pump during a sampling phase of operation and to configure the first and second capacitors in series at an output node of the charge pump during a gain phase of operation that does not overlap with the sampling phase of operation.