Merged variable gain mixers
US6212369A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 5, 1998 |
| Grant date | Apr 3, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 5, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH03D2200/0088
- WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The present invention teaches parallel coupling what are herein termed a "switching stage" and a "steering stage," thereby arranging the mixer and variable gain amplifier circuitry as a single merged circuit. The merged variable gain mixers of the present invention provide mixing and gain functionality utilizing only that power needed for a basic mixer function and only the transconductance of the basic mixer function (thereby eliminating non-linearities introduced by additional transconductance stages of prior art circuitry). Further, in the merged variable gain mixers described herein, no additional headroom is needed other than what is required by the basic mixer function. The present invention contemplates a variety of merged variable gain mixers including AC and DC coupled merged variable gain mixer of both single and double balanced configuration.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.