Patent ID: 6920185

Claim:
A distributed block frequency converter for combining a plurality of channel signals into a combined RF signal, comprising: a plurality of combiners, each combining at least two of a plurality of channel signals into a corresponding one of a plurality of combined channel signals, wherein each of the plurality of combined channel signals are centered at approximately the same frequency value; an up-converter synthesizer that generates an up-converter local oscillator (LO) signal; a plurality of up-converter mixers, each mixing the up-converter LO signal with a corresponding one of the plurality of combined channel signals and providing a corresponding one of a plurality of intermediate frequency (IF) signals; a plurality of bandpass filters, each receiving a corresponding one of the plurality of IF signals and providing a corresponding one of a plurality of filtered signals; a plurality of down-converter synthesizers, each generating a corresponding one of a plurality of down-converter LO signals, the plurality of down-converter LO signals separate from each other in frequency; a plurality of down-converter mixers, each mixing a corresponding one of the plurality of down-converter LO signals with a corresponding one of the plurality of filtered signals and providing a corresponding one of a plurality of radio frequency (RF) signals; and a RF combiner that combines the plurality of RF signals into a combined RF signal.