Patent ID: 8779834

Claim:
A frequency mixer comprising: a single field-effect transistor (FET) ring comprising a first mixer core and a second mixer core, the first mixer core and the second mixer core configured to connect to a radio frequency (RF) port and an intermediate frequency (IF) port; a first local oscillator (LO) transformer connected to the single FET ring, the first LO transformer configured to furnish a first LO signal occurring in a first limited range of frequencies to the first mixer core; a second LO transformer connected to the single FET ring, the second LO transformer configured to furnish a second LO signal occurring in a second limited range of frequencies to the second mixer core, the first limited range of frequencies different than the second limited range of frequencies, a first driver coupled to the first LO transformer, the first driver configured to amplify the first LO signal during a first time interval; and a second driver coupled to the second LO transformer, the second driver configured to amplify the second LO signal during a second time interval wherein the first LO signal is configured to cause the first mixer core to commutate a frequency mixer signal during the first time interval and the second LO signal is configured to cause the second mixer core to commutate the frequency mixer signal during the second time interval, the second time interval different than the first time interval.