Patent ID: 8861627

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving an amplitude-control bit, a phase-control bit, and an input signal; modulating the amplitude of the input signal based on the amplitude-control bit and modulating the phase of the input signal based on the phase-control bit to produce an output signal, the output signal comprising an amplitude and a phase, there being three potential states for the output signal, the amplitude representing binary 0 in a first one of the three potential states, the amplitude representing binary 1 and the phase representing binary 0 in a second one of the three potential states, the amplitude representing binary 1 and the phase representing binary 1 in a third one of the three potential states, wherein the amplitude of the output signal represents binary 0 if the amplitude-control bit is binary 0, and the phase-control bit is binary 0 or binary 1, and wherein the amplitude of the output signal represents binary 1 and the phase of the output signal represents binary 0 if the amplitude-control bit is binary 1, and the phase-control bit is binary 0; and transmitting the output signal.