Patent ID: 7616678

Claim:
A method of combining a plurality of signals to form a constant-envelope composite signal in a modulator, comprising: (a) generating a constant-amplitude inphase (I) composite signal based on a majority vote of a first plurality of signals; (b) generating a constant-amplitude quadrature (Q) composite signal based on a majority vote of a second plurality of signals, wherein at least one offset carrier code is among the first and second pluralities of signals to be combined in the constant-envelope composite signal; (c) applying a scale factor to at least one of the I and Q composite signals to equalize a power of an offset carrier code among the first plurality of signals combined into the I composite signal and a power of an offset carrier code among the second plurality of signals combined into the Q composite signal such that a single offset carrier code is contained within the constant-envelope composite signal: (d) modulating, in the modulator, an inphase (I) component of a carrier signal with the I composite signal; (e) modulating, in the modulator, a quadrature (Q) component of the carrier signal with the Q composite signal; and (f) combining the modulated I and Q components of the carrier signal to form the constant-envelope composite signal.