Patent ID: 8588725

Claim:
An apparatus for down-converting an electromagnetic signal, comprising: an aliasing module comprising a switching device and a storage module, the aliasing module receiving as an input an RF information signal, and the aliasing module providing as an output a down-converted signal; the switching device of the aliasing module receiving as an input a control signal that controls a charging and discharging cycle of the storage module by controlling the switching device so that a portion of energy is transferred from the RF information signal to the storage module during a charging part of the cycle and a portion of the transferred energy is discharged during a discharging part of the cycle, wherein said control signal operates at an aliasing rate selected so that energy of the RF information signal is sampled and applied to the storage module at a frequency that is equal to or less than twice the frequency of the RF information signal; and wherein the storage module generates said down-converted signal from the alternate charging and discharging applied to the storage module using said control signal.