Patent ID: 7710179

Claim:
A programmable gain attenuator having an input (Vin) and an output (Vout), comprising: at least two voltage divider sections, each having a first resistive device, a second resistive device, and a tap between them, the second resistive device comprising two or more parallel resistive devices, and wherein a subsequent voltage divider section is connected to the tap of a preceding voltage divider section, wherein the at least two voltage divider sections are collectively connected at a first end thereof to the input and at a second end thereof to a reference voltage, wherein the output is connected to the tap of each voltage divider section, wherein a gain of the programmable gain attenuator is alterable by altering the value of at least one of the second resistive devices of a voltage divider section, the second resistive devices being in circuit between their respective taps and the reference voltage with the two or more parallel resistive devices within their corresponding voltage divider section having different resistive values and connected to the reference voltage by means of corresponding reference voltage switches, wherein each component included in the two or more parallel resistive devices influences the gain only when the corresponding reference voltage switch of the component is closed, and wherein the at least two voltage divider sections comprise a first voltage divider section and one or more further voltage divider sections, the one or more further voltage divider sections being cascaded such that the first resistive device of each further voltage divider section is directly connected to the tap of a preceding voltage divider section, and wherein the tap of each of the first voltage divider section and the one or more further voltage divider sections is connected by corresponding tap switches to the output.