Patent ID: 8217699

Claim:
An apparatus for generating a plurality of signals, comprising: a first signal generation unit, comprising an input receiving a reference signal, and a plurality of outputs providing a first plurality of output signals being generated based on the reference signal, wherein any two of the output signals have a different phase; a second signal generation unit, comprising at least two inputs receiving at least two signals selected from the first plurality of output signals generated by the first signal generation unit, and a plurality of outputs providing a second plurality of output signals being generated by interpolating the respective phases of the received at least two signals selected from the first plurality of output signals; a selection unit, comprising a first plurality of inputs receiving the first plurality of output signals generated by the first signal generation unit, a second plurality of inputs receiving the second plurality of output signals generated by the second signal generation unit, and a plurality of outputs providing the plurality of signals wherein each of the signals is selected from the first plurality of output signals generated by the first signal generation unit and the second plurality of output signals generated by the second signal generation unit, wherein any two signals of the plurality of signals have a different phase; and a calibration unit, wherein the calibration unit is programmed to compensate the minimum phase difference between any two signals of the plurality of signals, such that the minimum phase difference is at least substantially the same as a parameter value corresponding to the signals selected by the selection unit.