Patent ID: 8305117

Claim:
A divider, comprising: one or more input terminals configured to receive an input multiphase signal having a plurality of N signal components, with N an integer number and different from zero, at a first frequency and wherein every signal component of the plurality of signal components is phase shifted either with respect to the preceding component or the following component of the plurality of N signal components by a constant factor; one or more output terminals configured to provide an output multiphase signal having a plurality of N signal components corresponding to the N signal components of the input multiphase signal but at a second frequency given by the first frequency divided by a division factor; a division circuit having a first input terminal, a second input terminal, and an output terminal, the first input terminal being configured to receive a first component of the input multiphase signal, the division circuit being configured to divide the first component of the input multiphase signal by the division factor and generate on the output terminal a first component of the output multiphase signal at the second frequency; a plurality of N−1 devices, a first device of the plurality of N−1 devices having an input terminal and an output terminal, the input terminal of the first device being coupled to the output terminal of the division circuit, the first device being configured to sample the first component of the output multiphase signal with a component of the input multiphase signal and generate on the output terminal a second component of the output multiphase signal corresponding to the component of the input multiphase signal sampled with the first device, every other device of the plurality of N−1 devices being configured to sample a component of the output multiphase signal of a preceding device of the N−1 devices with a further component of the input multiphase signal that is phase shifted by a further constant factor with respect to the component of the input multiphase signal used in the preceding device, thus obtaining another component of the output multiphase signal corresponding to the further component of the input multiphase signal, and wherein every signal component of the plurality of N signal components of the output multiphase signal is phase shifted either with respect to the preceding component or the following component of the plurality of N signal components of the output multiphase signal by the constant factor; and an inverter electrically coupled between the second input terminal of the division circuit and either the output terminal of the division circuit or the output terminal of the first device of the plurality of N−1 devices.