Patent ID: 8036626

Claim:
A method for processing communication signals, the method comprising: frequency-translating a first signal to generate one or more second signals utilizing a distributed mixer and an in-phase and quadrature mixing stage, said distributed mixer comprising a plurality of frequency conversion stages; summing in at least one of said plurality of frequency conversion stages, a first frequency scaled signal and a phase-shifted version of a second frequency scaled signal, where said first frequency scaled signal is generated by multiplying a corresponding input signal with a local oscillator signal or a fractional local oscillator signal, and said second frequency scaled signal is generated by multiplying said corresponding input signal with a phase-shifted version of said local oscillator signal or a phase-shifted version of said fractional local oscillator signal, wherein: said first signal is an input signal to said distributed mixer; said input signal to said distributed mixer is an input signal to at least one of said plurality of frequency conversion stages and an output signal of said distributed mixer is generated from one or more output signals of said plurality of conversion stages; and said output signal from said distributed mixer is an input signal to said in-phase and quadrature mixing stage and said one or more second signals are generated from one or more output signals of said in-phase and quadrature mixing stage.