Patent ID: 7340357

Claim:
An arbitrary waveform generator comprising: a memory operable to store data for waveform generation; and a digital signal processing unit configurable to perform one of a plurality of functions on data obtained from the memory; wherein, in a first configuration, the digital signal processing unit is operable to obtain waveform data from the memory via a plurality of data paths and perform digital up-conversion functions on the obtained waveform data; wherein, in the first configuration, the digital signal processing unit is operable to obtain base-band in-phase (I) data via a first data path and base-band quadrature-phase (Q) data via a second data path, wherein the first data path includes a first programmable gain circuit coupled to a first programmable offset circuit which is further coupled to first programmable interpolating filters, wherein the second data path includes a second programmable gain circuit coupled to a second programmable offset circuit which is further coupled to second programmable interpolating filters, wherein each of the first and second programmable gain circuits is programmable to control the gain independent of the offset, and each of the first and second programmable offset circuits is programmable to control the offset independent of the gain; wherein, in a second configuration, the digital signal processing unit is operable to obtain waveform data from the memory and perform data interpolation functions on the obtained waveform data; and wherein, in a third configuration, the digital signal processing unit is operable to obtain data comprising attributes of a waveform from the memory and perform hardware-controlled arbitrary waveform generation functions to generate waveform data.