Patent ID: 8179957

Claim:
A device for generating quadrature pulse-width modulation (QPWM) signals, comprising: a circuit configured to generate, based on an in-phase (I) component and a quadrature phase (Q) component of an input signal, at least two respective pulse-width modulated (PWM) signals that are trains of pulses; and a reshaper configured to transform the at least two PWM signals into a QPWM signal, wherein the QPWM signal is a succession of pulses, and alternating pulses have widths that correspond to one or the other of the I and Q components; wherein the circuit comprises a first pulse-width modulator configured to generate one of the PWM signals based on the I component and a second pulse-width modulator configured to generate another of the PWM signals based on the Q component, each of the first and second pulse-width modulators comprises a respective pair of controllable time-delay elements and a logic gate, each of the pairs of controllable time-delay elements phase-shift a reference signal in opposite temporal directions based on a respective one of the I and Q components, and each gate produces a respective one of the PWM signals based on the phase-shifted reference signal.