Wideband tuner architecture

A multi-tuner receiver system for receiving a plurality of desired radio frequency (RF) channels that extend over multiple non-contiguous portions of a broad frequency spectrum and grouping them in a contiguous frequency spectrum, the system comprising:

• a first tuner configured to receive a first portion of the broad frequency spectrum, the first tuner includes a first mixer module coupled to a first oscillator and is configured to generate a first in-phase signal and a first quadrature signal;
• a second tuner configured to receive a second portion of the broad frequency spectrum, the second tuner includes a second mixer module coupled to a second oscillator and is configured to generate a second in-phase signal and a second quadrature signal;
• a first analog-to-digital converter module configured to digitize the first in-phase and quadrature signals;
• a second analog-to-digital converter module configured to digitize the second in-phase and quadrature signals;
• a first digital frontend (DFE) module having a first bank of down-mixers coupled to the first digital in-phase and quadrature signals, each of the first bank of down-mixers is configured to frequency shift one of the desired RF channels in the first portion of the broad frequency spectrum;
• and
• a second digital frontend (DFE) module having a second bank of down-mixers coupled to the second digital in-phase and quadrature signals, each of the second bank of down-mixers is configured to frequency shift one of the desired RF channels in the second portion of the broad frequency spectrum;
• wherein the first DFE module frequency-shifts the desired RF channels in the first portion of the broad frequency spectrum to a first portion of a baseband signal;
• wherein the second DFE module frequency-shifts the desired RF channels in the second portion of the broad frequency spectrum to a second portion of the baseband signal.

A method of receiving a plurality of radio frequency (RF) channels including a number of desired channels that are located in non-contiguous portions of a frequency spectrum, the method comprising:

• concurrently receiving the plurality of RF channels;
• producing an in-phase signal and a quadrature signal by mixing the plurality of RF channels with a first oscillator frequency and a second local frequency;
• digitizing the in-phase and quadrature signals;
• and
• grouping the desired channels to a contiguous frequency spectrum by frequency down-shifting the digital in-phase and quadrature signals using a number of complex mixers,
• wherein the first and second oscillator frequencies are identical and have a phase shift of 90° degree between them,
• wherein the number of complex mixers corresponds to the number of desired channels.