Method and apparatus for converting analog radio frequency (RF) signals to the digital domain in a multiband and multicarrier wireless communication system

A method of converting wideband analog radio frequency (RF) signals to a digital domain, the method comprising:

• receiving a first wideband analog RF signal at an analog-to-digital converter system comprising N analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), wherein N is a positive integer greater than 1, the first wideband analog RF signal comprising one or more first narrowband analog RF signals, each of the first narrowband analog RF signal occupying a distinct non-overlapping spectral band within a spectrum of the first wideband analog RF signal, wherein a total of the bandwidths of the one or more first narrowband analog RF signals is less than a total bandwidth of the first wideband analog RF signal;
• separating each of the first narrowband analog RF signal occupying the one distinct non-overlapping band from the first wideband analog RF signal using one of N down converter modules by tuning the one down converter module to a center frequency of one of the distinct non-overlapping bands;
• cross-connecting any one of the N down converter modules to one or more of the N ADCs;
• selectively enabling and disabling each of the N ADCs based on the number of first narrowband analog RF signals in the first wideband analog RF signal so that a first subset of the N ADCs is enabled to perform analog-to-digital conversion of the first narrowband analog RF signals and the other of the N ADCs outside of the first subset are disabled;
• and
• analog-to-digital converting only the first narrowband analog RF signals occupying the distinct non-overlapping spectral bands using the enabled first subset of ADCs while not analog-to-digital converting the remainder of the first wideband analog RF signal.