Abstract: The present invention is an integrated set-top box having daisy-chaining capability. The set-top box includes a down-stream path having a tuner and a digital receiver portion and an up-stream path having a power amplifier. In one embodiment, the tuner, digital receiver, and power amplifier can all be disposed on a common substrate. In another embodiment, the tuner can be disposed on a first substrate, and the digital receiver and the power amplifier can be disposed on a second substrate. The set-top box includes a daisy-chain buffer having an input coupled to an input of the tuner and having an output coupled to an input of another receiving entity such as another set-top box, tuner, cable, etc., where the daisy-chain buffer is configured to provide a signal to drive the receiving entity.

Abstract: Digital data signals at a variable input frequency are converted by a numerically controlled oscillator and an interpolator to a signal at a fixed output sampling frequency. The conversion of the variable input frequency to the fixed output sampling frequency may be by a factor other than an integer. The interpolated digital data signals at the fixed output sampling frequency are then modulated into a pair of trigonometric signals at a programmable carrier frequency, one signal having a cosine function and the other signal having a sine function. The modulated signals at the fixed output sampling frequency are then combined to create a modulated signal at a carrier frequency determined by the frequency of the sine and cosine signals. The modulated signal is sampled at the fixed output sampling frequency and converted to a corresponding analog signal using a digital-to-analog converter.