Patent 7631030 was granted and assigned to Sony on December, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A sine wave multiplication circuit multiplies an analog input signal by n (n is an integer equal to or greater than 2) weighting coefficients each having a unique value. The polarity of the analog input signal multiplied by one of the n weighting coefficients is changed over. Further, changeover among the n weighting coefficients and of the polarity is performed after every sampling period equal to ½k (k is an integer, and 2k is equal to or greater than 6 but equal to or smaller than 4n) of one period of the sine wave signal by which the analog input signal is multiplied. As a result, a staircase waveform having 2n positive and negative stairs is generated while unnecessary harmonic wave components in the proximity of the sine wave signal by which the analog input signal is multiplied can be reduced.