Patent · US Expired

Charge-mode analog to digital converter

US5327138A · kind A · utility

6Cited by
16References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 23, 1993
Grant dateJul 5, 1994
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 23, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03M1/44
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A symmetric pipelined charge-mode analog to digital converter including a signal-reference CCD channel having a plurality of charge storage stages that are arranged in a serial configuration to carry the signal and reference charges, and a CCD digital channel. A set of two step comparators coupled to the signal-reference channel first senses and stores the signal charge and then senses and compares the reference charge to the signal charge. In the first stage, an initial reference charge is used, and in subsequent stages, an increment of one half the previous stage increment is added to the reference. In addition, at each stage, a charge increment equal to the previous reference increment is conditionally added to the signal charge and a corresponding bit in the digital channel is conditionally set responsive to the comparator. Thus, if the total signal charge is less than the total reference charge at a stage, the charge increment is added to the signal charge in the signal-reference channel, and a corresponding digital bit charge is zeroed in the digital channel. Conversely, if the total signal charge is larger than the told reference charge at a stage, the charge increment is no…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.