Analog Input Compared With Static Reference Patents (Class 341/158)
  • Patent number: 11933084
    Abstract: A presence detection sensor for unlocking an opening panel of a motor vehicle, said sensor comprising a microcontroller implementing an analog-digital converter and comprising a first input, a second input forming the voltage reference of said analog-digital converter, a third input for supplying the microcontroller with voltage, and a plurality of inputs-outputs, and a capacitive voltage divider connected to at least one of the inputs-outputs of the plurality of inputs-outputs. The sensor comprises a resistive module connected between the first input and the second input of the microcontroller and a capacitive module connected between the second input of the microcontroller and a ground.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: VITESCO TECHNOLOGIES GMBH
    Inventors: Olivier Elie, Gabriel Spick
  • Patent number: 11815924
    Abstract: A bandgap reference starting circuit with ultra-low power consumption includes a current generating unit and a first bias voltage generating unit respectively connected with a power supply voltage. The current generating unit generates an nA-level current and a starting voltage for the first bias voltage generating unit. The first bias voltage generating unit is started and generates a first bias voltage according to the starting voltage, and output the first bias voltage to a bandgap reference circuit to start up the bandgap reference circuit. The starting circuit can normally start up a bandgap reference circuit of nA level, and has an nA-level working current, thereby reducing power consumption and saving the cost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: IPGOAL MICROELECTRONICS (SICHUAN) CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Xiaoyu Li, Xiangyang Guo
  • Patent number: 11776606
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a structure including a non-fixed read-cell circuit configured to switch from a first state to a second state based on a state of a memory cell to generate a sensing margin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES U.S. INC.
    Inventors: Amogh Agrawal, Ajey Poovannummoottil Jacob, Bipul C. Paul
  • Patent number: 11770129
    Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed for pipelined analog-to-digital conversion. In an example aspect, the apparatus includes a pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The pipelined ADC includes a first stage and a second stage. The first stage includes a sampler and a quantizer coupled to the sampler. The first stage also includes a current distribution circuit coupled to the sampler. The second stage includes a sampler coupled to the current distribution circuit and a quantizer coupled to the sampler of the second stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2023
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Seyed Arash Mirhaj, Lei Sun, Yuhua Guo, Elias Dagher, Aram Akhavan, Yan Wang, Dinesh Jagannath Alladi
  • Patent number: 11632230
    Abstract: An aspect relates to an apparatus including an input buffer including an input configured to receive an input voltage; a ramp voltage generator including an input coupled to an output of the input buffer; an evaluation circuit including an input coupled to an output of the ramp voltage generator, wherein the evaluation circuit includes a first resistor coupled in series with first field effect transistor (FET) between a first voltage rail and a second voltage rail; and an output buffer including an input coupled to a drain of the first FET and an output configured to generate an output voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Alvin Siu-Chi Li, Tomas O'Sullivan, Jianjun Yu, Yiwu Tang
  • Patent number: 11606099
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) having selectable first and second analog channel inputs and a digital output. A window comparator coupled to the digital output. The window comparator configured to compare a digital value on the digital output to first and second threshold values. A programmable clock circuit configured to provide a clock signal to the ADC. A controller that, response to assertion of the trigger signal, is configured to generate a sample rate control signal to the clock circuit to cause the clock circuit to increase the frequency of the clock signal and toggle selection between the first and second analog channel inputs. A result comparison circuit having a comparison input coupled to the digital output. The result comparison circuit is configured to compare a first digital conversion output from the ADC to a second digital conversion output from the ADC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2023
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Veeramanikandan Raju, Anand Kumar G
  • Patent number: 11601118
    Abstract: A latch device includes a differential pair, a differential circuit, and a clock gate circuit. The differential pair receives differential input signals, and the differential circuit performs a logic operation on the differential input signals. The clock gate circuit is configured to supply a supply voltage from the power supply node to the first connection node according to a clock signal. The clock gate circuit includes a reference-independent circuit and a reference-dependent circuit. The reference-independent circuit is configured to control a first electrical path between the power supply node and the first connection node according to the clock signal. The reference-dependent circuit is configured to control a second electrical path between the power supply node and the first connection node according to the clock signal and a first control signal, wherein the first control signal is determined according to a voltage level of one of the differential input signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: NANYA TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Joseph Iadanza, Lamiaa Msalka
  • Patent number: 11521672
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes: a multi-level receiver including N sense amplifiers and a decoder decoding an output of the N sense amplifiers, each of the N sense amplifiers receiving a multi-level signal having M levels and a reference signal (where M is a natural number, higher than 2, and where N is a natural number, lower than M); a clock buffer receiving a reference clock signal; and a clock controller generating N clock signals using the reference clock signal, inputting the N clock signals to the N sense amplifiers, respectively, and individually determining a phase of each of the N clock signals using the output of the N sense amplifiers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hyeokjun Choi, Jindo Byun, Younghoon Son, Youngdon Choi, Junghwan Choi
  • Patent number: 11211940
    Abstract: In at least some examples, an integrated circuit includes an input pin and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) comprising an input terminal coupled to the input pin and an output terminal. The integrated circuit further includes a logic circuit comprising an input terminal coupled to the output terminal of the ADC, a first output terminal, and a second output terminal. The integrated circuit further includes a resistance circuit. In an example, the resistance circuit includes a resistor coupled between the input pin and a first node, a first switch coupled between the first node and a reference voltage pin, and a second switch coupled between the first node and a ground pin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Vibha Goenka, Preetam Charan Anand Tadeparthy, Vikram Gakhar, Muthusubramanian Venkateswaran, Siddaram Mathapathi
  • Patent number: 11190199
    Abstract: Examples herein relate to electronic devices that include an asynchronous successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that implements timing adjustment based on output statistics. In an example, an electronic device includes an asynchronous SAR ADC, a statistics monitor, and an operation setting circuit. The asynchronous SAR ADC is configured to output output data. The statistics monitor is configured to capture samples at a bit position of the output data. The statistics monitor is further configured to generate an operational setting based on the captured samples. The operation setting circuit is configured to adjust an operating condition of the asynchronous SAR ADC based on the operational setting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Kevin Zheng, David Freitas, Hsung Jai Im
  • Patent number: 11132269
    Abstract: A backup control method is proposed to include: (A) two control units executing firmware such that the control units respectively operate in a master mode and a slave mode; (B) the control unit that operates in the master mode generating a health signal when executing the firmware; (C) a logic arithmetic unit determining, based on the health signal, whether the control unit that operates in the master mode functions normally; and (D) when the control unit that operates in the master mode is determined to not function normally, the logic arithmetic unit controlling a light emitting element to emit light, and notifying the control unit that operates in the slave mode such that the control unit which operates in the slave mode enters the master mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: MITAC COMPUTING TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yao-Wei Huang
  • Patent number: 11088702
    Abstract: A method of converting an analog signal to a digital code, comprising: using a first comparator to receive an input signal and a first comparison signal, and to generate a first output as a function of the input signal and the first comparison signal; using a second comparator to receive the input signal and a second comparison signal, and to generate a second output as a function of the input signal and the second comparison signal; and using an interpolation comparator to receive the first and second outputs, and to generate a third output based on relative timing of the first and second outputs; further including multiplexing to permit a second-level comparator to receive timing signals from the interpolation comparator and only one of two dummy comparators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Rishi Soundararajan, Visvesvaraya Pentakota
  • Patent number: 11005473
    Abstract: The present invention provides a voltage difference measurement circuit comprising a level shifting circuit, an ADC and a calculation circuit. In the operations of the voltage difference measurement circuit, the level shifting circuit adjusts levels of a supply voltage and a ground voltage to generate an adjusted supply voltage and an adjusted ground voltage, respectively. The ADC performs an analog-to-digital converting operation upon the adjusted supply voltage and the adjusted ground voltage to generate a first digital value and a second digital value, respectively. The calculation circuit calculates a voltage difference between the supply voltage and the ground voltage according to the first digital value and the second digital value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventors: Shih-Hsiung Huang, Liang-Huan Lei, Liang-Wei Huang
  • Patent number: 10931298
    Abstract: An analog-to-digital converter includes an input buffer connected to an input terminal receiving an input signal through a first sampling switch, a comparator connected to the input buffer, a sampling capacitor connected between the input buffer and the comparator, and connected to a second sampling switch, a digital-to-analog converter connected to the comparator, and a controller, connected between the comparator and the digital-to-analog converter, configured to output a signal to the digital-to-analog converter based on the comparator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignees: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
    Inventors: JongPal Kim, Seung Tak Ryu, Min Jae Seo
  • Patent number: 10840928
    Abstract: Disclosed is a stochastic time-to-digital converter, which includes a first arbiter cell that compares a timing of a reference signal and a timing of an input signal based on a voltage selected by a first selection signal from among a first voltage or a second voltage and outputs a first comparison result, a second arbiter cell that compares the timing of the reference signal with the timing of the input signal based on a voltage selected by a second selection signal from among the first voltage or the second voltage and outputs a second comparison result, and a binary converter that calculates a phase difference between the reference signal and the input signal based on the first comparison result and the second comparison result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: Korea University Research and Business Foundation
    Inventor: Hayun Cecillia Chung
  • Patent number: 10784887
    Abstract: Controllable voltage-signal generation circuitry, including: a plurality of segment nodes connected together in series, each adjacent pair of segment nodes connected together via a corresponding coupling capacitor, an end one of the segment nodes serving as an output node; for each of the segment nodes, at least one segment capacitor having a first terminal connected to that segment node and a second terminal connected to a corresponding switch; and switch control circuitry, wherein: each switch is operable to connect the second terminal to one reference voltage source and then instead to another reference voltage source, to apply a voltage change at the second terminal; the reference voltage sources and switches configured such that for each segment node the same voltage change in magnitude is applied by each switch, and such that the voltage change is different in magnitude from the voltage change applied by each switch of another segment node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2020
    Assignee: SOCIONEXT INC.
    Inventor: Suhas Rattan
  • Patent number: 10715757
    Abstract: An A/D converter 1 includes a front stage A/D conversion unit (3) including a first A/D conversion unit (6) that receives an analog signal from a CMOS image sensor (100) and generates a first digital value (D1) and a first residual analog signal (VOPF) through a folding integration A/D conversion operation, and a second A/D conversion unit (7) that receives a first residual analog signal (VOPF) from the first A/D conversion unit (6) and generates a second digital value (D2) and a second residual analog signal (VOPC) through a cyclic A/D conversion operation, and a rear stage A/D conversion unit (4) that receives the second residual analog signal (VOPC) from the front stage A/D conversion unit (3) and generates a third digital value (D3) through an acyclic A/D conversion operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION SHIZUOKA UNIVERSITY
    Inventor: Shoji Kawahito
  • Patent number: 10630307
    Abstract: An integrated circuit including a segmented successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) includes a first capacitive structure with a first plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents that each include a first terminal selectively connected to one of a plurality of input voltage nodes and a second terminal connected to a common conductor, and second capacitive structure with a second plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents that each include a first terminal selectively connected to one of the plurality of input voltage nodes and a second terminal connected to the common conductor. The first and second plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents are arranged in an array in which none of the first plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents are directly adjacent to one another and none of the second plurality of capacitive structure subcomponents are directly adjacent to one another in a first row in the array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: NXP USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert S. Jones, III, Tao Chen, Colin McAndrew
  • Patent number: 10481283
    Abstract: A photon counting system includes a photon sensor, a charge-sensitive amplifier (CSA) and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The CSA is configured to convert photon energy detected by the photon sensor to voltage pulses. The ADC is configured to digitize the voltage pulses generated by the CSA. The ADC includes successive approximation circuitry. The successive approximation circuitry includes an N-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC), an N-bit successive approximation register (SAR), a plurality of N-bit registers, and a multiplexer configured to selectively route outputs of the SAR and outputs of the N-bit registers to the DAC for conversion to an analog signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Rakul Viswanath, Nagesh Surendranath, Goli Sravana Kumar
  • Patent number: 10353451
    Abstract: In a system using a device not adapted to a single wire bus, a semiconductor device includes an external terminal to be coupled to a power source terminal of an external device, a port that supplies a power source voltage for the external device to the external terminal, a power manager that controls an output of the port, and a CPU that controls an operation of the power manager.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: RENESAS ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tatsuya Ishikawa, Yoshiaki Daimon, Norihiko Ishizaki, Yuichi Iwaya
  • Patent number: 10348992
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a comparator, an AD converter, a solid-state imaging device, an electronic apparatus, and a comparator control method that can reduce power consumption while increasing the determination speed of the comparator. The comparator includes a comparison unit, a positive feedback circuit, and a current limiting unit. The comparison unit compares the voltage of an input signal and the voltage of a reference signal, and outputs a comparison result signal. The positive feedback circuit increases the transition speed at the time when the comparison result signal is inverted. The current limiting unit limits the current flowing in the comparison unit after the inversion of the comparison result signal. The present disclosure can be applied to comparators, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Masaki Sakakibara, Kenichi Aoyagi, Seiji Yamada
  • Patent number: 10327659
    Abstract: An analog front end (AFE) system for substantially eliminating quantization error or noise can combine an input of an integrator circuit in the AFE system with an input of the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit in the feedback loop of the AFE system. By combining the input of the integrator with the input of the DAC circuit in the feedback loop, the in-band quantization noise of the filter can be substantially eliminated, thereby improving measurement accuracy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: Analog Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Arthur J. Kalb, Yogesh Jayaraman Sharma, Marvin Liu Shu
  • Patent number: 10277236
    Abstract: An ultrasound device including an asynchronous successive approximation analog-to-digital converter and method are provided. The device includes at least one ultrasonic transducer, a plurality of asynchronous successive-approximation-register (SAR) analog-to-digital converters (ADC) coupled to the at least one ultrasonic transducer, at least one asynchronous SAR in the plurality having a sample and hold stage, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a comparator, and control circuitry, wherein a DAC update event following at least one bit conversion is synchronized to a corresponding DAC update event of at least one other ADC in the plurality of ADCs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignee: Butterfly Network, Inc.
    Inventors: Kailiang Chen, Tyler S. Ralston
  • Patent number: 10090848
    Abstract: A self-calibrating analog-to-digital converter includes a reference signal circuit configured to provide a reference signal, an analog-to-digital converter configured to generate a first digital representation of the reference signal, a dual-slope analog-to-digital converter configured to generate a second digital representation of the reference signal, and a digital engine configured to compare the first digital representation with the second digital representation to obtain a difference and output a calibration signal to the analog-to-digital converter in response to the difference. The reference signal circuit, the analog-to-digital converter, the dual-slop analog-to-digital converter, and digital engine are integrated in an integrated circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: SHENZHEN GOODIX TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ali Farid, Ahmed Emira, Hassan Elwan, Mohamed Aboudina, Janakan Sivasubramaniam
  • Patent number: 10003454
    Abstract: Methods and systems are described for receiving a signal to be sampled and responsively generating, at a pair of common nodes, a differential current representative of the received signal, receiving a plurality of sampling interval signals, each sampling interval signal received at a corresponding sampling phase of a plurality of sampling phases, for each sampling phase, pre-charging a corresponding pair of output nodes using a pre-charging FET pair receiving the sampling interval signal, forming a differential output voltage by discharging the corresponding pair of output nodes via a discharging FET pair connected to the pair of common nodes, the FET pair receiving the sampling interval signal and selectively enabling the differential current to discharge the corresponding pair of output nodes, and latching the differential output voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: KANDOU LABS, S.A.
    Inventor: Armin Tajalli
  • Patent number: 9977073
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a resistor and a circuit. The resistor may be fabricated on a die using a semiconductor process. The circuit may be fabricated on the die using the semiconductor process and may be configured to (i) generate a measurement voltage at a node of the resistor as a function of a capacitance value and a frequency of a clock signal and (ii) generate a codeword in response to the measurement voltage. The codeword generally has a plurality of possible values. A particular value of the possible values may verify that the voltage is between a plurality of threshold voltages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: INTEGRATED DEVICE TECHNOLOY, INC.
    Inventor: Pak-Kim Lau
  • Patent number: 9960632
    Abstract: Disclosed are a method and apparatus for controlling a booster circuit such that maximum power is extracted from a power supply while power consumption for monitoring power generated by the power supply is reduced, and an apparatus for extracting maximum power by using the method and apparatus for controlling a booster circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignees: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
    Inventors: Je-in Yu, Gyu-hyeong Cho, Kyu-sub Kwak, Hui-dong Gwon, June-hyeon Ahn, Young-sub Yuk
  • Patent number: 9664752
    Abstract: A magnetic field sensor includes first, second, and third magnetic field sensing elements having respective first, second and third maximum response axes, the first second and third maximum response axes pointing along respective first, second, and third different coordinate axes. In response to a magnetic field, the first, second, and third magnetic field sensing elements are operable to generate first second, and third magnetic field signals. Signals representative of the first, second, and third magnetic field signals are compared with thresholds to determine if the magnetic field is greater than the thresholds. A corresponding method is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Allegro Microsystems, LLC
    Inventors: Gerardo A. Monreal, Bruno Luis Uberti
  • Patent number: 9577662
    Abstract: A CT-SDADC of the present disclosure converts the analog input signal from a representation in an analog signal domain to a representation in a digital signal domain to provide the digital output signal. The CT-SDADC achieves the analog-to-digital conversion and ELDC by switching between two phases in the SAR sub-ADC: a sampling phase and a conversion phase. During the sampling phase, the SAR sub-ADC captures the analog input signal across multiple arrays of switchable capacitors. The conversion phase comprises a number of steps, and one or more bits of the digital output signal are resolved at each step of the conversion phase. A portion of the SC-DAC is driven by the delayed CT-SDADC output during the conversion phase to effectively compensate for excess loop delay caused by the CT-SDADC feedback loop.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventors: Guowen Wei, Xinyu Yu, Michael Inerfield, Tom Kwan
  • Patent number: 9461664
    Abstract: Imagers may include analog-to-digital converter circuitry that produces a digital output code from an analog input voltage. The analog-to-digital converter circuitry may include a series of capacitors including a first set of binary-mapped capacitors. The analog-to-digital converter circuitry may include a second set of one or more capacitors that have capacitances that are less than binary-mapped capacitance values. The digital output code may include bits having respective bit positions within the digital output code. During successive-approximation operations performed by the analog-to-digital converter circuitry, each bit of the digital output code may be produced using a corresponding capacitor. Digital processing circuitry such as an image processor may produce a digital value from the digital output code by multiplying the bits of the digital output code with respective weights determined based on the capacitance of the corresponding capacitors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventor: Parthasarathy Sampath
  • Patent number: 9395780
    Abstract: A physical layer integrated circuit (PHY), including an accessory charger adapter (ACA) bridge circuit to communicate with an ACA via a universal serial bus (USB) cable having at least an ID pin and a VBUS pin. The PHY is also to communicate with an ACA-agnostic USB controller configured to act as an A-device or as a B-device. The ACA includes a USB accessory port. The ACA bridge circuit includes detection and control logic configured to detect, based on a resistance sensed on the ID pin, that a B-device is connected to the USB accessory port of the ACA and, as a result of such a detection, generate a signal to the USB controller that causes the USB controller to act as an A-device and ignore a VBUS drive signal from the USB controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2016
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Peter Brendan Considine, Sylvain Berthout, Arnaud Deconinck
  • Patent number: 9313436
    Abstract: An analog-digital converter includes: a first comparator configured to make a comparison between a pixel voltage and a first reference voltage, the pixel voltage being a signal voltage outputted from a pixel including an photoelectric conversion element, the pixel voltage corresponding to electric charge generated by the photoelectric conversion element; a second comparator configured to make a comparison between the pixel voltage and a second reference voltage; and a voltage follower configured to connect an input terminal for the first reference voltage of the first comparator and an input terminal for the second reference voltage of the second comparator through a switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2016
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Keiji Ookuma
  • Patent number: 9214950
    Abstract: A flash analog to digital converter (ADC) provides a temperature compensated trim current by applying a first temperature compensated reference current across a replica resistor ladder. The reference current is mirrored to a trim digital to analog converter, which outputs a fractional portion of the temperature compensated reference current. The proportional trim current is then fed back to the reference current to provide a trimmed temperature compensated reference current. The trimmed reference current is mirrored across the output resistor ladder providing a trimmed current in which the trim varies along with temperature changes due to the trim current being a proportion of the temperature compensated reference current. A proportional trim current which varies with temperature changes is applied to the gain current trim and mismatch current trim in a DAC of a quantizing stage of a sub-ranging ADC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventors: Brandon R. Davis, Toshi Omori, Lloyd F. Linder, Victoria T. Pereira
  • Patent number: 9165166
    Abstract: An interpolation circuit includes: a plurality of holding circuits configured to each hold a corresponding input data input chronologically; and a generating circuit configured to generate interpolation data by giving weights, based on an interpolation code, to input data that are chronologically adjacent to each other and are held by the plurality of holding circuits and combining the weighted data together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventors: Takayuki Hamada, Sanroku Tsukamoto
  • Patent number: 9166609
    Abstract: It is intended to provide an AD converter capable of increasing its conversion accuracy. An AD converter is equipped with a clock generator which generates a first clock using a second clock and a comparator which includes a comparison circuit for comparing an input signal with a prescribed value in a first period of the first clock and a precharging circuit for precharging, in a second period of the first clock, an internal voltage to a prescribed value for the next comparison operation. The clock generator includes a replica circuit of the precharging circuit of the comparator. In the replica circuit of the precharging circuit, a precharging period from the start to the end of precharging is set as the second period of the first clock.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masao Takayama, Junichi Naka, Naoya Yosoku
  • Patent number: 9124292
    Abstract: A calibration system for an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) an internal ADC that receives an analog input and converts the analog input to digital multi-bit data. The calibration system also includes a reference shuffling circuit that shuffles reference values of comparators of the internal ADC. Further, the calibration system includes a calibration circuit that calibrates the comparators of the internal ADC. The calibration system includes a digital block that measures an amplitude based on the digital multi-bit data. Additionally, the calibration system includes calibration logic that controls the calibration circuit based on an output of the digital block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: Analog Devices Global
    Inventors: Zhao Li, Shipra Bhal, Kevin Glenn Gard, David Nelson Alldred, Christopher Mayer, Trevor Clifford Caldwell, David J. McLaurin, Victor Kozlov
  • Patent number: 9124288
    Abstract: To determine the accuracy of an AD converter more simply than in the related art, a semiconductor device includes a successive approximation AD converter. The AD converter includes one or a plurality of testing capacitors used in a test mode, separately from a C-DAC used for AD conversion in a normal mode. In the test mode, the accuracy of a capacitor under test among a plurality of capacitors configuring the C-DAC is determined by comparing a potential occurring in the capacitor under test and a potential occurring in the testing capacitors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: RENESAS ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takahiro Umezaki, Yasutaka Horikoshi, Takehiro Mikami
  • Patent number: 9106248
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an analog to digital converter. The analog to digital converter includes comparing modules at multi levels, where a comparing module at each level includes a comparator and a metastable state determining unit. The comparator is configured to, when a previous-level comparing module is not in a metastable state, receive a first clock, a first input signal, and a second input signal, and compare the first input signal with the second input signal. The metastable state determining unit is configured to, when the previous-level comparing module is not in a metastable state, receive the first clock, generate a reference clock according to the first clock, and if a second clock that is output by the comparator is later than the reference clock, determine that the current-level comparing module is in a metastable state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mingjun Fan, Liming Fang, Yuan Liu
  • Patent number: 9094030
    Abstract: An analog to digital converter includes a digital to analog converting circuit, a comparator and a signal processing circuit. The digital to analog converting circuit samples and holds an analog input signal, and converts digital output data to an analog signal to generate a hold voltage signal. The comparator compares the hold voltage signal with a reference voltage signal in response to a rising edge and a falling edge of a clock signal to generate a comparison output voltage signal. The signal processing circuit performs successive approximation based on the comparison output voltage signal to generate the digital output data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jung-Ho Lee, Sung-Sang Lim, Yong-Woo Kim, Michael Choi
  • Patent number: 9035814
    Abstract: A feedforward delta-sigma modulator includes a successive approximation analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter, N integrators, a first adder, a second adder, and an optimization zero generation unit, where N is a positive integer. An output terminal of each integrator of the N integrators is coupled to the successive approximation analog-to-digital converter. The digital-to-analog converter is coupled between the first adder and the successive approximation analog-to-digital converter. The first adder is coupled to an input terminal of a first integrator of the N integrator. The second adder is coupled to an input terminal of a Kth integrator of the N integrators, where K is a positive integer. The optimization zero generation unit is coupled between an output terminal of a (K+1)th integrator of the N integrators and the second adder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventor: Che-Wei Chang
  • Patent number: 9035810
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for measuring current sources, such as might be useful in the calibration of a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The method provides a first plurality of current sources. Each current source is engageable to supply a current representing a corresponding nominal value. The method selectively enables current source combinations of current. In response to measuring the current source combinations, current difference values are found, and the current source nominal values are adjusted using the current difference values. In one aspect, a reference current source is provided having a reference first value, and the current source nominal values are adjusted with respect to the reference first value. The current sources may have corresponding nominal digital values adjusted using measured digital difference values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: IQ—Analog Corporation
    Inventors: Mikko Waltari, Costantino Pala
  • Patent number: 9024797
    Abstract: In an integrating A/D converter, first and second reference voltage inputs (18, 20) alternatingly connect through a reference voltage switch (16, 16?) via a first reference resistor (Rref) to an inverting input (122) of an integrator (12). A comparator (22) connected downstream of the integrator (12) compares a test voltage applied to its test voltage input (221) with a comparator reference voltage applied to its reference voltage input (222). This input (221) is connected to- the output (126) of the integrator (12). A control device (40) actuates the first reference voltage switch (16, 16?) in a pulsed manner and measures the time intervals between the individual switching processes. An inverter (24) inverting a measuring voltage (UM) and a first heating resistor (RMH) coupled thermally with a measuring resistor (RM), are connected in series between the measuring voltage input (14) and the output of the first reference voltage switch (16, 16?).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: Sartorius Lab Instruments GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Heinrich Feldotte, Heyko Holst
  • Publication number: 20150120026
    Abstract: A system includes an analog-to-digital converter receiving a plurality of input signals. One particular input signal has a particular analog value and the analog-to-digital converter uses a fixed reference to convert the particular analog value to a particular digital value. The analog-to-digital converter uses the particular analog value as a reference for converting the analog values of the remaining input signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2013
    Publication date: April 30, 2015
    Applicant: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: Zhenyong Zhang
  • Publication number: 20150109160
    Abstract: An analog to digital conversion method includes charging a capacitor through an analog signal to sample a voltage of the analog signal; coupling the capacitor and a plurality of reference voltages to a comparator when a voltage of the capacitor is equal to the voltage of the analog signal, to compare the voltage of the capacitor with the reference voltages and generate a first comparison result; coupling the capacitor to a ramp generator when a status of the first comparison result changes, to compare a ramp signal of the ramp generator with a voltage difference of a first reference voltage and the voltage of the capacitor and generate a second comparison result; obtaining a voltage of the ramp signal when a status of the second comparison result changes; and obtaining a digital code of the analog signal according to the first reference voltage and the voltage of the ramp signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2014
    Publication date: April 23, 2015
    Applicant: NOVATEK Microelectronics Corp.
    Inventor: Jer-Hao Hsu
  • Patent number: 9007252
    Abstract: An analog to digital conversion method includes charging a capacitor through an analog signal to sample a voltage of the analog signal; coupling the capacitor and a plurality of reference voltages to a comparator when a voltage of the capacitor is equal to the voltage of the analog signal, to compare the voltage of the capacitor with the reference voltages and generate a first comparison result; coupling the capacitor to a ramp generator when a status of the first comparison result changes, to compare a ramp signal of the ramp generator with a voltage difference of a first reference voltage and the voltage of the capacitor and generate a second comparison result; obtaining a voltage of the ramp signal when a status of the second comparison result changes; and obtaining a digital code of the analog signal according to the first reference voltage and the voltage of the ramp signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: NOVATEK Microelectronics Corp.
    Inventor: Jer-Hao Hsu
  • Patent number: 8994570
    Abstract: An analog-to-digital converter employs one or more reference ladders for generating reference voltages with which to compare the analog signal for quantization. Selected impedances of the reference ladder can be dynamically decoupled from the input signal in dependence on the value of the output signal in order to reduce headroom in the reference ladders, thus making possible accurate quantization in low-voltage applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Cambridge Silicon Radio Limited
    Inventor: Hashem Zare-Hoseini
  • Patent number: 8988267
    Abstract: According to an embodiment, a signal processing device includes an integrator, a setting unit, and an analog-to-digital converter. The integrator is configured to integrate an electrical charge corresponding to electromagnetic waves. The integrator includes a capacitor configured to store the electrical charge corresponding to the electromagnetic waves and a discharging circuit configured to discharge the capacitor. The setting unit is configured to set a period of integration of the electrical charge with respect to the integrator. The analog-to-digital converter includes a comparator configured to compare an integration output and a threshold value and a counter configured to output, as digital data of the electrical charge, the number of times for which a value of the integration output becomes not less than the threshold value. The converter is configured to discharge the capacitor during the period of integration by supplying a comparison output of the comparator to the discharging circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Shunsuke Kimura, Hideyuki Funaki, Go Kawata, Tetsuro Itakura, Masanori Furuta
  • Patent number: 8988260
    Abstract: A continuous-time delta-sigma digital-to-analog converter (DAC) includes a first delta-sigma modulator configured to quantize a most significant bit or bits of a digital input signal and produce a first quantization error signal, and a second multi-stage delta-sigma modulator configured to quantize less significant bits of the digital input signal. A first DAC is coupled to an output of the first delta-sigma modulator, and a second DAC is coupled to an output of the second noise-shaping filter. The second DAC has a greater resolution than the first DAC. A low pass output filter is coupled to a sum of an output of the first DAC and an output of the second DAC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Martin Kinyua
  • Patent number: 8981986
    Abstract: Measures are provided for performing direct radio-frequency to digital conversion. A radio-frequency input signal is compared with a plurality of reference voltages to generate a plurality of comparison signals, each comparison signal corresponding to one of the plurality of reference voltages. One or more of the plurality of generated comparison signals are first filtered to generate a first filtered signal. One or more of the plurality of generated comparison signals are second filtered to generate a second filtered signal. A digital output signal is generated at least on the basis of the first filtered signal and the second filtered signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventors: Pauli Mikael Seppinen, Markus Nentwig, Sami Seppo Antero Kallioinen, Kim Kaltiokallio
  • Patent number: 8976051
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure relate to floating point timers and counters that are used in a variety of contexts. In some implementations, a floating point counter can be used to generate a wave form made up of a series of pulses with different pulse lengths. An array of these floating point counters can be used to implement a pool of delays. In other implementations, an array of floating point counters can be used to analyze waveforms on a number of different communication channels. Analysis of such waveforms may be useful in automotive applications, such as in wheel speed measurement for example, as well as other applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Ljudmil Anastasov, Jens Barrenscheen