U.S. Philips Corporation

Frederic Darthenay

Richard Morisson

Philippe Gandy

Denis L Raoulx

An A/D conversion device includes: an amplifier AMP provided with regulating means controlled by a control signal OC or GC for adjusting the value of its output voltage V2, and

A/D conversion device provided with a calibration arrangement

A/D conversion device provided with a gain calibration arrangement

An amplifying device has a decibel gain that evolves quasi-linearly as a function of the digital value of a control word C(O:M-1). The device includes: an amplifying stage with K amplifiers having mutually different decibel gains, the gain in decibels of each amplifier being a multiple of the same value G0; a switching stage with K switches; a gain-controlled amplifier having a gain which varies between 0 and G0 as a function of the value of the N least significant bits (C(O:N-1)) of the control word received at its digital input; and a decoder receiving a digital word including the (M-N) most significant bits (C(N:M-1)) of the control word. The decoder has K logic outputs controlling the K switches.

Digitally gain-controlled amplifying device, and camera using such a

The invention relates to a digitally gain-controlled amplifier including a transconductance stage provided with means for producing, at each of its N current outputs, a current (Itr) having a variable component which is representative of the analog input voltage. The amplifier also includes a switching stage comprising N switches each controlling the activation or deactivation of one of the N current outputs of the transconductance stage. Finally, the amplifier has a current/voltage conversion stage having one voltage output constituting the analog output of the amplifier and supplying a voltage which is representative of the currents received at its N current inputs.

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St. Aubin/Mer, France

Frederic Darthenay