Exar Corporation

Steven Smith

Dale Wedel

A system supporting enhanced programmable signal adjustments may include a plurality of circuits configured to generate a corresponding plurality of input signals; a signal conditioner configured to condition the plurality of signals; and a controller configured to control the signal conditioner. The controller may generate one or more control signals for the controlling of the signal conditioner. The signal conditioner may select one or more input signals from the plurality of input signals, based on a first control signal generated by the controller; may generate an adjustment signal based on a second control signal generated by the controller; and may adjust at least one of the selected one or more input signals based on the adjustment signal and a third control signal generated by the controller.

Method and apparatus for multi-channel sensor interface with programmable gain, offset and bias

Enhanced multi-channel sensor interfaces with programmable signal adjustments are provided. An example sensor interface may include an input selector that selects one or more sensor signals from a plurality of sensor signals based on input selection control signal; an offset generator that generates an offset signal based on an offset control signal; and a programmable signal adjuster that adjusts at least one selected sensor signal based on the generated offset signal and a signal adjustment control signal. The sensor interface may include a control interface unit that generates the input selection control signal, the offset control signal, and the signal adjustment control signal. The sensor interface may include a comparator that compares output of the programmable signal adjuster with a reference signal, and provides based on the comparison an output configured for use in performing offset correction. The programmable signal adjuster may generate a number of selectable gains.

A highly integrated programmable sensor interface with improved sensor signal calibration and conditioning functions is described. The programmable sensor interface according to the present invention sensor interface provides programmable gain, digital offset correction and bias for one or more signal channels on one chip on a per channel basis. According to another aspect of the invention, the sensor interface provides reference voltage and sensor biasing by using an on-chip precision voltage regulator. According to one aspect of the invention, multiple inputs are multiplexed and each is applied to a variable gain instrumentation amplifier, which connects to the output. The offset of a given channel is controlled by an on-chip DAC which has multiple digital storage registers, allowing each channel to have a unique, stored offset. Offsets and gains are programmed externally.

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Lovell, ME, United States of America

Steven Smith