Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.

Nuvoton Technology Corporation Japan

Toshiaki Ozeki

Koji Oka

Takuji Miki

Daisuke Nomasaki

Kazuo Matsukawa

Junichi Naka

Takumi Kato

Ikuo Hidaka

Yoshikazu Makabe

Shiro Sakiyama

Takashi Morie

Mitsuhiko Otani

Naoshi Yanagisawa

Jun'ichi Naka

A DLL circuit includes: a time difference amplifier circuit that includes current sources for setting a time difference amplification factor and an input time difference range, and amplifies, to a first signal and a second signal which are input, a time difference between edges which are change points of logic levels respectively included in the first and second signals, using the current sources and outputting a first amplified signal and a second amplified signal obtained; a phase comparison circuit that calculates a phase difference between the first and second amplified signals output and outputs a phase difference signal indicating the phase difference calculated; and a variable delay circuit that delays the second signal by an amount of delay depending on the phase difference indicated by the phase difference signal output from the phase comparison circuit and outputs the delayed second signal as a delayed signal.

DLL circuit, time difference amplifier circuit, and distance-measuring imaging device

A distance-measuring imaging device includes: a timing controller that outputs one or more timing signals; a light receiver that receives reflected light that is light emitted by a light source and reflected by a subject; a phase adjustment circuit that outputs at least one signal out of a light emission control signal and an exposure control signal, based on the one or more timing signals, the light emission control signal being used for causing the light source to emit light to the subject, the exposure control signal being used for causing the light receiver to start exposure. The phase adjustment circuit includes one or more DLL circuits each of which determines, for at least one of the one or more timing signals, at least one of a phase of a rising edge or a phase of a falling edge of the at least one signal.

Distance-measuring imaging device

A differential amplifier circuit comprises: first and second input terminals; first and second output terminals; a first transistor comprising a gate terminal connected to the first input terminal; a second transistor comprising a gate terminal connected to the second input terminal; a first resistor connected between the source terminal of the first transistor and the source terminal of the second transistor; a third transistor comprising a drain terminal connected to the source terminal of the first transistor, a gate terminal connected to the drain terminal of the first transistor, and a source terminal connected to the first output terminal; a fourth transistor comprising a drain terminal connected to the source terminal of the second transistor, a gate terminal connected to the drain terminal of the second transistor, and a source terminal connected to the second output terminal; first to fourth current sources; and second and third resistors.

Differential amplifier circuit and radar device

An A/D converter includes: an input buffer; N sub-A/D converters including N first sampling circuits that are connected to the input buffer, and that sample the output analog signal in respective sampling slots; a control circuit that executes calibration for the N first sampling circuits one by one; a reference A/D converter including a second sampling circuit that is connected to the input buffer, and that samples the output analog signal in the same sampling slot as the sampling slot of one first sampling circuit under execution of the calibration among the N first sampling circuits; and a third sampling circuit that is connected to the input buffer, and that samples the output analog signal in the same sampling slots as the sampling slots of the (N&#x2212;1) first sampling circuits out of the execution of the calibration.

A/D converter including multiple sub-A/D converters

A time-interleaved analog-to-digital (AD) converter includes: N AD converters; a frequency divider that receives a clock signal and applies 1/N frequency division N to the received clock signal to generate N frequency-divided clock signals to be supplied to the N AD converters; at least (N&#x2212;1) variable delay circuit that adjusts delay time for at least (N&#x2212;1) frequency-divided clock signal; a low pass filter circuit or an input buffer circuit that receives the clock signal and limits a frequency band of the received clock signal to generate a reference signal; and a control circuit that controls the delay time of the at least (N&#x2212;1) variable delay circuit, and decreases one or more differences among digital output values output from the N AD converters when the reference signal is input to the N AD converters.

Time-interleaved analog-to-digital converter

A reference voltage is maintained stable against disturbance noise and self-noise of an internal circuit. A reference voltage stabilizer circuit for stabilizing the reference voltage to be supplied through at least one of first or second signal lines includes a preceding-stage circuit including a capacitive path connected between the first and second signal lines; and a subsequent-stage circuit including a resistive path connected between the first and second signal lines, and a resistive circuit inserted, between the capacitive path and the resistive path, into one of the first or second signal lines through which the reference voltage is supplied.

Reference voltage stabilizer circuit and integrated circuit including the same

An A/D converter which converts an analog input signal into a digital output signal by performing time-divisional parallel processings on the analog input signal using first and second pipeline type unit A/D converters. The A/D converter sets plural unit A/D converters performing parallel processings according to a system request, such that, when the A/D converter operates with a conversion frequency that is lower than the maximum conversion frequency, the unit A/D converter is halted by a control signal, thereby reducing inter-channel errors among the unit A/D converters to improve the precision of the A/D converter.

A/D converter and A/D conversion method

In an A/D converter provided with an A/D converter circuitfor operationally amplifying an input signal and outputting an amplified signal, the A/D converter circuitincludes an initial value setting circuitin addition to an amplifier, a sub-A/D converter, a sub-D/A converterand capacitors Cand C. To ensure that the initial value of the output voltage of the amplifieris a given voltage value close to the target value of operational amplification at the start of the operational amplification by the amplifier, the initial value setting circuitapplies a given bias value equal to the given voltage value close to the target value to a next-stage capacitor Cto be connected to the output side of the amplifier. Such an A/D converter circuitthat can perform speedy convergence to the target value of operational amplification is used at each stage of a pipeline A/D converter.

A first Delayed Flip Flop includes a first D input terminal, a first clock input terminal, a first output terminal outputting a signal inputted to the first D input terminal based on the clock signal, and a first inversion output terminal inverting and outputting the signal inputted to the first D input terminal and outputting the signal to the first D input terminal as a feedback. A second Delayed Flip Flop includes a second D input terminal receiving the output from the first output terminal of the first Delayed Flip Flop, a second clock input terminal, and a second output terminal outputting the signal inputted to the second D input terminal as a first output based on the clock signal. A third Delayed Flip Flop includes a third D input terminal receiving the output from the first inversion output terminal of the first Delayed Flip Flop, a third clock input terminal, and a third output terminal outputting the signal inputted to the third D input terminal as a second output based on the clock signal. The first output and the second output have signal waveforms inverted at the same timing.

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Osaka, Japan

Toshiaki Ozeki