The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 16, 2018
Filed:
Jan. 23, 2018
Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company, Limited, Hong Kong, HK;
Abstract
A hybrid Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) has multiple stages. A first stage and a final stage each use a Successive-Approximation Register (SAR) ADC to generate the Most-Significant-Bits (MSBs) and the Least-Significant-Bits (LSBs) over successive internal cycles. Middle stage(s) use a faster flash ADC with multiple comparators in parallel to generate the middle binary bits, which are then re-converted by a Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) and subtracted from the stage's input analog voltage to generate a difference that is amplified by a residual amplifier that outputs an amplified voltage to the next stage. The first stage also has this multiplying DAC structure to convert the MSBs to an amplified voltage to the first of the middle stages. Finally, digital error correction logic removes redundant binary bits between stages. Initial and final SAR stages of 4 and 8 bits with a 4-bit middle stage provide a hybrid ADC of 14-bit precision.