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:
Apr. 29, 1980
Filed:
Dec. 11, 1978
David A Hodges, Berkeley, CA (US);
Paul R Gray, Orinda, CA (US);
James L McCreary, Santa Clara, CA (US);
The Regents of the University of California, , CA (US);
Abstract
An array of binary weighted capacitors, an additional capacitor having a capacitance value equivalent to that of the least of the binary weighted capacitors, a voltage comparator, switches for interconnecting the capacitors with certain predetermined voltage levels and the comparator, and a sequencing circuit are included. One side of all of the capacitors is connected to one input terminal on the comparator and the other side has applied thereto the signal to be quantized. Switch sequencing combines divided portions of a reference voltage with the signal to be quantized for presentation to the input of the comparator which thereby provides a serial digit output connected to the sequencing circuit. In this fashion, a linear conversion between an analog and a digital signal is made by the sequencing circuit. A nonlinear converter between digital and analog signal presentation is also disclosed. Resolution of the coder/decoder is increased by providing a reference voltage generator capable of supplying stepped increments of the reference voltage to the capacitor array during the comparison process.