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:
Nov. 23, 1993
Filed:
Jun. 18, 1991
Applicant:
Inventors:
Raul Curbelo, Lexington, MA (US);
Warren R Howell, Sherborn, MA (US);
Assignee:
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA (US);
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H03M / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
364574 ; 341118 ;
Abstract
A technique for improving the resolution of an A/D converter (30). The input analog signal is sampled to generate an analog level and the analog level is held (20) for an interval. A dither signal (22) is superimposed (23) on the held level to generate a fluctuating voltage. This fluctuating voltage is then sampled (25) a plurality of at least N times, and N sampled values are communicated to the A/D converter (30) so that N digitized values are generated. These digitized values are averaged (32) to provide an output having a digitization error reduced by a factor of up to N.sup.1/2.