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:
Sep. 29, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 19, 1996
Richard Francis Frankeny, Elgin, TX (US);
Mithkal Moh'd Smadi, Round Rock, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
An architecture for a high speed analog current to digital voltage converter particularly suited for integrated circuit applications. As preferably implemented, an analog signal of current form and an associated reference current are generated on a source integrated chip. The reference current line and one or more analog current lines transmit data between the source and a receiving integrated circuit chips. The high speed converter utilizes current mirrors to simultaneously evaluate the analog inputs and determine the digital equivalents through current comparisons using currents derived from the reference current. The architecture provides for switching of current sources in lower order bits responsive to the detection of input currents enabling higher order bits. Since switching of lower order bits by higher order bits is accomplished simultaneously, the analog current to digital voltage conversion is accomplished within one switch period while retaining the relatively high accuracy.