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. 07, 2000
Filed:
Jul. 10, 1995
Philip B Giangarra, Mansfield, MA (US);
James D Dworkin, Chandler, AZ (US);
Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, IL (US);
Abstract
A programmable numeric converter (10) converts a floating point number to a fixed point format by selecting the proper offset. The mantissa is loaded with an implied value one into the least significant, or most significant, bits of the shifter (20). The programmable offset is added (24) to the exponent to determine the number of shifts to the mantissa bits. The number of bits of resolution necessary in the fixed point number is reduced because the offset can be programmed to move the decimal point to the left, or to the right, to provide accuracy wherever the significant digits are located. That is, the decimal point is moved left to provide more resolution in the fractional portion of the fixed point number for small numbers. Alternately, the decimal point is moved right to provide more resolution in the whole number portion of the fixed point number for large numbers.