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, 2001
Filed:
Jun. 22, 2000
Behrooz Rezvani, San Ramon, CA (US);
Peter Gunadisastra, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Ikanos Communications, Inc., Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method for A/D conversion is provided. The apparatus provides for multi-path multi-channel (MPMC) pipelined A/D conversion. Unlike prior art designs in which the handling of multiple channels requires a linear increase in the associated circuitry and components, the current design scales for multiple channel A/D conversion with less than linear scalability. The A/D converter comprises a plurality of stages and interfaces between adjacent columns of the stages. The stages each include an input, a first output, and a second output. Each of the stages is responsive to an input signal applied to the input to output at the first output a bit signal corresponding to at least one significant bit of the input signal and to output at the second output a residue signal corresponding to a difference between the input signal and the bit signal. The stages are arranged in columns. The interfaces are located between adjacent columns for passing residue signals from an upstream one of the adjacent columns to the inputs of a downstream one of the adjacent columns. At least one interface includes a multiplexer. The multiplexer switchably couples residue signals from at east two of the plurality of stages within the upstream one of the adjacent columns across one of the plurality of stages within the downstream one of the adjacent columns.