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:
Jan. 08, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 18, 2000
Thierry Masson, Varces, FR;
Isabelle Icord, Saint Egreve, FR;
Atmel Grenoble SA, Saint Egreve, FR;
Abstract
A digital-analog current converter receives, at input, a succession of bits of a binary signal and delivers, at output, sampled by a clock signal, a positive or negative current depending on the state of the input bit. The converter comprises at least one circuit to control the build-up time of the output current of the converter, comprising a capacitor and a circuit to charge this capacitor controlled by the clock signal. The build-up time is controlled by the charging of a capacitor at a constant current up to a reference voltage. The circuit to control the build-up time of the output current may comprise at least two reference voltages, the capacitor being charged and then discharged between these two voltages. The build-up time of the output current is then the sum of the time taken to charge the capacitor and the time taken to discharge the capacitor. The charging and discharging current of the capacitor can be sent directly into the output load of the converter by means of selector switches and current mirrors. Two capacitors are used and are they are charged and discharged. While one of the capacitors gets charged, the other gets discharged. The disclosure can be applied especially to sigma-delta type digital-analog converters.