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:
Mar. 09, 2004
Filed:
Jan. 08, 2003
Brian Mueller, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Barbara J. Duffner, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Agilent Technologies, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A high-precision high-linearity digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and a method for converting a digital input signal having N bits to a substantially equivalent analog current output signal is presented. The DAC segments the digital input signal bits into groups separate processing. The invention includes a first current-steering digital-to-analog converter configured to receive a first group of i input signal bits and a first reference current to produce a first current signal. A second current-steering digital-to-analog converter is configured to receive a second group of j input signal bits and the first reference current to produce an intermediate current signal. The intermediate current signal is scaled down by a factor of 2 to produce a second current signal. A summing circuit sums at least the first and second current signals to produce an analog current signal representative of the digital input signal value.