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.

Date of Patent:
Dec. 07, 2004

Filed:

Nov. 22, 2002
Applicant:
Inventors:

Christopher Peter Hurrell, Cookham, GB;

Bruce Edward Amazeen, Ipswich, MA (US);

Assignee:

Analog Devices, Inc., Norwood, MA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H03M 1/12 ; H03M 1/38 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H03M 1/12 ; H03M 1/38 ;
Abstract

A SAR converter having enhanced performance by virtue of effectively pre-loading the SAR's most significant bits with a value that makes the associated DAC output almost equal to the signal to be converted. A normal SAR conversion is then completed with the SAR bits that have not been pre-loaded. The value used to pre-load the most significant bits of the SAR is preferably obtained from a low-resolution, high-speed converter, such as a flash. The range of DAC bits used in the normal SAR part of the conversion may be increased such that errors up to a certain magnitude in the high-speed converter can be corrected. A method for performing an enhanced SAR conversion is also described.


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