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:
Apr. 07, 2009
Filed:
Sep. 13, 2007
Taiji Akizuki, Miyagi, JP;
Tomoaki Maeda, Hiroshima, JP;
Hisashi Adachi, Osaka, JP;
Panasonic Corporation, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An A/D converter includes a first switched capacitor block that charges and holds charges by connecting each of a first group of capacitors to a single basic reference voltage at a first timing, and discharges each of the charges held by the first group of capacitors at a second timing, a second switched capacitor block that charges and holds each of the charges discharged by the first group of capacitors respectively in the second group of capacitors at the second timing, and converts each of the charges held by the second group of capacitors to a voltage and outputs the voltages at the first timing, and a quantizer that quantizes an analog input signal using the plurality of voltages output from the second switched capacitor block as reference voltages for each level. A plurality of reference voltages is generated from a single basic reference voltage, based on different amounts of charges held in the plurality of capacitors. A high SNR is obtained by supplying the reference voltages of a quantizer in a multi-bit A/D converter with high accuracy, and low power consumption operation is possible with simplified circuitry.