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:
Jul. 05, 2011
Filed:
May. 27, 2008
Simon M. Louwsma, Enschede, NL;
Maarten Vertregt, Eindhoven, NL;
Simon M. Louwsma, Enschede, NL;
Maarten Vertregt, Eindhoven, NL;
NXP B.V., Eindhoven, NL;
Abstract
During successive approximation analog to digital conversion a series of successive digital reference values is selected that converges towards a digital representation of an analog input signal. An analog reference signal is generated dependent on the successive digital reference values and compared to the analog input signal. The digital reference values are selected dependent on comparison results. In the selection of the digital reference values successive steps between digital reference values are each selected dependent on values of the comparator result from a plurality of preceding recursion cycles. The comparison results define a series of successively narrower ranges of digital values that contain a digital representation of the analog input signal. Use of a plurality of comparator results for selecting the steps in the digital reference values makes it possible to reduce uncertainty about whether the comparison result has settled. This in turn makes it possible to reduce the sizes of the successive ranges, which speeds up convergence.