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:
Sep. 01, 2015
Filed:
Feb. 18, 2014
Integrated Device Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
INTEGRATED DEVICE TECHNOLOGY, INC., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
Systems and methods for protecting an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) are provided. The provided systems and methods utilize comparators in a circuit of a stage of the ADC to compare a reference signal to an input signal and output one or more maximum signals when the input signal exceeds the reference signal. A decoder in the stage of the ADC may output a reset signal to another circuit in the stage of the ADC when a predetermined number of the maximum signals are received. When the other circuit receives the reset signal, the ADC may enter a protection mode to protect the ADC by ensuring that the excessive input signal is not propagated to subsequent stages.