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, 2016
Filed:
Dec. 18, 2014
Silicon Laboratories Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Michael H. Perrott, Nashua, NH (US);
Louis Nervegna, Andover, MA (US);
Silicon Laboratories Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
A capacitance-to-digital converter circuit utilizes a capacitor bridge circuit to sense a difference in capacitance between sense capacitors and fixed capacitors in the bridge circuit. The sense capacitors vary according to a sensed parameter. Auxiliary capacitor digital to analog converters (DACs) are coupled to the capacitor bridge circuit to cancel the sensed difference. An analog to digital converter (ADC) receives a signal generated by the capacitor bridge circuit and the auxiliary capacitor DACs and converts the received signal to a digital signal. A digital accumulator accumulates the ADC output, whose output represents the difference in capacitance between the sense capacitors and the fixed capacitors. The accumulator output is used to control the auxiliary capacitor DACs to offset the difference in capacitance between the sense capacitors and the fixed capacitors. The accumulator output also provides the basis for the capacitance-to-digital circuit output.