Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
120 words
A self calibrating charge-redistribution analog-to-digital converter comprising: a first binary weighted capacitor array having a plurality of capacitors, one plate of each of said capacitors being electrically connected to a node, a comparator having one input electrically connected to said node, first logic means connected to said comparator output and said array for selectively connecting said capacitors to preselected voltages, and at least one second binary weighted error capacitor array electrically connected to said node and having a plurality of capacitors for determining the error correcting signal required at said node to correct the binary mismatch of preselected capacitors in said first array, each said capacitors in said error capacitor array being connected through a scaling capacitor to said node.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
120 words
A self calibrating charge-redistribution analog-to-digital converter comprising: a first binary weighted capacitor array having a plurality of capacitors, one plate of each of said capacitors being electrically connected to a node, a comparator having one input electrically connected to said node, first logic means connected to said comparator output and said array for selectively connecting said capacitors to preselected voltages, and at least one second binary weighted error capacitor array electrically connected to said node and having a plurality of capacitors for determining the error correcting signal required at said node to correct the binary mismatch of preselected capacitors in said first array, each said capacitors in said error capacitor array being connected through a scaling capacitor to said node.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
57 words
A converter according to claim 1 further including second logic means connected to said error capacitor array for reproducing a digital representation of said error signal which causes said second error capacitor array to produce the analog representation of said error signal at said node each time said preselected mismatched capacitors are utilized in said first array.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
21 words
A converter according to claim 1 wherein said first binary array includes one additional capacitor which is equal to LSB capacitor.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
52 words
A converter according to claim 1 further including a predetermined number of additional binary weighted error capacitor array electrically connected to said node, each having a plurality of capacitors, each of said arrays determining the error signal required at said node to correct the binary mismatch of preselected capacitors of said array.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
34 words
A converter according to claim 4 wherein said predetermined number of error capacitor arrays corrects the capacitor in said first array associated with the MSB and a selected number of the more significant bits.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
41 words
A converter according to claim 4 further including logic means connected to each of said predetermined number of error capacitor arrays for producing a digital signal to each of said error capacitor arrays representative of the mismatch of said preselected capacitors.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
44 words
A converter according to claim 6 wherein each of said digital signals from said respective logic means is input to its respective error capacitor array to produce an analog error signal representative of the mismatch of the binary weighted capacitors in said first array.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
36 words
A converter according to claim 1 further including a memory means interconnected between said first and second logic means for storing the digital representations of the mismatch in the binary weighted capacitors in said first array.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
25 words
A converter according to claim 8 wherein said memory has storage capacity of 2 N where N equals the number of bits to be corrected.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
24 words
A converter according to claim 8 wherein said memory has storage capacity of N, where N equals the number of bits to be corrected.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
245 words
A method of calibrating capacitors C 1 -C N in an A/D-D/A having a binary weighted capacitor array C 1 (LSB), C 2 , C 3 , C 4 . . . C N (MSB) plus one additional capacitor C 0 of weight corresponding to the least significant bit (LSB) in combination with an error correcting capacitor array combined at an analog summation node, comprising the steps of: (1) initializing the summation node to zero, (2) applying a first signal of one polarity and magnitude to C 0 and a second signal of opposite polarity but same magnitude to C 1 with the resulting signal E 1 at the summing node being proportional to the error in capacitor C 1 , (3) converting signal E 1 into a digital signal using said error correcting capacitor array, (4) initializing the summation node again to zero, a (5) applying a third signal of one polarity and magnitude to C 0 and C 1 and a fourth signal of opposite polarity but same magnitude to C 2 , (6) converting E 1 into an analog signal using said error correcting capacitor array and applying said analog signal E 1 to said summing node, with the resulting analog signal E 2 at the summing node being proportional to the error in C 2 , (7) converting E 2 into a digital signal using said error correcting capacitor array, and (8) repeating steps (4)-(7) for the remaining capacitors as required.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
245 words
A method of calibrating capacitors C 1 -C N in an A/D-D/A having a binary weighted capacitor array C 1 (LSB), C 2 , C 3 , C 4 . . . C N (MSB) plus one additional capacitor C 0 of weight corresponding to the least significant bit (LSB) in combination with an error correcting capacitor array combined at an analog summation node, comprising the steps of: (1) initializing the summation node to zero, (2) applying a first signal of one polarity and magnitude to C 0 and a second signal of opposite polarity but same magnitude to C 1 with the resulting signal E 1 at the summing node being proportional to the error in capacitor C 1 , (3) converting signal E 1 into a digital signal using said error correcting capacitor array, (4) initializing the summation node again to zero, a (5) applying a third signal of one polarity and magnitude to C 0 and C 1 and a fourth signal of opposite polarity but same magnitude to C 2 , (6) converting E 1 into an analog signal using said error correcting capacitor array and applying said analog signal E 1 to said summing node, with the resulting analog signal E 2 at the summing node being proportional to the error in C 2 , (7) converting E 2 into a digital signal using said error correcting capacitor array, and (8) repeating steps (4)-(7) for the remaining capacitors as required.