Low-power high-precision sensing circuit

Abstract

A modulator system for converting a current-varying sensor output to a digital representation is disclosed. The modulator system includes a resonator with a first resonator input and a second resonator input. The first resonator input carries a constant reference current and the second resonator input carries a varying input current. In response to a digital output, the resonator generates a complementary voltage output based on a difference between the constant reference current and the varying input current during a conversion time. The resonator resonates near or at zero frequency. An accumulated digital output is based on the accumulation of the digital output generated at each sampling clock cycle of the conversion time and represents a digital word proportional to the varying input current.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.