Delay folding system and method

A delay-based system for generating output delay signals for an analog-to-digital converter, the system comprising:

• logic gates having delay signal outputs and inputs for earlier arriving and later arriving signals, the delay signal outputs based on earlier and later arriving signals;
• delay comparators, connected to the logic gates, having most significant bits outputs and delay residue signals outputs, the most significant bits outputs representative of the most significant bits of respective digital codes and the delay residue signals outputs representative of less significant bits of the digital codes;
• and
• a multiplexer, connected to the delay comparators, having an output operable to provide a selected one of the delay residue signals outputs based on one or more of the delay residue signals outputs.

A method of converting an input voltage into digital output codes, the method comprising:

• processing delay signals based on earlier and later arriving signals generated by preamplifiers;
• generating, by a plurality of delay comparators, digital signals representative of most significant bits of respective first and second digital codes;
• generating delay residue signals representative of less significant bits of the first and second digital codes;
• and
• generating, by an auxiliary delay comparator, an auxiliary digital signal for use in generating the digital output codes based on the first and second digital codes.

A method of generating delay signals for an analog-to-digital converter, the method comprising:

• generating delay signals based on earlier and later arriving signals;
• generating, by delay comparators, digital signals, based on the delay signals, representative of most significant bits of respective digital codes;
• generating, based on the delay signals, delay residue signals representative of less significant bits of the digital codes;
• and
• outputting a selected one of the delay residue signals based on one or more of the digital signals.