Successive approximation analog-to-digital converter (adc) with dynamic search algorithm

A successive approximation analog-to-digital converter, comprising:

• a digital-to-analog converter operable to generate a reference voltage based on a digital reference code;
• a comparator operable to compare an analog input voltage to the reference voltage generated by the digital-to-analog converter and generate a comparison output indicative of the comparison;
• and
• a search and decode logic module comprising one or more circuits operable to:
• obtain a digital output code representative of the analog input voltage by updating the digital reference code one or more times based on the comparison output;
• and
• generate a flag signal that indicates a timing relationship between a number of updates used to obtain the digital output code representative of the analog input signal and a baseline number of updates.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a communication interface operable to receive analog signal;
• and
• a successive approximation analog-to-digital converter operable to:
• obtain a digital output code representative of an analog input voltage of the received analog signal by updating the digital output code one or more times based on a relationship between the analog input voltage and a reference voltage specified by the digital output code;
• and
• generate a flag signal that indicates a timing relationship between a number of updates used to obtain the digital output code representative of the analog input voltage and a baseline number of updates.