High resolution resistor ladder network with reduced number of resistor elements

Abstract

A resistor network is provided which significantly reduces the total number of resistors required to achieve a given resolution. It comprises a cell of resistors that consists of a nonbinary number of resistors that is not evenly divisible by an integer power of two and is specifically selected to permit the group of resistors to be sequentially reduced to subgroups, or combinations, of resistors which yield a plurality of subgroup resistances that differ from preceding or subsequent subgroup resistances by a generally equivalent differential. The cell of resistors is combined with a plurality of resistor cells that consist of binary numbers of resistors in a conventional resistor ladder format. When combined with the binary resistor cells, the cell consisting of a nonbinary number of resistors provides a substantially similar resolution with a significant reduction in the number of resistors required. One embodiment of the present invention permits the resolution of a sixty-two resistor ladder to be simulated by a ladder that comprises only twenty-three resistors.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.