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US 7,411,533 B2Granted
ADC for simultaneous multiple analog inputs
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorJoshua Posamentier
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a multi-channel analog-to-digital converter (ADC), in which the ADC sequentially converts analog values that are input from different analog sensors, separate sample-and-hold circuits may be used to read all the analog values at the same time, and the ADC may then sequentially convert the values from each sample-and-hold circuit. This approach allows a single ADC to be used in time-critical applications that require all the analog sensor values to be measured at the same time.
Claims19
An apparatus, comprising:
- an analog-to-digital converter (ADC);
- an analog multiplexer coupled to the ADC to select one of multiple analog signal sources for an input of the ADC;
- a trigger signal generator to cause multiple sample-and-hold circuits to each sample a separate analog signal from a separate analog sensor at a same time;
- and
- a control circuit coupled to the trigger signal generator and to the ADC to control timing of at least one trigger signal to the sample-and-hold circuits;
- wherein the control circuit comprises circuitry to adjust timing of the at least one trigger signal to compensate for different transmission times from the different analog sensors;
- wherein the ADC is to sequentially select each sample-and-hold circuit to convert an analog voltage from each sample-and-hold circuit to a corresponding digital value subsequent to said sampling.
4 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a processor;
- an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) coupled to the processor;
- an analog multiplexer coupled to the ADC;
- and
- a control circuit coupled to the ADC, the control circuit to generate at least one signal to cause multiple sample-and-hold circuits to simultaneously each read an analog value from an associated analog sensor and hold the analog sensor value for subsequent conversion to a digital value by the ADC;
- wherein the control circuit is further to compensate for different transmission times from the different sensors.
3 more elements
A method, comprising:
- transmitting at least one signal to multiple sample-and-hold circuits to cause each sample-and-hold circuit to simultaneously sample associated analog sensor values;
- adjusting the at least one signal to compensate for differences in transmission time from each sensor to the associated sample-and-hold circuit;
- and
- sequentially reading and converting a sampled analog voltage in each sample-and-hold circuit to a digital value with a single analog-to-digital converter.
1 more element
An article comprising
- a tangible machine-readable medium that contains instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising:
- transmitting at least one signal to multiple sample-and-hold circuits to cause all the multiple sample-and-hold circuit to simultaneously sample associated analog sensor values;
- and
- sequentially reading and converting a sampled analog voltage in each sample-and-hold circuit to a digital value with a single analog-to-digital converter
- wherein the operation of transmitting comprises transmitting a value of a future time to sample.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.