System for generating an analogue signal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9484898-B2
Application number	US-201414891297-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 19, 2014
Priority date	May 17, 2013
Publication date	Nov 1, 2016
Grant date	Nov 1, 2016

Abstract

The system has: a set of at least two electric current generators, at least one capacitor and activation/deactivation devices for the electric current generators; the electric current generator being connected in parallel with one another and the capacitor being connected in series with the electric current generators, the activation/deactivation devices controlling the generators by a digital stream allowing control of the intensity of the electric current entering the capacitor and generating a trapezoidal voltage signal at the terminals of the capacitor, the analog signal being reconstructed through interpolation of the trapezoidal signal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for generating an analog signal having at least:
a set of at least two electric current generators
at least one capacitor
activation/deactivation devices for said electric current generators;
the electric current generators being connected in parallel with one another and the capacitor being connected in series with the electric current generators, the activation/deactivation devices controlling said generators by means of a digital stream allowing control of the intensity of the electric current entering said capacitor and generating a trapezoidal voltage signal at the terminals of said capacitor, said analog signal being reconstructed through interpolation of said trapezoidal signal.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein said interpolation is of Riemann type.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one transistor connected in parallel with the capacitor and/or
at least one other electric current generator connected in series with the capacitor
and a comparator for comparing a value of a voltage at the terminals of said capacitor with a theoretical value;

said transistor and/or said other electric current generator being adapted to modify said value of the voltage at the terminals of said capacitor when it is different than said theoretical value.

4. The system of claim 1 , the system being integrated on one and the same chip.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein said capacitor is made up of a capacitor of a transistor belonging to the input stage of a power amplifier.

6. The system of claim 1 , the system being integrated on an integrated circuit.

7. The system of claim 1 , the system being integrated on an application-specific integrated circuit.

Assignees

• Thales Sa
• Centre Nat Rech Scient
• Inst Polytechnique Bordeaux
• Univ Bordeaux
• Centre Nat De La Recherce Scient

Inventors

• Garrec Patrick
• Montigny Richard
• Regimbal Nicolas
• Deval Yann
• Rivet François

Classifications

• H03M1/745

  with weighted currents · CPC title

• H03K4/023

  by repetitive charge or discharge of a capacitor, analogue generators · CPC title

• H03M1/661

  Improving the reconstruction of the analogue output signal beyond the resolution of the digital input signal, e.g. by interpolation, by curve-fitting, by smoothing · CPC title

• H03K4/94 Primary

  having trapezoidal shape · CPC title

• H03K3/64 Primary

  Generators producing trains of pulses, i.e. finite sequences of pulses · CPC title