US 11,743,647 B2
Multi-rate integrated circuit connectable to a sensor
Mohammad Shajaan, Copenhagen (DK); Kristian Hansen, Roedovre (DK); Jens Tingleff, Copenhagen (DK); Henrik Thomsen, Copenhagen (DK); and Claus Fürst, Roskilde (DK)
Assigned to KNOWLES ELECTRONICS, LLC., Itasca, IL (US)
Appl. No. 17/312,793
Filed by Knowles Electronics, LLC, Itasca, IL (US)
PCT Filed Dec. 10, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/065538
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 10, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/123550, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 18, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/778,180, filed on Dec. 11, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0141586 A1, May 5, 2022
Int. Cl. H04R 3/06 (2006.01)
CPC H04R 3/06 (2013.01) [B81B 2201/0257 (2013.01); H04R 2201/003 (2013.01); H04R 2410/03 (2013.01)] 22 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An integrated circuit connectable to a sensor, the integrated circuit comprising:
a transconductance element connectable to the sensor and having a voltage input and a current output, the transconductance element configured to generate a current signal representative of an output of the sensor; and
a current-input analog-to-digital converter (I-ADC) including a first input node coupled to the current output of the transconductance element and configured to sample and quantize the current signal to generate a corresponding digital sensor signal, wherein the I-ADC comprises:
a continuous-time (CT) integrator stage and a discrete-time (DT) integrator stage, the CT integrator stage configured to receive the current output of the transconductance element and the I-ADC configured to generate the digital sensor signal based on an output of the CT integrator stage and an output of the DT integrator stage; and
a feedback digital-to-analog converter (FB-DAC) connecting an output of the I-ADC to a second input node of the I-ADC, the FB-DAC configured to provide a feedback signal based on the digital sensor signal, and the I-ADC configured to add the feedback signal to the current signal at the second input node and to supply a result thereof as an input to the CT integrator stage.