Patent ID: 6356222
Filing Date: 2002-03-12
Classification: H03M

Abstract:
A circuit for increasing the precision of a digital-to-analog converter, the digital-to-analog converter being operative to generate an analog signal over a particular voltage range, the circuit comprising:a voltage translating circuit having an analog signal input, a bias enabled input and an analog signal output; a biasing enable circuit having bias select input and a bias enabled output, the bias enabled output being electrically coupled to the bias enable input of the voltage translating circuit, the bias select input being receptive to a multiple-state signal whereby when the multiple-state signal is in a first state, the biasing circuit operates to place the bias enabled output into a disabled state, and when the multiple-state signal is in a second state the biasing circuit operates to place the bias enable output into an enabled state; the voltage translating circuit being operative to receive the state of the bias enable output on the bias enable input and, in response to the bias enable input being in the disabled state, being operative to confine the analog signal output to a lower voltage range, the lower voltage range coinciding with a portion of the particular voltage range and, in response to the bias enable output being in the enabled state, being operative to confine the analog signal output to a higher voltage range, the higher voltage range coinciding with a portion of the particular voltage range, whereby the full precision of the digital to analog converter can be applied to both the lower voltage range and the higher voltage range thereby increasing the precision of the digital-to-analog converter.