Patent ID: 7719452

Claim:
An analog-to-digital converter system to convert an analog input signal to a system digital code, comprising: a sampler to provide samples of said analog input signal; signal converters arranged and configured to successively process said samples; at least one digital-to-analog converter configured to respond to a random digital code and inject analog dither signals into at least a selected one of said sampler and said signal converters which process said samples and said analog dither signals into a plurality of digital codes; an aligner/corrector coupled to said signal converters to process said plurality of digital codes into a combined digital code that includes a first portion that corresponds to said samples and a second portion that corresponds to said analog dither signals; and a decoder having a transfer function configured to convert said random digital code to said second portion for differencing with said combined digital code to thereby provide said system digital code; said samples thus processed along different signal-processing paths of said signal converters to thereby enhance linearity of said system.