Patent ID: 7053809

Claim:
A system having an analog-to-digital converter, the system comprising: at least one cascade of N gain elements operably couplable with analog circuitry, the at least one cascade having at least N greater than or equal to a positive integer sufficient to provide said at least one cascade with a gain such that a predetermined operable signal at an input of said at least one cascade generates a signal at an output of said at least one cascade that is larger than a predetermined operable threshold value, an input of a first gain element of said at least one cascade operably couplable with the analog circuitry, a gain element of the at least one cascade having a gain larger than one by an amount such that a noise factor of said at least one cascade operating on the predetermined operable signal at the input of said at least one cascade is substantially minimized, and one or more output value detection circuits respectively operably coupled with one or more outputs of the N gain elements.