Patent Document ID: 8169238
Application ID: 12166228
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A capacitance to frequency converter, comprising: a switching capacitor circuit to charge a sensing capacitor and to transfer charge from the sensing capacitor to a charge dissipation circuit via a circuit node; a comparator coupled to the charge dissipation circuit to compare a potential at the circuit node to a reference voltage; and a signal generator coupled to an output of the comparator and to the charge dissipation circuit, the signal generator responsive to the output of the comparator to generate a signal fed back to control the charge dissipation circuit, wherein a frequency of the signal is proportional to a capacitance of the sensing capacitor, and wherein the charge dissipation circuit comprises a modulation capacitor coupled to the circuit node and a current source coupled to selectively discharge the modulation capacitor in response to the signal.