Analog-to-digital converter with automatic range and sensitivity adjustment
First Claim
1. An improved optical reader for reading decodable indicia, comprising:
- a sensor that senses an excitation carrying information representing an encoded symbol and that provides an analog signal responsive to said excitation at an output terminal;
an analog-to-digital converter configured to receive said analog signal from said sensor output terminal at an analog data input terminal, and to provide optimized digital data in an N-bit representation, where N is a positive integer greater than 1, said N-bit range of said analog-to-digital converter substantially spanning a dynamic range of said excitation as sensed by said sensor; and
a microprocessor that manipulates said optimized digital data, thereby providing accurate decoding of said digital data under a range of illumination conditions.
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Abstract
The invention is a system and method for providing optimized accuracy and precision in analog-to-digital conversions of data. In an embodiment of the invention, an A/D converter is configured by setting two separately definable reference voltages that are controlled by a microprocessor. The A/D converter range is as wide as, or slightly greater than, a dynamic range of the analog signal to be converted. The microprocessor adjusts at least one reference voltage. The A/D converter receives analog signals from a sensor. The dynamic range of the signal from the sensor, or the sensor operating conditions, are used to define the reference voltages. The converted data is provided to a data processor at a rate controlled by a clocking signal. In a method according to the invention, the A/D converter is operated using the features described above. The accuracy and the precision of the converted data are thereby optimized.
100 Citations
37 Claims
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1. An improved optical reader for reading decodable indicia, comprising:
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a sensor that senses an excitation carrying information representing an encoded symbol and that provides an analog signal responsive to said excitation at an output terminal;
an analog-to-digital converter configured to receive said analog signal from said sensor output terminal at an analog data input terminal, and to provide optimized digital data in an N-bit representation, where N is a positive integer greater than 1, said N-bit range of said analog-to-digital converter substantially spanning a dynamic range of said excitation as sensed by said sensor; and
a microprocessor that manipulates said optimized digital data, thereby providing accurate decoding of said digital data under a range of illumination conditions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A least-significant-bit-optimized analog-to-digital converter circuit, comprising:
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an analog-to-digital converter having a first reference voltage input terminal, a second reference voltage input terminal, an analog data input terminal, and a digital data output terminal providing data in an N-bit representation, where N is a positive integer greater than 1;
a first reference voltage source that provides a first reference voltage to said first reference voltage input terminal;
a second reference voltage source that provides a second reference voltage to said second reference voltage input terminal;
a detector that detects an excitation and that provides an analog signal responsive to said excitation to said analog data input terminal; and
a microprocessor-based controller that controls said first reference voltage and said second reference voltage;
whereby said microprocessor-based controller adjusts at least one of said first and said second reference voltages to cause said N-bit range of said analog-to-digital converter to substantially span a dynamic range of said excitation as detected by said detector, thereby optimizing a value of a least-significant bit of said analog-to-digital converter with respect to said excitation. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification