A circuit, method and system for generating a non-linear transfer
characteristic, including a plurality of current mirror circuits in
parallel, each current mirror circuit having an offset current applied to
an output terminal of an output-side transistor of the current mirror
circuit for controlling an output current thereof, wherein the offset
current of each current mirror circuit is set to a respective
predetermined level, and the transfer characteristic is generated by
summing the respective output currents of the current mirror circuits in
a piece-wise manner.