This paper addresses the design of discrete-time nonlinear observers through the circle criterion. The new design method is mainly devoted to either globally Lipschitz systems or bounded-state systems whose nonlinearities can be decomposed into a linear combination of positive-slope nonlinearities. The observer design is not restricted to systems with positive-slope nonlinearities, but it encompasses systems with non-positive-slope nonlinearities too. Stability conditions of the observation error are given in terms of numerically tractable linear matrix inequalities. Illustrative examples are presented in order to highlight the main features and advantages of the new proposed technique over some classical designs. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.