Texas Instruments Corporation

H Pooya Forghani-zadeh

George Vincent Konnail

Christopher Adam Opoczynski

Thomas A Schmidt

Luis Alberto Huertas-Sanchez

Sungho Beck

Vikrant Dhamdhere

Gregory Wallis Collins

Kee-Chee Tiew

William Aubrey Mayfield

A family of digital logic functions has the same specifications for input and output voltages and the same number of bond pads. A digital logic integrated circuit for the family includes a substrate of semiconductor material having a core area and a peripheral area; a certain number of bond pads formed in the peripheral area, the certain number of bond pads determining the total area of the substrate; programmable digital logic transistor circuitry formed in the core area for each of the digital logic functions in the family; programmable input and output circuitry formed in the peripheral area; programming circuitry for programming the programmable digital logic transistor circuitry into a selected digital logic function; and programmable input and output means for programming the input and output circuitry into input and output circuits for the selected digital logic function.

IC with first and second functional circuits coupling only first circuits to output bond pads

Integrated circuit and process for family of digital logic functions

One embodiment of the present invention includes a power regulator system. The system includes a power stage configured to provide an output voltage to a load in response to an input voltage and a control signal. The system also includes a feedback system that receives the input voltage and is configured to generate the control signal based on the output voltage. The system further includes a load detector configured to determine a state of the load and to set the power to the feedback system based on determining the state of the load.

Power regulation with load detection

A voltage feedback loop employed with a power distribution switch rapidly responds to a predetermined drop in output voltage to increase the resistance of the switch for a predetermined time. After this predetermined time, a current feedback loop controls the resistance until the output voltage recovers, while also isolating the voltage feedback loop from the switch.

Power management apparatus with rapid short response and full load recovery

An isolated switching regulator has a closed-loop soft-start feature that allows tighter regulation of the output voltage and eliminates or reduces overshoot. It also has an optional reset feature which will resoft-start the regulator during recovery from a fault on the output voltage.

Secondary-side amplifier with soft start

Programmable power distribution switches with two-level current sensing are disclosed. In a particular example, a power distribution switch includes a programmable output device having a resistance based on a programmed maximum output current and generates an output voltage based on the resistance and a load current. The example power distribution switch also includes a reference voltage generator that is configured to generate a reference voltage corresponding to the output voltage when the load current is substantially equal to the programmed maximum output current. A current limiter is also included to reduce the load current in response to a comparison of the output voltage and the reference voltage, when the comparison is indicative of the load current exceeding the programmed maximum output current.

Programmable power distribution switches with two-level current sensing

One embodiment of the present invention includes a power supply system. The power supply system comprises a variable voltage source configured to provide and incrementally increase a control voltage associated with a pass-transistor. The power supply system also comprises an inrush current monitor configured to monitor a current-flow through the pass-transistor. The power supply system further comprises a voltage control circuit configured to halt the incremental increase of the control voltage in response to the current-flow exceeding a predetermined current limit.

Inrush current control

Methods and apparatus to provide power distribution switch circuits with fast responses to hard short-circuits are disclosed. In one example, a power distribution switch to detect a hard short-circuit condition is described, comprising a switching device having a resistance between an input terminal and an output terminal, to conduct a current from an input power source having an input voltage to an output terminal having an output voltage, a voltage feedback loop having a digital output voltage to increase the resistance of the switching device in response to a short-circuit based on the output voltage, and an analog current feedback loop to increase the resistance of the switching device based on a current through the switching device and a reference current.

Growing community of inventors

Dallas, TX, United States of America

H Pooya Forghani-zadeh