Intel Corporation

Stephen L Smith

Branislav Vajdic

Gyan Prakash

Shahrokh Shahidzadeh

Venkatesh Ramamurthy

Reinhard R Steffens

Edwin L Hudson

Christian Von Reventlow

Farzad Esfandiari

Generally, this disclosure describes providing theft deterrence for a device while in transit. The system may include lock state circuitry configured to receive and store an unlock token, the unlock token configured to indicate that an associated device has successfully completed transit from a source to a destination; and lock state read circuitry configured to request the unlock token from the lock state circuitry and to determine whether the associated device has successfully completed transit from the source to the destination based on the unlock token.

Device lock for transit

A current controlled switch to compensate for switching time variations. A compensated current source is configured to operate with a current mirror to set the switching current. The control of the switching current maintains control of the peak switching current in the switch, therein controlling the switching transition time. The speed performance is maintained nearly uniform as circuit and process variations cause switching conditions to change. Applications such as delay lines, output buffers, inverters and ringing oscillators are available using the current controlled switching technique of the present invention. Also, parasitic effects can also be compensated by using the present invention.

Current controlled solid state switch

A current difference current source which provides a stable current as operating conditions change. Two MOS transistors operate as two current sources. A difference current is obtained by subtracting the two transistor currents. The two current sources are configured to vary similarly as conditions change, such that their difference remains constant. In the alternative the difference current is forced to decrease as current increases in the transistors, wherein a reverse compensated current is provided. The difference current is used to drive a current mirror which functions as a compensated current source.

Current difference current source

CMOS buffers are described which provide compatibility between a CMOS circuit and ECL circuits. The input buffer includes a comparator referenced to the V.sub.BB potential. This potential is developed on the CMOS chip with bipolar transistors integrally formed during the CMOS processing. The output buffer also utilizes a bipolar transistor and includes overshoot protection circuitry to prevent overshooting in the transition on the output line from a high potential to a low potential.

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Stephen L Smith