The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 19, 2021
Filed:
Feb. 25, 2019
Analog Devices, Inc., Norwood, MA (US);
Junhua Shen, Wilmington, MA (US);
Analog Devices, Inc., Norwood, MA (US);
Abstract
A current measurement circuit may use a probabilistic technique to determine a current from a circuit block. In one embodiment, the circuit includes a comparator circuit, a first current sensing element (such as a first resistor), and a control circuit. The first current sensing element is coupled to the comparator circuit to establish a first comparator input signal representative of the current at an input of the comparator circuit. The control circuit is coupled to the comparator circuit to obtain a first plurality of comparator output decisions corresponding to the first current sensing element for a specified count, determine a first proportion of comparator output decisions meeting a specified criterion, and determine a voltage value of the first comparator input signal from the first proportion. The control circuit is configured to determine a current value using the voltage value of the first comparator input signal and an impedance value of the first current sensing element. The current measurement circuit is relatively low-cost and easy to implement, without requiring a precision reference voltage, current, and/or high-cost analog-to-digital converters (ADCs).