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:
Dec. 31, 1996
Filed:
Jun. 07, 1995
Carl T Nelson, San Jose, CA (US);
Robert Essaff, Fremont, CA (US);
Linear Technology Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
A dual polarity voltage regulator circuit that is capable of regulating either positive or negative voltages is disclosed. The regulator circuitry of the present invention provides dual polarity regulation while requiring only one additional pin over a single polarity regulator. The present invention utilizes a single error amplifier, a negative feedback network, and an overshoot recovery circuit in providing dual polarity regulation. One advantage of the negative feedback network of the present invention is that the regulator circuit uses the same error amplifier (i.e., only one error amplifier) to regulate both positive and negative input voltages. The negative feedback network actively affects signals input into the error amplifier during negative regulation, but is essentially disabled during positive regulation. Thus, positive and negative voltage regulation are provided using a single error amplifier that retains its multiple functions (for example, oscillator frequency shifting, overshoot improvement and loop frequency compensation).