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. 30, 1997
Filed:
May. 22, 1996
Masayuki Miyamoto, Nabari, JP;
Kunihiko Iizuka, Sakai, JP;
Mitsuhiko Fujio, Iizuka, JP;
Hirofumi Matsui, Ikoma-gun, JP;
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A winner-take-all circuit for judging a channel receiving an analog signal having the largest or smallest value among multiple channels upon input of analog signals. Each basic circuit includes a detecting unit for comparing an input voltage with a reference voltage, and a feedback current generating unit for outputting a feedback current that determines a judging range in response to an output voltage from the detecting unit. The winner-take-all circuit also includes a tenth transistor serving as a common transistor to all the basic circuits. The tenth transistor secures, even when an input voltage is small, a current that should flow through a sixth transistor serially connected to the seventh transistor that determines an amount of a feedback current from the feedback current generating circuit. As a result, even when there are fewer k channels receiving input voltages having the highest level and slightly lower ones compared with all the n channels, a feedback current is secured in a sufficient amount to vary the reference voltage. In addition, the winner-take-all circuit of the present invention comprises analog circuits, thereby making the structure simpler compared with a counterpart that processes digital signals.