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:
May. 26, 1998
Filed:
Jul. 05, 1995
Sriram Ramamurthy, Fremont, CA (US);
Stephen A Smith, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Jafar Naji, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Kasturiraman Gopalaswamy, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Cirrus Logic, Inc., Fremont, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for monitoring and controlling power to a device such as a PCMCIA/PC card. A PCMCIA/PC card adapter is provided for communicating data and control signals to and from a PCMCIA/PC card and a host processor. The PCMCIA/PC card adapter may communicate with the PCMCIA/PC card to determine the correct voltage(s) for the PCMCIA/PC card. The PCMCIA/PC card may then communicate instruct a power control circuit to provide an appropriate voltage to the PCMCIA/PC card. The power control circuit may be provided with status monitoring registers containing status data reflecting monitored conditions of the PCMCIA/PC card and power supply. A System Management Bus (SMB) may link the power control circuit and the PCMCIA/PC card adapter. If an abnormal status is detected in the PCMCIA/PC card or power supply (e.g., over temperature, over current, thermal shutdown, or the like) the power control circuit, provided with an arbiter and SMB master state machine, may assert control of the SMB and transfer contents of the status registers to corresponding status registers in the PCMCIA/PC card adapter. If abnormal status is detect in the status registers of the PCMCIA/PC card adapter, the PCMCIA/PC card adapter may instruct the power control circuit to shut down power to the PCMCIA/PC card. The PMCIA/PC card adapter may further generate and transmit an interrupt signal to a host processor.