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:
Jul. 14, 1998
Filed:
Mar. 28, 1996
Hwang-Cherng Chow, Hsinchu, TW;
Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, TW;
Abstract
A level shifter is provided with first and second steady-state drivers and transient driver circuitry. Each steady-state driver includes a low enable input, a high enable input and an output. Each steady-state driver outputs from its respective output a low voltage level signal when an enabling voltage level is received at its low enable input and a disabling voltage is received at its high enable input. Furthermore, each steady-state driver outputs from its output a first high voltage level signal, that is higher than a second high voltage level of an input signal, when a disabling voltage level is received at its low enable input and an enabling high voltage level is received at its high enabling input. The high enable input of the first steady-state driver is connected to the output of the second steady-state driver. The high enable input of the second steady-state driver is connected to the output of the first steady-state driver. The input of the first steady-state driver receives a complement of the input signal and the input of the second steady-state driver receives the input signal. The transient driver circuitry responds to a transition in the voltage level of the input signal by driving the output of one of the first and second drivers, to the first high voltage level, for a certain time period. The transient driver circuitry is enabled to drive the output with a maximum driving capacity throughout the aforementioned certain time period.