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. 20, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 16, 1997
Applicant:
Inventor:
Jerome D Harr, San Jose, CA (US);
Assignee:
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H03F / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
330254 ; 327359 ;
Abstract
A variable gain amplifier has a plurality of amplifying stages. Each amplifying stage has a pair of cascode transistors that provide a low impedance path to signal currents when operating in the signal transmission mode and a high impedance to unwanted feedforward current when operating in a blocking mode. In a preferred embodiment, a pair of cascode transistors can also be shared among a plurality of amplifying stages of the variable gain amplifier. Further, when different pairs of input signals are provided to different amplifying stages, the circuit can be used as an analog multiplexer.