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:
Aug. 24, 1999
Filed:
Dec. 12, 1997
Bruce L Inn, San Jose, CA (US);
Scenix Semiconductor Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A system and method for detecting brown-out conditions in a microcontroller, enabling a user to program the brown out detection system, and distinguishing between real brown-out events and transitory voltage swings without requiring expensive and time consuming logic. The invention compares a sense voltage to a reference voltage and filters the resulting signal to distinguish between a true-brown out signal and transitory voltage swings. The invention uses one or more program bits that vary the ratio of the supply voltage and the sense voltage. That is, the sense voltage is programmable and is dependent upon the value of the supply voltage and the value of the program bits. The present invention generates a comparison output signal based upon the comparison of the supply voltage and the sense voltage. The comparison output signal is filtered to distinguish between a real brown-out event and transitory voltage swings.