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.

Date of Patent:
Sep. 07, 1999

Filed:

Oct. 02, 1997
Applicant:
Inventors:

Michael Philip LaMacchia, Gilbert, AZ (US);

William Oliver Mathes, Tempe, AZ (US);

Bruce Alan Fette, Mesa, AZ (US);

Assignee:

Motorola Inc., Schaumburg, IL (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H03K / ; H03K / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
326-9 ; 326 21 ; 326 22 ;
Abstract

A single event upset (SEU) sensitivity control system (42) dynamically hardens a digital circuit (48) to single event upsets. The sensitivity control system (42) includes an upset rate sensor (66) for detecting a quantity of particles (38) that cause single event upsets. A noise margin control circuit (70) is configured to adjust a noise margin (46) of the digital circuit (48) in response to the quantity of particles (38). Noise margin (46) is increased when a particle density (34) is high to decrease the sensitivity of the digital circuit (48) to single event upsets. Additionally, noise margin (46) is decreased when a particle density (36) is low to decrease the power consumption level of digital circuit (48).


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