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:
Sep. 05, 2000
Filed:
Mar. 14, 1997
Mark Leonard Buer, Chandler, AZ (US);
Bing Yup, Phoenix, AZ (US);
Philips Semiconductor VLSI, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
An over frequency detection circuit which is based on the concept of a critical path in a design to protect an IC chip from running at a rate which will produce unpredictable results. The over frequency detection circuit will compare the output of a critical path generation circuit with that of a known path generation circuit. The known path generation circuit must have a delay which is guaranteed to be much shorter than the delay of the critical path generation circuit. If the output of the critical path generation circuit is not the same as the output of the known path generation circuit, then the critical path generation circuit has begun to fail and the IC chip should be disabled.