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:
Jan. 23, 2001
Filed:
May. 28, 1999
William R. Tonti, Essex Junction, VT (US);
Jack A. Mandelman, Stormville, NY (US);
Anthony R. Bonaccio, Shelburne, VT (US);
Claude L. Bertin, South Burlington, VT (US);
Howard L. Kalter, Colchester, VT (US);
John A. Fifield, Underhill, VT (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A first, “known good” reference off-chip driver circuit actuated by an initial logic program (IPL) input signal has an output lead connected as one of the inputs to a comparator circuit for providing a reference off-chip driver output signal. A second off-chip driver circuit including a plurality of “n” separate driver circuit paths connected to input signal and produces output signals connected to a common node to provide output driver signals to the common node. The common node is connected to the second input of the comparator circuit for comparison with the reference off-chip driver output signal from the first off-chip driver circuit to determine the operating state of the second off-chip driver circuit with respect to the operating state of the first off-chip driver circuit.