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:
May. 01, 2001
Filed:
Jul. 19, 1999
Joao N. V. L. Ramalho, Biéville-Beuville, FR;
Gerben W. De Jong, Eindhoven, NL;
Jozef A. M. Ramaekers, Eindhoven, NL;
Eric Pieraerts, Caen, FR;
U.S. Philips Corporation, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
A device for measuring the resistance of an MR element which passes a bias current Imr and which derives a bias voltage. A voltage comparator CMP receives the bias voltage Vmr and a reference voltage Vref. A counter UPCNT has an enable input EN coupled to the output of the comparator and a digital output forming the output of the device. A current source supplies the bias current Imr which represents a digital value received by the current source at its control input which is coupled to the digital output of the counter. The device enables the digital value of a resistance to be measured automatically.