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. 04, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 06, 1998
Ken Richard King, Lucas, TX (US);
Mark Charles Fischer, The Colony, TX (US);
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
A control circuit is provided which includes a single programmable terminal for controlling a plurality of modes, functions or parameters in a programmable circuit with a minimum of program elements connected to the single programmable terminal. The program elements may illustratively be resistors, capacitors, inductors or other circuit components. In a first mode, for example, two program elements control a signal generating function in the programmable circuit. In a second mode, a voltage provided internally forces a condition at the programmable terminal to control another signal generating function. In both first and second modes, the values of the program elements, selectable by the user, also determine the particular frequencies of the respective generated signals. In a third mode, the signals generated in the first and second modes are compared to provide a control function. There is further provided an absolute value comparator responsive to either polarity of an input sense signal applied to a single sense terminal. A switched output results when the input exceeds a temperature compensated systematic offset inherent to the comparator without requiring any external threshold signal.