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:
Feb. 26, 2002
Filed:
Oct. 26, 1998
David D. Balhiser, Ft. Collins, CO (US);
Agilent Technologies, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for accelerating the transmission of signals across an interconnect wire of an integrated circuit is presented. According to the method, a minimum charge level is maintained on the wire when it is driven to a low voltage level and a maximum charge level is maintained on the wire when it is driven to a high voltage level. In accordance with the apparatus of the invention, the minimum and maximum charge levels are maintained on the wire using a pair of clamping circuits which clamp the voltage level on the receiving end of the wire to a respective minimum voltage level and maximum voltage level. Accordingly, when the interconnect wire is driven to a high voltage level at a driven end of the wire, the charge level on the receiving end of the wire is already at a minimum level, resulting in less delay time to charge the wire to a high voltage level. Conversely, when the interconnect wire is driven to a low voltage level at the driven end of the wire, the charge level on the receiving end of the wire is already capped to a maximum level, which results in less delay time to drain the wire to a low voltage level.