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:
Apr. 23, 2002
Filed:
Oct. 05, 1999
Laurence E. Bays, Allentown, PA (US);
Dennis A. Brooks, Allentown, PA (US);
Xingdong Dai, Bethlehem, PA (US);
Richard Muscavage, Gilbertsville, PA (US);
Agere Systems Guardian Corp., Orlando, FL (US);
Abstract
A fully-static dual-voltage sense circuit designed for a mixed-voltage system senses the power-rail voltage of other devices that the device is interfaced with, and achieves a low-power consumption level without software assistance when the sensing circuit is active, and protects low-voltage process devices in the circuit from possible high voltage damage at the interface. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention includes an integrated circuit having a dual-voltage sense circuit, the sense circuit including a sense circuit input node supplied with an input voltage Vin; a sense circuit power input node supplied with a power-supply voltage; and a sense circuit output node outputting a digital signal of a voltage level equal to or less than the voltage level of a low-voltage digital signal, regardless of the voltage level of the input voltage.