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:
Aug. 13, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 09, 1999
Jeffrey C. Dunnihoo, Austin, TX (US);
Minghua Lin, Campbell, CA (US);
Integrated Technology Express, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A programmable timer is disclosed for use in conjunction with a microcontroller circuit. The timer is used as part of a time slice arbiter in a real time operating system, which arbiter manages device routines by allocating them to distinct code time slices executable by such microcontroller. The set up of time slices, including their number, sequence, duration, etc., can be configured and optimized to achieve a desired system performance level based on characteristics of an associated system bus, devices on the bus, etc. The timer operates as a hardware controller to direct the interrupt handler to various entry points in the corresponding routines associated with interrupt based devices on a system bus.