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. 06, 2003
Filed:
May. 08, 2002
Ryan Goodfellow, Mesa, AZ (US);
David Susak, Phoenix, AZ (US);
Primarion, Inc., Tempe, AZ (US);
Abstract
A system and method for current sensing which is substantially consistent over device, temperature, and process variations is provided. A current sensing system includes a first switch coupled to one or more variable resistive elements. The resistive elements being configured to scale down the voltage across the first switch which is provided to an input of an amplifier. The amplifier is coupled to the resistive elements and the second switch and is configured to sense the voltage across the first switch, and force the voltage across the second switch to be equal to the first switch scaled down voltage. Thus, a current of known proportion can be provided at the output of the amplifier. A driver and timing circuit may be provided to prevent the amplifier from providing an excessive slewing of current during the off period.