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:
Jul. 29, 2003
Filed:
Dec. 03, 2001
John S. Prentice, Palm Bay, FL (US);
Intersil Americas Inc., Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
An attenuator control circuit for controlling operation of a differential pair attenuator to provide linear in decibels (dB) operation and temperature and process-independent operation. The attenuator control circuit is coupled in parallel with corresponding control input terminals of the attenuator differential pair. The attenuator control circuit also includes a current control circuit that sources a supply current to the control differential pair. The attenuator control circuit also includes an amplifier that controls current through the first current path of the control differential pair to maintain constant total current, so that the first current path exhibits the desired exponential attenuation function. Since the control differential pair is coupled in parallel with the differential pair attenuator, the output current of the differential pair attenuator also exhibits the desired exponential attenuation function. Furthermore, the attenuator control circuit includes a temperature compensation circuit that applies a temperature proportional voltage to compensate for temperature variations.