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. 12, 2003
Filed:
Jul. 20, 1999
Richard L. McDowell, Chalfont, PA (US);
Philip D. Mooney, North Wales, PA (US);
Agere Systems Inc., Allentown, PA (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a circuit arrangement and technique for detecting any of a plurality of positions of a multi-position switch using a single input pin of a digital input/output device. Two specific embodiments are described relating to the use of a multi-position switch using a single digital input/output (DIO). In the first embodiment, a multi-position switch switches between various clock signals (e.g., pre-existing clock signals) on a circuit board, and inputs the same to the relevant pin of the. DIO device. In a variation of this embodiment, a second multi-position switch is connected in series with the first multi-position switch and varies the selected signal in a detectable and distinguishable way, e.g., by inverting or not inverting the signal selected by the first multi-position switch. In another embodiment, a multi-position switch switches between nodes of a series chain of resistors to produce a change to an RC circuit that will respond differently to a step change to the input depending upon the position of the multi-position switch. In either case, the positions of a multi-position (i.e., at least two position) switch can be detected using only one input pin of a digital input/output device.