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:
Feb. 17, 2004
Filed:
Aug. 09, 2002
Applicant:
Inventor:
Patrick Michael Teterud, Plano, TX (US);
Assignee:
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H03K 3/00 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H03K 3/00 ;
Abstract
A system and method are disclosed to help protect a node of associated circuitry from overshooting or undershooting, such as can be associated with power up or other transitional modes. The protection is implemented by diode connecting a transistor, which has its base electrically coupled to the node during the transitional mode. Either after a predetermined time period or after the voltage at the node has reached a desired level, the diode connection can be removed to permit normal operation to begin in which a bias can be provided to the node.