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:
Apr. 06, 2004
Filed:
Aug. 14, 2000
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
A temperature sensing system ( ) that providing at least one detect signal related to temperature in an integrated circuit is presented. This system uses one thermal sensing circuit ( ) to detect two or more temperature thresholds (t , t ) and differentiates the temperature thresholds using time multiplexed logic control. The system ( ) capable of detecting more than two temperatures includes the thermal sensing circuit ( ) and a decode circuit ( ) with at least one detect latch ( ). Optionally, the system may include a hysteresis circuit ( ). The thermal sensing circuit ( ), connected to the integrated circuit, generates a detect signal (D ) in response to the a temperature selection signal (T ). This flexible on-board temperature monitoring solution reduces the cost of thermal feedback sensing by reducing die area and improves the correlation of detected temperatures. In addition, this solution reduces the possibility of mismatch and tracking errors between two or more sense elements.