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. 13, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 31, 2003
Christian Gater, Dunblane, GB;
Micrel, Incorporated, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A peak detector employs switched capacitor filtering to implement long time constant and variable attack and decay characteristics. In one embodiment, the peak detector includes a first switch, a rectifier, a first capacitor and a second switch in the attack path, and a third switch, a second capacitor and a fourth switch in the decay path. The peak detector further includes a third capacitor coupled to the attack and decay paths and having a capacitance greater than the capacitance of the first and second capacitors. In operation, the attack path is activated by alternately closing the first and second switches to sample the input signal and generate an output voltage at the third capacitor indicative of the peak voltage value of the input signal. The second circuit path is activated by alternately closing the third and fourth switches to decrease the output voltage at the third capacitor.