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. 31, 2004
Filed:
Jan. 11, 2001
William D. Llewellyn, San Jose, CA (US);
Tripath Technology, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Apparatus and methods for enabling and disabling an amplifier is described. Amplifiers can be enabled and disabled for the sake of power and energy savings and reduction of dissipated heat. The circuit is based on a gain stage and threshold circuitry. A signal associated with an amplifier is introduced into the gain stage. The gain stage amplifies the signal level and provides the amplified signal level to threshold circuitry. The threshold circuitry references the amplified signal level and determines signal states. The control circuitry interprets these signal states to determine when to enable or disable an amplifier. The output of the threshold circuitry can be used to adjust the amplified signal level to oppose drift in the gain stage.