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:
Jun. 14, 2005
Filed:
Jun. 05, 2003
Daniel Mark Dreps, Georgetown, TX (US);
John Cummings Schiff, Austin, TX (US);
Daniel Mark Dreps, Georgetown, TX (US);
John Cummings Schiff, Austin, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A terminator circuit for use on a pin of an integrated circuit (IC) is disclosed. A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a clamp circuit that turns on when the voltage at the pin exceeds a threshold value (either an upper or lower bound). Logic and biasing circuitry are used to allow multiple modes of operation by adjusting the threshold values. A particular mode may be selected at any given time so as to strike an appropriate balance between signal quality and power consumption with respect to a particular terminator or set of terminators. This prevents excessive power consumption due to terminator circuitry at inactive or infrequently active IC pins.