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:
Jan. 01, 2008
Filed:
Nov. 22, 2004
Gene B. Hinterscher, McKinney, TX (US);
Gene B. Hinterscher, McKinney, TX (US);
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
A voltage translator circuit is disclosed herein that eliminates the need for two supply voltages to achieve voltage translation through the use of supplying a shifted voltage threshold. Effectively, this voltage translator circuit has very little supply current (Icc) after the device switches. Specifically, the voltage translator in accordance with the present invention includes a first and second inverter coupled in series between an input node and an output node. A third inverter connects between the output node and a fourth inverter. A first circuit portion that establishes the low-to-high switching point connects between the fourth inverter and the first inverter. A second circuit portion connects between the fourth and first inverter that will block the switching current from draining the voltage supply after the transition from low-to-high has occurred. This solution addresses the increase in supply current (delta Icc) for each input that is at one of the specified TTL voltage levels rather than GND or VCC while having just one supply voltage.