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. 06, 2009
Filed:
Oct. 28, 2005
Challis Llewellyn Purrington, Raleigh, NC (US);
Christopher Collier West, Raleigh, NC (US);
Jack P. Wong, Apex, NC (US);
Maya Yarbrough, Cary, NC (US);
Challis Llewellyn Purrington, Raleigh, NC (US);
Christopher Collier West, Raleigh, NC (US);
Jack P. Wong, Apex, NC (US);
Maya Yarbrough, Cary, NC (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A simple, but intelligent watchdog circuit uses an up/down counter for its delay element. A watchdog event will occur if the counter is allowed to over flow or under flow its boundaries (in either direction). The system objective is to keep the counter within its boundaries by controlling the direction of the count. The count direction is simply a function of the Most Significant Bit (MSB) of the counter. Thus, the system must simply monitor the counters MSB and perform a little intelligent to determine the desired count direction.