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:
Feb. 07, 2012
Filed:
Jan. 23, 2009
Fadi H. Gebara, Austin, TX (US);
Jeremy D. Schaub, Austin, TX (US);
Fadi H. Gebara, Austin, TX (US);
Jeremy D. Schaub, Austin, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A comparator apparatus for comparing a first and a second voltage input includes a pair of cross-coupled inverter devices, including a pull up device and a pull down device, with output nodes defined between the pull up and pull down devices. A first switching device is coupled to the first input and a second switching device is coupled to the second input, with control circuitry configured for selective switching between a reset mode and a compare mode. In the reset mode, the first and second voltage inputs are coupled to respective output nodes so as to develop a differential signal thereacross, and the pull down devices in each inverter are isolated from the pull up devices. In the compare mode, the voltage inputs are isolated from the output nodes, and the pull down devices in each inverter are coupled to the pull up devices to latch the output nodes.