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:
Mar. 20, 2012
Filed:
Mar. 30, 2010
Applicants:
Allan N. Nielsen, Dallas, TX (US);
Kim N. Madsen, Skovlunde, DK;
Inventors:
Allan N. Nielsen, Dallas, TX (US);
Kim N. Madsen, Skovlunde, DK;
Assignee:
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H03F 1/14 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
Conventional muting circuitry for amplifiers (which usually uses clamps) generally has about 20-30 dB of attenuation. Here, an integrated circuit or IC is provided that includes an amplifier, switch networks, and a controller. The controller provides control signals to the switch network to provide mute functionality by actively muting the amplifier. In particular, feedback is provided through at least one of the switch networks to drive the output of the amplifier to null or ground so as to provide 70-80 dB (or more) of attenuation.