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:
Dec. 08, 2015
Filed:
Mar. 15, 2013
Microchip Technology Incorporated, Chandler, AZ (US);
Joseph Julicher, Maricopa, AZ (US);
Jerrold S. Zdenek, Deer Park, IL (US);
MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED, Chandler, AZ (US);
Abstract
A light emitting diode (LED) is driven with a plurality of pulses having controllable pulse widths and positions within clock time periods that provide for both LED light intensity control and digital information communications from a single output node of an integrated circuit (IC) device. The LED light intensity is determined by the duty cycle of the pulses where the human eye integrates these light pulses from the LED into continuous light intensity levels. The digital information contained in the light output from the LED is detected by a photo-detector that converts the light pulses into electric signals that are demodulated and read by a circuit debugger and/or manufacturing test station. The aforementioned operations allow continuous visual display and data transmission using only one output node of the IC device. This is especially advantageous when using low pin count IC devices.