Patent · US Expired

Buffer circuit having variable output impedance

US5606275A · kind A · utility

88Cited by
4References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 5, 1995
Grant dateFeb 25, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 5, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03K19/0005
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An output buffer circuit (20) has an output impedance that is adjustable. An external resistor (32) having a resistance that is a multiple of the desired output impedance is coupled to the output buffer circuit (20). A voltage across the resistor (32) is converted to a digital code using an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter (22). A digital code from the A/D converter (24) is used to adjust a resistance of a binary weighed transistor array (45) to match the resistance of the external resistor (32). A plurality of binary weighted output transistors (153, 154, 155) are selected in response to the digital code to adjust the output impedance to match the characteristic impedance of a load driven by the output buffer circuit (20). The output impedance is easily adjustable by changing the resistance of external resistor (32), allowing the output buffer circuit to drive various load impedances.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.