Delay circuit having variable slope control and threshold detect
US6366149B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 28, 2000 |
| Grant date | Apr 2, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 28, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH03K5/13
- WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A delay circuit in accordance with the present invention provides high-resolution changes in the time delay by utilizing a slope controller that generates an intermediate signal having sloping edges in response to edges in an input signal. A delay time controller generates an output signal having edges that begin when the level of the intermediate signal reaches a certain level. The overall time delay of the delay circuit can be varied by varying the slope of the edges of the intermediate signal, or by varying the level of the intermediate signal at which the delay time controller begins generating an edge in the output signal, or by varying both parameters. The slope controller and delay time controller can be realized with a plurality of tri-state inverters coupled in parallel for operating responsive to one or more select signals. By implementing the inverters with pull-up and pull-down transistors having different sizes, the overall time delay can be varied with very high resolution.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.