Patent · US Expired

Power down circuit detecting duty cycle of input signal

US6552578B1 · kind B1 · utility

25Cited by
18References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 10, 2002
Grant dateApr 22, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 10, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY02D10/00
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

When the clock is stopped during a power-down mode, a clock duty-cycle detector asserts a power-down signal. The clock input is filtered to produce an average clock voltage over several clock periods. The average clock voltage is compared to an upper reference voltage to determine when the clock's duty cycle (high pulse-width percent) is above an upper limit. The average clock voltage is also compared to a lower reference voltage to determine when the clock's duty cycle is below a lower limit. When the clock's duty cycle is above the upper limit or below the lower limit the power-down signal is activated by logic. The logic disables the power-down signal when the clock's duty cycle is between the upper and lower limits. High-frequency clock glitches do not falsely trigger a power-up, since glitches are usually narrow and not sufficiently wide to reach the lower limit.

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