Miscellaneous active electrical nonlinear devices – circuits – and – Specific signal discriminating without subsequent control – By amplitude
Patent
1997-12-04
2000-12-26
Wells, Kenneth B.
Miscellaneous active electrical nonlinear devices, circuits, and
Specific signal discriminating without subsequent control
By amplitude
327 65, 327198, H03K 522
Patent
active
061665657
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The job of comparing two electrical quantities to one another occurs in many fields of technology. For example, these comparisons are thus a foundation of electrical mensuration technology. Threshold equations can also be technically realized with the assistance of evaluator circuits.
Methods that compare electrical quantities with the assistance of operational amplifiers are known and are often employed (U. Tietze, Ch. Schenk, Halbleiterschaltungstechnik, 9th Edition Springer Verlag, 1990, pages 132 through 143). A significant disadvantage of these methods is comprised in the conversion of static dissipated power and in the comparatively large space requirement of such circuits, particularly when a great number of them are required. A further possibility of implementing an evaluation of two electrical quantities is comprised in the employment of a neuron MOS inverter, whereby the reference quantity to which another electrical quantity is to be compared is determined by the switching threshold of the neuron MOS inverter (T. Shibata and T. Ohmi, "A function MOS Transistor featuring gate-level weighted sum and threshold operations", IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, 39, 1992, pages 1444-1455). The employment of a neuron MOS inverter in this context exhibits a number of disadvantages. A static quadrature-access current component for all potentials flows on the floating gate .phi..sub.F with V.sub.SS +V.sub.th,n <.phi..sup.F <V.sub.DD -V.sub.th,p, this corresponding to the normal case during operation as threshold gate. Moreover, it is necessary to govern the technology parameters extremely well, so that the threshold dimensioning corresponds to the desired behavior, i.e. that narrow tolerances of the threshold voltage must be adhered to.
A circuit arrangement for the comparison of two electrical currents wherein two co-coupled inverter units are provided is disclosed by (J. A. Hidalgo-Lopez et al., New Types of Digital Comparators, IEEE Internat. Symposium of Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), Seattle, April 30 through May 3, 1995, Vol. 1, pp. 29-32). The electrical quantities to be compared are respectively impressed at the outputs of the inverter units. The source terminals of the two inverter units are connected to one another and are connected to ground via a clock transistor.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,636 discloses two comparison units provided in a multiplier cell.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is based on the problem of comparing two electrical quantities to one another, while avoiding the disadvantages of known methods described above.
In general terms the present invention is a circuit arrangement for the comparison of two electrical quantities. A first current source is provided that supplies a first quadrature-axis current component that flows through a first inverter unit. The first current source is connected to a source terminal of the first inverter unit. A reference current source is provided that supplies a second quadrature-axis current component that flows through a second inverter unit. The reference current source is connected to a source terminal of the second inverter unit. The first inverter unit at the second inverter unit are co-coupled. An output of the first inverter unit is connected to an input of the second inverter unit and an output of the second inverter unit is connected to an input of the first inverter unit. A reset unit is provided for compensating a difference in potential between an output potential of the first inverter unit and an output potential of the second inverter unit. The output signal of the first inverter unit describes a comparison result of the first quadrature-axis current component to the second quadrature-axis current component.
Advantageous developments of the present invention are as follows.
The first inverter unit and the second inverter unit are constructed of MOS field effect transistors.
The reset unit is composed of an MOS field effect transistor that is controlled by a control signal .phi.. A first terminal of th
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IEEE International Symposium on Circuits & Systems, Seattle, Apr. 30-May 3, 1995, vol. 1, Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers XP000583173, Hidalgo-Lopez, J A et al, New Types of Digital Comparators, pp. 29-32.
IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 39, No. 6, Jun. 1992, XPO00271791, T. Shibata et al, A Functional MOS Transistor Featuring Gate-Level Weighted Sum & Threshold Operations, pp. 1444-1455.
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Prange Stefan
Thewes Roland
Weber Werner
Wohlrab Erdmute
Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
Wells Kenneth B.
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