Electricity: power supply or regulation systems – Output level responsive – Using a three or more terminal semiconductive device as the...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-24
2002-03-26
Patel, Rajnikant B. (Department: 2838)
Electricity: power supply or regulation systems
Output level responsive
Using a three or more terminal semiconductive device as the...
C330S255000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06362605
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to integrated circuits and more particularly to powering such integrated circuits.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As is known, batteries power a multitude of portable electronic devices. To extend battery life, most portable electronic devices incorporate technologies to conserve power consumption. For example, portable radios, CD players, DVD players, cellular phones, etc. all include integrated circuits that process data to achieve a desired output response and consume power whether they are processing data or not. To conserve power consumption by such integrated circuits, power conservation techniques are used.
Such power conservation techniques include disabling circuitry of the integrated circuit when the circuitry is not in use. For example, if a cellular phone is in standby mode, i.e. not participating in a telephone conversation, only the circuitry that detects an incoming or outgoing call needs to be active. Thus, other circuitry within the cellular telephone, e.g., the audio processing circuitry, may be disabled, i.e. in a sleep mode, to conserve power. When the circuitry is needed to process data the corresponding circuitry is enabled, i.e. awakened, to perform the desired function(s). As is known, enabling and disabling the clock signal provided to the circuitry is a typical way to disable and enable circuitry within an integrated circuit. To enable and disable circuitry within a portable electronic device, there is an interdependency between the enabling and disabling of components within a portable electronic device. This is illustrated with reference to FIG.
1
.
FIG. 1
illustrates a schematic block diagram of a portable electronic device
10
that includes a power source
12
, an on off switch
14
, a discrete power supply
16
, an integrated circuit
17
, an inverter
26
and a crystal
24
. In operation, the power source
12
, which may be a battery or a plurality of batteries, provides energy to the discrete power supply
16
when the on/off switch
14
is enabled. Note that the discrete power supply
16
is a separate physical device from integrated circuit
17
. In response to receiving power from the power source, the discrete power supply
16
generates a supply voltage
22
, which is provided to inverter
26
and the integrated circuit
17
. The inverter
26
provides a current to crystal
24
such that the crystal
24
produces an oscillation. The oscillation is provided to a clock generator
18
within the integrated circuit to produce a clock signal. The clock signal is provided to digital circuitry
20
within the integrated circuit
17
such that the digital circuitry
20
may perform its intended functions.
To minimize power consumption within the portable electronic device
10
, the inverter
26
is sized based on the supply voltage
22
to provide a minimal controlled bias current to the crystal
24
. By providing a minimal bias current a minimal amount of energy needed to produce an oscillation from crystal
24
is utilized. This approach works well when a regulated supply voltage
22
powers the inverter
26
.
If the discrete power supply
16
were integrated into the integrated circuit
17
and needed a clock signal to produce the supply voltage
22
, the above-described bias current circuit would not be efficient since a regulated supply voltage
22
would not initially be available. To initially generate the bias current, a battery would provide energy to the inverter
26
to produce an initial bias current. However, once the power supply
16
is up and running, supply voltage
22
provides energy to the inverter
26
to produce the same bias current. In this instance, additional power will be consumed to produce the same bias current since the supply voltage
22
is typically several times greater in value than the battery voltage and power consumption increases when the source voltage increases.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and apparatus that efficiently powers an integrated system contained on an integrated circuit.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5045717 (1991-09-01), Moen, Jr. et al.
patent: 5113088 (1992-05-01), Yamamoto et al.
patent: 5381113 (1995-01-01), Kimura
patent: 5642078 (1997-06-01), Navabi et al.
patent: 5696459 (1997-12-01), Neugebauer et al.
patent: 5907263 (1999-05-01), Divine et al.
patent: 5909152 (1999-06-01), Li et al.
patent: 5999062 (1999-12-01), Gilbert
Michael R. May, Method and Apparatus for Providing Power to an Integrated Circuit, No date.
Markison Timothy W.
Patel Rajnikant B.
Sigmatel, Inc.
LandOfFree
Method and apparatus for providing power to an integrated... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and apparatus for providing power to an integrated..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and apparatus for providing power to an integrated... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2852383