US 11,514,302 B2Granted

Programmable impedance

AssigneeSiliconIntervention Inc.

InventorA. Martin Mallinson

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A programmable impedance element consists of a plurality of nominally identical two-port elements, each two-port element having an impedance element and two switches, the two-port elements arranged in a chain fashion with a structured set of switches such that a range of impedances can be obtained from each cell by dynamically changing the connections between the impedance elements in the cell. The common cell is constructed by connecting the nominally identical two-port impedance elements in a way that the number of possible combinations of the impedance elements is reduced to the subset of all possible combinations that uses the minimum possible number of connections. This structure allows the creation of matched impedances using industry standard devices. The connections between impedance elements are switches that may be “field-programmable,” i.e., that may be set on the chip after manufacture and configured during operation of the circuit, or alternatively may be mask programmable.

Claims8

Dependent claims

A circuit element with programmable impedance, comprising:

a first two-port element comprising:
a uniform impedance element having two ends and an impedance value;
a first switch connected to a first of the two ends of the uniform impedance element and having an open position and a closed position;
a second switch connected to a second of the two ends of the uniform impedance element and having an open position and a closed position;
a plurality of additional two-port elements, each additional two-port element nominally identical to the first two-port element, wherein the uniform impedance element in each additional two-port element has the same impedance value as the uniform impedance element in the first two-port element;
wherein the first two-port element and the plurality of additional two-port elements are connected in a chain such that:
the first of the two ends of the uniform impedance element in each additional two-port element is connected to the first switch connected to the first of the two ends of the uniform impedance element in a preceding two-port element;
and
the second of the two ends of the uniform impedance element in each additional two-port element is connected to the second switch connected to the second of the two ends of the uniform impedance element in an immediately preceding two-port element;
an input port connected to the first two-port element configured to receive an input signal;
an output port connected to a last two-port element configured to output the signal from the circuit element;
and
a control port configured to receive a control signal setting the switches of the first two-port element and the additional two-port elements into a selected configuration of the open and closed positions of the switches.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/806,264Filed 2 Mar 2020 · us provisional application
Priority: 3 Mar 2019
Published: US 2021/0133551 A16 May 2021
Granted: 29 Nov 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

G06N 3/065
Using electronic means: analogue means
H03H 5/12
One-port networks comprising only passive electrical elements as network components: with at least one voltage- or current-dependent element
G06F 30/34
Circuit design: for reconfigurable circuits, e.g. field programmable gate arrays [FPGA] or programmable logic devices [PLD]
G06F 30/36
Circuit design: circuit design at the analogue level