US 8,710,916 B2 · Electronic circuit having shared leakage current reduction circuits · patentgrep

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Abstract

An electronic circuit includes a plurality of circuit blocks, a plurality of bias circuits, a switching circuit, and plurality of transistors. The plurality of circuit blocks each includes a high power terminal and a low power terminal. The switching circuit includes a plurality of switches for selectively coupling a bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits to the low power terminal of a circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks. Each bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits is selectively couplable to the low power terminal of each of the plurality of circuit blocks. Each transistor of the plurality of transistors has a first current terminal coupled to a circuit ground terminal, and each transistor of the plurality of transistors has a control terminal for controlling the conductivity of the plurality of the transistors by a bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits.

Claims23

Dependent claims

An electronic circuit comprising:

a plurality of circuit blocks, each circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks including a first power terminal and a second power terminal, wherein the first power terminals of the plurality of circuit blocks are not directly coupled electrically;
a plurality of bias circuits for controlling current leakage reduction of the plurality of circuit blocks;
a switching circuit including a plurality of switches for selectively coupling a bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits to the first power terminal of a circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks, where each bias circuit is selectively couplable to each of the first power terminals of the plurality of circuit blocks and is concurrently couplable to more than one first power terminal of the plurality of circuit blocks via the switching circuit;
and
a plurality of leakage reduction transistors, each leakage reduction transistor of the plurality of leakage reduction transistors including a first current terminal coupled to a power supply voltage terminal, the plurality of bias circuits controlling the conductivity of the plurality of leakage reduction transistors to reduce leakage current of the plurality of circuit blocks, wherein each transistor of the plurality of transistors includes a control terminal for controlling the conductivity of the leakage reduction transistor.

2 more elements

An electronic circuit comprising:

a plurality of circuit blocks, each circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks including a first power terminal and a second power terminal;
a plurality of bias circuits for controlling current leakage reduction of the plurality of circuit blocks;
a switching circuit including a plurality of switches for selectively coupling a bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits to the first power terminal of a circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks, where each bias circuit is selectively couplable to each of the plurality of circuit blocks and is concurrently couplable to more than one circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks via the switching circuit;
a plurality of leakage reduction transistors, each leakage reduction transistor of the plurality of leakage reduction transistors including a first current terminal coupled to a power supply voltage terminal, the plurality of bias circuits controlling the conductivity of the plurality of leakage reduction transistors to reduce leakage current of the plurality of circuit blocks, wherein each transistor of the plurality of transistors includes a control terminal for controlling the conductivity of the leakage reduction transistor;
and
a controller, the controller controlling the switching circuit for selectively coupling a bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits to the first power terminal of a circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks for reducing the leakage current of the circuit block, wherein the controller selects which bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits to selectively couple to the first power terminal of a circuit block based on a measured leakage current value for the circuit block.

3 more elements

An electronic circuit comprising:

a plurality of circuit blocks, each circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks including a first power terminal and a second power terminal;
a plurality of bias circuits for controlling current leakage reduction of the plurality of circuit blocks;
a switching circuit including a plurality of switches for selectively coupling a bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits to the first power terminal of a circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks, where each bias circuit is selectively couplable to each of the plurality of circuit blocks and is concurrently couplable to more than one circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks via the switching circuit;
and
a plurality of leakage reduction transistors, each leakage reduction transistor of the plurality of leakage reduction transistors including a first current terminal coupled to a power supply voltage terminal, the plurality of bias circuits controlling the conductivity of the plurality of leakage reduction transistors to reduce leakage current of the plurality of circuit blocks, wherein each transistor of the plurality of transistors includes a control terminal for controlling the conductivity of the leakage reduction transistor, and wherein:
each leakage reduction transistor of the plurality of leakage reduction transistors is associated with a circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks, wherein each leakage reduction transistor of the plurality of leakage reduction transistors includes a second current terminal coupled to the first power terminal of its associated circuit block;
and
wherein the switching circuitry selectively couples a bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits to the control terminal of the leakage reduction transistor of the plurality of leakage reduction transistors, where each bias circuit is selectively couplable to the control terminal of each leakage reduction transistor via the switching circuitry.

5 more elements

An electronic circuit comprising:

a plurality of circuit blocks, each circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks including a high power terminal and a low power terminal;
a plurality of bias circuits;
a switching circuit including a plurality of switches for selectively coupling a bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits to the low power terminal of a circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks, where each bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits is selectively couplable to the low power terminal of each of the plurality of circuit blocks;
and
a plurality of transistors, each transistor of the plurality of transistors including a first current terminal coupled to a circuit ground terminal, wherein each transistor of the plurality of transistors includes a control terminal for controlling the conductivity of the plurality of the transistors by a bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits, and
wherein each transistor of the plurality of transistors is associated with a circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks, wherein each transistor of the plurality of transistors includes a second current terminal coupled to the low power terminal of its associated circuit block;
and
wherein the switching circuitry selectively couples a bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits to the control terminal of a transistor of the plurality of transistors, where each bias circuit is selectively couplable to the control terminal of each transistor of the plurality of transistors via the switching circuitry for controlling the conductivity of the each transistor.

5 more elements

An electronic circuit comprising:

a plurality of circuit blocks, each circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks includes a power terminal;
a plurality of transistors, each transistor of the plurality of transistors is associated with a circuit module of the plurality of circuit modules, wherein each transistor of the plurality of transistors includes a first current terminal coupled to a power supply terminal and a second current terminal coupled to the power terminal of its associated circuit module, each transistor of the plurality of transistors includes a control terminal for controlling the conductivity of the transistor;
a plurality of bias circuits;
and
a switching circuit including a plurality of switches for selectively coupling a bias circuit of the plurality of bias circuits to the first power supply terminal of a circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks and a control terminal of a transistor of the plurality of transistors associated with the circuit block, where each bias circuit is selectively couplable to the first power terminal of each of the plurality of circuit blocks via the switching circuit and selectively couplable to the control terminal of each transistor of the plurality of transistors via the switching circuit.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.