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EP0517375A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Semiconductor integrated circuit device

Assignee: Hitachi Ltd
•
Filing: 1992-05-06
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2012-05-06
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Abstract

Abstract According to the voltage which is obtained by allowing a current to flow in a dummy circuit (QP,QM) equivalent to a digital circuit, or according to the output of a phase/frequency comparator circuit, the operating voltage of a ring oscillator having an inverter circuit equivalent to the digital circuit is so generated that the oscillation frequency of the ring oscillator is equal to a reference frequency. The digital circuit is operated on this operating voltage. This semiconductor integrated circuit device is further mounted on a signal processing device that is operated by a battery incorporated therein. The digital circuit operates on the same current (I₀) as the current flowing in the dummy circuit and at the same operation speed as that of the ring oscillator stably and consuming the electric power in an optimum way. By using such a digital circuit, it is allowed to obtain a signal processing device that enables the life of the battery power source to be prolonged.

Inventors

  • 👤 Takaaki Noda
  • 👤 Shiro Hagiwara

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-04 21:40
CPC Classifications
G; G05; G05F; G05F1/00; G05F1/10; G05F1/46; G05F1/462; G05F3/00; G05F3/02; G05F3/08; G05F3/10; G05F3/16; G05F3/20; G05F3/24; G05F3/242; G05F3/245; H; H03; H03K; H03K19/00; H03K19/003; H03K19/00369; H03K19/00384

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 7
Claim 1
Independent Claim 46 words
A semiconductor integrated circuit device having a power source circuit which controls the operation voltage of a digital circuit on the basis of a voltage that is obtained by permitting a constant current to flow in a dummy circuit that is equivalent to said digital circuit.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 35 words
A semiconductor integrated circuit device according to claim 1, wherein said dummy circuit is a CMOS inverter circuit whose input and output are connected together, and the digital circuit is constituted by a CMOS circuit.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 40 words
A semiconductor integrated circuit device according to claim 2, wherein said constant current does not depend substantially on a change in the power source voltage, a change in the temperature, or a change in the threshold voltage of the MOSFETs.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 93 words
A semiconductor integrated circuit device comprising: a ring oscillator constituted by using inverter circuits equivalent to a digital circuit; a phase/frequency comparator circuit that receives the oscillation frequency of said oscillator and a reference frequency; a power source circuit which so controls the operation voltage on the basis of the output of said phase/frequency comparator circuit that the oscillation frequency of the ring oscillator is nearly equal to the reference frequency; and a digital circuit which is operated by the operation voltage of the ring oscillator or by an operation voltage based thereupon.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 59 words
A signal processing device comprising: a semiconductor integrated circuit device having a power source circuit which controls the operation voltage of a digital circuit on the basis of a voltage that is obtained by permitting a constant current in a dummy circuit equivalent to said digital circuit; and a power source that is operated by a battery incorporated therein.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 113 words
A signal processing device comprising: a semiconductor integrated circuit device which is provided with a ring oscillator constituted by using inverter circuits equivalent to a digital circuit, a phase/frequency comparator circuit that receives the oscillation frequency of said oscillator and a reference frequency, a power source circuit which so controls the operation voltage on the basis of the output of said phase/frequency comparator circuit that the oscillation frequency of the ring oscillator is nearly equal to the reference frequency, and a digital circuit which is operated by the operation voltage of the ring oscillator or by an operation voltage based thereupon; and a power source that is operated by a battery incorporated therein.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 21 words
A signal processing device according to claim 6, wherein said signal processing device performs digital signal processing and analog signal processing.

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