Patent US5483205A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US5483205A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Low power oscillator
Assignee: Texas Instruments Inc
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Filing: 1995-01-09
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Granted: 1996-01-09
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Expires: 2015-01-09
Abstract
Abstract An oscillator circuit (150) is designed with a reference circuit (102), responsive to a first voltage, for producing a second voltage. An oscillator (108), responsive to the second voltage, produces a first output signal having a magnitude less than a magnitude of the first voltage. A level translator (114), responsive to the first output signal, produces a second output signal having a magnitude greater than the magnitude of the first output signal. Since the oscillator produces the first output signal with a magnitude less than the magnitude of the first voltage, power consumption is reduced with respect to an oscillator operating at the first voltage. The magnitude of the first output signal is increased by the level translator to a desired magnitude of the second output signal.
Inventors
- 👤 J. Patrick Kawamura
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-04 11:47
CPC Classifications
H; H03; H03B; H03B5/00; H03K; H03K3/00; H03K3/02; H03K3/027; H03K3/03; H03K3/01; H03K3/012
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 41
Claim 1
Independent Claim
69 words
An oscillator circuit comprising: a reference circuit, responsive to a first voltage, for producing a second voltage; an oscillator, responsive to the second voltage, for producing a first output signal having a magnitude less than a magnitude of the first voltage; and a level translator responsive to the first output signal for producing a second output signal having a magnitude greater than the magnitude of the first output signal.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
69 words
An oscillator circuit comprising: a reference circuit, responsive to a first voltage, for producing a second voltage; an oscillator, responsive to the second voltage, for producing a first output signal having a magnitude less than a magnitude of the first voltage; and a level translator responsive to the first output signal for producing a second output signal having a magnitude greater than the magnitude of the first output signal.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
25 words
An oscillator circuit as in claim 1, wherein the magnitude of the first voltage is approximately equal to the magnitude of the second output signal.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
28 words
An oscillator circuit as in claim 2, wherein the magnitude of the first output signal is approximately equal to one half of the magnitude of the first voltage.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
15 words
An oscillator circuit as in claim 1, wherein the first output signal comprises complementary signals.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
73 words
An oscillator circuit comprising: a reference circuit, responsive to a first voltage, for producing a second voltage; an oscillator, responsive to the first voltage and the second voltage, for producing a first output signal having a magnitude less than a magnitude of the first voltage; and a level translator responsive to the first output signal for producing a second output signal having a magnitude greater than the magnitude of the first output signal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
73 words
An oscillator circuit comprising: a reference circuit, responsive to a first voltage, for producing a second voltage; an oscillator, responsive to the first voltage and the second voltage, for producing a first output signal having a magnitude less than a magnitude of the first voltage; and a level translator responsive to the first output signal for producing a second output signal having a magnitude greater than the magnitude of the first output signal.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
25 words
An oscillator circuit as in claim 5, wherein the magnitude of the first voltage is approximately equal to the magnitude of the second output signal.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
26 words
An oscillator circuit as in claim 6, wherein the magnitude of the first output signal is approximately equal one half the magnitude of the first voltage.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
15 words
An oscillator circuit as in claim 5, wherein the first output signal comprises complementary signals.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
119 words
An oscillator circuit comprising: a first oscillator, responsive to a first voltage and a second voltage, for producing a first output signal having a magnitude less than a magnitude of the first voltage; a second oscillator, responsive to the second voltage and a reference voltage for producing a second output signal having a magnitude less than the magnitude of the first voltage; a first level translator responsive to the first output signal for producing a third output signal having a magnitude greater than the magnitude of the first output signal; and a second level translator responsive to the second output signal for producing a fourth output signal having a magnitude greater than the magnitude of the second output signal.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
119 words
An oscillator circuit comprising: a first oscillator, responsive to a first voltage and a second voltage, for producing a first output signal having a magnitude less than a magnitude of the first voltage; a second oscillator, responsive to the second voltage and a reference voltage for producing a second output signal having a magnitude less than the magnitude of the first voltage; a first level translator responsive to the first output signal for producing a third output signal having a magnitude greater than the magnitude of the first output signal; and a second level translator responsive to the second output signal for producing a fourth output signal having a magnitude greater than the magnitude of the second output signal.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
56 words
An oscillator as in claim 9, wherein the magnitude of the first output signal is approximately equal to a magnitude of a difference between the first voltage and the second voltage and the magnitude of the second output signal is approximately equal to a magnitude of a difference between the second voltage and the reference voltage.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
32 words
An oscillator as in claim 9, wherein the magnitude of the third output signal and the magnitude of the fourth output signal are approximately equal to the magnitude of the first voltage.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
21 words
An oscillator circuit as in claim 9, wherein at least one of the first and second output signals comprises complementary signals.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
21 words
An oscillator as in claim 9, further comprising a reference circuit, responsive to the first voltage for producing the second voltage.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
20 words
An oscillator circuit as in claim 9, wherein the third output signal is in phase with the fourth output signal.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
22 words
An oscillator circuit as in claim 9, wherein the third output signal is phase shifted with respect to the fourth output signal.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
97 words
A method of reducing power consumption in a semiconductor device, including the steps of: powering an oscillator circuit with a first voltage; producing a first output signal at an output terminal of the oscillator circuit; powering a level translating circuit with a second voltage, the second voltage having a magnitude greater than a magnitude of the first output signal; and producing a second output signal at an output terminal of the level translating circuit in response to the first output signal, the second output signal having a magnitude greater than the magnitude of the first output signal.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
97 words
A method of reducing power consumption in a semiconductor device, including the steps of: powering an oscillator circuit with a first voltage; producing a first output signal at an output terminal of the oscillator circuit; powering a level translating circuit with a second voltage, the second voltage having a magnitude greater than a magnitude of the first output signal; and producing a second output signal at an output terminal of the level translating circuit in response to the first output signal, the second output signal having a magnitude greater than the magnitude of the first output signal.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 16 further including the steps of: powering a reference circuit with the second voltage; and producing the first voltage at an output terminal of the reference circuit.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
23 words
The method of claim 17 wherein the magnitude of the first output signal is approximately equal to a magnitude of the first voltage.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of claim 18 wherein the magnitude of the first output signal is approximately equal to one half of the magnitude of the second output signal.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
98 words
A method of generating a supply voltage for an integrated circuit, including the steps of: powering an oscillator circuit with a first voltage; producing a first output signal at an output terminal of the oscillator circuit; powering a level translating circuit with a second voltage, the second voltage having a magnitude greater than a magnitude of the first output signal; and producing a second output signal at an output terminal of the level translating circuit in response to the first output signal, the second output signal having a magnitude greater than the magnitude of the first output signal.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
98 words
A method of generating a supply voltage for an integrated circuit, including the steps of: powering an oscillator circuit with a first voltage; producing a first output signal at an output terminal of the oscillator circuit; powering a level translating circuit with a second voltage, the second voltage having a magnitude greater than a magnitude of the first output signal; and producing a second output signal at an output terminal of the level translating circuit in response to the first output signal, the second output signal having a magnitude greater than the magnitude of the first output signal.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of claim 20 further including the steps of: powering a pump circuit with the second voltage; and producing the supply voltage at an output terminal of the pump circuit in response to the second output signal.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
31 words
The method of claim 21 further including the steps of: powering a reference circuit with the second voltage; and producing the first voltage at an output terminal of the reference circuit.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 21 wherein the supply voltage is negative with respect to the second voltage.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method of claim 23 wherein the supply voltage is a substrate voltage.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of claim 24 further including the step of producing the second output signal in response to a first state of an enable signal and not producing the second output signal in response to a second state of the enable signal.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
17 words
The method of claim 21 wherein the supply voltage is positive with respect to the second voltage.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method of claim 26 wherein the supply voltage is a high voltage.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of claim 27 further including the step of producing the second output signal in response to a first state of an enable signal and not producing the second output signal in response to a second state of the enable signal.
Claim 34
Independent Claim
73 words
A method of reducing power consumption in an integrated circuit, including the steps of: connecting a plurality of oscillator circuits in series between a supply voltage terminal and a reference terminal, each oscillator circuit having an output terminal; applying a first voltage between the supply voltage terminal and the reference terminal; operating the plurality of oscillator circuits in response to the first voltage; and producing an oscillator output signal at each output terminal.
Claim 35
Independent Claim
73 words
A method of reducing power consumption in an integrated circuit, including the steps of: connecting a plurality of oscillator circuits in series between a supply voltage terminal and a reference terminal, each oscillator circuit having an output terminal; applying a first voltage between the supply voltage terminal and the reference terminal; operating the plurality of oscillator circuits in response to the first voltage; and producing an oscillator output signal at each output terminal.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
64 words
The method of claim 29 further including the steps of: powering a level translator circuit with a second voltage; producing a translated output signal at an output terminal of the level translator circuit in response to the at least one oscillator output signal, the translated output signal having a magnitude that is greater than a magnitude of the at least one oscillator output signal.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
37 words
The method of claim 30 further including the steps of: powering a pump circuit with the second voltage; producing the supply voltage at an output terminal of the pump circuit in response to the translated output signal.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method of claim 31 wherein the supply voltage is a substrate voltage.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method of claim 31 wherein the supply voltage is a high voltage.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of claim 31 further including the step of producing the translated output signal in response to a first state of an enable signal and not producing the translated output signal in response to a second state of the enable signal.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
42 words
The method of claim 31 further including the step of producing the oscillator output signal in response to a first state of an enable signal and not producing the oscillator output signal in response to a second state of the enable signal.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1999-01-08 | 1999-07-10 | 2000-01-09 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2003-01-08 | 2003-07-10 | 2004-01-09 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2007-01-08 | 2007-07-10 | 2008-01-09 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |