Integrated resistor for sensing electrical parameters

Claim 3

An apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the temperature compensation circuit further comprises: a comparator having an inverted input terminal coupled to a first side of the resistor and having a noninverted input terminal coupled to a second side of the resistor.

Claim 8

An apparatus as in claim 4, wherein the temperature compensation circuit is adjusted by selecting a current density ratio which determines a temperature coefficient.

Claim 9

An apparatus as in claim 4, wherein the temperature compensation circuit further comprises: a first level shifter operating at a first current density coupled to the base terminal of the first multiple-emitter transistor; and a second level shifter operating at a second current density different from the first current density coupled to the base terminal of the second multiple-emitter transistor.

Claim 10

An apparatus as in claim 4 wherein the measurement circuit measures current flow in the resistor.

Claim 11

An apparatus as in claim 7 further comprising a control circuit coupled to the measurement circuit for comparing a current measurement to a preselected threshold current value and for selectively disconnecting power to the apparatus in accordance with the comparison result.

Claim 12

An apparatus as in claim 4 wherein the measurement circuit measures voltage across the resistor.

Claim 13

An apparatus as in claim 9 further comprising a control circuit coupled to the measurement circuit for comparing a voltage measurement to a preselected threshold voltage value and for selectively disconnecting power to the apparatus in accordance with the comparison result.

Claim 14

An electronic circuit component comprising: a leadframe having a generally planar top portion and having, integral therewith, a conductive interconnect pattern including a plurality of interconnect segments for coupling to leads of an integrated circuit; and a resistor coupling selected interconnect segments forming a resistive coupling between two of the leads; a semiconductor chip including: a measurement circuit coupled to the leadframe interconnect pattern for measuring electrical parameters across the resistor; a temperature compensation circuit coupled to the measurement circuit for compensating for variations in the sensed electrical parameters measured across the resistor which result from temperature variations.

Claim 15

An electronic circuit component comprising: a leadframe having a generally planar top portion and having, integral therewith, a conductive interconnect pattern including a plurality of interconnect segments for coupling to leads of an integrated circuit; and a resistor coupling selected interconnect segments forming a resistive coupling between two of the leads; a semiconductor chip including: a measurement circuit coupled to the leadframe interconnect pattern for measuring electrical parameters across the resistor; a temperature compensation circuit coupled to the measurement circuit for compensating for variations in the sensed electrical parameters measured across the resistor which result from temperature variations.

Claim 16

A component as in claim 11, wherein the temperature compensation circuit further comprises: a comparator having an inverted input terminal coupled to a first side of the resistor and having a noninverted input terminal coupled to a second side of the resistor.

Claim 17

An electronic circuit component comprising: a lead frame having a substantially planar top portion and having, integral therewith, a conductive interconnect pattern including a plurality of interconnect segments for coupling to leads of an integrated circuit: a resistor coupling selected interconnect segments forming a resistive coupling between two of the leads; and a semiconductor chip coupled to the lead frame interconnect pattern including: a measurement circuit for measuring electrical parameters across the resistor; and a temperature compensation circuit for compensating for variations in the sensed electrical parameters measured across the resistor which result from temperature variations, the temperature compensation circuit further including: a comparator having an inverted input terminal coupled to a first side of the resistor and having a noninverted input terminal coupled to a second side of the resistor; a first level shifter operating at a first current density coupled between the comparator inverted input terminal and the first side of the resistor; and a second level shifter operating at a second current density different from the first current density coupled between the comparator noninverted input terminal and the second side of the resistor.

Claim 18

An electronic circuit component comprising: a lead frame having a substantially planar top portion and having, integral therewith, a conductive interconnect pattern including a plurality of interconnect segments for coupling to leads of an integrated circuit: a resistor coupling selected interconnect segments forming a resistive coupling between two of the leads; and a semiconductor chip coupled to the lead frame interconnect pattern including: a measurement circuit for measuring electrical parameters across the resistor; and a temperature compensation circuit for compensating for variations in the sensed electrical parameters measured across the resistor which result from temperature variations, the temperature compensation circuit further including: a comparator having an inverted input terminal coupled to a first side of the resistor and having a noninverted input terminal coupled to a second side of the resistor; a first level shifter operating at a first current density coupled between the comparator inverted input terminal and the first side of the resistor; and a second level shifter operating at a second current density different from the first current density coupled between the comparator noninverted input terminal and the second side of the resistor.

Claim 19

An electronic circuit component comprising: a lead frame having a substantially planar top portion and having, integral therewith, a conductive interconnect pattern including a plurality of interconnect segments for coupling to leads of an integrated circuit; a resistor coupling selected interconnect segments forming a resistive coupling between two of the leads; and a semiconductor chip coupled to the lead frame interconnect pattern including: a measurement circuit for measuring electrical parameters across the resistor: and a temperature compensation circuit for compensating for variations in the sensed electrical parameters measured across the resistor which result from temperature variations, the temperature compensation circuit further including: a first multiple-emitter transistor having a collector terminal coupled to a reference voltage source, a multiple emitter terminal with n emitter regions coupled to a current source and a base terminal coupled to a node on a negative pole side of the current sensing resistor; a second multiple-emitter transistor having a collector terminal coupled to the reference voltage source, a multiple emitter terminal with m emitter regions coupled to the current source and a base terminal coupled to a node on a positive pole side of the current sensing resistor.

Claim 20

An electronic circuit component comprising: a lead frame having a substantially planar top portion and having, integral therewith, a conductive interconnect pattern including a plurality of interconnect segments for coupling to leads of an integrated circuit; a resistor coupling selected interconnect segments forming a resistive coupling between two of the leads; and a semiconductor chip coupled to the lead frame interconnect pattern including: a measurement circuit for measuring electrical parameters across the resistor: and a temperature compensation circuit for compensating for variations in the sensed electrical parameters measured across the resistor which result from temperature variations, the temperature compensation circuit further including: a first multiple-emitter transistor having a collector terminal coupled to a reference voltage source, a multiple emitter terminal with n emitter regions coupled to a current source and a base terminal coupled to a node on a negative pole side of the current sensing resistor; a second multiple-emitter transistor having a collector terminal coupled to the reference voltage source, a multiple emitter terminal with m emitter regions coupled to the current source and a base terminal coupled to a node on a positive pole side of the current sensing resistor.

Claim 21

A component as in claim 14, wherein the temperature compensation circuit is adjusted by selecting a current density ratio which determines a temperature coefficient.

Claim 22

An apparatus as in claim 15, wherein the temperature compensation circuit further comprises: a first level shifter operating at a first current density coupled to the base terminal of the first multiple-emitter transistor; and a second level shifter operating at a second current density different from the first current density coupled to the base terminal of the second multiple-emitter transistor.

Claim 23

A component as in claim 14 wherein the measurement circuit measures current flow in the resistor.

Claim 24

A component as in claim 14 further comprising a control circuit coupled to the measurement circuit for comparing a current measurement to a preselected threshold current value and for selectively disconnecting power to the apparatus in accordance with the comparison result.

Claim 25

A component as in claim 14 wherein the measurement circuit measures voltage across the resistor.

Claim 26

A component as in claim 19 further comprising a control circuit coupled to the measurement circuit for comparing a voltage measurement to a preselected threshold voltage value and for selectively disconnecting power to the apparatus in accordance with the comparison result.

Claim 29

An apparatus according to claim 21, wherein: the battery protection integrated circuit is a plastic encapsulated integrated circuit; and the resistor is an integrated current-sensing resistor coupled between two leads of the plastic encapsulated integrated circuit.

Claim 30

An apparatus according to claim 22 wherein the integrated resistor has a resistance value which ranges from 1 to 25 milliohms and a current capacity which ranges from 1 to 40 amperes,

Claim 31

An apparatus according to claim 22 wherein the resistor is a patterned conductive pad which is coupled to selected conductive pads of the lead frame,

Claim 32

An apparatus according to claim 24 wherein the integrated resistor is a copper patterned conductive pad having a width of approximately 8 mm and a length of approximately 300 mm in a winding pattern.

Claim 33

An apparatus according to claim 21 wherein the resistor includes a plurality of conductive metal wire bonds each of which couples two selected conductive pads.

Claim 34

An apparatus according to claim 26 wherein the resistor includes five substantially parallel gold wire bonds each of which couples two selected conductive pads.

Claim 35

An apparatus according to claim 21 further comprising a measurement circuit coupled to the interconnect pattern leads to measure electrical parameters across the resistor.

Claim 36

An apparatus according to claim 28 further comprising a temperature compensation circuit to compensate for variations in the sensed electrical parameters measured across the resistor resulting from temperature variations.

Claim 37

An apparatus according to claim 29 wherein the temperature compensation circuit further comprises: a comparator having an inverted input terminal coupled to a first side of the resistor and having a noninverted input terminal coupled to a second side of the resistor; a first level shifter operating at a first current density coupled between the comparator inverted input terminal and the first side of the resistor; and a second level shifter operating at a second current density different from the first current density coupled between the comparator noninverted input terminal and the second side of the resistor.

Claim 38

An apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the temperature compensation circuit further comprises: a first multiple-emitter transistor having a collector terminal coupled to a reference voltage source, a multiple emitter terminal with n emitter regions coupled to a current source and a base terminal coupled to a node on a negative pole side of the current sensing resistor; a second multiple-emitter transistor having a collector terminal coupled to the reference voltage source, a multiple emitter terminal with m emitter regions coupled to the current source and a base terminal coupled to a node on a positive pole side of the current sensing resistor.