Low-voltage differential signal activity detector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8988112-B2
Application number	US-201213616640-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2012
Priority date	Sep 15, 2011
Publication date	Mar 24, 2015
Grant date	Mar 24, 2015

Abstract

An activity detector for a differential signal formed by two components may include a current source connected to a power supply line, and a first transistor has a drain being powered by the current source, and has a source that forms a first input terminal receiving a first component of the differential signal. A second transistor has a drain being powered by the current source, and has a source forms a second input terminal receiving the second component of the differential signal. A bias circuit applies a potential to the gates of the first and second transistors, establishing a balance condition where all the current from the current source is distributed between the two transistors when the first and second input terminal potential is equal to a threshold value. An activity indication terminal is taken from the drains of the first and second transistors.

First claim

That which is claimed is:

1. An activity detector for a differential signal having first and second components, the activity detector comprising:
a current source comprising an output transistor having a drain and configured to be coupled to a power supply line;
a first transistor having a drain coupled to said current source, a source defining a first input terminal configured to receive the first component of the differential signal, and a gate;
a second transistor having a…

Assignees

• Bissane Fouad
• Gicquel Hugo
• St Microelectronics Grenoble 2

Inventors

• Bissane Fouad
• Gicquel Hugo

Classifications

• G01R19/10 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• H03K5/1534 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic