Patents Represented by Attorney Leo J. Carroll
  • Patent number: 5025178
    Abstract: A fault-resistant, solid-state line driver having a pair of P-type transistors in series between a bus output and a voltage source, a pair of N-type transistors in series between the bus output and a connection to ground, and a pair of input lines, one of the input lines being connected to both the gate of the P-type transistor closest to the voltage source and the gate of the N-type transistor closest to the bus output, the other input line being connected to both the gate of the P-type transistor closest to the bus output and the gate of the N-type transistor closest to the connection to ground. Such a line driver is particularly useful in devices utilizing wafer-scale levels of integration, as the failure of any one of the driver's transistors will not result in a shorting of the bus output to either ground or the voltage source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 1988
    Date of Patent: June 18, 1991
    Assignee: General Dynamics Corp., Pomona Div.
    Inventor: Patrick O. Nunally