Amplifier In Signal Feedback Path Patents (Class 330/85)
  • Patent number: 6265913
    Abstract: Load driving circuits are adjusted to drive loads with fewer or more pull-down devices by sensing the load electrically coupled to the load driving circuit. In particular, capacitance of the load is compared to a threshold capacitance. If the capacitance of the load is less than the threshold capacitance, selected ones of the pull-down devices are disabled, thereby reducing the capacity of the load driving circuit. If the capacitance of the load is greater than the threshold capacitance, selected ones of the pull-down devices are enabled, thereby increasing the capacity of the load driving circuit. The pull-down devices include delay circuits that enable selected transistors after a delay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2001
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Dong-yun Lee, Seung-wook Lee, Wen-Chun Kim
  • Patent number: 6194698
    Abstract: An electro-optical sensor senses marks on a sheet which travels longitudinally with respect to a printed circuit board, carrying linear arrays of light sources (LEDs) and photodetectors and optics which define zones displaced laterally across the width of a sheet of paper, longitudinal columns of which can contain marks, the presence and absence of which marks is detected by the sensor. The sensor is especially adapted for use in detecting marks which indicate votes on paper ballots in electronic, computerized vote counting apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 1996
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2001
    Assignee: Lucid, Inc.
    Inventors: James M. Zavislan, Scott R. Grodevant
  • Patent number: 6194967
    Abstract: Briefly, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, an integrated circuit includes an operational amplifier coupled in a circuit configuration. The circuit configuration includes two transistors coupled to the operational amplifier so that the corresponding voltages at the terminals or ports of the transistors are substantially identical. Briefly, in accordance with one more embodiment of the invention, an integrated circuit includes an operational amplifier coupled in a circuit configuration. The circuit configuration includes two circuit components coupled to the operational amplifier so that the corresponding voltages at the terminals or ports of the circuit components are substantially identical. The circuit components include any circuit components capable of implementing a transconductance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2001
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Luke A. Johnson, Rizwan Ahmed
  • Patent number: 6175276
    Abstract: A preamplifier amplifies a differential signal from a magneto-resistive read head. The preamplifier is designed to maximize gain and minimize introduction of noise, while maintaining wide bandwidths and common mode rejection performance. The emitters of the differential amplifier are coupled together by a third transistor and a capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2001
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventor: Perry S. Lorenz
  • Patent number: 6130582
    Abstract: An amplifier circuit (14') for canceling variations in an amplifier feedback signal includes compensation circuitry (50) defining a replica of the feedback current therethrough. The replicated feedback current is drawn from a circuit node (N1) which directs the feedback signal to a differential pair (Q1, Q2) of the amplifier circuit 14', whereby any biasing effects on the differential pair (Q1, Q2) due to changes in the feedback signal resulting from changes in a gate drive output voltage (V.sub.GD) of the amplifier circuit (14') are eliminated. Accordingly, the gate drive output voltage (V.sub.GD) may be used to control an ignition coil (L1) drive transistor (16) whereby any changes in gate drive voltage (V.sub.GD) will not cause the coil current (I.sub.L) to deviate from its target coil current limit value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2000
    Assignee: Delco Electronics Corporation
    Inventor: Scott Birk Kesler
  • Patent number: 6121908
    Abstract: Circuits and techniques for controlling gain while performing analog frequency-selective filtering of electronic signals are provided. In particular, these circuits and techniques control gain and filter electronic signals in a way that significantly reduces input-referred noise as the gain increases to accommodate smaller input signals, while operating within reasonable power constraints and employing a minimum amount of die space. Such circuits also significantly reduce the circuitry necessary for performing the combined steps of controlling gain and doing analog frequency-selective filtering of electronic signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2000
    Assignee: Linear Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Nello G. Sevastopoulos, Max Wolff Hauser
  • Patent number: 6118340
    Abstract: A low noise differential amplifier includes a differential stage and first and second unbalanced differential feedback amplifiers. The differential stage includes first (13) and second (14) load devices coupled to first (11) and second (12) conductors, respectively, a resistor (RS), a first input transistor (Q1) having a first electrode coupled to the first conductor and a second electrode coupled by a third conductor (16) to a first terminal of the resistor (RS), and a second input transistor (Q2) having a first electrode coupled to the second conductor (12) and a second electrode coupled by a fourth conductor (17) to a second terminal of the resistor (RS). The first feedback amplifier (18) includes a third input transistor (Q5) coupled between the third conductor (16) and the first current source transistor (Q3). The first feedback amplifier (18) drives the control electrode of the first input transistor (Q1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2000
    Assignee: Burr-Brown Corporation
    Inventor: Myron J. Koen
  • Patent number: 6028496
    Abstract: An active inductor which consumes less direct current (DC) power and is stably biased, has a smaller number of bias pins, a higher quality factor (Q) and fewer controlling ports, than that of the prior art, is realized in metal semiconductor field effect transistor or bipolar transistor technology. The active inductor includes an inverting amplifier of a common source (common emitter) type, which inversely amplifies an input signal and outputs the amplified signal as an output signal, a non-inverting amplifier of a common gate (common base) cascode type, which non-inversely amplifies the output signal and the amplified signal as the input signal, a capacitor connected between the input signal and a reference signal, and a biasing portion for biasing the inverting amplifier and the non-inverting amplifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2000
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jin-Su Ko, Kwyro Lee
  • Patent number: 5990749
    Abstract: A novel device for pole splitting which can be employed in multistage amplifiers having a final stage and a prior stage. The device comprises a first capacitor connected between the output of the prior stage and the output of the final stage, a source follower, and a second capacitor connected between the output of the prior stage and the source follower. The source follower provides an offset voltage that reduces variation of the total capacitance of the first and second capacitors. In a preferred version of the present invention, the first and second capacitor each comprise a MOSFET transistor having a certain threshold voltage. The offset voltage is set to be at least the threshold voltage of the MOSFET transistors. In a preferred version, the source follower comprises a plurality of MOSFET transistors, which includes a MOSFET transistor having a gate connected to the first capacitor and a source connected to the second capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 23, 1999
    Assignee: LSI Logic Corporation
    Inventors: Subrat Mohapatra, Edward Liu
  • Patent number: 5973560
    Abstract: An automatic gain control circuit and method is provided that constantly outputs uniform output signal size regardless of size change of an input signal. The automatic gain control circuit uses a multiplier and a negative feedback system. The automatic gain control circuit includes an amplitude detector detecting an amplitude of an input signal, a comparator, a multiplier multiplying the amplitude detected in the amplitude detector and an output signal. The output signal is fed back to the multiplier. The comparator has an inverting terminal coupled to an output terminal of the multiplier across a first resistance and coupled to an input terminal receiving the input signal across a second resistance. A non-inverting terminal of the comparator is grounded. The automatic gain control circuit and in particular, the comparator, supplies the output signal of which size is determined by the ratio of the first resistance and the second resistance regardless of the size of the input signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1999
    Assignee: LG Semicon Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Jung Bong Lee
  • Patent number: 5969546
    Abstract: In a comparator circuit comprised of a feedback amplifier and a differential amplifier AMP1, the feedback amplifier includes input transistors Tr1 to Tr4. Gates of the transistors Tr1 and Tr2 are respectively inputted with first and second inverted inputs, and gates of the transistors Tr3 and Tr4 are inputted with first and second non-inverted inputs. First ends of current paths of the transistors Tr3 and Tr4 are connected in common, and ends of current paths of transistors Tr1 and Tr2 are connected in common. Second ends of the current paths of the transistors Tr1 to Tr4 are connected in common to a constant current source. The first and second inverted inputs are supplied with a reference voltage, and the first and second non-inverted inputs are respectively supplied with the non-inverted and inverted outputs of the differential amplifier AMP1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 19, 1999
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Naoyuki Hamanishi, Kazuhiro Oda
  • Patent number: 5963095
    Abstract: An amplifier circuit, particularly for RF-purposes includes a main current stream of a controllable RF-semiconductor device having a control input, a control means having a control output coupled to the control input for controlling the main current stream, and a compensation circuit having a compensation output coupled to the control input for compensating the controllable semiconductor device. The compensation circuit is constructed so as to be temporarily active during a period of time wherein the control means do not supply a control output signal to the control input of the controllable semiconductor device. This provides a suitable solution for IC's and for dealing with DC-adjustment disturbances in a low DC-current dissipating manner caused by a lack of pull-down capability when the amplifier circuit operates at very high frequencies or at relatively large amplitudes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 5, 1999
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation
    Inventor: Hendrik A. Visser
  • Patent number: 5952885
    Abstract: A current-to-voltage converter with highpass filter function constructed according to the present invention contains two operational amplifiers OP1 and OP2, two resistors R.sub.1 and R.sub.2, and a capacitor C.sub.1. The noninverting (+) terminal of the operational amplifier OP1 is grounded. The inverting (-) terminal of the operational amplifier OP1 is used to receive the output of the current-type sensing device and connected to the output terminal of the operational amplifier OP2 via the resistor R.sub.2. The output terminal of the operational amplifier OP1 is connected to the noninverting terminal of the operational amplifier OP2. The output of the operational amplifier OP2 is fed back to the inverting terminal of the operational amplifier OP2 via the capacitor C.sub.1, and the inverting terminal of the operational amplifier OP2 is connected to one terminal of the resistor R.sub.1 of which another terminal is grounded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 14, 1999
    Assignee: National Science Council
    Inventors: Chien-Ping Wu, Chang-Da Tsai, Jiann-Jong Chen
  • Patent number: 5912584
    Abstract: In an analog signal processing device, an output signal and a reference level are compared by a comparator, and a result of comparison is filtered by a low-pass filter. By doing so, an adaptive control signal is generated so as to correspond to a background signal component having a low frequency, included in an input signal, and is negatively fed back to a signal processing unit. With this arrangement, the background signal component is compensated by the adaptive control signal having a frequency band sufficiently separate from a frequency band of a target signal component to be processed, the component being included in the input signal. As a result, a DC level of the output signal is stabilized at the reference level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 15, 1999
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kunihiko Iizuka
  • Patent number: 5856758
    Abstract: A line driver with positive feedback reduces the output signal amplitude excursion required for driving a communication line, and enables the driver's output impedance to be synthesized using a reduced component value, thereby achieving a reduction in power loss through the output resistor, while simultaneously matching the effective electrical value of the driver's output impedance to the line. The line driver includes an operational amplifier having differential polarity inputs and an output. An output resistor, whose value is a fraction of the line impedance, is coupled between the amplifier output and an output node coupled to the line. A negative feedback resistor is coupled between the amplifier output and an inverting input. A further resistor is coupled between the amplifier output and a non-inverting input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 5, 1999
    Assignee: Adtran, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel M. Joffe, Robert E. Gewin
  • Patent number: 5847604
    Abstract: Non-linearity of a voltage-controlled non-linear amplifier/attenuator is compensated by placing a non-linear circuit in the feedback path of an operation amplifier of a linearizer, the circuit including one or more differential amplifiers connected in parallel. For example, one amplifier can be a low-gain amplifier whose exponential range is at the lower end of the control voltage range, and another can be a high-gain amplifier whose exponential range is at the upper end of the control voltage range. When a necessary number of differential amplifiers are used in the feedback path, it is possible to compensate for the non-linearity of the non-linear component to a desired extent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 8, 1998
    Assignee: Nokia Telecommunications Oy
    Inventor: Andre Dekker
  • Patent number: 5844444
    Abstract: A two-opamp gain stage wide dynamic range automatic level control circuit (WDR ALC) for implementation in a speech applications is disclosed. The first gain stage is formed by an inverting opamp with a transconductor device in the feedback loop. The first gain stage produces an output voltage which is coupled to a second gain stage via an ac coupling capacitor. The second gain stage is formed by an inverting opamp which produces the output voltages for the (WDR ALC). A fraction of the first stage's output voltage is fed back to the transconductor device. The transconductor device acts as a voltage controlled resistor that is effectively parallel with the feedback resistor of the first stage opamp. The output voltage of the second stage is fed back to peak detector adapted for speech electronic circuitry applications. The output of the peak detector is compared with a preset peak voltage by a converter which generates the control voltage for the transconductor device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 1, 1998
    Assignee: Macronix International Co., LTD.
    Inventors: Chin-san Wu, Chun-hsien Su
  • Patent number: 5789973
    Abstract: A resistorless amplifier circuit uses integrated operational transconductance amplifiers to realize a plurality of circuit transfer functions. The preferred embodiment produces an output signal voltage V.sub.out (500) that is either g.sub.m1 /g.sub.m3 or g.sub.m1 /(g.sub.m3 -g.sub.m1) times the input signal voltage V.sub.in (400). Additionally, an alternative embodiment implements a resistorless summing and subtracting operational transconductance amplifier circuit that realizes an output signal voltage as follows: ##EQU1## The resistorless amplifier circuit includes a first operational transconductance amplifier (100) with a transconductance g.sub.m1, a second operational transconductance amplifier (200) with a transconductance g.sub.m2, and a third operational transconductance amplifier (300) with a transconductance g.sub.m3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 4, 1998
    Assignee: Motorola, Inc.
    Inventors: Raymond L. Barrett, Jr., Scott R. Humphreys, Barry W. Herold
  • Patent number: 5781068
    Abstract: A transadmittance amplifier provides an output current that is proportional to an input voltage level. The output current drives a coil of an electric motor (the load) through a sense resistor, the voltage drop across the sense resistor providing an indication of the amount of current flowing through the coil. The indication provided by the sense resistor is applied across the differential input terminals of a feedback amplifier, which responds by outputting a feedback signal proportional to the output current. In one embodiment, the maximum output current is increased by providing a pair of complementary drive amplifiers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 14, 1998
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventor: Mark K. Takita
  • Patent number: 5777517
    Abstract: The semiconductor amplifier circuit provided with frequency characteristics excellent in both band width and flatness is disclosed. The amplifier circuit comprises: an input section (10) including: a first inversion amplifier circuit (11) for inversion-amplifying an input signal; and a feedback circuit (15) of a field effect transistor having a grounded gate, a source for receiving a feedback signal, and a drain connected to an output terminal of the first inversion amplifier circuit; a first level shift circuit (20) for shifting level of an output of the input section; a second inversion amplifier circuit (30) for inversion-amplifying an output of the first level shift circuit; and a second level shift circuit (40) for shifting level of an output of the second inversion amplifier circuit. Here, the amplifier circuit is characterized in that the output of the second level shift circuit (40) is applied to the feedback circuit (15) as the feedback signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 7, 1998
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Toshiki Seshita
  • Patent number: 5767743
    Abstract: An RF power amplifier includes an input-side tertiary harmonic wave control circuit and an output-side tertiary harmonic wave control circuit, respectively connected to a gate and a drain of a signal amplification FET. The RF power amplifier also includes a tertiary harmonic wave feedback circuit connected in parallel with the signal amplification FET. The tertiary harmonic wave feedback circuit includes an input-side tertiary harmonic wave bandpass filter, a tertiary harmonic wave amplification FET, a phase shifter and an output-side tertiary harmonic wave bandpass filter. These circuit elements are connected in series. Due to such a configuration, a voltage waveform and a current waveform each having a nearly rectangular shape can be easily generated at an output terminal (a drain) of the signal amplification FET, not only in the region around the efficiency saturation point whore the FET operates in a non-linear mode, but also in other linear-operation regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 16, 1998
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shigeru Morimoto, Masahiro Maeda
  • Patent number: 5736900
    Abstract: In accordance with the objectives of the present invention, a variety of apparatus and methods for amplifying an electrical signal are disclosed. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a dual-output stage amplifier includes an amplifier stage having an input and an output, a first output stage having an input and an output, a second output stage having an input and an output and an error stage having an input and an output. The first output stage output is coupled with the output of the amplifier stage and responsive to the amplifier stage. If the first output stage output is coupled to an output load, the first output stage is capable of providing an output current to the output load such that a first output voltage related to an input voltage at the input of the amplifier stage is maintained across the output load. In turn, the second output stage input is coupled with the output of the amplifier stage and in parallel with the first output stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 7, 1998
    Assignees: Maxim Integrated Products, Gain Technology Corp.
    Inventor: Douglas L. Smith
  • Patent number: 5684433
    Abstract: In an amplifier circuit arrangement in which series resistive feedback is utilized in the main amplifier to minimize distortion, and a feedback amplifier is provided in a path from the output of the arrangement to the series feedback path effectively to boost the value of the feedback resistor, a further amplifier is arranged to provide positive feedback to the resistive load circuit of the main amplifier effectively to boost the value of the resistive load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 4, 1997
    Assignee: Plessey Semiconductors Limited
    Inventors: Arshad Madni, Nicholas Paul Cowley, Ian Garth Watson
  • Patent number: 5666087
    Abstract: An active termination resistor is provided within a feedback loop circuit thus advantageously increasing the stability of the feedback loop circuit. In particular, the active termination resistor traces the impedance of the feedback loop such that R(f).congruent.1/GM3(f). The active resistor may also be configured to track the value of the resistor to set the feedback transconductance over process and temperature variations to ensure stability of the feedback loop over these variations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 9, 1997
    Assignee: Lattice Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventor: James L. Gorecki
  • Patent number: 5606277
    Abstract: Transimpedance amplifier circuits and methods are provided in which the break frequency of the amplifier is adjusted through a single interface point to the amplifier circuit. At frequencies below the break frequency, the amplifier circuit provides an error current which effectively nulls the output of the transimpedance amplifier so that no output is produced. At frequencies above the break frequency, the break frequency setting element is essentially a short circuit that results in the frequency dependent voltage being substantially zero. This causes the transimpedance amplifier to convert current-to-voltage without signal degradation. The circuit also enables a user to adjust the break frequency without affecting the overall operation of the amplifier. Thus, the amplifier may be coupled to different output circuits for operations in accordance with different communication standards.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 1995
    Date of Patent: February 25, 1997
    Assignee: Linear Technology Corporation
    Inventor: George F. Feliz
  • Patent number: 5528197
    Abstract: A current mode VCA includes a negative feedback architecture around a gain core stage. An input signal is injected as a differential current into the signal path and is converted to a differential voltage by a transresistance stage having a dynamic impedance. The differential voltage is applied to a transconductance stage which limits the VCA's high frequency gain and stabilizes the feedback loop. The transconductance stage supplies a differential drive current to the gain core stage, which produces two differential output currents that sum to the differential drive current. The fraction of the drive current provided to each output current is controlled by the application of a control signal to the gain core stage. A current-to-voltage converter produces an output voltage in response to the output current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 1995
    Date of Patent: June 18, 1996
    Assignee: Analog Devices, Inc.
    Inventor: Douglas R. Frey
  • Patent number: 5510751
    Abstract: A line driver comprising: an input terminal for receiving an input signal, an output terminal for connecting a load, a first and a second transconductance-controlled transconductor having substantially equal transconductances, each transconductor having a non-inverting input, an inverting input, an output and a common control input for controlling the transconductance, the non-inverting inputs of the first and second transconductors being coupled to the input terminal, the outputs of the first and second transconductors being coupled to the output terminal, the inverting input of the first transconductor being coupled to a point of reference potential, the inverting input of the second transconductor being coupled to the output terminal, and an amplifier having a non-inverting input, an inverting input and an output coupled to, respectively, the input terminal, the output terminal and the common control input of the first and the second transconductors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 1994
    Date of Patent: April 23, 1996
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation
    Inventor: Bram Nauta
  • Patent number: 5507017
    Abstract: A Cartesian amplifier is provided with a means of controlling its output power comprising a controllable attenuator in the amplifier forward path and a controllable amplifier in the feedback path. A control signal representing the required power level is applied to the attenuator and controllable amplifier and, in response thereto, the degrees of attenuation and amplification are varied in inverse proportion to one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 1994
    Date of Patent: April 9, 1996
    Assignee: Linear Modulation Technology Limited
    Inventors: William J. Whitmarsh, Simon M. Whittle, Ian S. Parry
  • Patent number: 5497403
    Abstract: A feedback clamping circuit effects a clamping control by utilizing a digital information or noise detection. Even when a source is a VTR, disc or the like having a large noise amount, a stable clamping operation can be effected by controlling a gain or dead area width of a feedback loop in response to an identified result of a digital control code signal previously involved in an input signal or detected result of a noise amount contained in the input signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 1992
    Date of Patent: March 5, 1996
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Shigeru Harada, Yoshihide Nagatsu
  • Patent number: 5451909
    Abstract: A regulated cascode circuit with enhanced gain includes a cascode section including a common source MOS transistor (m.sub.1) of a first polarity and a cascode device (m.sub.2) wherein the drain of the common-source MOS transistor (m.sub.1) is coupled to the source of the cascode device. An input to the regulated cascode circuit is applied to the common source MOS transistor (m.sub.1) and an output of the regulated cascode circuit is developed at the drain of the cascode device (m.sub.2) across both the common source MOS transistor (m.sub.1) and cascode (m.sub.2) device. A feedback amplifier circuit (10) has its input (12) connected to the drain of the common source MOS transistor (m.sub.1) and its output (20) connected to a gate of the cascode device (m.sub.2) for driving the cascode device (m.sub.2). The feedback amplifier (10) includes a simple five transistor circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 1993
    Date of Patent: September 19, 1995
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: John W. Fattaruso
  • Patent number: 5399986
    Abstract: A multi-output power amplifier is disclosed. The amplifier is divided into two stages. A single voltage amplifier is used as an input amplifying stage and several current amplifiers are used as a second amplifying stage. The inputs to the current amplifiers share a common connection to the output of the voltage amplifier and feedback is provided from the current amplifier outputs to the voltage amplifier input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 21, 1995
    Inventor: Wailit Yen
  • Patent number: 5394113
    Abstract: An amplifier circuit employs a differential amplifier having first and second differential inputs and having an output for providing an output signal which varies according to a difference between magnitudes of input signals provided at the first and second inputs, a high impedance front end which is coupled to the first input of said differential amplifier and which accepts an input voltage, and a feedback circuit which is interposed between the second input and the output of the differential amplifier so that error characteristics of the feedback circuit are substantially similar to error characteristics of the front end and signal errors introduced by the high impedance front end are canceled by signal errors provided by the feedback circuit. The differential amplifier can be an operational amplifier and the high impedance front ends and the feedback circuits can be source follower FET circuits each having an FET transistor and a resistor connected to the source terminal of said FET transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 1992
    Date of Patent: February 28, 1995
    Assignee: Harris Corporation
    Inventor: Donald K. Belcher
  • Patent number: 5392001
    Abstract: A capacitively-coupled amplifier circuit includes an amplifier for receiving an input signal via a coupling capacitance and for amplifying the input signal to produce an output signal. A resistor provides a bias voltage to the amplifier. The resistor is bootstrapped using positive feedback with a loop gain of slightly less than one. The bootstrapping causes an increase in the value of the resistor to lower the cut-in (pole) frequency of the amplifier. The bootstrapping or feedback circuit includes a roll-off (pole) at a frequency below the roll-off (pole) frequency of the amplifier. This prevents phase shift in the feedback loop from adversely effecting the high frequency response of the amplifier. The resulting amplifier circuit exhibits a wide passband and excellent low frequency response despite having a capacitively coupled input signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 1994
    Date of Patent: February 21, 1995
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventors: Thomas F. Uhling, John M. Heumann, Ronald J. Peiffer
  • Patent number: 5371472
    Abstract: A charge amplifier for sensors outputting electrical charge, particularly for piezoceramic pressure sensors, includes a voltage integrator having an output, an integration capacitor and a resistor connected parallel to the integration capacitor. A current-to-voltage converter is connected upstream of the voltage integrator and has an input. A negative feedback branch has a series circuit of a farther voltage integrator and a voltage-to-current converter. The negative feedback branch is connected between the output of the voltage integrator and the input of the current-to-voltage converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 1993
    Date of Patent: December 6, 1994
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Franz Wohlstreicher
  • Patent number: 5345191
    Abstract: Voltage control means output to a variable resistance part 2 a control voltage proportionate to an error between an input detection signal of an input terminal T.sub.i of a source follower field-effect transistor 1 and an output detection signal of an output-side transistor 5. Although said variable resistance part 2 changes its resistance value in accordance with a control voltage, a drain current flowing from the field-effect transistor to said variable resistance part is maintained constant by a constant-current source 3. Thus, an output voltage of the output side transistor changes in accordance with said error, thereby controlling the input detection voltage and the output detection voltage to be constantly the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 1993
    Date of Patent: September 6, 1994
    Assignee: Leader Electronics Corp.
    Inventor: Naojiro Tanaka
  • Patent number: 5343159
    Abstract: The direct coupled solid state-vacuum tube hybrid circuit matches a high impedance audio source to a low impedance audio destination. The resulting device supplies essentially unit gain and has both single ended and balanced outputs. The solid state operational amplifier and vacuum tube devices are DC coupled and supplied from a common low voltage DC power supply. The vacuum tube is incorporated directly in the feedback loop of the operational amplifier and a suitably chosen dampening resistor allows the circuit to provide vacuum tube characteristic warming effects without unwanted distortion or tube microphonics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 1993
    Date of Patent: August 30, 1994
    Inventor: Brent K. Butler
  • Patent number: 5327027
    Abstract: A circuit is described herein which effectively multiplies the value of a capacitor. The circuit draws current from an input node, where this current being drawn is related to the gain of an amplifier and the value of a capacitor, thus effectively amplifying the capacitance value of a capacitor as seen at the input node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 1991
    Date of Patent: July 5, 1994
    Assignee: TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventor: Stewart S. Taylor
  • Patent number: 5325073
    Abstract: An amplifying apparatus provided by the present invention comprises a direct-coupled inverting amplifier and an alternating-current feedback circuit as well as a direct-current feedback circuit connected between input and output terminals of the direct-coupled inverting amplifier, wherein the direct-current feedback circuit comprises an operating-point extracting circuit for extracting a direct-current component and a bias-voltage generator having a direct-current signal gain larger than an alternating-current signal gain thereof and a direct-current operating bias voltage of the direct-coupled inverting amplifier is set by using a signal output by the bias-voltage generator. Such a configuration enables the amplifying apparatus to offer high-speed operations, a large dynamic range and a highly stable direct-current operating point regardless of the type of a signal input therein and allows an alternating-current signal gain to be set independently of the stability of the direct-current operating point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 1993
    Date of Patent: June 28, 1994
    Assignee: Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazuo Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 5317281
    Abstract: A circuit for increasing the slew rate of linear amplifier circuits. The circuit comprises two NPN and PNP transistor pairs arranged so that when the voltage level difference between the amplifier output and input voltage exceeds the base to emitter voltage of such transistors, the circuit is activated. The circuit provides a current proportional to such voltage difference in order to speed up the charging or discharging of the slew rate determining capacitance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 1993
    Date of Patent: May 31, 1994
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventors: Charles L. Vinn, Yihe Huang
  • Patent number: 5266905
    Abstract: An audio amplifier with amplified feedback having a discrete component amplifier and an amplified negative feedback network. The amplified negative feedback network includes a feedback amplifier, a first resistor network, a second resistor network and a further feedback means for providing local negative feedback to the feedback amplifier and substantially removes a load associated with the output of the discrete component amplifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 1992
    Date of Patent: November 30, 1993
    Assignee: Audio Research Corporation
    Inventor: William Z. Johnson
  • Patent number: 5264806
    Abstract: A bipolar transistor is used as an active feedback inductor to emulate the frequency dependant impedance characteristics of a spiral inductor at microwave frequencies using active techniques. The active feedback is biased by several resistors. By substituting active feedback for a conventional spiral inductor, the chip layout can be reduced by as much as 50%. The bandwidth of the device can be controlled by choosing appropriate tuning resistor values to bias the active feedback inductor when fabricating the chip. By changing the value of these tuning resistors the inductance created can be directly controlled, which in turn affects the frequency response of the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 1992
    Date of Patent: November 23, 1993
    Assignee: TRW Inc.
    Inventor: Kevin W. Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 5258716
    Abstract: An all-pass filter includes an adder which comprises a variable conductance amplifier and a capacitor connected to the output terminal thereof. The adder is being arranged to add the output of a band pass filter and an input signal together.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 1992
    Date of Patent: November 2, 1993
    Assignee: Toko, Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Kondo, Tsuneo Tohyama, Hiroshi Tanigawa, Isao Fukai
  • Patent number: 5252928
    Abstract: The invention relates to a charge amplifier circuit with a control loop for resetting, which for minimizing the leakage currents that falsify the measuring results includes two diodes (D.sub.1) and (D.sub.2), connected antiparallel in the loop and constituting input protection diodes of an integrated circuit (ISK). In the operating (measuring) phase the diode resistance (R.sub.D) is extremely high and the voltage drop over the diode pair is small, so that no significant leakage current gets through onto the charge amplifier input IN.sub.Q. In the reset phase the diode resistance (R.sub.Dr) is practically nil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 1992
    Date of Patent: October 12, 1993
    Assignee: Kistler Instrumente AG
    Inventor: Mario Giorgetta
  • Patent number: 5245297
    Abstract: A power amplifier suitable for use in TDD and TDMA systems in which burst transmissions have to conform to a time mask, comprises a power amplifier (10) having a signal input (11), a signal output (14) and a control voltage input (24). A r.f.feedback control loop is coupled between the signal output (14) and the control voltage input (24). The control loop includes detection means (18) coupled to a comparison means (22) in which the detected signal is compared with reference pulses produced by a generating means (28). The output of the comparison means is coupled to the control voltage input (24). In order to provide a control signal when the output power level is too low to be detected, an artificial detector (38) is connected between the output of the comparison means (22) and its input for the detected signal in order to feed back the control voltage. As a result the control voltage versus power output characteristic is extended which leads to the generation of less transient sidebands and interference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 1992
    Date of Patent: September 14, 1993
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation
    Inventors: Martin Claydon, Jonathan C. Griffiths
  • Patent number: 5245296
    Abstract: An audio amplifier circuit which improves the efficiency, performance and power in a loudspeaker system. The circuit includes a discriminator differential amplifier which senses the motional voltage from the moving coil of a loudspeaker. The output signal from the differential amplifier is processed by the circuit into a correction voltage which is combined with the drive voltage and applied to the input of the loudspeaker.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 1992
    Date of Patent: September 14, 1993
    Inventors: Francis A. Miller, Steven D. Heidorn
  • Patent number: 5218320
    Abstract: A wideband amplifier circuit having automatic offset voltage and gain control, the circuit comprising a main amplifier chain, a negative feedback loop for controlling gain, and a negative feedback loop for controlling and cancelling any possible offset voltage at its output, said main amplifier chain including a gain control amplifier block having a gain control input connected to the gain control negative feedback loop; wherein the gain control amplifier block is preceded in the main chain by a symmetrizer-adder block of fixed gain having a first input constituting the input of the amplifier circuit and a second input connected to the negative feedback loop for controlling and cancelling any possible offset voltage at the output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 1992
    Date of Patent: June 8, 1993
    Assignee: Alcatel N.V.
    Inventors: Pierre Albouy, Guy Cochennec
  • Patent number: 5210502
    Abstract: A servo distortion trim circuit for a DBX VCA is disclosed. The circuit comprises a feedback to the VCA which includes an inverting integrator. The input to the non-inverting terminal of the integrator is chosen to minimize distortion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 1992
    Date of Patent: May 11, 1993
    Assignee: Sony Corporation of America
    Inventors: Alan Flum, Michael Zampini, Fujio Yasuda
  • Patent number: 5204636
    Abstract: A dynamically limited amplifier including an operational amplifier having both non-inverting and inverting input terminals, an output terminal, and dynamic limiting circuitry connected between the inverting input and output terminals of the operational amplifier. The dynamically limiting circuitry operates to supply a feedback current between the output terminal of the operational amplifier and the inverting input terminal of the operational amplifier, whenever the output voltage of the operational amplifier exceeds a threshold potential.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 1992
    Date of Patent: April 20, 1993
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Alan J. Werner, Jr., Mostafa R. Yazdy
  • Patent number: 5203016
    Abstract: The gain of a recursive integrator is controlled so as to be adaptive to the quality of a received signal by comparing the magnitude of its emphasized information component with a reference voltage and controlling the gain of the integrator's feedback delay path in accordance with the difference between the peak value of the emphasized information component and the reference voltage. As a result, when the signal to noise ratio of the input signal is high, the gain can be reduced, so that the recursive loop will adapt quickly to changes in a multipath profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 1990
    Date of Patent: April 13, 1993
    Assignee: Harris Corporation
    Inventors: Donald K. Belcher, Darrell R. Gimlin
  • Patent number: 5184090
    Abstract: A head amplifier is integrated into an IC with a minimum number of pins and outside parts as well. An offset cancellation circuit cancels offset voltages to prevent distortion of playback signals. An amplifier amplifies a playback signal to produce an output signal that is fed to one input of a differential amplifier. A reference voltage is fed to the second input of the differential amplifier. The input of the differential amplifier is compared in a comparator with the reference voltage to produce a feedback signal for cancelling offset voltages. The feedback path is frequency sensitive to reduce frequency response at low frequencies, and to compensate for distortions produced at high frequencies from using PNP transistors in the comparator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 1991
    Date of Patent: February 2, 1993
    Assignee: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Fukuji Anzai