EP0366680A4 - A nonvolatile nonlinear reprogrammable electronic potentiometer - Google Patents

A nonvolatile nonlinear reprogrammable electronic potentiometer

Info

Publication number
EP0366680A4
EP0366680A4 EP19880905304 EP88905304A EP0366680A4 EP 0366680 A4 EP0366680 A4 EP 0366680A4 EP 19880905304 EP19880905304 EP 19880905304 EP 88905304 A EP88905304 A EP 88905304A EP 0366680 A4 EP0366680 A4 EP 0366680A4
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
impedance
terminal
circuit
node
variable
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP19880905304
Other languages
English (en)
Other versions
EP0366680A1 (fr
Inventor
Joseph Drori
William S. Jennings-Check
William H. Owen, Iii
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Xicor LLC
Original Assignee
Xicor LLC
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Xicor LLC filed Critical Xicor LLC
Publication of EP0366680A1 publication Critical patent/EP0366680A1/fr
Publication of EP0366680A4 publication Critical patent/EP0366680A4/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
    • G05B19/00—Programme-control systems
    • G05B19/02—Programme-control systems electric
    • G05B19/04—Programme control other than numerical control, i.e. in sequence controllers or logic controllers
    • G05B19/07—Programme control other than numerical control, i.e. in sequence controllers or logic controllers where the programme is defined in the fixed connection of electrical elements, e.g. potentiometers, counters, transistors
    • G05B19/075—Programme control other than numerical control, i.e. in sequence controllers or logic controllers where the programme is defined in the fixed connection of electrical elements, e.g. potentiometers, counters, transistors for delivering a step function, a slope or a continuous function
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
    • G05B2219/00—Program-control systems
    • G05B2219/20—Pc systems
    • G05B2219/23—Pc programming
    • G05B2219/23029—Up down, increment decrement keys, jog, sequentially show functions or values
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
    • G05B2219/00—Program-control systems
    • G05B2219/20—Pc systems
    • G05B2219/23—Pc programming
    • G05B2219/23041—Enter analog value

Definitions

  • the present invention relates generally to the field of variable impedance elements and more specifically to the field of programmable variable impedance elements for use in electrical circuits.
  • Electronic circuits containing variable impedance elements are well known to the art. These variable impedance elements are usually in the form of variable resistors, also called potentiometers. However, circuits using variable inductors or capacitors are also well known. These variable impedance elements are usually manually adjusted to provide a selected impedance so as to affect some aspect of the circuit in which they are located. For example, a potentiometer may be set to a value which maximizes a signal generated at a node in a given circuit.
  • Potentiometers which are adjusted mechanically by motors or other actuators under external control are also known to the prior art. Although these potentiometers relieve the need for an operator, they are still unsatisfactory in many applications. First, the time to make an adjustment is still too long for many applications. Second, the long term reliability of such electromechanical devices is not sufficient for many applications requiring variable impedance elements. Finally, such systems are often economically unattractive.
  • Tanaka, et al., U.S. Patent 4,468,607 teaches a ladder attenuator which is controlled by a binary number by means of a switch circuit. Depending on the state of the switches in this switch circuit, one or more stages of attenuation are introduced into the signal path.
  • variable attenuation integrated circuits have no ability to store the selected attenuation value when power is removed from the circuit, and consequently no ability to automatically reestablish the same attenuation value once power is restored.
  • battery backup was required for the circuit, or an external means for reinitializing these variable impedance element attenuation values was required when power was returned to the attenuation circuit.
  • nonvolatile electrically erasable integrated circuit memories have been used in prior art systems to preset counters, for example, or to preset a potentiometer when power is first applied to a circuit
  • no circuit which combines the ability to selectively access a node in a variable potentiometer and to store the identity of that selected node in a non-volatile memory in response to a predetermined signal, e.g. the removal of a chip select signal, or the loss of power, for later enabling the circuit to reaccess the selected node once power has been restored.
  • variable impedance integrated circuit comprising a plurality of two terminal impedance elements connected in series which automatically retains a selected attenuation value when power is removed from the impedance circuit.
  • This impedance circuit includes a means for restoring the stored attenuation value when power is returned to the circuit, thereby overcoming the above described limitations of the prior art variable impedance devices. More specifically, a node is provided between each pair of impedance elements in the series chain. At least one of the first and last elements in the series chain is connected to an externally accessible terminal. Means are provided for accessing the selected node and for connecting this selected node to another externally accessible terminal. An electrically reprogrammable read-only memory stores the identity of the selected node such that the identity of this node is retained when power is removed from the circuit. When power is returned to the circuit, the node which was previously connected to said terminal is automatically reconnected.
  • variable impedance circuit represents a significant advance over the prior art devices described above, there are a number of applications in which the number of impedance elements which must be included in the series impedance is too large. For example, if the impedance must be varied in small steps over a large range of values, a very large number of two terminal impedance elements must be used. To vary the impedance in one ohm steps over a range of 1000 ohms, a thousand one ohm resistors would be required.
  • the present invention consists of a general purpose variable impedance circuit which may be used in place of a center-tapped potentiometer in a circuit under the control of a data processing system or other external circuit.
  • a variable impedance circuit according to the present invention includes a variable impedance network which sets the impedance between two terminals which are accessible for connection to external circuitry. The impedance provided between these terminals is determined by a control circuit which is coupled to the data processing system or other external circuit. The impedance in question is specified by electrical signals coupled to the control circuit.
  • An internal register in the control circuit stores a value which specifies the impedance between the two terminals. The stored value may be copied into a programmable nonvolatile read-only memory in response to a predetermined electrical signal.
  • the value stored in the read-only memory may be copied into the internal control circuit register in response to a second predetermined electrical signal which is preferably generated when power is first applied to the present invention.
  • the control circuit is a counter which may be incremented or decremented in response to signals from the data processing system or other external circuit.
  • variable impedance elements can be used according to the present invention to minimize the number of separate resistors required to achieve the equivalent resolution as a series arrangement of resistors.
  • Preferred embodiments of such variable impedance elements include a linear series/parallel array for enabling coarse and fine adjustment of variable impedance, a binary weighted configuration constructed by placing two parallel resistor networks in series, an embodiment where fixed resistors are placed in parallel with the variable impedance circuit for obtaining non-linear or tapered resistance characteristics, and a binary weighted array of resistors connected in a 1R-2R configuration.
  • Figure 1 is block diagram of a variable impedance circuit according to the present invention.
  • Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a variable impedance circuit in which the impedance network comprises a plurality of impedance elements in series.
  • Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a variable . impedance circuit according to the present invention in which the impedance network is organized as a coarse- fine impedance circuit.
  • Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the fine wiper circuit shown in Figure 3 for the case in which N f is 10.
  • Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of the coarse wiper circuit shown in Figure 3 for the case in which N c is 10.
  • Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a variable impedance circuit according to the present invention in which the impedance network includes parallel fixed resistors for obtaining non-linear or tapered resistance characteristics.
  • Figure 7 is a graph of exemplary resistance curves as a function of wiper travel generated by a variable impedance circuit as shown in Figure 6.
  • Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of ' a variable impedance circuit according to the present invention in which the impedance network comprises a first binary weighted impedance array.
  • Figure 9 is a graph of the resistance versus counter value for the first binary weighted impedance array shown in Figure 8.
  • Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of a variable impedance circuit according to the present invention in which the impedance array comprises a second binary weighted impedance array.
  • the present invention consists of a variable impedance circuit for incorporation into electronic circuits in place of a potentiometer or similar mechanical variable impedance element.
  • the present invention allows the impedance of the impedance circuit to be set by electrical signals sent thereto. Once set, the present invention stores the impedance value in a programmable nonvolatile read only memory. When power is removed from the present invention, the last impedance value remains stored in the programmable read only memory. When power is restored to the present invention, this stored impedance value is reestablished.
  • the variable impedance circuit 10 consists of an impedance network 12 which consists of a number of fixed impedance elements and switches. The switches are used to connect various combinations of impedance elements between two terminals 14 and 16. The particular combination is determined by a value stored in a control circuit which is preferably a counter 18. The count stored in counter 18 may be altered by signals on two lines 19 and 20. The UP/DOWN signal on line 19 determines whether the counter will be incremented or decremented by a predetermined amount in response to an increment (INCR.) signal on line 20.
  • the value stored in the counter 18 may be transferred to a programmable nonvolatile read only memory (EEPROM) 22 in response to specified voltage transitions on a third signal line 24 which is referred to as chip select (CS " ) line 24 in the preferred embodiment.
  • Chip select line 24 also enables counter 18. When the chip select line 24 is low, counter 18 will respond to signals on lines 19 and 20. This enables the circuit controlling the variable impedance element 10 to alter the value stored in counter 18. That is, the circuit controlling the present invention causes chip select line 24 to go low. It then couples the appropriate signals to counter 18 on lines 18 and 20 to cause the value stored in counter 18 to change to the new desired value. During this updating process, the value stored in programmable read only memory 22 is not changed.
  • Electrically programmable read only memories may be written only a limited number of times, typically a few thousands of times. Further, the time needed to write a value into a programmable read only memory is much longer than the time needed to increment counter 18. If the value stored in programmable read only memory 22 were changed each time the value stored in counter 18 was incremented, the limited lifetime of programmable read only memory 22 would lead to the failure of the device. In addition, the time needed to write a value into programmable read only memory 22 would reduce the response time of counter 18. Hence, the value stored in programmable read only memory 22 is preferably only updated when the value stored in counter 18 reaches its final value. This is preferably signaled by a voltage transition from low to high on chip select line 24.
  • a voltage transition on a fourth signal line 26 is used to signal the transfer of the value stored in programmable read only memory 22 to counter 18.
  • the value stored in programmable read only memory 22 is transferred to counter 18.
  • Line 26 is preferably coupled to a power supply terminal (POWER) so that the value stored in programmable read only memory 22 will automatically be loaded into counter 18 when power is applied to variable impedance circuit 10. This guarantees that the last value stored in counter 18 before power was removed from variable impedance circuit 10 will be restored when power is once again applied to variable impedance circuit 10.
  • POWER power supply terminal
  • counter 18 may be replaced by any other storage register which may be updated by appropriate electrical signals.
  • impedance network 12 may have more than two terminals. For example, impedance networks having three terminals are useful in simulating a standard potentiometer.
  • impedance network 12 will, in general, depend on the desired relationship between the value stored in counter 18 and the impedance to be generated between terminals 14 and 16. For example, in co-pending patent application Serial Number 759,599 an impedance network in which the impedance between terminals 14 and 16 is a linear function of the value stored in counter 18 is described. This impedance network is shown in Figure 2 at 12a.
  • impedance network 12a has three external terminals, 14a, 16a, and 28a.
  • Impedance network 12a simulates a standard center-tapped potentiometer.
  • Terminal 16a corresponds to the center-tap of the potentiometer.
  • Impedance network 12a consists of a plurality of two terminal impedance elements 32 connected in series. Impedance elements 32 are preferably temperature compensated resistors. A node 33 is provided between each pair of impedance elements
  • the first element in the series chain is connected to a first terminal 14a which is accessible for connection to the external circuit. This terminal is analogous to terminal 14 shown in Figure 1.
  • the last element in the series chain is connected to a second terminal 28a which is accessible for connection to said external circuit.
  • Each of the nodes 33 may be connected to the third terminal 16a which is also accessible for connection to said external circuit. Terminal 16a is analogous to terminal 16 shown in Figure 1. Only one of the nodes
  • N 33 can be connected to third terminal 16a at a given time.
  • the node which is connected is specified by the value stored in counter 18 which has been omitted from Figure 2. This value is coupled to a 1-of-N decode circuit 36, the outputs of which control a plurality of switches 38.
  • N is the maximum value which may be stored in counter 18.
  • the main problem with impedance network 12a is the number of impedance elements 32 which must be used to construct the network. For example, if a thousand impedance steps are needed, a thousand. resistors must be provided.
  • the variable impedance circuit of the present invention is constructed on a single silicon chip using conventional VLSI circuit fabrication methods. The cost of such a circuit is related to the area of silicon needed to construct the circuit. Hence, minimizing the number of circuit elements needed is highly desirable.
  • the first alternate circuit is shown in Figure 3 at 40.
  • This circuit is analogous to the variable impedance circuit shown in Figure 2 in that it provides an impedance which is a linear function of the value stored in counter 18. However, it provides this function with far fewer impedance elements and switches than the embodiment shown in Figure 2.
  • Variable impedance circuit 40 is also analogous to a conventional linear potentiometer.
  • variable impedance circuit 40 includes a counter 18b which stores a value in two registers which are referred to as coarse register 42 and fine register 44.
  • Coarse register 42 counts from 0 to N c -1 and is incremented or decremented each time fine register 44 overflows or underflows, respectively.
  • Fine register 44 counts from 0 to Nf-1 and is incremented or decremented in response to a signal on an input INCR. line 20b. Whether fine register 44 is incremented or decremented is determined by the UP/DOWN signal on a second line 19b in a manner analogous to that described above with reference to Figure 1.
  • Registers 42 and 44 in effect form a two "digit" counter in which the first "digit" has a radix of N and the second "digit" has a radix of N c .
  • the values stored in registers 42 and 44 may be transferred to or from a programmable read only memory (EEPROM) 22b in response to predetermined voltage transitions on lines 24b and 26b which operate in an analogous manner to lines 24 and 26 shown in Figure 1.
  • the variable impedance element 40 includes an impedance network 12b which consists of two series impedance strings, coarse impedance string 46 and fine impedance string 48 and two "wiper" circuits, coarse wiper circuit 72 and fine wiper circuit 70.
  • Coarse impedance string 46 consists of N c +1 two terminal impedance elements 50 connected in series. Each impedance element in coarse impedance string 46 has an impedance of Z.
  • An internal node 56 connects adjacent impedance elements 50 in the series string.
  • the nodes in the coarse impedance string 46 are numbered in order from 0 to N c +1 starting with node 52 and ending with node 54.
  • Node 52 will be referred to as the "0th" node.
  • fine impedance string 48 consists of a series string of two terminal impedance elements 60. There are Nf such impedance elements.
  • the adjacent elements in fine impedance string 48 are connected at internal nodes 62.
  • the terminals 64 and 66 of the first and last impedance elements 60, respectively, which are not connected to an internal node 62, are connected to coarse wiper circuit 72, via first and second output terminals 67 and 69, which connects these two terminals to two selected nodes in coarse impedance string 46.
  • the impedance of each impedance element 60 is chosen to be equal to 2Z/Nf. This choice of impedance for each impedance element 60 results in the impedance between terminals 14b and 16b being a linear function of the count in counter 18b.
  • the node in question is determined by the count in fine register 44, the Kth such node being connected when fine wiper circuit 44 has the value K stored therein.
  • the nodes in coarse impedance string 46 which are connected by coarse wiper circuit 72 to nodes 64 and 66 in the fine impedance string 48 are determined by the value stored in coarse register 42.
  • coarse wiper circuit 12 connects the (L+2)th node of coarse impedance string 46 to node 66 in the fine impedance string 48 and the Lth node of coarse impedance string 46 to node 64 in fine impedance string 48.
  • fine wiper circuit 70 and coarse wiper circuit 72 are constructed can be most easily understood with reference to Figures 4 and 5 which are schematic diagrams of a fine wiper circuit 70 and a coarse wiper circuit 72, respectively, in the case in which N c and Nf are each equal to ten.
  • counter 18b would be a two decade binary coded decimal counter.
  • the coarse register 42 would correspond to the most significant digit of the counter and the fine register 44 would correspond to the least significant digit.
  • fine impedance string 48 consists of ten impedance elements 60 connected at nodes 62 which are labeled from 0 to 10. Nodes "0" through “9” may be connected to terminal 16b by closing one of the FET switches 74.
  • Terminal 16b serves the same function as terminal 16b shown in Figure 3.
  • the FET switches 74 are controlled by the outputs of the l-of-10 binary coded decimal decoder 76. Decoder 76 is controlled, in turn, by the output 78 of least significant digit register 44 of a two decade counter corresponding to counter 18b shown in Figure 3. It is obvious that although output 78 of register 44 is shown as a single line, the actual number of lines would need to be four for a conventional such binary decade counter.
  • the Kth node output line of decoder 76 will be active. This will result in the Kth node 62 of fine impedance string 48 being coupled to terminal 16b by the corresponding FET switch.
  • coarse impedance string 46 consists of 11 impedance elements 50 connected at nodes 56 which are labeled 0 to 11.
  • Coarse wiper circuit 72 consists of a binary coded decimal decoder 86 and 20 FET switches 87.
  • the FET switches 87 are controlled by the outputs of the 1-of- 10 binary coded decimal decoder 86. When active, each such output closes two of the FET switches 87.
  • the first switch connects one of the nodes 56 to node 66 shown in Figure 4.
  • the second switch connects the node located two nodes below the node connected by the first switch to node 64 shown in Figure 4.
  • decoder 86 is controlled by course register 42, which is incremented or decremented as a function of the overflow or underflow from the low order counter 44.
  • this most significant digit register 42 has the value K, node "K” is connected to node 64 and node "K+2" is connected to node 66.
  • a general coarse wiper circuit such as that shown in Figure 3 at 72 is constructed by coupling switches between each node of the coarse impedance string 46 and either first output terminal 67 or second output terminal 69-, or both.
  • the output terminal in question is determined by the number of the node to which the switch is connected. In the case of nodes 0 and 1, one switch connects each node to output terminal 69. In the case of nodes N c +1 and N c one switch connects each node to output terminal 67. All other nodes have 2 switches connected thereto, one connecting the node to output terminal 67 and one connecting the node to output terminal 69.
  • the switches in question are controlled by the outputs of a l-of-N c decoder.
  • the Kth such output controls the switch connecting node K to output terminal 69 and the switch connecting node K+2 to output terminal 67.
  • this two decade variable impedance circuit 40 provides 100 impedance values while only requiring 21 impedance elements and 31 switches.
  • An equivalent circuit constructed according to the embodiment shown in Figure 2 requires 100 impedance elements and 100 switches.
  • the present invention provides the same functionality using significantly fewer elements, thus requiring a significantly smaller area of silicon.
  • a variable impedance circuit in which the impedance between terminals 14a and 16a provided by impedance network 12a shown in Figure 2 is a nonlinear function of the value stored in counter 18 may be constructed by adding a fixed impedance between terminal 28a and terminal 16a. The degree of nonlinearity is determined by the ratio of this added taper impedance to the impedance between terminals 14a and 28a.
  • An exemplary such impedance network 12c is shown in Figure 6.
  • Figure 7 illustrates exemplary resistance curves as a function of the taper selected for the circuit shown in Figure 6.
  • variable impedance circuit 12a The fixed impedance in question could be added externally. However, significant advantages are obtained by constructing this fixed impedance on the same integrated circuit chip as variable impedance circuit 12a.
  • impedance elements 32 are temperature compensated resistors and the fixed impedance element in question is also a temperature compensated resistor. If the fixed impedance element is integrated on the same VLSI circuit chip, it can be precisely matched to impedance elements 32, which assures that the resultant non-linear variable impedance circuit will have a very small impedance variation if the operating temperature is varied. Hence, integration of said fixed impedance is preferred.
  • various degrees of nonlinearity may be provided by integrating several different fixed impedance elements e.g, elements 202, 204, and 206, on the same chip with the rest of impedance network 12c.
  • One terminal of each such impedance element would be connected to terminal 28c, corresponding to terminal 28a in Figure 2.
  • the other terminal of each fixed impedance element could be connected to an external pin on the integrated circuit package, a different pin being used for each fixed impedance element.
  • the choice of which fixed impedance element is connected between terminals 14b and 28c could then be made by the user by connecting a jumper between a particular pin and terminal 14b.
  • each fixed resistor 202, 204 and 206 is connected in series.
  • the node 208 between resistors 202 and 204, the node 210 between resistors 204 and 206, and terminal 212 on the opposite side of impedance element 206 from node 210 are each connected to respective FET switches 203, 205 and 207.
  • a taper select means 200 is used to actuate one of FET switches 203, 205 or 207 to cause different predetermined fixed impedances to exist between terminals 28c and 16c. Taper select 200 thus varies the taper impedance of the impedance circuit 12c.
  • impedance elements 32 enable a 10 kilohm variable impedance element to be generated using 100 separate 100 ohm resistors.
  • impedance element 202 is a 500 ohm resistor
  • impedance element 204 is a 1 kilohm resistor
  • impedance element 206 is a 2 kilohm resistor.
  • Such a circuit enables selection of tapers equal to 20, 10 and 5, respectively.
  • Figure 7 illustrates the resultant nonlinear characteristics of the resistance curve for such tapers as a function of wiper travel, i.e. as a function of which node 33 is connected to terminal 16c. For comparison purposes.
  • Figure 7 also illustrates the condition where the taper equals zero, corresponding to a variable impedance circuit with no taper resistances 202, 204 and 206 in series therewith.
  • Taper select 200 can be implemented to provide controlled switching of switches 203, 205 and 207.
  • the N-2, N-1 and N outputs of decoder 36 could be coupled to switches 203, 205 and 207, respectively, to provide this function.
  • the taper select state would also be retained in the pro ⁇ grammable read-only memory 22 in the same manner as described for the impedance circuit of Figure 1.
  • Al ⁇ ternatively, separate external control of taper select 200 would be within the ordinary skill of the art. EMBODIMENT THREE
  • FIG. 8 Another alternative non-linear variable impedance circuit is shown in Figure 8 at 90.
  • a binary counter 18d is used to control a parallel, binary weighted impedance network 12d.
  • the value stored in binary counter 18d may be transferred to and from a programmable read only memory 22d in response to signals on lines 24d and 26d in a manner analogous to that described above with reference to Figure 1.
  • the count stored in binary counter 18d may be altered by appropriate signals on lines 19d and 20d in a manner analogous that described with reference to Figure 1.
  • Impedance network 12d consists of N impedance circuits of which impedance circuit 92 is typical. Each impedance circuit 92 is controlled by a corresponding output line 93 from binary counter 18d. Each impedance circuit 92 consists of two impedance elements 94 and 98 having equal impedances and two FET switches 96 and 100. FET switch 96 couples impedance element 94 between terminals 14d and 16d when the corresponding output line of binary counter 18d is active.
  • FET switch 100 couples impedance element 98 between terminals 28d and 16d when the output line in ⁇ question is inactive.
  • the impedance of the impedance element 94 coupled to the Kth output line of binary counter 18d is 2 K Z, where Z is the impedance of the impedance element 94 coupled to the 0th output line of binary counter 18d.
  • each of the impedance elements 94 and 98 are temperature compensated resistors.
  • Variable impedance circuit 90 provides fine resolution with far less resistors and FET switches than does a variable impedance circuit based on the impedance network shown in Figure 2. With a nine bit binary counter 18d, 122 resistors and 20 FET switches provide 512 impedance values in circuit 90.
  • Variable impedance circuit 90 has a very non ⁇ linear impedance when viewed as a function of the value stored in binary counter 18d.
  • Figure 9 is a graph of the resistance versus counter value for variable impedance circuit 90.
  • This type of variable impedance element may be used as a fine "trim" potentiometer which would normally be placed in series with a small fixed impedance. EMBODIMENT FOUR
  • FIG. 10 Another alternative linear variable impedance circuit is shown in Figure 10 at 240.
  • a binary counter 18e is used to control a conventional 1R-2R type impedance ladder circuit shown at 242.
  • the impedance seen by wiper 16e is a function of a switching network 244, preferably comprising a plurality of FET switches 256, 258 which are driven by a binary counter 18e.
  • a switching network 244 preferably comprising a plurality of FET switches 256, 258 which are driven by a binary counter 18e.
  • wiper 16e In operation, as can be seen, wiper 16e always sees a constant IR equivalent resistance as a function of the current state of counter 18e. At mid-scale, for example, this means that there is 2R to terminal 14e and 2R to terminal 28e yielding a thevenin equivalent resistance of IR on terminal 16e. At either extreme, the 2R parallel 2R circuit equals a IR equivalent resistance.
  • a disadvantage of the 1R-2R ladder circuit is that the resistance between terminals 14e and 28e is not constant, in contrast with the impedance network shown at 12a in Figure 2. In circuit 240, the resistance between terminals 14e and 28e will vary from 4R to infinity, depending on the state of counter 18e.
  • circuit 240 is not as useful in applications where a constant resistance end-to-end is needed to "balance" a signal load, such as in a bridge circuit or in differential circuits.
  • Variable impedance circuit 240 provides the best resolution with the fewest number of resistors and switches.
  • the configuration shown in Figure 10 for example, uses 16 switches and 16 impedance elements to achieve a resolution of one out of 256.
  • the voltage on terminal 12e will be equal to or less than the voltage on terminal 16e, which will be equal to or less than 255 divided by 256 times the voltage at terminal 14e.
  • Two FET switches 260 and 262 may be added to the lowest order 2R resistor 250 and be controlled by the overflow and overflow outputs of binary counter 18e, to achieve a voltage on terminal 12e equal to or less than the voltage on terminal 16e equal to or less than the voltage on terminal 14e.
  • variable impedance element has been described.
  • modifications in addition to those described above will readily be apparent to those skilled in the art.
  • other impedance networks can be used in practicing the present invention.
  • the scope of the present invention is therefore defined only by the following appended claims.

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  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Automation & Control Theory (AREA)
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Abstract

Un circuit (10) à impédance variable est utilisé dans un circuit externe. La valeur de l'impédance est sélectionnée par un cicuit externe. L'impédance variable est générée entre des bornes (14, 16) accessibles pour la connexion à des circuits externes. L'impédance générée entre ces bornes est déterminée par un circuit de commande (18) sensible à des signaux électriques couplés au circuit de commande. Un registre interne au circuit de commande enregistre une valeur qui spécifie l'impédance générée entre les deux bornes. La valeur enregistrée est copiée dans une mémoire morte rémanente programmable (22) en réponse à un premier signal électrique prédéterminé. De même, la valeur enregistrée dans la mémoire morte est sélectivement copiée dans le registre interne au circuit de commande en réponse à un deuxième signal électrique prédéterminé. Divers modes de réalisation d'éléments à impédance variable minimisent le nombre de résistances séparées requises pour obtenir une résolution équivalente à celle obtenue au moyen d'un agencement de résistances en série.
EP19880905304 1987-05-26 1988-05-25 A nonvolatile nonlinear reprogrammable electronic potentiometer Withdrawn EP0366680A4 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US5458487A 1987-05-26 1987-05-26
US54584 1993-04-29

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EP0366680A1 EP0366680A1 (fr) 1990-05-09
EP0366680A4 true EP0366680A4 (en) 1991-03-20

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EP19880905304 Withdrawn EP0366680A4 (en) 1987-05-26 1988-05-25 A nonvolatile nonlinear reprogrammable electronic potentiometer

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EP (1) EP0366680A4 (fr)
JP (1) JPH0666612B2 (fr)
WO (1) WO1988009581A1 (fr)

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US6424221B1 (en) * 2000-06-19 2002-07-23 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Programmable gain amplifier for use in data network
JP4657497B2 (ja) * 2001-06-07 2011-03-23 ルネサスエレクトロニクス株式会社 可変インピーダンス回路
US7719362B2 (en) 2007-10-03 2010-05-18 Analog Devices, Inc. Programmable-gain amplifier systems to facilitate low-noise, low-distortion volume control
ES2579489B1 (es) * 2015-02-11 2017-07-13 Manuel Barreiro Álvarez Sistema de control remoto de la posición eléctrica de un potenciómetro

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JPH0666612B2 (ja) 1994-08-24
EP0366680A1 (fr) 1990-05-09
WO1988009581A1 (fr) 1988-12-01
JPH02504577A (ja) 1990-12-20

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