Capacitive isolator with schmitt trigger
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- a differential Schmitt trigger circuit coupled to an isolation link and coupled to supply at least one output signal corresponding to a differential signal communicated over the isolation link;
wherein the differential signal received by the differential Schmitt trigger comprises pulses corresponding to transitions of the differential signal prior to being transmitted over the isolation link.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
High voltage isolation capabilities are provided using a first integrated circuit die that includes an inverting circuit path and a non-inverting circuit path coupled to receive a single-ended signal and to generate a differential signal from the single-ended signal for transmission over an isolation link. A second integrated circuit die includes a differential Schmitt trigger circuit coupled to the differential signal communicated over the isolation link and to supply at least one output signal corresponding thereto. An isolation barrier is disposed between the inverting and non-inverting circuit paths and the differential Schmitt trigger circuit and includes at least two isolation capacitors coupled to respectively transmit each portion of the differential signal.
182 Citations
23 Claims
-
1. An apparatus comprising:
-
a differential Schmitt trigger circuit coupled to an isolation link and coupled to supply at least one output signal corresponding to a differential signal communicated over the isolation link; wherein the differential signal received by the differential Schmitt trigger comprises pulses corresponding to transitions of the differential signal prior to being transmitted over the isolation link. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. An apparatus comprising:
-
a differential Schmitt trigger circuit coupled to an isolation link and coupled to supply at least one output signal corresponding to a differential signal communicated over the isolation link; and an amplifier circuit disposed between the isolation link and the Schmitt trigger circuit to amplify the differential signal communicated over the isolation link and supply the amplified differential signal to the Schmitt trigger circuit.
-
-
9. An apparatus comprising:
-
a transmit circuit on a transmit side of an isolation link, the transmit circuit comprising; an inverting circuit path and a non-inverting circuit path to generate from a single-ended signal a differential signal to be transmitted over the isolation link; and an oscillator circuit coupled to supply a clock signal to the inverting and non-inverting circuit paths in response to an input current; and a receive circuit on a receive side of the isolation link, the receive circuit including a differential Schmitt trigger circuit to supply at least one output signal corresponding to the differential signal communicated over the isolation link. - View Dependent Claims (10)
-
-
11. A method comprising:
-
supplying a differential signal transmitted over an isolation link to a differential Schmitt trigger circuit; and generating at least one output signal from the differential Schmitt trigger circuit corresponding to the differential signal; wherein the differential signal received by the differential Schmitt trigger comprises a pulse corresponding to a transition of the differential signal present on the differential signal prior to transmission across the isolation link. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A method comprising:
-
supplying a differential signal transmitted over an isolation link to a differential Schmitt trigger circuit; amplifying the differential signal before supplying the differential signal to a differential Schmitt trigger circuit; and generating at least one output signal from the differential Schmitt trigger circuit corresponding to the differential signal.
-
-
18. A method comprising:
-
on a transmit side of an isolation link, generating a clock signal in response to an input current; supplying the clock signal to an inverting circuit path and a non-inverting circuit path to generate a differential signal; supplying a differential signal transmitted over an isolation link to a differential Schmitt trigger circuit; and generating at least one output signal from the differential Schmitt trigger circuit corresponding to the differential signal. - View Dependent Claims (19)
-
-
20. An isolation apparatus comprising:
-
a first integrated circuit die including, a pulse generator to generate output pulses in accordance with a clock signal, the pulse generator operable to suppress an output pulse if an input signal transitions within a predetermined time period before the clock signal; and a logical function coupled to combine the output pulses with the input signal and to supply the output pulses logically combined with the input signal as a single-ended signal; an inverting circuit path and a non-inverting circuit path coupled to receive the single-ended signal and to generate a differential signal from the single-ended signal for transmission over an isolation barrier; a second integrated circuit die including, a differential Schmitt trigger circuit coupled to receive the differential signal communicated over the isolation link and to supply at least one output signal corresponding thereto; and the isolation barrier coupled between the inverting and the non-inverting circuit paths and the differential Schmitt trigger circuit, including at least two isolation capacitors, one for each portion of the differential signal, the isolation capacitors being disposed in at least one of the first and second integrated circuit dies. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
-
Specification