ELECTRONIC BATTERY FEED CIRCUIT FOR TELEPHONE SYSTEMS

Abstract: Resistive circuits (32,22) are provided at the input of an electronic battery feed circuit feedback path for lowering the voltage level of feedback signals to a metallic signal feedback portion and a common mode signal feedback portion so a common mode amplifier (36) can be implemented in a much lower voltage technology than line amplifiers (17,18) of the battery feed circuit. Additional resistive circuits (47,52) at the feedback output apply metallic signals to complementary inputs (+ 18,- 17) of the tip and ring line amplifiers without requiring a phase splitting amplifier. In addition, signals derived from the feedback circuit are used (signal on lead 59; 30) to vary the supply voltage for the line feed circuit elements as a function of feedback signal level and to provide a common mode reference signal (58) which causes the tip and ring amplfiers to be biased symmetrically with respect to ground and the variable negative supply.

Description: This invention relates to electronic battery feed circuits for telephone systems. Electronic battery feed circuits are used in telephone systems to provide operating current to a subscriber loop, or line circuit without the need for transformers which are inconvenient to implement in semiconductor integrated circuit technology. Because electronic battery feed circuits are usually provided in telephone systems on a per-line basis, their initial cost and operating energy cost are important concerns. For example, the voltage level at which a semiconductor integrated circuit is to be operated dictates the sizes of the devices to be employed in the circuit and also their spacing with respect to one another. In that sense, the requirement for a high operating voltage usually means a significantly greater silicon chip area than would be the case for an integrated circuit that could operate at a substantially lower voltage level. In one form of electronic battery feed circuit for telephone systems which is found in the art at the present time, tip and ring transconductance amplifiers, a common mode feedback amplifier for the tip and ring amplifiers, and a phase splitting amplifier are included in an integrated circuit chip which operates at a relatively high voltage, i.e., a voltage which corresponds to that which is required by a subscriber line which is fed by the battery feed circuit. In a typical application, for example, such amplifier elements and the subscriber line would be operated at a supply voltage of, for example, -48 volts or higher. The phase splitting amplifier receives a combined form of various feedback and transmission signals and applies the combined form in complementary phases to like inputs of the tip and ring amplifiers for controlling the amount of metallic current supplied by those amplifiers to the tip and ring wires of the customer loop. The common mode amplifier is responsive to customer loop circuit common mode voltages for providing a signal to the tip and ring amplifier inputs to control the amount of longitudinal tip and ring currents provided by these amplifiers. One example of an electronic battery feed circuit of the type just outlined is to be found in a paper by D. W. Aull, D. A. Spires, P. C. Davis, and S. F. Moyer entitled "A High-Voltage IC for a Transformerless Trunk and Subscriber Line Interface" appearing in the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Volume SC-16, No. 4, August, 1981, at pages 261-265. Another telephone line current supply arrangement is shown in the U. S. Patent 4,315,106. In this patent the line current supply is regulated according to subscriber line length. A relatively high impedance set of resistors is employed for sensing the line signal level. A DC-to-DC converter in a feedback path provides the line current control. The U. S. Patent 4,419,542 shows an electronic battery feed circuit in which tip and ring drive circuits are controlled to supply loop current. An isolation amplifier is connected to the tip and ring conductors to monitor common mode voltages and provide a signal that is used by a drive current generator to adjust controls of the tip and ring drive circuits. The current drive generator also receives a single current summer signal which is produced in response to the tip and ring drive circuit outputs. U. S. Patent 4,431,868 teaches a telephone line interface circuit for supplying line circuit current. A pair of high voltage operational amplifiers feed the tip and ring conductors of a subscriber line circuit. Outputs of those amplifiers are coupled through various additional amplifiers to slave a dual-regulator, DC-to-DC converter. That converter supplies operating potential to the tip and ring amplifiers and to a high voltage common mode control circuit. The latter circuit is also responsive to tip and ring amplifier outputs to locate a ground voltage level between the tip and ring amplifier supply voltage rails. EP-A-0096756 discloses an electronic subscriber junctor having an output amplifier connected to the line, means for generating a compensation voltage proportional to the line common mode voltage and for providing a direct current proportional to a DC component of the line current. An attenuator provides a signal reduction and low voltage devices are used. According to this invention there is provided an electronic battery feed circuit as claimed in claim 1. The present invention reduces the number of those components of the circuit that would normally be implemented in high voltage technology in the known technique of using tip and ring transconductance amplifiers which are controlled by both metallic and common mode feedback circuits. Common mode signals are derived at a lower voltage so that a common mode amplifier can be implemented in a substantially lower voltage technology than is required for the tip and ring amplifiers. In an embodiment of the invention resistive circuits at the output of the metallic feedback circuit apply metallic signals to complementary inputs of the tip and ring amplifiers without requiring a separate phase splitting amplifier to be employed. Signals derived from the metallic feedback circuit are used to vary the level of a supply voltage for the line feed amplifiers and to provide a variable common mode reference signal proportional to the supply voltage, which acts through the common mode amplifier to bias the tip and ring amplifier outputs symmetrically with respect to ground and the negative supply voltage, respectively. The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which is a line feed circuit diagram, partially in schematic form and partially in functional form, of an embodiment of the invention. The drawing illustrates in simplified form a transformerless solid-state subscriber line interface circuit. Basic principles of solid-state line interfaces have been covered in literature such as, for example, the Aull et al. paper hereinbefore mentioned. The circuit of the drawing is simplified to deal more clearly with the improved battery feed aspect of the invention, which offers improved performance as to dissipation in the battery feed portions of the circuit and minimizes the circuit functions that need to be implemented in high voltage technology. The term "high voltage" is utilized here with reference to a voltage, such as -48 volts, which is often employed for operating telephone subscriber line circuits. That is to be distinguished from a "low voltage" technology, such as 5 volts, which is about an order of magnitude lower and is commonly employed in the present state of the art for semiconductor circuit operation. Such a difference in supply voltages allows the lower voltage technology circuits to include smaller devices more densely packed with consequent savings in semiconductor material. The battery line feed circuits of the drawing operate between tip and ring connections 10 and 11 for a 2-wire telephone subscriber line, or loop, circuit which is schematically represented in the drawing by a load resistor 12, and a 4-wire transmission path which extends to the equipment of a telephone system central office. That transmission path is schematically represented by the connection 13 for a 2-wire receive circuit and a connection 16 for a 2-wire transmit circuit. The subscriber line is powered by two transconductance amplifiers, which are advantageously implemented using high voltage operational amplifiers 17 and 18. Those amplifiers are also otherwise designated as A T and A R , and they are illustrated with their associated feedback resistors. Thus, a resistor 19 is connected directly for negative feedback from the output of amplifier 17 to its inverting input connection, and a resistor 20 is connected from the output of amplifier 18 to the inverting input of the same amplifier. A series connected combination of resistors 21 and 22 provide positive feedback from the output of amplified 17 to its noninverting input, while a similar series combination of resistors 23 and 26 provide positive feedback from the output of amplifier 18 to its noninverting input. Resistors 19, 20, 22, and 26 are all advantageously of equal resistance; and resistors 21 and 23, each otherwise designated R f , are also advantageously of equal resistance. A resistor 27 is connected between a series circuit terminal between resistors 21 and 22 on the one hand, and the tip connection 10 on the other hand, to cooperate with a protection circuit 29 for providing overvoltage protection for the battery line feed arrangement. A resistor 28 is similarly connected with respect to the ring connection 11 and the circuits of ring amplifier 18. Protection resistors 27 and 28 are otherwise each designated R p . Amplifiers 17 and 18 are powered from a negative supply rail at a voltage -V S, e.g., -48 volts, with respect to a ground rail or reference point from a buck boost regulated supply 30. The supply 30 is advantageously a transformerless, noninverting, buck boost, switching regulator, such as is shown in U. S. Patent 4,395,675. It is well to know at this point that the amplifiers 17 and 18 are included in a high voltage integrated circuit chip which, with their associated resistors and protection circuit 29, are included in a high voltage section 31, as symbolized by the broken line enclosure for those elements in the drawing. Remaining active elements of the battery line feed circuit in the subscriber line interface, shown in the drawing, are advantageously implemented at a much lower voltage, which is suitable for integrated circuits in the present state of the art. That is, for example, a 5-volt supply voltage technology. There are two main feedback loops provided for the battery feed circuit illustrated in the drawing, and these are coupled by way of resistors 32, 33, 51, and 52 from the tip and ring connections 10 and 11, respectively, and hence, from the outputs of amplifiers 17 and 18, respectively. The resistors 32 and 33 are each otherwise designated R₃, and resistors 51 and 52 are each otherwise designated R₄. Resistors R₃ and R₄ are large compared to R f and R p and provide sufficient voltage isolation to permit the active circuits of the feedback circuits to be implemented in low voltage technology. As will be explained later, the junction of resistors 51 and 52 is maintained at virtual ground by the operational amplifier 49. The voltages at the junction of resistors 32 and 51, as well as the junction of resistors 33 and 52 are at only a small fraction (e.g., five percent) of the tip and ring voltages by virtue of voltage dividing action. In one embodiment, each of the resistors R₃ is about three orders of magnitude larger than any of R f or R P , e.g., 95 kilohms versus 50 ohms. One of those two feedback paths is a metallic signal feedback path in which the low voltage ends of the resistors 32 and 33 are connected to a noninverting input and an inverting input, respectively, of a metallic feedback differential amplifier 36, which is otherwise designated A M . This amplifier, and other active elements illustrated in the drawing which are not included in the high voltage circuit section 31, are advantageously provided with operating potential from a low voltage source such as + and/or -5 volts, which is considered to be included in the schematic representations shown of those respective elements. An output of the metallic feedback amplifier 36 is provided on a single wire circuit 37 with respect to ground to inputs of a direct current feedback circuit 38 and an alternating current feedback circuit 39. The alternating current feedback circuit establishes the metallic alternating current input impedance at the tip and ring connections 10 and 11. Also, the output of the alternating current feedback circuit is connected to the transmit connection 16 through the summer 43, and provides a signal at connection 16 proportional to the received signal at tip and ring from the subscriber's telephone. The summer 43, together with hybrid network 42, provides the hybrid cancellation function. The direct current feedback circuit includes a nonlinear signal shaping network which determines the direct current feed profile, i.e., the relationship between the tip and ring voltages and the metallic loop current on the subscriber loop. Appropriate filtering is advantageously included in the feedback circuits 38 and 39 to prevent their interference with one another. Outputs of the feedback circuits 38 and 39 are coupled separately to inputs of an analog signal summer 40, and the output of that summer is applied on a single lead 41 with respect to ground to the tip and ring amplifier circuits. An additional input to the summer 40 is provided from the 2-wire receive connection 13, which is also coupled through the hybrid circuit 42 to the summer 43. Signals on the lead 41 are otherwise designated V m to indicate that they are the metallic feedback signals from the tip and ring connections 10 and 11, as well as the metallic signal from connection 13, which is to be coupled to the tip and ring terminals 10 and 11 through the tip and ring amplifiers. These signals are applied by way of a resistor 52 to the inverting input of the tip amplifier 17 and by way of a resistor 47 to the noninverting input of the ring amplifier 18. An additional resistor 53 is connected from the inverting input of amplifier 17 to ground. Resistors 52, 47, and 53 are also further designated 2R₂ to indicate that they have advantageously equal resistances to one another. This arrangement of the metallic feedback to the tip and ring amplifiers takes advantage of the complementary type input connections of those amplifiers and avoids the necessity for employing an additional operational amplifier for phase splitting purposes and which had heretofore been included in the high voltage portion of a battery feed circuit. A second one of the two feedback circuits around the tip and ring amplifiers 17 and 18 is a common mode feedback circuit. This circuit includes a common mode operational amplifier 49, which is otherwise designated as the amplifier A c , which has a negative feedback resistor 50 connected between its output and its inverting input connection. In addition, its noninverting input is grounded and thereby forces its inverting input to a virtual ground potential. A pair of equal-resistance resistors 51 and 52, and otherwise designated as resistors R₄ to indicate their equality, are connected in series between the low voltage ends of resistors 32 and 33 and have their series midpoint connected to the inverting input connection of amplifier 49. Each of the resistors 51 and 52 has a resistance which is advantageously very small compared to the resistance of one of the resistors 32 or 33. For example, the resistance of a resistor R₄ is illustratively about five percent of the resistance of a resistor R₃. Since the noninverting input of amplifier 49 is at virtual ground, the resistors 32, 51 and 33, 52 provide to amplifier 49 a current which is a function of the average of the tip and ring voltages, whereas the signals provided to the metallic feedback amplifier 36 are representative of the difference between the voltages at the tip and ring connections 10 and 11. Output signals from common mode amplifier 49 are designated V cm and are applied by way of a lead 54 and a resistor 46 to a noninverting input connection of the tip amplifier 17. Similarly, the signals from lead 54 are applied by way of a resistor 56 to a noninverting input connection of the ring amplifier 18. A resistor 48 connects the noninverting input of amplifier 17 to ground, and a resistor 57 connects the inverting input of amplifier 18 to ground. Resistors 46, 48, and 56 are otherwise designated as 2R₂ to indicate that they have resistances which are advantageously equal to one another and also equal to the resistances of each of the resistors 52, 47, and 53. Similarly, the resistor 57 is otherwise designated R₂ to indicate that its resistance is advantageously one-half that of the resistor 53. Thus, it can be seen that the equivalent resistance from each of the inputs of each of the amplifiers 17 and 18 to ground is equal to the resistance R₂. There is another way to express the circuit relationships in the inputs to the transconductance amplifiers including operational amplifiers 17 and 18. Thus, resistance voltage dividers receive the metallic and common mode feedback-signals in the transconductance amplifier inputs. The same divider, including resistors 47 and 56, receives at opposite ends the metallic feedback V m and common mode feedback V cm ; and the sum of those feedback signals appears at the divider tap connected to the noninverting input of amplifier 18. A divider including resistors 46 and 48 between lead 54 and ground receives the common mode signal V cm for application in divided form to the noninverting input of amplifier 17. Thus, the same Thevenin equivalent network impedance is seen looking back from like, i.e., noninverting, inputs of amplifiers 17 and 18 to the common mode feedback lead 54. A divider including resistors 52 and 53 between lead 41 and ground receives the metallic signal V m for application in divided form to the inverting input of amplifier 17. Thus, the same Thevenin equivalent network impedance is seen looking back from unlike inputs of amplifiers 17 and 18 to the metallic feedback lead 41. It is noted here, with respect to the various resistors associated with operational transconductance amplifiers 17 and 18, that other relationships than the recited equalities are possible. It is, however, necessary that there be the following transconductance relationships: Equal transconductances for metallic signals from lead 41, by way of noninverting and inverting inputs of the amplifiers, to tip and ring connections 10 and 11; and equal transconductances for common mode signals from lead 54, by way of noninverting inputs of the amplifiers to those same connections. An additional connection is provided to the inverting input of the common mode feedback amplifier 49, and this additional input is a reference input. It is provided from a current, source g m x V s operating from a low voltage, e.g., +5 volts, supply and otherwise designated as current source 58. The common mode feedback through the amplifier 49 insures that the longitudinal impedance at the tip and ring connections 10 and 11 is kept low and that the sum of the tip and ring connection voltages remains equal to the supply voltage -V s . If the subscriber line circuit is relatively long, its resistance is high. Consequently, the difference between the tip to ground and ring to ground voltages at the connections 10 and 11 is also large, as compared to what that difference would be on a relatively short line circuit for a subscriber located close to the terminal which includes the illustrated battery feed circuit. Hence, the tip and ring amplifiers, which must establish that tip-ring voltage, require a correspondingly high supply voltage value -V s to be able to power the loop for the long subscriber loop. On the other hand, for a short subscriber loop, the tip-ring voltage difference is smaller; and if, in that case, the -V s voltage were fixed at its high value, there would be considerable wasted voltage overhead in the tip and ring amplifiers. Therefore, there would be higher power dissipation in those amplifiers than is actually necessary for operation of the subscriber circuit. In order to minimize that power dissipation, and to be able to power long loops for which a -48 volt battery supply would not be adequate, the aforementioned buck boost regulator supply 30 is employed so that the supply voltage can be varied and increased above its nominal value when that is required for long loops. Also, the supply voltage can be reduced below its nominal value for exceptionally short loops. The aforementioned reference connection, including the current source 58, to the inverting input of amplifier 49 is provided to modify the common mode feedback signal level in proportion to changes in the supply voltage -V s , since only a single regulated supply 30 is included for both of the amplifiers 17 and 18. If that variable reference connection were not provided, dual supply rail regulators would be needed to realize changes in the supply voltage -V s without a loss in symmetry in the values of the overhead voltages at the tip and ring connections with respect to the positive and negative supply rails. The current source 58 connection is utilized in conjunction with a connection 59 from the input to the DC feedback circuit 38 to the buck boost regulated supply 30 to supply a control signal V c to the supply 30 for adjusting its operation to modify the voltage level of -V s in accordance with detected differences between voltages at the tip and ring connections 10 and 11 to compensate for subscriber line circuits of different lengths. Thus, whereas the output of the DC feedback circuit 38 modifies the level of the metallic feedback signal V m to change the input to tip and ring amplifiers 17 and 18 to compensate their signal levels for different subscriber line lengths, i.e., change the loop current as a function of loop resistance, the control signal V c on lead 59 modifies the operating supply voltage -V s for the tip and ring amplifiers 17 and 18 to achieve a corresponding reduction in the dissipation in those amplifiers, and the reference current source 58 injects the -V s variations into the common mode amplifier 49 input to keep amplifiers 17 and 18 operating at levels which are symmetrically spaced from the middle of the new operating voltage range. The foregoing can be stated another way. Regulator 30 is operated in response to feedback by way of lead 59 to maintain the magnitude of supply voltage V s at the negative supply rail, with respect to the ground reference rail, equal to the sum of an overhead voltage and the voltage difference between tip and ring connections 10 and 11. In addition, however, the common mode reference signal supplied by current source 58, having an output varying as a function of the magnitude of V s , maintains the sum of the tip and ring connection voltages equal to the value of the negative supply voltage. That means that the line feed circuit operates with the tip and ring voltages approximately equally displaced (by one-half of the overhead voltage) from the reference and negative supply rails, respectively, even though the magnitude of the negative rail voltage -V s is changing as mentioned. In the illustrative embodiment of the invention, the centering of the line feed circuit operation is facilitated by the fact that the sun of resistances of one resistor R₃ and one resistor R₄ is made equal to the reciprocal of the transconductance g m .

Claims: An electronic battery feed circuit comprising tip and ring amplifiers (17,18) for sourcing and sinking current for respective tip and ring conductors (10,11) of a telephone subscriber line, each amplifier having complementary inverting and noninverting types of input connections, and a feedback circuit (32,33,51,52,49,36,38,39,40,46,47,52,56), extending from signal output connections of the amplifiers to signal input connections thereof, comprising a common mode amplifier (49) having an input coupled to receive common mode signals and an output coupled to an input of each of the tip and ring amplifiers, such inputs being of the same one of said types, and means (47,52) in an output of the feedback circuit for coupling metallic feedback signals to an input of each of the tip and ring amplifiers, and CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the common mode amplifier input is coupled to receive common mode signals at a voltage substantially lower than the tip and ring conductor potentials. A circuit as claimed in claim 1 wherein the common mode amplifier input is coupled to receive common mode signals at said substantially lower voltage by means comprising a resistive divider (32,33,51,52) connected between the tip and ring conductors (10,11) and one input (-) of the common mode amplifier (49), and a current source (58) connected to the one input of the common mode amplifier (49) for adjusting the bias of the common mode amplifier in accordance with the tip and ring conductor potentials. A circuit as claimed in claim 2 wherein the resistive divider comprises first and second resistors (32,33) each connected at one end to a circuit point between an output of a respective one of the tip and ring amplifiers (17,18) and a corresponding conductor (10,11) of the line, third and fourth resistors (51,52) connected in series between ends of the first and second resistors (32,33) remote from the tip and ring amplifiers (17,18), and means for connecting a series circuit point between the third and fourth resistors to the one input of the common mode amplifier (49). A circuit as claimed in claim 3 wherein the feedback circuit includes a metallic signal feedback amplifier (36), another input of the common mode amplifier (49) is coupled to ground potential to establish the series circuit point as a virtual ground, and the inputs of the metallic feedback amplifier (36) are connected to the remote ends of the first and second resistors whereby the metallic feedback amplifier (36) is biased responsive to the tip and ring conductor (10,11) potentials. A circuit as claimed in claim 2, 3 or 4 comprising means for adjustably regulating a supply voltage, comprising means (30) for supplying an output of the regulating means to control the current source connected to the one input of the common mode amplifier (49), and means (36,37) responsive to changes in signal level in the feedback circuit for adjusting operation of the regulating means to control the output of the regulating means in a direction and amount corresponding to the changes.

Inventors: TOUMANI, ROUBEN
Applicants: AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY
Application year: 1985
Main classification: H04M19
IPC codes: H04Q3, H04M19