Patent ID: 6897713

Claim:
An integrated circuit, comprising: a plurality of data receivers that evaluate corresponding data signals relative to a distributed reference voltage; a feedback receiver that evaluates the distributed reference voltage relative to a nominal reference voltage to produce a feedback signal; a reference voltage driver that produces a compensated reference voltage; wherein the compensated reference voltage is routed on the integrated circuit to form the distributed reference voltage at the data and feedback receivers, and the input characteristics of the data and feedback receivers cause a voltage change in the distributed reference voltage at each receiver relative to the compensated reference voltage; wherein the data and feedback receivers have similar input characteristics so that said relative voltage change in the distributed reference voltage is approximately the same at each of the data and feedback receivers; wherein the reference voltage driver includes an increment/decrement component that produces a digital value in response to the feedback signal, wherein the increment/decrement component is configured to increment and decrement the digital value depending on the relationship of the distributed reference voltage and the nominal reference voltage as indicated by the feedback signal; and wherein the reference voltage driver has a variable gain that is established by the digital value.