Patent ID: 7542315

Claim:
A voltage signal rectifier for producing a rectified voltage signal from an input offset voltage signal with reference to a reference voltage, the voltage signal rectifier comprising: an input offset node coupled to the input offset voltage signal; an output node onto which the rectified voltage signal is generated; a reference node coupled to the reference voltage; first and second actively controlled current regulation elements (ACCREs) coupled to the input offset node, the second ACCRE coupled to the output node, the first ACCRE controlling a flow of current from the input offset node to the reference node, the second ACCRE controlling a flow of current from the input offset node to the output node; and first and second controllers, the first controller configured to control the first ACCRE to allow current flow through the first ACCRE when the input offset voltage signal is lower than the rectified voltage signal, the second controller configured to control the second ACCRE to allow current flow through the second ACCRE when the input offset voltage signal is higher than the rectified voltage signal.