Patent ID: 6946894

Claim:
A neural network connectable to a first power supply voltage, comprising: a plurality of pulse-width-modulation (PWM) circuits, each to convert at least one current signal into at least one pulse signal; a plurality of synapse multiplier circuits, each being coupled to one of the plurality of PWM circuits to provide a sum of multiplication products of each of the at least one pulse signal with each of at least one weight signal, each synapse multiplier circuit including at least one first switch coupled to a corresponding one of the at least one pulse signal and a corresponding one of the at least one weight signal, each first switch being turned off when the corresponding pulse signal has a first voltage level and turned on to allow the corresponding weight signal to pass through when the corresponding pulse signal has a second voltage level, an integral circuit coupled to the at least one first switch to integrate a sum of the at least one weight signal that passes through the at least one first switch over a period of time and to output a voltage signal representative of the integral of the sum over the period of time, a voltage-to-current (V-I) converter coupled to the integral circuit to convert the voltage signal output by the integral circuit into an output current signal, and a second switch connectable to receive a second power supply voltage and a reset signal and coupled to the integral circuit for resetting the synapse multiplier circuit; and a plurality of neuron units, each coupled to one of the synapse multiplier circuits to convert the corresponding output current signal according to a nonlinear function.