Patents Examined by Colleen J O Toole
  • Patent number: 11611338
    Abstract: Embodiments relate to circuit for reversing a threshold voltage shift of a transistor. The circuit includes a current mirror for sensing a transistor current and generating a mirrored current corresponding to the sensed transistor current, a gate biasing module for providing a gate bias to the transistor, and a calibration engine configured to receive the mirrored current from the current mirror and to control the gate biasing module in response to determining whether the mirrored current is outside of a predetermined range indicative of a shift in the threshold voltage of the transistor. The gate biasing module includes a gate biasing circuit configured to operate the transistor in a region where hot carrier injection (HCI) is present, and a gate switch for coupling the gate biasing circuit to a gate terminal of the transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Aly Ismail, Amr Haggag
  • Patent number: 11601125
    Abstract: The present description concerns a method of controlling at least one switch (TH), including: the reception of signals (S3-i) having between one another at least one phase shift representative of a desired state of said at least one switch; the obtaining, from said signals, of a value (Si) representative of the desired state; and the application of the representative value to said at least one switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Assignee: Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives
    Inventors: Dominique Bergogne, Thanh-Hai Phung
  • Patent number: 11581889
    Abstract: Apparatuses and methods for temperature and process corner sensitive control of power gated domains are described. An example apparatus includes an internal circuit; a power supply line; and a power gating control circuit which responds, at least in part, to a first change from a first state to a second state of a control signal to initiate supplying a power supply voltage from the power supply line to the internal circuit, and continue supplying the power supply voltage from the power supply line to internal circuit for at least a timeout period from a second change from the second state to the first state of the control signal, in which the timeout period represent temperature dependency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Simon J. Lovett
  • Patent number: 11581885
    Abstract: A pre-charge control circuit includes a control unit, a conversion unit, and a pre-charge switch. The control unit provides a control signal according to a PWM signal, and the conversion unit provides a control voltage according to the control signal. The pre-charge switch adjusts a magnitude of the current flowing through the input path of the electronic circuit according to the control voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventors: Li-Ching Yang, Wen-Lung Huang, Sheng-Hua Li
  • Patent number: 11575372
    Abstract: A power supply system for USB Power Delivery includes a current source drive circuit to control a power FET to regulate the supply of power along a power path. The current source drive circuit includes a cascode current source and a cascode protection circuit formed by a source follower and a feedback voltage divider. The source follower can be a transistor with its gate connected to a cascode node between upper- and lower-stage transistors of the cascode current source. The divider node of the voltage divider is connected to the gate of the lower-stage transistor. The current source drive circuit can operate within the gate-source voltage specifications of 30-volt DEPMOS devices, and can provide high output impedance to the gate of power FET and a current limit circuit during current limiting operation, without requiring an extra high-voltage mask during fabrication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Sujan Kundapur Manohar, Michael James Mills, Justin Patrick Vogt
  • Patent number: 11575373
    Abstract: Switch circuitry is disclosed having a series stack of transistors coupled between first and second port terminals. A string of gate resistors having a common gate terminal is coupled to gates of the series stack of transistors. A bias control transistor has a bias control terminal and first and second current terminals. The second control terminal is coupled to a switch control terminal configured to receive on-state and off-state control voltages that transition the series stack of transistors between passing a radio frequency signal and blocking the radio frequency signal from passing between the first and second port terminals, respectively. A string of diodes is coupled between the common gate terminal and the first current terminal, and a common gate resistor is coupled between the common gate terminal and the switch control terminal. The diodes contribute to actively generating additional negative gate bias as RF power level increases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventor: Charles Forrest Campbell
  • Patent number: 11569796
    Abstract: A passband filter includes a first and second microelectromechanical resonator system, each including a resonating beam, a drive electrode, and a sense electrode. An AC input signal is coupled to the drive electrode of the first and second microelectromechanical resonator system. A differential-to-single ended amplifier has a first input and second input respectively coupled to the sense electrodes of the first and second microelectromechanical resonator systems. An output of the differential-to-single ended amplifier is an output of the passband filter that provides a bandpass filtered signal of the AC input signal. A DC bias signal is coupled to the resonating beams of the first and second microelectromechanical resonator systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Saad Ilyas, Mohammad Ibrahim Younis
  • Patent number: 11567890
    Abstract: In one aspect, an electronic device includes a switching circuit connected to a resistance circuit and ground, the resistance circuit connected to a port and the port configured to be connected in series to an external resistor and a supply voltage. A voltage at the port is a first voltage that is less than the supply voltage if the switching circuit is enabled to be a closed circuit and the voltage at the port is a second voltage that is equal to the supply voltage if the switching circuit is enabled to be an open circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: Allegro MicroSystems, LLC
    Inventors: Wade Bussing, Maxwell McNally
  • Patent number: 11569812
    Abstract: Methods and devices to address the undesired DC voltage distribution across switch stacks in OFF state are disclosed. The disclosed devices include charge control elements that sample the RF signal to generate superimposed voltages at specific points of the switch stack biasing circuit. The provided voltages help reducing the drooping voltages on drain/source/body terminals of the transistors within the stack by supplying the current drawn by drain/source terminals of the stacked transistors and/or by sinking the body leakage current exiting the body terminals of such transistors. Methods and techniques teaching how to provide proper tapping points in the biasing circuit to sample the RF signal are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: PSEMI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Eric S. Shapiro, Simon Edward Willard
  • Patent number: 11567516
    Abstract: A power management circuit includes an inverter circuit and a latch circuit. The inverter circuit is configured to receive a first control signal from an inverter input terminal and generate a second control signal at an inverter output terminal. The first control signal carries power status information of a first supply voltage. The latch circuit has a latch supply terminal, a first latch input terminal and a second latch input terminal. The latch supply terminal is coupled to a second supply voltage becoming ready before the first supply voltage. The first latch input terminal and the second latch input terminal are coupled to the inverter output terminal and the inverter input terminal respectively. The latch circuit is configured to generate a third control signal according to respective signal levels of the first control signal and the second control signal, and accordingly perform power control of an integrated circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: M31 TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ching-Hsiang Chang, Chih-Chieh Yao, Chun-Hsiang Lai
  • Patent number: 11569798
    Abstract: A driver circuit is configured to deliver drive signals from an output pin to a power switch to control ON/OFF switching of the power switch. A first detection pin of the driver circuit is configured to receive a first signal associated with the power switch, wherein the first signal indicates a voltage drop over the power switch and a voltage drop over one or more other circuit elements. A second detection pin is configured to receive a second signal, wherein the second signal indicates a voltage drop over one or more matched circuit elements, wherein the one or more matched circuit elements associated with the second signal are substantially identical to the one or more other circuit elements associated with the first signal. The driver circuit is configured to determine the voltage drop over the power switch based on a difference between the first signal and the second signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Michael Krug, Matthias Weinmann, Marco Bachhuber
  • Patent number: 11563368
    Abstract: A period from when switching elements S1, S4 at first diagonal positions in a full-bridge inverter are turned off at the same time to when switching elements S2, S3 at second diagonal positions are turned on at the same time, is defined as T1, and a period from when the switching elements S2, S3 at the second diagonal positions are turned off at the same time to when the switching elements S1, S4 at the first diagonal positions are turned on at the same time, is defined as T2. With a total length of T1 and T2 set to be constant, the lengths of T1 and T2 are controlled to be changed every switching cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takaaki Takahara, Hiroto Mizutani, Ryota Kondo, Satoshi Murakami, Hiroyasu Iwabuki, Kei Hayase
  • Patent number: 11552642
    Abstract: Disclosed is a charge-pump phase-locked loop based on a unipolar thin film transistor, a chip, and a method. The phase-locked loop may include: a phase-frequency detector, configured to detect a phase difference and a frequency difference between a clock Fref and a clock Fn and generate control signals UP and DOWN; a logic control module, configured to output logic state signals; a charge pump, configured to convert the logic state signals into a charging/discharging current signal; a low-pass filter, configured to output a direct-current analog control signal Vctrl; a voltage-controlled oscillator, configured to adjust an output clock frequency Fvco; and a divide-by-four circuit, configured to perform frequency division to obtain the clock Fn.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: SOUTH CHINA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Rongsheng Chen, Hui Li, Yuming Xu, Mingzhu Wen
  • Patent number: 11533050
    Abstract: Embodiments of a differential bootstrapped track-and-hold circuit are disclosed. In an embodiment, the differential bootstrapped track-and-hold circuit includes first and second single-ended bootstrapped track-and-hold circuits. Each single-ended bootstrapped track-and-hold circuit includes a sampling switch connected between an input terminal and an output terminal, a sampling capacitor connected to the output terminal, and a dummy sampling switch connected between the input terminal and a dummy output terminal. The sampling switch and the dummy sampling switch are controlled by a bootstrap driver connected to the input terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: NXP USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Weiwei Xu, Xiaoyue Wang
  • Patent number: 11527920
    Abstract: Embodiments described herein provide foreign object detection based on coil current sensing. The transmitter power loss is computed directly based on the coil current, in conjunction with, or in place of the conventional computation based on transmitter input current. The enhanced precision of the computer power loss can be used to more accurately detect a foreign object near the transmitter coil during a wireless power transfer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: Integrated Device Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Gustavo James Mehas, Amit D. Bavisi, Nicholaus Wayne Smith
  • Patent number: 11522537
    Abstract: A gate driver communication system includes a cored transformer including a primary coil and a secondary coil configured to receive power signals and uplink data signals from the primary coil; a primary side power signal generator coupled to the primary coil and configured to generate the power signals having a first frequency; a primary side data transmitter coupled to the primary coil and configured to generate the uplink data signals having a second frequency different from the first frequency; and a primary side controller configured to allocate the power signals and the uplink data signals to the primary coil according to a plurality of time slots, wherein the power signals are allocated to first time slots of the plurality of time slots and the uplink data signals are allocated to second times slots of the plurality of time slots.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
    Inventors: Daniele Miatton, Sergio Morini
  • Patent number: 11515867
    Abstract: A device for hooking up a signal-outputting mechanism with two potential sensors each of which has allocated to it two evaluation terminals, wherein the potentials of the evaluation terminals depend inversely on the resistances between the respective evaluation terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Turck Holding GmbH
    Inventor: Johannes Vom Stein
  • Patent number: 11509214
    Abstract: An apparatus and a method that provide a bias voltage to a charge pump circuit are described. An example apparatus includes: a bias voltage generator that receives a first voltage and provides a second voltage responsive to the first voltage; a charge pump circuit that receives an input signal and provides the first voltage. The charge pump circuit includes an inverter and a bias transistor. The inverter receives the input signal and provides a third voltage. The bias transistor coupled between a power node having a power supply voltage and a slew rate driver of the inverter. The bias transistor receives the second voltage and provides a power supply voltage to the slew rate driver responsive to the second voltage less than a threshold voltage and stops providing the power supply voltage to the slew rate driver responsive to the second voltage greater than the threshold voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Takamasa Suzuki
  • Patent number: 11502676
    Abstract: Provided is a driver circuit that controls an output unit that switches whether or not to supply a current to an output line, in accordance with a potential difference between a first control signal to be input and a voltage of the output line. The driver circuit comprises a control line that transmits the first control signal to the output unit; a low potential line to which a predetermined reference potential is applied; a first connection switching unit that switches whether or not to connect the control line and the low potential line, in accordance with a second control signal; and a cutoff unit that is provided in series with the first connection switching unit between the control line and the low potential line and cuts off the control line and the low potential line based on a potential of the low potential line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: FUJI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Sho Nakagawa, Morio Iwamizu
  • Patent number: 11489524
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes: a pair of input terminals or receiving a first input signal and a second input signal each of which changes between potentials in a predetermined range via a pair of transmission paths which include a first transmission path and a second transmission path; a first reception circuit which compares in potential the first input signal with the second input signal, and generates a first output signal based on a comparison result therebetween; a second reception circuit which generates a second output signal based on a comparison result of comparing in potential at least one of the first input signal and the second input signal with a reference potential.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: LAPIS SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takashi Tomita, Manabu Furuta