Patents Examined by Ryan Johnson
  • Patent number: 11929742
    Abstract: An electronic component is switched under the control of a pulse-width modulation signal. The electronic component outputs an output signal that is controlled by a control signal. The switching on or off is initiated within a pulse-width modulation cycle period at a level change time by a change of the pulse-width modulation signal. The control signal is set within each PWM cycle period to a first control value between the level change time and a first switching time, to a second control value between the first switching time and a second switching time, and to a third control value from the second switching time until a final gate-voltage value is reached on the gate of the electronic component. Each switching time of a PWM period is determined in dependence on an amplitude value determined during a preceding PWM cycle period, to limit amplitudes of the oscillation of the output signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: Vitesco Technologies Germany GmbH
    Inventors: Goeran Schubert, Andreas Pschorr, Diego Antongirolami, Ulrich Bley
  • Patent number: 11923805
    Abstract: An oscillator arrangement is provided, comprising a relaxation oscillator having an active state and an inactive state; a bias current circuit portion arranged to provide a bias current to the relaxation oscillator during said active state; and an electronic switch arranged to isolate said relaxation oscillator from the bias current circuit portion when in said inactive state. The oscillator arrangement is arranged to store an internal voltage value associated with said bias current and the bias current circuit portion is arranged to use the stored internal voltage value to generate the bias current when the oscillator is started up from the inactive state to the active state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: Nordic Semiconductor ASA
    Inventors: Mikko Lintonen, Jarmo Väänänen
  • Patent number: 11923785
    Abstract: Method for measuring an operating temperature of a power module (10) that is used for operating an electric vehicle drive, the power module (10) comprising a plurality of semiconductor switching elements (14) and drive electronics (16), wherein the semiconductor switching elements (14) can be switched by the drive electronics (16) in such a way that the semiconductor switching elements (14) allow or interrupt a drain-source current in order to convert the direct current fed into the power module (10) at the input side into an output-side alternating current, wherein the method comprises measurement of a voltage present at a point located on a side of a diode (22) that is connected in series with the semiconductor switching element (14) and that faces away from the semiconductor switching element (14), wherein the method comprises measurement of a drain-source current of the semiconductor switching element (14) that is generated by a current source (18), wherein the method comprises determination of a mathemat
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: ZF Friedrichshafen AG
    Inventors: Michael Meiler, Johannes Hager, Stefan Hain
  • Patent number: 11923678
    Abstract: Presented herein are techniques for power fault management that operates without power-source-side switching. A power transmitter is configured to provide power to a current loop, and a power receiver is configured to receive the power from the current loop. The power receiver is configured to, on a periodic basis, disconnect from the current loop to stop pulling power from current loop for a period of time to enable a safety check to be performed by the power transmitter. The power transmitter is configured to monitor current on the current loop, determine whether the current level on the current loop passes the safety check within a predetermined time interval since a determination that the current level was not within a safe range, and control connectivity of the power to the current loop based on whether the safety check has or has not passed within the predetermined time interval.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Jason DeWayne Potterf, Chad M. Jones, Joel Richard Goergen
  • Patent number: 11916433
    Abstract: An electric power supply management method is configured to electrically power electrical equipment of a crane, via a conversion circuit, from a primary power supply source capable of providing a primary power and from a rechargeable secondary power supply source capable of providing a secondary power. The electric power supply management method includes monitoring of a requested general power which corresponds to a power demanded by all the electrical equipment, and a monitoring of a charge level of the rechargeable secondary power supply source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: MANITOWOC CRANE GROUP FRANCE
    Inventors: Bruno Roni-Damond, Vincent Veillerot
  • Patent number: 11916374
    Abstract: A system is provided that includes a power transmitter configured to provide power to a current loop, a power receiver configured to receive the power from the current loop. The power receiver is configured to, on a periodic basis, disconnect from the current loop to stop pulling power from the current loop for a period of time to enable a safety check to be performed by the power transmitter. The power transmitter is configured to: monitor current on the current loop; determine whether a current level on the current loop passes the safety check within a predetermined time interval since a determination that the current level was not within a safe range; and control connectivity of the power to the current loop depending on whether the safety check has or has not passed within the predetermined time interval.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Jason Dewayne Potterf, Chad M. Jones, Joel Richard Goergen
  • Patent number: 11909354
    Abstract: One or more heating elements are provided to heat a MEMS component (such as a resonator) to a temperature higher than an ambient temperature range in which the MEMS component is intended to operate—in effect, heating the MEMS component and optionally related circuitry to a steady-state “oven” temperature above that which would occur naturally during component operation and thereby avoiding temperature-dependent performance variance/instability (frequency, voltage, propagation delay, etc.). In a number of embodiments, an IC package is implemented with distinct temperature-isolated and temperature-interfaced regions, the former bearing or housing the MEMS component and subject to heating (i.e., to oven temperature) by the one or more heating elements while the latter is provided with (e.g., disposed adjacent) one or more heat dissipation paths to discharge heat generated by transistor circuitry (i.e., expel heat from the integrated circuit package).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: SiTime Corporation
    Inventors: Carl Arft, Aaron Partridge, Markus Lutz, Charles I. Grosjean
  • Patent number: 11909356
    Abstract: An integrated circuit transceiver device includes a plurality of functional circuits, and clock circuitry for distributing synchronous, in-phase, phase-locked clock signals to all transceiver circuits. The clock circuitry includes a frequency-controllable distributed oscillator including at least one coupled pair of transmission line oscillators having a respective oscillator core, and at least one respective transmission line segment. At least one impedance element couples the at least one respective transmission line segment of a first transmission line oscillator to the at least one respective transmission line segment of a second transmission line oscillator. Impedance of the impedance element is different from impedance of each respective transmission line segment to cause reflection at the at least one impedance element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Ltd
    Inventors: Morteza Azarmnia, Tomas Dusatko, Fazil Ahmad, Marco Garampazzi
  • Patent number: 11909224
    Abstract: A wireless optical power transmission system comprising a transmitter and receiver, the transmitter comprising a laser emitting a beam, a scanning mirror for steering the beam towards said receiver and a control unit receiving signals from a detection unit on the receiver and controlling the beam power and the scanning mirror. The receiver has a photovoltaic cell having a bandgap energy of 0.75-1.2 e V, with a plurality of conductors on abeam receiving surface. A cover layer of material blocking illumination of wavelengths outside that of the laser, is disposed on the photovoltaic cell. The cover layer may have anti-reflective coatings on its top and bottom surfaces. The detection unit thus generates a signal representing the power of the laser beam impinging upon the receiver, independent of illuminations other than that of said laser beam. The control unit thus can maintain the laser power impinging on the receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Wi-Charge Ltd.
    Inventors: Ortal Alpert, Ori Refael Mor, Lior Golan, Ran Sagi, Eyal Conforti
  • Patent number: 11909163
    Abstract: A radio frequency laser includes: a power box, a radio frequency cavity, an electrode, and a first metal blocking ring. A bottom plate of the power box is provided with a first installation hole and a first installation groove, and the first installation groove is arranged around the first installation hole. A top plate of the radio frequency cavity is provided with a second installation hole and a second installation groove, and the second installation groove is arranged around the second installation hole. When the power box is assembled with the radio frequency cavity, the second installation hole corresponds to the first installation hole, and the second installation groove corresponds to the first installation groove.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Jilin Yongli Laser Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yang Yu, Jie Liu, Huili Sun, Zhicheng Zhang, Qingdong Cui, Shangyong Sun
  • Patent number: 11901882
    Abstract: In a gate drive circuit of which an N-channel MOSFET and a P-channel MOSFET are connected in a push-pull manner to amplify an input pulse signal and drive an output element, a temperature correction circuit is connected between gate terminals of the N-channel MOSFET and the P-channel MOSFET. The temperature correction circuit lowers each of gate voltages of the N-channel MOSFET and the P-channel MOSFET as ambient temperature rises.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: SANSHA ELECTRIC MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masashi Fukai
  • Patent number: 11894847
    Abstract: Technologies for jitter extraction are described. A receiver device includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a signal processing circuit. The signal processing circuit includes an equalizer block to output current data based on samples from the ADC. A clock-recovery (CR) block includes a timing error detector (TED) or a phase detector to measure a sampling offset. The CR block can use the sampling offset to control sampling of subsequent data by the ADC. A jitter extraction block can use the sampling offset to re-sample the current data to obtain re-sampled data based on the sampling offset to remove jitter from the current data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: Mellanox Technologies, Ltd.
    Inventors: Igal Kushnir, Naor Peretz, Roi Levi
  • Patent number: 11888441
    Abstract: A method for calculating a real-time effective temperature of a solar photovoltaic module at any operating time during power generation period between a daily wake-up time and sleep time of said solar photovoltaic module is provided. The method is based on, in part, measuring the solar photovoltaic module open-circuit voltage at said daily wake-up time and measuring the solar photovoltaic module open-circuit voltage at said operating time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Sigmagen, Inc.
    Inventor: Mehrdad M. Moslehi
  • Patent number: 11881817
    Abstract: An oscillator includes first and second capacitors, an inverter, a voltage shifting circuit, and a hysteresis buffer. The first and second capacitors have first terminals adapted to be coupled to respective first and second nodes, and second terminals coupled to ground. The inverter has an input coupled to the first node, and an output coupled to the second node. The voltage shifting circuit is coupled to the first and second nodes and has an input for receiving a tuning signal. The voltage shifting circuit changes an average voltage at the first node according to the tuning signal when an oscillation occurs in response to a crystal being coupled between the first and second nodes. The hysteresis buffer has an input coupled to one of first node and the second node, and an output for providing a clock signal having a duty cycle responsive to the tuning signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventors: Sinisa Milicevic, Alexander Heubi, Noureddine Senouci
  • Patent number: 11881847
    Abstract: A post driver and a chip with overdrive capability are shown. A first bias circuit is configured to provide a first voltage shift between the output terminal of the post driver and the gate terminal of the first p-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor (PMOS) transistor of a pull-up circuit when the pull-down circuit is enabled. A second bias circuit is configured to provide a second voltage shift between the output terminal of the post driver and the gate terminal of the first n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) transistor of the pull-down circuit when the pull-up circuit is enabled. Accordingly, the PMOS transistors in the pull-up circuit and the NMOS transistors in the pull-down circuit are all well protected although they are powered by an overdrive voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: MEDIATEK INC.
    Inventors: Federico Agustin Altolaguirre, Hsin-Cheng Hsu
  • Patent number: 11874337
    Abstract: A load zone of a DC system includes a connection interface for supplying the load zone with electrical energy, an electronic switch arranged between the connection interface and a DC bus, and at least two electrical devices connected in parallel to the DC bus. A voltage sensor measures a voltage across a fuse arranged between the DC bus and a respective electrical device. An evaluation unit identifies a defective device of the at least two electrical devices based on a polarity of the voltage measured by the voltage sensor across the fuse. A DC system with such a load zone and an energy source connected to the connection interface of the load zone, as well as a method for operating such load zone or DC system are also disclosed. A device is identified as being defective when the voltage measured across the fuse exceeds a specified limit value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Markus Frühauf, Benno Weis
  • Patent number: 11876333
    Abstract: System for connecting and/or disconnecting the power supply and/or data connection for refrigerated containers in the port, storage and interchange field and/or on board ship, which container is provided with at least one electrical connector for connection to a power supply and/or data transmission network. The system comprises automated means for the electrical connection and disconnection of the said electrical connector to/from the said power supply and/or data transmission network, which means comprise at least one mechanical arm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Inventors: Fulvio Pellegrotti, Alessandro Becce, Pierluigi Curletto, Vincenzo Minopoli
  • Patent number: 11865945
    Abstract: A rechargeable energy storage system may include a series arrangement of a plurality of batteries coupled to a first DC bus at a first DC voltage. A DC to DC converter may include a multi-input DC input stage coupled to a multi-output DC output stage. The multi-input DC input stage may include multiple distributed DC inputs, each distributed DC input being coupled to a respective one of the plurality of batteries. The multi-output DC output stage may include multiple aggregated DC outputs. At least one controllable switch may couple one or more of the multiple aggregated DC outputs to one or more other DC buses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Mohamed Kamel, Chandra S. Namuduri, Rashmi Prasad, Muhammad Hussain Alvi, Lyall Kenneth Winger
  • Patent number: 11870426
    Abstract: A capacitor-insulated semiconductor relay includes an RC oscillation circuit, a waveform regulation circuit, a booster circuit, a charging/discharging circuit, and an output circuit. The RC oscillation circuit generates first and second signals that are inverse in phase to each other. The waveform regulation circuit increases rise and fall times of the first signal, and rise and fall times of the second signal. Output signals from the waveform regulation circuit are respectively inputted to first and second high dielectric strength capacitors and that are provided in the booster circuit and connected in parallel to each other. The booster circuit receives the output signals from the waveform regulation circuit to generate a predetermined voltage. The output circuit is driven based on the predetermined voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yu Bungi, Yasushi Konishi, Hirotaka Masaki
  • Patent number: 11870394
    Abstract: There is provided a demodulator that makes it possible to reduce or avoid deterioration in demodulation performance due to nonlinearity of input amplitude-frequency characteristics of a variable capacitive element included in an analog control signal input section of a frequency variable oscillator, while suppressing an influence of noise. The demodulator includes: a low-resolution A/D converter that performs analog-digital conversion of a first phase difference signal to generate a second phase difference signal that is digital; a low-resolution D/A converter that performs digital-analog conversion of the second phase difference signal to generate a third phase difference signal; an analog subtractor that subtracts the third phase difference signal from the first phase difference signal to generate a first control signal; an ADPLL that generates a second control signal; and an FVO that generates the oscillation signal on the basis of the first control signal and the second control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Satoru Shinke, Tomohiro Matsumoto