Patents by Inventor Christian Enz

Christian Enz has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11864877
    Abstract: The invention relates to a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensing device comprising—a pulsed light source, —at least one pixel to create photo-generated electrons, synchronized with said pulsed light source. It is mainly characterized in that each pixel comprises: —a pinned photodiode (PPD) having two electronic connection nodes, —a sense node (SN), to convert the photo-generated electrons into a voltage, and—a Transfer Gate (TGtransfer) transistor, having its source electronically connected to one electronic connection node of said pinned photodiode (PPD), and being configured to act as a transfer gate (TG) between said pinned photodiode (PPD) and said sense node (SN), allowing the photo-generated electrons to sink when the light is pulsed-off, the photo-generated electrons integration when the light is pulsed-on and the transfer of at least part of the integrated photo-generated electrons to said sense node for a read-out.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE (EPFL)
    Inventors: Assim Boukhayma, Antonino Caizzone, Christian Enz
  • Publication number: 20230157560
    Abstract: The invention relates to a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensing device comprising—a pulsed light source, —at least one pixel to create photo-generated electrons, synchronized with said pulsed light source. It is mainly characterized in that each pixel comprises: —a pinned photodiode (PPD) having two electronic connection nodes, —a sense node (SN), to convert the photo-generated electrons into a voltage, and—a Transfer Gate (TGtransfer) transistor, having its source electronically connected to one electronic connection node of said pinned photodiode (PPD), and being configured to act as a transfer gate (TG) between said pinned photodiode (PPD) and said sense node (SN), allowing the photo-generated electrons to sink when the light is pulsed-off, the photo-generated electrons integration when the light is pulsed-on and the transfer of at least part of the integrated photo-generated electrons to said sense node for a read-out.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 4, 2023
    Publication date: May 25, 2023
    Applicant: ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE (EPFL)
    Inventors: Assim Boukhayma, Antonino Caizzone, Christian Enz
  • Patent number: 11612330
    Abstract: The invention relates to a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensing device comprising —a pulsed light source, —at least one pixel to create photo-generated electrons, synchronized with said pulsed light source. It is mainly characterized in that each pixel comprises: —a pinned photodiode (PPD) having two electronic connection nodes, —a sense node (SN), to convert the photo-generated electrons into a voltage, and —a Transfer Gate (TGtransfer) transistor, having its source electronically connected to one electronic connection node of said pinned photodiode (PPD), and being configured to act as a transfer gate (TG) between said pinned photodiode (PPD) and said sense node (SN), allowing the photo-generated electrons to sink when the light is pulsed-off, the photo-generated electrons integration when the light is pulsed-on and the transfer of at least part of the integrated photo-generated electrons to said sense node for a read-out.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2023
    Assignee: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale De Lausanne (EPFL)
    Inventors: Assim Boukhayma, Antonino Caizzone, Christian Enz
  • Publication number: 20220120873
    Abstract: A Time-of-flight optical device and a 3D optical detector comprising a CMOS integrated circuit with an array of photosensitive pixels that are, at least in part, interconnected to form macro-pixels (180). Each macro-pixel (180) groups a plurality of individual pixels contributing their photocarriers to a common sense node SN through a plurality of transistors in parallel. Preferably the integrated circuit includes switched capacitor circuits arranged to combine the potential of the sense nodes SN of a plurality of macro-pixels, and/or to perform correlated double samplings in an energy efficient way. Each pixel has now an additional sink gate (194) between the pinned photodetector, PPD, potential well and a positive voltage source. By this additional sink gate (194), the storage well of the PPDs can be emptied without transferring the charge to the sense node.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 15, 2019
    Publication date: April 21, 2022
    Inventors: Assim Boukhayma, Antonino Caizzone, Christian Enz
  • Publication number: 20200205680
    Abstract: The invention relates to a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensing device comprising —a pulsed light source, —at least one pixel to create photo-generated electrons, synchronized with said pulsed light source. It is mainly characterized in that each pixel comprises: —a pinned photodiode (PPD) having two electronic connection nodes, —a sense node (SN), to convert the photo-generated electrons into a voltage, and —a Transfer Gate (TGtransfer) transistor, having its source electronically connected to one electronic connection node of said pinned photodiode (PPD), and being configured to act as a transfer gate (TG) between said pinned photodiode (PPD) and said sense node (SN), allowing the photo-generated electrons to sink when the light is pulsed-off, the photo-generated electrons integration when the light is pulsed-on and the transfer of at least part of the integrated photo-generated electrons to said sense node for a read-out.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 17, 2018
    Publication date: July 2, 2020
    Inventors: Assim Boukhayma, Antonino Caizzone, Christian Enz
  • Publication number: 20170337319
    Abstract: A digital circuit including a signal path with a false path, whereby the signal path includes at least 3 logic instances, the digital circuit further including a logic monitoring element for monitoring a part of the digital circuit, and for outputting a cut-back signal in case a determined risk of a full activation of the signal path is detected in the monitoring, wherein the signal path includes a logic cutting selector element as one of the 3 logic instances, the logic cutting selector element to be triggered by at least the cut-back signal to prevent the full activation of the signal path, the logic cutting selector element being configured to switch, the switching either maintaining the signal path itself, or preventing the full activation of the signal path by substituting it for an alternate signal path, thereby inducing the false path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 20, 2016
    Publication date: November 23, 2017
    Inventors: Vincent Camus, Jérémy Schlachter, Christian Enz