Patents by Inventor Colin Whitby-Strevens

Colin Whitby-Strevens 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: 10963027
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for the safe negotiation of high current for a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) active cable assembly. In one embodiment, a method for detecting a Power for Cable Assembly (PCA)-capable source is disclosed, the method including: detecting, by a cable assembly, an assertion of a defined voltage on a power supply pin; forwarding an assertion of a hot plug detect signal pin, by the cable assembly, from a sink device towards the PCA-capable source; detecting, by the cable assembly, a reduction in the defined voltage on the power supply pin for a defined period of time in response to the forwarding; and detecting, by the cable assembly, a re-assertion of the defined voltage on the power supply pin subsequent to the lapse of the defined period of time. PCA dependent cable assemblies and PCA capable source devices are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Colin Whitby-Strevens, Bob Ridenour
  • Patent number: 10699363
    Abstract: Video data and auxiliary data may be sent between a processor and a display device via a single cable using a link aggregator. As such, the link aggregator may receive a first parallel signal that may include the video data and a second parallel signal that may include auxiliary data from the processor. The link aggregator may then send the first parallel signal and the second parallel signal as an aggregated signal to the display device. Upon receiving the aggregated signal at the display device, the link aggregator may de-aggregate the aggregated signal into the first parallel signal and the second parallel signal. The link aggregator may then send the first parallel signal and the second parallel signal to a timing controller of the display device, such that the timing controller may display the video data using the display device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Sreeraman Anantharaman, Colin Whitby-Strevens
  • Patent number: 10680858
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for the scrambling of control symbols. In one embodiment, the control symbols are associated with an HDMI interface, and the methods and apparatus are configured to scramble the symbols to as to mitigate the effects of electromagnetic interference (EMI) created by the transmission of otherwise unscrambled sequences of symbols which may contain significant “clock pattern” or other undesirable artifact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Colin Whitby-Strevens
  • Publication number: 20200133366
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for the safe negotiation of high current for a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) active cable assembly. In one embodiment, a method for detecting a Power for Cable Assembly (PCA)-capable source is disclosed, the method including: detecting, by a cable assembly, an assertion of a defined voltage on a power supply pin; forwarding an assertion of a hot plug detect signal pin, by the cable assembly, from a sink device towards the PCA-capable source; detecting, by the cable assembly, a reduction in the defined voltage on the power supply pin for a defined period of time in response to the forwarding; and detecting, by the cable assembly, a re-assertion of the defined voltage on the power supply pin subsequent to the lapse of the defined period of time. PCA dependent cable assemblies and PCA capable source devices are also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2019
    Publication date: April 30, 2020
    Inventors: Colin Whitby-Strevens, Bob Ridenour
  • Patent number: 10592460
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for virtual channel allocation within an electronic device. In one exemplary embodiment, the device is a consumer electronics device having multiple camera sensors uses a modified high-speed protocol (e.g., DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport (MST) protocol) to process camera data via one or more virtual channels. Unlike traditional solutions which rely on an intelligent source device to manage a network of devices, the present disclosure describes in one aspect a network of nodes internal to a consumer electronic device that is managed by the sink node (i.e., a “smart sink”). Additionally, since the full suite of protocol (e.g., DisplayPort) capabilities are unnecessary for certain design scenarios, certain further disclosed simplifications improve performance for sink nodes having very modest capabilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Colin Whitby-Strevens, Sreeraman Anantharaman
  • Publication number: 20190372807
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for the scrambling of control symbols. In one embodiment, the control symbols are associated with an HDMI interface, and the methods and apparatus are configured to scramble the symbols to as to mitigate the effects of electromagnetic interference (EMI) created by the transmission of otherwise unscrambled sequences of symbols which may contain significant “clock pattern” or other undesirable artifact.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2019
    Publication date: December 5, 2019
    Inventor: Colin Whitby-Strevens
  • Patent number: 10466757
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for the safe negotiation of high current for a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) active cable assembly. In one embodiment, a method for detecting a Power for Cable Assembly (PCA)-capable source is disclosed, the method including: detecting, by a cable assembly, an assertion of a defined voltage on a power supply pin; forwarding an assertion of a hot plug detect signal pin, by the cable assembly, from a sink device towards the PCA-capable source; detecting, by the cable assembly, a reduction in the defined voltage on the power supply pin for a defined period of time in response to the forwarding; and detecting, by the cable assembly, a re-assertion of the defined voltage on the power supply pin subsequent to the lapse of the defined period of time. PCA dependent cable assemblies and PCA capable source devices are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Colin Whitby-Strevens, Bob Ridenour
  • Patent number: 10459674
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for packing and transporting data within an electronic device. In one embodiment, a consumer electronics device having one or more sensors (e.g., camera sensors) uses modified DisplayPort micro-packets for transmission of RAW format data over one or more lanes of a DisplayPort Main Steam. The RAW data is transported over the one or more lanes by mapping symbol sequences generated from the RAW data based on Y-only data mappings schemes of DisplayPort. A mapping scheme is in one variant selected based on the bits length (e.g., bits per pixel) of the RAW data, in addition to the number of lanes used to transport over the Main Stream. In order for the sink correctly unpack received the micro-packets, the transmitting source transmits Main Stream Attribute (MSA) data packets configured to indicate at least the mapping scheme used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Colin Whitby-Strevens, Sreeraman Anantharaman
  • Patent number: 10432435
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for the selection and/or configuration of scrambling operations to accommodate e.g., both scrambling and non-scrambling connections (such as to e.g., legacy type devices). In one embodiment, media interface devices (such as e.g., HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface)) devices may provide enhanced scrambling capabilities; solutions disclosed herein provide, among other things, support for both enhanced scrambling capable devices and legacy devices, and enable a device to determine the scrambling capabilities of a connected device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Colin Whitby-Strevens
  • Publication number: 20190243798
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for virtual channel allocation within an electronic device. In one exemplary embodiment, the device is a consumer electronics device having multiple camera sensors uses a modified high-speed protocol (e.g., DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport (MST) protocol) to process camera data via one or more virtual channels. Unlike traditional solutions which rely on an intelligent source device to manage a network of devices, the present disclosure describes in one aspect a network of nodes internal to a consumer electronic device that is managed by the sink node (i.e., a “smart sink”). Additionally, since the full suite of protocol (e.g., DisplayPort) capabilities are unnecessary for certain design scenarios, certain further disclosed simplifications improve performance for sink nodes having very modest capabilities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2019
    Publication date: August 8, 2019
    Inventors: Colin Whitby-Strevens, Sreeraman Anantharaman
  • Patent number: 10326624
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for the scrambling of control symbols. In one embodiment, the control symbols are associated with an HDMI interface, and the methods and apparatus are configured to scramble the symbols to as to mitigate the effects of electromagnetic interference (EMI) created by the transmission of otherwise unscrambled sequences of symbols which may contain significant “clock pattern” or other undesirable artifact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Colin Whitby-Strevens
  • Patent number: 10318224
    Abstract: A display system includes a host device that provides source data to a display. The source data includes one or more data-centric blocks free from a fixed-frame size imposition, fixed-frame rate imposition, or both from the display. Further, the source data includes presentation data. The display system includes a display that receives the source data, decodes the source data to discern a presentation time, a presentation positioning, or both for the presentation data. Further, the display presents the presentation data according to the presentation time, the presentation positioning, or both.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: William P. Cornelius, Colin Whitby-Strevens, David G. Conroy, Robert L. Ridenour, Sreeraman Anantharaman
  • Publication number: 20190018465
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for the safe negotiation of high current for a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) active cable assembly. In one embodiment, a method for detecting a Power for Cable Assembly (PCA)-capable source is disclosed, the method including: detecting, by a cable assembly, an assertion of a defined voltage on a power supply pin; forwarding an assertion of a hot plug detect signal pin, by the cable assembly, from a sink device towards the PCA-capable source; detecting, by the cable assembly, a reduction in the defined voltage on the power supply pin for a defined period of time in response to the forwarding; and detecting, by the cable assembly, a re-assertion of the defined voltage on the power supply pin subsequent to the lapse of the defined period of time. PCA dependent cable assemblies and PCA capable source devices are also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2017
    Publication date: January 17, 2019
    Inventors: Colin Whitby-Strevens, Bob Ridenour
  • Patent number: 10176141
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for virtual channel allocation within an electronic device. In one exemplary embodiment, the device is a consumer electronics device having multiple camera sensors uses a modified high-speed protocol (e.g., DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport (MST) protocol) to process camera data via one or more virtual channels. Unlike traditional solutions which rely on an intelligent source device to manage a network of devices, the present disclosure describes in one aspect a network of nodes internal to a consumer electronic device that is managed by the sink node (i.e., a “smart sink”). Additionally, since the full suite of protocol (e.g., DisplayPort) capabilities are unnecessary for certain design scenarios, certain further disclosed simplifications improve performance for sink nodes having very modest capabilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Colin Whitby-Strevens, Sreeraman Anantharaman
  • Publication number: 20180375695
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for the selection and/or configuration of scrambling operations to accommodate e.g., both scrambling and non-scrambling connections (such as to e.g., legacy type devices). In one embodiment, media interface devices (such as e.g., HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface)) devices may provide enhanced scrambling capabilities; solutions disclosed herein provide, among other things, support for both enhanced scrambling capable devices and legacy devices, and enable a device to determine the scrambling capabilities of a connected device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2018
    Publication date: December 27, 2018
    Inventor: Colin Whitby-Strevens
  • Patent number: 10114781
    Abstract: Methods, structures, and apparatus that limit the amount of dendritic growth and metal migration between contacts in order to prevent an erroneous detection of a connection and/or functional failure. One example may reduce dendritic growth and metal migration by limiting an amount of time that a connection detection voltage is applied to CC contacts of a USB Type-C connector when an electronic device is detecting a connection. This and other examples may further limit dendritic growth by not applying the connection detection voltage to the CC contacts for a first duration following a detection of a disconnection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Colin Whitby-Strevens, Kevin M. Keeler, Christophe B. Daniel
  • Publication number: 20180232333
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for virtual channel allocation within an electronic device. In one exemplary embodiment, the device is a consumer electronics device having multiple camera sensors uses a modified high-speed protocol (e.g., DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport (MST) protocol) to process camera data via one or more virtual channels. Unlike traditional solutions which rely on an intelligent source device to manage a network of devices, the present disclosure describes in one aspect a network of nodes internal to a consumer electronic device that is managed by the sink node (i.e., a “smart sink”). Additionally, since the full suite of protocol (e.g., DisplayPort) capabilities are unnecessary for certain design scenarios, certain further disclosed simplifications improve performance for sink nodes having very modest capabilities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2018
    Publication date: August 16, 2018
    Inventors: Colin Whitby-Strevens, Sreeraman Anantharaman
  • Patent number: 9979570
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for the selection and/or configuration of scrambling operations to accommodate e.g., both scrambling and non-scrambling connections (such as to e.g., legacy type devices). In one embodiment, media interface devices (such as e.g., HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface)) devices may provide enhanced scrambling capabilities; solutions disclosed herein provide, among other things, support for both enhanced scrambling capable devices and legacy devices, and enable a device to determine the scrambling capabilities of a connected device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventor: Colin Whitby-Strevens
  • Publication number: 20180139079
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for the scrambling of control symbols. In one embodiment, the control symbols are associated with an HDMI interface, and the methods and apparatus are configured to scramble the symbols to as to mitigate the effects of electromagnetic interference (EMI) created by the transmission of otherwise unscrambled sequences of symbols which may contain significant “clock pattern” or other undesirable artifact.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2017
    Publication date: May 17, 2018
    Inventor: Colin Whitby-Strevens
  • Patent number: 9892084
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for virtual channel allocation within an electronic device. In one exemplary embodiment, the device is a consumer electronics device having multiple camera sensors uses a modified high-speed protocol (e.g., DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport (MST) protocol) to process camera data via one or more virtual channels. Unlike traditional solutions which rely on an intelligent source device to manage a network of devices, the present disclosure describes in one aspect a network of nodes internal to a consumer electronic device that is managed by the sink node (i.e., a “smart sink”). Additionally, since the full suite of protocol (e.g., DisplayPort) capabilities are unnecessary for certain design scenarios, certain further disclosed simplifications improve performance for sink nodes having very modest capabilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Colin Whitby-Strevens, Sreeraman Anantharaman