Patents by Inventor Dan D'Aquino

Dan D'Aquino 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: 7541861
    Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method of matching currents to a known ratio including generating a control signal from a control circuit, which includes a value that defines a configuration. The method also includes receiving the control signal at a switching circuit, detecting whether the value of the control signal has changed, and, provided the value has changed, switching a plurality of transistors from a first configuration to a second configuration. The first configuration produces a first current in a first circuit and a second circuit, and the second configuration produces a second current in a first circuit and a second circuit. The ratio of the first current and the second current are the aforementioned known ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2009
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Mehmet Aslan, Dan D'Aquino
  • Patent number: 7449943
    Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method of matching time-multiplexed resistors to a known ratio including generating a control signal from a control circuit, which includes a value that defines a configuration. The method also includes receiving the control signal at a switching circuit, detecting whether the value of the control signal has changed, and, provided the value has changed, switching a plurality of resistors from a first configuration to a second configuration. The first configuration produces a first resistance, and the second configuration produces a second resistance. The ratio of the first resistance and the second resistance are the aforementioned known ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2008
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Mehmet Aslan, Dan D'Aquino
  • Patent number: 7309157
    Abstract: A circuit for temperature sensing provides a bias current to a PN junction, and the PN junction provides a PN junction voltage in response to the bias current. Also, a parasitic resistance may be coupled in series with the PN junction. The circuit for temperature sensing is configured to determine the temperature of the PN junction based on the PN junction voltage. Further, the circuit includes registers which store ?trim, which is based on the difference between the non-ideality of the PN junction used from a reference PN junction; ?I, which is based on the difference between a reference bias current and the bias current for the part; Rtrim, which is based the parasitic resistance; and Ntrim, which includes other offsets. The registers may be set during trimming and/or calibration to provide accurate temperature sensing for the parameters employed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2007
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Mehmet Aslan, Chungwai Benedict Ng, Eric Tam, Qing Feng Ren, Dan D'Aquino
  • Patent number: 7304272
    Abstract: A system for adjusting parameters of a temperature sensor for settling time reduction is disclosed. The system includes an input for receiving a signal for triggering an adjustment of one or more parameters associated with one or more portions of the temperature sensor. And, an adjuster that includes a current sourcing/sinking adjuster, a feedback loop current adjuster and a feedback loop resistance adjuster coupled to the input. The adjuster adjusts one or more voltages associated with one or more portions of the temperature sensor in response to a receipt of the signal for triggering an adjustment to achieve the settling time reduction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2007
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Dan D'Aquino, Mehmet Aslan
  • Patent number: 7150561
    Abstract: A method and circuit for reducing a temperature dependent error in p-n junction based temperature measurements. The temperature-dependent error may be caused by parasitic resistance in a p-n junction and temperature dependent variation of a bias current in a temperature sensor. A difference in base-emitter voltage of a sensing transistor is employed to determine a temperature of a source device. In one embodiment, a zero Temperature Coefficient (TC) current source employing a temperature dependent variation of a current generates by an emitter-base voltage across a resistor between the emitter and the base of a junction transistor is used to counter balance a Proportional To Absolute Temperature (PTAT) current source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2006
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Dan D'Aquino, Mehmet Aslan
  • Patent number: 7089146
    Abstract: A circuit for temperature sensing receives a differential voltage that corresponds to the voltage across a forward-biased PN junction. The circuit for temperature sensing provides a first current to the PN junction, and subsequently provides a second current. Also, the temperature of the PN junction is determined based on the difference between the differential voltage when the first current is applied and the differential voltage when the second current is applied. Further, the circuit for temperature sensing self-biases half of the differential signal. The other half of the differential signal is level-shifted by an amount that is fixed and predetermined based on the self-biasing to provide a sub-ranging voltage. A sub-ranging analog-to-digital conversion is performed on the differential voltage in which the sub-ranging voltage is subtracted from the differential voltage during the conversion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2006
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Dan D'Aquino, Mehmet Aslan