Patents by Inventor Merril Newman

Merril Newman 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).

  • Publication number: 20240128901
    Abstract: Methods, circuits and computer program products are presented herein. The method includes isolating a ripple waveform from a current signal originating from a brushed direct current motor (BDCM). The method includes determining the wave count of the ripple waveform. The method includes determining a position of a movable structure operably coupled to a shaft of the BDCM according to the wave count of the ripple waveform. The present technology may be practiced without discrete capacitor components in high pass filtering aspects of the disclosed circuit. The methods, circuits and computer program products can be implemented to accurately determine a rotational position of a shaft of a BDCM and also position(s) of mechanism(s) coupled to the shaft without requiring any external sensors or other components for this purpose other than the disclosed circuits.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 13, 2022
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Inventors: Miroslav Oljaca, David Stout, Dennis P. Lehman, Jan Morten Braathen, Merril Newman
  • Patent number: 11775120
    Abstract: A human machine interface (HMI) system and method of operating. The system includes capacitive measurement circuitry coupled to one or more capacitive touch elements, and piezoelectric measurement circuit including interface circuitry coupled to one or more piezoelectric touch elements. The capacitive measurement circuitry includes a gain stage configured to amplify a signal corresponding to a capacitance at the one or more capacitor input terminals by a gain level for communication to processing circuitry. Gain control circuitry is configured to increase the gain level of the gain stage of the capacitive measurement circuitry responsive to the piezoelectric measurement circuitry receiving a user input from at least one of the piezoelectric touch elements. Implementations that further include piezoelectric drive circuitry for haptic output and clearing debris from the keypad are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Jan Morten Braathen, Dennis Patrick Lehman, Miroslav Oljaca, Maxwell G Robertson, Merril Newman
  • Publication number: 20220236816
    Abstract: A human machine interface (HMI) system and method of operating. The system includes capacitive measurement circuitry coupled to one or more capacitive touch elements, and piezoelectric measurement circuit including interface circuitry coupled to one or more piezoelectric touch elements. The capacitive measurement circuitry includes a gain stage configured to amplify a signal corresponding to a capacitance at the one or more capacitor input terminals by a gain level for communication to processing circuitry. Gain control circuitry is configured to increase the gain level of the gain stage of the capacitive measurement circuitry responsive to the piezoelectric measurement circuitry receiving a user input from at least one of the piezoelectric touch elements. Implementations that further include piezoelectric drive circuitry for haptic output and clearing debris from the keypad are also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2021
    Publication date: July 28, 2022
    Inventors: Jan Morten Braathen, Dennis Patrick Lehman, Miroslav Oljaca, Maxwell G Robertson, Merril Newman
  • Publication number: 20070136047
    Abstract: A system comprises a multi-core silicon-on-chip (SOC) device. The SOC device includes a core module, a test data shift path, a core power control module, and an emulation control module. The core module includes a TAP controller and a plurality of data registers. The test data shift path is operable to transport data shifted out of one or more of the data registers. The core power control module is operable to control the power status of the core module. The emulation control module includes a plurality of alternative registers operable to shift data into the test data shift path in the event that the core module is powered down by the core power control module such that the shift path continues uninterrupted. The emulation control module remains powered on regardless of the power status of the core module.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2005
    Publication date: June 14, 2007
    Inventors: Merril Newman, Osvaldo Franco, Robert Milhaupt
  • Patent number: 6157972
    Abstract: An IEEE 1394 serial bus, during bus initialization, transmits a plurality of self-ID packets across the bus. Each node on the bus is operable to receive the self-ID packet from the bus (140) via receiver (146). Asynchronous packets and isochronous packets are stored in a FIFO (166) for later use by a host interface (150). The self-ID packets are verified by a hardware circuit (170) that provides verification of the self-ID packets as they are received without requiring the software to later evaluate the self-ID packets from storage in the FIFO (166). If an error is determined, this is stored in registers (164) for later processing by the host interface (150).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2000
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Merril Newman, Brian T. Deng, David E. Kimble
  • Patent number: D798393
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Inventors: Merril Newman, Carol Drish