Abstract: Accumulators that operate to fully or partially remove noise from a signal, including removing noise inserted into the signal by the accumulator itself. In some embodiments, an accumulator may be operated in a sampling phase and a transfer phase each time the accumulator samples an input signal. In some such embodiments, an op-amp of an accumulation circuit of the accumulator may be auto-zeroed during some or all of the sampling phases of an accumulation period. In some embodiments in which the op-amp is auto-zeroed during some or all of the sampling phases, the accumulation circuit may include a holding capacitor that, during an auto-zeroing process, holds a value output by the op-amp during a prior transfer phase. Including such a holding capacitor in an accumulator may reduce a voltage that the op-amp output rises following the auto-zero process, which may reduce a bandwidth and noise of the accumulation circuit.

Abstract: Disclosed embodiments are directed to methods, systems, and circuits of generating compact descriptors for transmission over a communications network. A method according to one embodiment includes receiving an uncompressed descriptor, performing zero-thresholding on the uncompressed descriptor to generate a zero-threshold-delimited descriptor, quantizing the zero-threshold-delimited descriptor to generate a quantized descriptor, and coding the quantized descriptor to generate a compact descriptor for transmission over a communications network. The uncompressed and compact descriptors may be 3D descriptors, such as where the uncompressed descriptor is a SHOT descriptor. The operation of coding can be ZeroFlag coding, ExpGolomb coding, or Arithmetic coding, for example.

Abstract: An electronic switch may include transfer transistor having a first conduction terminal for receiving an input signal, a second conduction terminal, and a control terminal. The transfer transistor may enable/disable a transfer of the input signal from the first conduction terminal to the second conduction terminal according to a control signal. The control signal may take a first value and a second value different from the first value, a difference between the first value and the second value defining, in absolute value, an operative value of the control signal. The electronic switch may further comprise a driving circuit for receiving the input signal and the control signal, and for providing a driving signal equal to the sum between the input signal and the operative value of the control signal to the control terminal of the transfer transistor.

Abstract: An electronic system includes an electronic device of through-hole mounting type comprising an insulating body for embedding at least a chip on which electronic components are integrated, a plurality of conductive leads projecting from the insulating body for said mounting, and a dissipation plate exposed from the insulating body for transferring heat from said electronic component in operation towards the outside of the insulating body. The electronic system includes a heat sink in contact with said dissipation plate for dissipating said heat. The heat sink comprises a first dissipation element, a second dissipation element, and clamping means for clamping the first dissipation element and the second dissipation element together against the insulating body of said electronic device.

Abstract: An embodiment of an arrangement detects sequences of digitally modulated symbols from multiple sources. The arrangement identifies a suitable set of candidate values for at least one transmitted sequence of symbols and determines for each candidate value a set of sequences of transmitted symbols. The arrangement estimates at least one further set of sequences of transmitted symbols, calculates a metric for each sequence of transmitted symbols, and selects the sequence that maximizes the metric. At the end, a-posteriori bit soft output information for the selected sequence is calculated from the metrics for said sequences. Generally, these calculations are based on the information coming from a channel-state-information matrix and a-priori information on the modulated symbols from a second module, such as a forward error-correction-code (ECC) decoder.

Abstract: A voltage regulator has an input terminal for receiving a supply voltage and an output terminal for providing a regulated voltage and a regulated current. Furthermore, the voltage regulator includes a regulator for generating the regulated voltage and the regulated current according to a regulation of the supply voltage. The regulator includes a plurality of regulation branches arranged between the input terminal and the output terminal, each one for providing an output voltage used for obtaining the regulated voltage and for providing an output current contributing to define the regulated current. The regulation branches are partitioned into a plurality of subsets each one including components adapted to operate within a corresponding maximum voltage different from the maximum voltage of the other subsets. In addition, the regulator includes a selector for selectively enabling the regulation branches according to an indicator of the supply voltage.

Abstract: A monitoring device includes an electric supply line to be buried in the block of building material, to convey signals and to be AC supplied so as to generate voltage and current stationary waveforms. The device also includes primary inductors coupled to the electric supply line at positions corresponding to peaks of at least one of the voltage and current stationary waveforms. The device also includes integrated monitoring circuits to be buried in the block of building material, with each integrated monitoring circuit including an integrated sensor to sense at least one physical characteristic, and a secondary inductor magnetically coupled to a respective primary inductor to supply the integrated sensor, and communicate through the electric supply line.

Abstract: A sensor assembly includes: an electrically insulating and flexible body (13), in the form of a plate having a first face (13a) and a second face (13b); and a first sensor (15; 315) and a second sensor (17), which are incorporated in the body (13). The first sensor (15) is set between the first face (13a) and the second sensor (17), and the second sensor (17) is set between the first sensor (15) and the second face (13b).

Abstract: A microelectromechanical sensor that in one embodiment includes a supporting structure, having a substrate and electrode structures anchored to the substrate; and a sensing mass, movable with respect to the supporting structure so that a distance between the sensing mass and the substrate is variable. The sensing mass is provided with movable electrodes capacitively coupled to the electrode structures. Each electrode structure comprises a first fixed electrode and a second fixed electrode mutually insulated by a dielectric region and arranged in succession in a direction substantially perpendicular to a face of the substrate.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and computer program for detecting sequences of digitally modulated symbols transmitted by multiple sources are provided. A real-domain representation that separately treats in-phase and quadrature components of a received vector, channel gains, and a transmitted vector transmitted by the multiple sources is determined. The real-domain representation is processed to obtain a triangular matrix. In addition, at least one of the following is performed: (i) hard decision detection of a transmitted sequence and demapping of corresponding bits based on a reduced complexity search of a number of transmit sequences, and (ii) generation of bit soft-output values based on the reduced complexity search of the number of transmit sequences. The reduced complexity search is based on the triangular matrix.

Abstract: An embodiment is a method for detecting image features, the method including extracting a stripe from a digital image, the stripe including of a plurality of blocks; processing the plurality of blocks for localizing one or more keypoints; and detecting one or more image features based on the one or more localized keypoints.

Abstract: A process for assembly of an integrated device, envisages: providing a first body of semiconductor material integrating at least one electronic circuit and having a top surface; providing a second body of semiconductor material integrating at least one microelectromechanical structure and having a bottom surface; and stacking the second body on the first body with the interposition, between the top surface of the first body and the bottom surface of the second body, of an elastic spacer material. Prior to the stacking step, the step is envisaged of providing, in an integrated manner, at the top surface of the first body a confinement and spacing structure that confines inside it the elastic spacer material and supports the second body at a distance from the first body during the stacking step.

Abstract: A pressure sensor includes a body made of semiconductor material having a first type of conductivity and a pressure-sensitive structure having the first type of conductivity defining a suspended membrane. One or more piezoresistive elements having a second type of conductivity (P) are formed in the suspended membrane. The piezoresistive elements form, with the pressure-sensitive structure, respective junction diodes. A temperature sensing method includes: generating a first current between conduction terminals common to the junction diodes; detecting a first voltage value between the common conduction terminals when the first current is supplied; and correlating the detected first voltage value to a value of temperature of the diodes. The temperature value thus calculated can be used for correcting the voltage signal generated at output by the pressure sensor when the latter is operated for sensing an applied outside pressure which deforms the suspended membrane.

Abstract: One embodiment is a method for selecting and grouping key points extracted by applying a feature detector on a scene being analyzed. The method includes grouping the extracted key points into clusters that enforce a geometric relation between members of a cluster, scoring and sorting the clusters, identifying and discarding clusters that are comprised of points which represent the background noise of the image, and sub-sampling the remaining clusters to provide a smaller number of key points for the scene.

Abstract: An embodiment of a visual search system includes at least one imaging device, each imaging device operable to capture a corresponding image, a feature extraction device coupled to each imaging device, each feature extraction device operable to generate feature descriptors from the image received from the corresponding imaging device. A descriptor encoding device is coupled to each feature extraction device and operable to generate compressed feature descriptors from the received feature descriptors. An application processor is coupled to each descriptor encoding device. The application processor is operable to process the received compressed feature descriptors to generate output information as a function of the processed compressed feature descriptors.

Abstract: A control circuit is for generating upper and lower voltages that define a range of a data voltage for controlling a driving transistor of an electroluminescent component coupled to a supply line through the driving transistor. The control circuit may include a first input terminal configured to have a common voltage, and a pair of amplifiers coupled together at the first input terminal and configured to generate the upper voltage and the lower voltage to correspond to a difference between the common voltage and, respectively, first and second analog intermediate voltages representing respective threshold values of the upper voltage and of the lower voltage. The control circuit may include an auxiliary amplifier configured to adjust the upper voltage and the lower voltage based upon fluctuations of an input voltage, and generate the common voltage to correspond to the difference between the input voltage and a reference voltage.

Abstract: A method transfers a graphene layer from a donor substrate onto a final substrate. The method includes: providing a metal layer on the donor substrate; and growing a graphene layer on the metal layer. The method also includes: laminating a dry film photo-resist on the graphene layer; laminating a tape on the dry film photo-resist; chemically. etching the metal layer, obtaining an initial structure that includes the tape, the dry film photo-resist and the graphene layer; laminating the initial structure on the final substrate; thermally realizing the tape, so as to obtain an intermediate structure that includes the dry film photo-resist, the graphene layer and the final substrate; removing the dry film photo-resist; and obtaining a final structure that includes the final substrate with a transferred graphene layer.

Abstract: A capped integrated device includes a semiconductor chip, incorporating an integrated device and a protective cap, bonded to the semiconductor chip for protection of the integrated device by means of a bonding layer made of a bonding material. The bonding material forms anchorage elements within recesses, formed in at least one between the semiconductor chip and the protective cap.

Abstract: A process for manufacturing an SOI wafer, including the steps of: forming, in a wafer of semiconductor material, cavities delimiting structures of semiconductor material; thinning out the structures through a thermal process; and completely oxidizing the structures.

Abstract: An embodiment relates to distributing media over a peer-to-peer network by employing a digital fountain coding. Accordingly, the file is separated into file portions and the portions are combined to obtain encoded portions which are then transmitted. A file portion may form a part of a plurality of the encoded and transmitted file portions. The portions may be pieces and/or blocks of the file, wherein a piece includes a plurality of blocks. An embodiment further provides mechanisms for efficient block-request-transmission approaches in which the initial requests for blocks in the file are transmitted and additional requests for some random blocks are transmitted. The additional requests may be transmitted after each piece or after the entire file blocks have been requested, or both.