Patents by Inventor Tristan O. Rocheleau

Tristan O. Rocheleau 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: 10530337
    Abstract: Active feedback is used with two electrodes of a four-electrode capacitive-gap transduced wine-glass disk resonator to enable boosting of an intrinsic resonator Q and to allow independent control of insertion loss across the two other electrodes. Two such Q-boosted resonators configured as parallel micromechanical filters may achieve a tiny 0.001% bandwidth passband centered around 61 MHz with only 2.7 dB of insertion loss, boosting the intrinsic resonator Q from 57,000, to an active Q of 670,000. The split capacitive coupling electrode design removes amplifier feedback from the signal path, allowing independent control of input-output coupling, Q, and frequency. Controllable resonator Q allows creation of narrow channel-select filters with insertion losses lower than otherwise achievable, and allows maximizing the dynamic range of a communication front-end without the need for a variable gain low noise amplifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
    Inventors: Clark T.-C. Nguyen, Thura Lin Naing, Tristan O. Rocheleau
  • Publication number: 20190190497
    Abstract: Active feedback is used with two electrodes of a four-electrode capacitive-gap transduced wine-glass disk resonator to enable boosting of an intrinsic resonator Q and to allow independent control of insertion loss across the two other electrodes. Two such Q-boosted resonators configured as parallel micromechanical filters may achieve a tiny 0.001% bandwidth passband centered around 61 MHz with only 2.7 dB of insertion loss, boosting the intrinsic resonator Q from 57,000, to an active Q of 670,000. The split capacitive coupling electrode design removes amplifier feedback from the signal path, allowing independent control of input-output coupling, Q, and frequency. Controllable resonator Q allows creation of narrow channel-select filters with insertion losses lower than otherwise achievable, and allows maximizing the dynamic range of a communication front-end without the need for a variable gain low noise amplifier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2018
    Publication date: June 20, 2019
    Applicant: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
    Inventors: Clark T.-C. Nguyen, Thura Lin Naing, Tristan O. Rocheleau
  • Patent number: 10224875
    Abstract: A micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) frequency divider apparatus having one or more MEMS resonators on a substrate is presented. A first oscillator frequency, as an approximate multiple of the parametric oscillation frequency, is capacitively coupled from a very closely-spaced electrode (e.g., 40 nm) to a resonant structure of the first oscillator, thus inducing mechanical oscillation. This mechanical oscillation can be coupled through additional MEMS resonators on the substrate. The mechanical resonance is then converted, in at least one of the MEMS resonators, by capacitive coupling back to an electrical signal which is a division of the first oscillation frequency. Output may be generated as a single ended output, or in response to a differential signal between two output electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
    Inventors: Clark T.-C. Nguyen, Tristan O. Rocheleau
  • Patent number: 10177742
    Abstract: Active feedback is used with two electrodes of a four-electrode capacitive-gap transduced wine-glass disk resonator to enable boosting of an intrinsic resonator Q and to allow independent control of insertion loss across the two other electrodes. Two such Q-boosted resonators configured as parallel micromechanical filters may achieve a tiny 0.001% bandwidth passband centered around 61 MHz with only 2.7 dB of insertion loss, boosting the intrinsic resonator Q from 57,000, to an active Q of 670,000. The split capacitive coupling electrode design removes amplifier feedback from the signal path, allowing independent control of input-output coupling, Q, and frequency. Controllable resonator Q allows creation of narrow channel-select filters with insertion losses lower than otherwise achievable, and allows maximizing the dynamic range of a communication front-end without the need for a variable gain low noise amplifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
    Inventors: Clark T.-C. Nguyen, Thura Lin Naing, Tristan O. Rocheleau
  • Patent number: 9853679
    Abstract: A radio frequency (RF) MEMS resonator is embedded in an active positive feedback loop to form a tunable RF channel-selecting radio transceiver employing a super-regenerative reception scheme. This transceiver harnesses the exceptionally high Q (around 100,000) and voltage-controlled frequency tuning of a resonator structure to enable selection of any one of among twenty 1 kHz wide RF channels over an 80 kHz range, while rejecting adjacent channels and consuming <490 ?W. Such transceivers are well suited to wireless sensor node applications, where low-power and simplicity trump transmission rate. Electrical stiffness-based frequency tuning also allows this same device to operate as a frequency shift keyed (FSK) transmitter, making a complete transceiver in one simple device. Finally, the geometric flexibility of resonator structure design should permit a large range of usable RF frequencies, from the presently demonstrated 60.6-MHz VHF, all the way up to UHF.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
    Inventors: Clark T.-C. Nguyen, Tristan O. Rocheleau, Thura Lin Naing
  • Publication number: 20170141810
    Abstract: A radio frequency (RF) MEMS resonator is embedded in an active positive feedback loop to form a tunable RF channel-selecting radio transceiver employing a super-regenerative reception scheme. This transceiver harnesses the exceptionally high Q (around 100,000) and voltage-controlled frequency tuning of a resonator structure to enable selection of any one of among twenty 1 kHz wide RF channels over an 80 kHz range, while rejecting adjacent channels and consuming <490 ?W. Such transceivers are well suited to wireless sensor node applications, where low-power and simplicity trump transmission rate. Electrical stiffness-based frequency tuning also allows this same device to operate as a frequency shift keyed (FSK) transmitter, making a complete transceiver in one simple device. Finally, the geometric flexibility of resonator structure design should permit a large range of usable RF frequencies, from the presently demonstrated 60.6-MHz VHF, all the way up to UHF.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2016
    Publication date: May 18, 2017
    Applicant: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
    Inventors: Clark T.-C. Nguyen, Tristan O. Rocheleau, Thura Lin Naing
  • Publication number: 20170126206
    Abstract: Active feedback is used with two electrodes of a four-electrode capacitive-gap transduced wine-glass disk resonator to enable boosting of an intrinsic resonator Q and to allow independent control of insertion loss across the two other electrodes. Two such Q-boosted resonators configured as parallel micromechanical filters may achieve a tiny 0.001% bandwidth passband centered around 61 MHz with only 2.7 dB of insertion loss, boosting the intrinsic resonator Q from 57,000, to an active Q of 670,000. The split capacitive coupling electrode design removes amplifier feedback from the signal path, allowing independent control of input-output coupling, Q, and frequency. Controllable resonator Q allows creation of narrow channel-select filters with insertion losses lower than otherwise achievable, and allows maximizing the dynamic range of a communication front-end without the need for a variable gain low noise amplifier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2016
    Publication date: May 4, 2017
    Applicant: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
    Inventors: Clark T.-C. Nguyen, Thura Lin Naing, Tristan O. Rocheleau
  • Publication number: 20170047893
    Abstract: A micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) frequency divider apparatus having one or more MEMS resonators on a substrate is presented. A first oscillator frequency, as an approximate multiple of the parametric oscillation frequency, is capacitively coupled from a very closely-spaced electrode (e.g., 40 nm) to a resonant structure of the first oscillator, thus inducing mechanical oscillation. This mechanical oscillation can be coupled through additional MEMS resonators on the substrate. The mechanical resonance is then converted, in at least one of the MEMS resonators, by capacitive coupling back to an electrical signal which is a division of the first oscillation frequency. Output may be generated as a single ended output, or in response to a differential signal between two output electrodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 1, 2016
    Publication date: February 16, 2017
    Applicant: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
    Inventors: Clark T.-C. Nguyen, Tristan O. Rocheleau