Patents Assigned to Dialog Semiconductor
  • Electromagnetic interference blocking system
    Patent number: 10250046
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for blocking electromagnetic interference, EMI is presented. In particular, the present invention relates to a switched mode power supply provided with an electromagnetic interference protection circuit with low power dissipation. There is provided an adiabatically-switched electromagnetic interference protection circuit. The protection circuit contains a first charge storage element and a second charge storage element. A switching regulator operates with a switching cycle having an on-time and an off-time; and the control signal is arranged to cause a transition between the first mode and the second mode to start during the off-time of a switching cycle of the switching regulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventor: John Kesterson
  • On-chip tuneable diffusion resistor
    Patent number: 10249769
    Abstract: An object of the disclosure is to take a CMOS varactor structure (NMOS in N-well or PMOS in P-well) and turn it in to a three terminal on-chip tuneable diffusion resistor. The diffusion resistor can be made with an n+ diffusion inside the p-substrate, or with a p+ diffusion inside an N-well that lies within the p-substrate. The resistor can be implemented in any existing CMOS or BICMOS silicon technology, without using additional masks. The resistor can be also implemented in a technology with FINFETs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventor: Douglas Daley
  • Slope enhancement circuit for switched regulated current mirrors
    Patent number: 10248150
    Abstract: An object of the disclosure is to provide a slope enhancement circuit, comprising an amplifier and a specific arrangement of capacitors and switches, further comprising a current digital to analog converter (IDAC), in a switched regulated current mirror. A method of sample and hold exploits the transient dynamics of the switched current mirror, to enhance the output current slope during PWM operation. A further object of the disclosure is to provide a low power, high speed switching type of regulated current mirror architecture. Still further, another object of the disclosure is to provide quick response to a sudden demand in current with a high degree of accuracy. Still further, another object of the disclosure is to provide a significant savings in circuit area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Shyam Narayanan, Fulvio Schiappelli
  • Voltage regulator with drive voltage dependent on reference voltage
    Patent number: 10248145
    Abstract: A voltage regulator to provide a load current at an output node is presented. The voltage regulator has a pass transistor for providing the load current at the output node from an input node. The voltage regulator contains a driver stage to set a gate voltage at a gate of the pass transistor based on a drive voltage at a gate of a drive transistor. The voltage regulator has voltage regulation means to set the drive voltage in dependence of an indication of the output voltage at the output node and in dependence of a reference voltage for the output voltage. The driver stage has the drive transistor and a diode transistor, wherein the diode transistor forms a current mirror with the pass transistor. The driver stage has a current amplifier amplifies a drive current through the drive transistor to provide an amplified current through the diode transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Dan Ciomaga, Mihail Jefremow, Stephan Drebinger, Fabio Rigoni
  • Secondary-side dynamic load detection and communication device
    Patent number: 10243468
    Abstract: A switching power converter provides regulated voltage to a load. The switching power converter comprises a transformer including a primary winding coupled to an input voltage and a secondary winding coupled to an output of the switching power converter. The switching power converter further comprises a power switch coupled to the primary winding and a rectifier coupled to the secondary winding. Current is generated in the primary winding responsive to the power switch being turned on and not generated responsive to the power switch being turned off. A detection circuit measures a voltage across the rectifier. If the detection circuit detects a decrease in the voltage across the rectifier outside of a blanking period, the detection circuit generates a current pulse in the secondary winding of the transformer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor Inc.
    Inventors: Pengju Kong, Yong Li
  • System and method for powering a switching converter
    Patent number: 10243451
    Abstract: A circuit and method for regulating an internal power supply of a switching converter is presented. A switching converter with a depletion mode power switch coupled to an enhancement mode power switch via a switching node and an energy storing element coupled to the depletion mode power switch is provided. The energy storing element may be adapted to provide energy to the switching converter. For instance, the energy storing element may be a capacitor. Optionally, the switching converter may comprise an inductor coupled to the depletion mode transistor, the inductor being adapted to provide an inductor current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Horst Knoedgen, Christoph N. Nagl, Nebojsa Jelaca
  • Control and synchronization mechanism for a complex distributed power management system
    Patent number: 10241551
    Abstract: A distributed power management system comprising at least two power management integrated circuits PMICs is presented. A master power management integrated circuit PMIC supplies power to a subsystem of an electronic device based on a current state of a master finite state machine FSM executed by the master PMIC. A slave power management integrated circuit PMIC executes a slave finite state machine FSM and supplies power to another subsystem based on the current state of the master FSM. For synchronizing the operation of both PMIC, the master PMIC transmits, to the slave PMIC, synchronization information indicative of at least one of an input signal of the master FSM, a state of the master FSM, a state transition of the master FSM, and an output signal generated by the master FSM. A distributed power management method is presented which is carried out by a master PMIC and a slave PMIC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Olivier Girard, Daniele Giorgetti, Joao Paulo Trierveiler Martins, Philip Todd
  • Regulated power supply voltage and triac hold-up current for a switching power converter
    Patent number: 10237931
    Abstract: A switching power converter is provided that includes a current source that controls the charging of a storage capacitor to provide a regulated internal power supply voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: DIALOG SEMICONDUCTOR INC.
    Inventor: Chenglong Zhang
  • Accurate current sensing
    Patent number: 10234487
    Abstract: A current sense circuit for a pass transistor is described. The circuit comprises a sense transistor having input and control ports that are coupled to input and control ports respectively of the pass transistor. The circuit comprises a differential amplifier comprising a differential input and output. An output port of the pass transistor is coupled to a first port of the differential input and an output port of the sense transistor is coupled to a second port of the differential input. The differential amplifier comprises a first sub-amplifier and a second sub-amplifier that are arranged in parallel and which are operated in an auto-zero phase and in an amplification phase in an alternating manner, and which are operated in the auto-zero phase in a mutually exclusive manner. The output of the differential amplifier is used to control voltage drops across the sense transistor and the pass transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Nicolo Nizza, Danilo Gerna
  • High efficiency switching boost converter with reduced inductor current ripple
    Patent number: 10230302
    Abstract: A voltage or current regulated power converter is presented. The power converter is configured to derive electrical power at an output voltage Vout at an output of the power converter from electrical power at an input voltage Vin at an input of the power converter, wherein the output voltage Vout is greater than or equal to the input voltage Vin. The power converter comprises an inductor, a plurality of capacitors and a plurality of switches. The input and output unit are coupled via an intermediate point, wherein the output unit comprises a first output or second output arrangement, and wherein the input unit comprises a first input or a second input arrangement. The power converter comprises a controller configured to control the plurality of switches such that a commutation cycle of the power converter comprises a plurality of different operation phases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventor: Holger Petersen
  • Isolated switching power converter with data communication between primary and secondary sides
    Patent number: 10230303
    Abstract: An isolated switching power converter is provided wherein a secondary side is valley mode switched to transmit data to a primary side. This provides secondary side regulation without the need for an optocoupler. Data communication between the primary and secondary sides of switching power converters is presented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrey Malinin, John Kesterson
  • Apparatus and method for driving a power stage
    Patent number: 10218258
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for driving a power stage is presented. In particular, the power stage is a half-bridge. In the method, there is a first power switch coupled to a second power switch via a switching node. The method steps include sensing a first control-terminal voltage of one of the first power switch and the second power switch and turning on the first power switch based on the first control-terminal voltage and sensing a second control-terminal voltage of one of the first power switch and the second power switch and turning on the second power switch based on the second control-terminal voltage. Optionally, the first power switch is turned on when the first control-terminal voltage has reached a first threshold value, and the second power switch is turned on when the second control-terminal voltage has reached a second threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Christoph N. Nagl, Horst Knoedgen, Nebojsa Jelaca
  • Power converter with improved transient load response
    Patent number: 10218255
    Abstract: A power converter which converts between a first current at a first voltage provided at a first node and a second current at a second voltage provided at a second node. The power converter has a flying capacitor, an inductor and five switches. Furthermore, the power converter has a control unit to control four switches during steady state operation within a sequence of different operations states, in order to set the second voltage or the second current to a target level. In addition, the control unit detects the occurrence of a load transient at the second node, and in reaction to detecting occurrence of a load transient, to at least partially close a bypass switch, in order to provide additional current from the flying capacitor to the second node or in order to divert current from the inductor towards the reference potential.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventor: Holger Petersen
  • Overvoltage clamp in regulators
    Patent number: 10216207
    Abstract: A regulator for providing a load current at a regulator output voltage to a load at an output of the regulator is described. The regulator has a differential input stage to provide a differential output voltage based on a reference voltage and based on the regulator output voltage. Furthermore, the regulator has an output driver to generate a control signal based on the differential output voltage. In addition, the regulator has a pass transistor to provide the load current in dependence of the control signal. The regulator also has clamping circuitry to sense an overvoltage indication which indicates that the pass transistor is being turned off. Furthermore, the clamping circuitry clamps the differential output voltage to a clamping voltage, if the overvoltage indication indicates that the pass transistor is being turned off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Hande Kurnaz, Ambreesh Bhattad, Frank Kronmueller
  • Power converter controller
    Patent number: 10206253
    Abstract: A controller for a power converter to convert electrical power at an input voltage into electrical power at an output voltage and a method of operating such controller is presented. The controller for controlling a power converter has an input port to receive a voltage representative of the input voltage; an input voltage measuring unit to sample a measuring voltage and to determine a measurement value that is representative of the input voltage; a switch; and a diode connectable with a storage unit to provide a supply voltage for the controller during operation of the controller. The switch controls the charging of the storage unit from the voltage at the input port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Horst Knoedgen, Julian Tyrrell
  • Negative current clocking
    Patent number: 10205389
    Abstract: A switching mode power supply (SMPS) configured for clearing an overvoltage condition. The overvoltage is determined by detecting that the output voltage has exceeded the input voltage by a limited amount. The overvoltage is cleared by repetitively turning on and then off the switches controlling the flow of energy to the SMPS in sequence until the excess charge resulting from the overvoltage is couple to circuit ground, and the output is reduced to within acceptable limits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Mark Childs, Paul Collins
  • Circuit and method of a switching converter with adaptive pulse insertion
    Patent number: 10205385
    Abstract: A circuit and method for a switching converter that modifies the clock frequency when the panic comparator is activated is proposed. This solution for a switching converter is achieved by increases in the switching frequency in response to an undershoot condition. In summary, a switching converter circuit, comprising at least one phase functional block configured to provide an output voltage, a panic comparator configured to evaluate voltage excursion conditions of the output voltage, and a clock generator with pulse insertion function wherein the pulse insertion function is configured to increase the switching frequency during a voltage excursion condition to minimize or mitigate voltage excursions. In addition, a switching converter circuit, comprising a clock generator with a pulse width extender configured to provide a signal to said pulse insertion function logic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Seiichi Ozawa, Santhos Ario Wibowo
  • Circuit and method for high-accuracy current sensing
    Patent number: 10205378
    Abstract: A circuit for providing a current flowing from a supply voltage into an electric load is presented. The circuit comprises a first circuit branch connected between the supply voltage and an output node connected to the electric load, wherein the first circuit branch comprises a first transistor device, a second circuit branch connected between the supply voltage and a predetermined voltage level, wherein the second circuit branch comprises a series connection of a second transistor device that is a scaled replica of the first transistor device and a current source. The control terminals of the first and second transistor devices are connected to each other. A control circuit is configured to control the voltage at the control terminal of the first transistor device depending on a current flowing through the first transistor device. The application further relates to a method of operating such circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Danilo Gerna, Enrico Pardi
  • Voltage regulator with output capacitor measurement
    Patent number: 10203710
    Abstract: A voltage regulator which provides an output current at an output voltage at an output node of the voltage regulator, based on an input voltage at an input node of the voltage regulator is described. The voltage regulator has an output amplification stage for deriving the output current at the output node from the input voltage at the input node in dependence of a drive voltage. Furthermore, the voltage regulator has a differential amplification stage to determine the drive voltage in dependence of the output voltage and in dependence of a reference voltage. In addition, the voltage regulator has an adaption unit to determine a capacitance indication of a capacitor value of an output capacitor coupled to the output node of the voltage regulator. The adaption unit also adapts the differential amplification stage in dependence of the capacitance indication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Ambreesh Bhattad, Frank Kronmueller, Hande Kurnaz
  • Multi-phase DC-DC converters with open-loop PWM for transient performance enhancement
    Patent number: 10199939
    Abstract: A multi-phase switching power converter includes a panic mode detector that triggers the activation of each phase in an open-loop mode of operation in which an open-loop duty cycle is used that is greater than a closed-loop duty cycle used during closed-loop operation for the active phases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: DIALOG SEMICONDUCTOR (UK) LIMITED
    Inventors: Kevin Yi Cheng Chang, James Doyle, Qing Li, Xiaoying Yu, Ibiyemi Omole, Jonathon Stiff, Erik Mentze, Aysel Yildiz