Patents Assigned to EM Microelectronic
  • Patent number: 11190056
    Abstract: A method and device for transmitting (20) to an electrical element (4) the power of a radio frequency type signal received by a radio frequency receiver (1), e.g., a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip, the receiver (1) having a receiving antenna (2) and a voltage rectifier (3) of the signal received by the antenna (2), the transmission device (20) including a voltage converter (30) connected to the rectifier (3) of the chip and to the electrical element (4). The device includes a control system (40) configured to momentarily derive the signal from the rectifier (3) in order to define an optimal input voltage of the converter (30) for which the input impedance of the converter corresponds to the output impedance of the rectifier (2), and to redirect the DC signal to the voltage converter (30) by providing the converter with an input voltage setpoint corresponding to the optimal voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: EM MICROELECTRONIC-MARIN S.A.
    Inventors: Jerome Saby, Maeve Petit, Thomas Coulot
  • Publication number: 20210342557
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a NFC communication system, to a method of establishing communication between a wireless communication device and a passive NFC device and to a passive NFC device. The passive NFC device includes an NFC controller, an NFC transceiver coupled with the NFC controller, and at least one persistent flag coupled with the NFC controller, the persistent flag being switchable between an activated state and a deactivated state. The NFC controller is configured to perform a logical operation being divisible into a sequence of at least a first subtask and a second subtask and the NFC controller is configured to ascertain the status of the persistent flag. The NFC controller is further configured to selectively perform at least one of the first subtask and the second subtask on the basis of the status of the persistent flag.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2019
    Publication date: November 4, 2021
    Applicant: EM Microelectronic-Marin SA
    Inventors: James J. SPRINGER, Fabrice WALTER, Pierre MULLER, Fabien BOURQUIN
  • Patent number: 11134382
    Abstract: A method of authenticating a transponder in communication with a server. The method includes the steps of defining a word in the transponder with a previous state of a counter of the transponder, incremented by a random number generated in the transponder, calculating a one-time password in the transponder with the aid of an HOTP algorithm and of a secret key on the basis of the word, transmitting the word and the one-time password to the server, calculating another one-time password in the server with the word received from the transponder by the HOTP algorithm and with one and the same secret key, and checking whether the passwords are identical so as to authenticate the transponder and authorize access to a site determined by the server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: EM Microelectronic-Marin SA
    Inventors: Tomas Novak, Julian Guilloux, Stephanie Salgado
  • Patent number: 11025166
    Abstract: The invention relates to a DC-DC converter (1) for a power source (2) generating extremely low voltage, the converter (1) operating in discontinuous mode, wherein the converter (1) comprises a self-oscillating charge pump (3a) having an array of interconnected ring oscillators (RO1-RON) for successively stepping up an input voltage (Vin) so as to result in the accumulated voltage (XN) at the last ring oscillator (RON), an amplifier (3b) and a pulse signal generator (3c) that generates a pulse signal that actuates a switch (11) so that the stepped-up, output voltage may be provided via a diode (12). The invention further relates to a method for actuating the DC-DC converter (1) for a power source (2) generating extremely low voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: EM MICROELECTRONIC MARIN S.A.
    Inventors: Mathieu Coustans, Yves Theoduloz, Jerome Saby, Cyril Marti, Mario Dellea
  • Patent number: 11012271
    Abstract: An RFID circuit and to a demodulator for an RFID circuit, the demodulator including an input and at least one output, a clock extractor connected to the input, a comparator connected to at least one output, a finite impulse response FIR filter arrangement connected to the input and connected to the comparator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: EM Microelectronic-Marin SA
    Inventors: Alessandro Venca, Michel Moser
  • Patent number: 11003232
    Abstract: A power management integrated circuit including a reference signal generator, a start-up unit and a supervisory circuit. The supervisory circuit includes an electrical resistance circuit connected between a first end node and a second end node; a power supply input for receiving a supply voltage, this power supply input being connected to the first end node; a low reference potential node; a comparator for comparing a reference voltage value at a first input and a divided voltage value at a second input connected to an internal electrical node of the electrical resistance circuit, the comparator can output a monitoring signal. The supervisory circuit includes a switch controlled by the start-up unit so that the switch is selectively closed and opened based on a detected operational state of the reference signal generator indicating a normal functioning phase of the power management circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: EM Microelectronic-Marin SA
    Inventors: Jerome Saby, Matteo Contaldo, Yves Theoduloz
  • Patent number: 10983483
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an electronic watch allowing data to be received, comprising: An electrical energy source A control member arranged to be supplied with power by the electrical energy source A receiver module comprising: An optical sensor capable of detecting a sequence of light pulses modulated by data, and of converting said sequence into a digital signal An energy storage element arranged to store electrical energy generated by the optical sensor A demodulator arranged to be supplied with power by the energy storage element, capable of extracting the data from the digital signal Transmission means capable of transmitting the extracted data to the control member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: EM Microelectronic-Marin S.A.
    Inventor: Hugo Jaeggi
  • Patent number: 10976340
    Abstract: An electronic measuring device for measuring a physical parameter includes a differential analogue sensor formed from two capacitances—an excitation circuit of the differential analogue sensor providing to the sensor two electrical excitation signals which are inverted—a measuring circuit which generates an analogue electrical voltage which is a function determined from the value of the sensor, and a circuit for compensating for a possible offset of the sensor, which is formed from a compensation capacitance, which is excited by its own electrical excitation signal. The excitation circuit is arranged in order to be able to provide to an additional capacitance of the compensation circuit its own electrical excitation signal having a linear dependence on the absolute temperature with a determined proportionality factor in order to compensate for a drift in temperature of an electrical assembly of the measuring device comprising at least the compensation capacitance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: EM Microelectronic-Marin SA
    Inventors: Sylvain Grosjean, Yonghong Tao, Alexandre Deschildre, Hugues Blangy
  • Patent number: 10964184
    Abstract: An integrated circuit chip (2), an antenna (3) and a tamper loop (4), and in addition to this, a light emitting diode (LED) (20), configured to be activated, i.e. supplied with current, upon a signal received by the antenna (3). The LED (20) is integrated in the device in such a way that when the LED is activated in the above-described way, the LED lights up so as to become visible by the naked eye, on the condition that the tamper loop (4) is in a predefined state, either open or closed. The LED (20) is coupled between the same terminals (8,9) of the integrated circuit chip (2) as the tamper loop (4).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: EM MICROELECTRONIC-MARIN SA
    Inventors: Christophe Entringer, Thomas Coulot, Fritz Mbumb-Kumb, Matteo Contaldo
  • Patent number: 10956801
    Abstract: A method provides a tamper loop status of a radio-frequency transponder to a reader. The transponder communicates with the reader at a first frequency according to a first communication protocol. The transponder includes a first non-volatile memory for storing a first set of data of the first communication protocol. The first memory includes a user memory having two portions and each portion includes a data item specific to a status of the tamper loop. The method is performed by the transponder after receiving a request according to the first protocol to read the user memory and includes generating a logical view of the user memory, the logical view including only one of the two portions that is selected according to a value of a binary parameter representative of a status of the tamper loop. The method also includes providing the logical view to the reader via the first protocol.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: EM Microelectronic-Marin S.A.
    Inventors: Juergen Riedel, Paul Muller, Goran Stojanovic, Jan Bicak
  • Patent number: 10910945
    Abstract: The elementary pumping cell comprises an input (E) receiving an input voltage (Vin), a clock terminal (H) receiving a first clock signal (CK1) and an output (S), a first capacitor (C1) having a first terminal connected to the clock terminal and a second terminal, a first transistor (A1) having a first source/drain terminal coupled to the input, a second source/drain terminal and a gate terminal, a second transistor (A2) having a first source/drain terminal, a second source/drain terminal coupled to the input and a gate terminal coupled to the second terminal of the first capacitor, a third transistor (A3) having a first source/drain terminal coupled to the first source/drain terminal of the second transistor, a second source/drain terminal coupled to the gate terminal of the second transistor and a gate terminal coupled to the input, and a fourth transistor (A4) having a first source/drain terminal coupled to the second source/drain terminal of the first transistor, a second source/drain terminal coupled to t
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: EM Microelectronic-Marin SA
    Inventors: Mathieu Coustans, Lubomir Plavec, Mario Dellea
  • Patent number: 10873322
    Abstract: A detector circuit being part of a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) device is provided, including: a bias current generator circuit configured to generate an output bias current that is proportional to the square of a temperature-dependent input current; first and second Field-Effect Transistor (FET) devices; at least one of the first and the second FET devices is biased by means of the output bias current of the bias current generator circuit so that FET device(s) operates in a sub-threshold region; an incoming Radio Frequency (RF) signal being coupled into at least one of the first and the second FET devices; a current source configured to generate a variable threshold current; and a comparator configured to determine, based on the variable threshold current and the incoming RF signal, whether a value of the incoming RF signal exceeds a threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignee: EM Microelectronic-Marin S.A.
    Inventors: Robert R Rotzoll, Kevin Scott Buescher
  • Publication number: 20200363368
    Abstract: A sensor interface circuit (5) for an amperometric electrochemical sensor (3). The circuit includes: a current-to-voltage converter (9, Rf) connected to a first terminal (WRK) of the sensor (3) for converting an electric current through the sensor (3) to a voltage at an output terminal (10) of the current-to-voltage converter (9, Rf); a first amplifier (7) connected between a second terminal (REF) and a third terminal (CNTR) of the sensor (3) for maintaining a substantially fixed voltage difference between the first and second terminals (WRK, REF) of the sensor (3); a power supply (11) for powering the voltage converter (9, Rf) and for powering a first portion (31) of the first amplifier (7); and a negative voltage converter (17) configured to power a second portion of the first amplifier (7) through its low-side supply terminal (41), while a high-side supply terminal (39) of the second portion of the first amplifier (7) is configured to be connected to the power supply (11).
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2020
    Publication date: November 19, 2020
    Applicant: EM MICROELECTRONIC-MARIN SA
    Inventor: Yonghong TAO
  • Publication number: 20200349821
    Abstract: An integrated circuit chip (2), an antenna (3) and a tamper loop (4), and in addition to this, a light emitting diode (LED) (20), configured to be activated, i.e. supplied with current, upon a signal received by the antenna (3). The LED (20) is integrated in the device in such a way that when the LED is activated in the above-described way, the LED lights up so as to become visible by the naked eye, on the condition that the tamper loop (4) is in a predefined state, either open or closed. The LED (20) is coupled between the same terminals (8,9) of the integrated circuit chip (2) as the tamper loop (4).
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2020
    Publication date: November 5, 2020
    Applicant: EM Microelectronic-Marin SA
    Inventors: Christophe Entringer, Thomas Coulot, Fritz Mbumb-Kumb, Matteo Contaldo
  • Publication number: 20200349407
    Abstract: A dual frequency HF-UHF RFID integrated circuit including a power supply. The power supply includes: an HF branch including an HF rectifier and a linear voltage regulator, wherein the HF rectifier is configured to be connected to a resonance circuit formed by a HF antenna-coil and a resonance capacitor and wherein the HF rectifier is connected to the linear voltage regulator; a UHF branch including a UHF rectifier and a shunt voltage regulator, wherein the UHF rectifier has a charge pump and is configured to be connected to a UHF antenna and wherein the UHF rectifier is connected to the shunt voltage regulator; and a supply line, wherein the linear voltage regulator and the shunt voltage regulator are both connected to the supply line of the power supply.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2020
    Publication date: November 5, 2020
    Applicant: EM MICROELECTRONIC-MARIN SA
    Inventor: Thomas COULOT
  • Publication number: 20200336014
    Abstract: A method and device for transmitting (20) to an electrical element (4) the power of a radio frequency type signal received by a radio frequency receiver (1), e.g., a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip, the receiver (1) having a receiving antenna (2) and a voltage rectifier (3) of the signal received by the antenna (2), the transmission device (20) including a voltage converter (30) connected to the rectifier (3) of the chip and to the electrical element (4). The device includes a control system (40) configured to momentarily derive the signal from the rectifier (3) in order to define an optimal input voltage of the converter (30) for which the input impedance of the converter corresponds to the output impedance of the rectifier (2), and to redirect the DC signal to the voltage converter (30) by providing the converter with an input voltage setpoint corresponding to the optimal voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2020
    Publication date: October 22, 2020
    Applicant: EM MICROELECTRONIC MARIN S.A.
    Inventors: Jerome SABY, Maeve PETIT, Thomas COULOT
  • Patent number: 10796300
    Abstract: An assembly includes a main terminal equipped with a communication module using at least a first communications protocol capable of connecting the main terminal to a communication network, which enables the use of at least one function, the main terminal being arranged to use at least one configuration program, and the configuration program enables at least one preferred function to be selected and a code representing the selected preferred function to be generated, and a second communications protocol. The assembly additionally comprises at least one secondary terminal equipped with a passive communication module using the second communications protocol to communicate with the main terminal in order to protect the code representing the selected preferred function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: EM Microelectronic-Marin S.A.
    Inventors: Georges Nicolas Hayek, Michel Willemin, Jean-Claude Martin, Thomas Gyger
  • Publication number: 20200284854
    Abstract: A method of determining an absolute angle of a magnetic field includes receiving a first digital measurement value Bx of a first magnetic field component indicating intensity of the magnetic field along a first axis; receiving a second digital measurement value Bz of a second magnetic field component indicating the intensity of the magnetic field along a second axis, orthogonal to the first axis; determining absolute values for the first and second magnetic field components; and determining the angle of the magnetic field with respect to the first or second axis. The angle is determined so that the angle is derivable from the value of arcsin of Bz or of its approximation, when the absolute value of Bz? the absolute value of Bx, and derivable from the value of arccos of Bx or of its approximation, when the absolute value of Bz> the absolute value of Bx.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2019
    Publication date: September 10, 2020
    Applicant: EM Microelectronic-Marin SA
    Inventors: Lorenzo PIEROBON, Alexandre DESCHILDRE, Evan LOJEWSKI, Jeremy SCHLACHTER
  • Patent number: 10763805
    Abstract: The present invention concerns a programmable power amplifier comprising: an amplifier core transistor circuit connected to an amplifier output node; a switch connected to the amplifier core transistor circuit, the switch being configured to switch on and off the amplifier core transistor circuit; and a feedback circuit of the amplifier core transistor circuit. The feedback circuit comprises a digital-to-analog converter and an operational amplifier having a first input node configured to receive a first reference signal; a second input node connected to the digital-to-analog converter; and an output node for outputting an operational amplifier output signal and connected to the amplifier core transistor circuit for controlling the amount of current flowing in the amplifier core transistor circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: EM Microelectronic-Marin S.A.
    Inventors: Robert R. Rotzoll, Kevin Scott Buescher
  • Publication number: 20200249096
    Abstract: A temperature sensor arrangement (10), including a bandgap voltage generator (12), which is configured to provide an output voltage (Vbg); at least one semiconductor junction (14) for temperature sensing, which is biased by a biasing current flowing through said semiconductor junction (14); and at least one poly-resistor (Rb3) which is connected between the output (23) of the bandgap voltage generator (12) and the semiconductor junction (14), thereby providing said biasing current from the bandgap voltage generator (12) to the semiconductor junction (14).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Publication date: August 6, 2020
    Applicant: EM MICROELECTRONIC MARIN S.A.
    Inventors: Yonghong TAO, Pinchas Novac, Sylvain Grosjean, Alexandre Deschildre, Hugues Blangy