Abstract: Various embodiments relate to a MEMS pressure sensor including: a lower electrode; a first insulating layer over the lower electrode; a second insulating layer over the first insulating layer that forms a cavity between the first and second insulating layers; an upper electrode over the second insulating layer, wherein a portion of the cavity is between the upper and lower electrodes; and a NONON pressure membrane over the upper electrode.

Abstract: The invention relates to a controller for a radio circuit. The radio circuit comprises at least one variable impedance element coupled between an antenna and a received signal quality indicator generator. The controller is configured to receive a received signal quality indicator from the received signal quality indicator generator and to provide a control signal to the at least one variable impedance element. The control signal comprises a command to modify the impedance of the variable impedance element in accordance with the value of the received signal quality indicator.

Abstract: A pre-driver for an amplifier comprising a load network in which the following elements are connected in the following order: a resistor-an inductor-a capacitor. Also described are a power amplifier comprising such a pre-driver, a method of fabricating a pre-driver for an amplifier, and a method of performing power amplification.

Abstract: A semiconductor device comprises a substrate including a first region and a second region of a first conductivity type and a third region between the first and second regions of a second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type, and being covered by a dielectric layer. A plurality of trenches laterally extend between the third and second region, are filled with an insulating material, and are separated by active stripes with a doping profile having a depth not exceeding the depth of the trenches wherein each trench terminates before reaching the dielectric layer and is separated from the third region by a substrate portion such that the respective boundaries between the substrate portions and the trenches are not covered by the dielectric layer. A method for manufacturing such a semiconductor device is also disclosed.

Abstract: Data is received with a transceiver circuit with a receiver branch (14) that comprises a notch filter (140) and a digital Fourier transformer (146). Furthermore the transceiver circuit has a transmitter branch (16) comprising an inverse digital Fourier transformer (160). Prior to reception the transceiver circuit is switched to a calibration mode, wherein an output of the transmitter branch (16) is coupled to an input of the notch filter (140). The inverse digital Fourier transformer (160) of the transmitter is used to compute an inverse transform of a spectrum with a frequency component at a selected position. A signal derived from the inverse transform is applied to an input of the notch filter (140) in the calibration mode. The digital Fourier transformer (146) is used to Fourier transform an output signal of the notch filter (140). A control setting of the notch filter to suppress the frequency component from an output of the digital Fourier transformer (146) is determined.

Abstract: The invention relates to a semiconductor device (10) with a substrate (11) and a semiconductor body (1) comprising a bipolar transistor with in that order a collector region (2), a base region (3), and an emitter region (4), wherein the semiconductor body comprises a projecting mesa (5) comprising at least a portion of the collector region (2) and the base region (3), which mesa is surrounded by an isolation region (6). According to the invention, the semiconductor device (10) also comprises a field effect transistor with a source region, a drain region, an interposed channel region, a superimposed gate dielectric (7), and a gate region (8), which gate region (8) forms a highest part of the field effect transistor, and the height of the mesa (5) is greater than the height of the gate region (8). This device can be manufactured inexpensively and easily by a method according to the invention, and the bipolar transistor can have excellent high-frequency characteristics.

Abstract: A wideband RF tracking filter having a set of parallel tuned resonator amplifier stages with a de-Q resistor for each subband is disclosed. The resonant amplifier contains programmable tuned LC tank impedance and an array of parallel voltage to current converters (V2I) for each subband. The de-Q resistor together with the array of V2I converters provides a flat gain over each subband and each of the other subbands covering different frequencies.

Abstract: A wireless mobile communication device having NFC functionality that is designed to always be capable of NFC functionality, including secure NFC functionality by having a first and second energy source where charging of the second energy source may be achieved by the voltage induced by the received NFC signal.

Abstract: A method of data signal processing is provided, wherein the method comprises filtering a pre-filtered quadrature data signal by using an m×n filtering matrix, wherein m?n. In particular, the filtering may be performed by using a rectangular matrix, i.e. a non-quadratic matrix. That is, the filtering may be performed by a matrix multiply in an image cancellation filtering unit. In general m relates to the 5 number of rows of the matrix while n relates to the number of columns of the matrix. In particular, the processing may form or may be a part of an image cancellation process.

Abstract: A method of transcoding a content stored on a first server (OS) is provided. The first server (OS) is arranged within an UPnP network comprising at least one first server (OS), at least one UPnP renderer (UR) and at least one UPnP control point (CP). The content directory services (CDS) of the at least one first server (OS) are browsed to determine the available content and the available encodings of the content. The rendering capabilities of the at least one renderer (UR) are determined. The rendering capabilities of the at least one renderer (UR) are compared with the available content and the available encoding of the content according to the content directory service of the at least one server (OS). The content directory service (CDS) of the at least one server (OS) is updated.

Abstract: An power stage has a differential output stage 2 driven by one or more buffer stages 4. The buffer stages 4 are implemented as high and low side buffers 12,14, each of which is itself a differential buffer implemented using transistors formed in an isolated-well technology such as triple-well CMOS.

Abstract: An electronic device has an orientation sensing system for determining an orientation of the device. The system includes a magnetometer and an accelerometer. The system further has a calibration device configured to calibrate the sensing system for operational use. The accelerometer supplies measurements used to constrain a range of possible directions of the external magnetic field to be determined. The calibration device numerically solves a set of equations and is equally usable for a 2D or 3D magnetometer in combination with a 2D or 3D accelerometer.

Abstract: Various exemplary embodiments relate to a High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) switch configured to receive notification of a switch from a current HDMI source to a new HDMI source, determine whether the new HDMI source is actively transmitting data, has attempted to access an HDCP register before a predetermined timeout delay since a last HDCP register access, and is transmitting unencrypted data, and based on these determinations, either immediately begin transmission of the HDMI data received from the new source or reset the new HDMI source. In this manner, various exemplary embodiments enable switching between HDMI sources with a reduced delay.

Abstract: A power amplifier, for example a class-E switching power amplifier, and corresponding method, comprising: a plurality of power transistors (16), for example twelve power transistors, providing a partitioned power transistor; and a voltage sensing module (22), comprising for example voltage dividers and inverters, digitally sensing the drain voltage (2) of the partitioned power transistor to control the number of power transistors of the plurality of power transistors (16) that are switched on or off thereby controlling the drain voltage (2) which is varying for example due to antenna mismatch. The power amplifier may further comprise a memory (24) coupled to the voltage sensing module (22) for storing a history of the drain voltage (2), e.g. a history of antenna mismatch.

Abstract: A linear iterative channel estimation scheme and corresponding pilot allocation scheme are provided to perfect a channel model that cancels the Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) for multi-carrier systems (e.g., OFDM, SC-FDMA, MC-CDMA, etc.) under high mobility conditions. Two issues of the linear iterative channel estimation scheme of the channel model, namely, overloaded pilots and increased Gauss noise are specifically addressed by exemplary embodiments. With the iterative channel estimation scheme provided by the present invention, the minimum pilot number is equal to the length of multi-path delay, and the Gauss noise is not increased.

Abstract: A communication partner appliance is implemented within a near field communication system. The communication partner appliance includes a receiver, a detector, and a processor. The receiver receives a NFC command signal from another communication partner appliance. The detector detects whether a carrier signal from the other communication partner appliance is present at the receiver at a time other than during a transmission of the NFC command signal from the other communication partner appliance to the receiver. The processor controls a power supply element based on a determination by the detector whether the carrier signal from the other communication partner appliance is present at the receiver. The power supply element is configured to establish a connection to either a first power supply or a second power supply. The first power supply is dependent on the carrier signal, and the second power supply is independent of the carrier signal.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a solid state lighting system comprising at least one light emitting semiconductor device, at least one driver for driving a predetermined current through the at least one light emitting semiconductor device. The lighting system furthermore comprises a first voltage supplying unit coupled to provide a first supply voltage to a first side of the at least one light emitting semiconductor device, and a second voltage supplying unit coupled to provide a second supply voltage for the at least one light emitting semiconductor device. The first and the second supply voltages are selected to optimize the voltage drop across the at least one light emitting semiconductor device.

Abstract: An electronic ballast for lighting applications is disclosed. The electronic ballast comprises a first charge pump having an input capacitor (13) charged with a supply current drawn from a power source by application of a charging voltage to the input capacitor (13), the magnitude of the supply current being proportional to the magnitude of the charging voltage; and a voltage booster (16, 17) for generating a boost voltage, which is used to augment the charging voltage, thereby increasing the current drawn from the power source.

Abstract: A non-binary successive approximation analogue to digital converter, for converting using successive conversion steps, is operable in first and second modes. The first and second modes have different noise properties and the converter is switched between the modes during the conversion process.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing an integrated circuit comprising bipolar transistors including first and second type bipolar transistors, the method comprising providing a substrate comprising first isolation regions each separated from a second isolation region by an active region comprising a collector impurity of one of the bipolar transistors; forming a base layer stack over the substrate; forming a first emitter cap layer of a first effective thickness over the base layer stack in the areas of the first type bipolar transistor; forming a second emitter cap layer of a second effective thickness different from the first effective thickness over the base layer stack in the areas of the second type bipolar transistor; and forming an emitter over the emitter cap layer of each of the bipolar transistors. An IC in accordance with this method.