Patents Assigned to Silicon Laboratories
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Patent number: 10090818Abstract: A receiver includes a compressive factor generator configured to generate a compressive gain signal based on a digital demodulated received signal, a signal quality estimate, an upper modulation level, and a lower modulation level. The receiver includes a gain circuit configured to apply the compressive gain signal to the digital demodulated received signal. The compressive factor generator may include a peak tracking filter configured to generate a peak tracking signal based on the digital demodulated received signal and filter configuration information. The compressive factor generator may include a compression threshold generator configured to generate a modulation index based on the peak tracking signal, the signal quality estimate, the upper modulation level, and the lower modulation level. The compressive factor generator may include a compression curve and a gain compression hold and recovery processor.Type: GrantFiled: September 18, 2017Date of Patent: October 2, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventors: Alexander August Arthur Hakkola, Russell Alvin Schultz, Dana John Taipale
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Patent number: 10090838Abstract: An apparatus includes an integrated circuit, which includes a processor core, a plurality of input/output (I/O) circuits, and a plurality of over voltage tolerant (OVT) circuits. Each I/O circuit is associated with an I/O pad and is associated with an OVT circuit of the plurality of OVT circuits. At least one of the OVT circuits includes a passive circuit, which is adapted to receive a pad voltage from the associated I/O pad; receive a supply voltage of the associated I/O circuit; and based on a relationship of the received pad voltage relative to the received supply voltage, selectively couple a gate of a transistor of the associated I/O circuit to the pad voltage to inhibit a leakage current.Type: GrantFiled: September 30, 2015Date of Patent: October 2, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventors: Chao Yang, Matthew Powell
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Patent number: 10090674Abstract: A method includes providing supply voltages to a supply voltage switching circuit that controls routing of the supply voltages to power consuming circuitry associated with the supply voltage switching circuit. The method includes comparing the supply voltages, including using at least one relatively lower precision comparator to compare the supply voltages for a relatively large difference between the supply voltages; and using at least one relatively higher precision comparator to compare the supply voltages for a relatively smaller difference between the supply voltages. The method further includes, based on a result of comparing the supply voltages, selectively coupling the supply voltages to at least one of an isolation well and a power supply rail of the supply voltage switching circuit.Type: GrantFiled: September 21, 2015Date of Patent: October 2, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventors: Mohamed Mostafa Elsayed, Kenneth W. Fernald, Axel Thomsen
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Patent number: 10078600Abstract: An apparatus includes a memory, and a control circuit. The memory stores a vector that identifies a signal that is to be provided by an input/output (I/O) interface to a peripheral and indicates a time value. The control circuit is adapted to process the vector and route the identified signal to the peripheral and regulate a time that the signal is routed to the peripheral based on the time value.Type: GrantFiled: June 25, 2013Date of Patent: September 18, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventors: Paul I Zavalney, Xiaohui Wang
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Patent number: 10078616Abstract: A system, USB Type-C connector and method are provided herein to transmit encoded data across a USB cable from a transmitter circuit included within a transmitting port of a USB Type-C connector. The method described herein may generally include detecting a voltage generated at a configuration channel (CC) pin of a transmitting port of a USB Type-C connector, setting a voltage at an output node of the transmitter circuit equal to the voltage detected at the CC pin before the output node of the transmitter circuit is connected to the CC pin, subsequently connecting the output node of the transmitter circuit to the CC pin, and transmitting the encoded data from the transmitter circuit through the CC pin to the USB cable.Type: GrantFiled: May 26, 2016Date of Patent: September 18, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventors: Ricky Setiawan, Rex Wong Tak Ying
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Patent number: 10075173Abstract: A phase-locked loop uses an edge detect circuit to detect an edge of an input clock signal. The detected edge is used to digitally align an initial edge of the feedback signal with the input clock signal to the PLL so that the feedback signal is substantially aligned with the input clock signal. The edge alignment of the feedback signal may be performed at startup or in response to loss of lock/input clock switching. By aligning the feedback signal the input clock signal based on the edge detect, faster lock occurs.Type: GrantFiled: November 22, 2016Date of Patent: September 11, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventor: Vivek Sarda
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Patent number: 10067554Abstract: VCONN pull-down circuits and related methods are disclosed for USB Type-C connections. A device is connected through a USB Type-C connection to a separate device using connections including a CC (configuration channel) pin and a VCONN (connection power) pin. The device pulls down the VCONN pin to ground through a resistance (Ra) by applying the voltage on the CC pin to close a switch coupled between the VCONN pin and ground. The device can also be operated in a dead-battery mode where no supply voltage is present for the device. The device can also stop the pull-down on the VCONN pin after a connection is established, for example, using additional switches coupled to a pull-down control signal to remove the CC voltage and open the switch. The voltage on the CC pin can also be clamped to a desired voltage or voltage range using a voltage clamp.Type: GrantFiled: May 26, 2016Date of Patent: September 4, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventor: Obaida Mohammed Khaled Abu Hilal
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Patent number: 10068046Abstract: Systems and methods are provided that may be implemented to identify and track layer changes of an integrated circuit (IC) device, e.g., during any one of circuit design, pattern generation, device fabrication and/or chip failure analysis processes. Multiple revisions and variants of different IC layers may be identified and tracked using a tracking system and standardized labeling scheme that employs a combination of identifier characters and identifier structures that may be further implemented using revision layer identification parameterized cells (layerID PCells and BooleanID PCells) that include such identifier characters and/or structures The disclosed tracking systems may be further implemented in an automated manner and/or in a manner that allows programming of various parts/aspects and layerID PCells and BooleanID PCells of the tracking system.Type: GrantFiled: December 21, 2015Date of Patent: September 4, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventors: Jessica P. Davis, James L Deeringer, Jr., Sridhar Hariharan, Harry Levanti, David M. Szmyd, Sarah P. Walton, Steven G. Young
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Patent number: 10067478Abstract: The resolution of a time to digital converter (TDC) is improved by using a gain stage at the input of the fine TDC. A delay line receives a pulse corresponding to the time information and recirculates the pulse in the delay line by coupling an output of the delay line to an input of the delay line. An integrating fine TDC receives a number of pulses from the delay line corresponding to the desired gain.Type: GrantFiled: December 11, 2017Date of Patent: September 4, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventor: Raghunandan Kolar Ranganathan
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Patent number: 10063048Abstract: Circuit configurations and related methods are provided that may be implemented using insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) device circuitry to protect at risk circuitry (e.g., such as high voltage output buffer circuitry or any other circuitry subject to undesirable ESD events) from damage due to ESD events that may occur during system assembly. The magnitude of the trigger voltage VT1 threshold for an IGBT ESD protection device may be dynamically controlled between at least two different values so that trigger voltage VT1 threshold for an IGBT ESD protection device may be selectively reduced when needed to better enable ESD operation.Type: GrantFiled: December 30, 2015Date of Patent: August 28, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventor: Jeremy C. Smith
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Patent number: 10063203Abstract: Embodiments of power detector circuits and related methods to compensate for undesired DC offsets generated within power detector circuits are disclosed. Input signals having input frequencies are received and converted to a magnitude signal, and reference signals are also generated. The magnitude signal may include a DC component proportional to a power of the input signal along with undesired DC offsets. The reference signal may include a DC component proportional to a power of at least one input reference signal along with undesired DC offsets. To compensate for errors introduced by the DC offsets, a DC offset calibration signal or a gain are determined in a calibration mode and then applied in a normal mode to compensate for the DC offsets. For the calibration mode, a difference between the magnitude signal and the reference signal is compared to a threshold value to generate a power detection output signal.Type: GrantFiled: September 7, 2017Date of Patent: August 28, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventors: Navin Harwalkar, John M. Khoury
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Patent number: 10063188Abstract: A technique for reducing jitter in an oscillating signal generated by an oscillator circuit includes reducing feedback of gate leakage current while increasing electrostatic discharge protection and reducing regulated power supply requirements of the oscillator circuit, as compared to conventional oscillator circuits. A circuit includes a first integrated circuit terminal and a thick gate native transistor of a first conductivity type having a first gate terminal having a first gate thickness. The first gate terminal is coupled to the first integrated circuit terminal. The thick gate native transistor has a first threshold voltage. The thick gate native transistor is configured as a source follower. The circuit includes a second transistor of the first conductivity type having a second gate terminal with a second gate thickness less than the first gate thickness. The second gate terminal is coupled to a source terminal of the thick gate native transistor.Type: GrantFiled: April 28, 2016Date of Patent: August 28, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventor: Shail Srinivas
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Patent number: 10063084Abstract: An apparatus includes a digital battery charger. The digital battery charger includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to convert a terminal voltage of a battery to a first digital signal. The digital battery charger further includes a digital controller coupled to the ADC to receive the first digital signal and provide a set of control signals. The digital battery charger further includes a current digital-to-analog converter (IDAC) coupled to the digital controller to receive the set of control signals and to provide a battery charging current signal.Type: GrantFiled: December 28, 2015Date of Patent: August 28, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventors: Axel Thomsen, Dazhi Wei, Steffen Skaug, Praveen Kallam
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Patent number: 10057051Abstract: A more cost effective wander jitter filter utilizes an excursion detector that receives a timing difference between a first signal and a second signal and supplies a first adjustment amount if a magnitude of the timing difference is above a predetermined threshold and otherwise supplies a second adjustment amount of zero. A summing circuit adjusts a magnitude of the timing difference by the first or second adjustment amount. A loop filter receives the summing circuit output and controls an oscillator. The excursion detector output (first adjustment value or zero according to the magnitude of the timing difference) is low pass filtered and the low pass filtered is reintroduced into the oscillator output or the feedback loop. The excursion detector output is accumulated and used to adjust a phase of the feedback signal from the oscillator.Type: GrantFiled: December 30, 2015Date of Patent: August 21, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventor: Yunteng Huang
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Patent number: 10044383Abstract: A technique that reduces or eliminates trading-off power amplifier efficiency and costly external filtering in amplitude and phase modulated sinusoidal signal generation uses multi-phase outphasing and a multi-phase switching mode power amplifier to generate the amplitude and phase modulated sinusoidal signals. The technique combines multiple clock phases with sinusoidally weighted circuits of the switching mode power amplifier to improve amplitude and phase modulated sinusoidal signal generation.Type: GrantFiled: December 30, 2016Date of Patent: August 7, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventors: Aaron J. Caffee, Brian G. Drost, Alessandro Piovaccari, Aslamali A. Rafi
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Patent number: 10041981Abstract: A capacitor sense system includes a pad for coupling to an external capacitor. A current digital to analog converter (DAC) supplies current to charge the external capacitor. A reference capacitor is charged by a current source. A first comparator compares a voltage across the external capacitor sensed at the pad to a reference voltage and generates a first comparison. A second comparator compares a voltage across a reference capacitor to the reference voltage and generates a second comparison. The stored first and second comparisons are used to control the current DAC. First and second AC coupling capacitors are coupled respectively between the pad and the first comparator and between the reference capacitor and the second comparator. Sensing at the pad allows more accuracy and the AC coupling capacitors provide better matching and allow for different DC biases to be set for the external capacitor and the first comparator.Type: GrantFiled: October 30, 2015Date of Patent: August 7, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventor: Xiaodong Wang
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Patent number: 10033421Abstract: In one example, a semiconductor die includes multi-standard, multi-channel expandable television/satellite receiver that can be flexibly implemented in a number of different configurations to enable incorporation into a plurality of different systems. The semiconductor die may include multiple tuners to receive and tune a terrestrial radio frequency (RF) signal and a satellite RF signal. These tuners may include different frequency synthesizers including voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) to generate VCO signals at different frequencies, mixers to downconvert the RF signals to baseband signals using the VCO signals. In an implementation, the semiconductor die may further include shared circuitry coupled to the tuners to digitize, process and demodulate the baseband signals.Type: GrantFiled: May 31, 2016Date of Patent: July 24, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventors: Vitor Pereira, Mustafa Koroglu, Ruifeng Sun, Ramin Khoini-Poorfard, Abdulkerim Coban, Yu Su, Krishna Pentakota
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Patent number: 10020815Abstract: An integrated circuit (IC) includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The ADC includes an ADC core circuit integrated in the IC to receive an analog signal, to convert the analog signal to a digital signal in response to a trigger signal. The ADC core circuit further provide the digital signal as an output of the ADC. The ADC further includes internal trigger circuitry integrated in the ADC to provide the trigger signal to the ADC after a prescribed delay period has expired.Type: GrantFiled: February 7, 2017Date of Patent: July 10, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventors: Wajid Hassan Minhass, Oeivind A. G. Loe
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Patent number: 10008981Abstract: An integrated clock generator includes a tunable LC oscillator, a tunable frequency synthesizer, and a processor. The tunable LC oscillator has an input for receiving an oscillator control signal, and an output for providing an oscillator clock signal. The tunable frequency synthesizer has a clock input coupled to the output of the tunable LC oscillator, a control input for receiving a synthesizer control signal, and an output for providing a clock output signal. The processor has an input for receiving a data input signal, a first output for providing the oscillator control signal, and a second output for providing the synthesizer control signal. The processor provides the oscillator control signal and the synthesizer control signal such that the tunable frequency synthesizer generates the output clock signal at a frequency indicated by the data input signal, and provides the synthesizer control signal further in response to a dynamic condition.Type: GrantFiled: April 12, 2016Date of Patent: June 26, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventors: Aaron J. Caffee, Brian G. Drost, Hendricus de Ruijter
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Patent number: 10003482Abstract: In an embodiment, an apparatus includes: a first receiver to receive and downconvert a first radio frequency (RF) signal to a second frequency signal and to output a first digitized signal, the first receiver comprising a full-band receiver to receive at least a substantial portion of a band of interest; a second receiver to receive and downconvert a second RF signal to a third frequency signal and to output a second digitized signal, the second receiver comprising a narrow-band receiver to receive a first channel of the band of interest; a digital circuit to process at least one of the first and second digitized signals; and a controller to configure the first receiver and the second receiver and control the digital circuit.Type: GrantFiled: August 31, 2016Date of Patent: June 19, 2018Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.Inventor: Michael Stephen Johnson