Patents Examined by Alvaro E Fortich
  • Patent number: 11415623
    Abstract: An example test system includes power amplifier circuitry to force voltage or current to a test channel and one or more processing devices configured to control the power amplifier circuitry to comply with a compliance curve. The compliance curve relates output of the voltage to output of the current. According to the compliance curve, maximum current output increases as an absolute value of the voltage output increases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: Teradyne, Inc.
    Inventors: Jason A. Messier, Bryce M. Wynn, Ernest DiMicco
  • Patent number: 11415641
    Abstract: A calibration arrangement of a magnetic field measurement device includes at least one attachment point nub configured for attachment to the magnetic field measurement device; mounting arms extending from the at least one attachment point nub; and reference coil loops distributed among the mounting arms. A magnetic field measurement system includes the calibration arrangement and a magnetic field measurement device including a sensor mounting body, magnetic field sensors disposed on or within the sensor mounting body, and at least one primary attachment point formed in or on the sensor mounting body configured to receive the at least one attachment point nub of the calibration arrangement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: HI LLC
    Inventor: Zachary Bednarke
  • Patent number: 11408939
    Abstract: A power distribution unit includes a circuit protection device having output terminals and a current transformer board connected to the output terminals of the circuit protection device. The power distribution unit further includes a signal board connected to the current transformer board and a measurement board connected to the signal board.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: EATON INTELLIGENT POWER LIMITED
    Inventors: Josiah Daniel Smith, George Chen, Long Larry Le
  • Patent number: 11408925
    Abstract: A semiconductor element encompasses a first external electrode on an upper surface side of a semiconductor chip, a second external electrode, spaced apart from the first external electrode, provided in parallel with the first external electrode; and a protective film covering the first and second external electrodes, having first and second windows to expose portions of upper surfaces of the first and second external electrodes, respectively. Planar patterns of the first and second windows are in two-fold rotational symmetry with respect to a center point of an area including the first and second external electrodes and to be asymmetric with respect to a center line between the first and second external electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: FUJI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Taichi Karino
  • Patent number: 11408755
    Abstract: A resonant rotor, for use in an inductive position sensor, includes a rotor core, a first rotor coil, and a rotor capacitor. The first rotor coil includes a first twisted rotor loop drawn about the rotor core and the rotor capacitor is connected in series with the first rotor coil. For a second embodiment, the first rotor coil includes a second twisted rotor loop. The first rotor coil has a first symmetry and the inductive position sensor includes a stator. An excitation coil is drawn on the stator and has a second symmetry. The first symmetry substantially corresponds to the second symmetry. A method for determining a position of an object using an inductive position sensor includes generating three electromagnetic fields using respective excitation coils, inducing voltages, respectively, in three receive coils, and determining based on voltages a position of an object coupled to a resonant rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventor: Jacques Jean Bertin
  • Patent number: 11402442
    Abstract: An apparatus for validating magnets on site, including a standard reference magnet for providing a governing reference, a reference magnet for providing a reference based on the governing reference, a gauss meter, a hall probe, and a scanner. The reference magnet is arranged to be taken on site for further magnetic validation and includes guide members to target a nominated magnetic field density.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Inventor: William John Baker
  • Patent number: 11402414
    Abstract: A circuit and method for current sensing in DC-DC converters having coupled inductors is disclosed. A DC-DC converter includes a first and second inductors coupled to first and second switching nodes, respectively. The DC-DC converter further includes a current sensing circuit. The current sensing circuit includes a first current sensing circuit coupled to the first switching node and having a first sense node, and further includes a second sensing circuit coupled to the second switching node and having a second sense node. The circuit further includes a first capacitor coupled between the first sensing circuit and the second sensing circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Jonathan F. Bolus
  • Patent number: 11402236
    Abstract: Disclosed is a device for detecting a user's intention to lock or unlock a motor vehicle opening element, the device being intended to be integrated into a handle or into a frame of the opening element and including a voltage source, a printed circuit and at least one sensor for detecting an approach and/or contact of a hand of the user on the handle or the frame. A detection unit of the detection sensor is at least partially in the form of a metallized layer borne by part of an outer contour of a foam block in contact against the housing through a bearing face, the face of the foam block opposite the bearing face bearing the majority of the metallized layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: VITESCO TECHNOLOGIES GMBH
    Inventors: Bertrand Vaysse, Gabriel Spick
  • Patent number: 11402348
    Abstract: Numerous embodiments of a bubble detection apparatus and method are disclosed. In one embodiment, a bubble detection module is placed into a liquid to be monitored. The module comprises a physical structure housing a nanowire sensing element. The liquid flows through the physical structure. An electric bias is placed across the nanowire sensing element, and the resistance of the nanowire sensing element changes when a bubble is in contact with the element. A change in voltage or current of the bias signal can be measured to identify the exact instances when a bubble is in contact with the nanowire sensing element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: INSTRUMEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Gilad Arwatz, Jeffrey Diament, James Borthwick
  • Patent number: 11402439
    Abstract: In a method for calibrating the sensitivity of a monoaxial or multiaxial magnetic field sensor, the magnetic field sensor is exposed consecutively to at least three magnetic fields having different magnetic field vectors which may be freely orientated in space so that they span an oblique coordinate system. The magnetic fields are measured with the magnetic field sensor in order to obtain a sensitivity vector in the oblique coordinate system of the magnetic field vectors for each sensor axis. The sensitivity vectors are transformed into an orthogonal coordinate system via a transformation matrix, and sensitivity and transverse sensitivity of each sensor axis are then calculated on the basis of the transformed sensitivity vectors either directly or following a further transformation. The method enables rapid, precise calibration of all sensitivities of a magnetic field sensor, since it does not require any orthogonal magnetic fields.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V
    Inventors: Philip Beran, Volker Peters, Gerhard Tischlinger
  • Patent number: 11404860
    Abstract: Method for detecting a protective conductor failure inside a cable including a plurality of conductors, in which at least one conductor has a shield and this shield is respectively connected to a potential at a first end and at a second end of the cable, wherein, in order to drive its potential to a predefined potential value, the shield is actively electrically supplied at at least one end of the cable. In this case, the cable may be a charging cable which is connected, by the first end, to a charging pole and is connected, by the second end, to a battery configured to be installed in an electric vehicle, and the shield is actively supplied at the first end of the cable which is connected to the charging pole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Inventors: Stefan Götz, Steve Zander
  • Patent number: 11397225
    Abstract: The current sensor comprises: a magnetic detecting device that is arranged in the vicinity of a conductor, to which a magnetic field to be measured induced by a current flowing through the conductor is applied, and that changes an electrical resistance in response to a change in the magnetic field to be measured; two coils that generate a canceling magnetic field to cancel the magnetic field to be measured and that are arranged in the vicinity of the magnetic detecting device; a shunt resistor, that is connected in series between the two coils, for detecting a current flowing through the coils; a first differential amplifier that amplifies the output signal of the magnetic detecting device and that supplies the current to induce the canceling magnetic field to the coils; and a second differential amplifier that amplifies the voltage across the shunt resistor and that outputs a measured voltage proportional to the current flowing through the conductor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: TDK Corporation
    Inventors: Yuta Saito, Yoshihiro Kudo, Daisuke Miyauchi, Satoshi Abe
  • Patent number: 11397219
    Abstract: A device includes test transmitter having a hot test prong configured for electrical coupling the test transmitter with a hot line of an electrical circuit and signal generator, coupled to the hot test prong, configured to generate a ping signal on the hot line. The hot test prong is configured for insertion into a hot receptable of the electrical outlet. The ping signal is received over the hot line from a test transmitter coupled to the electrical circuit. The device includes a neutral receive prong configured for electrical coupling with a neutral line and a ground receive prong configured for electrical coupling with a ground line. The device may detect presence of the ping signal at the neutral receive prong when a reversed polarity wiring configuration exists and at the ground receive prong when a bootleg ground configuration exists.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: DISH Network L.L.C.
    Inventors: Reynaldo Laureano, Jackson Louie
  • Patent number: 11393322
    Abstract: An electric utility meter including a three-axis Hall Effect sensor configured to detect the presence of a magnetic field in two or more directions surrounding the electric utility meter. The electric utility meter also includes a controller having an electronic processor. The controller is configured to receive a signal indicative of an abnormal magnetic field proximate the electric utility meter from the three-axis Hall Effect sensor, determine an amount of time for which the abnormal magnetic field has been detected, and log a magnetic field tamper event in an event log when the amount of time for which the abnormal magnetic field has been detected exceeds a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: Aclara Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Lee McDougall, Jr., Charles Andrew Waters
  • Patent number: 11391688
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a sensor element for a potentiometric sensor including a substrate, and a potentiometric sensor layer disposed on the substrate, wherein the substrate includes at least one region electrically conductively connected to the sensor layer, and wherein at least the region of the substrate electrically conductively connected to the sensor layer is a mixed-conducting ceramic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: ENDRESS+HAUSER CONDUCTA GMBH+CO. KG
    Inventor: Thomas Wilhelm
  • Patent number: 11385305
    Abstract: A tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) sensor device is disclosed that includes one or more TMR sensors. The TMR sensor device comprises a first resistor comprising a first TMR film, a second resistor comprising a second TMR film different than the first TMR film, a third resistor comprising the second TMR film, and a fourth resistor comprising the first TMR film. The first TMR film comprises a reference layer having a first magnetization direction anti-parallel to a second magnetization direction of a pinned layer. The second TMR film comprises a reference layer having a first magnetization direction parallel to a second magnetization direction of a first pinned layer, and a second pinned layer having a third magnetization direction anti-parallel to the first magnetization direction of the reference layer and the second magnetization direction of the first pinned layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Yuankai Zheng, Christian Kaiser, Zhitao Diao, Chih-Ching Hu, Chen-Jung Chien, Yung-Hung Wang, Dujiang Wan, Ronghui Zhou, Ming Mao, Ming Jiang, Daniele Mauri
  • Patent number: 11385302
    Abstract: A magnet flux absorber of the present invention has a soft magnetic layer having a first surface and a second surface that is a back surface of the first surface, as well as and at least one magnetically pinning portion that faces a part of the first surface of the soft magnetic layer or a part of the second surface of the soft magnetic layer. A region of the soft magnetic layer that faces the magnetically pinning portion is magnetized by the magnetically pinning portion in a direction that is different from a direction in which at least a part of remaining region of the soft magnetic layer is magnetized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: TDK Corporation
    Inventor: Kenzo Makino
  • Patent number: 11387154
    Abstract: A memory device includes a first wafer including a first bonding pad disposed on a first surface; a second wafer, including a second bonding pad disposed on a second surface of the second wafer, the second surface of the second wafer bonded on the first surface of the first wafer; and a first test pattern. The first test pattern includes a pair of first test pads disposed on the first surface and electrically coupled to each other; a pair of second test pads disposed on the second surface of the second wafer and respectively coupled to the pair of first test pads, when no misalignment failure between the first bonding pad and the second bonding pad occurs; and a pair of third test pads disposed on a third surface of the second wafer, which is opposite to the second surface, and respectively coupled to the pair of second test pads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Sung Lae Oh
  • Patent number: 11378419
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a design for operating an angle sensor. A first sensor signal is output from a first sensor element on the basis of a magnetic field, which is dependent on an angle of rotation of a measurement object, at the location of the first sensor element. A second sensor signal is output from a second sensor element on the basis of the magnetic field that is dependent on the angle of rotation of the measurement object at the location of the second sensor element. During a calibration mode of the angle sensor, in which a rotation of the measurement object is performed, a first offset value of the first sensor signal, a second offset value of the second sensor signal and an amplitude correction value are determined on the basis of signal amplitudes of the first and second sensor signals. The first and second offset values ascertained during the calibration mode and the amplitude correction value are stored for use in an operating mode of the angle sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Inventors: Helmut Koeck, Ahsan Ali, Torsten Andre, Johannes Janschitz
  • Patent number: 11378585
    Abstract: A method for determining a speed between a measurement-sensor, including at least one coil and a ferromagnetic-transmitter-element (FEM), including: changing the inductance of the coil and the voltage induced therein, in a vehicle using an inductive-speed-sensor having at least the coil and FEM; recording the inductance-change of the coil, and determining the speed based on the changed-inductance; in which the inductance-change is recorded and the speed is determined based on the changed-inductance only until the determined-speed has reached a speed-limit-value (SLV) starting from lower-speeds, in which a voltage-change induced in the coil is recorded and the speed is determined based on the changed-voltage when the determined-speed has exceeded the SLV starting from lower-speeds, and in which an inductance-change is recorded and the speed is determined based on the changed-inductance when the determined-speed has reached/dropped below the SLV starting from higher-speeds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: KNORR-BREMSE SYSTEME FUER NUTZFAHRZEUGE GMBH
    Inventors: Christoph Huber, Andre Kluftinger, Markus Eissner, Michael Herges