Patents Examined by Brian Ngo
  • Patent number: 11277017
    Abstract: A charger configured to charge a battery pack of a power tool, and the charger include: a housing having an intake port and an exhaust port; a battery interface included on the housing and configured to removably receive a battery pack, a charging circuit in the housing and configured to supply charging power to the battery pack attached to the battery interface; and a blower configured to introduce air from the intake port into the housing and discharge the air from the exhaust port to the outside of the housing. The intake port includes a plurality of intake holes formed in the housing, and the exhaust port includes a plurality of exhaust holes formed in the housing. Each inscribed circle of the plurality of intake holes is smaller than any of inscribed circles of the plurality of exhaust holes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: MAKITA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hideyuki Taga
  • Patent number: 11276678
    Abstract: Techniques to determine whether the design of integrated circuit (IC) has been tampered with during wafer manufacturing by using an enhanced library and layout methodology. The enhanced library may include location sensitive cells networked together in a mesh architecture where paths through the mesh can be used to detect relative position of location sensitive cells. The techniques further include algorithms that fill any unused space on an IC with additional elements from the enhanced library to minimize the opportunity to modify the IC by including additional circuit function or manipulating the layout. By physically locking down the circuit placement such that there is no available area and gives improved ability to detect changes in the physical location behavior of the circuit, therefore reduces the risk that unauthorized circuit manipulation will go undetected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventor: James L. Tucker
  • Patent number: 11277012
    Abstract: A plurality of switching units is provided for each of a plurality of batteries. The switching units switch between a connected state where the corresponding battery is connected in series with another battery and a non-connected state where series connection between the corresponding battery and the other battery is disconnected. A control unit controls the switching unit corresponding to the battery to switch to the non-connected state when it is determined that the corresponding battery reaches a charge end voltage during charging or a discharge end voltage during discharging. The control unit changes the charge end voltage such that the charge end voltage of the battery deteriorated is lower than the charge end voltage of the battery not deteriorated, or changes the discharge end voltage such that the discharge end voltage of the battery deteriorated is higher than the discharge end voltage of the battery not deteriorated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: YAZAKI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chihiro Ono, Takahiro Syouda
  • Patent number: 11271415
    Abstract: A portable power source. The portable power source includes a housing, a first battery pack support configured to receive a first removable and rechargeable battery pack, a second battery pack support configured to receive a second removable and rechargeable battery pack, an inverter within the housing, and an alternating current power outlet. The inverter is configured to receive output power from the first removable and rechargeable battery pack and the second removable and rechargeable battery pack. The inverter is configured to produce an alternating current power output. The alternating current power outlet is configured to receive the alternating current power output from the inverter. The inverter is configured to be disabled when the first removable and rechargeable battery pack is received in the first battery pack support and the second removable and rechargeable battery pack is not received in the second battery pack support.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: MILWAUKEE ELECTRIC TOOL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Gareth Mueckl, Dean W. Nowalis, Jay J. Rosenbecker, Benjamin Tesch, Michael A. Matthews, Amanda M. Kachar, Dalton F. Hansen
  • Patent number: 11263169
    Abstract: An example programmable integrated circuit (IC) includes a processor, a plurality of endpoint circuits, a network-on-chip (NoC) having NoC master units (NMUs), NoC slave units (NSUs), NoC programmable switches (NPSs), a plurality of registers, and a NoC programming interface (NPI). The processor is coupled to the NPI and is configured to program the NPSs by loading an image to the registers through the NPI for providing physical channels between NMUs to the NSUs and providing data paths between the plurality of endpoint circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Ian Andrew Swarbrick, Sagheer Ahmad, Ygal Arbel, Dinesh Gaitonde
  • Patent number: 11258273
    Abstract: A charger circuit which supplies a charging power to charge a battery circuit, includes: a conversion switch circuit, at least one capacitor and a conversion control circuit. The conversion switch circuit is coupled between a charging power and a ground level and includes conversion switches connected in series. The conversion switch circuit has battery voltage balancing nodes electrically connected to the battery circuit, such that each battery is electrically connected between two of the battery voltage balancing nodes. The conversion control circuit is coupled to the conversion switch circuit and provides operation signals to the conversion switch circuit, to respectively control the corresponding conversion switches, so that the capacitor is periodically connected in parallel to each battery of the battery circuit, thereby balancing the battery voltages of the batteries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: RICHTEK TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Wei-Jen Huang, Shun-Yu Huang, Tsung-Wei Huang, Shui-Mu Lin
  • Patent number: 11258280
    Abstract: A mobile terminal, a peripheral device, and a charging method thereof that relate to the field of electronic device technologies, where the mobile terminal and the peripheral device are separately powered, and when coupled by a connector, the mobile terminal and the peripheral device charge each other. The mobile terminal includes a first switch, a second switch, a first charging port, a first charging circuit, a first connector, a first battery, and a first electronic controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Tao Li
  • Patent number: 11258291
    Abstract: Provided is a power supply circuit for energy transfer between a battery and a smoothing capacitor, a battery management system and a battery pack. The power supply circuit includes a transformer including a first winding and a second winding, a first switching circuit including a first switch connected in series to the first winding, and connected in parallel to the battery together with the first winding, a second switching circuit including a second switch connected in series to the second winding, and connected in parallel to the smoothing capacitor together with the second winding, and a switch controller. To pre-charge the smoothing capacitor, the switch controller is configured to perform a first operation of turning on the first switch and turning off the second switch, and subsequently perform a second operation of turning off the first switch and turning on the second switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD.
    Inventors: Hyeon-Jin Song, Seon-Uk Yu
  • Patent number: 11250193
    Abstract: An integrated circuit can include programmable circuitry configured to implement an overlay circuit specified by an overlay and a processor coupled to the programmable circuitry. The processor can be configured to control the programmable circuitry through execution of a framework. The framework provides high-productivity language control of implementation of the overlay in the programmable circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick Lysaght, Graham F. Schelle, Parimal Patel
  • Patent number: 11245278
    Abstract: To suppress the occurrence of system shutdown after long term storage of batteries. A semiconductor device comprises a control unit that controls charging and discharging of a battery cell, and a ROM that stores a power supply capability value which specifies a power supply capacity of the battery cell that can be stably supplied to an application system in which the battery pack is provided. After the battery pack returns from the sleep mode and before the transmission request of the power supply capability value is received from the system, the control [unit performs a power supply capability value updating process of updating the power supply capability value in the ROM to a value smaller than the power supply capability value before the sleep mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2022
    Assignee: RENESAS ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Ota, Youhei Kengoyama
  • Patent number: 11241973
    Abstract: A vehicle includes a traction battery, an auxiliary battery, and a charge port configured to mate with a connector of a charging station. The charge port has a pilot pin. A control pilot circuit includes a first switch arranged between the pilot pin and a ground. The pilot circuit further includes a second switch arranged between the pilot pin and the ground. The second switch is configured to close in response to the voltage of the auxiliary battery being less than the threshold to induce the first voltage change in the pilot signal, and open in response to the voltage of the auxiliary battery exceeding the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2022
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Chih-Lun Wang
  • Patent number: 11239228
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes at least one first active region, at least one second active region adjacent to the first active region, and a plurality of third active regions. The first active region and the second active region are staggered. The third active regions are present adjacent to the first active region, wherein the third active regions are substantially aligned with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Chung-Te Lin, Ting-Wei Chiang, Hui-Zhong Zhuang, Pin-Dai Sue, Li-Chun Tien
  • Patent number: 11238205
    Abstract: Installation of electrical systems can require a large amount of branch circuits that can lead to a labeling degeneracy that can require a customized on-site tagging step to identify each conductor to be installed, or cause technicians to install additional circuit housing runs to circumvent the degeneracy. Circuit grouping systems and methods, and circuit installation methods, are disclosed herein that prevent such inefficiencies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: Southwire Company, LLC
    Inventors: Richard M. Temblador, Jason Clark, Dan Enfinger, Sam Eaton
  • Patent number: 11235676
    Abstract: A combined bi-directional converter and an auxiliary power module circuit for an 800V battery of an electric vehicle. The converter providing a stepped voltage of 400V with a duty ratio of 50 percent. The combined circuit comprises a high voltage side and a low voltage side. A transformer provides an interface between the high voltage side and the low voltage side. The combined circuit comprises a buck and boost mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: Karma Automotive LLC
    Inventors: Lixin Tang, Geng Niu, Harshith Kulai
  • Patent number: 11230202
    Abstract: A system for charging multiple electric vehicles is provided. The system includes a first electrical converter that supplies DC power to a ring bus. The ring bus is separated into a plurality of DC buses by electrical breakers. Second converters are connected to the ring bus and convert the DC power supply to a DC voltage suitable for charging electric vehicles connected thereto.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventor: Li Qi
  • Patent number: 11232248
    Abstract: A method (of manufacturing a semiconductor device) includes, for a layout diagram stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, generating the layout diagram including: selecting a candidate pattern in the layout diagram, the candidate pattern being a first conductive pattern in the M_2nd level (first M_2nd pattern) or a first conductive pattern in the M_1st level (first M_1st pattern); determining that the candidate pattern satisfies one or more criteria; and changing a size of the candidate pattern thereby revising the layout diagram.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Shih-Wei Peng, Jiann-Tyng Tzeng, Wei-Cheng Lin, Jay Yang
  • Patent number: 11233398
    Abstract: When the AC voltage effective value at an interconnection point is higher than a first threshold voltage, a solar-panel power conversion device controls an output of reactive power so that the voltage at the interconnection point matches a first target effective voltage. When the power generated from an energy creation apparatus is higher than a first reference power and the AC voltage effective value at the interconnection point is higher than a second threshold voltage, then a storage-battery power conversion device controls an output of reactive power so that the voltage at the interconnection point matches a second target effective voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sadayuki Inoue, Takahiro Kato
  • Patent number: 11224273
    Abstract: A luggage system employing a rechargeable battery power supplying assembly. A base housing component is mounted in an aperture formed in the rear housing portion, and has a top surface. A battery module casing is mounted to and beneath the base housing component. A rechargeable battery power module is contained in the battery module casing, and provides a DC battery recharging port and a set of DC power supplying ports. A semi-automatic battery power module ejection mechanism is mounted within a battery module casing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: JRSK, Inc.
    Inventors: Stephanie Korey, Jennifer Rubio
  • Patent number: 11220185
    Abstract: A battery monitoring device includes temperature detectors that detect respective temperatures of battery elements in a battery of an electric vehicle. The temperature detectors each include first and second detection circuits, a comparator circuit, and first and second output terminals. The first detection circuit detects a temperature in a first temperature range and generates a first detection signal. The second detection circuit detects a temperature in a second temperature range and generates a second detection signal. The comparator circuit compares a detection output signal with a threshold and generates a flag signal indicative of the presence or absence of an abnormal event. The detection output signal and the flag signal are outputted through a first output terminal and a second output terminal, respectively. Each of the temperature detectors switches the detection output signal between the first detection signal and the second detection signal on the basis of the flag signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yutaka Sato
  • Patent number: 11223349
    Abstract: A joint control method with variable ZVS angles for dynamic efficiency optimization in a WPC system for EVs under ZVS conditions, including: adjusting a phase-shift duty cycle of a secondary active rectifier to control a charging voltage and a charging current of EV's batteries through a charging voltage closed loop and a charging current closed loop, respectively; adjusting a power angle of the secondary active rectifier to control a ZVS angle of the secondary active rectifier through a secondary ZVS angle closed loop; adjusting a phase-shift duty cycle of a primary inverter to control a ZVS angle of the primary inverter through the primary ZVS angle closed loop; determining the current operating case of the WPC system and adjusting the ZVS angles of the primary inverter and the secondary active rectifier to automatically identify an optimal operating point with a maximum charging efficiency through the P&O method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: Xi'an Jiaotong University
    Inventors: Yue Wang, Yongbin Jiang, Chenxu Zhao, Ruibang Li, Yonghui Liu, Min Wu, Laili Wang, Xu Yang