Patents Examined by Colleen J O Toole
  • Patent number: 12132472
    Abstract: A classification circuit generates first information for classifying an operating state of a power semiconductor element into one of a plurality of predetermined operating regions. A selector circuit generates second information for selecting a plurality of modes with different switching speeds, based on a user input. A characteristic control circuit stores a drive adjustment signal in advance for each of combinations of the operating regions and the modes and outputs the drive adjustment signal in a combination of one operating region and one mode that is selected in accordance with the first information and the second information. A gate drive circuit charges/discharges a gate at a charge rate and a discharge rate variably set in accordance with the drive adjustment signal from the characteristic control circuit, at the time of on/off of the power semiconductor element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2024
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shotaro Yamamoto, Kenichi Morokuma, Yoshiko Tamada
  • Patent number: 12132390
    Abstract: An electronic circuit unit includes a trigger circuit and a circuit module. The trigger circuit includes a semiconductor switching element configured to output a switching pulse signal in response to an external trigger signal, a load resistor for the semiconductor switching element, a one-shot pulse circuit configured to convert the switching pulse signal into a one-shot pulse with a predetermined pulse width, and a forcible-reset circuit connected to an input side of the semiconductor switching element. The one-shot pulse circuit includes a coupling capacitor connected to an input side of the semiconductor switching element and a charging resistor for the coupling capacitor. The pulse width of the one-shot pulse is determined by a time constant of the coupling capacitor and the charging resistor. The forcible-reset circuit is configured to temporarily input an on-voltage to the semiconductor switching element so as to forcibly switch the circuit module to the operating mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2024
    Assignee: PANASONIC ENERGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Osamu Ohashi
  • Patent number: 12132311
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described for active harmonics cancellation. A wireless charging apparatus includes a wireless-power transfer circuit comprising a wireless-power transfer coil configured to generate or couple to a magnetic field to transfer or receive power and a plurality of tuning capacitors electrically coupled to the wireless-power transfer coil. The apparatus also includes a power converter circuit electrically coupled to the wireless-power transfer circuit. Additionally, the apparatus includes a signal generation circuit different from the power converter circuit and electrically coupled to one or more nodes between capacitors of the plurality of tuning capacitors. The signal generation circuit is configured to generate and inject a signal into the wireless-power transfer circuit at the nodes between the capacitors. The signal generation circuit includes a rejection filter tuned to an operating frequency of the wireless-power transfer coil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2024
    Assignee: WiTricity Corporation
    Inventors: Marcel Fischer, Mircea-Florian Vancu, Hans Peter Widmer, Prasanth Venugopal
  • Patent number: 12119811
    Abstract: A method for protecting a system including a driver integrated circuit includes receiving a driver input signal. The method includes driving an output signal externally to the driver integrated circuit. The output signal is driven based on the driver input signal and an indication of a delay between receipt of an edge of the driver input signal and arrival of a corresponding edge of the output signal at an output node coupled to a terminal of the driver integrated circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2024
    Assignee: Skyworks Solutions, Inc.
    Inventors: Péter Onódy, Tamás Marozsák, Michael R. May, Fernando Naim Lavalle Aviles, Patrick De Bakker
  • Patent number: 12119812
    Abstract: An electronic circuit for uniform distribution of a current includes: a first MOSFET and a second MOSFET, wherein the first MOSFET and the second MOSFET are connected in parallel in order to distribute a current applied to an input terminal, the current flowing towards an output terminal of the electronic circuit, wherein the input terminal is respectively connected to a drain terminal of the first MOSFET and to a drain terminal of the second MOSFET; and a terminal for a control voltage, wherein the control voltage is applied to a gate terminal of the first MOSFET and to a gate terminal of the second MOSFET. The first MOSFET comprises a first resistor at the gate terminal of the first MOSFET, and the second MOSFET comprises a second resistor at the gate terminal of the second MOSFET.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2024
    Assignee: DSPACE GMBH
    Inventor: Paul Gruber
  • Patent number: 12099079
    Abstract: An apparatus for analyzing currents in an electric load is provided with a current measuring circuit, which can be connected in series with the parallel circuit of the load branches, and a detector for detecting a change in the current when the switching element in a load branch is switched on or off. The apparatus also has an analysis unit which is connected to the control unit and to the detector and analyzes the temporal correlation of a control signal for switching a switching element in a load branch on or off with the detection of the change in the current and/or analyzes the change in the current at a plurality of times of switching a relevant switching element in a load branch or the switching elements in a plurality of load branches.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2024
    Assignee: Elmos Semiconductor SE
    Inventors: Jörg Krupar, Michael Fiedler, Christian Wagenknecht
  • Patent number: 12081204
    Abstract: A power switch device includes a first terminal intended to be connected to a source of a first supply potential, a second terminal configured to supply a second potential, and a third terminal intended to be connected to a second source of a third supply potential. The device includes a first PMOS transistor having a source connected to the second terminal and a drain connected to the third terminal, a second PMOS transistor having a source connected to the second terminal, and a third PMOS transistor having a source connected to the first terminal and a drain connected to the drain of the second transistor. A control circuit generates gate control signals to control operation of the first, second and third PMOS transistors dependent on the first, second, and third supply potentials.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2024
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics (Rousset) SAS
    Inventor: Laurent Lopez
  • Patent number: 12081212
    Abstract: Embodiments of redrivers and resistive termination units for redrivers are disclosed. In an embodiment, a resistive termination unit for a redriver includes a resistor connected to an input/output terminal of the redriver, a first switch connected to the resistor and to a supply voltage of the redriver, a second switch connected to the first switch and configured to be turned on or off in response to a change in the supply voltage of the redriver, and a control circuit connected to the first switch through the second switch and configured to generate a control signal for the first switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2024
    Assignee: NXP USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Xu Zhang, Siamak Delshadpour
  • Patent number: 12057827
    Abstract: Methods and devices to address the undesired DC voltage distribution across switch stacks in OFF state are disclosed. The disclosed devices include charge control elements that sample the RF signal to generate superimposed voltages at specific points of the switch stack biasing circuit. The provided voltages help reducing the drooping voltages on drain/source/body terminals of the transistors within the stack by supplying the current drawn by drain/source terminals of the stacked transistors and/or by sinking the body leakage current exiting the body terminals of such transistors. Methods and techniques teaching how to provide proper tapping points in the biasing circuit to sample the RF signal are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2024
    Assignee: pSemi Corporation
    Inventors: Eric S. Shapiro, Simon Edward Willard
  • Patent number: 12057842
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide for a dynamic pulse generator which can combine both the sequential element and the pulse logic into one stage, thereby eliminating the wasted time resulting from a pulse generator' input-to-output propagation delay. The dynamic pulse generator can include a plurality of P-MOS an N-MOS transistors, a first delay element, and a second delay element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2024
    Assignee: BITMAIN DEVELOPMENT INC.
    Inventors: Christos Vezyrtzis, Peter Holm, Steve Beccue
  • Patent number: 12052015
    Abstract: Described herein are switches with asymmetrical anti-series varactor pairs to improve switching performance. The disclosed switches can include asymmetrical varactor pairs to reduce distortions. The asymmetry in the varactor pairs can be associated with geometry of each varactor in the pair. The disclosed switches can stack both symmetrical and asymmetrical varactor pairs. The disclosed switches with asymmetrical anti-series varactor pairs can be configured to improve both H2 and H3 simultaneously.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2023
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2024
    Assignee: SKYWORKS SOLUTIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Yu Zhu, Oleksiy Klimashov, Paul T DiCarlo
  • Patent number: 12047060
    Abstract: A drive device for driving a voltage-controlled semiconductor element. The drive device includes: a drive circuit connected to the gate of the semiconductor element via a gate resistor; a delay circuit connected to the drive circuit, for delaying a drive signal output from the drive circuit until a gate voltage of the semiconductor element enters a Miller effect period, which is a period during which the gate voltage transitionally changes, the gate voltage having temperature dependency on a chip temperature of the semiconductor element; a one-shot circuit connected to the delay circuit, for outputting a pulse signal with a pulse width shorter than the Miller effect period; a comparator that compares the gate voltage with a reference voltage; and an AND circuit that outputs an overheat detection signal in response to the gate voltage exceeding the reference voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2024
    Assignee: FUJI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Hiroaki Ichikawa
  • Patent number: 12041713
    Abstract: An example method performed for a circuit path includes: receiving signals in the circuit path; and controlling states of the signals in the circuit path based on skews produced by circuits electrically connected in series in the circuit path. The states are controlled by inverting or not inverting the signals in the circuit path so that skews produced by different circuits in the circuit paths at least partially cancel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2024
    Assignee: TERADYNE, INC.
    Inventors: Jan Paul Antonie van der Wagt, Bradley A. Phillips
  • Patent number: 12009823
    Abstract: A pulse width modulation (PWM) method for converting an input signal into an output PWM signal includes the following steps: generating a first linear periodic wave and a second linear periodic wave which are triangle waves or sawtooth waves, wherein the amplitude of the first linear periodic wave is greater than the amplitude of the second linear periodic wave; determining whether the level of the input signal is lower than a light load threshold; when the level of the input signal is lower than the light load threshold, generating the output PWM signal according to a comparison between the input signal and the second linear periodic wave; and when the level of the input signal is higher than the light load threshold, generating the output PWM signal according to a comparison between the input signal and the first linear periodic wave.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2024
    Assignee: RICHTEK TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yi-Kuang Chen
  • Patent number: 12009809
    Abstract: The present invention provides a drive module for a GaN transistor, including: a first pull-down transistor and a gate ringing and overshoot suppression unit, where the gate ringing and overshoot suppression unit and a first end of the first pull-down transistor are directly or indirectly connected to a gate of the GaN transistor, the gate ringing and overshoot suppression unit is connected between a second end of the first pull-down transistor and the ground; the gate ringing and overshoot suppression unit is configured to: when a gate voltage of the GaN transistor drops, control the release of a gate charge of the GaN transistor with a first impedance if the gate voltage is higher than a specified threshold; and control the release of the gate charge of the GaN transistor with a second impedance if the gate voltage is less than the specified threshold, where the first impedance is less than the second impedance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2024
    Assignee: FUDAN UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Min Xu, Jian Jin, Mengyuan Sun, Bin Wang, Wei Zhang
  • Patent number: 12009821
    Abstract: An output driver is provided. The output driver includes: a pull-up driver connected between an output power supply voltage and an output node, and configured to pull up a voltage at the output node based on a pull-up driving signal and a pull-up reference voltage; a pull-down driver connected between the output node and a ground voltage, and configured to pull down the voltage at the output node based on a pull-down driving signal and a pull-down reference voltage; and a reference voltage compensation circuit configured to perform a short operation during transitions of the pull-up driving signal and the pull-down driving signal, wherein the short operation includes electrically connecting any one or any combination of the pull-up reference voltage to the ground voltage, and the pull-down reference voltage to the output power supply voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2024
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Kyungsoo Lee
  • Patent number: 12003234
    Abstract: A bootstrapped switch includes a sampling transistor, a bootstrapped circuit, and a buffer circuit. The sampling transistor is configured to be selectively turned on according to a level of a control node, in order to transmit an input signal from a first terminal of the sampling transistor to a second terminal of the sampling transistor, in which a body of the sampling transistor is configured to receive a buffer signal. The bootstrapped circuit is configured to pull up the level of the control node, such that a constant voltage difference is present between the control node and the first terminal of the sampling transistor during a turn-on interval of the sampling transistor. The buffer circuit is configured to generate the buffer signal according to the input signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2023
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION
    Inventor: Liang-Huan Lei
  • Patent number: 12003230
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described herein for controlling a switch. In some embodiments, circuitry may detect a voltage across the switch. A current reference signal may be generated based on the voltage across the switch. The switch may be controlled based, at least in part, on the current reference signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: MediaTek Inc.
    Inventors: Yun-Yao Hung, Chien-Lung Lee, Shao-Siang Ng, Chun-Yen Tseng
  • Patent number: 11996838
    Abstract: A driving device comprises a first complementary metal-oxygen-semiconductor circuit and a first comparator. The first complementary metal-oxygen-semiconductor circuit is configured for outputting a power signal or a pull-down signal according to the first input signal. The first comparator comprises a first non-inverting input terminal and a first inverting input terminal. The first non-inverting input terminal is coupled to the first complementary metal-oxygen-semiconductor circuit, and is configured to receive the power signal or the pull-down signal. The first inverting input terminal is configured for receiving a first reference signal, and the first comparator is configured to compare one of the power signal and the pull-down signal and the first reference signal to provide a first driving signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: AUO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chi-Yu Geng, Ming-Hung Tu, Ya-Fang Chen, Chih-Hsiang Yang
  • Patent number: 11996841
    Abstract: A comparator circuit according to this embodiment includes: a comparator element configured to output a matching signal indicating whether or not a value of a first input signal matches a value of a second input signal; a flip-flop circuit configured to hold a data of a data input terminal based on a comparator clock signal and configured to output an enable signal for stopping an operation of the comparator element; and an internal signal generation circuit configured to output an internal signal to the data input terminal based on the matching signal and an output signal output from the flip-flop circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: JVCKENWOOD CORPORATION
    Inventor: Marta Dinata Anwar