Patents Examined by Diana J Cheng
  • Patent number: 11303269
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the invention include a pre-pulse switching system. The pre-pulsing switching system may include: a power source configured to provide a voltage greater than 100 V; a pre-pulse switch coupled with the power source and configured to provide a pre-pulse having a pulse width of Tpp; and a main switch coupled with the power source and configured to provide a main pulse such that an output pulse comprises a single pulse with negligible ringing. The pre-pulse may be provided to a load by closing the pre-pulse switch while the main switch is open. The main pulse may be provided to the load by closing the main switch after a delay Tdelay after the pre-pulse switch has been opened.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: Eagle Harbor Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth E. Miller, James R. Prager, Ilia Slobodov, Julian F. Picard
  • Patent number: 11303277
    Abstract: A circuit includes first through fifth transistors. The first transistor has a first control input and first and second current terminals. The second transistor has a second control input and third and fourth current terminals. The third transistor has a third control input and fifth and sixth current terminals. The third control input is coupled to the third current terminal, and the fifth current terminal is coupled to a supply voltage node. The fourth transistor has a fourth control input and seventh and eighth current terminals. The fourth control input is coupled to the first current terminal, and the seventh current terminal coupled to the supply voltage node. The fifth transistor has a fifth control input and ninth and tenth current terminals. The fifth control input is coupled to the first control input, and the tenth current terminal coupled to the second current terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Krishna Reddy Mudimela Venkata, Sneha Shetty, Sankar Debnath
  • Patent number: 11290118
    Abstract: A frequency synthesizer includes a phase-locked loop (PLL). The PLL includes a first voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and a second VCO, each comprising an oscillator, a capacitor bank, and a bias circuit. The capacitor bank is configured to selectably adjust an output frequency of the oscillator. The bias circuit is configured to provide a bias current to the oscillator, and includes a current digital-to-analog converter (IDAC), and an amplifier coupled to the IDAC and configured to drive the oscillator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Srinivas Theertham, Jagdish Chand, Yogesh Darwhekar, Subhashish Mukherjee, Jayawardan Janardhanan, Uday Kiran Meda, Arpan Sureshbhai Thakkar, Apoorva Bhatia, Pranav Kumar
  • Patent number: 11290100
    Abstract: Provided is a semiconductor device including a normally-off transistor having a first electrode, a second electrode, and a first control electrode, a normally-on transistor having a third electrode, a fourth electrode, and a second control electrode, a first capacitor having a first end and a second end, a Zener diode having a first anode and a first cathode, a first resistor having a third end and a fourth end, a first diode having a second anode and a second cathode, a second resistor having a fifth end and a sixth end, a second diode having a third anode and a third cathode, and a second capacitor having a seventh end and an eighth end.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA ELECTRONIC DEVICES & STORAGE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hung Hung, Yasuhiro Isobe, Akira Yoshioka, Toru Sugiyama, Masaaki Iwai, Naonori Hosokawa, Masaaki Onomura, Hitoshi Kobayashi, Tetsuya Ohno
  • Patent number: 11290090
    Abstract: A power transistor is switched on and off with an on-time that is held constant and an off-time that is varied. When the off-time is detected to be less than a threshold value that is greater than a minimum off-time limit, the on-time is extended. Then the power transistor is switched on and off with the extended on-time that is held constant and the off-time that varies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: Silanna Asia Pte Ltd
    Inventors: Robert Eric Fesler, William E. Rader, III, Yashovardhan R. Potlapalli
  • Patent number: 11277133
    Abstract: Various implementations described herein are related to a device having level shifter circuitry configured to receive isolation control signals in a first voltage domain and provide an output signal in a second voltage domain that is different than the first voltage domain. The device may include isolation logic circuitry configured to receive a data input signal in the first voltage domain and then provide the isolation control signals to the level shifter circuitry in the first voltage domain based on the data input signal. The isolation logic circuitry may include control passgates that enable the data input signal to propagate to the level shifter circuitry via the isolation control signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: Arm Limited
    Inventors: Lalit Gupta, El Mehdi Boujamaa, Tirdad Anthony Takeshian
  • Patent number: 11275113
    Abstract: Measuring a control system response time of a second clock tree is provided, comprising measuring a skew between the second clock signal and the first clock signal and storing the skew, initiating a delay change of a delay induced by the programmable delay line and starting a time measurement. At least one iteration is performed of measuring the skew between the second clock signal and the first clock signal and comparing the measured skew with the stored skew. Based on the result of the comparison, stopping after a current iteration and stopping the time measurement. A result of the time measurement is the control system response time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Andreas H. A. Arp, Douglas J. Malone, Thomas Makowski, Michael V. Koch
  • Patent number: 11271478
    Abstract: A charge pump generates an output voltage. A first circuit generates a pulse width-modulated signal as a function of a deviation between the output voltage and a setpoint voltage. A second circuit receives a periodic signal and conditions the supply of the periodic signal to a control input of the charge pump as a function of the state of the pulse width-modulated signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS
    Inventor: Xavier Branca
  • Patent number: 11271574
    Abstract: A frequency synthesizer system may include a first voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) circuit, a second VCO circuit, and multiplexing circuitry. The multiplexing circuitry may be configured to select either the output of the first VCO circuit or the output of the second VCO circuit in response to a mode selection signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Tomas O'Sullivan, Lai Kan Leung, Dongling Pan, Jianjun Yu, Dongmin Park
  • Patent number: 11264554
    Abstract: High-saturation power Josephson ring modulators and fabrication of the same are provided. A Josephson ring modulator can comprise a plurality of matrix junctions. Matrix junctions of the plurality of matrix junctions can comprise respective superconducting parallel branches that can comprise a plurality of Josephson junctions operatively coupled in a series configuration. A method can comprise forming a first matrix junction comprising arranging a first group of Josephson junctions as first parallel branches. The method can also comprise forming a second matrix junction comprising arranging a second group of Josephson junctions as second parallel branches. Further, the method can comprise forming a third matrix junction comprising arranging a third group of Josephson junctions as third parallel branches. In addition, the method can comprise forming a fourth matrix junction comprising arranging a fourth group of Josephson junctions as fourth parallel branches.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventor: Baleegh Abdo
  • Patent number: 11251801
    Abstract: A frequency adjusting apparatus used in a processing chip operated at an operation frequency according to a power is provided that includes a clock supplying circuit, a frequency division circuit and a control circuit. The clock supplying circuit outputs one of clock signals as a supplied clock signal. The frequency division circuit performs frequency division on the supplied clock signal according to a parameter to generate an output clock signal. The control circuit determines a combination of a selected clock signal and a value of the parameter for gradually increasing the frequency of the output clock signal during the increasing of the voltage value that passes through voltage value sections, wherein when the voltage value is determined to be larger than a second threshold value and when the voltage value sections correspond to higher voltage values, the selected clock signal has a higher frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chih-Hsiung Hsu, Gerchih Chou, Han-Chieh Hsieh
  • Patent number: 11251788
    Abstract: A duty cycle adjustment apparatus comprises a first edge extraction unit for extracting a rising edge of a first clock signal; a locking discrimination unit configured to output a control signal according to a comparison result between a discrimination voltage and a stabilized voltage, and select to connect the first clock signal or the clock output signal; an integration unit, configured to convert the feedback signal into the stabilized voltage, amplify the stabilized voltage to reach a reference voltage, and output a control voltage; a charge pump, configured to output a second clock signal according to the control voltage; a second edge extraction unit, configured to extract a falling edge of the second clock signal; and a phase discriminator, configured to compare a phase of the rising edge of the first clock signal with a phase of the falling edge of the second clock signal to generate the clock output signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: NO.24 RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF CHINA ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY GROUP CORPORATION
    Inventors: Xi Chen, Liang Li, Guangbing Chen, Yuxin Wang, Dongbing Fu, Xingfa Huang, Mingyuan Xu, Xiaofeng Shen
  • Patent number: 11251796
    Abstract: A phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit is configured to adjust a value of a bias voltage based on a comparison between a reference clock signal and a feedback clock signal, and an oscillator circuit is configured to provide the feedback clock signal and phase-shifted clock signals based on a value of the bias voltage. A frequency detector of the frequency detector is configured to cause an adjustment to the value of the bias voltage in response to detection of a frequency deviation between the reference clock signal and the feedback clock signal. To avoid a metastable state, the frequency detector is configured to apply an asynchronous delay to one of the reference clock signal or the feedback clock signal prior to detection of the frequency deviation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Takai, Maksim Kuzmenka, Mani Balakrishnan, Martin Brox
  • Patent number: 11245387
    Abstract: A system for generating an RFPWM signal comprises a delta sigma modulator having a plurality of outputs, a phase-locked loop comprising a plurality of phase quantization outputs, at least one multiplexer having a plurality of signal inputs, a plurality of selector inputs, and at least one output, the signal inputs communicatively connected to the phase quantization outputs of the phase-locked loop and the selector inputs electrically connected to the outputs of the delta sigma modulator, and a driver having an input communicatively connected to the output of the multiplexer and an output generating an RFPWM signal. A method of generating an RFPWM signal is also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2022
    Assignee: Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University
    Inventor: Kevin Grout
  • Patent number: 11239764
    Abstract: A voltage-source converter, VSC, control system including an active damper, AD, a direct-voltage controller, DVC, and an alternating-voltage controller, AVC. The VSC control system is configured to control a VSC. The AVC is configured to regulate, using an integrator, an ac-bus voltage of the VSC by calculating a q component of a current reference vector for the VSC. The DVC is configured to regulate, using an integrator, a dc-bus voltage of the VSC by calculating a d component of the current reference vector. The AD is configured to amplify a vectoral difference between the ac-bus voltage and a corresponding reference, and to add the q component of the amplified vectoral difference to the q component of the current reference vector and to an input of the integrator of the AVC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Lennart Harnefors, Massimo Bongiorno, Xiongfei Wang
  • Patent number: 11237191
    Abstract: Embodiments relate to sensing a current provided by a power supply circuit. The current sensing circuit includes a sense transistor for sensing the current provided by a main transistor, a driver for controlling a bias provided to the sense transistor and the main transistor, and a sense resistor for converting the sensed current to a voltage value. Moreover, the current sensing circuit includes a controller that modifies at least one of: (a) a resistance of the main transistor by adjusting the bias voltage provided by the driver, (b) a gain ratio between a load current and a sensing current by adjusting a number of individual devices that are active in the sense transistor, and (c) a resistance of the sense resistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Erhan Ozalevli, Evaldo M. Miranda, Jr., Behzad Mohtashemi
  • Patent number: 11233519
    Abstract: A delay locked loop (DLL) circuit includes inputs from M-phase clocks, M is an integer that is greater than or equal to 1; N delay cells in each of M separate delay lines, one delay line for each of the inputs from the M-phase clocks, and each of the N delay cells having a delay of k*?t, N is an integer, and k is an integer that is coprime with both N and M; N outputs for clock phases from the N delay cells; and an alignment circuit connected to outputs of the M separate delay lines and the inputs from the M-phase clocks and configured to provide phase locking.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignee: Ciena Corporation
    Inventors: Jerry Yee-Tung Lam, Sadok Aouini, Marinette Besson, Matthew Baby Varghese
  • Patent number: 11231743
    Abstract: A timer includes a timing counter configured to generate a timing datum, a clock pulse signal generation circuit configured to generate a clock pulse signal used to operate the timing counter, and an interface circuit configured to receive an access signal, wherein the timing counter is an asynchronous counter, and the clock pulse signal generation circuit generates the clock pulse signal having a first pulse width when there is a possibility that the interface circuit receives the access signal, and generates the clock pulse signal having a second pulse width longer than the first pulse width when there is no possibility that the interface circuit receives the access signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Inventor: Masayuki Kamiyama
  • Patent number: 11223363
    Abstract: Disclosed is an open loop fractional frequency divider including an integer divider, a control circuit, and a phase interpolator. The integer divider processes an input clock according to the setting of a target frequency to generate a first frequency-divided clock and a second frequency-divided clock. The control circuit generates a coarse-tune control signal and a fine-tune control signal according to the setting. The phase interpolator generates an output clock according to the first frequency-divided clock, the second frequency-divided clock, and the two control signals. The two control signals are used for determining a first current, and their reversed signals are used for determining a second current. The phase interpolator controls a contribution of the first (second) frequency-divided clock to the generation of the output clock according to the first (second) frequency-divided clock, the reversed signal of the first (second) frequency-divided clock, and the first (second) current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shawn Min, Yi-Jang Wu, Tsung-Ming Chen, Chieh-Yuan Hsu, Cheng-Yu Liu
  • Patent number: 11223364
    Abstract: A signal generator includes a first phase-locked loop (PLL) configured to receive a first reference signal having a first reference frequency and generate a ramping signal based on the first reference signal, where the ramping signal is between a minimum frequency and a maximum frequency of a radar frequency band; a system clock configured to generate a second reference signal having a common system reference frequency; and a second PLL configured to receive the second reference signal from the system clock, generate the first reference signal based on the second reference signal, and provide the first reference signal to the first PLL.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Inventor: Grigory Itkin