Patents Examined by Jeffrey Zweizig
  • Patent number: 10014769
    Abstract: A bipolar output charge pump circuit having a network of switching paths for selectively connecting an input node and a reference node for connection to an input voltage, a first pair of output nodes and a second pair of output nodes, and two pairs of flying capacitor nodes, and a controller for controlling the switching of the network of switching paths. The controller is operable to control the network of switching paths when in use with two flying capacitors connected to the two pairs of flying capacitor nodes, to provide a first bipolar output voltage at the first pair of output nodes and a second bipolar output voltage at the second pair of bipolar output nodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2018
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventors: John P. Lesso, Peter J. Frith, John L. Pennock
  • Patent number: 9998101
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for controlling the operation of a moving average filter, which is capable of optimizing the ability to cope with a surge noise through reasonable control of a tracking speed with respect to a change in an input value. The method includes: (a) a step of setting a stability reference value and a corresponding sampling interval; (b) a step of inputting measurement data; (c) a step of calculating a first moving average using the measurement data input in the step (b) by applying a basic sampling interval; and (d) a step of calculating a second moving average for the measurement data by applying the sampling interval corresponding to the stability reference value set in the step (a) if the first moving average is equal to or larger than the stability reference value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: LSIS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Jo-Dong Park
  • Patent number: 9991874
    Abstract: A tunable analog noise-cancelling transversal reconfigurable filter for filtering an RF signal. The filter includes a noise-cancelling balun responsive to the RF signal and providing gain and noise suppression, and a time delay network responsive to the signal from the balun. The time delay network includes a single continuous three-dimensional air coaxial line where a separate tap is provided between sections of the line. The filter also includes a multiplication and summing network having a plurality of multiplication stages, where each stage is fed by a voltage signal from at least one of the taps, and each stage includes a multiplication amplifier that amplifies the voltage signal. A tuning element provides a multiplication coefficient to the amplified signal. Each amplified signal in each stage is added on an output line, where the multiplication and summing network operates under Millman's Theorem.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2018
    Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy R. LaRocca, Denpol Kultran
  • Patent number: 9991724
    Abstract: A battery management system for a vehicle is provided to prevent current consumption of a battery by operating a relay connected between the battery and electronic loads to prevent an over-discharge of the battery. The battery management system includes a sensing unit that is configured to measure a current and a voltage of a battery for a vehicle and a relay that is connected between the battery for the vehicle and electronic units of the vehicle. Additionally, a controller is configured to receive data from the sensing unit to turn off the relay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2018
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Yu Seok Kim, Jin Ho Park, Kyung In Min, Jae Hoon Choi, Dong Gun Kim, Do Kyoung Lim, Jun Ho Bang, Dong Il Kim, Yoon Jun Lee, Hee Tae Yang, Kyun Young Ahn, Kyung Ho Kim, Suk Hyung Kim, Jin Wook Kim
  • Patent number: 9985610
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a power gating circuit including a synchronous reset flip-flop, a retention circuit including a retention flip-flop, a clock management circuit configured to provide an operation clock to the power gating circuit and the retention circuit, and a power management circuit configured to transmit a power gating control signal to the power gating circuit, the retention circuit, and the clock management circuit. The power gating circuit is activated to signal entry to a power reduction mode. The retention circuit retains states of the semiconductor device. Upon exit from the power reduction mode, the power management circuit is configured to complete a reset operation of the power gating circuit before signaling the retention circuit to cancel a retention state and restore the states of the semiconductor device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Sang Woo Kim, Suk Nam Kwon, Jin Ook Song
  • Patent number: 9975764
    Abstract: Method for producing a directed monolayer or multilayer assembly of colloidal nanoparticles attached to an electret substrate, including imparting a surface electric potential to an electret substrate according to a pattern of positive and/or negative electric charges, and contacting an electret substrate with a colloidal dispersion. The colloidal dispersion has electrically neutral or near neutral and electrically polarizable colloidal nanoparticles, and a nonpolarizing or weakly polarizing dispersion medium. The absolute value of the surface electric potential and the concentration of polarizable nanoparticles are no lower than a first surface electric potential threshold and no lower than a second concentration threshold, respectively, such as to obtain an assembly having a desired geometric shape, at least the first layer of which is compact in terms of the absence of undesired gaps having sizes greater than the size of two adjacent nanoparticles, preferably not greater than the size of one nanoparticle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignees: Institut National des Sciences Appliquees de Toulouse, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Universite Paul Sabatier Toulouse III
    Inventors: Laurence Ressier, Sangeetha Neralagatta Munikrishnaiah, Pierre Moutet
  • Patent number: 9977452
    Abstract: Systems and methods for efficiently controlling energy sources are disclosed. In one example, a system for processing and storing energy may include a plurality of cells that store energy and a plurality of power switches coupled to the cells. The system may also include an inductor coupled to the power switches and a controller, wherein the controller controls the power switches to transfer the energy to a load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama
    Inventor: Jaber A. Abu Qahouq
  • Patent number: 9979206
    Abstract: A wireless power transfer system comprises: a transmitter comprising a transmit electrode set configured to transfer power via resonant electric field coupling; and a receiver comprising a receive electrode set configured to extract the transferred power via resonant electric field coupling, wherein the electrodes of at least one of the transmit and receive electrode sets are concentric.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: SOLACE POWER INC.
    Inventors: Magnus Nyberg, Andrew Bartlett
  • Patent number: 9971369
    Abstract: A voltage regulator is connected with an input/output circuit. The voltage regulator includes a controlling circuit, a sink voltage generator and a source voltage generator. The controlling circuit generates a first reference voltage, a second reference voltage, a first power start control signal and a second power start control signal. The sink voltage generator receives the first reference voltage and the first power start control signal. The source voltage generator receives the second reference voltage and the second power start control signal. When the voltage regulator is in a normal working state, the controlling circuit inactivates the first power start control signal and the second power start control signal, the sink voltage generator generates a sink voltage according to the first reference voltage, and the source voltage generator generates a source voltage according to the second reference voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: Faraday Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Chi-Yang Chen, Wen-Chi Huang
  • Patent number: 9971376
    Abstract: Voltage reference circuits configured to generate a voltage reference with a programmable temperature slope are disclosed. By combining and programming a PTAT (Proportional To Absolute Temperature) voltage generation circuit and a CTAT (Complementary To Absolute Temperature) voltage generation circuit, desired temperature slope for the voltage reference is obtained. To adjust both temperature slope and offset of the voltage reference, the voltage reference circuits include a bandgap reference circuit. The bandgap reference circuit is used to create a temperature independent current, which is coupled to a programmable string of resistors and programmable string of MOSFETs to produce a desired temperature slope for the voltage reference. The desired offset of the voltage reference is obtained by the temperature-independent current into another string of programmable resistors. A circuit architecture and method to control the temperature slope and offset of the voltage reference independently is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2018
    Assignee: Kilopass Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Sang-soo Lee
  • Patent number: 9967104
    Abstract: Circuits and techniques are described for detecting a ground fault leak between the PSE and the PD. Prior to PoDL voltage being applied to the PD, a test switch is temporarily closed for sensing a voltage drop in a loop between the positive terminal of the PSE voltage source and any ground leakage path between the PSE and the PD. If the resistance of the ground leakage path is below a certain threshold, a fault is declared. A similar test may be performed without a test switch by supplying a known test current through the loop and sensing the voltage drop. Another test is to connect the positive terminal of the PSE voltage source to the loop and sense the resulting current. After the full PoDL voltage is applied to the PD, a ground fault may be detected by sensing the equivalence between the source and return PSE currents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Assignee: Linear Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Andrew J. Gardner, Jeffrey L. Heath
  • Patent number: 9954119
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a Zener diode including a Zener diode junction formed in a semiconductor substrate along a plane parallel to the surface of the substrate, and positioned between a an anode region having a first conductivity type and a cathode region having a second conductivity type, the cathode region extending from the surface of the substrate. A first conducting region is configured to generate a first electric field perpendicular to the plane of the Zener diode junction upon application of a first voltage to the first conducting region, and a second conducting region is configured to generate a second electric field along the plane of the Zener diode junction upon application of a second voltage to the second conducting region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS (ROUSSET) SAS
    Inventors: Roberto Simola, Pascal Fornara
  • Patent number: 9939841
    Abstract: A method and circuit are provided to reduce the power consumption of high-speed clocks that are distributed across an integrated circuit (IC). Example implementations seek to reduce the amount of power dissipated in typical clock distribution networks by turning the combination of a multi-port electrical network and transmission line into a multi-resonant structure. In an implementation, the multi-port electrical network is coupled between first and second segments of the transmission line. The multi-port electrical network includes a series inductive reactance and a shunt inductive susceptance configured to produce first and second resonances that cooperate to create a bandpass response across clock distribution frequencies. This bandpass response is created by the multi-resonant structure, which is a combination of the transmission line and the multi-port electrical network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: INPHI CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tomas Alexander Dusatko
  • Patent number: 9941734
    Abstract: A solar power generation system includes a storage battery, a solar power generation device that is provided on the side of the storage battery and outputs solar generated power, and a power control device. The power control device includes a variation component extraction unit that extracts a shade variation component from a generated power signal measured by the solar power generation device, a smoothing unit that smoothens the shade variation component obtained by the variation component extraction unit, a system output correction unit that obtains a system output power target value which is a combined output between a discharge output of the storage battery and the solar generated power on the basis of an output signal from the smoothing unit, and a charge/discharge output correction unit that corrects a charge/discharge target value which is a difference between the system output power target value and the generated power signal on the basis of a current time and a state of charge of the storage battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuko Sano, Kenji Takeda, Kenichirou Beppu, Yuuji Nagashima, Taichi Nomura
  • Patent number: 9935540
    Abstract: A voltage charge pump circuit with boost capacitor segments and boost delay chain structures are provided. The voltage charge pump circuit comprising a plurality of boost capacitor segments each of which is individually controlled by a respective signal line of a boost delay chain structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventor: Christopher P. Miller
  • Patent number: 9935252
    Abstract: A system for adjusting qubit frequency includes a qubit device having a Josephson junction and a shunt capacitor coupled to electrodes of the Josephson junction. A cantilevered conductor is separated from the shunt capacitor by a spacing. An adjustment mechanism is configured to deflect the cantilevered conductor to tune a qubit frequency for the qubit device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: David W. Abraham, Jerry M. Chow, Jay M. Gambetta, John A. Smolin
  • Patent number: 9929645
    Abstract: A voltage charge pump circuit with boost capacitor segments and boost delay chain structures are provided. The voltage charge pump circuit comprising a plurality of boost capacitor segments each of which is individually controlled by a respective signal line of a boost delay chain structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventor: Christopher P. Miller
  • Patent number: 9929721
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for detecting characteristics of an input signal. One aspect includes a first finite impulse response (FIR) filter, a second FIR filter, and a controller coupled with the first and second FIR filters. The first FIR filter receives an input signal and a first reference signal. The first FIR filter filters the first reference signal to generate a first sinusoidal signal and mixes the first sinusoidal signal and the input signal to generate a first mixed signal. The second FIR filter receives the input signal and a second reference signal. The second FIR filter filters the second reference signal to generate a second sinusoidal signal and mixes the second sinusoidal signal and the input signal to generate a second mixed signal. The controller determines characteristics of the input signal based on the first and second mixed signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: WiTricity Corporation
    Inventor: Curt Karnstedt
  • Patent number: 9930818
    Abstract: Provided are a magnetic field shield sheet for a wireless charger, a method of manufacturing the sheet, and a receiver for the wireless charger by using the sheet. The sheet includes at least one layer thin magnetic sheet made of an amorphous ribbon separated into a plurality of fine pieces; a protective film that is adhered on one surface of the thin magnetic sheet via a first adhesive layer provided on one side of the protective film; and a double-sided tape that is adhered on the other surface of the thin magnetic sheet via a second adhesive layer provided on one side of the double-sided adhesive tape, wherein gaps among the plurality of fine pieces are filled by some parts of the first and second adhesive layers, to thereby isolate the plurality of fine pieces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: AMOSENSE CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Dong Hoon Lee, Kil Jae Jang
  • Patent number: 9929587
    Abstract: Disclosed is a Radio Frequency (“RF”) Energy Harvesting System (“RFHS”). The RFHS includes a phased array antenna, a power harvesting unit, and a controller. The phased array antenna is configured to receive ambient RF energy and, in response, produce an input power signal. The power harvesting unit is in signal communication with the phased array antenna and includes a rectifier module, storage module, and power threshold module. The power harvesting unit is configured to receive the input power signal and, in response, produce a rectified power signal. The controller is in signal communication with the phased array antenna and may steer the antenna beam of the phased array antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Authi A. Narayanan, Alan R. Keith