Patents Examined by Metasebia Retebo
  • Patent number: 9537479
    Abstract: Embodiments include apparatuses, methods, and systems for transmitting a data signal over one or more transmission lines. In one embodiment, a transmitter circuit includes a plurality of programmable impedance driver (PID) circuits coupled in parallel with one another to drive a data signal on a transmission line. The individual PID circuits may include a pull-up transistor to receive a pull-up signal, a pull-down transistor to receive a pull-down signal, and first and second resistors coupled in series with one another between the pull-up and pull-down transistors. An output contact may be coupled to a node between the first and second resistors to pass an output signal that is responsive to the pull-up and pull-down signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Hongjiang Song, Yan Song
  • Patent number: 9536695
    Abstract: A driving method includes providing a field emission cathode device. The field emission cathode device includes a cathode electrode, an electron emission layer electrically connected to the cathode electrode, a first gate electrode spaced from the cathode electrode by a first dielectric layer, and a second grid electrode spaced from the first gate electrode by a second dielectric layer. The second dielectric layer has a second opening. A first voltage is supplied to the cathode electrode, a second voltage is supplied to the first gate electrode, and a third voltage is supplied to the second grid electrode, to extract electrons from the electron emission layer to a space formed by the second opening, until the electrons of the space saturate. The third voltage is greater than the second voltage, such that the electrons of the space are emitted through the second grid electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignees: Tsinghua University, HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Peng Liu, Shou-Shan Fan
  • Patent number: 9531346
    Abstract: A signal processing apparatus includes a first electrical signal generator configured to generate a first electrical signal, a second electrical signal generator configured to generate a second electrical signal based on a voltage signal output from a variable impedance unit, and a multiplexer configured to selectively supply the first electrical signal and the second electrical signal to the variable impedance unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jong Pal Kim, Tak Hyung Lee, Hyoung Ho Ko
  • Patent number: 9526147
    Abstract: An apparatuses, methods and systems for providing user control of an environmental parameter of a structure are disclosed. One method includes configuring one or more sensor units of the lighting system, establishing a local communication link between a user device and at least one sensor unit of the one or more sensor units, receiving, by the at least one sensor unit, a request from the user device, the at least one sensor unit propagating the request to a controller of the lighting system, the controller responding to the request with an operational change of a device associated with the at least one sensor unit, and the at least one sensor unit or the device associated with the at least one sensor unit providing an observable indicator to the user that the request has been addressed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: enLighted, Inc.
    Inventor: Tanuj Mohan
  • Patent number: 9525408
    Abstract: Methods and apparatuses are disclosed for a high speed, low power, isolated multiplexer having architecture and operation that control current flow to minimize coupling and power consumption. Multiplexer architecture may include one or more of BiCMOS components, an input disabling circuit operated to additionally disable an input circuit when it is also disabled by a selection circuit, a multiplexer disabling circuit operated to disable a multiplexer when input circuits are disabled by the selection circuit, a buffer having a buffer input disabling circuit operated to additionally disable a buffer input circuit when it is also disabled by a buffer selection circuit and a buffer disabling circuit operated to disable a buffer when the buffer input circuit is disabled by the buffer selection circuit. Any one or more of these features may be implemented to improve isolation performance. The architecture may be operated by a one-hot coding scheme.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: INTEGRATED DEVICE TECHNOLOGY INC.
    Inventor: Chengming He
  • Patent number: 9520382
    Abstract: The invention relates to an LED lamp for warm white light having an LED module consisting of at least one color-converted blue or UV LED, and at least one monochromatic LED, preferably a red LED, in the case of which the mixed spectrum produces white light with a color temperature CCT of between 1500K and 2400K, preferably 1700K and 2100K at room temperature, and between 1800K and 2400K, preferably 2100K and 2300K at a stationary operating temperature of, for example, between 70° C. and 80° C. of the LED lamp.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2016
    Assignee: Tridonic Jennersdorf GmbH
    Inventor: Peter Pachler
  • Patent number: 9521724
    Abstract: A lighting system includes a system controller, at least one light fixture, and at least one non-fixture system device. The system controller initiates automated commissioning by instructing a light fixture of the lighting system to modulate light output by the light fixture with a commissioning code. At least one system device of the lighting system receives the modulated light output and demodulates the received light output to determine the commissioning code. In response to determining the commissioning code, the at least one system device sends an acknowledgment message to the system controller. The system controller associates the system devices sending an acknowledgment message with the light fixture providing the light output modulated with the commissioning code.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2016
    Assignee: UNIVERSAL LIGHTING TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Travis Berry, Eric Spika
  • Patent number: 9509305
    Abstract: In an embodiment, an electronic device includes an integrated circuit (IC) having a plurality of power domains, a first regulator coupled to a given power domain, a second regulator coupled to the given power domain, and a switching circuit coupled between the first and second regulators and configured to control an amount of current drawn by the power domain from the first and/or second regulators. In another embodiment, a method includes controlling an impedance of a switching circuit to change an amount of current, the switching circuit coupled to a given power domain of an IC configured to operate in a first mode followed by a second mode, where the switching circuit is coupled to a first regulator configured to provide more power to the IC than a second regulator, and a transition period includes turning off the first regulator and turning on the second regulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR, INC.
    Inventors: Ivan Carlos Ribeiro Nascimento, Akshat Gupta, Sunny Gupta, Akshay K. Pathak, Adriano Marques Pereira, Garima Sharda, Pedro Barbosa Zanetta
  • Patent number: 9497827
    Abstract: Provided is a light-emitting apparatus, wherein a plurality of light-emitting elements that emit the same type of color are arranged in a plurality of row directions and column directions, the plurality of light-emitting elements arranged in the row direction are connected in series in the row direction, and the rows having the plurality of light-emitting elements connected in series are connected in parallel. The plurality of light-emitting elements comprise first light-emitting elements, and second light-emitting elements having smaller outputs than the first light-emitting elements, and the first light-emitting elements and the second light-emitting elements are arranged alternately in each of the row directions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: NICHIA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Haruaki Sasano
  • Patent number: 9496012
    Abstract: According to at least one example embodiment, a method and corresponding system, or circuit, for calibrating a reference voltage of a single-ended receiver, include applying a clock signal and a reference voltage signal as inputs to the differential amplifier of the single-ended receiver. The differential amplifier provides an output signal, the output signal is processed, and an indication of a duty cycle associated with an output signal of the amplifier is evaluated. Based on the evaluated indication of the duty cycle, a control logic module, or circuit, adjusts a level of the reference voltage signal. The process of evaluating the indication of the duty cycle and adjusting the reference voltage level is repeated for a number of iterations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: Cavium, Inc.
    Inventors: Omer O. Yildirim, David Lin, Scott E. Meninger
  • Patent number: 9490799
    Abstract: An electronic device includes a transmission interface, a switch unit and a control unit. The transmission interface includes a signal reference contact and a signal transmission contact. The switch unit is coupled between the signal reference contact and a grounded layer. The control unit is coupled to the switch unit. When the control unit controls the switch unit to connect the signal reference contact and the grounded layer, the signal transmission contact is used to transmit a first signal. When the control unit controls the switch unit to disconnect the signal reference contact from the grounded layer, the signal reference contact is used to transmit a second signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: Synology Incorporated
    Inventors: Yen-Li Hsieh, Ming-Hung Tsai, Hung-Ming Tsai
  • Patent number: 9479150
    Abstract: A multi-phase clock circuit includes: a phase tuning circuit configured to receive a primitive N-phase clock including N primitive clocks of the same period but distinct phases and output a calibrated N-phase clock including N calibrated clocks in accordance with a first tuning signal, where N is integer greater than one; a clock multiplexing circuit configured to receive the N calibrated clocks and output a first output clock and a second output clock in accordance with a multiplexing control signal; a time-to-digital converter configured to receive the first output clock and the second output clock and output a digital code; and a calibration controller configured to receive the digital code and output the first tuning signal in accordance with a mode select signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2016
    Assignee: REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION
    Inventor: Chia-Liang (Leon) Lin
  • Patent number: 9468080
    Abstract: A lighting tool for setting lighting parameters of a plurality of light sources (1). A processor (2) is provided which is connectable to the plurality of light sources (1), and arranged to control lighting parameters of each of the plurality of light sources (1). A position storage unit (3) is connected to the processor (2) for storing spatial positions of the plurality of light sources (1). A camera arrangement (4) is connected to the processor (2) for providing a view of at least part of a scene illuminated by the plurality of light sources (1). The processor (2) is arranged to correlate a viewing area of the camera arrangement (4) and a retrieved spatial position of one or more of the plurality of light sources (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2016
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Robert Van Herk, George Frederic Yianni, Johanna Cornelia Maria Francisca Tielens-Aarts, James Joseph Anthony McCormack, Arend Jan Wilhelmus Abraham Vermeulen
  • Patent number: 9459651
    Abstract: A multi-level clock signal distribution network comprises a plurality of lower network levels comprising at least a first lower network level and a lowermost network level that is connected to one or more lowermost clock signal driving circuits connectable to receive a clock signal; and a topmost network level arranged to distribute the clock signal to a plurality of clocked circuits, and connected to a plurality of topmost clock signal driving circuits connected to receive the clock signal from the first lower network level. The lowermost network level comprises at least one net and each of the plurality of lower network levels except the lowermost network level comprises a plurality of nets and is connected to a corresponding plurality of lower clock signal driving circuits being connected to receive the clock signal from a subjacent one of the plurality of lower network levels, wherein each of the plurality of nets is driven by all nets of the subjacent one.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR, INC.
    Inventors: Lior Moheban, Avi Elazary, Amir Nave, Noam Sivan
  • Patent number: 9459650
    Abstract: A clock generator is provided that is immune to skew between bits in digital words generated by a multi-phase receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Xiaohua Kong, Cheng Zhong, Swarna Latha Navubothu
  • Patent number: 9461629
    Abstract: A circuit for generating a voltage waveform at an output node. The circuit includes a voltage rail connected to the output node via a voltage rail switch; an anchor node connected to the output node via an inductor and a bidirectional switch, wherein the bidirectional switch includes two or more transistors connected in series; and a control unit configured to change the voltage at the output node by controlling the voltage rail switch and the bidirectional switch so that, if a load capacitance is connected to the output node, a resonant circuit is established between the inductor and the load capacitance. The circuit may be included in an apparatus for use in processing charged particles, e.g. for use in performing mass spectrometry or ion mobility spectrometry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: SHIMADZU CORPORATION
    Inventors: Steven Douglas Taylor, Matthew Clive Gill, Li Ding, James Edward Nuttall
  • Patent number: 9446710
    Abstract: A rail vehicle emergency lighting system for a rail vehicle includes a main lighting system with light emitting diodes. When a main lighting power supply is active, the light emitting diodes of the main lighting system are lit with a main lighting intensity. When the main lighting power supply fails, the light emitting diodes of the main lighting system are lit with an emergency lighting intensity. The emergency lighting intensity is reduced compared to the main lighting intensity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignee: Siemens AG Oesterreich
    Inventors: Anton Ambroz, Klaus Ulreich
  • Patent number: 9433135
    Abstract: An RF apparatus may include: an RF resonance device having an electrically conductive outer wall, the outer wall comprising a gap extending over its circumference, and an input coupling device having an RF generator, arranged on the outer side of the outer wall of the RF resonance device in the region of the gap, for coupling RF radiation of a particular frequency through the gap into the interior of the RF resonance device, and shielding which externally shields the generator and electrically bridges the gap on the outer side of the outer wall, wherein the shielding is formed as a resonator having a high impedance at the generator frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2016
    Assignee: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventors: Oliver Heid, Timothy Hughes
  • Patent number: 9432009
    Abstract: A circuit delay monitoring apparatus has a ring oscillator with a plurality of delay elements, a signal transition being propagated through the delay elements of the ring oscillator, and a plurality N of sampling points being distributed around the ring oscillator. Selection circuitry selects, in dependence on the indication of the current location of the signal transition generated by the fine sampling circuitry, one of the M transition counter circuits whose associated location is greater than said predetermined amount from the current location of the signal transition. Output generation circuitry then generates a count indication for a reference time period dependent on a sampled count value of the transition counter circuit selected by the selection circuitry, the indication of the current location of the signal transition within the ring oscillator, and reference count data relating to the start of the reference time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2016
    Assignee: ARM Limited
    Inventors: Paul Nicholas Whatmough, Shidhartha Das, David Michael Bull
  • Patent number: 9425785
    Abstract: A driver circuit for driving a switching transistor having a control terminal responsive to a switching control signal includes a plurality of driver stages, each having a control input responsive to a respective driver control signal and an output coupled to the output of the other driver stages and to the control terminal of the switching transistor. At least one of the driver control signals has an on time that is delayed with respect to the other driver control signals. In an embodiment, at least two driver stages are on during a slew time interval.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2016
    Assignee: Allegro Microsystems, LLC
    Inventor: Joshua Wibben