Patents Examined by Nasima Monsur
  • Patent number: 10386422
    Abstract: The invention pertains to a method of determining the State of Health (SoH) and/or State of Charge (SoC) of a rechargeable battery during use of said battery, the method comprising the steps of: generating a first excitation signal within a first selected frequency range, generating a second excitation signal within a second selected frequency range, applying said first and second excitation signals on said rechargeable battery, measuring the response signal for each of said two excitation signals, and then calculate the Electrochemical Impedance (El) as the ratio between the excitation signals and respective response signals, and then determine the SoH and/or SoC of the rechargeable battery by comparing the calculated El to a circuit model for the battery and/or determining the SoH and/or SoC of the rechargeable battery by directly evaluating characteristics of the El. The invention also pertains to a battery management system configured for executing the steps of the method according to the invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: LITHIUM BALANCE A/S
    Inventors: Andreas Elkjaer Christensen, Rasmus Rode Mosbaek
  • Patent number: 10386426
    Abstract: A detection of a failure of a phase (as a method and apparatus) in a system—supplied by multiple phases—including a DC link (5) is suggested. A rectified voltage (10) of the DC link (5) pulses at a multiple of the mains frequency as a fundamental wave. The rectified voltage (10) is filtered for detecting a signal component at the double frequency of the mains frequency (12). The rectified voltage (10) is also “filtered” for detecting an average link voltage (14). A ratio signal (17) is formed as a ratio of the average link voltage (14) to the signal component at the double frequency of the mains frequency (12). An error detection signal (19) results from a comparison of the ratio signal (17) with an error threshold (20).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: Schmidhauser AG
    Inventor: Andreas Schrepfer
  • Patent number: 10371716
    Abstract: A structure for performing socket power calibration comprises a plurality of socket ports on a load board electrically coupled to a plurality of traces on a first end of a flexible printed circuit board, wherein the plurality of traces are configured to allow traversal of an electrical signal from the plurality of socket ports to a waveguide. The structure further comprises the plurality of traces, wherein the traces are operable to terminate on a second end of the flexible printed circuit board into a plurality of patch antennas, wherein the plurality of patch antennas is adapted to radiate the electrical signal into the waveguide. Finally, the structure also comprises a power sensor electrically coupled to the waveguide, wherein the waveguide is configured to communicate the electrical signal from the waveguide to the power sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: ADVANTEST CORPORATION
    Inventors: Donald Lee, Daniel Lam
  • Patent number: 10375847
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for determining when a tablet has been removed from a blister pack are presented. A method includes measuring an electrical characteristic, such as electrical resistance or impedance, between at least two terminals that are in electrical communication with a lidding film included in the blister pack, wherein the removal of a tablet from the blister pack results in an opening in the lidding film, thereby giving rise to a finite change in the electrical characteristic. Another method determines the state of the blister pack using electrical resistance tomography or electrical impedance tomography.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: QuantaEd, LLC
    Inventor: Mehran Mehregany
  • Patent number: 10352969
    Abstract: Systems and methods described herein are directed towards integrating a shield layer into a current sensor to shield a magnetic field sensing element and associated circuitry in the current sensor from electrical, voltage, or electrical transient noise. In an embodiment, a shield layer may be disposed along at least one surface of a die supporting a magnetic field sensing element. The shield layer may be disposed in various arrangements to shunt noise caused by a parasitic coupling between the magnetic field sensing element and the current carrying conductor away from the magnetic field sensing element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: Allegro MicroSystems, LLC
    Inventors: Shaun D. Milano, Bryan Cadugan, Michael C. Doogue, Alexander Latham, William P. Taylor, Harianto Wong, Sundar Chetlur
  • Patent number: 10338181
    Abstract: A radio frequency (RF) coil assembly for magnetic resonance imaging includes a transmit only (Tx only) RF coil to apply an RF signal to an object, and a receive only (Rx only) RF coil to receive a magnetic resonance signal from a region of interest of the object excited by the applied RF signal. The Tx only RF coil and the Rx only RF coil are disposed such that a first center of the Tx only RF coil and a second center of the Rx only RF coil are spaced apart from each other by a distance identical to a distance between a first peak point of a first magnetic field generated by the Tx only RF coil and a second peak point of a second magnetic field generated by the Rx only RF coil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kyoung-nam Kim, Jung-hee Lee, Geun-ho Im
  • Patent number: 10322064
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for monitoring the content of a medicine bottle via electrical capacitive tomography (ECT) are presented in which the three-dimensional volume of the medicine bottle, and its content, are imaged by developing a map of its permittivity. The permittivity map is developed by applying a stimulus between two of a plurality of electrodes that are arranged about a chamber of the medicine bottle in which the content is contained, and measuring an electrical response at each of the remaining electrodes of the plurality. By repeating this process for every pair of electrodes within the plurality, a complete permittivity map of the three-dimensional volume is developed. Once the permittivity map is established, the number and type of tablets (or liquid) within the volume is determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2019
    Assignee: QuantaEd, LLC
    Inventor: Mehran Mehregany
  • Patent number: 10317480
    Abstract: A magneto resistive device having a plurality of magneto resistive sensing elements. Each of the plurality of magneto resistive sensing elements has a free layer and a reference layer. The free layer has a rounded convex contour with an aspect ratio of 2 or greater. There may be one hundred or more magneto resistive sensing elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Wolfgang Raberg, Andreas Strasser
  • Patent number: 10317562
    Abstract: Illustrative logging methods, systems, and software, provide for correction of cross-coupling error via a complex-plane extrapolation technique. Frequency-dependent measurements at each given borehole position will trace out a dependence of a quadrature signal component on the in-phase component. With linear or curve-fit extrapolation to the real axis, the cross-coupling error is readily compensated, enabling more accurate formation property logs to be derived over greater range of operating environments. The technique is particularly suitable for use with laterolog resistivity tools, where cross-coupling between current and voltage conductors might otherwise be problematic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Luis E. San Martin, Bill Schaecher, Burkay Donderici
  • Patent number: 10295620
    Abstract: A magnetic resonance coil apparatus is provided, the apparatus having a posterior coil unit including a base unit and a further coil component, wherein the further coil component is arranged so as to be able to be tilted on the base unit with respect to the base unit and wherein the posterior coil unit includes a position acquisition unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Daniel Driemel, Jörg Rothard
  • Patent number: 10295626
    Abstract: In one embodiment, an MRI apparatus includes receiving coils each including an A/D converter configured to convert an MR signal received from an object into a digital signal by sampling the MR signal, a clock generation circuit configured to generate a reference clock of the sampling, and a radio transmission circuit configured to wirelessly transmit a digitized MR signal; and a main body configured to wirelessly receive the digitized MR signal and generate an image of the object by reconstructing the digitized MR signal, wherein one of the receiving coils selected as a reference receiving coil by the main body is configured to transmit the reference clock to each of other receiving coils by radio or by wire; and each of the other receiving coils is configured to synchronize the reference clock generated by the clock generation circuit with the reference clock transmitted from the reference receiving coil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: TOSHIBA MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroshi Hayakawa, Tomoyuki Yoshida, Sadanori Tomiha, Kazuyuki Soejima
  • Patent number: 10295584
    Abstract: An energy storage system may include battery packs, such that one terminal of the battery packs is electrically coupled to a resistor representative of an isolation resistance of the battery system. The system may include a semiconductor relay switch, a plurality of resistors configured to electrically couple to the battery packs via the semiconductor relay switch, a gain field-effect transistor (FET) configured to electrically short at least one resistor of the plurality of resistors, and a control system. The control system may send a first command to the semiconductor switch to close, acquire a first voltage waveform, send a second command to the semiconductor switch to open, send a third command to the gain FET to close, send a fourth command to the semiconductor switch to close, acquire a second voltage waveform, and determine the isolation resistance based on the first voltage waveform and the second voltage waveform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Ronald J. Dulle, Mark R. Johnson
  • Patent number: 10295582
    Abstract: Techniques relate to reading a qubit coupled to a microwave resonator. A microwave signal at a microwave resonator frequency is input to the microwave resonator that couples to the qubit. A microwave readout signal from the microwave resonator is output to a microwave to optical converter. The microwave readout signal includes a qubit state of the qubit. The microwave to optical converter is configured to convert the microwave readout signal to an optical signal. In response to the optical signal being output by the microwave to optical converter, it is determined that the qubit is in a predefined qubit state. In response to no optical signal being output by the microwave to optical converter, it is determined that the qubit is not in the predefined qubit state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Lev S. Bishop, Jay M. Gambetta, Jason S. Orcutt, Hanhee Paik, James R. Rozen
  • Patent number: 10288670
    Abstract: The invention relates to a diagnosis apparatus for detecting a defect of at least one of a plurality of light emitting diodes which are interconnected to form a light emitting diode series connecting a first supply terminal to a second supply terminal. The defect is intended to be detected with little wiring outlay. The invention provides that a resistance element is connected in parallel with each light emitting diode and a measuring device is configured to generate a diagnosis current between the two supply terminals in a luminous pause, during which none of the light emitting diodes emit light, said diagnosis current giving rise, at each resistance element, to a voltage lower than a forward voltage, starting from which the light emitting diode respectively connected in parallel emits light, and to provide a voltage value of a diagnosis voltage dropped between the supply terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: Continental Automotive GmbH
    Inventors: Wolfgang Koellner, Maximilian Austerer, Philipp Brejcha
  • Patent number: 10288706
    Abstract: In a method and apparatus for magnetic resonance (MR) fingerprinting, an MR signal is acquired from a subject by radiating radio-frequency (RF) energy that produces an RF transmission field that has a localized amplitude in the subject. The RF energy is radiated with an RF pulse configuration that maps the localized RF field amplitude in the phase of the MR signal from the subject. The detected MR signal is compared to a source of stored MR signal physical or theoretical models that respectively map different localized RF transmission field information in the respective phase thereof, the stored models being respectively for different substances. A substance in the subject from which the detected MR signal curve originated is identified by comparing the detected MR signal curve to the stored models to identify a best match.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GmbH
    Inventors: Thorsten Feiweier, Gregor Koerzdoerfer, Mathias Nittka
  • Patent number: 10267845
    Abstract: A system for simultaneously burning in, testing and curing all the die on an uncut semiconductor wafer having top and bottom surfaces, the system having upper and lower platen assemblies with a flow section configured to receive and discharge a temperature-controlled, circulated liquid heat transfer medium to maintain the temperatures of the top and bottom surfaces of the uncut semiconductor wafer within desired limits during wafer burn-in and testing and a programmable CPU and service controller configurable to selectively energize, monitor, test, display and store a plurality of performance parameters for the electronic circuitry of each of the plurality of die of the uncut semiconductor wafer simultaneously throughout a desired burn-in and test period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: Delta V Instruments, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert W. Storey, William Robert Caldwell, Clint D. Wilson, Glenn Lee Prince, Stephen Kyle Collins, Michael S. Walker, Kerry F. Cage
  • Patent number: 10261132
    Abstract: An electricity storage system includes a plurality of chargeable and dischargeable battery boards, a plurality of PCSs connected to the respective battery boards, and charging and discharging the connected batteries, and a battery controller distributing a charging and discharging power value of the entire system as an instruction value to each of the PCSs at a constant cycle or at an arbitrary timing. The battery controller gives a charging and discharging instruction for a predefined test charging and discharging to the selected battery board, and distributes, to all the battery boards except the selected battery board, a value obtained by subtracting a charging and discharging power value for the test charging and discharging from a charging and discharging power value for the entire system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Masahiro Tohara, Mami Mizutani, Makoto Ide, Takenori Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 10256799
    Abstract: A semiconductor apparatus includes a direct access section, an interface section, and a through-via region. The direct access section receives first and second groups of input signals through a direct access pad, and generates first and second groups of control signals based on the first and second groups of input signals. The interface section comprises a plurality of channel circuits suitable for receiving a part or all of the first and second groups of control signals in response to a plurality of channel selection signals. The through-via region electrically couples the plurality of channel circuits and a plurality of stack dies to form a plurality of channels, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventors: Chun Seok Jeong, Jung Hwan Lee
  • Patent number: 10254330
    Abstract: A partial discharge detection board includes a voltage divider configured to attenuate a voltage of a reflected signal. A buffer is connected to the voltage divider. The buffer attenuates frequencies of the reflected signal that are greater than an upper cutoff frequency. An analog-to-digital converter is connected to the buffer. The analog-to-digital converter receives portions of the reflected signal up to the upper cutoff frequency, and the analog-to-digital converter converts the reflected signal from an analog domain to a digital domain. A filter is connected to the analog-to-digital converter. The filter attenuates frequencies of the reflected signal that are less than a lower cutoff frequency. A comparator is connected to the filter. The comparator compares the voltage of the reflected signal to a reference voltage. A counter is connected to the comparator. The counter increments when the voltage of the reflected signal is greater than the reference voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: AVO MULTI-AMP CORPORATION
    Inventors: Adam Bierman, Craig Powers
  • Patent number: 10247756
    Abstract: The invention relates to a probe card structure, which comprises printed circuit board structure with a first through hole, a center stiffener with a second through hole, a first probe head module with a first through hole set and a plurality of first probe pins, and a second probe head module provided with a plurality of second probe pins. The first probe head module and the second probe head module are respectively arranged on a lower surface and an upper surface of the printed circuit board structure, wherein those first probe pins are set on a periphery of an opening of the first through hole set; and a portion of the second probe head module penetrating the first through hole, the second through hole, and the first through hole set. The first and second probe head module integrated together can be utilized for 3D IC testing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Hermes-Epitek Corp.
    Inventor: Chien-Yao Hung