Patents Examined by Thomas Skibinski
  • Patent number: 10075066
    Abstract: An internal voltage generation circuit may be provided. The internal voltage generation circuit may include a first internal voltage generation circuit configured to provide a reference internal voltage to either an internal voltage control circuit or a node at which an output internal voltage is generated. The internal voltage generation circuit may include a second internal voltage generation circuit configured to change a level of the output internal voltage. The internal voltage generation circuit may include an internal voltage control circuit configured to compare the reference internal voltage with the output internal voltage and control the first and second internal voltage generation circuits to change the level of the output internal voltage according to a comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventors: Kyung Hoon Kim, Jee Yeon Keh
  • Patent number: 10075157
    Abstract: Certain aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a circuit for driving a signal at an output node. The circuit generally includes a voltage divider network having a first terminal coupled to the output node. The circuit also includes a first transistor having a gate coupled to a second terminal of the voltage divider network and a plurality of transistors. A gate of each of the plurality of transistors may be coupled to a respective tap node of the voltage divider network, and the plurality of transistors may include a third transistor having a source coupled to a drain of the first transistor. The circuit may also include a second transistor coupled to the first transistor and having a gate coupled to an input node of the circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Brent R. Den Hartog, Eric J. Lukes, Matthew J. Paschal, Nghia V. Phan, Raymond A. Richetta, Patrick L. Rosno, Timothy J. Schmerbeck, Dereje G. Yilma
  • Patent number: 10071635
    Abstract: A controller includes a tracking regulator having a reference voltage input and a voltage output and configured to regulate the voltage output to the reference voltage input. The controller is configured to, in response to a short to ground of the voltage output, electrically couple the reference voltage input to the voltage output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Thomas Joseph Wand
  • Patent number: 10074993
    Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments of a guided surface wave transmitter/receiver configured to transmit a guided surface wave at a first frequency and to receive guided surface waves at a second frequency, concurrently with the transmission of guided surface waves at the first frequency. The various embodiments can be configured to retransmit received power and applied the received power to an electrical load. The various embodiments of the guided surface wave transmitter/receiver also can be configured as an amplitude modulation (AM) repeater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: CPG Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: James F. Corum, Kenneth L. Corum, James D. Lilly, Basil F. Pinzone, Jr., Joseph F. Pinzone
  • Patent number: 10065513
    Abstract: The invention relates to inductive energy transmission from a primary coil (12) to a secondary coil (22) having an additional operating state. By means of this two-sided regulation, a primary-side and secondary-side control of the power electronics is performed in accordance with a predetermined operational strategy. Thus, even in the case of unfavorable coupling factors, for example, the efficiency of the inductive energy transmission can be increased, the magnetic field in the air gap between the primary coil (12) and the secondary coil (22) can be minimized, and the inductive energy transmission can be optimized. This optimized operational strategy is enabled by means of a newly introduced idle state, which permits periodic short-circuiting of the secondary side by means of switches on the secondary side (S5, S6) of the inductive energy transmission system. The invention is preferably used in the charging of the battery of an electric vehicle (4), but other applications are also possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Thomas Plum, Tobias Diekhans
  • Patent number: 10069490
    Abstract: At least one method, apparatus and system disclosed involves performing a dynamic voltage compensation in an integrated circuit. A first voltage on a first portion of an integrated circuit is received. A second voltage on a second portion of the integrated circuit is monitored. A determination is made as to whether the second voltage fell below the first voltage by a predetermined margin. A feedback adjustment of the of the second voltage is performed in response to a determination that the second voltage fell below the first voltage by the predetermined margin; the feedback adjustment comprises performing a step up of the second voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES INC.
    Inventors: Sukeshwar Kannan, Luke England, Mehdi Sadi
  • Patent number: 10056899
    Abstract: A signal gating circuit includes a logic circuit that receives a stop signal and an input signal and provides an intermediate signal in response, and a pulse stretcher. The pulse stretcher provides an output signal with no pulse when a width of a pulse of the intermediate signal is less than a first amount, with a pulse having a first pulse width that begins after a start of the pulse of the intermediate signal and ends at a predetermined delay thereafter when a pulse width of the intermediate signal is greater than the first amount but less than a second amount, and with a pulse having a second pulse width that begins after the start of the pulse of the intermediate signal and ends after an end of the pulse of the intermediate signal when a pulse width of the intermediate signal is greater than the second amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: SILICON LABORATORIES INC.
    Inventors: Kenneth W. Fernald, Chester Yu, Hegong Wei
  • Patent number: 10056777
    Abstract: A plurality of drivers for driving corresponding differential data output signals are arranged in series such that a first current discharged by a first one of the drivers is recycled through remaining ones of the drivers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Xiaohua Kong, Jie Xu
  • Patent number: 10056755
    Abstract: A multi-source energy storage system, it includes a first energy storage system, a second energy storage system, and a second DC/DC converter and controller and a method for supplying power to an electrical load from multiple energy storage systems. The first energy storage system can be coupled to an electrical load. The second DC/DC converter and controller can be coupled between at least one of the following: a second energy storage system and a first energy storage system or electrical load. The controller settings control the first and second energy storage systems and the second DC/DC converter runs in both precharge mode and normal mode. In the precharge mode, the first energy storage system charges the second energy storage system via the second DC/DC converter. In normal mode, the second energy storage is coupled to the electrical load via the second DC/DC converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Fei Li, Pengcheng Zhu, Pengju Kang
  • Patent number: 10047501
    Abstract: A control device of construction machine that performs tasks by driving a hydraulic pump by means of an electric motor that is driven by electric power of a battery device that is capable to charge and discharge and an engine that is mechanically coupled to the electric motor, includes: a charging/discharging control unit that controls the charging/discharging of the battery device in such a manner that, in case that a heavy load task where an output of the hydraulic pump is large and a light load task where the output of the hydraulic pump is small are alternately performed, when the output of the hydraulic pump during the heavy load task is increased or a time proportion of the heavy load task in the unit period is increased, an average value of charging current of the battery device per the unit period increases, and when the output of the hydraulic pump during the heavy load task is further increased or the time proportion of the heavy load task in the unit period is further increased, then the average va
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Seiji Ishida, Shinya Imura, Masafumi Hita
  • Patent number: 10050622
    Abstract: An operating device for an electronic household appliance contains a rotary control knob being mounted on a control panel such that a carrier of the rotary control knob can rotate about an axis of rotation relative to the control panel, an angle of rotation detection device for detecting an angle position of the carrier, and a control device that is connected to the angle of rotation detection device and evaluates a measurement signal generated by the angle of rotation detection device. The rotary control knob further contains an operating element that is attached in a non-rotatable manner to the carrier and embodied in an elastically deformable manner and the rotary control knob contains a sensor that is attached in a non-rotatable manner to the carrier and detects any deformation of the operating element. The control device is connected to the sensor and evaluates a measurement signal generated by the sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: Diehl AKO Stiftung & Co. KG
    Inventors: Andreas Maigler, Bruno Fuhge, Joachim Lyszus, Ralph Stohr
  • Patent number: 10042376
    Abstract: A capacitor structure is described. The capacitor structure includes a substrate, a plurality of source/drain regions formed in the substrate, and a plurality of gates formed above the substrate. The plurality of gates formed above the substrate such that each of the plurality of gates is formed between each pair of source/drain regions of the plurality of source/drain regions to form a channel between each pair of source/drain regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2018
    Assignee: TDK Corporation
    Inventors: Rien Gahlsdorf, Jianwen Bao
  • Patent number: 10036656
    Abstract: A position detecting system detects and responds to the movement of a target through a sensing domain area of a plane. The movement causes the amount of the target that lies within a sensing domain area to change. A portion of the target always lies within at least one of the sensing domain areas of the plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: George Pieter Reitsma, Richard Dean Henderson, Jonathan Baldwin
  • Patent number: 10038430
    Abstract: A system for controlling gatings of a multi-core processor, the system includes a pulse width modulation generator for generating a control square wave; and a phase shifter for shifting a phase of the control square wave to generate control square waves with different phases, and respectively inputting the control square waves with the different phases to a gating of each of multiple processing engines in the multi-core processor. A multi-core processor is provided that includes multiple processing engines. Each processing engine includes a gating, and a system for controlling the gating. Accordingly, in the multi-core processor, the load to be processed in a certain period of a working cycle can be averaged to be processed in a longer period of the working cycle. Consequently, current noise and voltage noise and temperature growth due to the load change can be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: NVIDIA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shuang Xu
  • Patent number: 10038321
    Abstract: A system is disclosed for extracting a medium DC voltage from a plurality of PV modules arranged in an array and supplying the medium DC voltage to inverters located outside the array near a point of interconnection with a utility grid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: First Solar, Inc.
    Inventors: Ranjan K. Gupta, Kevin G. Collins
  • Patent number: 10038438
    Abstract: A driving circuit including: a voltage detector that detects the sum voltage of a positive bias voltage and a negative bias voltage, the negative bias voltage or the positive bias voltage; and a switching element that is connected to the control terminal of a power element and the negative side of a negative-voltage power supply; wherein, when the value of the detection target voltage becomes lower than a voltage setting value or when a voltage between the control terminal and the reference terminal in the power element increases in a state where the value of the detection target voltage is lower than the voltage setting value, the voltage detector turns on the switching element to thereby supply, between the above terminals in the power element, a voltage of 0V or lower.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Kosuke Nakano, Keisuke Iwasawa, Takayoshi Miki, Hiroshi Nakatake
  • Patent number: 10038447
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a semiconductor device may include forming a first inverter and a second inverter to selectively receive separate inputs of a differential input signal and directly connecting each of the first and second inverters to receive power directly from a voltage input and a voltage return. The first inverter may be configured to include a first control switch that is configured to selectively couple together an upper transistor and a lower transistor of the first inverter. The second inverter may be configured to include a second control switch that is configured to selectively couple together an upper transistor and a lower transistor of the second inverter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventor: Donald Claude Thelen, Jr.
  • Patent number: 10038439
    Abstract: A control circuit for turning on a power semiconductor switch includes an input that receives a signal characterizing a switch-on behavior of the power semiconductor switch. A phase detection circuit detects two or more phases of the switch-on behavior of the power semiconductor switch in response to the signal that characterizes the switch-on behavior of the power semiconductor switch. The phase detection circuit is coupled to generate a phase signal that indicates which of the two or more phases the power semiconductor switch is currently running through. A variable current source is coupled to supply a current with a variable level to a control input of the power semiconductor switch to switch on the power semiconductor switch. The control circuit is coupled to control the variable current source in a closed control loop in response to the signal that characterizes the switch-on behavior of the power semiconductor switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: Power Integrations Switzerland GmbH
    Inventor: Matthias Johannes Siebler
  • Patent number: 10038442
    Abstract: A circuit arrangement for controlling a transistor with an insulated gate, a gate driver for generating a driver signal, and a capacitor parallel to the gate-source path of the transistor, wherein the gate driver is designed for generating a driver signal greater than or equal to zero volts, an inductor is provided for forming a resonant circuit with the capacitor, and a switching element is provided in the resonant circuit, which is designed for interrupting the resonant circuit after recharging the capacitor. The part of the circuit arrangement downstream of the gate driver is designed for exclusive voltage supply using the driver signal of the gate driver, and the switching element is formed by an additional transistor, a first freewheeling diode is arranged parallel to the switching element, and the inductor of the resonant circuit is arranged between the additional transistor and the gate of the transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: FRONIUS INTERNATIONAL GmbH
    Inventor: Bernhard Artelsmair
  • Patent number: 10033209
    Abstract: Portable electronic equipment which prevents an unwanted decrease in capacity of an internal battery of an external device, such as a smartphone, by cutting off feeding as necessary when connected to the external device, such as the smartphone, through a USB. The portable electronic equipment has a USB connector for connection with the external device, a feeding switch for turning on or off feeding to the secondary battery through a VBUS line, and a CPU. The CPU subjects the feeding switch to ON-control at all times or OFF-control at all times, or displays a selection menu for selecting feeding or unfeeding when the external device is connected to the USB connector. When a user selects feeding, the feeding switch undergoes ON-control. When the user selects unfeeding, the feeding switch undergoes OFF-control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2018
    Assignee: TEAC Corporation
    Inventors: Mikio Nakayama, Takayuki Honda, Kunihiro Oribe