Patents by Inventor Armin Noller

Armin Noller has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8933640
    Abstract: A current driver circuit for regulating a light emitting diode (LED) is disclosed. An example driver circuit uses one input node of the driver circuit for controlling both maximum brightness and dimming of an LED coupled to an output node of the driver circuit. The driver circuit supplies a reference voltage (VREF) to its input node. A microcontroller is coupled through a resistor or other resistive component to the input node of the driver circuit and provides the input current, where the input current is adjustable by the resistor value. The driver circuit is configured to drive multiple times the input current from its output node. By adjusting the resistor value the output current of the LED is adjusted. The microcontroller is configured to provide pulse width modulation (PWM). By reducing the duty cycle of the PWM waveform the dimming of the LED can be controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: Atmel Corporation
    Inventor: Armin Noller
  • Patent number: 8832474
    Abstract: A slave circuit of a LIN bus and method for operating a slave circuit is provided. The slave circuit includes a receiver circuit that is connected to the bus in order to output bit sequences as a function of a bus voltage, an interface circuit for controlling a sleep mode and a normal mode, a detector circuit for evaluating the bus voltage which is connected to the bus, a timer device that is connected to an output of the detector circuit and to the interface circuit. Whereby, the detector circuit, the timer device, and the interface circuit are designed to detect an exceedance of a time threshold by a waveform of the bus voltage of the bus, and to continue a sleep mode in the event of an exceedance, wherein the time threshold is greater than the duration of a wake-up command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Atmel Corporation
    Inventor: Armin Noller
  • Publication number: 20140191681
    Abstract: A current driver circuit for regulating a light emitting diode (LED) is disclosed. An example driver circuit uses one input node of the driver circuit for controlling both maximum brightness and dimming of an LED coupled to an output node of the driver circuit. The driver circuit supplies a reference voltage (VREF) to its input node. A microcontroller is coupled through a resistor or other resistive component to the input node of the driver circuit and provides the input current, where the input current is adjustable by the resistor value. The driver circuit is configured to drive multiple times the input current from its output node. By adjusting the resistor value the output current of the LED is adjusted. The microcontroller is configured to provide pulse width modulation (PWM). By reducing the duty cycle of the PWM waveform the dimming of the LED can be controlled.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2013
    Publication date: July 10, 2014
    Inventor: Armin Noller
  • Publication number: 20100106991
    Abstract: A slave circuit of a LIN bus and method for operating a slave circuit is provided. The slave circuit includes a receiver circuit that is connected to the bus in order to output bit sequences as a function of a bus voltage, an interface circuit for controlling a sleep mode and a normal mode, a detector circuit for evaluating the bus voltage which is connected to the bus, a timer device that is connected to an output of the detector circuit and to the interface circuit. Whereby, the detector circuit, the timer device, and the interface circuit are designed to detect an exceedance of a time threshold by a waveform of the bus voltage of the bus, and to continue a sleep mode in the event of an exceedance, wherein the time threshold is greater than the duration of a wake-up command.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2009
    Publication date: April 29, 2010
    Inventor: Armin Noller