Patents by Inventor Axel Thomsen

Axel Thomsen 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: 12132494
    Abstract: A method may include, for a signal path comprising a passive antialiasing filter sampled by a switched-capacitor front-end, monitoring a change of a first impedance of a resistor of the passive antialiasing filter responsive to an environmental condition relative to a second impedance of a switched capacitor of the switched-capacitor front end and compensating the signal path for a change in gain of the signal path resulting from the change of the first impedance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2024
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic Inc.
    Inventors: Arashk Norouzpourshirazi, John L. Melanson, Axel Thomsen
  • Patent number: 12113551
    Abstract: In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method may include, in a system comprising a differential filter comprising a plurality of impedance elements, applying a common-mode signal to the differential filter, measuring an output signal of the differential filter in response to the common-mode signal to determine an error due to impedance mismatch of the impedance elements, and tuning one or more of the plurality of impedance elements to minimize the error.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2024
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic Inc.
    Inventors: Arashk Norouzpourshirazi, John L. Melanson, Axel Thomsen
  • Patent number: 12047097
    Abstract: A system may include a switched-capacitor analog front end comprising a plurality of switches for sampling an analog physical quantity and a bootstrap generation network electrically coupled to the plurality of switches and configured to generate a bootstrap sampling clock for controlling the plurality of switches and generate a floating supply voltage for the bootstrap sampling clock based on the analog physical quantity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2024
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic Inc.
    Inventors: Arashk Norouzpourshirazi, Stephen T. Hodapp, Ravi K. Kummaraguntla, Paul Wilson, Axel Thomsen
  • Publication number: 20240226960
    Abstract: This application relates to methods and apparatus for driving a transducer with switching drivers. A driver circuit has first and second switching drivers for driving the transducer in a bridge-tied-load configuration, each of the switching drivers having a respective output stage for controllably switching the respective driver output node between high and low switching voltages with a controlled duty cycle. Each of switching drivers is operable in a plurality of different driver modes, wherein the switching voltages are different in said different driver modes. A controller controls the driver mode of operation and the duty cycle of the switching drivers based on the input signal. The controller is configured to control the duty cycles of the first and second switching drivers within defined minimum and maximum limits of duty cycles; and to transition between driver modes of operation when the duty cycle of one of the switching drivers reaches a duty cycle limit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2024
    Publication date: July 11, 2024
    Applicant: Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd.
    Inventors: Axel THOMSEN, Eric J. KING, Anthony S. DOY, Thomas H. HOFF, John L. MELANSON
  • Publication number: 20240192715
    Abstract: A circuit and method for generating a protection voltage includes a pair of voltage-generating circuits that generate voltages from the power supply voltage. The voltages have a differing dependence on the power supply voltage so that a difference between the first voltage and the second voltage changes sign for a particular value of the power supply voltage. The voltages are supplied to a protection voltage generating circuit that includes a pair of amplifiers having inputs that receive a respective one of the voltages and each of the amplifiers provides negative feedback to the other. An output circuit generates the protection voltage according to a maximum or a minimum value among the amplifier outputs, so that the protection voltage is monotonic with respect to variation of the power supply voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2022
    Publication date: June 13, 2024
    Inventors: Angel C. Abusleme Hoffman, Axel Thomsen
  • Patent number: 11990896
    Abstract: This application relates to methods and apparatus for driving a transducer with switching drivers. A switching driver has first and second supply node for receiving supply voltages and includes an output bridge stage, a capacitor and a network of switches. The network of switches is operable in different switch states to provide different switching voltages to the output bridge stage. A controller is configured to control the switch state of the network of switches and a duty cycle of output switches of the output bridge stage based on an input signal to generate an output signal for driving the transducer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic Inc.
    Inventors: Axel Thomsen, Eric J. King, Thomas H. Hoff, John L. Melanson, Angus Black, Ross C. Morgan, Malcolm Blyth
  • Patent number: 11980913
    Abstract: This application relates to methods and apparatus for driving a transducer with switching drivers. A driver circuit has first and second switching drivers for driving the transducer in a bridge-tied-load configuration, each of the switching drivers having a respective output stage for controllably switching the respective driver output node between high and low switching voltages with a controlled duty cycle. Each of switching drivers is operable in a plurality of different driver modes, wherein the switching voltages are different in said different driver modes. A controller controls the driver mode of operation and the duty cycle of the switching drivers based on the input signal. The controller is configured to control the duty cycles of the first and second switching drivers within defined minimum and maximum limits of duty cycles; and to transition between driver modes of operation when the duty cycle of one of the switching drivers reaches a duty cycle limit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2024
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic Inc.
    Inventors: Axel Thomsen, Eric J. King, Anthony S. Doy, Thomas H. Hoff, John L. Melanson
  • Publication number: 20240080034
    Abstract: A method may include, for a signal path comprising a passive antialiasing filter sampled by a switched-capacitor front-end, monitoring a change of a first impedance of a resistor of the passive antialiasing filter responsive to an environmental condition relative to a second impedance of a switched capacitor of the switched-capacitor front end and compensating the signal path for a change in gain of the signal path resulting from the change of the first impedance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2022
    Publication date: March 7, 2024
    Applicant: Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd.
    Inventors: Arashk NOROUZPOURSHIRAZI, John L. MELANSON, Axel THOMSEN
  • Publication number: 20240072823
    Abstract: In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method may include, in a system comprising a differential filter comprising a plurality of impedance elements, applying a common-mode signal to the differential filter, measuring an output signal of the differential filter in response to the common-mode signal to determine an error due to impedance mismatch of the impedance elements, and tuning one or more of the plurality of impedance elements to minimize the error.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2022
    Publication date: February 29, 2024
    Applicant: Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd.
    Inventors: Arashk NOROUZPOURSHIRAZI, John L. MELANSON, Axel THOMSEN
  • Publication number: 20240056095
    Abstract: A system may include a switched-capacitor analog front end comprising a plurality of switches for sampling an analog physical quantity and a bootstrap generation network electrically coupled to the plurality of switches and configured to generate a bootstrap sampling clock for controlling the plurality of switches and generate a floating supply voltage for the bootstrap sampling clock based on the analog physical quantity.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2022
    Publication date: February 15, 2024
    Applicant: Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd.
    Inventors: Arashk NOROUZPOURSHIRAZI, Stephen T. HODAPP, Ravi K. KUMMARAGUNTLA, Paul WILSON, Axel THOMSEN
  • Publication number: 20240053387
    Abstract: A system may include a passive floating attenuator configured to receive an analog physical quantity and attenuate the analog physical quantity to a floating attenuated signal defined by voltage nodes other than the voltage nodes of the analog physical quantity, an anti-aliasing filter configured to filter the floating attenuated signal to generate a filtered attenuated signal, and a switched-capacitor sampling circuit comprising a plurality of switches configured to sample the filtered attenuated signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2022
    Publication date: February 15, 2024
    Applicant: Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd.
    Inventors: Arashk NOROUZPOURSHIRAZI, Stephen T. HODAPP, Ravi K. KUMMARAGUNTLA, Axel THOMSEN
  • Publication number: 20230381814
    Abstract: This application relates to methods and apparatus for driving a transducer with switching drivers. A driver circuit has first and second switching drivers for driving the transducer in a bridge-tied-load configuration, each of the switching drivers having a respective output stage for controllably switching the respective driver output node between high and low switching voltages with a controlled duty cycle. Each of switching drivers is operable in a plurality of different driver modes, wherein the switching voltages are different in said different driver modes. A controller controls the driver mode of operation and the duty cycle of the switching drivers based on the input signal. The controller is configured to control the duty cycles of the first and second switching drivers within defined minimum and maximum limits of duty cycles; and to transition between driver modes of operation when the duty cycle of one of the switching drivers reaches a duty cycle limit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2023
    Publication date: November 30, 2023
    Applicant: Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd.
    Inventors: Axel THOMSEN, Eric J. KING, Anthony S. DOY, Thomas H. HOFF, John L. MELANSON
  • Patent number: 11791816
    Abstract: This application relates to methods and apparatus for driving a transducer with switching drivers. A switching driver has first and second supply node for receiving supply voltages and includes an output bridge stage, a capacitor and a network of switches. The network of switches is operable in different switch states to provide different switching voltages to the output bridge stage. A controller is configured to control the switch state of the network of switches and a duty cycle of output switches of the output bridge stage based on an input signal to generate an output signal for driving the transducer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic Inc.
    Inventors: Axel Thomsen, Eric J. King, Anthony S. Doy, Thomas H. Hoff, John L. Melanson
  • Patent number: 11777495
    Abstract: This application relates to methods and apparatus for driving a transducer with switching drivers where the switching driver has an output bridge stage for switching an output node between switching voltages and a modulator for controlling the duty cycle of the output bridge stage based on an input signal. The switching driver also includes a voltage controller for providing the switching voltages which is operable to provide different switching voltages in different driver modes. A controller is provided to control the driver mode of operation and the duty cycle of the switching driver based on the input signal, and the controller is configured to transition from a present driver mode to a new driver mode by controlling the voltage controller to provide the switching voltages for the new mode and controlling the modulator to vary the duty cycle of the output bridge stage. The change in duty cycle is controlled such that there is no substantial discontinuity in switching ripple due to the mode transition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic Inc.
    Inventors: John L. Melanson, Eric J. King, Thomas H. Hoff, Axel Thomsen
  • Patent number: 11777516
    Abstract: A signal processing system may include a sensor readout channel configured to convert an electronic signal into a digital quantity. The sensor readout channel may include a first-order sigma-delta modulator having a modulator input and a modulator output, first outside chopping switches located at the modulator input, second outside chopping switches located at the modulator output, an auxiliary path having an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) having an auxiliary path input and an auxiliary path output, the auxiliary path input configured to receive as its input signal a signal output by a memory element of the first-order sigma-delta modulator, and a signal combiner configured to combine a modulator output signal generated by the first-order sigma-delta modulator with an auxiliary path output signal generated by the auxiliary path to generate a combined output signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic Inc.
    Inventors: John L. Melanson, Axel Thomsen, Mucahit Kozak, Paul Wilson, Eric J. King
  • Patent number: 11684950
    Abstract: This application relates to methods and apparatus for driving a transducer with switching drivers. A driver circuit has first and second switching drivers for driving the transducer in a bridge-tied-load configuration, each of the switching drivers having a respective output stage for controllably switching the respective driver output node between high and low switching voltages with a controlled duty cycle. Each of switching drivers is operable in a plurality of different driver modes, wherein the switching voltages are different in said different driver modes. A controller controls the driver mode of operation and the duty cycle of the switching drivers based on the input signal. The controller is configured to control the duty cycles of the first and second switching drivers within defined minimum and maximum limits of duty cycles; and to transition between driver modes of operation when the duty cycle of one of the switching drivers reaches a duty cycle limit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventors: Axel Thomsen, Eric J. King, Anthony S. Doy, Thomas H. Hoff, John L. Melanson
  • Patent number: 11652455
    Abstract: A signal processing system may include a signal path and a chop management circuit. The signal path may comprise a chopper configured to chop a differential input signal to the signal path at a chopping frequency and a low-pass filter downstream of the chopper and configured to filter out intermodulation products of a direct current offset of the signal path and intermodulation products of an aggressor on the differential input signal in order to generate an output signal. The chop management circuit may be communicatively coupled to the chopper and configured to, based on operational parameters associated with the signal path, dynamically manage energy of one or more clock signals used to define the chopping frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventors: Ravi K. Kummaraguntla, Christophe J. Amadi, John L. Melanson, Axel Thomsen, John C. Tucker, Eric J. King
  • Patent number: 11594958
    Abstract: Driver circuitry for driving a load based on an input signal, comprising: at least one variable boost stage comprising: first and second input nodes configured to receive a first voltage and a second voltage respectively; first and second flying capacitor nodes for connection to a flying capacitor therebetween; a network of switching paths for selectively connecting the first and second input nodes with the first and second flying capacitor nodes; an output stage for selectively connecting a driver output node to each of the first and second flying capacitor nodes; and a controller operable in a first boost mode to: control the output stage to selectively connect the driver output node to the first flying capacitor node; control the network of switching paths to switch connection of the second flying capacitor node between the first and second input nodes at a controlled duty cycle; and in a first charge top-up cycle, control the network of switching paths to connect the first input node to the first flying c
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric J. King, Axel Thomsen, Anthony S. Doy, Thomas H. Hoff, John L. Melanson
  • Publication number: 20220385252
    Abstract: A circuit may include a two-stage feedforward compensated operational transconductance integrated amplifier, and the two-stage feedforward compensated operational transconductance integrated amplifier may include an input terminal, an output terminal, a signal path between the input terminal and the output terminal, the signal path comprising a first signal path gain stage and a second signal path gain stage, and ripple rejection circuitry coupled between the input terminal and an intermediate node of the signal path located between the first signal path gain stage and the second signal path gain stage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2022
    Publication date: December 1, 2022
    Applicant: Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd.
    Inventors: Sven SOELL, Paul WILSON, James T. DEAS, Axel THOMSEN
  • Publication number: 20220368325
    Abstract: This application relates to methods and apparatus for driving a transducer with switching drivers. A switching driver has first and second supply node for receiving supply voltages and includes an output bridge stage, a capacitor and a network of switches. The network of switches is operable in different switch states to provide different switching voltages to the output bridge stage. A controller is configured to control the switch state of the network of switches and a duty cycle of output switches of the output bridge stage based on an input signal to generate an output signal for driving the transducer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2022
    Publication date: November 17, 2022
    Applicant: Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd.
    Inventors: Axel THOMSEN, Eric J. KING, Thomas H. HOFF, John L. MELANSON, Angus BLACK, Ross C. MORGAN, Malcolm BLYTH