Patents by Inventor Balakrishnan V Nair

Balakrishnan V Nair 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: 7679370
    Abstract: A controller having discrete driver circuitry for driving an electrical load and a method are provided. The controller includes a microprocessor having ports configurable to operate as inputs or outputs. The controller also includes discrete driver circuitry connected to ports of the microprocessor. The discrete driver circuitry is configured to apply electrical power to drive an electrical load. The controller further has logic for configuring the ports of the microprocessor as an output to enable on/off of the output signal that drives the electrical loads, and further for configuring the ports of the microprocessor as an input to receive feedback signals from the discrete driver circuitry. The feedback signals are processed to detect fault conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2010
    Assignee: Delphi Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Balakrishnan V. Nair
  • Patent number: 7502963
    Abstract: The invention relates to design optimization of microprocessors using spare driver outputs for discrete input interfaces. An output driver or pre-FET driver is used to interface a discrete input for a microprocessor. To read the discrete interface, a fault detection mechanism of the pre-FET driver or the output driver is used. Monitoring the fault register of the output driver allows the condition of the external switch to be understood. The circuit is able to read either a switched to battery type interface or a switched to ground type interface, thereby eliminating hardware proliferation. The fault register is read through a serial peripheral interface (SPI) bus, thereby removing the need for a dedicated microprocessor pin required for the interface. Toggling the gate in the pre-FET driver interface permits adding diagnostic capability for the discrete input interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2009
    Assignee: Delphi Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Balakrishnan V. Nair
  • Publication number: 20080195873
    Abstract: A controller having discrete driver circuitry for driving an electrical load and a method are provided. The controller includes a microprocessor having ports configurable to operate as inputs or outputs. The controller also includes discrete driver circuitry connected to ports of the microprocessor. The discrete driver circuitry is configured to apply electrical power to drive an electrical load. The controller further has logic for configuring the ports of the microprocessor as an output to enable on/off of the output signal that drives the electrical loads, and further for configuring the ports of the microprocessor as an input to receive feedback signals from the discrete driver circuitry. The feedback signals are processed to detect fault conditions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2007
    Publication date: August 14, 2008
    Inventor: Balakrishnan V. Nair
  • Publication number: 20080088318
    Abstract: An inexpensive process for verifying that a capacitor, which would be difficult to detect using in-circuit testing techniques if the capacitor were a conventional two-terminal capacitor, has been properly installed on a circuit board involves incorporating into the circuit a feedthrough capacitor having at least two internally electrically connected terminals, and testing for electrical continuity between points on the circuit electrically connected to the internally connected terminals of the feedthrough capacitor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 17, 2006
    Publication date: April 17, 2008
    Inventor: Balakrishnan V. Nair
  • Patent number: 7242560
    Abstract: An electronic circuit for protecting a field effect transistor from high voltage includes a switching device having a first state in which the switching device turns the field effect transistor ON, and a second state in which the switching device turns the field effect transistor OFF. A charging device is connected to the switching device and receives an electrical charge when an electrode of the field effect transistor is shorted to a voltage source. The charging device applies the electrical charge to the switching device to thereby place the switching device in the second state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2007
    Assignee: Delphi Technologies, Inc
    Inventors: Balakrishnan V Nair, Gerald A Kilgour