Patents by Inventor Christopher Truong

Christopher Truong 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).

  • Publication number: 20200025808
    Abstract: A digital current sensing circuit and related apparatus is provided. In one aspect, a digital current sensing circuit can be configured to estimate a battery current in a coupled circuit based on a voltage corresponding to the battery current. More specifically, the digital current sensing circuit generates an analog sense current proportional to the battery current based on the voltage and digitally processes the analog sense current to generate a battery current indication signal indicative of an estimation of the battery current. In another aspect, a number of digital current sensing circuits can be provided in an apparatus to concurrently estimate a number of battery currents in a number of circuits (e.g., charge pump circuits). As a result, it may be possible to test, debug, and/or fine-tune the apparatus based on the estimated battery currents for improved performance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2018
    Publication date: January 23, 2020
    Inventors: Nadim Khlat, Philippe Gorisse, Christopher Truong Ngo
  • Patent number: 10540226
    Abstract: Embodiments of a bus interface system are disclosed. In one embodiment, the bus interface system includes a master bus controller and a slave bus controller coupled to a bus line. The master bus controller is configured to generate a first set of data pulses along the bus line representing a payload segment. The slave bus controller is configured to decode the first set of data pulses representing the payload segment into a decoded payload segment. The slave bus controller is then configured to perform a first error check on the decoded payload segment. Furthermore, the slave bus controller is configured to generate an acknowledgment signal along the bus line so that the acknowledgement signal indicates that the decoded payload segment passed the first error check. In this manner, the master bus controller can determine that the slave bus controller received an accurate copy of the payload segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala
  • Patent number: 10528502
    Abstract: Embodiments of bus interface systems are disclosed. In one embodiment, a bus interface system includes a master bus controller and a slave bus controller coupled along a bus line. The master bus controller is configured to generate an input data signal that is received by the slave bus controller along the bus line. The slave bus controller includes power conversion circuitry configured to convert the input data signal from the master bus controller into a supply voltage. By providing the power conversion circuitry, the slave bus controller is powered using the input data signal and without requiring an additional bus line to transfer a supply voltage to the slave bus controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala, Christian Rye Iversen, Ruediger Bauder
  • Patent number: 10516428
    Abstract: A radio frequency front-end (RFFE) slave circuit and related apparatus are provided. The RFFE slave circuit may be coupled to a number of RFFE masters over an RFFE bus. The RFFE slave circuit may be configured by the RFFE masters for accessing, either concurrently or alternately, a number of sharable circuits in an envelope tracking (ET) circuit. The RFFE slave circuit may include common configuration circuitry configured to set a common configuration parameter(s) for a concurrently sharable circuit(s) in the ET circuit. The RFFE slave circuit may include private configuration circuitry configured to set a private configuration parameter(s) for an alternately sharable circuit(s) in the ET circuit. By employing the RFFE slave circuit to set the common and/or private configuration parameter(s) for the ET circuit, it may be possible to reduce processing delays in the RFFE bus, thus helping to improve efficiency of the ET circuit and/or the power amplifier(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Jean-Frederic Chiron, Nadim Khlat, William David Southcombe
  • Patent number: 10437772
    Abstract: A communications system includes a single wire communications bus and a plurality of slave devices, each of the slave devices associated with a common slave identifier. The single wire communications bus is configured to receive a message comprising data, a slave identifier, and a register map address. A respective one of the plurality of slave devices selectively responds to the message if the slave identifier in the message is the same as the common slave identifier associated with the respective one of the plurality of slave devices and the register map address in the message is the same as the register map address associated with the respective one of the plurality of slave devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala, William David Southcombe
  • Publication number: 20190258555
    Abstract: Embodiments of a bus interface system are disclosed. The bus interface system includes a master bus controller and a slave bus controller coupled to a bus line. The master bus controller and the slave bus controller are configured to perform read operations using error codes and error checks. For example, the error codes may be cyclic redundancy codes (CRC). In this manner, accuracy is ensured during communications between the slave bus controller and the master bus controller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 3, 2019
    Publication date: August 22, 2019
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala
  • Patent number: 10333511
    Abstract: An integrated circuit (IC) including a first power-on reset (POR) circuit and a second POR circuit is disclosed. The first POR circuit is configured to enable the second POR circuit when a supply voltage initially exceeds a first threshold voltage as the supply voltage is being applied to the IC. The second POR circuit is configured to activate a first section of circuitry when the second POR circuit is enabled by the first POR circuit and the supply voltage initially exceeds a second threshold voltage as the supply voltage is being applied to the IC. Since a POR threshold voltage can affect current drain and/or operational functions of an IC, having the first POR circuit configured to enable the second POR circuit and having the second POR circuit configured to activate the first section of the main circuitry allows the IC to operate properly while reducing current drain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander Wayne Hietala, Christopher Truong Ngo, Praveen Varma Nadimpalli
  • Patent number: 10282269
    Abstract: Embodiments of a bus interface system are disclosed. The bus interface system includes a master bus controller and a slave bus controller coupled to a bus line. The master bus controller and the slave bus controller are configured to perform read operations using error codes and error checks. For example, the error codes may be cyclic redundancy codes (CRC). In this manner, accuracy is ensured during communications between the slave bus controller and the master bus controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala
  • Patent number: 10198384
    Abstract: This disclosure relates generally to bus interface systems for mobile user devices. In one embodiment, the bus interface system includes a first bus interface subsystem that operates in accordance with a one wire bus protocol, a second bus interface subsystem that operates in accordance with a Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) radio frequency front end (RFFE) bus protocol, and a translation bus controller that translates commands between the first bus interface subsystem and the second bus interface system. The translation bus controller is configured to implement cross over bus operations between a master bus controller that operates in accordance with in the one wire bus protocol and a slave bus controller in the second bus interface system. In this manner, the translation bus allows the master bus controller to be the master of different bus systems that operate in accordance with different bus protocols.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala
  • Patent number: 10185683
    Abstract: A bus interface system is disclosed that includes a master bus controller and a slave bus controller that are coupled by a bus line. The slave bus controller includes a decoder that allows for data to be transmitted along just the bus line. The decoder includes an oscillator, a first counter, and a comparison circuit. The oscillator is configured to be enabled by data pulses defined by the input data signal and generate oscillation pulses while enabled. The first counts the oscillation pulses and indicates a number of the oscillation pulses generated during a time slot. The comparison circuit is configured to this number with a reference number and generate a data output that represents a first logical value in response to the number being greater than the reference parameter and represents a second logical value in response to the number being less than the reference parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala, Christian Rye Iversen, Ruediger Bauder
  • Patent number: 10176130
    Abstract: A system includes a single wire communications bus, a first slave device, and a second slave device. The first slave device and the second slave device each include a plurality of pins. The first slave device and the second slave device are uniquely identified on the single wire communications bus based on which one of the plurality of pins is coupled to the single wire communications bus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala
  • Patent number: 10152440
    Abstract: A system includes a single wire communications bus, a first slave device, and a second slave device. The first slave device and the second slave device each include a plurality of pins. The first slave device and the second slave device are uniquely identified on the single wire communications bus based on which one of the plurality of pins is coupled to the single wire communications bus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala
  • Patent number: 10049026
    Abstract: Embodiments of bus interface systems and methods of operating the same are disclosed. In one embodiment, a bus interface system includes a master bus controller and multiple slave bus controllers that are each coupled to a bus line. The master bus controller is configured to generate a first set of data pulses along the bus line representing a payload segment. Each of the slave bus controllers decodes the first set of data pulses along the bus line representing the payload segment and performs an error check. Each slave bus controller is then configured to generate an acknowledgement pulse along the bus line to indicate that the slave bus controller's particular error check was passed. In this manner, the bus interface system can perform a group write bus function and the master bus controller can determine that the multiple slave bus controllers each received an accurate copy of the payload segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala
  • Publication number: 20180217959
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a bus interface system including a bus line, master integrated circuitry (IC), and slave IC. The master IC is coupled to the bus line and configured to transmit the data signal to the slave IC through the bus line. The slave IC is coupled to the bus line so as to receive the data signal from the master IC and includes a supply capacitor, which is configured to store power from the data signal and provide a supply voltage to the slave IC. When the bus line is in the low state, the supply capacitor is isolated from the bus line. When the bus line is in the high state, the supply capacitor is allowed to extract power from the data signal on the bus line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2018
    Publication date: August 2, 2018
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Praveen Varma Nadimpalli, Alexander Wayne Hietala
  • Publication number: 20180076810
    Abstract: An integrated circuit (IC) including a first power-on reset (POR) circuit and a second POR circuit is disclosed. The first POR circuit is configured to enable the second POR circuit when a supply voltage initially exceeds a first threshold voltage as the supply voltage is being applied to the IC. The second POR circuit is configured to activate a first section of circuitry when the second POR circuit is enabled by the first POR circuit and the supply voltage initially exceeds a second threshold voltage as the supply voltage is being applied to the IC. Since a POR threshold voltage can affect current drain and/or operational functions of an IC, having the first POR circuit configured to enable the second POR circuit and having the second POR circuit configured to activate the first section of the main circuitry allows the IC to operate properly while reducing current drain.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2017
    Publication date: March 15, 2018
    Inventors: Alexander Wayne Hietala, Christopher Truong Ngo, Praveen Varma Nadimpalli
  • Patent number: 9900204
    Abstract: A multiple functional equivalence digital communications interface and a group of functional circuits are disclosed. The multiple functional equivalence digital communications interface presents a functional equivalence of each of a group of digital communications interfaces to a digital communications bus. Each functional equivalence of the group of digital communications interfaces is associated with a corresponding one of the group of functional circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc.
    Inventors: Chris Levesque, Christopher Truong Ngo
  • Publication number: 20170286340
    Abstract: A system includes a single wire communications bus, a first slave device, and a second slave device. The first slave device and the second slave device each include a plurality of pins. The first slave device and the second slave device are uniquely identified on the single wire communications bus based on which one of the plurality of pins is coupled to the single wire communications bus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2017
    Publication date: October 5, 2017
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala
  • Publication number: 20170277651
    Abstract: A communications system includes a single wire communications bus and a plurality of slave devices, each of the slave devices associated with a common slave identifier. The single wire communications bus is configured to receive a message comprising data, a slave identifier, and a register map address. A respective one of the plurality of slave devices selectively responds to the message if the slave identifier in the message is the same as the common slave identifier associated with the respective one of the plurality of slave devices and the register map address in the message is the same as the register map address associated with the respective one of the plurality of slave devices.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2017
    Publication date: September 28, 2017
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala, William David Southcombe
  • Publication number: 20170255250
    Abstract: This disclosure relates generally to digital bus interfaces. In one embodiment, a bus interface system includes a master bus controller and a slave bus controller coupled along a bus line. The master bus controller is configured to generate an input data signal that is received by the slave bus controller along the bus line. The slave bus controller includes power conversion circuitry that includes a power converter configured to convert the input data signal from the master bus controller into a supply voltage. The power conversion circuitry is also configured to generate a charge current from the input data signal. In this manner, the charge current can be used to regulate the supply voltage and maintain the appropriate charge.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2017
    Publication date: September 7, 2017
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala, Praveen Varma Nadimpalli
  • Publication number: 20170255578
    Abstract: This disclosure relates generally to bus interface systems for mobile user devices. In one embodiment, the bus interface system includes a first bus interface subsystem that operates in accordance with a one wire bus protocol, a second bus interface subsystem that operates in accordance with a Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) radio frequency front end (RFFE) bus protocol, and a translation bus controller that translates commands between the first bus interface subsystem and the second bus interface system. The translation bus controller is configured to implement cross over bus operations between a master bus controller that operates in accordance with in the one wire bus protocol and a slave bus controller in the second bus interface system. In this manner, the translation bus allows the master bus controller to be the master of different bus systems that operate in accordance with different bus protocols.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2016
    Publication date: September 7, 2017
    Inventors: Christopher Truong Ngo, Alexander Wayne Hietala