Patents by Inventor Ciaran Cahill
Ciaran Cahill 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).
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Publication number: 20200235823Abstract: An optical receiver (1) comprises a differential TIA (4) linked with a photodiode (2, 3) providing a current sense signal (Isig_tia). The receiver is configured to provide to the TIA a sense signal as a sense TIA input (Isig_tia) and a second input (Idark_tia) which is a proportion of the maximum sense signal. The proportion input is half of said maximum sense signal. The inputs to the TIA are via cascode circuits (5, 6), thereby providing the advantages of a low input impedance for large area photodiodes at the TIA input, while creating a fully differential signal at the output, and the reduction of TIA bandwidth in burst mode applications, which filters out high frequency noise.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 13, 2016Publication date: July 23, 2020Applicant: FIRECOMMS LIMITEDInventors: Patrick MURPHY, Colm DONOVAN, Ciaran CAHILL
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Patent number: 10511299Abstract: A supply circuit for providing pulses of current has a current source, a reference voltage source for controlling magnitude of the current, and a current switch for controlling whether or not the current passes through a load. Also, there is a switch control signal terminal for controlling the current switch, and glitch compensation elements including at least one capacitance circuit and associated capacitor drive circuit for feeding a variable correcting voltage back to the reference voltage, and a controller to control said variable voltage.Type: GrantFiled: September 13, 2016Date of Patent: December 17, 2019Assignee: FIRECOMMS LIMITEDInventors: Colm Donovan, Ciaran Cahill, Patrick Murphy
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Patent number: 10411676Abstract: A voltage comparator (1) has a high switching speed and simplicity of design. It minimizes pulse-width distortion of input digital signals when functioning as a digital input buffer in high speed communications applications. In addition it provides a simple hysteresis circuit (31) that is easily tuneable with a reference current. The hysteresis circuit (31) is dependent on a reference current. This current may be chosen to have a proportionality to temperature, supply, or another selectable parameter, and may be programmable, in order to create the desired hysteresis performance.Type: GrantFiled: September 13, 2016Date of Patent: September 10, 2019Assignee: FIRECOMMS LIMITEDInventors: Colm Donovan, Ciaran Cahill, Patrick Murphy
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Patent number: 10333472Abstract: A receiver has a differential transimpedance amplifier (4) with two inputs and two outputs. The differential transimpedance amplifier (4) provides a differential output and this is peak-detected (15, 16) to provide amplitude reference signals. The differential transimpedance amplifier output and the amplitude reference signals are fed to a differential summing amplifier (10), which provides a fully differential signal to a comparator, or to an automatic gain control circuit (5) to regulate the differential transimpedance amplifier gain. The differential summing amplifier (10) output is a fully differential signal, thereby having lower distortion for DC and burst mode receiver applications.Type: GrantFiled: September 13, 2016Date of Patent: June 25, 2019Assignee: FIRECOMMS LIMITEDInventors: Patrick Murphy, Colm Donovan, Ciaran Cahill
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Patent number: 10218322Abstract: A transconductance circuit has an input terminal (VIN) and an output terminal (Out), a first current source (4) having a gate connected to said input terminal (VIN); and a second current source (5), in parallel with said first current source, and having a higher transconductance and a wider dynamic range than the first current source. The current sources are configured so that at a low input voltage only the first current source (4) is on. A voltage drop circuit provides a lower bias voltage for the second current source than for the first current source.Type: GrantFiled: September 13, 2016Date of Patent: February 26, 2019Assignee: Firecomms LimitedInventors: Patrick Murphy, Colm Donovan, Ciaran Cahill
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Publication number: 20190052258Abstract: A supply circuit for providing pulses of current has a current source, a reference voltage source for controlling magnitude of the current, and a current switch for controlling whether or not the current passes through a load. Also, there is a switch control signal terminal for controlling the current switch, and glitch compensation elements including at least one capacitance circuit and associated capacitor drive circuit for feeding a variable correcting voltage back to the reference voltage, and a controller to control said variable voltage.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 13, 2016Publication date: February 14, 2019Applicant: FIRECOMMS LIMITEDInventors: Colm DONOVAN, Ciaran CAHILL, Patrick MURPHY
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Publication number: 20180254756Abstract: A receiver has a differential transimpedance amplifier (4) with two inputs and two outputs. The differential transimpedance amplifier (4) provides a differential output and this is peak-detected (15, 16) to provide amplitude reference signals. The differential transimpedance amplifier output and the amplitude reference signals are fed to a differential summing amplifier (10), which provides a fully differential signal to a comparator, or to an automatic gain control circuit (5) to regulate the differential transimpedance amplifier gain. The differential summing amplifier (10) output is a fully differential signal, thereby having lower distortion for DC and burst mode receiver applications.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 13, 2016Publication date: September 6, 2018Applicant: FIRECOMMS LIMITEDInventors: Patrick MURPHY, Colm DONOVAN, Ciaran CAHILL
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Publication number: 20180254771Abstract: A voltage comparator (1) has a high switching speed and simplicity of design. It minimizes pulse-width distortion of input digital signals when functioning as a digital input buffer in high speed communications applications. In addition it provides a simple hysteresis circuit (31) that is easily tuneable with a reference current. The hysteresis circuit (31) is dependent on a reference current. This current may be chosen to have a proportionality to temperature, supply, or another selectable parameter, and may be programmable, in order to create the desired hysteresis performance.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 13, 2016Publication date: September 6, 2018Applicant: FIRECOMMS LIMITEDInventors: Colm DONOVAN, Ciaran CAHILL, Patrick MURPHY
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Publication number: 20180212575Abstract: A transconductance circuit has an input terminal (VIN) and an output terminal (Out), a first current source (4) having a gate connected to said input terminal (VIN); and a second current source (5), in parallel with said first current source, and having a higher transconductance and a wider dynamic range than the first current source. The current sources are configured so that at a low input voltage only the first current source (4) is on. A voltage drop circuit provides a lower bias voltage for the second current source than for the first current source.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 13, 2016Publication date: July 26, 2018Applicant: FIRECOMMS LIMITEDInventors: Patrick MURPHY, Colm DONOVAN, Ciaran CAHILL
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Publication number: 20040177334Abstract: A method that automatically generates a design for an analog phase lock loop (PLL) core in response to a desired clock frequency.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 8, 2004Publication date: September 9, 2004Inventors: John Horan, John Ryan, Ciaran Cahill, Stephen Dunphy, Mark Smyth, Kay Hearne, Niall Donovan, Tholom Kiely
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Patent number: 6704908Abstract: A method that automatically generates a design for an analog phase lock loop (PLL) core in response to a desired clock frequency.Type: GrantFiled: November 6, 2000Date of Patent: March 9, 2004Assignee: Amadala LimitedInventors: John Horan, John Ryan, Ciaran Cahill, Steven Dunphy, Mark Smyth, Kay Hearne, Niall O'Donovan, Tholom Kiely