Patents by Inventor Floyd L. Dankert

Floyd L. Dankert 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: 20250110543
    Abstract: Systems and methods described herein correspond to supply harvesting operations. Power management circuitry may receive a supply voltage from other power management circuitry. This supply voltage may be a harvested supply from the other power management circuitry. Moreover, some of the power management circuitry may be operated as controller power management circuitry to supply the supply voltage via one or more rails and some of the power management circuitry may be operated as leaf power management circuitry to harvest the supply voltage from the one or more rails. Leaf power management circuitry may exclude a regulator, enabling that leaf power management circuitry to be entered into a lower power mode than previously enabled when the regulator was included.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2023
    Publication date: April 3, 2025
    Inventors: Nathan F Hanagami, Maryam Mortazavi, Ruopeng Wang, Ludmil N Nikolov, Floyd L Dankert, Enrico Zanetti, Jianbao Wang, Kiranjit Dhaliwal
  • Publication number: 20240077932
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes a system with a power management device, a wakeup circuit, a battery management device, and a connector. During a powered down mode of operation, the battery management device can provide, via the connector, a bias voltage to the wakeup circuit. In response to a wakeup switch being activated, the battery management device can provide a power supply (e.g., from a battery) to the power management device. Benefits of the wakeup circuit include (1) a reduction of battery consumption—and thus improving battery lifetime—when the electronic system is in a powered down mode of operation because the wakeup circuit has lower number of active components compared to other designs and (2) a non-complex wakeup circuit design because one or more existing connector interconnects between the power management device and the battery management device can be re-used during electronic system's powered down mode of operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2023
    Publication date: March 7, 2024
    Applicant: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Talbott M. Houk, Wenxun Huang, Nikola Jovanovic, Floyd L. Dankert, Sanjay Pant, Alessandro Molari, Siarhei Meliukh, Nicola Florio, Ludmil N. Nikolov, Nathan F. Hanagami, Hartmut Sturm, Di Zhao, Chad L. Olson, John J. Sullivan, Seyedeh Maryam Mortazavi Zanjani, Tristan R. Hudson, Jay B. Fletcher, Jonathan A. Dutra
  • Patent number: 11431249
    Abstract: A power converter circuit that includes a switch node coupled to a regulated power supply node via an inductor is configured to regulate a voltage level of a power supply node using a particular one of multiple available operating modes. In response to receiving a command to reduce the voltage level of the power supply node, the power converter circuit begins to reduce the voltage level of the power supply node, while autonomously selecting different ones of available operating modes. The power converter circuit may compare to the voltage level of the power supply node to boundary levels and select a different operating mode when the voltage level of the power supply node exceeds one of the boundaries. By switching operating modes during the negative slew of the voltage level of the power supply node, the power converter may maintain a target efficiency during the reduction in voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Alberto Alessandro Angelo Puggelli, Ofir Gilad, Floyd L. Dankert, Hubert Attah, Sanjay Pant, Shawn Searles, Georg Diebel
  • Patent number: 11303208
    Abstract: A voltage regulator circuit included in a computer system may include multiple devices and a switch node coupled to a regulated power supply node via an inductor. The voltage regulator circuit may charge a capacitor using an input power supply signal, and couple the capacitor to the switch node using respective subsets of the multiple devices, which are selected based on one or more control signals. A control circuit may generate the one or more control signals based on a particular switching sequence, which is selected based on a ratio of a voltage level of the regulated power supply node and a voltage level input power supply signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Dingkun Du, Michael B. Nussbaum, Jitendra K. Agrawal, Floyd L. Dankert, Jay B. Fletcher
  • Publication number: 20220069704
    Abstract: A power converter circuit that includes a switch node coupled to a regulated power supply node via an inductor is configured to regulate a voltage level of a power supply node using a particular one of multiple available operating modes. In response to receiving a command to reduce the voltage level of the power supply node, the power converter circuit begins to reduce the voltage level of the power supply node, while autonomously selecting different ones of available operating modes. The power converter circuit may compare to the voltage level of the power supply node to boundary levels and select a different operating mode when the voltage level of the power supply node exceeds one of the boundaries. By switching operating modes during the negative slew of the voltage level of the power supply node, the power converter may maintain a target efficiency during the reduction in voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2020
    Publication date: March 3, 2022
    Inventors: Alberto Alessandro Angelo Puggelli, Ofir Gilad, Floyd L. Dankert, Hubert Attah, Sanjay Pant, Shawn Searles, Georg Diebel
  • Patent number: 10972007
    Abstract: A voltage regulator circuit included in a computer system may include multiple devices and a switch node coupled to a regulated power supply node via an inductor. The voltage regulator circuit may, using different subsets of the multiple devices, charge a capacitor for a first period of time and then couple the switch node to the capacitor for a second period of time. A control circuit may sense, using a common circuit, different characteristics of a current through the inductor during respective operation modes, and adjust the first and second periods of time based on the different characteristics of the current and a current operation mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Floyd L. Dankert, Jitendra K. Agrawal, Dingkun Du
  • Publication number: 20200280256
    Abstract: A voltage regulator circuit included in a computer system may include multiple devices and a switch node coupled to a regulated power supply node via an inductor. The voltage regulator circuit may charge a capacitor using an input power supply signal, and couple the capacitor to the switch node using respective subsets of the multiple devices, which are selected based on one or more control signals. A control circuit may generate the one or more control signals based on a particular switching sequence, which is selected based on a ratio of a voltage level of the regulated power supply node and a voltage level input power supply signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2019
    Publication date: September 3, 2020
    Inventors: Dingkun Du, Michael B. Nussbaum, Jitendra K. Agrawal, Floyd L. Dankert, Jay B. Fletcher
  • Publication number: 20200280257
    Abstract: A voltage regulator circuit included in a computer system may include multiple devices and a switch node coupled to a regulated power supply node via an inductor. The voltage regulator circuit may, using different subsets of the multiple devices, charge a capacitor for a first period of time and then couple the switch node to the capacitor for a second period of time. A control circuit may sense, using a common circuit, different characteristics of a current through the inductor during respective operation modes, and adjust the first and second periods of time based on the different characteristics of the current and a current operation mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2019
    Publication date: September 3, 2020
    Inventors: Floyd L. Dankert, Jitendra K. Agrawal, Dingkun Du
  • Patent number: 7925937
    Abstract: An integrated circuit. The integrated circuit includes a plurality of logic circuits. The integrated circuit further includes a scan chain including a plurality of scan elements coupled in series, wherein the scan chain is configured to load stimulus data to be applied to the logic circuits for testing. The scan chain is further configured to capture data subsequent to applying the stimulus data. The integrated circuit also includes an embedded memory having a read port, wherein the read port is coupled to one or more of the plurality of logic circuits via a read path. The embedded memory includes a virtual entry having a plurality of scan-controllable storage elements. During testing, the virtual entry is operable to apply transition data to the read path in order to cause logic state transitions in the one or more logic circuits in the read path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2011
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Joel T. Irby, Grady L. Giles, Alexander W. Schaefer, Gregory A. Constant, Floyd L. Dankert, Amy M. Novak
  • Patent number: 7355881
    Abstract: A circuit for implementing memory arrays using a global bitline domino read/write scheme. The memory circuit includes a plurality of cells each configured to store a bit of data. The memory circuit further includes a plurality of local bitlines, wherein each cells is coupled to one of the local bitlines. Each of the plurality of local bitlines is a differential bitline having a signal path and a complementary signal path which are cross-coupled by a pair of transistors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2008
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Floyd L. Dankert, Victor F. Andrade, Randal L. Posey, Michael K. Ciraula, Alexander W. Schaefer, Jerry D. Moench, Soolin Kao Chrudimsky, Michael C. Braganza, Jan Michael Huber, Amy M. Novak
  • Patent number: 7209394
    Abstract: A memory circuit. In one embodiment, the memory circuit includes a first one-hot multiplexer having a first plurality of local bitlines and a second one-hot multiplexer having a second plurality of local bitlines. Each of the first and second pluralities of local bitlines includes is coupled to a memory cell, and includes a passgate arranged on its respective local bitline to allow access to the cell. The first one-hot multiplexer and the second one-hot multiplexer are coupled together such that the highest order local bitline (i.e. corresponding the highest order bit in the group) is coupled to the lowest order bitline of the second one-hot multiplexer, and vice-versa.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2007
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Floyd L. Dankert, Scott C. Johnson, David R. Reebel