Patents by Inventor Fred J. Reuter

Fred J. Reuter 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: 8120281
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the disclosure, a light beam control system includes a positive intrinsic negative diode coupled to a controller circuit. The positive intrinsic negative diode receives a portion of a light beam generated by a light source and converts the portion into a measured intensity. The controller circuit receives the measured intensity, determines an output signal according to the measured intensity and a reference, and adjusts the light beam according to the output signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2012
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: Fred J. Reuter
  • Publication number: 20090140670
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the disclosure, a light beam control system includes a positive intrinsic negative diode coupled to a controller circuit. The positive intrinsic negative diode receives a portion of a light beam generated by a light source and converts the portion into a measured intensity. The controller circuit receives the measured intensity, determines an output signal according to the measured intensity and a reference, and adjusts the light beam according to the output signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2007
    Publication date: June 4, 2009
    Inventor: Fred J. Reuter
  • Patent number: 7154660
    Abstract: System and method for correlation testing of SLMs using stroboscopic methods. A preferred embodiment comprises providing a test pattern to the SLM, configuring a pulsed light source to emit a short duration light pulse at a specified time, instructing the SLM to display the test pattern, emitting the short duration light pulse at the specified time, computing a correlation image based upon light reflected by the SLM, and determining the SLM's performance based upon the correlation image. The pulse of light permits the testing of dynamic and static characteristics of the SLM, while the use of optical computational units in the computation of the correlation image greatly reduces computational requirements and testing time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2006
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: Fred J. Reuter
  • Patent number: 6928516
    Abstract: An image data processing system and method are disclosed in which image data is organized for fast and efficient transfer of image data to and from an image memory using a tile cache. Image data is stored in a memory having data words of a predetermined data width. Each data word includes a plural adjacently disposed image pixels of a single scan line. A set of consecutive data words corresponds to a two dimensional tile of the image whereby adjacent data words store image pixels of adjacent scan lines. The image data is transferred to a tile cache in these tiles. Following image processing on a tile of image data stored in the tile cache, the tile of image data is transferred back to the memory. The technique repeats for each tile of image data. Separate tiles of image data may be operated on by different data processors simultaneously.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2005
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: Fred J. Reuter
  • Publication number: 20040257371
    Abstract: A data processing system comprises an input controller and an execution unit operating in a pipelined mode, where the execution unit converts the input from a page description language representation to a display list representation. The display list is further processed by a font cache server, a display list server and a source list server. The output from these servers is coupled to multiple rendering engines, which operate in parallel to generate a bitmap representation of the input data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2003
    Publication date: December 23, 2004
    Inventors: Ralph E. Payne, Fred J. Reuter
  • Patent number: 6795548
    Abstract: A system for data communication is disclosed that comprises a hybrid circuit (220) that receives a signal. A switched gain circuit (204) coupled to the hybrid circuit (220) receives the signal from the hybrid circuit (220). A receiver circuit (206) coupled to the switched gain circuit (204) receives the signal from the switched gain circuit (204). The switched gain circuit (204) adjusts the power of the signal transmitted to the receiver circuit (206). More specifically, the switched gain circuit (204) detects the power of the signal received from the hybrid circuit (220), and adjusts the power of the signal transmitted to the receiver circuit (206) based upon the power of the signal received from the hybrid circuit (220). A method for data communication is disclosed. A signal is received using a hybrid circuit (220). The signal is transmitted to a switched gain circuit (204) coupled to the hybrid circuit (220). The power of the signal is adjusted using the switched gain circuit (204).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2004
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Ralph E. Payne, Michael O. Polley, Fred J. Reuter
  • Patent number: 6788416
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for measuring the transient behavior characteristics of individual micromirrors in a DMD micromirror array. The method and system use sampling techniques to measure an amount of light reflected by an individual micromirror as the entire micromirror array is stimulated with a pattern of alternating driving signals. Sampling is achieved by illuminating the DMD micromirror array with a high-speed illumination source that provides stroboscopic light flashes of very short time length. By synchronizing the light flashes with the mirror driving signal and measuring the amount of light reflected by the individual micromirrors at different points in time, the transient behavior characteristics of individual micromirrors in a DMD micromirror array can be measured with a high level of accuracy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2004
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: Fred J. Reuter
  • Patent number: 6744533
    Abstract: A method and system for efficient buffer rendering. An object mask, typically a character font mask, is aligned with a memory tiling arrangement (1102). A tile map is generated (1104) to indicate active tiles. An active tile is selected (1106) and the portion of the buffer corresponding to the active tile is transferred (1108) from a first memory, typically an off-chip memory, to a second memory, typically an on-chip memory to allow a processor to render the band buffer tile. The portion of the band buffer is rendered (1110) and returned (1112) to the first memory. The next active tile is selected and the process continues until all active tiles have been rendered (1114).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 1999
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2004
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Venkat V. Easwar, Fred J. Reuter, Ralph Payne
  • Publication number: 20030218753
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for measuring the transient behavior characteristics of individual micromirrors in a DMD micromirror array. The method and system use sampling techniques to measure an amount of light reflected by an individual micromirror as the entire micromirror array is stimulated with a pattern of alternating driving signals. Sampling is achieved by illuminating the DMD micromirror array with a high-speed illumination source that provides stroboscopic light flashes of very short time length. By synchronizing the light flashes with the mirror driving signal and measuring the amount of light reflected by the individual micromirrors at different points in time, the transient behavior characteristics of individual micromirrors in a DMD micromirror array can be measured with a high level of accuracy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2002
    Publication date: November 27, 2003
    Applicant: Texas Instruments, Inc.
    Inventor: Fred J. Reuter
  • Patent number: 6584588
    Abstract: A computer system includes a main processing unit (12) coupled to a DSP/memory module (40). The DSP/memory module (40) includes semiconductor memory (42) and digital signal processor circuitry (44) including one or more digital signal processors (56). The DSP/memory module (40) may be placed in standard main memory sockets, such as a SIMM or DIMM sockets, and used as conventional main memory. The memory module can also be used in a smart mode, wherein the digital signal processor (56) performs operations on data for retrieval by the main processing unit (12).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2003
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Basavaraj I. Pawate, Matthew A. Woolsey, Douglas L. Mahlum, Fred J. Reuter, Yoshihide Iwata, Judd E. Heape
  • Publication number: 20020083266
    Abstract: This invention is a technique of image data processing. Image data is stored in a memory having data words of a predetermined data width. Each data word includes a plural adjacently disposed image pixels of a single scan line. A set of consecutive data words corresponds to a two dimensional tile of the image whereby adjacent data words store image pixels of adjacent scan lines. The image data is transferred to a cache in these tiles. Following image processing on a tile of image data stored in the cache, the tile of image data is transferred back to the memory. The technique repeats for each tile of image data. Separate tiles of image data may be operated on by different data processors simultaneously.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2001
    Publication date: June 27, 2002
    Inventor: Fred J. Reuter
  • Publication number: 20010031048
    Abstract: A system for data communication is disclosed that comprises a hybrid circuit (220) that receives a signal. A switched gain circuit (204) coupled to the hybrid circuit (220) receives the signal from the hybrid circuit (220). A receiver circuit (206) coupled to the switched gain circuit (204) receives the signal from the switched gain circuit (204). The switched gain circuit (204) adjusts the power of the signal transmitted to the receiver circuit (206). More specifically, the switched gain circuit (204) detects the power of the signal received from the hybrid circuit (220), and adjusts the power of the signal transmitted to the receiver circuit (206) based upon the power of the signal received from the hybrid circuit (220). A method for data communication is disclosed. A signal is received using a hybrid circuit (220). The signal is transmitted to a switched gain circuit (204) coupled to the hybrid circuit (220). The power of the signal is adjusted using the switched gain circuit (204).
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 4, 2001
    Publication date: October 18, 2001
    Inventors: Ralph E. Payne, Michael O. Polley, Fred J. Reuter
  • Patent number: 6185704
    Abstract: A computer system includes a main processing unit (12) coupled to a DSP/memory module (40). The DSP/memory module (40) includes semiconductor memory (42) and digital signal processor circuitry (44) including one or more digital signal processors (56). The DSP/memory module (40) may be placed in standard main memory sockets, such as a SIMM or DIMM sockets, and used as conventional main memory. The memory module can also be used in a smart mode, wherein the digital signal processor (56) performs operations on data for retrieval by the main processing unit (12).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2001
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Basavaraj I. Pawate, Matthew A. Woolsey, Douglas L. Mahlum, Fred J. Reuter, Yoshihide Iwata, Judd E. Heape