Patents by Inventor Howard J Smith

Howard J Smith 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).

  • Supportive treatment of liver disease
    Patent number: 7977326
    Abstract: The invention provides a composition and method for treatment of a subject suffering from liver disease comprising the oral administration of a slow release formulation of calcium channel blocker such as diltiazem and thiamine which is also an antioxidant which is relatively hydrophilic when compared with the calcium channel blocker.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Inventor: Howard J Smith
  • Amplitude and phase comparator for microwave power amplifier
    Patent number: 7362818
    Abstract: A predistortion power amplifier architecture has a power amplifier which receives an input via an amplitude modulator and a phase modulator. A sample of the output of the amplifier and a sample of the input to the amplifier are applied to an adaptive pre-distorter subsystem. The adaptive pre-distorter generates a gain correction signal which is applied to the amplitude modulator and a phase correction signal which is applied to the phase modulator. This serves to predistort the input signal to the power amplifier to compensate for non-linearities in the power amplifier. A switching arrangement alternately couples a sample of the input and output of the amplifier to a first and a second envelope detector. The outputs of the envelope detectors are applied to a difference amplifier. The switching arrangement has a chopping action on the signals which helps to offset imbalances in the characteristics of the two envelope detectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2008
    Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited
    Inventors: Howard J Smith, Graham Dolman, Scott T Widdowson
  • Linear amplifier arrangement
    Patent number: 6275685
    Abstract: This invention relates to high power linear amplifiers. A high power linear amplifier is disclosed for communications such as CDMA communication systems. In accordance with the invention, there is provided a power amplifier comprising a power amplifier, a feedback circuit and a control element; wherein the architecture proposed uses an envelope detector to generate a baseband signal representing the amplitude envelope of the system input RF signal. This is digitised and used to generate phase and gain correction signals. The correction signals modulate the input signal to create a pre-distorted signal: which is applied to the power amplifier for amplification. The pre-distortion is such as to cancel the AM-AM and AM-PM distortion of the power amplifier thus resulting in an amplified output of improved spectral purity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2001
    Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited
    Inventors: David N Wessel, John D McNicol, Howard J Smith