Patents by Inventor Hung-Shou Nien

Hung-Shou Nien 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: 10103632
    Abstract: A multiphase power converter has a plurality of phase circuits, each of which provides a phase current when being active. During single-phase operation of the multiphase power converter, an enhanced phase control circuit and method monitor the summation of the phase currents, and when the summation becomes higher than a threshold, switch the multiphase power converter to a higher power zone to increase the number of active phases. A high efficiency and high reliability multiphase power converter is thus accomplished.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: RICHTEK TECHNOLOGY CORP.
    Inventors: Hung-Shou Nien, Ting-Hung Wang, Cheng-Ching Hsu, Shang-Ying Chung
  • Patent number: 9568376
    Abstract: A temperature detecting circuit and method thereof, adapted to a voltage converter circuit which includes a current detecting circuit having a detecting output port outputting a current detecting signal proportional to an output current of the voltage converter circuit, includes: a current signal processing unit, having a signal input port coupling to the detecting output port, a first detecting output port generating a first processing signal with a first temperature coefficient, a second detecting output port generating a second processing signal with a second temperature coefficient, wherein the first and the second processing signals are proportional to the current detecting signal; and, a temperature calculating unit, receiving the first and the second processing signals and performing calculation to derive a temperature value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: RICHTEK TECHNOLOGY CORP
    Inventors: Sheng-Fu Hsiao, Hung-Shou Nien, Kuang-Feng Li, Yu-Wei Chang
  • Publication number: 20170019026
    Abstract: A multiphase power converter has a plurality of phase circuits, each of which provides a phase current when being active. During single-phase operation of the multiphase power converter, an enhanced phase control circuit and method monitor the summation of the phase currents, and when the summation becomes higher than a threshold, switch the multiphase power converter to a higher power zone to increase the number of active phases. A high efficiency and high reliability multiphase power converter is thus accomplished.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2016
    Publication date: January 19, 2017
    Inventors: Hung-Shou NIEN, Ting-Hung WANG, Cheng-Ching HSU, Shang-Ying CHUNG
  • Patent number: 9461544
    Abstract: A multiphase power converter has a plurality of phase circuits, each of which provides a phase current when being active. During single-phase operation of the multiphase power converter, an enhanced phase control circuit and method monitor the summation of the phase currents, and when the summation becomes higher than a threshold, switch the multiphase power converter to a higher power zone to increase the number of active phases. A high efficiency and high reliability multiphase power converter is thus accomplished.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: RICHTEK TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hung-Shou Nien, Ting-Hung Wang, Cheng-Ching Hsu, Shang-Ying Chung
  • Publication number: 20140269840
    Abstract: A temperature detecting circuit and method thereof, adapted to a voltage converter circuit which includes a current detecting circuit having a detecting output port outputting a current detecting signal proportional to an output current of the voltage converter circuit, includes: a current signal processing unit, having a signal input port coupling to the detecting output port, a first detecting output port generating a first processing signal with a first temperature coefficient, a second detecting output port generating a second processing signal with a second temperature coefficient, wherein the first and the second processing signals are proportional to the current detecting signal; and, a temperature calculating unit, receiving the first and the second processing signals and performing calculation to derive a temperature value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2014
    Publication date: September 18, 2014
    Applicant: RICHTEK TECHNOLOGY CORP
    Inventors: Sheng-Fu Hsiao, Hung-Shou Nien, Kuang-Feng Li, Yu-Wei Chang
  • Patent number: 8836298
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a multi-phase switching regulator and a control method thereof. The multi-phase switching regulator includes plural power stage circuits, wherein at least one power stage circuit is enabled or disabled according to a phase adding/shedding signal; at least one zero current detection circuit, which is coupled to one of the power stage circuit, for generating a trigger signal according to an inductor current in a corresponding one of the power stage circuits, a zero current reference signal, and an average reference signal; and a phase control circuit controlling the phase adding/shedding operation according to the trigger signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Richtek Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Tung-Sheng Chen, Hung-Shou Nien, Yu-Wei Chang, Chung-Sheng Cheng
  • Patent number: 8742739
    Abstract: A voltage regulator controller is disclosed including: a reference voltage generator for generating a reference voltage; a comparison circuit, coupled with the reference voltage generator, for comparing the reference voltage with an output voltage of a voltage regulator; and a control circuit, coupled with the reference voltage generator and the comparison circuit, for controlling the reference voltage generator to stepwise lower the reference voltage when a power saving command is received by the voltage regulator controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Richtek Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Hung-Shou Nien, Yi-Chiang Fu, Chung-Sheng Cheng, Ren-Cheng Huang, Chih-Min Wang
  • Patent number: 8729955
    Abstract: For thermal compensation for an intrinsic element in a system, a circuit and method are proposed to predict the temperature variation caused by power loss of the intrinsic element, in addition to sense the external environment temperature variation of the intrinsic element, and thus sense the operational temperature of the intrinsic element more precisely.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Richtek Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Hung-Shou Nien, Chung-Sheng Cheng
  • Patent number: 8698548
    Abstract: For thermal compensation for an intrinsic element in a system, a circuit and method are proposed to predict the temperature variation caused by power loss of the intrinsic element, in addition to sense the external environment temperature variation of the intrinsic element, and thus sense the operational temperature of the intrinsic element more precisely.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Richtek Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Hung-Shou Nien, Chung-Sheng Cheng
  • Publication number: 20130234780
    Abstract: For thermal compensation for an intrinsic element in a system, a circuit and method are proposed to predict the temperature variation caused by power loss of the intrinsic element, in addition to sense the external environment temperature variation of the intrinsic element, and thus sense the operational temperature of the intrinsic element more precisely.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2013
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Applicant: RICHTEK TECHNOLOGY CORP.
    Inventors: Hung-Shou NIEN, Chung-Sheng CHENG
  • Publication number: 20130049720
    Abstract: A voltage regulator controller is disclosed including: a reference voltage generator for generating a reference voltage; a comparison circuit, coupled with the reference voltage generator, for comparing the reference voltage with an output voltage of a voltage regulator; and a control circuit, coupled with the reference voltage generator and the comparison circuit, for controlling the reference voltage generator to stepwise lower the reference voltage when a power saving command is received by the voltage regulator controller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 24, 2012
    Publication date: February 28, 2013
    Inventors: Hung-Shou NIEN, Yi-Chiang Fu, Chung-Sheng Cheng, Ren-Cheng Huang, Chih-Min Wang
  • Publication number: 20120262136
    Abstract: A multiphase power converter has a plurality of phase circuits, each of which provides a phase current when being active. During single-phase operation of the multiphase power converter, an enhanced phase control circuit and method monitor the summation of the phase currents, and when the summation becomes higher than a threshold, switch the multiphase power converter to a higher power zone to increase the number of active phases. A high efficiency and high reliability multiphase power converter is thus accomplished.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2012
    Publication date: October 18, 2012
    Applicant: RICHTEK TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventors: HUNG-SHOU NIEN, TING-HUNG WANG, CHENG-CHING HSU, SHANG-YING CHUNG
  • Publication number: 20120194258
    Abstract: For thermal compensation for an intrinsic element in a system, a circuit and method are proposed to predict the temperature variation caused by power loss of the intrinsic element, in addition to sense the external environment temperature variation of the intrinsic element, and thus sense the operational temperature of the intrinsic element more precisely.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 26, 2012
    Publication date: August 2, 2012
    Applicant: Richtek Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Hung-Shou NIEN, Chung-Sheng CHENG
  • Patent number: 8030911
    Abstract: A hybrid control circuit and method combine analog circuit and digital circuit to generate digital PWM signals for a multiphase DC-DC converter to generate an output voltage. For current balance control, analog current error signals are generated by the analog circuit from analog phase current signals of the multiphase DC-DC converter and then converted into digital current error signals for calculating the duties of each phase of the multiphase DC-DC converter. Therefore, fewer bit devices can be used to achieve precise current balance control and the size and cost of the circuit can be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: Richtek Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Hung-Shou Nien, Kuang-Yao Cheng, Yi-Chiang Fu, Wei-Hsu Chang
  • Publication number: 20100238060
    Abstract: A hybrid control circuit and method combine analog circuit and digital circuit to generate digital PWM signals for a multiphase DC-DC converter to generate an output voltage. For current balance control, analog current error signals are generated by the analog circuit from analog phase current signals of the multiphase DC-DC converter and then converted into digital current error signals for calculating the duties of each phase of the multiphase DC-DC converter. Therefore, fewer bit devices can be used to achieve precise current balance control and the size and cost of the circuit can be reduced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2010
    Publication date: September 23, 2010
    Applicant: RICHTEK TECHNOLOGY CORP.
    Inventors: HUNG-SHOU NIEN, KUANG-YAO CHENG, YI-CHIANG FU, WEI-HSU CHANG