Patents by Inventor James Keith Custer

James Keith Custer 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: 6817092
    Abstract: A method allowing for the inexpensive automated construction of interconnections between circuit boards is provided. According to the present invention, printed circuit pins are inserted in a circuit board from the top (component side). Provided the heads of the pins are thin enough to lie beneath a solder stencil, the pins may be pre-installed on the circuit board and solder applied to the pins at the same time solder is applied to other regions of the board. Thus, known surface mount techniques may be employed to form solder connections between the pins and conductive traces on the circuit board, which facilitates the automation of the previously manual operation of soldering the printed circuit pins separately.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2004
    Assignee: Powerwave Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: James Keith Custer, James Hiram Roberson, William Kerr Veitschegger
  • Patent number: 6473314
    Abstract: A low cost radio frequency interference filter assembly comprises a multiple layer structure including a middle trace layer disposed between an upper ground layer and lower ground layer. Non-conductive insulation layers are disposed between the middle trace layer and the upper and lower ground layers. The upper layer includes input contacts, signal contacts, and capacitors which are coupled to the signal contacts and an upper grounded substrate. The middle trace layer includes a grounded substrate and trace lines which are coupled to the signal contacts of the upper layer by signal vias. The lower layer includes a grounded substrate. Ground vias are formed through the insulation layers to couple the middle grounded substrate to the upper and lower grounded substrates. The filter assembly may be formed as an integral projection of a printed circuit board assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2002
    Assignee: Powerwave Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: James Keith Custer, Pauline Mei-Seung Tong
  • Publication number: 20020052146
    Abstract: A method allowing for the inexpensive automated construction of interconnections between circuit boards is provided. According to the present invention, printed circuit pins are inserted in a circuit board from the top (component side). Provided the heads of the pins are thin enough to lie beneath a solder stencil, the pins may be pre-installed on the circuit board and solder applied to the pins at the same time solder is applied to other regions of the board. Thus, known surface mount techniques may be employed to form solder connections between the pins and conductive traces on the circuit board, which facilitates the automation of the previously manual operation of soldering the printed circuit pins separately.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 1999
    Publication date: May 2, 2002
    Inventors: JAMES KEITH CUSTER, JAMES HIRAM ROBERSON, WILLIAM KERR VEITSCHEGGER
  • Publication number: 20020016096
    Abstract: A method allowing for the inexpensive automated construction of interconnections between circuit boards is provided. According to the present invention, printed circuit pins are inserted in a circuit board from the top (component side). Provided the heads of the pins are thin enough to lie beneath a solder stencil, the pins may be pre-installed on the circuit board and solder applied to the pins at the same time solder is applied to other regions of the board. Thus, known surface mount techniques may be employed to form solder connections between the pins and conductive traces on the circuit board, which facilitates the automation of the previously manual operation of soldering the printed circuit pins separately.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 4, 2001
    Publication date: February 7, 2002
    Inventors: James Keith Custer, James Hiram Roberson, William Kerr Veitschegger
  • Patent number: 6081160
    Abstract: For use with RF circuitry in which a DC bias circuit provides bias voltage is provided to impedance-matched circuitry, a structure is provided, in which a dielectric member, having a high dielectric constant, is selectively placed adjacent to a bias feed line coupled between the DC bias circuit and the remainder of the circuitry, to maintain high RF impedance while reducing impedance at lower frequencies. The invention has particular applicability to RF amplifiers, to be used for amplifying modulated carriers, such as video signals made up of an RF carrier and a lower-frequency modulation. Where the carrier has a predetermined wavelength, the physical length of the bias feed line and the dielectric constant of the dielectric member are chosen such that an effective length of the bias feed line is a quarter of the wavelength of the carrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2000
    Assignee: Powerwave Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: James Keith Custer, Charles M. Keen, William Kerr Veitschegger