Abstract: A buried wireless unit measures various soil parameters of surrounding soil and reports them to centralized equipment. In order to provide reliable communication with the centralized equipment, the buried wireless unit may extend a pop-up antenna when transmitting soil parameter data and may subsequently retract the antenna. The wireless unit unwinds and winds a wire, where an electrical cable connects the antenna to a communication module, in order to extend and retract the antenna, respectively. The wireless unit comprises a bendable sleeve enabling the antenna to be flexible so that damage to the wireless unit is avoided if a vehicle (such as a tractor) rolls over the wireless unit. In order to preserve the battery powering the wireless unit, the wireless unit may skip retracting the antenna when the wireless unit determines that charging level of the battery is below a predetermined charging level.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a capacitive sensor that has electrodes externally positioned on or proximate to the surface of a non-metallic container for detecting a usage level inside the container, where the contents may be liquid or granular solids. By generating an excitation signal to the electrodes and processing the resulting signal waveform, the usage level may be detected with respect to the position of the electrodes. Consequently, embodiments provide a marker that is indicative of usage conditions such as a refill condition or an empty condition in order to inform the user to purchase a refill of the contents. Embodiments may operate with an Internet of Things device so that physical goods may be automatically ordered when the contents are at or below a predetermined level. Embodiments may provide a low cost design and may be used in many applications, such as an oil diffuser.

Abstract: A touch sensor panel includes a first set and a second set of sensor elements patterned in a plurality of intersecting rows and columns. The first set of sensor elements are configured to be drive electrodes. The second set of sensor elements are configured to be sense electrodes. Each row includes at least one drive electrode from the first set. Each column includes at least one sense electrode from the second set. A method for manufacturing a touch sensor panel is also provided.

Abstract: An LCD controller (10) has a DMA unit (18) and a FIFO memory (20) for storing display data. The LCD controller also has a display data generator (26) that generates display information using a line of the display data stored in the FIFO memory in accordance with a predefined algorithm. A holding register (28) is connected to the display data generator and stores the generated display information. A multiplexer (34) selects for display either the data stored in the FIFO memory or the generated display information. The generated display information is selected when there is a bus overload indicating that the data stored in the FIFO may be erroneous.

Abstract: Module verification of modules in an integrated circuit are performed with a direct memory access (DMA) unit (10) integrated in the integrated circuit. With this configuration, module verification is attainable at the semiconductor chip level and on application boards. Additionally, the DMA unit may run verification or testing of modules at full speed with internal or external clock. The DMA unit includes holding registers (112, 116, 120) and a DMA control (136) that are both coupled to a module (52, 64, 74) to be tested. The DMA controller generates source address and the required bus cycle to retrieve module information at the source address location, it stores the module information in the holding registers, and generates bus cycle based on the information stored in the holding register to run a test of the module to be tested.

Abstract: A circuit and method for producing a train of pulse width modulated pulses (FIG. 2), the circuit comprising: pulse producing means (11-16) for receiving sample values at an update rate and for producing therefrom pulses whose widths are representative of the sample values, and repeater means (15) for causing the pulse producing means to produce a predetermined plurality of pulses, at an output rate which is an integral multiple of the update rate, for each said sample value, whereby the pulse train output frequency is greater than the sample value update frequency.