Patents by Inventor Nicholas Smears

Nicholas Smears 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: 9274739
    Abstract: There is provided a source device, which is adapted to communicate with a sink device through an HDMI cable. The sink device comprises an internal circuit, handshaking circuitry adapted to verify if the sink device is able to supply a current on a line of the HDMI cable, an internal power supply intended for powering the line and a switching circuit able to uncouple the internal power supply from the line and able to couple the internal circuit to the line. There is also provided a sink device, which is adapted to communicate with a source device through an HDMI cable. The sink device comprises a power supply, hand-shaking circuitry able to indicate that the sink device is able to supply a current on a line of said HDMI cable, and a circuit able to couple the power supply to the line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: ST-Ericsson SA
    Inventors: Cyrille Gachon, Daniel Ladret, Nicholas Smears
  • Publication number: 20120080954
    Abstract: There is provided a source device, which is adapted to communicate with a sink device through an HDMI cable. The sink device comprises an internal circuit, handshaking circuitry adapted to verify if the sink device is able to supply a current on a line of the HDMI cable, an internal power supply intended for powering the line and a switching circuit able to uncouple the internal power supply from the line and able to couple the internal circuit to the line. There is also provided a sink device, which is adapted to communicate with a source device through an HDMI cable. The sink device comprises a power supply, hand-shaking circuitry able to indicate that the sink device is able to supply a current on a line of said HDMI cable, and a circuit able to couple the power supply to the line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2009
    Publication date: April 5, 2012
    Applicant: ST-ERICSSON SA
    Inventors: Cyrille Gachon, Daniel Ladret, Nicholas Smears
  • Patent number: 6480013
    Abstract: A method for the calibration of an RF integrated circuit probe comprising a step to determine the characteristics of the RF transmission lines of the probe by means of a vector network analyzer and standard circuits on silicon substrate. The standard circuits comprise contact pads corresponding by their layout to RF connection pads of the integrated circuits to be tested.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2002
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics, S.A.
    Inventors: Peter Nayler, Nicholas Smears, Philippe Planelle