Patents by Inventor Nicky Miles Johnson

Nicky Miles Johnson 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).

  • Minimizing power consumption of a reference voltage circuit using a capacitor
    Patent number: 7825639
    Abstract: A system and method is disclosed for minimizing power consumption in a reference voltage circuit. A capacitor is coupled to a reference voltage circuit and charged to a voltage that equals the reference voltage of the reference voltage circuit. The capacitor is then decoupled from the reference voltage circuit and power to the reference voltage circuit is turned off. The capacitor then provides the capacitor voltage to other circuits as a reference voltage. After a selected period of time has elapsed since the capacitor was last charged to the reference voltage, the reference voltage circuit is turned on and the capacitor is again coupled to the reference voltage circuit. The reference voltage circuit then recharges the capacitor to the reference voltage level. This process is repeated to periodically charge the capacitor to the reference voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2010
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Hidehiko Suzuki, Hidenori Kobayashi, Nicky Miles Johnson
  • System and method for minimizing power consumption of a reference voltage circuit
    Patent number: 7567063
    Abstract: A system and method is disclosed for minimizing power consumption in a reference voltage circuit. A capacitor is coupled to a reference voltage circuit and charged to a voltage that equals the reference voltage of the reference voltage circuit. The capacitor is then decoupled from the reference voltage circuit and power to the reference voltage circuit is turned off. The capacitor then provides the capacitor voltage to other circuits as a reference voltage. After a selected period of time has elapsed since the capacitor was last charged to the reference voltage, the reference voltage circuit is turned on and the capacitor is again coupled to the reference voltage circuit. The reference voltage circuit then recharges the capacitor to the reference voltage level. This process is repeated to periodically charge the capacitor to the reference voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2009
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Hidehiko Suzuki, Hidenori Kobayashi, Nicky Miles Johnson