Patents by Inventor Robert W. Hocken, Jr.

Robert W. Hocken, Jr. 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: 11648400
    Abstract: The disclosure describes an implementation of a combinational thermometric-R2R that includes a thermometric DAC circuit to output the coarse output steps, an R2R circuit to control the fine output steps, and a resistor in series with the thermometric and R2R circuits. The techniques of this disclosure implement a fine resolution DAC, on the order of two nanoamps per bit, that operates at low current, yet maintains monotonicity throughout the DAC output range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: MEDTRONIC, INC.
    Inventors: Krishna Pramod Madabhushi, Robert W. Hocken, Jr.
  • Patent number: 11406830
    Abstract: Techniques are described for magnetic field detection using a plurality of Hall sensors and chopper-amplifier circuit. Determination that a magnetic field is present from measurement from one of the Hall sensors may trigger confirmation or confirmation and reconfirmation of the presence of the magnetic field from measurements from one or more of the other Hall sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: MEDTRONIC, INC.
    Inventors: Jalpa S. Shah, Robert W. Hocken, Jr., Joel Sivula, Wesley A. Santa
  • Publication number: 20220111209
    Abstract: The disclosure describes an implementation of a combinational thermometric-R2R that includes a thermometric DAC circuit to output the coarse output steps, an R2R circuit to control the fine output steps, and a resistor in series with the thermometric and R2R circuits. The techniques of this disclosure implement a fine resolution DAC, on the order of two nanoamps per bit, that operates at low current, yet maintains monotonicity throughout the DAC output range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 9, 2020
    Publication date: April 14, 2022
    Inventors: Krishna Pramod Madabhushi, Robert W. Hocken, JR.
  • Publication number: 20210275822
    Abstract: Techniques are described for magnetic field detection using a plurality of Hall sensors and chopper-amplifier circuit. Determination that a magnetic field is present from measurement from one of the Hall sensors may trigger confirmation or confirmation and reconfirmation of the presence of the magnetic field from measurements from one or more of the other Hall sensors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2017
    Publication date: September 9, 2021
    Applicants: Medtronic, Inc., Medtronic, Inc.
    Inventors: Jalpa S. Shah, Robert W. Hocken, Jr., Joel Sivula, Wesley A. Santa
  • Patent number: 9149635
    Abstract: This disclosure describes techniques for generating stimulation current pulses that have differing pulse shapes in a medical device. A circuit architecture is described that is configured to charge a capacitor to an initial amount of charge, modulate the amount of charge stored in the capacitor based on a control signal, and generate a stimulation current pulse that has an amplitude based on the amount charge stored in the capacitor. The circuit architecture may be configured to generate complex pulse shapes, such as, e.g., steps, ramps, bursts, and combinations thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2015
    Assignee: Medtronic, Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy J. Denison, Robert W. Hocken, Jr., Gabriela C. Molnar, Wesley A. Santa, Jalpa S. Shah, Larry E. Tyler
  • Publication number: 20130289658
    Abstract: This disclosure describes techniques for generating stimulation current pulses that have differing pulse shapes in a medical device. A circuit architecture is described that is configured to charge a capacitor to an initial amount of charge, modulate the amount of charge stored in the capacitor based on a control signal, and generate a stimulation current pulse that has an amplitude based on the amount charge stored in the capacitor. The circuit architecture may be configured to generate complex pulse shapes, such as, e.g., steps, ramps, bursts, and combinations thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2012
    Publication date: October 31, 2013
    Applicant: MEDTRONIC, INC.
    Inventors: Timothy J. Denison, Robert W. Hocken, JR., Gabriela C. Molnar, Wesley A. Santa, Jalpa S. Shah, Larry E. Tyler
  • Patent number: 6286346
    Abstract: A method and apparatus including conditional add and conditional add/subtract instructions are provided for use in the instruction set of a medical device instruction processor. More specifically, the conditional add and add/subtract instructions are provided to add two operands if a predetermined condition is satisfied within the instruction processor hardware. Additionally, the conditional add/subtract instruction may be used to subtract one operand from another operand if the predetermined condition is not satisfied. These instructions are adapted for use in implementing an efficient, interruptible, firmware-controlled multiplication or division mechanism. The inventive system allows multiplication or division operations to be interrupted at various intermediate points during the multiplication or division operation to thereby reducing interrupt latency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2001
    Assignee: Medtronic, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert W. Hocken, Jr., Kevin K. Walsh, Jeffrey D. Wilkinson