Patents by Inventor Stephen J. Rober

Stephen J. Rober 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: 7190237
    Abstract: A system employing a resonating device and a controller implements a method involving an establishment by the controller of open-loop oscillations of the resonating device at a resonating frequency of the resonating device, and an establishment by the controller of closed-loop oscillations of the resonating device based on the open-loop oscillations of the resonating device at the resonating frequency. To this end, the controller controls an application and a tuning of a first open-loop drive signal to the resonating device based on a design-drive standard resonating frequency range whereby the controller can measure and designate a frequency of a resonating output signal from the resonating device as a calibration resonant frequency, and controls an application and a tuning of a second open-loop drive signal to the resonating device based on the calibration resonant frequency whereby the controller can subsequently apply a closed-loop drive signal to the resonating device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2007
    Assignee: Continental Automotive, Inc.
    Inventors: Stevan Zivanovic, Stephen J. Rober
  • Patent number: 6934140
    Abstract: A frequency-controlled load driver circuit includes a steady-state and a transient operational mode. A switching driver switches a load current to a solenoid at a set switching frequency during a steady-state operational mode. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) oversamples a sense resistor voltage an integer number of times within each period of the switching frequency. A control circuit sets the switching frequency of the driver during the steady-state operational mode by providing predetermined switching times. The control circuit disables switching during the transient mode. Dither can be applied during the steady-state mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2005
    Assignee: Motorola, Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen J. Rober, Joshua S. Landau, Bernard Bojarski
  • Patent number: 6934665
    Abstract: A method for extracting components from signals in an electronic sensor (50) having a sensing element (52). The sensing element (52) generates a first signal (60) and a second signal (62). The method comprises the steps of: receiving the first signal (60) from the sensing element (52), the first signal (60) having a frequency at an event; sampling the second signal (62) from the sensing element (52) based on the frequency of the event, the second signal (62) having a plurality of components, one of the plurality of components being a first component of interest (112, 114); generating a synchronized second signal (100) in a time domain, the second signal (62) having the plurality of components; generating complex data (110) in a frequency domain from the synchronized second signal (100) in the time domain; determining the first component of interest (112, 114) from the complex data (110); and normalizing the first component of interest (112, 114) using amplitude information from the first signal (60).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2005
    Assignee: Motorola, Inc.
    Inventor: Stephen J. Rober
  • Patent number: 6789029
    Abstract: A method for extracting components from signals in an electronic sensor (50) having a sensing element (52). The sensing element (52) generates a first signal (60) and a second signal (62). The method comprises the steps of: receiving the first signal (60) from the sensing element (52), the first signal (60) having a frequency at an event; sampling the second signal (62) from the sensing element (52) based on the frequency of the event, the second signal (62) having a plurality of components, one of the plurality of components being a first component of interest (112, 114); generating a synchronized second signal (100) in a time domain, the second signal (62) having the plurality of components; generating complex data (110) in a frequency domain from the synchronized second signal (100) in the time domain; and determining the first component of interest (112, 114) from the complex data (110). There is also a system in an electronic sensor (50) according to the above-described methods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2004
    Assignee: Motorola, Inc.
    Inventor: Stephen J. Rober
  • Publication number: 20040078159
    Abstract: A method for extracting components from signals in an electronic sensor (50) having a sensing element (52). The sensing element (52) generates a first signal (60) and a second signal (62). The method comprises the steps of: receiving the first signal (60) from the sensing element (52), the first signal (60) having a frequency at an event; sampling the second signal (62) from the sensing element (52) based on the frequency of the event, the second signal (62) having a plurality of components, one of the plurality of components being a first component of interest (112, 114); generating a synchronized second signal (100) in a time domain, the second signal (62) having the plurality of components; generating complex data (110) in a frequency domain from the synchronized second signal (100) in the time domain; and determining the first component of interest (112, 114) from the complex data (110). There is also a system in an electronic sensor (50) according to the above-described methods.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 18, 2002
    Publication date: April 22, 2004
    Inventor: Stephen J. Rober