Patents by Inventor Stephen M. McConnell

Stephen M. McConnell 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: 11073651
    Abstract: An edge-illuminating light guide device works with a consumer electronic to provide directional lighting to efficiently emit illumination from the sides of a screen, while maximizing light emission and minimizing power usage. The device utilizes two light guides that join to direct light from a light source across a directional path from the sides of the device. An ingress light guide has a flat, triangular shape that tapers from a narrow light inlet end to a wide light outlet end. The narrow light inlet end connects to a light source. An egress light guide is defined by a flat, rectangular shape. The egress light guide integrally joins with, and is in illuminating communication with the ingress light guide. A composition coats one of the faces of the egress light guide to prevent passage of the light; thereby serving as a color filter. The device is fabricated from a polycarbonate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: LOOK-A-LIGHT, LLC
    Inventors: Stephen M. McConnell, John Albert Kuhnart
  • Patent number: 7821374
    Abstract: A method of arranging and fabricating parallel primary and secondary coils of a wideband planar transformer is provided. The spacing and width of the coils are disposed to extend the bandwidth from DC to GHz and allow for high frequency coupling when the core permeability dramatically drops and achieves low reflected energy and low loss over a wide bandwidth. A bottom mold having a pattern of hole-pairs with conductive elements inserted vertically couples to a top mold such that a middle portion of the conductive elements spans between the top and bottom molds. Dielectric material envelopes the middle portion and a displacement feature of the mold creates a vacancy. A ferrite element is deposited to the vacancy. A second top mold spans the bottom mold and dielectric material is deposited to create a molded assembly. A deposited patterned conductive coating connects the element ends to define the transformer coils.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2010
    Assignee: KeyEye Communications
    Inventors: William Lee Harrison, Stephen M. McConnell, Anh-Vu Pham
  • Publication number: 20090002111
    Abstract: A method of arranging and fabricating parallel primary and secondary coils of a wideband planar transformer is provided. The spacing and width of the coils are disposed to extend the bandwidth from DC to GHz and allow for high frequency coupling when the core permeability dramatically drops and achieves low reflected energy and low loss over a wide bandwidth. A bottom mold having a pattern of hole-pairs with conductive elements inserted vertically couples to a top mold such that a middle portion of the conductive elements spans between the top and bottom molds. Dielectric material envelopes the middle portion and a displacement feature of the mold creates a vacancy. A ferrite element is deposited to the vacancy. A second top mold spans the bottom mold and dielectric material is deposited to create a molded assembly. A deposited patterned conductive coating connects the element ends to define the transformer coils.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 4, 2008
    Publication date: January 1, 2009
    Inventors: William Lee Harrison, Stephen M. McConnell, Anh-Vu Pham
  • Publication number: 20080219289
    Abstract: A method of power management in a 10GBase-T Ethernet transceiver is provided. The 10GBase-T Ethernet transceiver is according to an IEEE 802.3an standard. The method includes determining a cable length from a transmitter to a receiver in the Ethernet. A low-power mode of the transceiver is enabled when the cable length is determined to be 30-meters or less, and the low-power mode of the transceiver is disabled when the cable length is determined to be greater than 30-meters. The cable length determination can be accomplished using time domain reflectometry prior to an auto-negotiation process, during the auto-negotiation process, or through interrogation of a management interface. The transceiver can be monitored, where an operational link speed is reduced when transmit and receive data is below a predetermined level for a predetermined duration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 13, 2007
    Publication date: September 11, 2008
    Inventors: William Lee Harrison, Stephen M. McConnell
  • Patent number: 6292161
    Abstract: A system operable with any number of different display truth table schemes. The system allows a user to select the truth table scheme and a driver circuit is used to drive either a single or pair of display elements. A binary application select detects a logic 0 if an application sense pin is left floating or is pulled low with a resistor. It detects a logic 1 if the application sense pin is pulled high with a resistor. The sense potential is such that all applications at the pin following reset, namely input or output with connected components will only detect a logic 1 when the pin is pulled high by a pull-up resistor. The output latched application is directed to a responsive circuit operable in a first condition when a logic 0 is detected, and a second condition when a logic 1 is detected. A binary select allows 2n different truth schemes to be selected where n is the number of pins used to select the application. When a first binary code is sensed, a first truth table is implemented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2001
    Assignee: Level One Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Ralph E. Andersson, Steven R. Kubes, Stephen M. McConnell
  • Patent number: 6108307
    Abstract: There is provided a message service device for a switching network. The device provides an input port for receiving messages from a number of network connections. The device includes a storage device for storing a number of predetermined priority levels pertaining to the received messages, one of the priority levels being assigned to each of the network connections. A number of first-in first-out message queues are provided for storing the received messages. The queues respectively correspond to each of the predetermined priority levels. Each queue is associated with at least one of a number of predetermined congestion thresholds whereby a congestion severity status may be determined for each queue. The congestion severity status corresponds proportionally to the number of the congestion thresholds which have been exceeded by the queue. The message service device further provides a processor for determining the network connection associated with each of the received messages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 1997
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2000
    Assignee: Newbridge Networks Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen M. McConnell, Tavener G. T. Bremner
  • Patent number: 5926504
    Abstract: A communications inter-repeater circuit that includes an Attachment Unit Interface (AUI) port which can be selectively switched between a Media Attachment Unit (MAU) mode and a Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) mode. This selective change in the AUI allows for direct connection of Data Terminal Equipment (DTE) to the repeater without requiring a separate MAU. The determination of the mode for the AUI port is made by a selector. The selector may be a configuration sense pin whereon a selection potential is applied during reset of the repeater functions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 20, 1999
    Assignee: Level One Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Ralph E. Andersson, Stephen M. McConnell
  • Patent number: D889312
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: LOOK-A-LIGHT, LLC
    Inventor: Stephen M. McConnell