Of Reflected Test Signal Patents (Class 324/533)
  • Patent number: 11867742
    Abstract: A method for detecting faults on an electrical line includes feeding a measurement signal to a first location on the line by using a measuring assembly, receiving a reflected measurement signal at the first location, and determining a fault location on the line on the basis of the period of time until the reflected measurement signal is received while considering a line attenuation. A reflection location on the line where the measurement signal is reflected is used, and the line attenuation is determined on the basis of the level of the reflected measurement signal received at the first location. A corresponding measuring assembly is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Robert Baumgartner, Claus Seisenberger
  • Patent number: 11656264
    Abstract: A high-speed signal subsystem testing system includes a processing system having a transmitter and a receiver, a loop back subsystem coupled to the transmitter and receiver to provide a testing communication path between the transmitter and the receiver, and a communication path testing engine coupled to the transmitter and the receiver. The communication path testing engine generates test signal(s) and transmits the test signal(s) via the transmitter and through the testing communication path provided by the loop back subsystem and, in response, receives test signal result(s) via the receiver and through the testing communication path provided by the loop back subsystem, The communication path testing engine processes the test signal result(s) to generate a testing impedance profile for the testing communication path, and compares the testing impedance profile to an expected impedance profile to determine whether a testing communication path issue exists in the testing communication path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: Dell Products L.P.
    Inventors: Umesh Chandra, Bhyrav Mutnury
  • Patent number: 11575409
    Abstract: A time-domain reflectometer and a distance measurement method for devices sharing a common bus are provided. The time-domain reflectometer determines a time when to transmit a first ranging signal over a cable based at least in part on when a device presents a first impedance on the cable that is lower than a second impedance of the cable. The time-domain reflectometer transmits the first ranging signal over the cable and in response to transmitting the first ranging signal, receives, over the cable, a first response signal having a peak associated with an impedance mismatch present on the cable resulting from the device presenting the first impedance on the cable. The time-domain reflectometer determines, based on the first response signal, a distance between the time-domain reflectometer and the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: Fluke Corporation
    Inventor: John Paul Hittel
  • Patent number: 11451020
    Abstract: Generating an assessment of the suitability of cables, ducts, tubes, pipes and/or other hollow-type of conduits to extraction of cores, conductors, insulation, etc. included therein while still buried in the ground or otherwise positioned out-of-sight so as to be unavailable for visual and/or physical inspection is contemplated. The assessment may be used to indicate a suitability of a cable buried in the ground of a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) cable plant to extraction of the type whereby a core of the cable may be extracted using hydraulics while still buried.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Luis Alberto Campos, Thomas Holtzman Williams, Zhensheng Jia
  • Patent number: 11368233
    Abstract: There is provided mechanisms for reporting a faulty antenna port at a transmitting radio device. A method is performed by a receiving radio device. The method comprises receiving at least one reference signal transmitted at an antenna port of the transmitting radio device. The method comprises determining whether the antenna port is deemed faulty or not by subjecting the at least one reference signal to an evaluation criterion. The method comprises transmitting, when the antenna port is deemed faulty, a report to the transmitting radio device. The report indicates that the antenna port is deemed faulty.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Erik Larsson, Mattias Frenne, Bo Göransson, Fredrik Ovesjö, Paul Peter Von Butovitsch
  • Patent number: 11329604
    Abstract: Provided are a method for photovoltaic module fault diagnosis, an edge calculation processing device and an inverter. Firstly, multiple module-level power electronic devices are controlled to perform IV scanning on photovoltaic modules connected to the module-level power electronic devices respectively and IV curves of the photovoltaic modules are obtained by the module-level power electronic devices respectively. Secondly, an IV curve satisfying a condition is selected from the IV curves of the photovoltaic modules as a reference curve. Thirdly, each of remaining IV curves in the IV curves of the photovoltaic modules other than the reference curve is compared with the reference curve, to generate comparison results. Finally, a fault diagnosis result for each of the photovoltaic modules is generated based on the comparison results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: SUNGROW POWER SUPPLY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tian Zhao, Ping Yun, Jie Weng
  • Patent number: 11321463
    Abstract: A hardware malware profiling and detection system is disclosed. In embodiments, the system includes a primary (e.g., trusted) system including template processors and hardware sensors. The template processors submit input vectors to the primary system and characterize the system response via power trace data collected by the hardware sensors. Based on the input vectors and power trace data, the template processors generate system templates and derive system challenges therefrom. The template processors submit the system challenges to a remote system under test and characterize the remote system response in real time via identical remote hardware sensors. The template processors correlate the real-time remote system response data with the system templates corresponding to the issued challenges to detect system anomalies or malware within the remote system or its components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Rockwell Collins, Inc.
    Inventors: Reginald D. Bean, Carl J. Henning, Gregory S. Droba
  • Patent number: 11277168
    Abstract: A communication device is disclosed. The communication device includes a transceiver circuit, an echo canceler, and a processor. The transceiver circuit is configured to transmit a test signal to a channel. The echo canceler is configured to obtain a plurality of echo power of a reflected signal corresponding to the test signal. The processor is configured to obtain a plurality of positions on the channel according to a parameter value. The parameter value is N, a number of the plurality of positions is N, and the plurality of positions corresponds to the top N largest of the plurality of echo power. The echo canceler is further configured to eliminate part of the plurality of echo power corresponding to the plurality of positions according to the plurality of positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Wei-Ting Lin, Yuan-Jih Chu, Li-Chung Chen, Hsin-Yun Hu
  • Patent number: 11171840
    Abstract: Disclosed are a method and apparatus for assisting in the physical wiring or debugging of connections between devices, which may include one or more network visibility appliances. In at least one embodiment, the computer system receives first user input that specifies a first port of a plurality of selectable physical ports or a connection between the first port and a second port of the plurality of selectable physical ports. At least one of the first port or the second port is on a device that is external to the computer system. In response to the first user input, the computer system sends a first signal to the device to trigger the device to output a first visual indication in proximity to the first port, the first visual indication identifying the first port and a status of at least one of the first port or the connection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: Gigamon Inc.
    Inventors: Namick Peer Mohamed Shahabudeen, Gowtham Srinivasan, Sowmya Poornachandran, Thirumalai Srinivasan Sathiskumar
  • Patent number: 11125779
    Abstract: Probe for testing a radio frequency device, test system and test method. A probe is used for measuring radio frequency signals provided by the device under test or for providing test signals to the device under test. In particular, the probe comprises a power detector directly connected to the contacting elements of the probe. Accordingly, such a power detector can provide a power signal highly correlated with the power signal of a radio frequency signal at input or output terminals connected to the probe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2021
    Assignee: ROHDE & SCHWARZ GMBH & CO. KG
    Inventors: Markus Gallhauser, Werner Perndl
  • Patent number: 11092634
    Abstract: The invention generates a model of the composition of the cable segments in a network. Different cable compositions have different loss distributions. Each cable segment is given a starting cable composition (based on cable records if available), and thus can be represented as a loss distribution. The loss for each circuit can be measured (by measuring Hlog), and thus can also be represented as a loss distribution. Updates are made to the loss distribution for each segment so that the loss distributions that make up each circuit is consistent with that of the (measured) loss distribution for that circuit. These updates are preferably performed as Bayesian updates of each cable segment (loss distribution) using Gibbs sampling (i.e. the other cable segment loss probabilities are fixed whilst the probability for the segment under consideration is updated).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS public limited company
    Inventor: Andrew Ferguson
  • Patent number: 11079425
    Abstract: An electrical fault detecting system (10) for a circuit includes a conductor (20) delivering an electrical signal from a source (12) to a destination (14), a sheath (22) encircling the conductor, and a fault detection circuit (18). The sheath further includes an electrical insulator layer (24) and a conductive shield (26) encircling the conductor. The fault detection circuit is configured to detect a change in the electrical characteristics of the conductor and/or conductor sheath.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: GE Aviation Systems LLC
    Inventors: Arthur Vorwerk Radun, Adrian Shipley
  • Patent number: 11054458
    Abstract: A method and device for detecting faults in a transmission line by reflectometry, include the following steps: injecting into the transmission line a reference signal at an emission frequency fDAC; collecting a reflected signal at a point on the transmission line; sampling the reflected signal at a sampling frequency fADC, the sampling frequency fADC being different from the emission frequency fDAC; storing each point of the sampled signal at a memory address corresponding to an index assigned to the point of the sampled signal and according to a precomputed memory-address increment ?, the memory-address increment ? depending on the emission frequency fDAC, on the sampling frequency fADC, on an over-sampling factor ? and on a preset acquisition time ?; repeating the storing step during the acquisition time ?; and generating, from the points stored during the acquisition time, a recomposed signal able to be used to detect faults.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
    Inventors: Christophe Layer, Esteban Cabanillas, Antoine Dupret
  • Patent number: 11005583
    Abstract: A method of performing a distance-to-fault measurement of a signal processing device, comprising: performing a S11 measurement in amplitude and phase with equidistant frequency points assigned to an original frequency space, thereby obtaining original measurement points; calculating a virtual start frequency and a virtual stop frequency based on a start frequency and a stop frequency assigned to the original frequency space; determining virtual equidistant frequency points between the virtual start frequency and the virtual stop frequency; transforming the virtual equidistant frequency points into the original frequency space, thereby obtaining non-equidistant frequency points in the original frequency space; interpolating the original measurement points with respect to the non-equidistant frequency points, thereby obtaining interpolated measurement points; and performing an inverse transformation of the interpolated measurement points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Hagen Eckert
  • Patent number: 11002781
    Abstract: A method for monitoring a line is done in a simple manner by feeding test pulses and determining any interference on the test pulses by reflected portions of the same test pulses. In a normal state of the line, the measuring pulses have a transit time which is known in advance due to the predetermined length of the line, and the respective reflected portions of the measuring pulses are generated which propagate in an opposite direction to the measuring pulses. A deviation of the transit time from a previously known transit time, and a deviation from the normal state are recognized in dependence on the overlay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: LEONI Kabel GmbH
    Inventors: Erwin Koeppendoerfer, Markus Schill
  • Patent number: 11005221
    Abstract: A charging plug, having a housing for accommodating power contacts and power contacts for power transmission, and having an apparatus for detecting liquid, which apparatus is configured to detect liquid collecting inside the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: Phoenix Contact E-Mobility GmbH
    Inventor: Thomas Führer
  • Patent number: 10969418
    Abstract: A reflectometry system includes at least one measurement means for measuring a reference signal retro-propagated in at least one transmission line, at least one analog-digital converter for converting at least one measured signal into a set of at least one first digital signal and one second digital signal, at least one complex correlator configured to correlate the real reference signal with a complex signal whose real part is formed by a first digital signal of the set and whose imaginary part is formed by a second digital signal of the set, so as to produce a first reflectogram corresponding to the real part of the complex signal and a second reflectogram corresponding to the imaginary part of the complex signal, an analysis module for analyzing at least the first reflectogram and the second reflectogram so as to identify the presence of defects in at least one transmission line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
    Inventors: Christophe Layer, Esteban Cabanillas, Mickael Cartron
  • Patent number: 10911075
    Abstract: A wireless device comprising a first antenna and second antenna, a transceiver and a radio frequency front end system electrically coupled between the transceiver and the antennas. The RF front end system includes a first module operable to provide a high band transmit signal to the first antenna, receive a first high band receive signal and a first mid band receive signal from the first antenna. The first high band receive signal has a frequency content greater than that of the first mid band receive signal. The RF front end system further includes a second module operable to provide a mid band transmit signal to the second antenna, receive a second mid band receive signal and a second high band receive signal from the second antenna. The second high band receive signal has a frequency content greater than that of the second mid band receive signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Skyworks Solutions, Inc.
    Inventor: John Chi-Shuen Leung
  • Patent number: 10819528
    Abstract: A device may include one or more sources such as circuit elements and electrical components that function as sources for physically unclonable function (PUF) data. PUF data may be acquired from the PUF sources and one or more error correction codes may be applied to the PUF data. The resulting PUF values may be used to generate information that may be used for device security operations such as encryption and tamper detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Square, Inc.
    Inventors: Kamran Sharifi, Afshin Rezayee, Jeremy Wade, Yue Yang, Max Joseph Guise, Bertram Leesti
  • Patent number: 10680708
    Abstract: A system for testing reflections within a data transmission signal includes a data transmission line configured to transmit the signal in a downstream direction, and a test probe configured to electrically contact a contact point on the transmission line and measure a magnitude of a frequency response of the signal therein. The system further includes a spectrum capturing device in operable contact with the test probe, and configured to collect and arrange data of frequency response magnitudes measured by the test probe. The data transmission line includes at least a first impedance mismatch corresponding to a first reflection point along the transmission line, and the spectrum capturing device is configured to determine a severity of the first reflection based on a comparison of a first voltage V1 with a second voltage V2, where V1 represents a DC term, and where V2 represents a reflected energy of a subsequent impulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Cable Television Laboratories, Inc
    Inventors: Thomas H. Williams, Ryan Richard Vail
  • Patent number: 10663532
    Abstract: An example method of testing a shielded cable couples an excitation signal to the shielded cable at an end of a shielded cable, determines one or more resonant frequencies of the shielded cable based on a response of the shielded cable to the excitation signal, and determines that a shielding of the shielded cable has degraded based on a change in the one or more resonant frequencies. A system for testing a shielded cable is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND CORPORATION
    Inventor: Francis A. Carcia
  • Patent number: 10641839
    Abstract: Examples disclose a computing system comprising a host device with a connection socket to support multiple types of cables by detecting a first key position and a second key position for determination of the type of cable. Further, the computing system comprises a switching circuit to determine a logic state of each of the key positions. Additionally, the switching circuit is to deliver power associated with the type of cable based on the logic states of the key positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Binh T. Truong, Nam Nguyen, Robert S Wright
  • Patent number: 10598719
    Abstract: A method for characterizing a segment of a transmission line, a reference signal being injected into the line and a time-domain measurement of the reflection of the reference signal in the line being carried out, the method comprises the following steps: applying a deconvoluting step to the time-domain measurement so as to generate a deconvoluted temporal sequence comprising a plurality of amplitude peaks each corresponding to an impedance discontinuity; removing, from the amplitude of at least one obtained peak, the contribution of at least one secondary reflection of the signal from an impedance discontinuity; deducing, from the temporal position of each peak, a position of an associated impedance discontinuity in the line segment; and deducing, from the amplitude of each peak, an estimate of the real part of the reflection coefficient of a wave reflected from each identified impedance discontinuity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
    Inventors: Josy Cohen, Nicolas Gregis
  • Patent number: 10581467
    Abstract: A wireless device comprising a first antenna and second antenna, a transceiver and a radio frequency front end system electrically coupled between the transceiver and the antennas. The RF front end system includes a first module operable to provide a high band transmit signal to the first antenna, receive a first high band receive signal and a first mid band receive signal from the first antenna. The first high band receive signal has a frequency content greater than that of the first mid band receive signal. The RF front end system further includes a second module operable to provide a mid band transmit signal to the second antenna, receive a second mid band receive signal and a second high band receive signal from the second antenna. The second high band receive signal has a frequency content greater than that of the second mid band receive signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: Skyworks Solutions, Inc.
    Inventor: John Chi-Shuen Leung
  • Patent number: 10539449
    Abstract: A radar based fill level measurement device for measuring the fill level of a material in a container, comprising an electronics unit, wherein the electronics unit serves to generate a transmission signal, and serves to process a received signal. The received signal containing a reflected portion of the transmission signal, and the reflected portion being reflected from a surface of the material whose distance is to be measured. The electronics unit comprises a signal generator to generate a frequency modulated transmission signal, wherein the electronics unit comprises a processor to process the received signal using phase information comprised in the received signal, and wherein the radar device comprises a coaxial waveguide probe arranged in the container, wherein said coaxial waveguide probe serves for guiding the transmission signal (TX) and the received signal (RX).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: ENDRESS+HAUSER SE+CO.KG
    Inventors: Harald Faber, Alexey Malinovskiy
  • Patent number: 10510432
    Abstract: Approaches, techniques, and mechanisms are disclosed for a test adapter designed to improve testability of non-volatile dual in-line memory modules (NVDIMM) on automatic test equipment (ATE) testers or in-system boards, which have inadequate power supplies. An NVDIMM includes both volatile memories and non-volatile memories. A test adapter is designed to supply increased power to an NVDIMM. A test adapter is implemented using an interposer or a printed circuit board (PCB) that may be inserted into a socket on an ATE tester or on an end-user system-level board. The interposer or PCB includes a power socket for attaching a power cable to supply the external power supply to the NVDIMM. A power on/off sequence is controlled by an ATE tester to simulate or test a system power on/off sequence. An external input power is always on, but both serial and backup power signals are only on during tests of an NVDIMM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: SMART Modular Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Jinying Shen
  • Patent number: 10488463
    Abstract: The invention provides a method and system for measuring a propagation delay of a device under test (DUT) using a first measurement unit and a second measurement unit. A first periodic signal transmitted from the first measurement unit via the DUT is received at the second measurement unit as a first delayed periodic signal. The first delayed periodic signal is then compared with a second periodic signal at the second measurement unit to generate the second comparison phase output. Similarly, the second periodic signal transmitted from the second measurement unit via the DUT is received at the first measurement unit as a second delayed periodic signal. The second delayed periodic signal is then compared with the first periodic signal at the first measurement unit to generate the first comparison phase output. Thereafter, the propagation delay is calculated by combining the first comparison phase output and the second comparison phase output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: INSPIRAIN TECHNOLOGIES PTE LTD
    Inventors: Harshang Nileshkumar Pandya, Minglei Cui
  • Patent number: 10488454
    Abstract: A method for generating a reflectometry signal for the diagnosis of defects impacting a transmission line or a network of transmission lines, the method executed by a diagnosis device belonging to a distributed system comprising a plurality of diagnosis devices connected to the line or network of lines, the method comprises the following steps: Generating an electrical signal comprising a plurality of frequency carriers regularly dispersed within a frequency band subdivided into sub-carriers so that each device of the distributed system uses different sub-carriers from the other devices of the system; injecting the electrical signal into the line or network of lines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
    Inventors: Wafa Ben Hassen, Fabrice Auzanneau
  • Patent number: 10438190
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a printed circuit board having a physically unclonable function (PUF) source. The electronic device may also include an integrated circuit (IC) chip positioned on the printed circuit board, and the first PUF source may be embedded in or formed on the printed circuit board external to the IC chip. The IC chip has processing circuitry that is configured to determine PUF data based on the PUF source. The processing circuitry is further configured to determine a cryptographic key or authentication token based on the PUF data and to perform at least one secure operation using the cryptographic key or authentication token.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: Square, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeremy Wade, William Hardy, Malcolm Ronald Smith, Afshin Rezayee, Yue Yang
  • Patent number: 10404559
    Abstract: An apparatus for remotely rebooting an electronic device may have an first port adapted to interface with a first communications line capable of transmitting and receiving both data and power, an second port adapted to interface with a second communications line capable of transmitting and receiving both data and power, at least two status light emitting diodes, and at least one power port capable of receiving power from an external power supply module. The apparatus uses an auto-ping, traffic monitor, and heartbeat methodology to manage the operable state of a PSE, PD, or Ethernet traffic. If either one is deemed to have become non-functional or otherwise fall below set operating standards, the apparatus sends a signal to reboot the particular device in question. This removes the need for a manual reboot of a particular device such as a peripheral device in an electronic system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: Dataprobe Inc.
    Inventors: David Weiss, Jeffery Schaefer
  • Patent number: 10345352
    Abstract: A method of electrical system fault detection and location determination includes measuring a baseline time domain reflectometry (TDR) waveform along a wire path of the electrical system and obtaining an operating TDR waveform along the wire path. The operating TDR waveform is compared to the baseline TDR waveform to derive a difference TDR waveform, and a difference energy is calculated utilizing the difference TDR waveform. The difference energy is monitored over time for peaks in the difference energy and potential electrical system faults are identified via the peaks in the difference energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Brian Drost, Howard A. Winston, Michael G. Mastrianni, Anthony Santo Maniaci, Andrew Palladino
  • Patent number: 10277274
    Abstract: A receiving circuit according to the present disclosure includes a reference signal generation unit configured to generate a high-frequency reference signal, and transmit the reference signal to a transmitting circuit side through a signal transmission path configured to trap and transmit a radio wave in the transmission path, and a transmission data restoration unit configured to receive the reference signal modulated based on transmission data on the transmitting circuit side and returned through the signal transmission path, and restore the transmission data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignee: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
    Inventor: Kenichi Kawasaki
  • Patent number: 10054476
    Abstract: A waveguide arrangement may include a tank defining a chamber for holding a liquid; and a pulsed waveguide (PWG) disposed at least partially within the chamber, the PWG comprising: an inner cylinder, the inner cylinder being grounded. The waveguide may also include an electrically conductive coil wrapped around the inner cylinder, wherein the pulsed waveguide is arranged to generate a first delay between a first initial pulse and a first reflected pulse when an upper surface of the liquid is at a first level, and to generate a second delay between a second initial pulse and a second reflected pulse when the upper surface of the liquid is a second level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: LITTELFUSE, INC.
    Inventors: Brian Johnson, Efrem Fesshaie, Rimantas Misevicius
  • Patent number: 10050667
    Abstract: A network connection device and a cable status detection method are provided. The network connection device is configured to connect and detect a connection cable. The network connection device includes an interface module, a physical layer transmission circuit and a cable status detection module. The interface module connects the connection cable. The physical layer transmission circuit sends signals to the connection cable or receives signals from the connection cable through the interface module. The cable status detection module receives a notification notifying that the physical layer transmission circuit is in a disable state, and detects the status of the connection cable and generates a detection result when the physical layer transmission circuit is in the disable state. In this way, the network connection device may transmit data signals though the connected connection cable and detect the status of the connection cable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: ALi Corporation
    Inventor: Zhi-Ming Zeng
  • Patent number: 10048309
    Abstract: A method for automatically measuring physical characteristics of a cable, comprises at least the following steps: positioning on said cable of means for creating an artificial singularity; the injection, at a point of said cable, of an electrical test signal; acquisition of said signal reflected on the singularities that said cable includes so as to produce a first reflectogram; measurement, on said reflectogram, of the temporal position ?t of the peak of the signal derived from its reflection on said artificial singularity; determination of the propagation velocity vp=2x/?t of the signal in said cable from the temporal position ?t and from the position x of said means for creating an artificial singularity on the cable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
    Inventors: Laurent Sommervogel, Josy Cohen
  • Patent number: 9960864
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with wireless circuitry. The wireless circuitry may include antennas. The antennas may include phased antenna arrays for handling millimeter wave signals. Antennas may be located in antenna signal paths. The antenna signal paths may include adjustable components such as adjustable filters, adjustable gain amplifiers, and adjustable phase shifters. Circuitry may be incorporated into an electronic device to facilitate wireless self-testing operations. Wireless self-testing may involve use of one antenna to transmit an over-the-air antenna test signal that is received by another antenna. The circuitry that facilitates the wireless self-testing operations may include couplers, adjustable switches for temporarily shorting antenna signal paths together, mixers for mixing down radio-frequency signals to allow digitization with analog-to-digital converters, and other circuitry for supporting self-testing operations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew A. Mow, Basim Noori, Yuehui Ouyang, Yi Jiang, Mattia Pascolini, Ruben Caballero
  • Patent number: 9923630
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a system for analyzing optical networks includes a network analyzer optically coupled to a fiber optic network. The network analyzer may transmit a test signal to the fiber optic network, receive a reflected signal in response to transmitting the test signal, wherein the reflected signal is generated in response to the test signal interacting with a defect of the fiber optic network. The analyzer may then analyze a power of the reflected signal, wherein the power of the reflected signal corresponds to the defect in the fiber optic network, calculate a transmit time of the reflected signal, wherein the transmit time corresponds a location of the defect in the fiber optic network, identify a component of the fiber optic network corresponding to the defect and the location of the defect in the fiber optic network, and generate a maintenance report based on the analyzed reflected signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2018
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventor: Joe S. Philip
  • Patent number: 9900164
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes: obtaining a power loss value for a cable that couples a device to a power source, where the power loss value is indicative of an amount of power lost through the cable during power transmission from the power source to the device; and determining, based at least in part on the power loss value for the cable, a power budget value indicative of an amount of power received by the device from the power source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Seth Brandon Spiel, Morgan Davis Teachworth, Ian Matthew Snyder
  • Patent number: 9829508
    Abstract: It is described a testing head for a testing equipment of an electronic device comprising at least one upper guide and a lower guide provided with guide holes, a plurality of contact probes inserted into the guide holes of the upper and lower guides and at least one containment element of the probes being is disposed between the upper and lower guides, each of the contact probes having at least one terminal portion which ends with a contact tip adapted to abut on a respective contact pad of the electronic device to be tested; at least one spacer element sandwiched between the containment element and at least one of the upper and lower guides, the spacer element being removable to adjust a length of the terminal portions of the contact probes projecting from the lower guide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: Technoprobe S.p.A.
    Inventors: Stefano Felici, Raffaele Vallauri, Roberto Crippa
  • Patent number: 9806602
    Abstract: A radio frequency interference suppression circuit that includes a reference ground end, a main power circuit, a driving circuit and an impedance unit is provided. The main power circuit includes a first switch that includes a control end, a first and a second end. A minimal impedance is presented between the second end and the reference ground end. The driving circuit is coupled to the control end and the second end. The first impedance unit is formed between the second end and the reference ground end in a high frequency differential mode loop to reduce a high frequency voltage drop therein. The first switch receives a driving signal from the driving circuit to be turned on or turned off between the first and the second ends accordingly to make the main power circuit converts a first power signal to a second power signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventors: Yi-Cong Xie, Min Zhou, Rui Wu, Jin-Ping Zhou
  • Patent number: 9753445
    Abstract: A method and system for determining short, open, and good connections using digital input and output (TO) structures in a device under test (DUT) continuity test, through the combined methods of using resistance-capacitance (RC) delay, time domain reflectometry (TDR), and forcing voltage on to a single IO pin of the DUT while measuring voltage on remaining IO pins of said DUT. In one embodiment, the combined methods are executed without the DUT in a test socket to produce a first set of test values and also with the DUT in a test socket to produce a second set of test values. The first and second sets of test values are compared to determine if one or more circuits of the DUT have a short circuit, an open circuit, or are a good (have an electrical connection that is not a short circuit or an open circuit) circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: Adam Duncan, Matthew Gadlage
  • Patent number: 9733201
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for tracking the thermal age of a self-regulating heating cable. Over a time period, current and voltage data for a cable signal are collected, from which spectral information is extracted. The spectral information has a frequency component and an amplitude component. The cable signal is processed to extract a line frequency signature that includes the electrical system's line current frequency and at least some of its harmonics. A ratio of the amplitudes of at least two of the odd harmonics of the line current frequency is calculated. The ratio is compared to an aging curve indicating the thermal age of the cable as a function of the odd-harmonic ratios. The curve may be obtained in a laboratory setting or in the field by characterizing a cable with zero hours of use. The characterizing may include aging the cable to determine the curve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2017
    Assignee: Pentair Thermal Management LLC
    Inventors: Juergen J. Zach, Jim Beres, Erik Olson
  • Patent number: 9709616
    Abstract: A monitoring device for monitoring safety components including monitoring electronics which include a plurality of clock generators and evaluation means and on which at least two interfaces to be monitored for electric coupling to safety components are formed, wherein each of the interfaces includes at least two output ports and at least two input ports, wherein each of a first output port and a second output port is connected to a clock generator designed for providing clocked electric monitoring signals, wherein a first input port and a second input port are connected to the evaluation means, and wherein a number of clock generators greater than two and less than a number of all output ports of the interfaces to be monitored is chosen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: FESTO AG & CO. KG
    Inventors: Roland Kalberer, Martin Hommel, Colin Leitner
  • Patent number: 9684025
    Abstract: A method and system for determining short, open, and good connections using digital input and output (IO) structures in a device under test (DUT) continuity test, through the combined methods of using resistance-capacitance (RC) delay, time domain reflectometry (TDR), and forcing voltage on to a single IO pin of the DUT while measuring voltage on remaining IO pins of said DUT. In one embodiment, the combined methods are executed without the DUT in a test socket to produce a first set of test values and also with the DUT in a test socket to produce a second set of test values. The first and second sets of test values are compared to determine if one or more circuits of the DUT have a short circuit, an open circuit, or are a good (have an electrical connection that is not a short circuit or an open circuit) circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: Adam Duncan, Matthew Gadlage
  • Patent number: 9664496
    Abstract: A method of determining the length of a cable coupled to a transceiver of a network device includes transmitting a first series of pulses of a first pulse width onto a cable, receiving reflections of the first series of pulses, transmitting a second series of pulses of a second pulse width onto the cable, and receiving reflections of the second series of pulses. The second pulse width is wider than the first pulse width. It is determined whether the reflections of the first series of pulses satisfy a criterion. The length of the cable is calculated using either the reflections of the first series of pulses or the reflections of the second series of pulses, based at least in part on whether the reflections of the first series of pulses satisfy the criterion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Inc.
    Inventors: Yanyan Zhang, Xiabing Liu
  • Patent number: 9634721
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and an apparatus for sending a single-ended loop testing SELT measurement signal, and a control device. The method for sending a SELT measurement signal includes: aligning a synchronization symbol of a digital subscriber line on which a SELT diagnosis needs to be performed with a synchronization symbol of at least one DSL line for data transmission, where the synchronization symbol of the digital subscriber line on which a SELT diagnosis needs to be performed and the synchronization symbol of the at least one digital subscriber line for data transmission are uplink or downlink synchronization symbols; and carrying a SELT measurement signal over the aligned synchronization symbol of the DSL line on which a SELT diagnosis needs to be performed, where the SELT measurement signal is used to detect transmission quality or a line fault of the DSL line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Jianping Tu
  • Patent number: 9633164
    Abstract: A system and method of analyzing signal performance of a hardware system includes dividing a simulation of the hardware system into a chain of blocks, identifying resonant loops between pairs of blocks in the chain of blocks, determining a loop response for each of the identified resonant loops, and determining an impact of each loop response on a performance of the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: SIGNAL INTEGRITY SOFTWARE, INC.
    Inventor: Richard Joseph Allred
  • Patent number: 9625510
    Abstract: In an example of a method for performing vehicle antenna diagnostics, a transmitting and receiving (TX/RX) antenna of a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna assembly of a vehicle is electronically caused to emit a check signal. A response of a receiving only (RX) antenna of the MIMO antenna assembly is electronically detected in response to the check signal. A received signal strength indictor output is generated in response to the response of the RX antenna. The received signal strength indictor output is converted to a digital signal. The integrity of the MIMO antenna is determined after comparing the digital signal with an expected power level of the RX antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Vipul M. Patel, Bruce D. Conner
  • Patent number: 9577887
    Abstract: Power Over Ethernet (POE)/universal power over Ethernet (UPoE) may be enabled at multigigabit port-channel connections. This may allow for additional speed support in auto-negotiation messages while employing multigigabit speeds. An integrated connector module (referred to herein as a “ICM”) compatible with UPoE with a modified local physical layer (PHY) circuit may be capable of supporting multi-gigabit data rates (such as between 1 G to 10 G, e.g., 2.5 G and 5 G) as to not limit the data rates to 1 G. The ICM may provide multi-gig data transmission through a first plurality of pins comprising a multi-gig data pin area. Furthermore, the ICM may provide UPoE power to support the multi-gig transmission through a second plurality of pins comprising a UPoE power pin area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: William Frank Edwards, Keith Frank Tharp, Ken Naumann, Amrik Bains, Clark Carty, Alan Yee, Arvind Kansal, Samir Bouadjel
  • Patent number: 9568531
    Abstract: A device for detecting faults in an electric line between a voltage source and a load is disclosed. The device includes a signal-generation unit a signal-receiving unit and an evaluation mechanism. The signal-generation unit is configured to produce a power-line signal and transmit the power-line signal via the electric line to an external mechanism. The signal-receiving unit is configured to receive a response signal from the external mechanism. The evaluation mechanism is configured to detect an occurrence of a fault, when the signal-receiving unit fails to receive a response signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: LISA DRÄXLMAIER GMBH
    Inventors: Stefan Ecker, Jan Marquardt, Michael Wortberg, Matthias Stemplinger, Yves Müller