Synchronizing Patents (Class 327/141)
  • Patent number: 10645694
    Abstract: Over the air signaling of dynamic frequency selection operating parameters to client devices is disclosed. In an embodiment, a multi-channel master device determines a maximum range value of a radar detection umbrella associated with the multi-channel master device based on a first range representing a range at which the multi-channel master device detects a first radar transmission transmitted by a radar device at a defined transmission power; determines a compliance range value based on a second range representing a range at which the multi-channel master device detects a second radar transmission transmitted by the radar device at a dynamic frequency selection (DFS) compliance threshold transmission power; and determines a margin range value based on a third range representing a range at which the multi-channel master device detects a third radar transmission transmitted by the radar device at a transmission power that is lower than the dynamic frequency selection compliance threshold transmission power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Network Performance Research Group LLC
    Inventors: Seung Baek Yi, Kun Ting Tsai, Paul V. Yee, Terry F. K. Ngo, Erick Kurniawan
  • Patent number: 10644717
    Abstract: A phase accumulation digital-to-analog converter (DAC) is provided. A digital-to-time converter (DTC), including a reference clock chain with N number of series connected delay elements, accepts a clock signal with a leading clock edge and supplies a set signal representing a first delay of the leading clock edge. A data clock chain including N number of series connected accumulators, accepts the clock signal with the leading clock edge, accepts a binary coded digital word, and supplies a reset signal representing a second delay of the leading clock edge, responsive to the digital word. A phase-to-time logic (PTL) receives the set and reset signals and supplies a DTC output signal representing the difference in delay between the set and reset signals. A time-to-voltage converter (TVC) charges a load capacitor every clock period in response to the DTC output signal to supply an analog output signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: IQ-Analog Corporation
    Inventor: Sunit Paul Sebastian
  • Patent number: 10642227
    Abstract: A digital-to-time converter (DTC) includes a plurality of delay stages connected in series, in which each of the plurality of delay stages includes an input circuit and a delay circuit. The input circuit has a first input terminal, a second input terminal and a first output terminal, and is configured to receive a clock signal through the first input terminal, receive a digital control signal through the second input terminal, generate an output signal according to the clock signal and the digital control signal, and output the output signal to the first output terminal of the input circuit. The delay circuit is coupled to the input circuit in series, and is configured to receive the output signal and an input signal, and generate a delay signal according to the output signal and the input signal. The delay signal indicates a time interval corresponding to the digital control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yu-Tso Lin
  • Patent number: 10636285
    Abstract: A sensor integrated circuit can include sensors with differing levels of sensitivity, a first processing channel that responds to a first analog signal generated by a first sensor to generate a first processed signal, and a second processing channel that responds to a second analog signal generated by the second sensor to generate a second processed signal. Where the first sensor can include a pressure or optical sensing element, and the second sensor can include a pressure or optical sensing element. A checker circuit uses the processed signals to detect faults in the sensor integrated circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: Allegro MicroSystems, LLC
    Inventors: David J. Haas, Juan Manuel Cesaretti, William P. Taylor
  • Patent number: 10620676
    Abstract: A power gating circuit includes a first transistor to couple a power supply to a gated power rail after receiving a control signal. The power gating circuit also includes two or more transistors coupled in parallel with the first switch, the one or more transistors configured to sequentially couple the power supply to the gated power rail according to a sequence determined by a comparator circuit and one or more cascaded latches.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: Analog Devices Global Unlimited Company
    Inventors: Jose Tejada, Cristina Azcona
  • Patent number: 10601369
    Abstract: An oscillation circuit including a crystal interface, a crystal amplifier, a level detector, a timing circuit, and a controller. When activated, the crystal amplifier drives a crystal coupled to the crystal interface to establish oscillation, and the level detector indicates when a target amplitude is detected. The controller activates the crystal amplifier and uses the timing circuit and the level detector to measure a startup time of oscillation. The measured startup time is used in calculating a wake up time from a sleep mode in time to perform an operation at a scheduled time. The startup time may be adjusted or averaged and may be remeasured with temperature change. A method of minimizing startup time of a crystal oscillator includes measuring startup time for determining a delay value for programming a wakeup circuit. Robust startup settings may be used in the event of startup failure due to a sleepy crystal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
    Inventors: Tiago Marques, Chester Yu
  • Patent number: 10580289
    Abstract: A sensor integrated circuit includes at least two processing channels responsive to the same or different analog input signals to generate respective processed signals. The two processing channels are non-homogenous and, in some embodiments have different processing accuracies. A checker circuit receives the first and second processed signals and is configured to detect a fault in the sensor integrated circuit when the first and second processed signals differ from each other by more than a predetermined amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: Allegro MicroSystems, LLC
    Inventors: David J. Haas, Juan Manuel Cesaretti, William P. Taylor
  • Patent number: 10574437
    Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for performing consistency testing for a Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) error corrected first sub-frame of navigation message broadcast from a satellite of a GNSS. Consistency testing is performed by comparing BCH encoded portion(s)s of data symbols with elements of look up table(s) to see if such portions are similar to element(s) of the look up table(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Ping Ye, Xiao Cao, Brian Schipper
  • Patent number: 10554318
    Abstract: A present technology relates to a transmission device, a transmission method, a reception device, a reception method, and a program that can improve reception performance of a frame to which a preamble is added. A transmission device of one aspect of the present technology generates a preamble including a sequence [d d . . . d ?d] having iteration of a sequence d that is one of sequences a and b that are Golay complementary sequences, followed by an inverted sequence of the sequence d, and including a signal sequence in which a maximum value of an absolute value of a side lobe level of cross correlation between a sequence [d d ?d] and a sequence [d ?d] is 25 or less. The generated preamble is added to data to be transmitted in units of frames. The present technology can be applied to a device that transmits and receives data via a wireless transmission path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
    Inventors: Masashi Shinagawa, Makoto Noda
  • Patent number: 10536304
    Abstract: A receiver is equipped with an adaptive phase-offset controller and associated timing-calibration circuitry that together shift the timing for a data sampler and a digital equalizer. The sample and equalizer timing is shifted to a position with less residual inter-symbol interference (ISI) energy relative to the current symbol. The shifted position may be calculated using a measure of signal quality, such as a receiver bit-error rate or a comparison of filter-tap values, to optimize the timing of data recovery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: Rambus Inc.
    Inventors: Qi Lin, Brian Leibowitz, Hae-Chang Lee, Jihong Ren, Kyung Suk Oh, Jared L. Zerbe
  • Patent number: 10528075
    Abstract: Transmitter circuitry transmits: a first voltage as the return-to-zero signal that is higher than a first positive threshold, the first voltage being decodable to a first order of data bits; a second voltage as a return-to-zero signal that is between a second positive threshold and the first positive threshold, the second voltage being decodable to a second order of the data bits, and the second positive threshold being lower than the first positive threshold; a third voltage as the return-to-zero signal that is between a first negative threshold and a second negative threshold, the third voltage being decodable to a third order of the data bits, and the second negative threshold being higher than the first negative threshold; and a fourth voltage as the return-to-zero signal that is lower than the first negative threshold, the fourth voltage being decodable to a fourth order of the data bits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventor: Robert Floyd Payne
  • Patent number: 10511292
    Abstract: Disclosed is an oscillator including: a digital to analog converter configured to convert a received control code into an analog voltage and output the converted analog voltage; a mirror circuit configured to adjust a current of a common output node to which the analog voltage is applied; and a periodic signal output circuit configured to output a periodic signal having a frequency according to the analog voltage, in which the digital to analog converter, the mirror circuit, and the periodic signal output circuit are implemented with tri-state inverters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Min Soon Hwang
  • Patent number: 10502783
    Abstract: An automated test equipment (ATE) system includes a plurality of test blades each coupled to a test blade connector and mounted on a circular track; a central reference clock (CRC) having an origin point at a center of the circle; and a clock/sync connector coupled to the CRC through a zero skew clock connection to one or more sync buses, wherein each instrument utilizes the CRC to coordinate its testing process with another instrument.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: Golden Oak Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard Carmichael, Edward Peek, James St. Jean, David Reynolds, Michael Ferland
  • Patent number: 10495689
    Abstract: An automated test equipment (ATE) system includes a plurality of test blades each coupled to a test blade connector and mounted on a circular track; a central reference clock (CRC) having an origin point at a center of the circle; and a clock/sync connector coupled to the CRC through a zero skew clock connection to one or more sync buses, wherein each instrument utilizes the CRC to coordinate its testing process with another instrument.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Golden Oak Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard Carmichael, Edward Peek, James St. Jean, David Reynolds, Michael Ferland
  • Patent number: 10499253
    Abstract: A distributed antenna system is provided for communicating with a plurality of base stations. The distributed antenna system includes a system controller and a master unit communicating with at least one of the plurality of base stations. A remote unit communicates over a high data rate media with the master unit and/or a downstream remote unit. Alternatively, the distributed antenna system includes a controller and a digital time/space crosspoint switch controlled by the controller. A digitizing transceiver is in communication with the digital time/space crosspoint switch. The crosspoint switch is configured to transmit and receive digital data through the digitizing transceiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: CommScope Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Thomas Kummetz, Donald R. McAllister, Carmine Pagano, Hongju Yan, Dennis M. Cleary, Van Hanson, Mathias Schmalisch, Stefan Eisenwinter
  • Patent number: 10491157
    Abstract: An oscillation circuit including a crystal interface for coupling to a crystal, a crystal amplifier that drives the crystal to establish oscillation, a memory, a timing circuit, a level detector that provides an amplitude indication when an oscillation achieves a programmable threshold, and a controller. The controller applies one or more settings including gain and activates the crystal amplifier, measures the startup time, and calculates startup energy. The startup energy is based on a bias current of the crystal amplifier, remaining system current, and the startup time. The settings may include a gain setting of the crystal amplifier and one or more thresholds used by the threshold detector. The controller adjusts the settings for multiple startups, and determines optimal settings for minimizing the startup energy. The memory stores the optimal settings along with robust settings that may be used on a one-time basis in the event of startup failure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
    Inventors: Vitor Pereira, Tiago Marques, Chester Yu
  • Patent number: 10460670
    Abstract: A display device is provided that includes a plurality of pixels, each of which includes an electroluminescent (EL) element and a drive transistor that controls a current flowing through the EL element. The display device also includes a gate driver circuit that applies, to each of the plurality of pixels, a compensation voltage for compensating a threshold voltage of the drive transistor, in each of compensation voltage application periods included in a period other than a period in which a video signal voltage is applied. The display device further includes a control circuit that controls the gate driver circuit, wherein the control circuit adjusts a length of, among the compensation voltage application periods, a preceding compensation voltage application period immediately before the video signal voltage is applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: JOLED INC.
    Inventor: Tomoyuki Maeda
  • Patent number: 10429228
    Abstract: An apparatus for measuring the level of fuel in a fuel tank is disclosed. The apparatus comprises an in-tank measuring system that provides an oscillating output signal generated, for example, by an oscillator such as a multivibrator, where the oscillating output signal has a frequency corresponding to the fuel level. The in-tank measuring system includes a capacitive fuel probe mounted within the fuel tank to contact the fuel. The fuel probe has a capacitance that is a function of the level of the fuel. The oscillator is configured for mounting within the fuel tank at a position in close proximity to the capacitive fuel probe. The oscillator circuit uses the capacitance of the fuel probe to generate the oscillating output signal. A communication path communicates the oscillating output signal from the clock circuit to a circuit exterior to the fuel tank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Andrew M. Robb, Jason Bommer
  • Patent number: 10423206
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a processor includes a plurality of cores and a power controller. This power controller in turn may include a voltage ramp logic to pre-empt a voltage ramp of a voltage regulator from a first voltage to a second voltage, responsive to a request for a second core to exit a low power state. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2019
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Avinash N. Ananthakrishnan, Jeremy J. Shrall, Anupama Suryanarayanan, Ameya Ambardekar, Craig Topper, Eric R. Heit, Joseph M. Alberts
  • Patent number: 10404445
    Abstract: A receiver circuit for receiving data is described. The receiver circuit comprises a phase detector configured to receive an input data signal; a frequency path circuit configured to receive an output of the phase detector; and a false lock detection circuit configured to receive the output of the phase detector and an output of the frequency path circuit; wherein the false lock detection circuit detects a false lock of the receiver circuit to the input data signal based upon an output of the phase detector and provides a frequency offset to the frequency path circuit. A method of receiving data is also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Hongtao Zhang, Jinyung NamKoong, Winson Lin, Yohan Frans, Geoffrey Zhang
  • Patent number: 10380879
    Abstract: A sensor integrated circuit includes at least two processing channels responsive to the same or different analog input signals to generate respective processed signals. The two processing channels are non-homogenous and, in some embodiments have different processing accuracies. A checker circuit receives the first and second processed signals and is configured to detect a fault in the sensor integrated circuit when the first and second processed signals differ from each other by more than a predetermined amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: Allegro Microsystems, LLC
    Inventors: David J. Haas, Juan Manuel Cesaretti
  • Patent number: 10380310
    Abstract: A hardware verification system includes, in part, a multitude of programmable devices and a system clock. The hardware verification system receives a circuit design and generates a variable period clock from the system clock by analyzing propagation delays in different signal paths of the circuit design. The variable period clock has a first period that occurs in each N cycles of the system clock and a second period that occurs in each M cycles of the system clock, in which M>N. The variable period clock is applied to at least one of the programmable devices to verify the circuit design.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: SYNOPSYS, INC.
    Inventors: Alexander Rabinovitch, Cedric Alquier
  • Patent number: 10333741
    Abstract: Methods and systems are described for receiving signal elements corresponding to a first group of symbols of a vector signaling codeword over a first densely-routed wire group of a multi-wire bus at a first set of multi-input comparators (MICs), receiving signal elements corresponding to a second group of symbols of the vector signaling codeword over a second densely-routed wire group of the multi-wire bus at a second set of MICs, and receiving signal elements corresponding to the first and the second groups of symbols of the vector signaling codeword at a global MIC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: KANDOU LABS, S.A.
    Inventors: Amin Shokrollahi, Ali Hormati, Armin Tajalli
  • Patent number: 10333692
    Abstract: Provided is a reception apparatus capable of shortening a time period until the original data and clock can be recovered from a digital signal after temporary superimposition of noise on the digital signal stops. A reception apparatus 20 includes a receiver unit 21, a voltage-controlled oscillator 22, a sampler unit 23, a control voltage generation unit 24, an error detection unit 25, a training control unit 26, and an equalizer control unit 27. The receiver unit 21 includes an equalizer unit 21A. When the error detection unit 25 detects an error of a digital signal, the reception apparatus 20 causes a phase/frequency comparison by the control voltage generation unit 24 to be stopped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: THINE ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventor: Satoshi Miura
  • Patent number: 10324626
    Abstract: A control method of a control system includes storing output data to a memory according to a buffer pointer when a clock signal converts to a second level from a first level; storing input data to the memory according to the buffer pointer when the clock signal converts to the first level from the second level; and updating the buffer point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2019
    Assignees: Inventec (Pudong) Technology Corp., Inventec Corporation
    Inventor: Chih-Lung Lin
  • Patent number: 10320401
    Abstract: An example digital-to-time converter (DTC) includes: a delay chain circuit having a plurality of delay cells coupled in sequence, the delay chain circuit including a first input to receive a first clock signal and a second input to receive a second clock signal; and a DEM controller coupled to the delay chain circuit to provide a plurality of control signals to the plurality of delay cells, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Augusto R. Ximenes, Bob W. Verbruggen, Christophe Erdmann
  • Patent number: 10312886
    Abstract: The present disclosure envisages an asynchronous clock gating circuitry and a method for designing the asynchronous clock gating circuitry. The asynchronous clock gating circuitry could be placed at the very beginning of the clock network, given its design and implementation logic. The asynchronous clock gating circuitry helps meet the timing requirement on the enable pin thereof. The asynchronous clock gating circuitry avoids cumbersome replication of cluck gating circuitry during physical implementation of the (circuit) design, and further helps reduce the power consumption levels in sequential circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: INVECAS TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD
    Inventors: Gyan Prakash, Nidhir Kumar
  • Patent number: 10282209
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a speculative lookahead processing device and method to enhance the statistical performance of datapaths. The method comprises steps: entering an input signal to at least two datapath units in a round-robin way; outputting the correct value at the Nth cycle, and acquiring the speculation value at the Mth cycle beforehand to start the succeeding computation, wherein M and N are natural numbers and M is smaller than N; comparing the speculation value with the correct value at the Nth cycle to determine whether the speculation is successful; if successful, excluding extra activities; if not successful, deleting the succeeding computation undertaken beforehand and restarting the succeeding computation with the correct value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: NATIONAL CHUNG CHENG UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Tay-Jyi Lin, Jinn-Shyan Wang, Ting-Yu Shyu, Yi-Hsuan Ting
  • Patent number: 10270585
    Abstract: A hybrid numeric-analog clock synchronizer for establishing a clock or carrier locked to a frequency reference. The clock synchronizer is typically a clock multiplier and a jitter attenuator. The reference may have a low update rate. The synchronizer achieves high jitter rejection, low phase noise and wide frequency range. It can be integrated on chip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Inventor: Christopher Julian Travis
  • Patent number: 10262089
    Abstract: A processor detects a phase difference between a feedback clock and a reference clock of a PLL circuit, generates, based on the phase difference, first frequency information indicating a candidate value of a frequency of an output clock being output from the PLL circuit, generates second frequency information by smoothing the first frequency information, and generates the output clock by determining the frequency based on the second frequency information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: SOCIONEXT INC.
    Inventors: Hitoshi Kurosu, Kenichi Nomura
  • Patent number: 10256717
    Abstract: A circuit includes a zero current detector (ZCD) circuit that senses an inductor current of an inductor and generates signal pulses indicating when an increasing cycle of the inductor current crosses a predetermined current value and when a decreasing cycle of the inductor current crosses the predetermined current value. A sync control provides a control signal specifying one of the signal pulses corresponding to the increasing or decreasing cycle of the inductor current. A sync selector circuit generates a sync pulse representing the signal pulse from the ZCD in response to the control signal. The sync pulse triggers a timing adjustment for a switch device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Zhong Ye, Sanatan Rajagopalan
  • Patent number: 10237053
    Abstract: A semiconductor device that receives input data synchronized with a first clock signal and generates output data synchronized with a second clock signal, includes a clock delay circuit that generates first and second delay clock signals, first and second synchronized retrieval circuits that respectively retrieve the input data at timings when each of logical values of the second clock signal and second delay clock signal being switched, to respectively obtain first and second retrieved data, and a clock value retrieval circuit that retrieves a value of the first clock signal at timings when the second clock signal and first delay clock signal respectively switch from the first logical value to the second logical value, to respectively output first and second clock values, and an output circuit that outputs, as the output data, the first or second retrieved data, depending on a value of the first and second clock values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: LAPIS Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Teruaki Uehara
  • Patent number: 10209298
    Abstract: A delay measurement circuit includes a transporting path selector, first and second delay measurement devices, and a controller. The delay measurement circuit forms a plurality of transporting loops through two of a first reference transporting conductive wire, a second reference transporting conductive wire, and a tested transporting conductive wire according to a control signal. The first delay measurement device respectively measures part of the transporting loops to obtain a plurality first transporting delays. The second delay measurement device respectively measures part of the transporting loops to obtain a plurality second transporting delays. The controller generates the control signal, and obtains a transporting delay of the tested transporting conductive wire according to the first transporting delays and the second transporting delays.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: National Central University
    Inventors: Jin-Fu Li, Han-Yu Wu, Che-Wei Chou, Yong-Xiao Chen
  • Patent number: 10212682
    Abstract: The present subject matter includes a system for communications between a transmitter and a receiver. In various embodiments, the system uses a sleep interval to allow the receiver to go to sleep between wake up times to “sniff” for transmissions from the transmitter. The system adjusts the length of the preamble of the transmitted signal or a repetition of packets to allow the receiver to detect a transmitted signal based on drift in the clocks of the system. In various embodiments, a receive channel is changed if a signal is not received at a prior channel selection. In various embodiments, the transmission is determined by detection of an event. In various embodiments, the event is an ear-to-ear event. In various embodiments, the receiver and transmitter are in opposite hearing aids adapted to be worn by one wearer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: Starkey Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Paul Solum, Randall A. Kroenke
  • Patent number: 10205586
    Abstract: A network device includes a packet processor, a plurality of interface circuits, a phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit and a configuration controller. The interface circuits are configured to transmit and receive signals to/from other devices that are coupled to the network device. A master interface circuit among the interface circuits is configured to recover a network clock from a received signal. The PLL circuit is configured to generate an interface clock based on a system clock of the network device and a configuration of the PLL circuit and to provide the interface clock to the plurality of interface circuits to govern communication timings of the interface circuits. The configuration controller is configured to detect a difference of the interface clock relative to the recovered network clock, and to determine the configuration of the PLL circuit based on the difference to govern operation of the PLL circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: MARVELL WORLD TRADE LTD.
    Inventors: Gideon Paul, Erez Reches, Zvi Leib Shmilovici
  • Patent number: 10158352
    Abstract: A delay signal generating apparatus has a digitally controlled delay line and a control circuit. The digitally controlled delay line has a coarse delay circuit and a fine delay circuit. The coarse delay circuit generates a plurality of coarse delay signals by applying a plurality of different coarse delay amounts to an input signal, respectively, wherein the different coarse delay amounts are set by a first control input. The fine delay circuit generates a fine delay signal having a fine delay amount with respect to the input signal by performing phase interpolation based on the coarse delay signals, wherein the fine delay amount is set by a second control input. The control circuit generates the first control input to the coarse delay circuit, and generates the second control input to the fine delay circuit, wherein the control circuit does not change the first control input unless one of the coarse delay signals has no contribution to the fine delay signal according to the second control input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2018
    Assignee: MEDIATEK INC.
    Inventors: Ying-Yu Hsu, Chih-Lun Chuang
  • Patent number: 10146732
    Abstract: An audio system bus has a bus data line and a bus clock line. Audio producers are coupled to the bus to form a time-division multiplexed multi drop bus interface arrangement having protocol slots 0, 1, . . . N where N is an integer greater than two. A bus device is coupled to the bus that produces a) a frame marker on the bus data line in slot 0, and b) a data bit on the bus data line in slot 1. The audio producers are to produce their respective audio data bits in their assigned slots other than slots 0 and 1. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Girault W. Jones, Nathan A. Johanningsmeier, Casey L. Hardy
  • Patent number: 10135136
    Abstract: The present invention provides a time delay device which allows changing, in accordance with a frequency of a local signal, a delay in a radio frequency signal supplied to an antenna element and also allows reducing a degree of dependency of the delay on a radio frequency in a band which is used. Each of (i) dispersion caused by a first dispersion imparting filter which gives a delay to a first local signal and (ii) dispersion caused by a second dispersion imparting filter which gives a delay to an intermediate frequency signal generated from the first local signal and the radio frequency signal is set to have a positive or negative sign which is opposite to the sign of the other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: FUJIKURA LTD.
    Inventors: Yuta Hasegawa, Ning Guan
  • Patent number: 10129166
    Abstract: Described is a low latency re-timer for systems supporting spread spectrum clocking. The re-timer comprises: a first clock frequency estimator to estimate a frequency of a receive clock (RX CLK) and to provide a first timestamp associated with a first clock that underwent spread spectrum; a second clock frequency estimator to estimate a frequency of a transmit clock (TX CLK) and to provide a second timestamp associated with a second clock that underwent spread spectrum; and a comparator to compare the first timestamp with the second timestamp.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Ehud Udi Shoor, Ari Sharon
  • Patent number: 10121524
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a command input circuit and an internal command generation circuit. The command input circuit is synchronized with a clock signal to generate an input command which is enabled if an external command is inputted to the command input circuit. The internal command generation circuit delays the input command by a predetermined period according to a latency information signal to generate an internal command, in synchronization with a first division clock signal and a second division clock signal generated by division of a frequency of the clock signal. The predetermined period is set to be equal to a sum of a first delay amount corresponding to “N” times a cycle time of the second division clock signal and a second delay amount corresponding to “M” times a cycle time of the clock signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Chang Hyun Kim
  • Patent number: 10090844
    Abstract: A clock and data recovery module includes a clock and data recovery loop and a spread spectrum clock tracking circuit. The clock and data recovery loop includes a clock and data recovery unit and a first phase interpolator. The first phase interpolator is coupled to the clock and data recovery unit and configured to generate a data clock signal and an edge clock signal according to a phase signal and a reference clock signal. The clock and data recovery unit is configured to generate the phase signal according to a data signal, the data clock signal and the edge clock signal. The spread spectrum clock tracking circuit is configured to generate the reference clock signal according to the data signal, and to transmit the reference clock signal to the first phase interpolator. The spread spectrum clock tracking circuit is decoupled to the clock and data recovery loop.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignees: GLOBAL UNICHIP CORPORATION, TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yen-Chung Chen, Wen-Juh Kang, Yi-Lin Lee
  • Patent number: 10083265
    Abstract: Apparatuses and methods for measuring an electrical characteristic of a model signal line and providing measurement information based at least in part on the measurement of the electrical characteristic. An example apparatus includes a signal line model including a model signal line configured to model electrical characteristics of a signal line. The apparatus further includes a measurement circuit coupled to the signal line model and configured to measure the electrical characteristic of the model signal line responsive to an input signal provided to the model signal line. The measurement circuit is further configured to provide measurement information based at least in part on the measurement to set a signal applied to the signal line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Toru Tanzawa
  • Patent number: 10073818
    Abstract: The present invention is a data processing apparatus including a data input/output device for receiving data, a storage for storing the data received by the data input/output device, a data processing program storage for storing a data processing program that includes the steps of calculating, using a double exponential smoothing method, a first predicted value that is a predicted value of smoothed data and a second predicted value that is a predicted value of the gradient of the smoothed data, and calculating, using a double exponential smoothing method in which the second predicted value is set as input data, a third predicted value that is a predicted value of smoothed data and a fourth predicted value that is a predicted value of the gradient of the smoothed data, and a data calculation processing apparatus for performing the data processing under the data processing program.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: HITACHI HIGH-TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Seiichi Watanabe, Satomi Inoue, Shigeru Nakamoto, Kousuke Fukuchi
  • Patent number: 10063241
    Abstract: Embodiments are described that compensate for a difference in a characteristic (e.g., of performance or operation) of a semiconductor device that is a function of the location of a die in a device. In one embodiment, a clock circuit may generate a clock signal having a timing that varies with the location of a die so that signals are coupled from the die to a substrate at the same time despite differences in the signal propagation time between the substrate and the various die. In other embodiments, for example, differences in the termination impedance or driver drive-strength resulting from differences in the location of a die in a stack may be compensated for. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Yantao Ma
  • Patent number: 10056909
    Abstract: Once a delay locked loop has been locked to a clock signal, an omitted clock cycle is injected into the input of the delay locked loop without stopping the operation of the delay locked loop. The omitted cycle is later detected at an output of the delay locked loop, and the delay between the input and output is determined based on the time the omitted cycle requires to propagate through the delay locked loop. Once determined, the number of cycles of delay for the delay locked loop can be used in conjunction with an internal clock signal to launch data and/or data strobes from memory devices and memory controllers such that the proper phase alignment and clock cycle alignment is achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: EVERSPIN TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Jieming Qi, Aaron D. Willey
  • Patent number: 10037011
    Abstract: A time measuring circuit is provided with an oscillating circuit configured to generate a low-speed clock signal and a high-speed clock signal; and a measuring circuit configured to measure target time based on clock number of the low-speed clock signal and the high-speed clock signal outputted from the oscillating circuit, wherein the low-speed clock signal has a relatively low frequency and the high-speed clock signal has a relatively high frequency. The oscillating circuit is configured to switch from outputting the low-speed clock signal to outputting the high-speed clock signal when elapsed time from when a measurement of the target time started reaches a set value, and the set value is calculated by subtracting a predetermined value from a preliminary value which is provided by a preliminary measurement measuring the target time using only the low-speed clock signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOYOTA CHUO KENKYUSHO
    Inventors: Hideto Shimada, Kentaro Mizuno
  • Patent number: 10033518
    Abstract: A source synchronous data transmission system includes a data transmitting device and a data receiving device. A dedicated data line carries a data signal from the data transmission device to the data receiving device. A dedicated clock line carries a modulated clock signal from the data transmission device to the data receiving device. The data transmission device includes a clock data driver configured to encode data into the modulated clock signal by modulating an amplitude of the modulated clock signal. Thus, the clock line of the source synchronous data transmission system carries the clock signal and additional data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2018
    Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS INTERNATIONAL N.V.
    Inventors: Tapas Nandy, Nitin Gupta
  • Patent number: 10026469
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes an input clock generation circuit able to shift a write command in synchronization with a clock, and generating first and second input clocks. The semiconductor device also includes a write leveling control circuit able to divide a frequency of the clock in response to a write leveling control signal, and generating first to fourth write clocks. The semiconductor device includes a signal transfer circuit able to transfer the first and second input clocks as first and second transfer clocks in a write operation, and transferring the first to fourth write clocks as first to fourth transfer clocks in a write leveling operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: SK hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Young Hoon Kim
  • Patent number: 10019260
    Abstract: A microprocessor includes a plurality of dynamically reconfigurable functional units, a fingerprint, and a fingerprint unit. As the plurality of dynamically reconfigurable functional units execute instructions according to a first configuration setting, the fingerprint unit accumulates information about the instructions according to a mathematical operation to generate a result. The microprocessor also includes a reconfiguration unit that reconfigures the plurality of dynamically reconfigurable functional units to execute instructions according to a second configuration setting in response to an indication that the result matches the fingerprint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: VIA ALLIANCE SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD
    Inventors: G. Glenn Henry, Rodney E. Hooker, Colin Eddy, Terry Parks
  • Patent number: 10014907
    Abstract: An integrated circuit having an eye opening monitor (EOM) is provided. The integrated circuit may include: an internal circuit; and the EOM configured to measure an eye diagram of a predetermined point of the internal circuit, wherein the EOM may include a comparator configured to receive a first and a second parent reference voltages and a first and a second input voltages output from the internal circuit, and to compare the first and second input voltages with target reference voltages corresponding to the first and second parent reference voltages, and wherein the comparator divides the target reference voltages from the first and second input voltages respectively by varying a driving capability according to size information data, and compares the first and second input voltages with divided target reference voltages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2018
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hwang Ho Choi, Duho Kim, JaeHyun Park, Chang-Kyung Seong