Converter Calibration Or Testing Patents (Class 341/120)
  • Patent number: 11012084
    Abstract: A method for calibrating a successive-approximation analog-to-digital converter (ADC) includes configuring the successive-approximation ADC in a calibration mode of operation. The method includes, while in the calibration mode of operation: determining a digital code corresponding to a programmable capacitance of the successive-approximation analog-to-digital converter, and storing the digital code corresponding to the programmable capacitance in a storage element of an integrated circuit die including the successive-approximation ADC. The programmable capacitance may be a gain tuning capacitance, a bridge tuning capacitance, an offset capacitance, or a monotonicity tuning capacitance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
    Inventor: Obaida Mohammed Khaled Abu Hilal
  • Patent number: 11005495
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a current generation circuit. In one aspect, the circuit includes a current source transistor and a current sink transistor connected to the current source transistor in series, with respective sources of the current source and sink transistors being connected with each other at a common node. A voltage difference between respective gates of the current source and sink transistors defines a current value flowing through the series, the voltage difference being variable such that the current value is either time-dependent or time-independent. Respective drains of the current source and sink transistors provide a high resistance output necessary to provide a current source or sink function thereby rejecting influence of drain variation or error on the current value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: SENSEEKER ENGINEERING, INC.
    Inventors: Kenton Veeder, Nishant Dhawan, Sean McCotter
  • Patent number: 10972129
    Abstract: A check node update processor of the low density parity check (LDPC) code decoder includes: an approximate first minimum (AFM) condition check unit which checks whether a predetermined specific condition is satisfied, and a check node determining unit which sets an approximate minimum value as a size of an entire check node output when it is determined that the specific condition is satisfied as a checking result in the AFM condition check unit and calculates a first minimum value as a true minimum value and sets a second minimum value as an approximate minimum value when it is determined that the specific condition is not satisfied to determine a size of the check node output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: Korea University Research and Business Foundation
    Inventors: Jun Heo, Sung Sik Yoon, Byung Kyu Ahn
  • Patent number: 10951221
    Abstract: In some examples, a device includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) configured to receive an analog signal and output digital codes based on values of the analog signal. The device also includes a plurality of counters, where each counter of the plurality of counters is configured to increment in response to a respective digital code outputted by the ADC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: Regents of the University of Minnesota
    Inventors: Gyusung Park, Hyung-il Kim
  • Patent number: 10944368
    Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods for performing offset correction for pseudo differential signaling are disclosed. An apparatus includes at least a sense amplifier and an offset correction circuit. The offset correction circuit generates an offset correction voltage by applying a positive or negative offset to a termination voltage. The offset correction circuit supplies the offset correction voltage to a negative input terminal of the sense amplifier. An input signal voltage is supplied to the positive input terminal of the sense amplifier. The sense amplifier generates an output based on a comparison of the voltages supplied to the positive and negative input terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2021
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
    Inventors: Milam Paraschou, Jeffrey Cooper
  • Patent number: 10938402
    Abstract: A successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) includes a first digital-to-analog converter (DAC) coupled to receive a first input voltage to generate a first output voltage; a second DAC coupled to receive a second input voltage to generate a second output voltage; a comparator having a positive input node coupled to receive the first output voltage of the first DAC, and a negative input node coupled to receive the second output voltage of the second DAC; a SAR controller that controls switching of the first DAC and the second DAC according to a comparison output of the comparator, thereby generating an output code; a first calibration circuit coupled between the positive input node of the comparator and a ground voltage; and a second calibration circuit coupled between the negative input node of the comparator and the ground voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignees: NCKU Research and Development Foundation, Himax Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Che-Wei Hsu, Soon-Jyh Chang
  • Patent number: 10931907
    Abstract: An image sensor includes: a photoelectric conversion unit that photoelectrically converts incident light and generates a charge; and an A/D conversion unit that converts the analog signal generated due to charge generated by the photoelectric conversion unit into a digital signal, wherein: the A/D conversion unit includes a comparison unit that compares the analog signal with a reference signal and a first circuit layer including a first capacitor for generating the reference signal and a second circuit layer laminated to the first circuit layer and including with a second capacitor for generating the reference signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tomoki Hirata
  • Patent number: 10917103
    Abstract: An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) device includes ADC circuitries, a calibration circuitry, and a skew adjusting circuitry. The ADC circuitries convert an input signal according to interleaved clock signals, in order to generate first quantized outputs. The calibration circuitry performs at least one calibration operation according to the first quantized outputs to generate second quantized outputs. The skew adjusting circuitry analyzes time difference information within even-numbered sampling periods of the clock signals, in order to generate adjustment signals. The adjustment signals are for reducing a clock skew in the ADC circuitries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignees: GLOBAL UNICHIP CORPORATION, TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Wen-Juh Kang, Yu-Chu Chen, Man-Pio Lam
  • Patent number: 10879881
    Abstract: A device with a noise shaping function in sampling frequency control includes a first adder, an N-bit quantizer, a mapping circuit, a second adder, a first D flip-flop, a scaler, and a second D flip-flop. The first adder generates a first value according to an input signal, a second value, and a third value. The N-bit quantizer outputs a codeword to a controller according to the first value. Frequency adjusting orders corresponding to codewords outputted by the N-bit quantizer are between a smallest predetermined negative value and a largest positive predetermined value, the controller utilizes an adjusting order corresponding to the codeword to make a frequency generator generate adjusted sampling frequency, and N is an integer greater than 2. The first D flip-flop, the scaler, and the second D flip-flop are used for providing a high-pass filter effect to the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: BlueX Microelectronics ( Hefei ) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hao-Ming Chen, Yi-Chun Lu, Hongyu Li
  • Patent number: 10873338
    Abstract: An electronic circuit comprises an input voltage circuit, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuit, and logic circuitry. The input voltage circuit is configured to generate multiple input voltages. The ADC circuit is configured to convert the multiple input voltages to first digital values using the first longer ADC acquisition time and convert the multiple input voltages to second digital values using the second shorter ADC acquisition time. The logic circuitry is configured to determine calibration information for the ADC circuit using the first digital values and the second digital values, and scale analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion results of the ADC circuit using the calibration information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2020
    Assignee: Analog Devices International Unlimited Company
    Inventors: Yao Zhao, Aine McCarthy, Shuchun Xie, Ke Wei
  • Patent number: 10868562
    Abstract: A device includes a phase detector circuit, a charge pump circuit, a sample and hold circuit, a comparator, and a controller. The phase detector circuit detects a clock skew between a reference signal and an input signal. The charge pump circuit translates the clock skew into a voltage. A sample and hold circuit samples the voltage, at a first time, and maintain the sampled voltage until a second time. The comparator (i) detects a loop gain associated with the input signal based on the sampled voltage and the voltage at the second time and (ii) outputs a loop gain signal for adjustment of the input signal. The controller is coupled to the phase detector, the comparator, and the sample and hold circuit. The controller generates a plurality of control signals for automatically controlling operation of the phase detector, the comparator, and the sample and hold circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
    Inventors: Mao-Hsuan Chou, Ya-Tin Chang, Ruey-Bin Sheen, Chih-Hsien Chang
  • Patent number: 10859626
    Abstract: A method of conducting bit error rate testing of an electronic device under test using a bit error rate tester (BERT) includes configuring the BERT with one or more of jitter, noise, and timing settings to derive a desired receiver stressed eye diagram; connecting the electronic device under test to the BERT via an inter-symbol interference channel that introduces delays for creation of the desired receiver stressed eye diagram at the electronic device under test; the BERT placing the electronic device under test into a loopback mode whereby data transmitted to the electronic device under test by the BERT is transmitted back to the BERT for comparison to the data transmitted to the electronic device under test; the BERT transmitting a data pattern into the electronic device under test; and the BERT comparing the data pattern transmitted to the electronic device under test by the BERT to data received back from the electronic device under test during the loopback mode to detect a bit error rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Gang Zhao, Yongyao Li, Xusheng Liu
  • Patent number: 10852292
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor apparatus and a potential measuring apparatus capable of preventing electrostatic breakdown in an electrode formation process when an electrode and an amplifier are provided on a same substrate. A diode is provided of which a cathode is connected to a previous stage of an amplifying transistor for amplifying a signal read by a read electrode for reading a potential having contact with liquid in which a specimen is input and an anode is grounded. With such a configuration, by bypassing a negative charge generated between the electrode and the amplifying transistor in the electrode formation process from the diode and discharging the negative charge toward ground so as to prevent electrostatic breakdown. This is applicable to a bioelectric potential measuring apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: SONY SEMICONDUCTOR SOLUTIONS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masahiro Sato, Machiko Kametani, Jun Ogi, Yuri Kato
  • Patent number: 10848166
    Abstract: Techniques for saving operating power of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) are provided. In an example, a circuit can include an ADC configured to provide a multiple-bit digital representation of an analog input during a first mode of operation and an output configured to provide a single bit representation of a first comparison of the analog input signal to a second analog signal during a second mode of operation. In certain examples, the circuit can include an encoder configured to provide the multiple-bit digital representation during the first mode and to power down during the second mode of operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Analog Devices International Unlimited Company
    Inventors: George Pieter Reitsma, Andreas Koch
  • Patent number: 10841013
    Abstract: A receiver (e.g., for a 10G fiber communications link) includes an interleaved ADC coupled to a multi-channel equalizer that can provide different equalization for different ADC channels within the interleaved ADC. That is, the multi-channel equalizer can compensate for channel-dependent impairments. In one approach, the multi-channel equalizer is a feedforward equalizer (FFE) coupled to a Viterbi decorder, for example, a sliding block Viterbi decoder (SBVD); and the FFE and/or the channel estimator for the Viterbi decoder are adapted using the LMS algorithm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: INPHI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Oscar Ernesto Agazzi, Diego Ernesto Crivelli, Hugo Santiago Carrer, Mario Rafael Hueda, German Cesar Augusto Luna, Carl Grace
  • Patent number: 10827045
    Abstract: Provided are a data structure including a header area, and a payload area comprising data, a method of generating the data structure, and extracting information from the data structure. At least one of the header area and the payload area includes at least one sub-area in which one or more signal fields are included. At least one signal field among the signal fields includes information for signalling presence or absence of one or more information fields located at least partly in the data structure, the one or more information fields corresponding to the one or more signal fields.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Alain Mourad, Sung-hee Hwang, Daniel Ansorregui, Belkacem Mouhouche, Hak-ju Lee
  • Patent number: 10819365
    Abstract: Improved switching techniques for controlling three-level current steering DAC cells are disclosed. The techniques include decoupling two current sources, implemented as field-effect transistors (FETs), of a DAC cell both from their respective bias sources and from a load for converting a zero digital input, where the decoupling is performed in a certain order. The techniques also include coupling the current sources to their respective bias sources and to the load for converting a non-zero digital input, where the coupling is also performed in a certain order. The certain order of decoupling and coupling the bias sources and the load to the current sources of a DAC cell are based on the phenomenon of current memory in FETs. Utilizing current memory when operating a DAC cell may allow reducing power consumption while preserving the high performance properties of a three-level current steering DAC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: ANALOG DEVICES, INC.
    Inventors: Khiem Quang Nguyen, Long Pham
  • Patent number: 10804918
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a mismatch calibration circuit for a current steering DAC of a SoC baseband chip and a SoC baseband chip. The mismatch calibration circuit includes current mirror compensation circuits, a calibration switching switch module, a calibration resistor, a voltage detection module, and a calibration control module. The resistance of the calibration resistor is 2N?1 times the resistance of the load resistor, where N is the number of MSBs. The number of the current mirror compensation circuits is equal to the number of the MSB current mirror branches. The current mirror compensation circuits are connected in parallel with the MSB current mirror branches to form current mirror parallel branches. The present disclosure minimizes mismatch error between the output currents of the current mirror array in the SoC baseband chip of 28 nm process or even a smaller process dimension, thereby improving conversion accuracy of the DAC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Radiawave Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Xiaofeng Guo, Jon Sweat Duster, Haigang Feng, Ning Zhang, Yulin Tan
  • Patent number: 10794943
    Abstract: A capacitance adjustment method for enabling or disabling a first set of capacitors to an nth set of capacitors of n sets of capacitors, includes generating a base count according to base capacitance, generating a first count to an nth count according to the first set of capacitors to the nth set of capacitors respectively, obtaining a first ratio to an nth ratio according to the base count and the first count to the nth count, indicating a target count, obtaining a target ratio according to the base count and the target count, and obtaining a first control signal to an nth control signal according to the target ratio and the first ratio to the nth ratio so as to enable or disable the first set of capacitors to the nth set of capacitors accordingly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: RichWave Technology Corp.
    Inventor: Ren-Hong Yen
  • Patent number: 10788376
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a temperature measurement circuit. The temperature measurement circuit includes a bandgap circuit including an amplifier having an offset voltage that is compensated by using a set of trimming bits. The bandgap circuit provides first and second voltages related to a temperature to be measured. The temperature measurement circuit further includes a measuring circuit coupled to receive the first and second voltages. The measuring circuit further includes a comparator coupled to receive the first and second voltages, wherein the measuring circuit derives a temperature measurement from the first and second voltages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2020
    Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Inc.
    Inventors: Mohamed M. Elsayed, Kenneth W. Fernald
  • Patent number: 10782363
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and apparatuses for magnetic field sensors with self-test include a detection circuit to detect speed and direction of a target. One or more circuits to test accuracy of the detected speed and direction may be included. One or more circuits to test accuracy of an oscillator may also be included. One or more circuits to test the accuracy of an analog-to-digital converter may also be included. Additionally, one or more IDDQ and/or built-in-self test (BIST) circuits may be included.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2020
    Assignee: Allegro MicroSystems, LLC
    Inventors: P. Karl Scheller, James E. Burgess, Steven E. Snyder, Kristann L. Moody, Devon Fernandez, Andrea Foletto
  • Patent number: 10778242
    Abstract: An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) device includes capacitor arrays, a successive approximation register (SAR) circuitry, and a switching circuitry. When a first capacitor array of the capacitor arrays samples an input signal in a first phase, a second capacitor array of the capacitor arrays outputs the input signal sampled in a second phase as a sampled input signal. The SAR circuitry performs an analog-to-digital conversion on a combination of the sampled input signal and a residue signal generated in the second phase according to a conversion clock signal, in order to generate a digital output. The switching circuitry includes a first capacitor that stores the residue signal generated in the second phase. The switching circuitry couples the second capacitor array and the first capacitor to an input terminal of the SAR circuitry, in order to provide the combination of the sampled input signal and the residue signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shih-Hsiung Huang
  • Patent number: 10771078
    Abstract: A comparator offset calibration system having a comparator offset evaluator and a switched-capacitor network is disclosed, which is in an analog and digital dual domain structure. The comparator offset evaluator receives digital data from an analog-to-digital conversion module, evaluates an offset of a comparator of the analog-to-digital conversion module based on the received digital data, and outputs an evaluated result. The switched-capacitor network processes the evaluated result to generate a control signal. The analog-to-digital conversion module adjusts the offset of the comparator according to the control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: MEDIATEK INC.
    Inventor: Chun-Cheng Liu
  • Patent number: 10756829
    Abstract: An example method determines an error vector magnitude using automatic test equipment (ATE). The method includes demodulating data received at a first receiver to produce first symbol error vectors, where each first symbol error vector represents a difference between a predefined point on a constellation diagram and a first measured point on the constellation diagram generated based on at least part of the data received by the first receiver; demodulating the data received at a second receiver to produce second symbol error vectors, where each second symbol error vector represents a difference between the predefined point on the constellation diagram and a second measured point on the constellation diagram generated based on at least part of the data received by the second receiver; and determining the error vector magnitude for the data based on the first symbol error vectors and the second symbol error vectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: Teradyne, Inc.
    Inventor: Scott K. Therrien
  • Patent number: 10742227
    Abstract: Describe is a buffer which comprises: a differential source follower coupled to a first input and a second input; first and second current steering devices coupled to the differential source follower; and a current source coupled to the first and second current steering devices. The buffer provides high supply noise rejection ratio (PSRR) together with high bandwidth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Yitzhak Elhanan Schifmann, Yoel Krupnik, Ariel Cohen
  • Patent number: 10742225
    Abstract: A n-bit Successive Approximation Register Analog-to-Digital Converter, SAR ADC, is provided. The SAR ADC comprises a respective plurality of sampling cells for each bit of the n-bit of the SAR ADC. Each sampling cell comprises a capacitive element coupled to a cell output of the sampling cell in order to provide a cell output signal. Further, each sampling cell comprises a first cell input for receiving a first signal, and a first switch circuit capable of selectively coupling the first cell input to the capacitive element. Each cell additionally comprises a second cell input for receiving a second signal, and a third cell input for receiving a third signal. The third signal exhibits opposite polarity compared to the second signal. Each sampling cell comprises a second switch circuit capable of selectively coupling one of the second cell input and the third cell input to the capacitive element. The SAR ADC further comprises at least one comparator circuit coupled to the sampling cells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Albert Molina, Martin Clara, Matteo Camponeschi, Christian Lindholm, Kameran Azadet
  • Patent number: 10735017
    Abstract: A successive approximation register (SAR) analog to digital converter (ADC) is disclosed. The SAR ADC includes: a DAC, configured to receive an analog input voltage and a digital input word, and to generate a first voltage. The SAR ADC also includes a comparator, configured to generate a second voltage based on the first voltage and a reference voltage. The second voltage has a value corresponding with a sign of the difference between the first voltage and the reference voltage. The SAR ADC also includes an SAR logic circuit configured to receive the second voltage from the comparator, and to generate the digital input word for the DAC. The SAR logic is further configured to generate a digital output word representing the value of the analog input voltage, where the digital output word of the SAR logic has a greater number of bits than the digital input word of the DAC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: GOODIX TECHNOLOGY INC.
    Inventors: Mohamed Aboudina, Ali Farid, Ahmed Emira, Hassan Elwan
  • Patent number: 10720841
    Abstract: A single ended n-bit hybrid digital-to-analog converter is configured to receive as an input an analog signal and produce an n-bit digital output. The converter includes a split main sub-digital-to-analog converter capacitor array, a most significant bit capacitor array, and a main capacitor array. A coupling capacitor couples the main array to the split main sub-digital-to-analog convert.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2020
    Assignee: President and Fellows of Harvard College
    Inventors: Simon Chaput, Gu-Yeon Wei
  • Patent number: 10707888
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for determining the suitability of a test delay value between comparator decisions of a comparator circuit of an asynchronous successive approximation analog/digital converter and a method for determining an optimized delay value of a comparator of an asynchronous successive approximation analog/digital converter are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AG
    Inventors: Martin Pernull, Peter Bogner
  • Patent number: 10700694
    Abstract: A calibration method applicable for a SAR ADC comprising a capacitor array, comprises the following operations: Inputting an input signal to the SAR ADC, wherein the SAR ADC is configured to generate an output signal according to the input signal, and the output signal comprises multiple selected digital codes; calculating average code densities for multiple digital code groups, respectively, wherein the multiple digital code groups are determined by dividing the multiple selected digital codes, and each of the multiple digital code groups comprises one or more selected digital codes of the multiple selected digital codes; calibrating capacitance of a first under-correction capacitor element of the capacitor array according to the first comparison result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignees: GLOBAL UNICHIP CORPORATION, TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ting-Hao Wang, Yu-Chu Chen
  • Patent number: 10686463
    Abstract: In accordance with various embodiments of the disclosed subject matter, a system, device, apparatus and method for calibrating a split bit digital readout to avoid misalignment of the least significant counter bit (i.e., the LSB of the M most significant bits) and most significant residual bit (i.e. the MSB of the N least significant bits). For example, various embodiments provide a field programmable gate array (FPGA), digital signal processing (DSP) function and the like configured to calibrate one or many split bit digital readouts such as may exist on a digital pixel sensor (DPS) or other device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
    Inventor: Matthew D. Howard
  • Patent number: 10665145
    Abstract: The present application discloses a low-voltage digital to analog conversion circuit, a data driving circuit and a display system. At least one voltage dividing unit comprises a number of resistors connected in series between a lower limit of voltage and an upper limit of voltage, and voltage dividing output terminals drawn from the resistors' connection nodes and an upper limit of voltage connection end. Introducing the voltage dividing unit renders the low-voltage digital signal to analog signal conversion circuit, the data driving circuit, and the display system low-voltage devices with low power consumption and small chip area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School
    Inventors: Shengdong Zhang, Chuanli Leng, Xingwu Lin
  • Patent number: 10659072
    Abstract: An apparatus is provided to calibrate an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The apparatus includes a calibration circuitry coupled to an output of the ADC, wherein the calibration circuitry is to identify a maximum value and minimum value of the output of the ADC, and is to calibrate one or more performance parameters of the ADC according to the maximum and minimum values. The performance parameters include: gain of the ADC, offset of the ADC, and timing skew between the ADC and a neighboring ADC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventor: Cho-Ying Lu
  • Patent number: 10630308
    Abstract: The present invention discloses an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) including an analog circuit, a first switch, a second switch, a first capacitor, and a second capacitor. The analog circuit has a first input terminal and a second input terminal and is configured to amplify and/or compare signals on the first input terminal and the second input terminal. One end of the first capacitor is coupled to the first input terminal, and the other end receives an input voltage via the first switch. One end of the second capacitor is coupled to the first input terminal, and the other end receives a reference voltage via the second switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ying-Cheng Wu, Shih-Hsiung Huang
  • Patent number: 10623130
    Abstract: In some examples, a system includes a propulsor engine and a controller configured to determine a frequency for a new communication session on a communication channel based on a frequency of a previous communication session, wherein the frequency for the new communication session is different than the frequency of the previous communication session. In some examples, the controller is further configured to establish the new communication session via the communication channel with the propulsor engine. In some examples, the controller is also configured to exchange information with the propulsor engine at the frequency for the new communication session via the communication channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce North American Technologes, Inc.
    Inventor: Richard Joseph Skertic
  • Patent number: 10623011
    Abstract: A successive-approximation-register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) includes an analog circuit and a digital control circuit. The digital control circuit is coupled to the analog circuit. The digital control circuit includes a calibration circuit, a memory device, and an asynchronous control circuit. The calibration circuit is configured to perform a calibration operation. The memory device is coupled to the calibration circuit and stores calibration information generated by performing the calibration operation. The asynchronous control circuit is coupled to the memory device, and reads the calibration information from the memory device in an asynchronous control mode. In the asynchronous control mode, before the asynchronous control circuit performs the operations of the SAR ADC, the asynchronous control circuit removes the non-idea effects of the SAR ADC according to the calibration information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: NUVOTON TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hua-Chun Tseng, Tu-Hsiu Wang
  • Patent number: 10623013
    Abstract: A battery powered system includes a voltage level shifter, an anti-aliasing filter, a pair of switches, a unity gain differential buffer, a second pair of switches, and an analog-to-digital converter. The first pair of switches couple the differential output port of the voltage level shifter to the differential input port of the anti-aliasing filter. The second pair of switches couple the differential output port of the anti-aliasing filter to the differential input port of the unity gain differential buffer. The analog-to-digital converter is coupled to the differential output port of the unity gain differential buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Vishnu Ravinuthula, Kyl Wayne Scott
  • Patent number: 10615811
    Abstract: A Successive Approximation Register (SAR) Analog-to-digital converter (ADC) includes: a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a comparison circuit and a logic circuit. The DAC is configured to generate a transformed voltage according to a digital signal and a reference voltage, and the digital signal is generated by a digital signal generating circuit. The comparison circuit is coupled to the DAC and configured to compare the transformed voltage and an input voltage to generate a comparison result, and further configured to receive a control signal. The logic circuit is coupled to the comparison circuit, and configured to perform a logic transform operation upon the comparison result to generate an output signal to the digital signal generating circuit and the comparison circuit. The control signal controls the comparison circuit to enable or disable the SAR ADC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventors: Cheng-Hui Wu, Yu-Chang Chen, Chih-Lung Chen, Shih-Hsiung Huang
  • Patent number: 10606723
    Abstract: A test circuit that includes a circuit to be calibrated, an error generation circuit, and a simplex circuit coupled to one another. The circuit to be calibrated is configured to implement a first plurality of trim codes as calibration parameters for a corresponding plurality of components of the circuit to be calibrated and generate a first actual output. The error generation circuit is configured to generate a first error signal based on a difference between the first actual output and an expected output of the circuit to be calibrated. The simplex circuit is configured to receive the first error signal from the error generation circuit, generate a second plurality of trim codes utilizing a simplex algorithm based on the first error signal, and transmit the second plurality of trim codes to the circuit to be calibrated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Pankaj Bongale, Partha Ghosh, Rubin Ajit Parekhji
  • Patent number: 10601434
    Abstract: An apparatus for calibrating a time-interleaved analog-to-digital converter including a plurality of time-interleaved analog-to-digital converter circuits is provided. The apparatus includes an analog signal generation circuit configured to generate an analog calibration signal based on a digital calibration signal representing one or more digital data sequences for calibration. The analog calibration signal is a wideband signal. Further, the apparatus includes a coupling circuit configured to controllably couple an input node of the time-interleaved analog-to-digital converter to either the analog signal generation circuit or to a node capable of providing an analog signal for digitization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Albert Molina, Kameran Azadet, Matteo Camponeschi, Jose Luis Ceballos, Christian Lindholm, Hundo Shin, Martin Clara
  • Patent number: 10594411
    Abstract: A method and system for measuring a device under test are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method of implementing a measurement system is provided. The method includes providing a plurality of nodes, each node including a combination of a communication tester configured to generate a communication signal and a channel emulator configured to emulate a channel, and providing a user interface configured to enable a user to control at least one of the plurality of nodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: ETS-Lindgren, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael David Foegelle
  • Patent number: 10594332
    Abstract: A front-end receiving circuit includes a first input terminal receiving a first signal, a second input terminal receiving a second signal, a comparator, a first sampling switch, a first sampling shifting circuit and a control circuit. The first sampling switch is coupled between the first input terminal and the first comparator input terminal. The first sample shifting circuit includes a first capacitor, a first reference voltage source, and a second reference voltage source. In a sampling mode, the control circuit is configured to control the first sampling switch and the second sampling switch to be turned on, and control the first shifting switch to be turned off. In a shifting mode, the control circuit is configured to control the first sampling switch and the second sampling to be turned off, and control the first shifting switch to be turned on.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORP.
    Inventors: Liang-Huan Lei, Jian-Ru Lin, Shih-Hsiung Huang
  • Patent number: 10592209
    Abstract: A multiplier circuit can be fabricated within an integrated circuit and can draw a product output node to a voltage proportional to a product of two received binary numbers. The multiplier circuit includes two sets of inputs that receive binary numbers. The multiplier circuit includes a set of scaled capacitors, each capacitor of the set connected to an output of an AND gate and to a local product output node. Each AND gate is connected to a unique pair of bits, one bit from each of the two binary numbers. Each scaled capacitor has a capacitance proportional to a product term generated by the corresponding AND gate. The multiplier circuit includes a reference capacitor connected to ground and the product output node, and a reset circuit configured to draw, in response to a RESET signal, the product output node to ground.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: David Paulsen, Phil Paone, George Paulik, John E. Sheets, II, Karl Erickson
  • Patent number: 10594334
    Abstract: Multipliers are fundamental building blocks in signal processing, including in emerging applications such as machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) that predominantly utilize digital-mode multipliers. Generally, digital multipliers can operate at high speed with high precision, and synchronously. As the precision and speed of digital multipliers increase, generally the dynamic power consumption and chip size of digital implementations increases substantially that makes solutions unsuitable for some ML and AI segments, including in portable, mobile, or near edge and near sensor applications. The present invention discloses embodiments of multipliers that arrange data-converters to perform the multiplication function, operating in mixed-mode (both digital and analog), and capable of low power consumptions and asynchronous operations, which makes them suitable for low power ML and AI applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Inventor: Ali Tasdighi Far
  • Patent number: 10593403
    Abstract: A memristive array includes a number of bit cells, each bit cell including a memristive element and a selecting transistor serially coupled to the memristive element. The array also includes a waveform generation device coupled to the number of bit cells. The waveform generation device generates a shaped waveform to be applied to the number of bit cells to switch a state of the memristive element. The waveform generation device passes the shaped waveform to gates of the selecting transistors of the number of bit cells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
    Inventors: Brent Buchanan, Le Zheng
  • Patent number: 10587279
    Abstract: A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) device includes a DAC circuitry and a calibration circuitry. The DAC circuitry generates a first signal according to least significant bits of an input signal, and generates a second signal according to most significant bits of the input signal. The calibration circuitry compares the first signal with the second signal to generate a calibration signal, and calibrates the DAC circuitry according to the calibration signal. The calibration signal has bits. The calibration circuitry further repeatedly compares the first signal and the second signal to generate a plurality of comparison results when determining at least one bit of the bits, and performs a statistic operation according to the comparison results, in order to adjust the at least one bit, and a number of the at least one bit is less than a number of the bits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chih-Chieh Yang, Shih-Hsiung Huang, Liang-Huan Lei
  • Patent number: 10581443
    Abstract: Offset correction in a differential successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is accomplished with a capacitor-reduced digital-to-analog converter (DAC) topology to enable offset correction without the need for a dedicated compensation DAC. This eliminates addition analog circuitry and die area. To perform the offset correction, the differential SAR ADC couples together inputs thereof to create an offset voltage, converts the offset voltage into a digital representation thereof, stores the digital representation of the offset voltage in an offset register, and corrects for the offset voltage by generating an offset compensation voltage with the capacitor-reduced array DAC controlled by the digital representation stored in the offset register. The digital representation controls scaling of reference voltages to the reduced capacitor array DAC associated with a least-significant-bit (LSB) of the differential SAR ADC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: Microchip Technology Incorporated
    Inventors: Anders Vinje, Ivar Løkken
  • Patent number: 10582207
    Abstract: A video processing system includes a host processor, a video encoder and a memory. The host processor sends a configuration message to the video encoder that indicates to the video encoder how to encode a video frame and that includes information indicating the location of encoding configuration data that is stored in the memory. The video encoder receives the configuration message, uses the location indicating information to read the encoding configuration data from the memory, and encodes the video frame in accordance with the encoding configuration data read from the memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: Arm Limited
    Inventors: Dominic Hugo Symes, Sven Ola Johannes Hugosson
  • Patent number: 10581447
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for measuring phase response in a radio receiver is disclosed. A radio receiver includes a digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion unit coupled to receive a test signal. The D/A conversion unit includes a number of single-bit digital-to-analog conversion (DAC) circuits coupled to receive the test signal and configured to convert it into the analog domain. Clock signals received by each of the single-bit DAC circuits are out of phase with respect to one another. The output of the D/A conversion unit is an analog signal that is a composite of the signals output by the DAC circuits therein. The analog signal is then conveyed to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and converted into an N-bit digital signal. The N-bit digital signal is then conveyed to a correlator to determine a phase response of the radio receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Simone Gambini, Robert G. Lorenz
  • Patent number: 10581446
    Abstract: Current controlled multiplying digital-to-analog converters (MDACs) and related methods are disclosed for time-interleaved analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). For one embodiment, a circuit includes an MDAC having an amplifier that converts a voltage to an output current, a variable load that is dependent upon a digital value and that controls the output current from the amplifier, and an array of comparators that receive the voltage and output the digital value to the variable load. The digital value represents at least a portion of a digital conversion of the voltage. Further, the circuit can include a phased current generator that receives the output current and generates time-interleaved currents where each time-interleaved current is a sampled copy of the output current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: NXP USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Brandt Braswell, George Kunnen, Mark Lancaster