Differential Encoder And/or Decoder (e.g., Delta Modulation, Differential Pulse Code Modulation) Patents (Class 341/143)
  • Patent number: 9966117
    Abstract: Disclosed are a latch circuit receiving a negative output of a next latch stage circuit as a feedback input, a double data rate (DDR) ring counter based on the latch circuit to perform DDR counting of pulse periods and reduce the number of toggles, a hybrid counting device counting lower-bit portion by using the latch-based DDR ring counter and upper-bit portion by using a binary counter, and an analog-to-digital converting device and a CMOS image sensor employing the hybrid counting device. A double data rate ring counter may include a plurality of latches coupled in a form of a ring. The plurality of latches may include positive-edge-triggered latches and negative-edge-triggered latches arranged alternately. A current latch stage receives an output of a preceding latch stage to shift to a next latch stage according to a counter clock, receives an output of the next latch stage to check a data shift to the next latch stage, and falls to a low level if the data shift is checked.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Assignee: SK Hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Won-Seok Hwang
  • Patent number: 9960785
    Abstract: A latency associated with a receiver circuit, e.g., radio receiver circuit, can be reduced by applying digital data from an analog signal received by a receiver, e.g., a radio receiver, to an automatic gain control circuit without first using a decimation and digital filtering process, which can minimize or eliminate significant latency associated with the decimation and filtering process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: Analog Devices Global
    Inventor: Keith Anthony O'Donoghue
  • Patent number: 9954549
    Abstract: A hybrid digital-to-analog converter including a charge-sharing digital-to-analog converter and a charge redistribution digital-to-analog converter is provided. The charge-sharing digital-to-analog converter is configured to receive a digital input signal having multiple bits. The bits include a most-significant-bit and a least-significant-bit. The charge-sharing digital-to-analog converter is configured to convert the most-significant-bit to provide a first portion of an analog signal and selectively share charges of first capacitors during a successive approximation of the most-significant-bit. The charge redistribution digital-to-analog converter is configured to convert the least-significant-bit to provide a second portion of the analog signal. The charge redistribution digital-to-analog converter performs charge redistribution by selectively connecting second capacitors to receive reference voltages during a successive approximation of the least-significant-bit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: MARVELL WORLD TRADE LTD.
    Inventors: Alessandro Venca, Claudio Nani, Nicola Ghittori, Alessandro Bosi
  • Patent number: 9948318
    Abstract: A delta-sigma modulator includes a receiving circuit, a loop filter, a quantizer with a negative capacitor circuit and a feedback circuit. The receiving circuit is arranged for receiving an input signal and a feedback signal to generate a first signal. The loop filter is coupled to the receiving circuit, and is arranged for receiving the first signal to generate a filtered signal. The quantizer is coupled to the loop filter, and is arranged for generating a digital output signal according to the filtered signal, wherein the negative capacitor circuit is arranged at an input terminal of the quantizer. The feedback circuit is arranged for receiving the digital output signal to generate the feedback signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: MEDIATEK INC.
    Inventor: Hung-Chieh Tsai
  • Patent number: 9948874
    Abstract: This disclosure is directed to an image sensor. The image sensor includes a two-dimensional pixel array divided into a plurality of blocks, each of the plurality of blocks comprising pixels arranged in at least two different rows and two different columns, and a shutter mechanism that exposes the plurality of blocks sequentially, with all pixels in each block being exposed synchronously.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: MAGIC LEAP, INC.
    Inventor: Adrian Kaehler
  • Patent number: 9941897
    Abstract: A higher accuracy ADC circuit (e.g., in which the number of bits of the ADC circuit is twelve or greater) may need calibration multiple times during its working life to avoid bit weight errors. Described are techniques to address DAC element ratio errors between DAC element clusters in a DAC circuit in order to maintain the linear performance of analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuits and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: Analog Devices Global
    Inventors: Hongxing Li, Roberto Sergio Matteo Maurino
  • Patent number: 9942682
    Abstract: The present invention discloses an implementation method and a device of a multi-bit ?-? modulation-based digital speaker system. The method comprises, 1) digital format converting; 2) oversampling interpolation filtering; 3) multi-bit ?-? modulating; 4) thermometer coding; 5) multi-channel mismatch shaping; 6) coding format converting; 7) multi-channel digital power-amplifying; 8) driving a speaker array or a multiple voice coil speaker to sound. The device comprises: a digital input interface, an oversampling interpolation filter, a multi-bit ?-? modulator, a thermometer coder, a multi-channel mismatch shaper, a coding format converter, a multi-channel digital power-amplifier, and a speaker array or a multiple voice coil speaker; each portion being connected in proper order.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Inventors: Dengyong Ma, Jun Yang, Jianming Zhou, Guoqiang Chai, Yefeng Cai, Yongsheng Mu
  • Patent number: 9929747
    Abstract: Technologies for high-performance single-stream data compression include a computing device that updates an index data structure based on an input data stream. The input data stream is divided into multiple chunks. Each chunk has a predetermined length, such as 136 bytes, and overlaps the previous chunk by a predetermine amount, such as eight bytes. The computing device processes multiple chunks in parallel using the index data to generate multiple token streams. The tokens include literal tokens and reference tokens that refer to matching data from earlier in the input data stream. The computing device thus searches for matching data in parallel. The computing device merges the token streams to generate a single output token stream. The computing device may merge a pair of tokens from two different chunks to generate one or more synchronized tokens that are output to the output token stream. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Vinodh Gopal, James D. Guilford, Daniel F. Cutter, Kirk S. Yap
  • Patent number: 9923572
    Abstract: A circuit, system, and method for measuring capacitance are described. A current may be received at an input of a conversion circuit. The current may be converted to a voltage signal which may be used to create a negative feedback current to the input of the conversion circuit and which may be demodulated digitally to provide a static digital output representative of a capacitance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2018
    Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Rishi Raghav Bacchu, Kaveh Hosseini, Dermot MacSweeney, Paul M. Walsh, Kofi Makinwa
  • Patent number: 9923450
    Abstract: There is provided a controller for controlling an output current of a switched mode power supply, SMPS. The controller comprises a sampling module arranged to sample a signal indicative of the output current of the SMPS at a frequency higher than a switching frequency of the SMPS, and a filter module arranged to filter out a ripple component of the sampled signal. The filter module comprises: a ripple component estimation module arranged to estimate the ripple component; a moving average calculation module arranged to calculate a moving average of the sampled signal; and a subtraction module arranged to generate a filtered signal by subtracting the estimated ripple component from the sampled signal and the calculated moving average. The controller also has a switching control module arranged to generate a control signal for controlling at least one of the switching frequency and a switching duty cycle of the SMPS based on the filtered signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2018
    Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ)
    Inventors: Magnus Karlsson, Andreas Larsson, Oscar Persson
  • Patent number: 9923537
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for processing a recording is described. Analogue audio data is recorded and converted into digital audio data. The digital audio data is cached to a preset buffer. The digital audio data is called back from the buffer and is filtered according to a preset peak power threshold and an average power gradient threshold to obtain filtered audio data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2018
    Assignee: Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company Limited
    Inventors: Yongxin Wang, Bin Li, Cheng Luo
  • Patent number: 9917570
    Abstract: The present invention relates to nonlinear signal processing, and, in particular, to adaptive nonlinear filtering of real-, complex-, and vector-valued signals utilizing analog Nonlinear Differential Limiters (NDLs), and to adaptive real-time signal conditioning, processing, analysis, quantification, comparison, and control. More generally, this invention relates to methods, processes and apparatus for real-time measuring and analysis of variables, and to generic measurement systems and processes. This invention also relates to methods and corresponding apparatus for measuring which extend to different applications and provide results other than instantaneous values of variables. The invention further relates to post-processing analysis of measured variables and to statistical analysis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: Avatekh, Inc.
    Inventor: Alexei V. Nikitin
  • Patent number: 9912348
    Abstract: A wide bandwidth radio system designed to adapt to various global radio standards and, more particularly, to a radio receiver composed of a demodulator operative to work in a delta sigma mode and a Nyquist mode, and wherein a filter and feedback loop may utilized in response to the modulation mode of an RF signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Inventors: Cynthia D. Baringer, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Jongchan Kang, Yen-Cheng Kuan, James Chingwei Li, Emilio A. Sovero, Timothy J. Talty
  • Patent number: 9912144
    Abstract: Delta-sigma modulators do not handle overload well, and often become unstable if the input goes beyond the full-scale range of the modulator. To provide overload protection, an improved technique embeds an overload detector in the delta sigma modulator. When an overload condition is detected, coefficient(s) of the delta sigma modulator is adjusted to accommodate for the overloaded input. The improved technique advantageously allows the delta sigma modulator to handle overload gracefully without reset, and offers greater dynamic range at reduced resolution. Furthermore, the coefficient(s) of the delta sigma modulator can be adjusted in such a way to ensure the noise transfer function is not affected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: ANALOG DEVICES GLOBAL
    Inventors: Trevor Clifford Caldwell, Corey Petersen, David Nelson Alldred, Hajime Shibata
  • Patent number: 9906236
    Abstract: An Interleaved Radio Frequency Digital-to-Analog Converter (RF DAC) suitable for use in cellular base stations and optimized to give both a wide RF tuning range and a wide RF bandwidth is disclosed. The RF DAC uses two levels of interleaving, the first providing a direct conversion path from Base Band (BB) to RF, and the second providing a variable interleaving factor through the use of summation to optimize the output bandwidth as a function of the RF center frequency. Digital Interpolation, including an arbitrary sample rate conversion filter, allows the RF DAC to operate from a wide range of possible BB sample rates and the DAC sample rate is a fixed ratio of the RF center frequency. As a result, the spurious outputs from the RF DAC are in known locations that are relatively easy to filter out, minimizing the frequency planning tasks required for a complete RF system design.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: Maxlinear Asia Singapore PTE LTD.
    Inventors: William Michael Lye, John B. Groe
  • Patent number: 9905603
    Abstract: A complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor includes a pixel array suitable for outputting a pixel signal corresponding to incident light; a row decoder suitable for selecting and controlling pixels in the pixel array by row lines; a tracking voltage generator suitable for generating a tracking voltage; a plurality of successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converters suitable for analog-to-digital converting a pixel signal by repeatedly performing N times (where N is a natural number representing desired resolution) a process of comparing the pixel signal generated by the pixel array with the tracking voltage generated by the tracking voltage generator and modulating the pixel signal; and a control unit suitable for controlling operations of the row decoder, the tracking voltage generator, and the plurality of SAR analog-to-digital converters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: SK Hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Tae-Gyu Kim
  • Patent number: 9898193
    Abstract: An application-specific integrated circuit comprises: analog inputs having analog-digital converters; at least one digital signal processor, which has input registers and output registers. The analog-digital converters sample and digitize input signals Si with sampling frequencies fSi and forward the digitized signals SDi with output frequencies fSD-out-i to the input registers of the digital signal processor. The digital signal processor processes the digitized signals SDi to m processed signals SPj and forwards such to the output registers of the digital signal processor. The digital signal processor has a clock frequency, wherein, furthermore, the signals of the output registers can be output, respectively read-out, with an output frequency. One or more of the frequencies is, respectively, variable, wherein especially one or more of the frequencies, respectively, variable independently of the others of the frequencies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: Endrss + Hauser GmbH + Co. KG
    Inventors: Lars Karweck, Andreas Spitz, Yves Boulenger, Richard Wagner, Klaus Winter, Thomas Zieringer
  • Patent number: 9900018
    Abstract: Embodiments described herein provide circuitry for reducing input distortion at a buffer due to large signal swings. The circuitry includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a first buffer, a low pass filter, and a second buffer. The ADC is configured to convert an analog input to a digital output. The first buffer is coupled to an input node of the ADC and the low pass filter is coupled to an output of a driving circuit and an input to the first buffer. The second buffer placed in proximity to the first buffer. An input of the second buffer is connected to an output of the driving circuit and an output of the second buffer is connected to a feedback component of the driving circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Song Chen, Lei Luo, Tianfeng Ye, Ran Li
  • Patent number: 9893736
    Abstract: An analog to digital conversion device has a plurality of, two, for example, analog to digital converters, and a reference charge quantity interchange section arranged and configured to interchange, among the plurality of analog to digital converters, reference quantities of electric charge (e.g., reference currents or reference capacitances) to be used therein during an analog to digital conversion period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hideki Sato, Takahiro Inoue
  • Patent number: 9887815
    Abstract: A method and system for extracting values representative of modulation signal components from a modulated signal, the modulated signal containing a modulation signal, including developing a local clock signal which correlates in time to the modulated signal and includes a number of phase sectors per cycle and converting the modulated signal into a current that is representative of the signal and routing the current to the inverting input of an amplifier and charging one of a plurality of capacitive devices during each phase sector and sequentially connecting the capacitive devices between the output of the amplifier and the inverting input of the amplifier in non-overlapping sequences, the total of sequences being equal to one full cycle of the clock.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Inventor: David K Nienaber
  • Patent number: 9871442
    Abstract: A high voltage AC measurement method and circuit is disclosed to measure with zero offset and mirrored distortion based on hybrid chopping and fully differential signal path. There is a scheme with hybrid chopping and dual mixed signal paths. It applies high frequency chopping to the voltage measurement signal before the low-voltage signal conditioning, then samples and converts it to digital with two simultaneous ADCs, and finally demodulate the chopped signal by software. This technique not only reduces DC errors and drift but also cancels the distortion asymmetry caused by ADC non-linearity. The resultant DC accuracy and resolution can be significantly smaller than 1 LSB.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: Pacific Power Source, Inc.
    Inventor: Maximiliano O. Sonnaillon
  • Patent number: 9871533
    Abstract: An analog/digital converter (ADC) includes an analog stage with at least one first sigma-delta modulator and includes a digital stage with at least one second sigma-delta modulator. The analog stage is configured for outputting a digital signal to the digital stage that is indicative of a noise contribution of the at least one first sigma-delta modulator. The analog stage and the digital stage may be arranged in a multi-stage noise shaping architecture (MASH) architecture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventor: Igor Ullmann
  • Patent number: 9866778
    Abstract: A sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter comprises a sigma-delta modulator; and an ADC filter that receives a segment of L binary samples from the sigma-delta modulator, L being a positive integer. The ADC filter includes a predictor circuit that determines whether a power consumption of a first summing method would be higher than a power consumption of a second summing method, based on a content of the segment, and an accumulator circuit that calculates an output using the first summing method in a case where the power consumption of the first summing method would be lower than the power consumption of the second summing method, and using the second summing method in a case where the power consumption of the first summing method would be higher than the power consumption of the second summing method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
    Inventors: Ariel Ben Shem, Itai Shvartz
  • Patent number: 9866233
    Abstract: An embodiment circuit includes a first reference source configured to provide a first reference signal to an analog-to-digital convertor (ADC). The circuit also includes a filter coupled to an output of the first reference source and configured to filter the first reference signal to produce a filtered first reference signal. The circuit further includes a second reference source coupled to an output of the filter. The second reference source is configured to provide a second reference signal to the ADC, and the second reference signal is generated based on the filtered first reference signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: STMICROELECTRONICS INTERNATIONAL N.V.
    Inventors: Ashish Kumar, Chandrajit Debnath, Pratap Narayan Singh
  • Patent number: 9866238
    Abstract: An incremental analog to digital converter for digitizing an analog voltage including an Mth order delta sigma modulator, an Mth order digital decimation filter, a controller, and a digital combiner. The controller operates the modulator to convert the analog voltage into multiple digital samples, and operates the digital decimation filter to convert the digital samples into a preliminary digital output value. The controller further operates the delta sigma modulator during a residue phase for M clock cycles in which the modulator provides a digital residue value. The digital combiner combines the preliminary digital output value with the digital residue value to provide an initial digital output value. For an Mth order system, only M additional cycles are needed to extract the residual value to increase the resolution of the digital output by an amount based on the resolution of a modulator quantizer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: SILICON LABORATORIES INC.
    Inventors: Axel Thomsen, Xiaodong Wang
  • Patent number: 9866227
    Abstract: Some embodiments include apparatus and methods using an integrator in a loop filter of a sigma-delta analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) located on a feedback path of the ADC, the DAC including output nodes coupled to input nodes of the integrator, and a comparator including input nodes to receive signals from output nodes of the integrator, and an output node to provide information during calibration of the DAC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Intel IP Corporation
    Inventors: Marco Bresciani, John G. Kauffman, Udo Schuetz, Patrick Torta, Francesco Conzatti
  • Patent number: 9859916
    Abstract: A sigma-delta modulator including at least first and second sub-modulators, each including an analog integration circuit, the analog integration circuit of the first sub-modulator having an output node connected to an input node of the analog integration circuit of the second sub-modulator, the modulator further comprising a coupling capacitor having a first electrode connected to an output node of the analog integration circuit of the second sub-modulator, and a comparator having its input coupled to the first electrode of the coupling capacitor by a first switch and to a second electrode of the coupling capacitor by a second switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives
    Inventors: Arnaud Verdant, Mohammed-Saad Boutayeb
  • Patent number: 9859914
    Abstract: A delta-sigma modulator includes a receiving circuit, a loop filter module, a quantizer, a delta-sigma truncator, a digital filter module, and an output circuit. The receiving circuit is arranged for receiving a feedback signal and an input signal to generate a summation signal. The loop filter module is arranged for filtering the summation signal to generate a filtered summation signal. The quantizer is arranged for generating a first digital signal according to the filtered summation signal. The delta-sigma truncator is arranged for truncating the first digital signal to generate a second digital signal. The digital filter module is arranged for filtering the first digital signal and the second digital signal to generate a filtered first digital signal and a filtered second digital signal, respectively. The output circuit is arranged for generating an output signal according to the filtered first digital signal and the filtered second digital signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: MEDIATEK INC.
    Inventors: Chan-Hsiang Weng, Tien-Yu Lo
  • Patent number: 9859887
    Abstract: An impedance-to-digital converter is provided. A sensible impedance range of the impedance-to-digital converter is adjustable by changing magnitudes of signals inputted thereto.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: National Chiao Tung University
    Inventors: Jin-Chern Chiou, Shun-Hsi Hsu
  • Patent number: 9859907
    Abstract: An analog to digital converter (ADC) system includes two signal paths in parallel with each other, where the signal paths include separate ADC circuits to separately operate on a same input signal and output separate digital signals. A difference signal is calculated as a difference of the digital signals output from the two signal paths to determine an error present in one or both of the signal paths. The error may be modulated in one or both of the signal paths and demodulated from the difference signal according to a same digital modulation pattern to compute an error compensation signal to compensate for at least one of the modulated error and a secondary error resulting from the modulation of the error.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Analog Devices, Inc.
    Inventor: Hongxing Li
  • Patent number: 9853657
    Abstract: The disclosure provides a delta sigma modulator that includes a first input port and a second input port. These ports receive a differential input signal. A DAC is coupled to the first input port and the second input port, and receives a differential feedback signal and a plurality of selection signals. A loop filter generates a differential filtered signal in response to a differential error signal. The differential error signal is proportional to a difference in the differential input signal and the differential feedback signal. A quantizer generates a quantized output signal in response to the differential filtered signal. A modified DWA block coupled between the quantizer and the DAC, generates the plurality of selection signals in response to a chop clock, a regular clock, the quantized output signal and a plurality of selection index signals. A selection index signal is dependent on previously generated plurality of selection signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Eeshan Miglani, Karthikeyan Gunasekaran, Santhosh Kumar Gowdhaman, Shagun Dusad
  • Patent number: 9837990
    Abstract: Provided, among other things, is an apparatus for digitally processing a discrete-time signal that includes: an input line for accepting an input signal, processing branches coupled to the input line, and an adder coupled to outputs of the processing branches. First and second lowpass filters, each having a frequency response with a magnitude that varies approximately with frequency according to a product of raised functions, are included within baseband processors in such processing branches.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: Syntropy Systems, LLC
    Inventor: Christopher Pagnanelli
  • Patent number: 9810583
    Abstract: A temperature sensing system can include first and second temperature sensing circuits and a digitizing encoder. The first and second temperature sensing circuits can include respective devices with semiconductor junction areas. Temperature information can be determined from one or more characteristic signals measured from the temperature sensing circuits. A feedback circuit can be configured to provide one or more offset signals to the digitizing encoder. The one or more offset signals can correspond to components or characteristics of the first and second temperature sensing circuits. In an example, at least one of the first and second temperature sensing circuits can include an adjustable load circuit for use with the other of the first and second temperature sensing circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: Analog Devices, Inc.
    Inventor: Gabriele Bernardinis
  • Patent number: 9813089
    Abstract: A cellular radio architecture that includes an RF transmitter having a digital signal processor, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) module that converts digital bits from the processor to an analog signal, a tunable bandpass filter that removes frequencies in the analog signal outside of a frequency band of interest, and a power amplifier that amplifies the filtered analog signal. The architecture also includes a calibration feedback device that receives the amplified analog signal and provides a feedback signal to the processor for calibrating the digital signal to provide amplified amplifier pre-distortion. The processor employs a noise-shaping operation to shape the analog signal from the DAC to remove quantization noise in an immediate vicinity of the signal to improve signal-to-noise ratio, performs an infinite impulse response process to lower a noise floor in the analog signal, and provides pre-distortion of the digital signal to compensate for non-linearties of the power amplifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2017
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Timothy J. Talty, Emilio A. Sovero, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Cynthia D. Baringer, James Chingwei Li, Yen-Cheng Kuan, Hsuanyu Pan
  • Patent number: 9793868
    Abstract: Provided is a digital acoustic system comprising: a ?? modulator that modulates a digital input signal and outputs a digital signal; a post-filter that is connected to the ?? modulator and which performs mismatch shaping to convert the digital signal; a parallel-serial converter that converts the digital signal converted by the post-filter into a digital signal which is serially transmitted; a serial-parallel converter that restores the digital signal converted by the parallel-serial converter; and a drive circuit which receives the digital signal restored by the serial-parallel converter, and drives drive elements to convert the signal into an analog audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Trigence Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventors: Akira Yasuda, Jun-ichi Okamura
  • Patent number: 9787319
    Abstract: Provided is a modulation circuit that can correct an output state in real time and reliably modulate an input signal to output the modulated signal. The signal modulation circuit includes a subtractor, an integrator, a chopper circuit, a frequency divider, and a D-type flip-flop. A delay circuit of a sigma delta modulation circuit is not provided to a feedback circuit, and a signal is delayed and quantized in the D-type flip-flop. The chopper circuit inserts a zero level at timing synchronized with a clock signal, so that pulse density modulation is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: Onkyo Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshinori Nakanishi, Tsuyoshi Kawaguchi, Mamoru Sekiya
  • Patent number: 9780801
    Abstract: A system to convert between analog and digital signals, in some embodiments, comprises: a differentiator to produce a differentiated signal based on an input signal and a feedback signal; an integrator, coupled to the differentiator, to integrate the differentiated signal; a quantizer, coupled to the integrator, to quantize the integrated signal; and a low-pass feedback filter, coupled between an output of the quantizer and an input of the differentiator, to generate said feedback signal using the quantized signal, wherein the low-pass feedback filter pushes at least some noise of the quantized signal downward in the frequency spectrum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventor: Alexander Heubi
  • Patent number: 9778074
    Abstract: A process measurement system includes a sensor for producing a sensor signal as a function of a process parameter and a measurement circuit that converts the sensor signal to measurement data. A control circuit controls the amplitude of the sensor excitation to maximize signal strength over the entire operating ratio range of the sensor. This enhances resolution and noise rejection of the measurement circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: Rosemount Inc.
    Inventor: John Paul Schulte
  • Patent number: 9780803
    Abstract: A built-in self-test (BIST) circuit is provided for testing an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). A multi-order sigma-delta (??) modulator has an input that receives an input signal, a first output generating analog test signal derived from the input signal and applied to an input of the ADC and a second output generating a binary data stream. A digital recombination and filtering circuit has a first input that receives the binary data stream and a second input that receives a digital test signal output from the ADC in response to the analog test signal. The digital recombination and filtering circuit combines and filters the binary data stream and digital test signal to generate a digital result signal including a signal component derived from an error introduced by operation of the ADC. A correlation circuit is used to isolate that error signal component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics International N.V.
    Inventors: Ankur Bal, Chandrajit Debnath, Neha Bhargava
  • Patent number: 9774347
    Abstract: An image sensor includes a pixel array, a controller, and a plurality of analog-to-digital converters. The pixel array includes a plurality of pixels coupled to column lines, respectively, and the plurality of pixels are configured to sense incident lights to generate analog signals through the column lines. The controller generate a conversion control signal that is configurable based on changes of at least one operational condition. The plurality of analog-to-digital converters are coupled to the column lines, respectively. The plurality of analog-to-digital converters perform a delta-sigma modulation and a digital filtering to convert the analog signals to digital signals. The plurality of analog-to-digital converters adjust a conversion gain internally in response to the conversion control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignees: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COOPERATION FOUNDATION, YONSEI UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Youngcheol Chae, Jae-Hong Kim, Seungwoo Song, Woojin Jo, Hyunseok Hwang
  • Patent number: 9769514
    Abstract: Approaches for clock synchronization in digital video environments. In an embodiment, an encoder/transcoder calculates a ratio between a system clock and a source clock. The source clock is used by a source device to encode or transcode digital video. The system clock is used by the encoder/transcoder. After the encoder/transcoder receives the digital video from the source device, the encoder/transcoder uses the calculated ratio to create a recovered clock. The recovered clock is locked to a frequency of the source clock but not to the phase of the source clock. The encoder/transcoder uses the recovered clock to encode or transfer the digital video received from the source device. The encoder/transcoder ensures that the frequency of the recovered clock does not change faster than a certain rate, e.g., 0.075 Hz/second.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Harmonic, Inc.
    Inventor: Shahab Hamidi-Rad
  • Patent number: 9769597
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a ZigBee/Bluetooth dual-mode radio frequency transceiver architecture, in which, a dual-mode baseband and firmware determines hardware parameter of a receiving module or sending module based on a first mode or a second mode; a radio frequency front-end module is used for receiving or sending a first mode signal or a second mode signal; a receiving module is used for converting the first mode signal received by the radio frequency front-end module into a first mode baseband digital signal, or converting the second mode signal received by the radio frequency front-end module into a second mode baseband digital signal and outputting the first mode baseband digital signal or the second mode baseband digital signal to the dual-mode baseband and firmware; a sending module is used for converting the first mode baseband digital signal outputted by dual-mode baseband and firmware into the first mode signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: TELINK SEMICONDUCTOR (SHANGHAI) CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Haipeng Jin, Wenjun Sheng, Mingjian Zheng
  • Patent number: 9768792
    Abstract: A device and method for processing a signal, the method including, by a modulator (1250), receiving an analog signal, modulating the analog signal, and outputting a data frame (1258); receiving, by a counter (1368), the data frame from the modulator and outputting at least two data word sets (1370) each in accordance with a respective one of at least two counter clocks (1372); filtering, by each of at least two digital filter sets (1374), a respective data word set of the at least two data word sets received from the counter, and each outputting, to a switch (1378), a respective filtered data word set (1376). The switch may be configured to select, as an output, one of the filtered data word sets. The switch may be configured to change to a different selected filtered data word set upon detection of a change in line frequency and/or phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: ITRON, INC.
    Inventors: Pierre Decaux, Steven A. Grey
  • Patent number: 9768793
    Abstract: For continuous-time multi-stage noise shaping analog-to-digital converters (CT MASH ADCs), quantization noise cancellation often requires accurate estimation of transfer functions, e.g., a noise transfer function of the front end modulator and a signal transfer function of the back end modulator. To provide quantization noise cancellation, digital quantization noise cancellation filters adaptively tracks transfer function variations due to integrator gain errors, flash-to-DAC timing errors, as well as the inter-stage gain and timing errors. Tracking the transfer functions is performed through the direct cross-correlation between the injected maximum length linear feedback shift registers (LFSR) sequence and modulator outputs and then corrects these non-ideal effects by accurately modeling the transfer functions with programmable finite impulse response (PFIR) filters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: ANALOG DEVICES GLOBAL
    Inventors: Qingdong Meng, Hajime Shibata, Richard E. Schreier, Martin Steven McCormick, Yunzhi Dong, Jose Barreiro Silva, Jialin Zhao, Donald W. Paterson, Wenhua W. Yang
  • Patent number: 9762259
    Abstract: A notch filter in a sigma-delta modulator loop filter increases SNR by limiting in-band quantization noise around a frequency to which the notch filter is precisely tuned. A tuning mode controller isolates the notch filter from other loop filter stages. A bias voltage is applied to the notch filter, causing it to resonate. Tuning mode switches insert the notch filter into a frequency-locked loop (“FLL”) circuit as a variable frequency oscillator component of the FLL. An ADC operational mode input signal is applied to the FLL as a reference signal. A tuning control component of the FLL adjusts a tunable feedback element in the notch filter to drive the FLL error signal to zero in order to precisely tune the notch filter to the center frequency of the ADC input signal. Tuning inputs to the tunable feedback element are then latched prior to re-inserting the notch filter into the modulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Xiao Pu, Krishnaswamy Nagaraj, Peng Cao
  • Patent number: 9762285
    Abstract: Techniques and mechanisms provide a technique for compression using an approximation of a mu-law algorithm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: Altera Corporation
    Inventors: Richard Maiden, Nima Safari
  • Patent number: 9760107
    Abstract: A plurality of IO cells are arranged along an edge portion of a semiconductor chip. Some elements forming a reference voltage generation circuit are arranged in a first corner region of the semiconductor chip. Remaining elements forming the reference voltage generation circuit are arranged in a core region on an inner side of the edge portion of the semiconductor chip. Among a plurality of corner regions, the first corner region is located closest to the remaining elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: RENESAS ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Issei Kashima, Jingo Nakanishi
  • Patent number: 9755677
    Abstract: A cellular radio architecture that includes a receiver module having a delta-sigma modulator that converts analog signals to digital signals and a Fast-Fourier transform (FFT) circuit that converts the digital signals to frequency spectrum signals. The architecture also includes a moving average circuit that smoothes out the frequency spectrum signals by applying a moving average to the signals. The architecture further includes a differentiator circuit that differentiates the frequency spectrum signals to make the signals linear, and a minimum finding circuit that converts the differentiated frequency spectrum signals into positive values for frequencies above a notch frequency in the differentiated signals and negative values for frequencies below the notch frequency in the differentiated signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Timothy J. Talty, Yen-Cheng Kuan, Cynthia D. Baringer, Mohiuddin Ahmed, James Chingwei Li, Hsuanyu Pan, Emilio A. Sovero
  • Patent number: 9748971
    Abstract: This application relates to analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs). An ADC 200 has a first converter (201) for receiving an analogue input signal (AIN) and outputting a time encode signal (DT), such as a pulse-width-modulated (PWM) signal, based on input signal and a first conversion gain setting (GIN). In some embodiments the first converter has a PWM modulator (401) for generating a PWM signal such that the input signal is encoded by pulse widths that can vary continuously in time. A second converter (202) receives the time encoded signal and outputs a digital output signal (DOUT) based on the time encoded signal (DT) and a second conversion gain setting (GO). The second converter may have a first PWM-to-digital modulator (403). A gain allocation block (204) generates the first and second conversion gain settings based on the time encoded signal (DT).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2017
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd.
    Inventors: John Paul Lesso, Emmanuel Philippe Christian Hardy
  • Patent number: 9742426
    Abstract: Typically, complex systems require a separate and expensive equalizer at the output of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Rather than providing a separate equalizer, the effective Signal Transfer Function (STF) of a Multi-stAge noise SHaping (MASH) ADC can be modified by leveraging available digital filtering hardware necessary for quantization noise cancellation. The modification can involves adding calculations in the software previously provided for computing digital quantization noise cancellation filter coefficients, where the calculations are added to take into account equalization as well. As a result, the signal transfer function can be modified to meet ADC or system-level signal-chain specifications without additional equalization hardware. The method is especially attractive for high-speed applications where magnitude and phase responses are more challenging to meet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: ANALOG DEVICES, INC.
    Inventors: Jose Barreiro Silva, Donald W. Paterson