Control of light-emitting-diode backlight illumination through frame insertion
Granted: October 1, 2013
Patent Number:
8547323
System(s) and methode s) are provided to regulate backlighting in a light emitting diode (LED)-based display through a sequence of alternate pulse-width-modulation (PWM) frame or sub-frame insertions. Alternate PWM frames or sub-frames can be black or non-black. A plurality of pixels in the display is partitioned into at least one zone including one or more rows of pixels; the at least one zone determines sub-frame period based on refresh frequency of the display. A sequence of alternate…
Conductivity control of water content in solvent strip baths
Granted: October 1, 2013
Patent Number:
8545636
A system and method for control of water content in a strip bath. The method to control water content in a solvent bath used for cleaning of semiconductor parts in the back end of semiconductor manufacturing requires addition of water to replace evaporated water. This is done by periodically adjusting a conductivity setpoint at least in part based on the elapsed chemical bathlife and at least in part based on the number of semiconductor parts that have been processed in the bath. The…
Method and circuit for an operating area limiter
Granted: September 17, 2013
Patent Number:
8536933
The present invention relates to circuits and methods for limiting the operating area of a transistor in a constant current source. The circuits and methods use a detector and a driver to limit the operating area of a transistor. The detector and driver have parameters selected so that, when the voltage at the drain of the transistor satisfies a reference condition, the driver causes drain current of the transistor to decrease. The reference condition is determined relative to the…
Capacitive sensor with additional noise-registering electrode
Granted: September 17, 2013
Patent Number:
8536880
A capacitive touch sensor employing adjacent drive and sense electrodes, in which an additional sense electrode is provided as well as a conventional drive electrode and sense electrode. The drive and two sense electrodes are arranged on the bottom side of a dielectric panel, the top side providing a sensing surface to be touched by a user's finger or a stylus. The additional sense electrode is positioned on the underside of the dielectric panel so that it is shielded from the drive…
Signal processing
Granted: September 10, 2013
Patent Number:
8533654
An iterative method may comprise obtaining a current input signal value for a current iteration, comparing the current input signal value with an output signal value determined in a previous iteration, updating a counter value determined in the previous iteration based on the comparison such that the updated counter value replaces the previously determined counter value, determining a slew value based on the counter value, and adding the slew value to the previously determined output…
Elastic shared RAM array including contiguous instruction and data portions distinct from each other
Granted: September 10, 2013
Patent Number:
8533439
A microcontroller, system and method are provided. In one implementation, a microcontroller is provided that includes a first memory operable to store instructions for normal operational use of the microcontroller, a second memory operable to store patch code instructions during debugging of the instructions within the first memory, and a central processing unit (CPU) operable to fetch instructions from the first memory and the patch code instructions from the second memory. The second…
Microprocessor for executing byte compiled java code
Granted: September 10, 2013
Patent Number:
8533433
A microprocessor architecture for executing byte compiled Java programs directly in hardware. The microprocessor targets the lower end of the embedded systems domain and features two orthogonal programming models, a Java model and a RISC model. The entities share a common data path and operate independently, although not in parallel. The microprocessor includes a combined register file in which the Java module sees the elements in the register file as a circular operand stack and the…
Routable array metal integrated circuit package
Granted: September 10, 2013
Patent Number:
8531022
An integrated circuit assembly comprises an integrated circuit die, and a routable metal layer comprising metal traces linking a plurality of wire bond pads to a plurality of external connection pads such that the metal traces are routable under the die area. An electrically nonconductive adhesive layer couples the integrated circuit die to the routable metal layer, and a plurality of wire bonds link circuitry on the integrated circuit die to the wire bond pads in the routable metal…
Integrated circuit structures containing a strain-compensated compound semiconductor layer and methods and systems related thereto
Granted: September 10, 2013
Patent Number:
8530934
A method for pseudomorphic growth and integration of an in-situ doped, strain-compensated metastable compound base into an electronic device, such as, for example, a SiGe NPN HBT, by substitutional placement of strain-compensating atomic species. The invention also applies to strained layers in other electronic devices such as strained SiGe, Si in MOS applications, vertical thin film transistors (VTFT), and a variety of other electronic device types. Devices formed from compound…
Gesture recognition
Granted: September 3, 2013
Patent Number:
8526767
A state machine gesture recognition algorithm for interpreting streams of coordinates received from a touch sensor. The gesture recognition code can be written in a high level language such as C and then compiled and embedded in a microcontroller chip, or CPU chip as desired. The gesture recognition code can be loaded into the same chip that interprets the touch signals from the touch sensor and generates the time series data, e.g. a microcontroller, or other programmable logic device…
Method and receiving unit for the detection of data symbols
Granted: September 3, 2013
Patent Number:
8526540
A method and device is provided for detecting data symbols in a received radio signal. Each data symbol is allocated transmit-side a symbol value-specific PN sequence of successive PN chips in the chip clock, and the allocated PN sequences are offset QPSK modulated. The method for incoherent detection includes converting the received radio signal into a complex baseband signal sampled in the chip clock, generating a demodulated signal by differential demodulation of the complex baseband…
Passive entry and/or passive go system and associated operating method
Granted: September 3, 2013
Patent Number:
8525672
A passive entry and/or passive go system and am associated operating method is provided. According to an embodiment of the invention, the following steps are performed in an electronic key of the passive entry and/or passive go system: generation of a reference input value, supplying the antenna circuit with the reference input value, measurement of the characteristic parameters, while the antenna circuit is supplied with the reference input value, storage of the characteristic…
Circuit, an adjusting method, and use of a control loop
Granted: September 3, 2013
Patent Number:
8525583
A circuit, an adjusting method, and use of a control loop for adjusting a data retention voltage and/or a leakage current of a CMOS circuit for a sleep mode, wherein the CMOS circuit is operated to control in a measuring mode, whereby in the measuring mode a leakage current exclusively flows through the CMOS circuit, the control loop in the measuring mode adjusts the data retention voltage and/or the leakage current, and the adjustments of the control loop for the sleep mode are stored.
Component stacking for integrated circuit electronic package
Granted: September 3, 2013
Patent Number:
8525329
Component stacking for increasing packing density in integrated circuit packages. In one aspect of the invention, an integrated circuit package includes a substrate, and a plurality of discrete components connected to the substrate and approximately forming a component layer parallel to and aligned with a surface area of the substrate. An integrated circuit die is positioned adjacent to the component layer such that a face of the die is substantially parallel to the surface area of the…
Microcontroller system bus scheduling for multiport slave modules
Granted: August 20, 2013
Patent Number:
8516167
A system includes master modules, at least one multiport slave module, and a scheduler connected by a system bus. The scheduler is configured to provide scheduling information to the multiport slave module. The scheduling information includes master categorization information and anticipated burst information. The anticipated burst information is based on a scheduler determination for an anticipated bus access by an anticipated master module. The master categorization information…
Current-mode sense amplifier for high-speed sensing
Granted: August 20, 2013
Patent Number:
8514645
A sense amplifier circuit according to some implementations includes a differential input stage to receive mirrored input currents and a transistor switch whose state is controlled by a signal applied to its gate. The sense amplifier circuit includes a pair of cross-coupled NMOS transistors and a pair of cross-coupled PMOS transistors to which the mirrored input currents are coupled and whose drain nodes are shorted when the transistor switch is in a conductive state. The sense amplifier…
Quality assurance of a solid-state illumination source
Granted: August 13, 2013
Patent Number:
8508730
System(s), apparatus(es), and method(s) are provided for control of quality of light emitted from a group of solid-state light (SSL) sources that are part of an illumination fixture. The control is based at least in part on regulation of the spectral power distribution (SPD) of the light to match a SPD of a reference light source. A spectroscopic analyzer collects electromagnetic (EM) radiation emitted from the group of SSL sources and EM radiation substantially emitted from the…
Primary side PFC driver with dimming capability
Granted: August 6, 2013
Patent Number:
8502474
A primary side PFC driver circuit is disclosed that includes a switch control circuit for commanding a switch to allow an inductor coupled to an output load (e.g., LEDs) to transfer energy provided by an input voltage source. The switch control circuit provides two signals for commanding the switch. A first signal having a first frequency, with a duty cycle in proportion to the input voltage amplitude, commands the switch to allow the average input current to be proportional to the input…
Integrated circuit device configuration
Granted: August 6, 2013
Patent Number:
8504816
Various embodiments include an integrated circuit (IC) device having a conductive contact, and a circuit to determine a resistance value of a circuit path between the conductive contact and a circuit node during an initialization mode of the device. The IC device includes a controller to select at least one value of at least one operating parameter of the device based at least in part on the resistance value.
Capacitive sensor
Granted: August 6, 2013
Patent Number:
8502547
Method and apparatus are provided for a capacitive sensor. In an example, a capacitive sensor can include a first sensing element, a sensing channel operable to generate a first signal indicative of first capacitance between the sensing element and a system ground, and a processor responsive to a change in the first capacitance between the first sensing element and ground. The processor can be configured to adjust a parameter value based on a first duration of the change in the first…
