Touch surface scanning method and device
Granted: September 20, 2022
Patent Number:
11449168
A device acquires first sense data representing first electrical signals sensed from a first subset of a plurality of sensors of a touch surface. The device acquires second sense data representing second electrical signals sensed from a second subset of the plurality of sensors. The device detects a first set of one or more touches based on the first sense data and the second sense data. After the acquiring of the first sense data, the device acquires third sense data representing third…
Devices, systems, and methods for predicting communication channel conditions
Granted: September 13, 2022
Patent Number:
11445476
Devices, systems and methods track geographical locations of a wireless device and time associated with the wireless device. Embodiments access channel map data including a predicted channel condition value for each of multiple communication channels within each of a plurality of geographical locations during a plurality of time periods of day. Embodiments use the channel map data to select one of the multiple communication channels for communication in a second geographical location,…
Ratio-metric multi-sensing convertor
Granted: September 13, 2022
Patent Number:
11442578
Apparatuses and methods of capacitance-to-digital code conversion are described. One apparatus includes a bridge circuit and a modulator front-end circuit. The bridge circuit includes a first terminal to couple to a reference cell and a second terminal to couple to a sensor cell. The modulator front-end circuit includes a comparator coupled to the bridge circuit, a first modulation capacitor coupled to a first input of the comparator, and a second modulation capacitor coupled to a second…
Dedicated TDLS link in off-channel 5 GHz band using RSDB
Granted: September 6, 2022
Patent Number:
11438944
Devices, systems and methods establish a first wireless link with an access point (AP) via a first frequency band, establish a tunneled direct link setup (TDLS) link with a peer wireless device using the first frequency band. Embodiments, switch from using the first frequency band for the TDLS link to using a second frequency band for the TDLS link and use a real-time simultaneous dual band (RSDB) configuration to communicate with the peer wireless device through the TDLS link using the…
Programmable chopping architecture to reduce offset in an analog front end
Granted: September 6, 2022
Patent Number:
11437961
An integrated circuit can include an amplifier coupled to receive an analog input signal, an anti-aliasing filter (AAF) coupled to an output of the amplifier, a buffer circuit coupled to an output of the AAF, a sigma-delta modulator configured to generate a digital data stream in response to an output of the buffer, and a plurality of chopping circuits nested within one another, including a first pair of chopping circuits having at least the amplifier disposed therebetween and configured…
Capacitive panel scanning with reduced number of sensing circuits
Granted: May 3, 2022
Patent Number:
11320946
Embodiments described herein provide capacitive sensor devices and methods for operating capacitive sensor devices. A first number of electrodes on the capacitive sensor array is activated. A signal is received from each of the first number of electrodes with a second number of receiver circuits on a controller associated with the capacitive sensor array. The first number is greater than the second number. It is determined if an object is proximate the capacitive sensor array based on…
Encrypted gang programming
Granted: April 26, 2022
Patent Number:
11316687
Disclosed are apparatus and methods for programming a plurality of nonvolatile memory (NVM) devices. Each NVM device self-generates and stores a unique encryption key. Each NVM device concurrently receives an image from a multiple-device programming system to which all the NVM devices are communicatively coupled. Each NVM device encrypts the received image using such NVM device's unique encryption key to produce a unique encrypted image for each NVM device. Each NVM device stores its…
Controlled gate-source voltage N-channel field effect transistor (NFET) gate driver
Granted: April 26, 2022
Patent Number:
11316441
Controlling gate-source voltage with a gate driver in a secondary-side integrated circuit (IC) controller for a secondary-controlled AC-DC converter is described. In an example embodiment, the gate driver is configured to programmably control the gate-source voltage and the slew rate of a secondary-side provider field effect transistor (FET) in the converter.
Systems, methods, and devices for capacitive sensing with sinusoidal demodulation
Granted: April 19, 2022
Patent Number:
11307712
Systems, methods, and devices improve the sensitivity of capacitive sensors. Devices may include an attenuator configured to receive an input from at least one sense electrode of a capacitive sensing device. The attenuator may be included in a sensing channel of a capacitive sensor. Devices may further include a signal generator coupled to an input of the attenuator. The signal generator may include one or more processors configured to generate a sinusoidal signal based, at least in…
Methods for setting transmit power in wireless devices
Granted: April 12, 2022
Patent Number:
11304148
Disclosed are methods and systems for tailoring the transmit power of a wireless device to the parameters of the device such as the process split, voltage, and temperature. The device may identify one or more parameters of the device such as identifying the process split, or sensing the operating voltage or temperature. The device may determine an updated transmit power based on the known parameter values identified and any unknown parameter values. The updated transmit power is…
Machine learning-based antenna array validation, prototyping and optimization
Granted: April 12, 2022
Patent Number:
11303041
An example method of estimating the angular resolution of antenna array comprises: receiving a plurality of values of magnitude and phase of a radio frequency (RF) signal for each antenna element of a plurality of antenna elements comprised by an antenna array; performing, by a machine learning model, a feature extraction operation to transform the plurality of values of magnitude and phase into a plurality of data points in a reduced-dimension space; clustering, by the machine learning…
Non-contact liquid sensing technologies
Granted: April 12, 2022
Patent Number:
11300536
Technology directed to non-contact liquid sensing is described. One processing device includes a multi-port network, a capacitance measurement circuit, and a digital processing circuit. Processing device measures a first set and a second set of currents associated with a first electrode and a second electrode coupled to an exterior surface of a container holding liquid. Processing device determines independent impedances of the container, the liquid, and the liquid and container using…
Negative voltage protection for bus interface devices
Granted: March 29, 2022
Patent Number:
11290108
A bus interface bus is described. A first logical state is conveyed over the bus by a higher voltage level and a second logical state is conveyed by a lower voltage level. An output stage of the interface includes a power transistor configured to drive the lower voltage level onto the bus to convey the second logical state, and a protective device between the power transistor and the bus. The protective device couples the power transistor to the bus when turned on and limits negative…
Bit error correction for wireless retransmission communications systems
Granted: March 22, 2022
Patent Number:
11283543
Systems, methods, and apparatus receive a corrupted packet of an original packet and at least one corrupted retransmitted packet of the original packet and generate a decision packet for the original packet based on identical bits of the original packet received through the corrupted packet and the at least one corrupted retransmitted packet. Embodiments verify the decision packet to determine whether the decision packet is correct based on a last one of the at least one corrupted…
Low-power touch button sensing system
Granted: March 15, 2022
Patent Number:
11275423
Systems, apparatus, and methods measure a signal provided by a capacitance sensor, the signal indicative of a presence of an object proximate to the capacitance sensor. Responsive to measuring the signal, embodiments access control information in a memory to determine whether the signal is associated with a first qualifying event of the control information. Responsive to determining that the signal is associated with the first qualifying event, embodiments control a power consumption of…
Interference reduction for wireless communications devices
Granted: March 8, 2022
Patent Number:
11272382
Systems, methods, and devices reduce interference experienced by wireless communications devices. Methods include receiving a first signal from a first transceiver, the first signal being compatible with a first communications protocol, and configuring a filter based, at least in part, on the received first signal, the filter being communicatively coupled to a second transceiver collocated in a same wireless communications device as the first transceiver. The methods further include…
Method and apparatus for data transmission via capacitance sensing device
Granted: March 8, 2022
Patent Number:
11271608
A system made up of a first device which includes a communication interface and a processing device and a second device which includes a touch sensor assembly and a controller, where the controller uses the touch sensor assembly to communicate with the processing device through a capacitor that is jointly formed by the touch sensor assembly and a conductive portion of the communications interface.
Primary controller calibration and trimming using secondary controller in secondary-controlled flyback converters
Granted: March 8, 2022
Patent Number:
11271484
Communicating information stored at a secondary controller to a primary controller in a secondary-controlled flyback converter is described. In one embodiment, a method includes storing, by a secondary-side controller of a power converter, calibration information associated with a primary-side controller of the power converter. The power converter is a secondary-controlled alternating current to direct current (AC-DC) flyback converter comprising a galvanic isolation barrier. The method…
Dynamic VCONN swapping in dual-powered type-C cable applications
Granted: March 1, 2022
Patent Number:
11262827
In an example embodiment, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Type-C cable comprises a USB Type-C connector and an IC controller coupled thereto. The IC controller comprises a terminal coupled to a VCONN line of the USB Type-C cable, a transistor coupled between the terminal and an internal power supply of the IC controller, a resistive element coupled between the terminal and a control terminal of the transistor, and control logic. The IC controller is to: power on the transistor from a…
Systems and methods for capturing noise for pattern recognition processing
Granted: March 1, 2022
Patent Number:
11264049
Systems and methods provide a first sample of audio data and detect speech onset in the first sample of the audio data. Responsive to detecting the speech onset, systems and methods switch from capturing second samples of the audio data at first intervals, to capturing the second samples of the audio data at second intervals. Systems and methods provide contiguous audio data using the second samples of the audio data captured at the first intervals and at least one captured portion of…
