Power management system and method for peripheral devices
Granted: July 1, 2014
Patent Number:
8769329
A peripheral power management system includes a power monitor for determining a power consumption characteristic of a computing processor and a controller for generating a reference power signal based on the power consumption characteristic. The peripheral power management system also includes a power regulator control signal generator for generating a power regulator control signal based on the reference power signal. The power regulator control signal controls a peripheral device power…
Integrated circuit devices using analog dividers
Granted: June 17, 2014
Patent Number:
8754719
A divider for use in an integrated circuit chip, such as a clock generator chip, includes a ramp generator circuit configured to generate a ramp signal and a synchronous detector circuit configured to receive the ramp signal and an input clock signal and to responsively control the ramp signal generator circuit to generate an output clock signal at an output of the synchronous detector circuit. In some embodiments, the synchronous detector circuit may include a voltage threshold detector…
Adaptive reference voltage generators that support high speed signal detection
Granted: June 17, 2014
Patent Number:
8754673
An integrated circuit device includes a reference voltage generator, which is configured to generate an adaptive reference voltage (Vref) that varies inversely relative to changes in magnitude of a data signal (DATA) received at an input thereof. This reference voltage generator includes a totem pole arrangement of at least two variable impedance elements having control terminals capacitively coupled (by respective capacitors) to the input. A current mirror is electrically coupled to the…
Low on-resistance power transistor having transistor stripes
Granted: June 17, 2014
Patent Number:
8754480
A power transistor and a power converter are disclosed that may improve the on-resistance and corresponding silicon area of a power transistor. The power transistor may comprise a drain, a source, and a channel therebetween divided into a plurality of transistor stripes, the plurality of transistor stripes being grouped in a plurality of different groups. The power transistor may further comprise a first top metal associated with one of the drain and the source, and a second top metal…
Synchronous rectifier circuit
Granted: June 10, 2014
Patent Number:
8750006
A synchronous rectifier circuit rectifies an AC input voltage to produce a DC output voltage. The synchronous rectifier circuit comprises MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor) switches coupled within secondary transformer windings resulting in a shortened AC current path compared to conventional synchronous rectifier circuits. The shortened current path mitigates skin and proximity effects, substantially improving the power efficiency of the synchronous rectifier…
Periodic signal generators having microelectromechanical resonators therein that support generation of high frequency low-TCF difference signals
Granted: June 3, 2014
Patent Number:
8742854
A periodic signal generator is configured to generate high frequency signals characterized by relatively low temperature coefficients of frequency (TCF). A microelectromechanical resonator, such as concave bulk acoustic resonator (CBAR) supporting capacitive and piezoelectric transduction, may be geometrically engineered as a signal generator that produces two periodic signals having unequal resonant frequencies with unequal temperature coefficients. Circuitry is also provided for…
Systems, apparatuses and methods for dynamic voltage and frequency control of components used in a computer system
Granted: May 20, 2014
Patent Number:
8732495
Embodiments of the present disclosure include systems, apparatuses, and methods for dynamic frequency and voltage control of components used in a computer system. A system includes a processor voltage regulator and a system clock generator directly operably with each other. The processor voltage regulator provides a core voltage signal to a processor, and is configured to detect a present processor load state of the processor. The system clock generator is for providing a system clock…
Method and apparatus for implementation of high order MASH by reuse of single stage MASH
Granted: May 20, 2014
Patent Number:
8732224
A method and apparatus for implementation of high order MASH by reuse of single stage MASH have been described.
Method and apparatus for a configurable packet routing, buffering and scheduling scheme to optimize throughput with deadlock prevention in SRIO-to-PCIe bridges
Granted: May 20, 2014
Patent Number:
8730983
A method and apparatus for a configurable packet routing, buffering and scheduling scheme to optimize throughput with deadlock prevention in SRIO-to-PCIe Bridges have been described. A single level enqueue method with dynamic buffering and dequeuing based on packet re-ordering is disclosed. Single level packet routing and scheduling to meet SRIO and PCIe rules to enqueue packets based on FType/TType is disclosed. Backpressure based on ingress watermarks for different packet types is…
Combined touch sensor and LED driver with n-type MOSFET protecting touch sensor
Granted: May 13, 2014
Patent Number:
8723807
A combined touch sensor and light-emitting-diode (LED) driver comprises a touch sensor circuit configured to detect a touch, where the touch sensor circuit is coupled to a common node and configured to operate with a first operating voltage, an LED driver circuit configured to drive an LED if the LED is coupled to the common node, where the LED driver circuit is also coupled to the common node and configured to operate with a second operating voltage is higher than the first operating…
Method and apparatus for reducing crowbar current and controlling slew rate
Granted: May 13, 2014
Patent Number:
8723573
An output driver that includes a pull-up network comprising a first plurality of resistive branches forming a first R-2R resistive ladder structure, wherein the resistive branches of the pull-up network are coupled to a high voltage supply through pull-up switching transistors. The output driver may further include a pull-down network comprising a second plurality of resistive branches forming a second R-2R resistive ladder structure, wherein the resistive branches of the pull-down…
Autonomous controlled headroom low dropout regulator for single inductor multiple output power supply
Granted: May 13, 2014
Patent Number:
8723492
A controlled headroom low dropout regulator (CHLDO) having an LDO with an input voltage provided by a capacitor. An incremental voltage is added to an output voltage of the LDO to create a reference voltage. The reference voltage is compared to the input voltage to determine when to couple/de-couple the capacitor with a current source. If the capacitor is coupled to the current source, the capacitor will charge only if the voltage driven by the current source exceeds the input voltage…
Compression of baseband signals in base transceiver systems
Granted: April 22, 2014
Patent Number:
8705634
A signal compression method and apparatus for a base transceiver system (BTS) in a wireless communication network provides efficient transfer of compressed signal samples over serial data links in the system. For the uplink, an RF unit of the BTS compresses baseband signal samples resulting from analog to digital conversion of a received analog signal followed by digital downconversion. The compressed signal samples are transferred over the serial data link to the baseband processor then…
Hybrid-coding for improving transient switch response in a multi-cell programmable apparatus
Granted: April 22, 2014
Patent Number:
8704684
Hybrid-coding, multi-cell architecture and operating techniques for step devices provide advantages over binary-coded and thermometer-coded step devices by minimizing or avoiding glitches common in the transient response of binary-coded step devices and by minimizing or avoiding significant increases or degradation in one or more of area, package dimensions, pin counts, power consumption, insertion loss and parasitic capacitance common to thermometer-coded step devices having equivalent…
AC coupled clock receiver with common-mode noise rejection
Granted: April 8, 2014
Patent Number:
8693557
A clock receiver includes a capacitive coupling circuit for filtering out direct-current voltages from a differential clock signal. In this way, the capacitive coupling circuit rejects common-mode noise in the differential clock signal. The clock receiver also includes a bias circuit for establishing a bias voltage in the differential clock signal and a differential amplifier for amplifying the differential clock signal. Further, the differential amplifier generate a feedback…
Controller for secondary side control of a switch, power converter, and related synchronous rectification control method
Granted: March 25, 2014
Patent Number:
8681514
A controller, power converter, and a related method for secondary side control of a switch are disclosed herein. An embodiment of the present invention includes a controller. The controller comprises a drain to source voltage (VDS voltage) input configured to receive the VDS voltage of a transistor, a gate drive output configured to output a gate drive voltage to a gate of the transistor, and control logic configured to initiate a minimum on time signal independent of triggering the gate…
Periodic signal generators having microelectromechanical resonators therein that support surface wave and bulk acoustic wave modes of operation with different temperature coefficients of frequency
Granted: March 25, 2014
Patent Number:
8680931
A periodic signal generator is configured to generate high frequency signals characterized by relatively low temperature coefficients of frequency (TCF). This generator may include an oscillator containing a pair of equivalent MEMs resonators therein, which are configured to support bulk acoustic wave and surface wave modes of operation at different resonance frequencies. Each resonator includes a stack of layers including a semiconductor resonator body (e.g., Si-body), a piezoelectric…
Method and apparatus for glitch-free switching of multiple phase clock
Granted: March 25, 2014
Patent Number:
8680910
A method and apparatus for glitch-free switching of multiple phase clock have been disclosed where switching from one phase to another phase is done step-by-step to avoid generating a glitch.
Transmission of multiprotocol data in a distributed antenna system
Granted: February 11, 2014
Patent Number:
8649388
In a distributed antenna system (DAS) and a local area network (LAN), a common communication infrastructure distributes data from radio-based and Internet-based sources. A radio equipment (RE) of the DAS interfaces to a LAN segment. For the downlink, a gateway maps radio signal data from a radio equipment controller (REC) and data packets from a switch to mixed-data frames using a radio data interface protocol for transmission in the DAS. At the RE, the signal data and data packets are…
Digital signal generator
Granted: January 28, 2014
Patent Number:
8638174
The invention relates to a digital signal generator for providing one or more phases of a local oscillator signal for use in digital to analogue converters and harmonic rejection mixers. Embodiments disclosed include a local oscillator signal generator (200) for a mixer of a radiofrequency receiver, the signal generator (200) comprising a bit sequence generator (201) having a plurality of parallel output lines (203), a digital signal generator (202) having a serial output line (204) and…
