Sensor misalignment measuring device
Granted: April 28, 2020
Patent Number:
10634483
The present invention relates to systems and methods for measuring misalignment between layers of a semiconductor device. In one embodiment, a method includes applying an input voltage to respective ones of one or more first electrodes associated with a first conductive layer of a semiconductor device; sensing an electrical property of one or more second electrodes associated with a second conductive layer of the semiconductor device in response to applying the input voltage to the…
Ultrasonic transducer with a non-uniform membrane
Granted: April 28, 2020
Patent Number:
10632500
A Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducer (PMUT) device includes a substrate, an edge support structure connected to the substrate, and a membrane connected to the edge support structure such that a cavity is defined between the membrane and the substrate, the membrane configured to allow movement at ultrasonic frequencies, the membrane having non-uniform stiffness. The membrane includes a piezoelectric layer, a first electrode and a second electrode coupled to opposing sides…
Adaptive buffering of data received from a sensor
Granted: April 21, 2020
Patent Number:
10628346
In a method of adaptive buffering in a mobile device having a host processor and a sensor processor coupled with the host processor, the sensor processor is used to buffer data received from a sensor that is operated by the sensor processor. The data is buffered by the sensor processor into a circular data buffer. Responsive to the sensor processor detecting triggering data within the received data: a first adaptive data buffering action is initiated with respect to the data received…
Inferring ambient atmospheric temperature
Granted: April 21, 2020
Patent Number:
10626009
In a method of inferring ambient atmospheric temperature, an acoustic signal is emitted from a speaker. A first sample of the acoustic signal is captured with a first microphone spaced a first distance from the speaker. A second sample of the acoustic signal is captured with a second microphone spaced a second distance from the speaker. The second distance is greater than the first distance, and a difference between the first distance and the second distance is a known third distance. A…
Sensing an external stimulus using a group of continuous-time Nyquist rate analog-to-digital converters in a round-robin manner
Granted: March 31, 2020
Patent Number:
10608656
Facilitating a reduction in sensor system latency, circuit size, and current draw utilizing a group of continuous-time Nyquist rate analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) in a round-robin manner is presented herein. A sensor system can comprise a group of sensors that generate respective sensor output signals based on an external excitation of the sensor system; a multiplexer that facilitates a selection, based on a sensor selection input, of a sensor output signal of the respective sensor…
Transmit operation of an ultrasonic sensor
Granted: March 24, 2020
Patent Number:
10600403
An ultrasonic sensor includes a two-dimensional array of ultrasonic transducers. A signal generator is configured to generate a plurality of transmit signals, wherein each transmit signal of the plurality of transmit signals has a different phase delay relative to other transmit signals of the plurality of transmit signals. A plurality of shift registers is configured to store a beamforming space including a beamforming pattern to apply to the two-dimensional array, wherein the…
Systems and methods for coordinating applications with a user interface
Granted: March 24, 2020
Patent Number:
10599823
Systems and methods are disclosed for coordinating applications by detecting a touch input and a related touch input a device locations associated with the applications, one of which is a user authentication application. A parameter may be established with the user authentication application so that the other application runs with the at least one parameter.
Gas sensing device with chemical and thermal conductivity sensing
Granted: March 24, 2020
Patent Number:
10598621
The present invention relates to systems and methods for detecting gases in an environment using chemical and thermal sensing. In one embodiment, a method includes exposing a chemiresistor embedded within a sensor pixel to a gas in an environment; setting a heater embedded within the sensor pixel to a sensing temperature, the sensing temperature being greater than room temperature; measuring an electrical resistance of the chemiresistor in response to setting the heater to the sensing…
Half-bridge circuit for a sensor
Granted: March 17, 2020
Patent Number:
10591318
A circuit includes a sensor and a half-bridge circuit. The sensor includes a first sensor capacitor and a second sensor capacitor, where capacitances of the first sensor capacitor and the second sensor capacitor change in opposing directions responsive to receiving a physical signal. The sensor generates a plurality of sensor signals according to the physical signal, the plurality of signals including a common mode injection and a plurality of differential signals. The half-bridge…
Using pressure sensors in a security system
Granted: March 17, 2020
Patent Number:
10593176
A security system for a building comprises a pressure sensor and a computer system communicatively coupled with the pressure system. The pressure sensor coupled to a movable portion of a window in the building. The computer system is configured to: receive a first pressure measurement from the pressure sensor; compare the first pressure measurement to a reference pressure measurement; and based on the comparison, detect that the movable portion of the window has moved.
Electrical testing and feedthrough cancellation for an acoustic sensor
Granted: March 10, 2020
Patent Number:
10587969
A method and circuit for testing an acoustic sensor are disclosed. In a first aspect, the method comprises using electro-mechanical features of the acoustic sensor to measure characteristic of the acoustic sensor. In a second aspect, the method comprises utilizing an actuation signal to evaluate mechanical characteristics of the acoustic sensor. In a third aspect, the method comprises using a feedthrough cancellation system to measure a capacitance of the acoustic sensor. In the fourth…
CMOS integrated microheater for a gas sensor device
Granted: March 3, 2020
Patent Number:
10578572
A gas sensor device with temperature uniformity is presented herein. In an implementation, a device includes a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) substrate layer, a dielectric layer and a gas sensing layer. The dielectric layer is deposited on the CMOS substrate layer. Furthermore, the dielectric layer includes a temperature sensor and a heating element coupled to a heat transfer layer associated with a set of metal interconnections. The gas sensing layer is deposited on the…
Continuous-time sensing apparatus
Granted: February 25, 2020
Patent Number:
10574259
A system includes a sensor device, a circuit driving he sensor device at a drive frequency, a receiver, and a low pass filter. The sensor device is configured to change its electrical characteristics in response to external stimuli. The sensor device generates a modulated signal proportional to the external stimuli. The receiver is configured to receive the modulated signal and further configured to demodulate the modulated signal to generate a demodulated signal. The demodulation signal…
MEMS sensor with offset anchor load rejection
Granted: February 25, 2020
Patent Number:
10571268
A MEMS sensor includes a MEMS layer, a cap layer, and a substrate layer. The MEMS layer includes a suspended spring-mass system that moves in response to a sensed inertial force. The suspended spring-mass system is suspended from one or more anchors. The anchors are coupled to each of the cap layer and the substrate layer by anchoring components. The anchoring components are offset such that a force applied to the cap layer or the substrate layer causes a rotation of the anchor and such…
Determining force applied to an ultrasonic sensor
Granted: February 18, 2020
Patent Number:
10564778
In a method for determining force applied to an ultrasonic sensor, ultrasonic signals are emitted from an ultrasonic sensor. A plurality of reflected ultrasonic signals from a finger interacting with the ultrasonic sensor is captured. A first data based at least in part on a first reflected ultrasonic signal of the plurality of reflected ultrasonic signals is compared with a second data based at least in part on a second reflected ultrasonic signal of the plurality of reflected…
Receive operation of an ultrasonic sensor
Granted: February 18, 2020
Patent Number:
10562070
An ultrasonic sensor includes a two-dimensional array of ultrasonic transducers including a plurality of sub-arrays of ultrasonic transducers, wherein a sub-array of ultrasonic transducers of the plurality of sub-arrays of ultrasonic transducers is independently controllable, and wherein a sub-array of ultrasonic transducers has an associated receive channel. A plurality of shift registers is configured to select a receive pattern of ultrasonic transducers of the two-dimensional array of…
MEMS device with improved spring system
Granted: February 4, 2020
Patent Number:
10551193
A system and method in accordance with an embodiment reduces the cross-axis sensitivity of a gyroscope. This is achieved by building a gyroscope using a mechanical transducer that comprises a spring system that is less sensitive to fabrication imperfection and optimized to minimize the response to the rotations other than the intended input rotation axis. The longitudinal axes of the first and second flexible elements are parallel to each other and parallel to the first direction.
Deformation rejection mechanism for offset minimization of out-of-plane sensing MEMS device
Granted: February 4, 2020
Patent Number:
10551191
An exemplary sensor may include a MEMS layer anchored to a cap and a substrate by anchoring portions of the MEMS layer. A suspended spring-mass system may include springs, at least one rigid mass, and at least one movable mass. The anchoring springs may be torsionally compliant about one or more axes and coupled to the rigid mass such that forces imparted by the anchoring portions are not transmitted to the movable mass.
Method and system for assigning point of sale information
Granted: January 28, 2020
Patent Number:
10547976
One or more sets of anchor points may be assigned to one or more trajectories of a portable device by scoring each anchor point set with respect to each trajectory. The score for an anchor point set may be determined by cumulating the differences between each anchor point in the set with its closest trajectory segment.
Operation of an ultrasonic sensor
Granted: January 21, 2020
Patent Number:
10539539
In a method of using an ultrasonic sensor comprising a two-dimensional array of ultrasonic transducers, a plurality of ultrasonic signals are transmitted according to a beamforming pattern at a position of the two-dimensional array. The beamforming pattern focuses the plurality of ultrasonic signals to location above the two-dimensional array, wherein the beamforming pattern identifies ultrasonic transducers of the two-dimensional array that are activated during transmission of the…
