Maxim Integrated Patent Applications

BUMP I/O CONTACT FOR SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE

Granted: January 17, 2013
Application Number: 20130015574
A bump contact electrically connects a conductor on a substrate and a contact pad on a semiconductor device mounted to the substrate. The first end of an electrically conductive pillar effects electrical contact and mechanical attachment of the pillar to the contact pad with the pillar projecting outwardly from the semiconductor device. A solder crown reflowable at a predetermined temperature into effecting electrical contact and mechanical attachment with the conductor is positioned in…

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR POWER TRANSFER BASED ON RESONANCE COUPLING OF INDUCTORS

Granted: December 27, 2012
Application Number: 20120326773
An integrated circuit (IC) includes first and second resonator circuits and an isolation barrier. The first resonator circuit includes first and second inductors, wherein the first resonator circuit is connected to a supply voltage. The second resonator circuit includes third and fourth inductors, wherein the second resonator circuit is matched to the first resonator circuit. The isolation barrier separates the first and second resonator circuits. The first and second inductors are…

ENHANCED WLP FOR SUPERIOR TEMP CYCLING, DROP TEST AND HIGH CURRENT APPLICATIONS

Granted: December 27, 2012
Application Number: 20120326308
A WLP device is provided with a flange shaped UBM or an embedded partial solder ball UBM on top of a copper post style circuit connection.

ACTIVE CELL BALANCING

Granted: December 13, 2012
Application Number: 20120313441
A battery cell balancing system includes N switching circuits connected to first terminals and second terminals of N battery cells, respectively, where N is an integer greater than one. A first transformer includes a first core and N sets of windings wound around the first core. The N sets of windings are connected to the N switching circuits, respectively. A first control module controls switching of the N switching circuits to reverse first connections between the first terminals and…

INTER-SYMBOL INTERFENCE REDUCTION FOR TOUCH PANEL SYSTEMS

Granted: December 13, 2012
Application Number: 20120313890
A touch panel system is described that is configured to reduce inter-symbol interference (ISI). In an implementation, the touch panel system includes a touch panel assembly that includes a plurality of drive electrodes arranged one next to another and a plurality of sensor electrodes arranged one next to another across the drive electrodes to form a plurality of pixels having a mutual capacitance. The touch panel system also includes a transmitter configured to drive the drive electrodes…

WAFER-LEVEL PACKAGE DEVICE

Granted: December 6, 2012
Application Number: 20120306071
Wafer-level package semiconductor devices are described that have a smallest distance between two adjacent attachment bumps smaller than about twenty-five percent (25%) of a pitch between the two adjacent attachment bumps. The smallest distance between the two adjacent attachment bumps allows for an increase in the number of attachment bumps per area without reducing the size of the bumps, which increases solder reliability. The increased solder reliability may reduce stress to the…

DATA INTERLEAVING SCHEME FOR AN EXTERNAL MEMORY OF A SECURE MICROCONTROLLER

Granted: December 6, 2012
Application Number: 20120311239
The invention relates to methods of interleaving payload data and integrity control data in an external memory interfaced with a microcontroller to improve data integrity check, enhance data confidentiality and save internal memory. Data words and are received for storing in the external memory. Each data word is used to generate a respective integrity word, while an associated logic address is translated to two physical addresses in the external memory, one for the data word and the…

TOUCH PANEL TESTING USING MUTUAL CAPACITOR MEASUREMENTS

Granted: November 22, 2012
Application Number: 20120293455
A capacitive touch panel is tested for the presence or absence of short and open circuits in drive and sense lines without the use of a tool that touches the surface of the panel. During a first stage of testing, drive lines of the touch panel are sequentially driven while the remaining drive lines are floated. Sense lines are read to indicate whether a driven drive line is shorted to an adjacent drive line, an open circuit, or coupled to a sense line that is an open circuit. During a…

OPTICAL GESTURE SENSOR USING A SINGLE ILLUMINATION SOURCE

Granted: November 8, 2012
Application Number: 20120280107
A gesture sensing device includes a single light source and a multiple segmented single photo sensor, or an array of photo sensors, collectively referred to herein as segmented photo sensors. A light modifying structure relays reflected light from the light source onto different segments of the segmented photo sensors. The light modifying structure can be an optical lens structure or a mechanical structure. The different segments of the photo sensor sense reflected light and output…

Transponder

Granted: November 8, 2012
Application Number: 20120280795
Proposed is a transponder for receiving a wireless electromagnetic interrogation signal and for transmitting a wireless electromagnetic response signal with a first coil acting as an antenna for generating a first wired electrical receive signal from the interrogation signal, and with at least one further coil acting as an antenna for generating a further wired electrical receive signal from the interrogation signal, wherein an axis of the first coil and an axis of the further coil are…

METHOD FOR DETECTING GESTURES USING A MULTI-SEGMENT PHOTODIODE AND ONE OR FEWER ILLUMINATION SOURCES

Granted: November 8, 2012
Application Number: 20120280904
A gesture sensing device includes a multiple segmented photo sensor and a control circuit for processing sensed voltages output from the sensor. The control circuit processes the sensed voltage signals to determine target motion relative to the segmented photo sensor. The control circuit includes an algorithm configured to calculate one of more differential analog signals using the sensed voltage signals output from the segmented photo sensors. A vector is determined according to the…

MIXED-SIGNAL INTEGRATOR ARCHITECTURE

Granted: November 1, 2012
Application Number: 20120274404
A mixed signal correlator utilizes coherent detection within a capacitance measurement application. In some applications, the mixed signal correlator is used to measure capacitance of a touch screen display. An external capacitor whose capacitance is measured is kept small for improved sensitivity and can be used for a variety of applications having varied integration periods for measurement. The external capacitor is kept small and can be used for varied applications by adjusting the…

System and Method for Background Calibration of Time Interleaved Analog to Digital Converters

Granted: October 18, 2012
Application Number: 20120262318
Various embodiments allow for background calibration of channel-to-channel mismatch errors. In certain embodiments calibration is accomplished by comparing the output of I-ADCs against the output of a reference ADC and correlating the difference to a known function to obtain a correction signal that can be used to correct channel-to-channel mismatch errors.

METHOD TO REDUCE VOLTAGE SWING AT COMPARATOR INPUT OF SUCCESSIVE-APPROXIMATIONS-REGISTER ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTERS

Granted: October 18, 2012
Application Number: 20120262316
A SAR ADC includes a DAC including a first set of capacitors each having a first end connected to a common node, and a second end, and a first set of switches each connecting the second end of a respective one of the capacitors to a first reference voltage. The SAR ADC further includes a second set of capacitors each having a first end connected to the common node and a second end that receives an input to be converted when the common node is connected to ground. The SAR ADC further…

CURRENT SHARE COMPENSATION DESIGN

Granted: October 11, 2012
Application Number: 20120256659
A current share system for providing current to a load includes a first power supply module that controls a first voltage converter to provide a first current to the load, that transmits synchronization information using a first pin, and that transmits at least one second type of information using the first pin. A second power supply module receives the synchronization information at a second pin, receives the at least one second type of information at the second pin, and controls a…

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INTEGRATED SWITCH-MODE DC-DC CONVERTERS FOR POWER SUPPLIES

Granted: October 4, 2012
Application Number: 20120249103
A first control system for a power supply includes a switch-mode DC-DC converter module and an FET gate drive module. The switch-mode DC-DC converter module receives an input voltage and generates first and second voltages, the first voltage powering a DC-DC control module. The FET gate drive module selectively drives a plurality of FETs of the power supply using the second voltage thereby generating a desired output voltage from the input voltage. A second control system is directed to…

TRANSMIT/RECEIVE SYSTEMS FOR IMAGING DEVICES

Granted: October 4, 2012
Application Number: 20120250462
A transceiver for an ultrasonic imaging device includes a transmit circuit and a receive circuit. The transmit circuit outputs test pulses to a probe including a transducer to generate an image of a test object. A composite signal including the test pulses and a reflected signal is output by the transducer. The receive circuit receives the composite signal including the test pulses and the reflected signal and includes a filter circuit. The filter circuit filters the test pulses from the…

Apparatus and Method of Keeping Time of Day Over an Industrial Temperature Range

Granted: October 4, 2012
Application Number: 20120250469
Various embodiments of the invention relate generally to real-time clock circuit, and more particularly to systems, devices and methods of integrating two oscillators in one real-time clock circuit to generate accurate time of day over an industrial temperature range. A primary oscillator is employed to generate a first high precision clock while having a higher frequency and consuming more power; a secondary oscillator is employed to generate a second clock that has a low frequency and…

DELAY COMPENSATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DC TO DC CONVERTERS

Granted: August 30, 2012
Application Number: 20120217940
A control system for a DC to DC converter includes a predicted state generator module, a voltage estimation module, an error module, and a pulse width modulation (PWM) module. During a prior sampling period, the predicted state generator module generates a predicted capacitor voltage and a predicted capacitor current for a current sampling period. The voltage estimation module generates an estimated value of an output voltage of the DC to DC converter during the current sampling period…

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR FEED-FORWARD CONTROL OF LOAD CURRENT IN DC TO DC BUCK CONVERTERS

Granted: August 30, 2012
Application Number: 20120217945
A feed-forward control system for load current in a direct current (DC) to DC converter includes a current normalization module, a feed-forward generation module, and a duty cycle generation module. The current normalization module generates a normalized load current by matching a gain of a measured load current to a gain of an inductor current. The feed-forward generation module that generates a load current feed-forward (LCFF) signal based on the normalized load current. The duty cycle…