Method and apparatus for disabling high speed bus operation under high common mode voltage conditions
Granted: February 2, 2021
Patent Number:
10908671
An apparatus including a handshake window enabler having a pair of differential inputs and a window enablement output, a common mode detector coupled to a power input and a ground input and having a handshake inhibit output, and a handshake disabler coupled to the handshake window enabler, the common mode detector, and the pair of differential inputs. If a common mode voltage that out of range (“too high”) is detected, high speed handshake protocols are such that the bus operates a…
Average current mode control architecture
Granted: January 26, 2021
Patent Number:
10903745
A new architecture for buck LED drivers and buck DC-DC converters is disclosed for providing response to both line and loads. The architecture uses a new average current mode control scheme that does not use an error amplifier to regulate the current in the inductor in the buck converter. Even though there is no oscillator the switching frequency remains constant over line and load. The architecture provides a low cost solution with very fast response times.
Near field communication reader with dynamic power control
Granted: January 12, 2021
Patent Number:
10893492
A near field communication reader includes a receiver, a transmitter, a matching network, a reader antenna coupled to the matching network; a microcontroller coupled to the receiver and the transmitter, a microcontroller; and a non-transitory computer readable media coupled to the microcontroller and including code segments and data executable on the microcontroller to control a RF driver of the transmitter based upon loading level as determined, for example, by a field detector output…
Transmit/receive system for imaging devices
Granted: January 12, 2021
Patent Number:
10890651
A transmit/receive system for an imaging device includes a transmit circuit configured to generate and output test pulses to a transducer of a probe to cause the probe to propagate an ultrasonic wave through an object. A receive circuit is configured to receive, from the transducer, a composite signal that includes the test pulses output by the transmit circuit and a reflected signal corresponding to reflected waves sensed by the transducer in response to the ultrasonic wave propagated…
System and method for output voltage overshoot suppression
Granted: December 29, 2020
Patent Number:
10879800
A method for suppressing voltage overshoot at an output of a voltage regulator is disclosed. The voltage regulator includes at least one channel having a first set of (high-side) transistors and a second set of (low-side) transistors. In implementations of the method, an output voltage at an output of at least one channel of a voltage regulator is detected and compared with a reference voltage. A rate of change associated with the output voltage is also determined and compared with a…
Isolation impedance measuring system and method using fourier transform and component value self calibration
Granted: December 1, 2020
Patent Number:
10852334
Embodiments of the present invention disclose methods and systems in a vehicle having high voltage (HV) for measuring isolation impedance in an EV or HEV utilizing an AC impedance measurement system. The method utilizes an extraction algorithm based on a Fourier transform to calculate phase and amplitude and then utilizes the calculated phase and amplitude to determine the isolation impedance. The isolation impedance comprises leakage resistance and total capacitance that are coupled in…
LDMOS transistors and associated systems and methods
Granted: November 10, 2020
Patent Number:
10833164
A lateral double-diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect (LDMOS) transistor includes a silicon semiconductor structure, a dielectric layer at least partially disposed in a trench of the silicon semiconductor structure in a thickness direction, and a gate conductor embedded in the dielectric layer and extending into the trench in the thickness direction. The dielectric layer and the gate conductor are at least substantially symmetric with respect to a center axis of the trench…
Wafer-level chip-scale package device having bump assemblies configured to maintain standoff height
Granted: October 13, 2020
Patent Number:
10804233
Wafer-level (chip-scale) package semiconductor devices are described that have bump assemblies configured to maintain standoff (bump) height. In an implementation, the wafer-level chip-scale package devices include an integrated circuit chip having an array of bump assemblies disposed over the integrated circuit chip. The array of bump assemblies comprises a plurality of first bump assemblies that include solder bumps composed at least substantially of a solder composition (i.e., do not…
Orientation aware audio soundstage mapping for a mobile device
Granted: October 13, 2020
Patent Number:
10805760
A mobile device with orientation aware audio mapping capability is disclosed. The mobile device has an aux speaker, a loud speaker, a sensor for device orientation detection, and a processor (or processors) coupled to the sensor and the speakers. Depending on the device orientation, the processor sends a mapped audio output to the speakers. The mapped audio output may be a mono audio signal or a stereo audio signal. The stereo audio output signal may be a stereo audio output signal with…
Systems and methods for a current sense amplifier comprising a sample and hold circuit
Granted: October 13, 2020
Patent Number:
10804851
Described herein are systems and methods that reduce settling time in amplifier circuits, such as voltage sense amplifiers (VSA) or current sense amplifiers (CSA) circuits, that comprise a feedback path. When the feedback path is interrupted via a switch, a CSA circuit switches to open loop. A sample-and-hold circuit holds the output voltage of the amplifier, such that when a load is connected to the CSA circuit, the open loop settling time, which is shorter than the closed loop settling…
Data interleaving scheme for an external memory of a secure microcontroller
Granted: October 6, 2020
Patent Number:
10797857
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 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 other…
Differential signal transfer systems and associated methods
Granted: October 6, 2020
Patent Number:
10797704
A differential signal transfer system includes a dynamic level-shifter and a common-mode rejection device. The dynamic level-shifter is configured to (a) receive an input signal including a differential-mode component and a first common-mode component and (b) generate a level-shifted signal from the input signal, the level-shifted signal including the differential-mode component and a second common-mode component that is different from the first common-mode component. The common-mode…
Capacitive-coupled chopper instrumentation amplifiers and associated methods
Granted: October 6, 2020
Patent Number:
10797661
A capacitive-coupled chopper instrumentation amplifier includes a first chopper, a first gain stage, a capacitive isolation stage electrically coupled between inputs of the first gain stage and the first chopper, a second gain stage, a second chopper electrically coupled between outputs of the first gain stage and inputs of the second gain stage, clamping circuitry electrically coupled between the inputs of the first gain stage and a reference voltage rail, and a controller. The…
Multiphase buck-boost amplifier
Granted: October 6, 2020
Patent Number:
10797660
Various buck-boost amplifier architectures are disclosed. In some architectures, a plurality of amplifiers use one or more inductors from a shared bank of inductors as needed to deliver variable amounts of power to respective loads. In some architectures, each amplifier includes multiple inductors and switches that are controlled to vary the number of inductors used in an amplifier based on a power requirement of the amplifier to drive its load. In some architectures, the switches…
Multipoint communication systems for battery management systems, and associated systems and methods
Granted: September 15, 2020
Patent Number:
10777851
A multipoint communication system for a battery management system includes a distributed antenna at least partially disposed within a battery pack, a plurality of nodes, each node being wirelessly coupled to the distributed antenna and configured to acquire battery information, and a radio frequency gateway electrically coupled to the distributed antenna.
Photovoltaic assemblies capable of communicating an event occurrence, and associated systems and methods
Granted: September 15, 2020
Patent Number:
10777697
A method for communicating an event occurrence among a plurality of photovoltaic assemblies of a photovoltaic system includes the following steps: (1) in response to the event occurrence, injecting a first signal onto a power line at a first photovoltaic assembly of the plurality of photovoltaic assemblies, (2) detecting the first signal on the power line at a second photovoltaic assembly of the plurality of photovoltaic assemblies, and (3) in response to detecting the first signal on…
Systems and methods for stable physically unclonable functions
Granted: September 8, 2020
Patent Number:
10771246
Systems and methods allow to take advantage of the natural statistical variation of physical properties in a semiconductor device in order to create truly random, repeatable, and hard to detect cryptographic bits. This may be accomplished by recursively pairing mismatch values of Physically Unclonable Functions (PUF) elements so as to ensure that generated PUF key bits remain insensitive to environmental errors, without affecting the utilization rate of available PUF elements. The…
Systems and methods for enhancing confidentiality via logic gate encryption
Granted: September 8, 2020
Patent Number:
10771062
Presented are systems and methods that allow hardware designers to protect valuable IP and information in the hardware domain in order to increase overall system security. In various embodiments of the invention this is accomplished by configuring logic gates of existing logic circuitry based on a key input. In certain embodiments, a logic function provides results that are dependent not only on input values but also on an encrypted logic key that determines connections for a given logic…
Battery chargers and associated systems and methods
Granted: August 4, 2020
Patent Number:
10734828
A method for charging a battery includes (a) applying a charging current pulse to the battery, (b) after the step of applying the charging current pulse to the battery, measuring a first voltage across the battery, (c) estimating an equilibrium voltage of the battery, (d) determining a Nernst voltage of the battery from a difference between the first voltage and the equilibrium voltage, and (e) controlling charging of the battery at least partially based on the Nernst voltage.
Multi-level switching power converters including bypass transistors and associated methods
Granted: August 4, 2020
Patent Number:
10734898
A multi-level switching power converter includes a string of N upper transistors and a string of N lower transistors, where N is an integer greater than one. The N upper transistors are electrically coupled in series between a first power node and a switching node, and the N lower transistors are electrically coupled in series between the switching node and a reference node. The multi-level switching power converter further includes N?1 flying capacitors, an inductor, a bypass…
