17th week of 2014 patent applcation highlights part 20 |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20140111182 | REFERENCE VOLTAGE GENERATION CIRCUIT - A reference voltage generation circuit includes a standard electrical current path including at least a pair of NMOS and PMOS, and a constant electrical current supplying circuit for supplying a constant electrical current to the standard electrical current path. The pair of NMOS and PMOS is configured to share a gate potential and a source-drain electrical current. Accordingly, the reference voltage generation circuit is configured to generate a reference voltage as a potential difference between two positions sandwiching the NMOS and PMOS. The reference voltage generation circuit further includes a timing compensation circuit. The timing compensation circuit includes a compensation DMOS for forming a detour electrical current path for bypassing the NMOS according to an on signal. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111183 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MEASURING POWER COMSUMPTION BY USING SENSING TAG - An apparatus and method for measuring power using a sensing tag are provided. The power measuring apparatus includes a power sensing tag and a power measurement control system. The power sensing tag is installed in a line along which power is supplied to a load of a target device, and measures power consumed by the load. The power measurement control system receives power information measured by the power sensing tag from the power sensing tag, and determines power consumed by the load by using the measured power information. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111184 | INTERNAL CHIRP GENERATOR WITH TIME ALIGNED ACQUISITION IN A MIXED-DOMAIN OSCILLOSCOPE - A mixed-domain oscilloscope (MDO) includes a signal generator configured to generate a test signal having a span ranging from a user-configurable start frequency to a user configurable stop frequency, an output channel coupled to the signal generator and configured to transmit the test signal, an RF input channel configured to receive a return signal based on the test signal, an acquisition section configured to acquire and digitize the return signal as an acquisition record, and a ramp busy signal generator configured to substantially time-align the acquisition record with the test signal. The test signal includes a chirp signal that is a linearly swept sine wave that spans between the user-configurable start frequency and the user-configurable stop frequency. Methods include calibrating the chirp signal, connecting the MDO in various test configurations relative to external return loss bridge and DUT equipment, and performing measurements such as S | 2014-04-24 |
20140111185 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR DETECTING A PHASE SEQUENCE IN A VEHICLE - In at least one embodiment, an apparatus for detecting a phase sequence in a vehicle is provided. The apparatus includes a control module for being operatively coupled to a power grid for receiving an incoming power signal therefrom, the incoming power signal providing a first voltage and a second voltage in a vehicle. The control module is configured to determine a phase difference between the first voltage and the second voltage and to determine a signal frequency of the incoming signal to determine a country type for the power grid. The control module is further configured to control a number of switching devices to generate an output voltage signal based on the phase difference and the signal frequency to charge at least one battery on the vehicle. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111186 | IMPEDANCE SOURCE RANGING APPARATUS AND METHOD - An impedance sourcing circuit for a measurement device configured to measure a device under test (DUT) and method are disclosed. The impedance sourcing circuit includes a voltage/current source. An electrically controlled variable resistance having a control input is configured to adjust the variable resistance is coupled to the DUT. A loop gain controller is coupled to the control input of the electrically controlled variable resistance. The loop gain controller is configured to drive the control input of the electrically controlled variable resistance to adjust the variable resistance to generally match the impedance of the DUT. The impedance sourcing circuit may also include a voltage detector configured to detect a voltage across the DUT and a voltage reference. The loop gain controller may be configured to drive the control input of the electrically controlled variable resistance based on the voltage detected across the DUT and the voltage reference. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111187 | DYNAMIC DC-OFFSET DETERMINATION FOR PROXIMITY SENSING - The subject matter disclosed herein relates to dynamically determining DC-offset used for proximity sensing of a mobile device. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111188 | ACTIVE SHUNT AMMETER APPARATUS AND METHOD - An active shunt ammeter for measuring current flowing through a device under test (DUT) and method are disclosed. The active shunt ammeter includes an input configured to receive an input signal having a frequency within a frequency band and representing the current flowing through the DUT. An output is configured to generate an output voltage representing the current flowing through the DUT. The active shunt ammeter also includes a gain circuit having an amplifier with a gain characteristic that varies respect to frequency within the frequency band and a feedback element having an impedance coupled from an output of the gain circuit to a negative input of the gain circuit, the feedback element impedance being configured to change with frequency to correlate with the amplifier gain characteristic such that the feedback element impedance divided by the amplifier gain over the frequency band has minimal frequency dependency. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111189 | METHOD FOR THE CONTACTLESS DETERMINATION OF AN ELECTRICAL POTENTIAL OF AN OBJECT USING TWO DIFFERENT VALUES FOR THE ELECTRIC FLUX, AND DEVICE - A method for the contactless determination of an electrical potential of an object, involves providing an electrode which is spatially at a distance from the object, connecting the electrode to a reference potential, determining a first temporal change in an electrical state of charge of the electrode at a first value for the electric flux between the electrode and the object, determining a second temporal change in the electrical state of charge of the electrode at a second value for the electric flux between the electrode and the object, and determining the electrical potential of the object at least from the first temporal change in the electrical state of charge and the second temporal change in the electrical state of charge and from a difference between the first value and the second value for the electric flux. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111190 | CURRENT DETECTION DEVICE AND ELECTRICITY METER - A device including: a conductor through which a current to be measured flows; multiple coils arranged around the conductor; a first magnetic body provided to face one of end surfaces of each of the multiple coils and configured to magnetically short-circuit the multiple coils; and a second magnetic body provided to face another one of the end surfaces of each of the multiple coils, configured to magnetically short-circuit the multiple coils, and including through-holes through which coil wires from the multiple coils are passed, respectively, the through-holes being provided at positions facing the other end surfaces of the multiple coils, respectively. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111191 | "SENSOR ARRANGEMENT, SENSOR BEARING AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING A SENSOR ARRANGEMENT" - The invention relates to a sensor arrangement for use in a sensor bearing with a magnetic ring ( | 2014-04-24 |
20140111192 | MAGNETIC FIELD DIRECTION DETECTOR - A magnetic field direction detector for detecting whether a magnetic flux has a component of field from a first side or a second side of a detection axis; the magnetic field direction detector comprising: a first magneto-resistive sensor; and a perturbation generator; wherein the perturbation generator causes an external magnetic field to be perturbed so as to cause the apparent direction of flux to change by an angle θ | 2014-04-24 |
20140111193 | ROTATION ANGLE DETECTING DEVICE AND ROTARY DRIVE UNIT BY USE THEREOF - In a rotation angle detecting device, a signal from a first magnetism detecting element is outputted to a signal output part of a first IC package. A first signal output terminal outputs the signal from the first magnetism detecting element to outside. A signal from a second magnetism detecting element is outputted to a signal output part of a second IC package. A second signal output terminal outputs the signal from the second magnetism detecting element to outside. At least one of a power supply terminal and a ground terminal is located between the first and second signal output terminals. A rotary drive unit includes the device, a motor that rotates a detection object, and a motor power source wire. The ground terminal and a motor power source terminal are adjacent to each other. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111194 | Magnatoresistive Sensing Device and Method for Fabricating the Same - A magnetoresistive sensing device includes a substrate, a magnetoresistive sensing element, a circuitry element and a shielding unit. The magnetoresistive sensing element, the circuitry element and the shielding unit are disposed at the same side of the substrate. The shielding unit is between the magnetoresistive sensing element and the circuitry element. The shielding unit comprises at least one magnetic material. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111195 | MAGNETIC FIELD SENSOR FOR SENSING EXTERNAL MAGNETIC FIELD - A magnetic field sensor for sensing an external magnetic field is disclosed. The magnetic field sensor includes at least two magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) elements disposed on an underlying electrode. Each of the MTJ elements is formed by a synthetic antiferromagnetic layer, a barrier layer and a free layer sequentially stacked together. A top electrode is then connected to the free layers. The free layer can be a single free layer, a composite free layer, a synthetic antiferromagnetic free layer or an alloy free layer. When a current is applied to a metal circuit passing over or below the MTJ elements, free magnetic moments generated by the MTJ elements are anti-parallel to each other along a reference axis, and the angles between the magnetic moments created by the MTJ elements and the reference axis are 40 to 50 degrees and 130 to 140 degrees, respectively. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111196 | CURRENT SENSOR - A current sensor for measuring a current flowing through a conductor includes a sensor substrate, a magnetoelectric converter formed on a surface of the sensor substrate and configured to output a signal changing with an applied magnetic field, and a magnetic shield that surrounds the sensor substrate and the conductor to magnetically shield the inside from the outside. The output signal of the magnetoelectric converter changes with a magnetic filed applied along the formation surface of the sensor substrate. The magnetic shield has at least one gap for reducing magnetic saturation in the magnetic shield. The gap and the sensor substrate are located at the same height in a z-direction orthogonal to the formation surface of the sensor substrate. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111197 | MAGNETIC SENSOR SYSTEM - Magnetic sensor system including an assembly comprising first, second, and third scalar point-sensor magnetometers being fixedly mounted with respect to one another such that the position of each magnetometer's axis is invariable with respect to the other magnetometers' axes. When the sensor assembly is in operation, each magnetometer's axis forms an angle with ambient magnetic field lines. Each magnetometer has an operating range defined with respect to a range of values of the angle formed by its axis and the ambient magnetic field. The magnetometers are positioned such that at least one of magnetometers is within its operating range at any point in time. Each magnetometer has an output signal. Computer processor determines which of the output signals is to be used any particular point in time in the sensing of local variations in the ambient magnetic field. Method of operation of the magnetic sensor system/assembly is disclosed. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111198 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPLEMENTING EIT MAGNETOMETRY - A magnetometer is provided comprising an atomic vapor in an enclosure, a source of light for preparing the vapor into a state exhibiting electromagnetically induced transparency, a first laser beam passing through the atomic vapor, a phase detector for detecting changes in phase of the first laser beam, and a controller which controls the light source and laser beam and receives the information detected by the phase detector in order to compute from those changes in phase a magnetic field strength in the presence of a selected background magnetic field of at least 0.001 T. Operation in the presence of a background field helps make this magnetometer suitable for diagnostic imaging applications. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111199 | METHOD OF OBTAINING IMAGE AND PROVIDING INFORMATION ON SCREEN OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING APPARATUS, AND APPARATUS THEREOF - An MRI method includes detecting movement of an object while a protocol is executed to capture an image of a region of the object, and outputting information indicating occurrence of the movement, based on a value of a movement amount. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111200 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZATION OF A PULSE SEQUENCE FOR A MAGNETIC RESONANCE SYSTEM - A method and a pulse sequence optimization device to optimize a pulse sequence for a magnetic resonance system, wherein the pulse sequence includes at least one refocusing pulse, one slice selection gradient pulse, and one gradient spoiler pulse. The pulse duration of the refocusing pulse is shortened, and the pulse duration of the slice selection gradient pulse is adapted to the shortened pulse duration of the refocusing pulse. The amplitude of the slice selection gradient pulse is increased so that the same slice thickness is selected as before the shortening of the pulse duration of the refocusing pulse. The pulse shape of the gradient spoiler pulse is adapted without changing a total spoiler moment, and an optimally shortened pulse duration of the refocusing pulse is achieved when, with the adaptation of the pulse shape of the gradient spoiler pulse, the maximum amplitude of the gradient spoiler pulse equals the amplitude of the slice selection gradient pulse, and an edge steepness of the gradient spoiler pulse is minimized. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111201 | MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING SYSTEM AND MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING METHOD - A method of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) includes applying radio frequency (RF) pulses including a plurality of frequency components and a selection gradient to a target to simultaneously excite a plurality of sub-volumes included in each of a plurality of groups, wherein neighboring sub-volumes of all sub-volumes constituting a volume of the target belong to different groups; acquiring magnetic resonance signals from the plurality of sub-volumes by performing 3D encoding on each of the excited sub-volumes; and reconstructing the acquired magnetic resonance signals into image data corresponding to each of the plurality of sub-volumes. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111202 | System and Method for Portable Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using a Rotating Array of Magnets - A portable magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) system that uses static magnetic field inhomogeneities in the main magnet for encoding the spatial location of nuclear spins is provided. Also provided is a spatial-encoding scheme for a low-field, low-power consumption, light-weight, and easily transportable MRI system. In general, the portable MRI system spatially encodes images using spatial inhomogeneities in the polarizing magnetic field rather than using gradient fields. Thus, an inhomogeneous static field is used to polarize, readout, and encode an image of the object. To provide spatial encoding, the magnet is rotated around the object to generate a number of differently encoded measurements. An image is then reconstructed by solving for the object most consistent with the data. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111203 | REDUCING ARTIFACTS IN MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGES ACQUIRED USING PROPELLER ECHO PLANAR IMAGING - In PROPELLER utilizing EPI k-space sampling, phase errors arising primarily from eddy currents can considerably degrade image quality. The phase errors include spatially constant phase errors, spatially linear phase errors, and oblique phase errors. Methods to measure and correct for these phase errors are disclosed. Two or three reference scans are acquired, each reference scan being mutually orthogonal along the orthogonal physical gradient axes in a MRI system. A spatially constant phase error and a spatially linear phase error are determined from each of the reference scans for each relevant physical gradient axis. These phase errors can be used to predict the constant, linear, and oblique phase errors in each blade of an EPI PROPELLER k-space data set. With the known phase errors for each blade, constant, linear, and/or oblique phase correction is applied prior to or during PROPELLER image reconstruction, producing an image with substantially reduced artifacts. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111204 | MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING APPARATUS AND HIGH-FREQUENCY MAGNETIC FIELD DERTERMINATION METHOD - According to this invention, in order to obtain high-quality images even when the slice selective gradient magnetic fields waveform is distorted by eddy currents and vibration, high-frequency magnetic field information is calculated on the basis of an output gradient magnetic field waveform applied in accordance with the input gradient magnetic field waveform that is set in a pulse sequence, and the calculated high-frequency magnetic field information is set in the pulse sequence. Then, the set input gradient magnetic field, and the excitation RF pulses of the calculated high-frequency magnetic field information are used during imaging. The output gradient magnetic field waveform used in determining the excitation RF pulses is found by measurement and calculation, for example, by using the input gradient magnetic field waveform. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111205 | Method and Device for Holding and Adjusting Permanent Magnets Included in an NMR System - The device for holding and adjusting individual permanent magnets included in a spectroscopy or a magnetic resonant imaging system comprises, for each individual permanent magnet: a first rigid fork of non-magnetic material that laterally clamps in fixed manner the individual permanent magnet; and a second rigid fork of non-magnetic material that engages the first fork via a slideway system and that is provided with means for radially adjusting the first fork relative to a stationary support to which the second fork is attached. The device enables fine adjustment to be made after assembling a magnetized structure that is constituted by rings of individual magnets. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111206 | MRI ACOUSTIC SYSTEM, ACOUSTIC OUTPUT DEVICE, AND ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC TRANSDUCER - A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acoustic system includes a magnet; an electro-acoustic transducer that includes a coil through which a current flows so that an attractive force or a repulsive force is generated with respect to the magnet, and a vibrating plate that vibrates in response to the attractive force or the repulsive force; and a controller that controls an intensity of a current input to the electro-acoustic transducer according to a position of the electro-acoustic transducer in a magnetic field generated by the magnet. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111207 | System and Method for Deep Detection of Petroleum and Hydrocarbon Deposits - A system and method for deep detection of petroleum and hydrocarbon deposits is disclosed. The system includes a sensing array that includes a plurality of electrodes positioned in the ground at a testing site, a sensing device, and a system for generating a seismic event that generates below-ground signals that are received by the sensing array. The system enables detection and depth determination of underground features such as petroleum and hydrocarbon deposits at greater depths compared to conventional systems. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111208 | GROUND-TRACKING SYSTEMS AND APPARATUS - A ground tracking system including a ground follower assembly for use with a locator or other device for determining position, motion, and/or orientation information is disclosed. The ground follower assembly may include a wheel assembly coupled to a locator and configured to swivel and/or pivot relative to an antenna node of the locator to generate signals for use in determining position information during a locate operation, such as from a sonde array. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111209 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ANALYZING FORMATION PROPERTIES WHEN PERFORMING SUBTERRANEAN OPERATIONS - A method of analyzing a subterranean formation is disclosed. A first signal is transmitted from a transmitter to the formation and a second signal which is a reflection of the first signal is received. A third signal, which is the second signal reversed in time, is then transmitted to the formation. A fourth signal which is a reflection of the third signal from the formation is then received and monitored. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111210 | Apparatus and Methods for Well-Bore Proximity Measurement While Drilling - In one aspect an apparatus for determining a distance between a first borehole and a second borehole during drilling of the second borehole is disclosed that in one embodiment includes a magnet on a drilling tool that rotates in the second borehole to induce a primary magnetic field in a magnetic object in the first borehole, a substantially stationary sensor on the drilling tool that detects a secondary magnetic field from the magnetic object responsive to the induced primary magnetic field, and a controller that determines the distance between the first borehole and the second borehole from the detected magnetic field. In another aspect a method of determining a distance between a first borehole and a second borehole, the in one embodiment includes inducing a primary magnetic field in a magnetic object in the first borehole using a rotating magnet in the second borehole, detecting a secondary magnetic field from the magnetic object responsive to the induced primary magnetic field using a substantially stationary sensor in the second borehole, and determining the distance between the first borehole and the second borehole from the detected magnetic field. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111211 | Method For Guiding A Downhole Tool Assembly Using An Above-Ground Receiver System - A method and receiver system for identifying a location of a magnetic field source using two horizontally displaced tri-axial antennas. In a preferred embodiment two tri-axial antennas are positioned at opposite ends of a receiver frame. Each antenna detects in three dimensions a magnetic field from a source or transmitter. The receiver is maintained in a horizontal plane and the receiver is moved in the horizontal plane until a flux angle measured at each of the two points is zero so that the receiver is in the vertical plane perpendicular to the axis of the source. The depth and location of the source in three dimensions relative to the receiver is determined using the detected field values. The receiver is moved in a direction defined by a line containing the two points of the receiver until a magnitude of the magnetic field detected at each of the two points is substantially the same so that the receiver is positioned above the source. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111212 | FORMATION RESISTIVITY IMAGING IN CONDUCTIVE BOREHOLES - An apparatus for providing an image of a resistivity property of an earth formation surrounding a borehole is provided. The apparatus, in one aspect, may include a plurality of measure electrodes that are configured to convey an electrical current into the earth formation. In one aspect, each measure electrode may be substantially surrounded by an associated insulator that extends away from a tool body in a manner that blocks at least a portion of a vertical current flowing in a conductive fluid when the tool is operated to log the borehole. A processor provides an image of the resistivity property of the earth formation using the current in plurality of measure electrodes. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111213 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR STATIC TESTING A SPARK PLUG ASSEMBLED IN AN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE INCLUDING CRACKED CERAMIC INSULATOR DETECTION - An apparatus and method is provided for testing a spark plug after the spark plug is assembled in an internal combustion engine. The apparatus includes a high voltage test probe to mechanically probe the spark plug. The high voltage test probe includes a non-electrically conductive part, an electrically conductive ring substantially shielded by the non-electrically conductive part, and a high voltage contactor for electrically connecting to a terminal end of the spark plug. The apparatus also includes a high voltage control box having a high voltage source and an electrical ground, and including at least one of an insulator crack detection circuit and a spark plug firing circuit. The method includes using the apparatus to test assembled spark plugs. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111214 | ELECTRIC STORAGE CONDITION DETECTING APPARATUS - An electric storage condition detecting apparatus includes a voltage detector configured to detect a voltage of an electric storage device, and a controller configured to determine stabilizing time based on data corresponding to a charging capacity of the electric storage device, and the stabilizing time is required for stabilizing an open circuit voltage of the electric storage device. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111215 | ANALOGUE MEASUREMENT DATA DETECTION SYSTEM AND BATTERY VOLTAGE DETECTION SYSTEM - An analogue measurement data detection system according to the present invention includes: a reference voltage generation circuit configured to generate and output a reference voltage; an analogue/digital converter configured to compare an analogue signal with the reference voltage outputted from the reference voltage generation circuit, and based on a differential voltage between the analogue signal and the reference voltage, generate and output a digital signal corresponding to the analogue signal. The reference voltage generation circuit is configured to cause the reference voltage to have such a temperature characteristic as to compensate for temperature characteristics of at least the analogue/digital converter and the reference voltage generation circuit. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111216 | VOLTAGE MEASURING APPARATUS - A voltage measuring apparatus is configured to measure voltages of respective battery cells of a battery cell array including a plurality of battery cell groups each including a predetermined number of battery cells connected in series. The voltage measuring apparatus includes a plurality of measuring units each provided for each of the battery cell groups. The adjacent measuring units are connected through a communication channel so as to perform current communication therebetween. A bidirectional diode circuit element is connected to the communication channel extending between the adjacent measuring units. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111217 | VOLTAGE MEASURING DEVICE - A signal processor includes: a plurality of first capacitors provided for respective output terminals of a plurality of multiplexers, the first capacitors having their one ends connected to the respective output terminals of the multiplexers, the first capacitors being charged in accordance with voltages outputted from the respective output terminals; a differential amplifier including an input terminal connected to the other ends of the first capacitors; a second capacitor connected between the input terminal and an output terminal of the differential amplifier; and a second switch connected parallel to the second capacitor. First switches included in at least one of the plurality of multiplexers are configured as high-voltage switches that allow operation at a voltage higher than an operating voltage of first switches included in the other multiplexer or multiplexers. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111218 | FAILURE PREDICTION IN A ROTATING DEVICE - Some of the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method comprising: during an operation phase, operating a rotating device at a first speed; during the operation phase, monitoring a first current consumed by the rotating device to operate at the first speed; comparing the first current to a second current measured during a calibration phase while rotating the device at a second speed, wherein the first speed is substantially equal to the second speed; and based on comparing the first current and the second current, predicting a possible failure of the rotating device. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111219 | METHOD FOR LOCATING SHORT CIRCUIT IN AN OVERHEAD POWER TRANSMISSION LINE BY UNSYNCHRONIZED MEASUREMENTS AT BOTH ENDS THEREOF - The claimed invention relates to the power industry and can be used for locating short circuits in power transmission lines by measuring the instantaneous current and voltage values when unsynchronized measurements are taken at both ends of the line. It is a technological object of the invention to improve the accuracy of damage location. The technical result of the invention is achieved by accurately synchronizing the current and voltage values measured at the ends of the line and unsynchronized in time on measurement. Synchronization is effected by aligning the oscillograms at both ends of the line with the short circuit start section. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111220 | METHOD FOR FAULT DIAGNOSIS ON SOLAR MODULES - There is provided a method for fault diagnosis on a solar module in which electrical potentials are checked within the solar module to provide the possibility for carrying out the fault diagnosis even when the solar module is not exposed to sun light. Specifically the solar cell module is excited by both a DCBIAS and an AC voltage over a wide frequency range, and the impedance of the solar cell module is measured as a function of the frequency response. There is also provided an embodiment, wherein time domain reflectometry (TDR) is used in combination with the DC BIAS and AC voltage based fault diagnosis. Based on the method safety operations can be carried out as a part of the integrated electric functionality. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111221 | TESTING DEVICE AND METHOD - A testing method tests the performance of a disc loading and transferring mechanism having a tray. The testing method includes steps of transmitting tray-out and tray-in instructions in that order, to drive the tray between a closed position and an opened position, detecting when the tray reaches the opposing position, counting the number of operations of the tray alternating between a closed position and an opened position; determining when the number of counts is equal to a predetermined number and outputting test results when the actual count is equal to a predetermined number or when the count is interrupted by malfunction. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111222 | Electrode Design for Electric Field Measurement System - An electrode arrangement for an electric field sensor device with a transmitting electrode and at least one receiving electrode may have a nonconductive substrate having a first conductive layer and a second conductive layer. A first electrode is arranged within the first conductive layer, wherein the first electrode is a receiving electrode of the electric field sensor device, and a second electrode is arranged within the second conductive layer, wherein the second electrode is a transmitting electrode of the electric field sensor device wherein the second electrode covers a larger area than the first electrode and wherein the second electrode is textured to reduce the capacitance between the first and second electrode. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111223 | Two Dimensional Position Sensor - A two-dimensional position sensor comprising a substrate with a sensitive area defined by a pattern of electrodes including electrodes for determining x-position and electrodes for determining y-position. The x-electrodes and y-electrodes generally extend in the x-direction and are interleaved in the y-direction. The x-electrodes comprise at least first, second and third groups of elements shaped such that adjacent ones of the elements of the different x-electrode groups co-extend in the x-direction so that the x-electrodes provide ratiometric capacitive signals, thereby providing quasi-continuous x-position sensing across the sensitive area. In addition, the y-electrodes may be resistively connected or arranged in ratiometric pairs to provide quasi-continuous y-position sensing. Alternatively, the x-electrode groups may be interdigitated to form pairs of x-adjacent blocks of differing area to provide stepwise x-position sensing in combination with stepwise y-position sensing provided by the y-electrodes. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111224 | Probe - An improved probe designed in particular but not exclusively for measuring the concentration of live biomass. The probe has an insulating body portion arranged to carry a first and second electrode where the probe has a longitudinal axis and the first and second electrodes extend in this longitudinal axis. The body portion has a cross-sectional area perpendicular to the longitudinal axis defined by a major axis and minor axis, wherein the length of the body portion in the major axis is greater than the length of the body portion in the minor axis. The first and second electrodes are positioned on either side of the major axis. This reduces the effect of impedance between the electrode and the liquid through increasing the effective distance between the electrodes. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111225 | Measuring Voltage - In one embodiment, a method includes, at a first input of a comparator, receiving from an analog multiplexer one of multiple first voltages. Each of the first voltages results at least in part from an interaction between an object and an electrode of each of one or more nodes of a capacitive touch sensor. The method includes, at a second input of the comparator, receiving a second voltage across a measurement capacitor that has a first terminal coupled to the second input of the comparator. The method includes charging the measurement capacitor at least in part through a measurement resistor coupled in series to the first terminal of the measurement capacitor and monitoring an output of the comparator during the charging of the measurement capacitor. The output of the comparator changes state when the second voltage becomes approximately equal to or greater than the one of the first voltages. The method includes determining an amount of time from a start of the charging of the measurement capacitor to a change in state of the output of the comparator. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111226 | IMPEDANCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM - In an impedance measurement system, a reference impedance ( | 2014-04-24 |
20140111227 | Housing Cladding Module with Collision Identification for Medical Devices - A housing cladding module for a medical device is provided for collision identification. The module includes resistor elements, which are arranged in and/or on the surface and which are designed such that the resistor elements change their electrical resistance on expansion. The resistor elements are arranged in such a way that the resistor elements are expanded in the event of a collision with an object. The collision is identified easily, and the effective collision force may be ascertained. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111228 | POSITION DETECTION DEVICE - A position detection device having a first electrode pair, an electrically conductive body that forms an electrical resistor which is electrically connected to the electrodes of the first electrode pair and extends in a first direction (y), between them, and with a measurement electrode which is in electrically conductive contact with the surface of a measurement area of the body located between the electrodes of the first electrode pair and can move relative thereto. The body is electrically connected to the electrodes of a second electrode pair and extends between them in a second direction (x) such that the measurement area is located between the electrodes of the second electrode pair. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111229 | CORROSION SENSORS - Corrosion sensor apparatus for detection of contamination affecting metal based components and devices. For example, an apparatus includes: a set of corrosion sensor elements, wherein a width of a first corrosion sensor element is different than a width of a second corrosion sensor element, wherein each corrosion sensor element is susceptible to corrosion caused by an operating environment of the corrosion sensor elements; and a set of reference elements wherein a width of a first reference sensor element is substantially equal to the width of the first corrosion sensor element and a width of a second reference sensor element is substantially equal to the width of the second corrosion sensor element, wherein each reference sensor element is not substantially susceptible to corrosion caused by the operating environment of the corrosion sensor elements. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111230 | SYSTEM FOR DETECTING A LASER ATTACK ON AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT CHIP - A system for detecting a laser attack on an integrated circuit chip formed in a semiconductor substrate, including a detection device capable of detecting voltage variations of the substrate. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111231 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS UTILIZING CARBON NANOFIBER AGGREGATE FOR PERFORMANCE MONITORING OF CONCRETE STRUCTURES - A carbon nanofiber aggregate (CNFA) system and method provides self-sensing capabilities that can be used to detect strain, moisture, and temperature changes. The CNFA may include cement, aggregate, silica fume, high-range water reducer (HRWR), and/or carbon nanofibers. The metal meshes in the CNFA may be utilized to monitor the electric properties of the CNFA to detect strain, moisture, and temperature changes. The CNFA may be embedded in concrete structures to allow detection of strain, moisture, and temperature changes that may cause damage to structures. Several metal meshes may be embedded in the CNFA. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111232 | METHOD FOR DETECTING A ROTATION OF A ROTOR OF A GENERATOR - A method for detecting a rotation of a rotor of a generator, which includes measuring the voltage induced in the rotor for the generator voltage in the case of an emergency start with an inactive closed-loop controller; and detecting the rotor rotation with the aid of the induced voltage. When a rotation is detected, the control circuit is activated and the rotation is determined from the phase voltage. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111233 | APPARATUS, SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLLED TESTING - Apparatus, systems and methods are provided for controlling a radio frequency board on an individualized basis and with respect to one or more environmental conditions, for example, temperature, pressure, humidity. In one embodiment, an enclosure configured to hold a single board includes one or more access portals and one or more interfaces, wherein the environment within the enclosure may be modified by applying one or more environmental modifiers to the enclosure through an access portal, and the operation of the board may be modified utilizing the one or more interfaces. In another embodiment, a system for testing a plurality of boards, each in their own enclosure is provided. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111234 | Die, Chip, Method for Driving a Die or a Chip and Method for Manufacturing a Die or a Chip - In various embodiments, a die is provided. The die may include a physical unclonable function circuit configured to provide an output signal, wherein the output signal is dependent on at least one physical characteristic specific to the die; and a self-test circuit integrated with the physical unclonable function circuit on the die, wherein the self-test circuit is configured to provide at least one test input signal to the physical unclonable function circuit and to determine as to whether the output signal provided in response to the at least one test input signal fulfills a predefined criterion. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111235 | ELECTRONIC COMPONENT HANDLING APPARATUS, ELECTRONIC COMPONENT TESTING APPARATUS, AND ELECTRONIC COMPONENT TESTING METHOD - There is provided an electronic component handling apparatus which can be reduced in size or can improve the throughput when the number of contact arms is increased. A handler comprises: a plurality of contact arms which are arrayed along a first direction, each of the plurality of contact arms including a holding part which holds a DUT and including an adjustment unit which moves the holding part relative to a base part of each contact arm; an imaging unit capable of imaging the DUT and the holding part; an operation unit which operates the adjustment unit; and a moving unit which moves the imaging unit and the operation unit along an X direction. The adjustment unit adjusts the relative position of the holding part according to an operation of the operation unit. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111236 | TERMINAL TESTER - A terminal testing device provides an adapter customized to a port of a connector being tested so that force applied to the adapter identifies loose and fixed terminals in the connector. The adapter includes springs and push pins that correspond in number to the number of terminals being tested and has a face plate that corresponds to the type of connector being tested. The push pins provide force against the terminal end. Specifically, the device seats the adapter and connector to align both and permit force to be in line with terminal ends. The force applied to the terminal ends is uniform and controlled by means of the adapter and is obtained by a single driving means. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111237 | CONTACT SPRING FOR A TESTING BASE FOR THE HIGH CURRENT TESTING OF AN ELECTRONIC COMPONENT - A contact spring for a testing base for high current testing of an electronic component, which is produced from a spring metal sheet of a predetermined thickness and possesses two identical opposing lateral faces, and which has a spring arm and a testing arm with a testing tip, where the testing arm forms an angle with the spring arm, which enables the testing tip to be positioned on a contact surface of the electronic component running approximately parallel to the spring arm, by relative movement between the testing base and the electronic component. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111238 | SPIRAL PROBE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SPIRAL PROBE - A spiral probe includes a tapered distal end portion ( | 2014-04-24 |
20140111239 | LOCALIZED PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD LAYER EXTENDER APPARATUS FOR RELIEVING LAYER CONGESTION NEAR HIGH PIN-COUNT DEVICES - A method and apparatus for a localized printed circuit board layer extender (LLX) is provided. The apparatus relieves layer routing congestion in and around high pin count integrated circuits. The method begins when a localized layer extender is provided that is compatible with the bottom-side pin-field of a device under test (DUT). The LLX is affixed to the bottom-side pin-field of the DUT. Test signals are then routed through the LLX as part of a test procedure. The apparatus includes: a LLX that substantially matches the pin-field of a bottom side of a DUT; a LLX base; and a LLX debug interface. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111240 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CHECKING THE OPERATION OF A PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULE - A method for checking the operation of a photovoltaic module of a photovoltaic power station. The module has a positive terminal, a negative terminal and a number of solar cells, in particular thin-layer solar cells. An electric field emitted by the photovoltaic module as a result of solar radiation is measured at an exposed measurement location during the operation of the power station and the electrical voltage present between the positive terminal and the negative terminal is determined from the measured electric field. A corresponding measuring instrument has a sensor to be placed near the photovoltaic module so as to measure the electric field strength. A rod or wand may be used to position the sensor, or a robot may be configured for automatic travel on the photovoltaic module. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111241 | OPTICAL TESTING OF A MULTI QUANTUM WELL SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - A pump light pulse is generating a strain pulse in a sample that includes quantum wells. A signal is measured using a probe light pulse. The probe light pulse is delayed in relation to the pump light pulse. The signal derives from a change in an optical property of the sample, which optical property responds to the generated strain pulse. One may deduce parameters of interest of the sample, including the quantum wells, from the characteristics of the signal. For discerning between various components of the stress in the quantum wells a lead pump pulse, preceding the pump light, pulse my also be used. A system for the application of such methods is also disclosed. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111242 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TESTING INTERCONNECTION RELIABILITY OF A BALL GRID ARRAY ON A TESTING PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD - An apparatus for determining an electrical reliability of a ball grid array (BGA) assembly of an integrated circuit is presented. The assembly comprises a testing printed circuit board (PCB) having an integrated circuit (IC) test region located thereon. Vias extend through the testing PCB from a surface to an underside thereof within the IC test region. Each via has an IO pad or ground pad electrically connectable thereto. An IC package having an IC die connected thereto by solder bumps is connected to the IC test region by solder balls, such that each of the IO pads is electrically connectable to a respective pair of the solder balls and solder bumps by the vias. A method of testing interconnection reliability of the BGA using the apparatus is also presented. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111243 | TRANSITION DELAY DETECTOR FOR INTERCONNECT TEST - A test circuitry configured to test for transition delay defects in inter-die interconnects is disclosed. In one aspect, the test circuitry comprises an input port configured to receive a test data value and a data storage element configured to temporarily store the test data value. The test circuitry additionally comprises a second inter-die interconnect configured to be electrically connected to a first inter-die interconnect so as to form a feedback loop for transferring the test data value from the data storage element back to the data storage element. The test circuitry additionally comprises a data conditioner configured to condition the fed back test data value so as to make it distinguishable from the stored test data value. The test circuitry additionally comprises a clock pulse generator configured to generate a delayed clock pulse. The test circuitry additionally comprises a selection logic configured to apply the generated delayed clock pulse and the conditioned fed back test data value to the data storage element. The test circuitry further comprises a readout unit for reading out a test data value stored in the data storage element. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111244 | Electrical Device With A Pulsed Power Supply And Method For Testing The Power Supply Of The Electrical Device - An electrical device having a clocked circuitry, and a method for testing the power supply unit of the electrical device. The electrical device comprises an electrical load, a clocked power supply unit, at least one pulse transformer and an evaluation device. The power supply unit comprises a power stack having at least one power semiconductor switch and is configured for generating a clocked voltage for the electrical load from an electric voltage based on an alternating on/off switching of the power semiconductor switch. The power stack exhibits at least one current path, through which an electric current flows during operation. The pulse transformer generates a signal assigned to the change in the charge and/or the direction of the electric current flowing through the current path. The evaluation device evaluates the signal coming from the pulse transformer and draws a conclusion regarding the operational reliability of the power semiconductor switch. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111245 | INTEGRATED CIRCUIT DESIGN PROTECTING DEVICE AND METHOD THEREOF - An integrated circuit design protecting device includes a switch device and a non-volatile memory. The switch device includes M input ports, N output ports, N multiplexers, and S selection nodes. Each multiplexer of the N multiplexers includes I input nodes, an output node, and at least one selection node. The I input nodes are coupled to I input ports of the M input ports. The output node is coupled to an output port of the N output ports. The non-volatile memory is coupled to the S selection nodes of the switch device for providing selection codes to the switch device. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111246 | INCREASED TRANSITION SPEED SWITCHING DEVICE DRIVER - A switching device driver, which includes switching circuitry and a first capacitive element, which is coupled to the switching circuitry, is disclosed. The switching circuitry receives a logic level input signal and provides a switching control output signal to a switching device based on the logic level input signal. When the logic level input signal has a first logic level, the switching circuitry charges the first capacitive element. When the logic level input signal transitions from the first logic level to a second logic level, the switching circuitry at least partially discharges the first capacitive element to rapidly transition the switching control output signal, thereby causing the switching device to quickly change states. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111247 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR BUILDING BUS INTERCONNECTION NETWORKS USING PROGRAMMABLE INTERCONNECTION RESOURCES - Integrated circuits may include logic regions configurable to perform custom functions. Interconnects may be used to route signals throughout the integrated circuit. The logic region may be coupled to input selection circuitry for selecting and providing input signals from the interconnects to the logic regions and to output selection and routing circuitry for selecting and transmitting output signals over interconnects to other logic regions. Bypass circuitry may provide direct access to registers inside the logic regions and to the output selection and routing circuitry by bypassing the input selection circuitry and other processing circuitry inside the logic regions. Bus interconnections having logic regions performing register pipelining, wire stitching, and acting as data source/sink stations to get on and off the bus interconnections may be generated by configuring the bypass circuitry and the output selection and routing circuitry appropriately. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111248 | LOW SUPPLY VOLTAGE ANALOG DISCONNECTION ENVELOPE DETECTOR - An analog disconnection envelope detection circuit having a low power supply detects a high speed, high differential voltage disconnect state on a data line. Level-shifting circuitry shifts the voltage level of two input signals by the value of a detection threshold voltage, generates differential signals used to indicate conditions of the input signals, and mitigates effects of input differential signal common-mode voltage on the detection operation. Circuitry is provided to equalize VDS of detecting tail current sources, thereby eliminating errors resulting from VDS mismatch of tail current sources. Comparator circuitry compares the sets of differential signals and indicates when the absolute difference between the two input signals is greater than a reference voltage. Output circuitry generates a disconnect signal corresponding to the disconnect condition. When compared to conventional disconnect detection circuitry, the disclosed circuit utilizes a relatively low supply voltage to detect high differential voltage disconnect conditions with improved accuracy. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111249 | Time Distribution Switch - Systems and methods for detecting the failure of a precision time source using an independent time source are disclosed. Additionally, detecting the failure of a GNSS based precision time source based on a calculated location of a GNSS receiver is disclosed. Moreover, the system may be further configured to distribute a time derived from the precision time source as a precision time reference to time dependent devices. In the event of a failure of the precision time source, the system may be configured to distribute a time derived from a second precision time source as the precision time signal during a holdover period. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111250 | METHODS AND DEVICES FOR MATCHING TRANSMISSION LINE CHARACTERISTICS USING STACKED METAL OXIDE SEMICONDUCTOR (MOS) TRANSISTORS - An output driver for electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection includes a first pair of stacked metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOS) devices coupled between a power terminal and a first differential output terminal. The output driver also includes a second pair of stacked MOS devices coupled between a second differential output terminal and a ground terminal. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111251 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - A semiconductor device includes an information generation circuit configured to generate first information, an information multiplexing circuit configured to multiplex the first information and second information, and an information driving circuit configured to drive an output pad in response to an output signal of the information multiplexing circuit. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111252 | THRESHOLD TRACKING BIAS VOLTAGE FOR MIXERS - Bias voltage generators that can generate variable bias voltages for transistors in mixers and other circuits are disclosed. In an exemplary design, an apparatus (e.g., a wireless device or an integrated circuit (IC)) includes at least one transistor and a bias voltage generator. The transistor(s) have a threshold voltage and receive a bias voltage. The bias voltage generator generates the bias voltage based on changes to the threshold voltage of the transistor(s), e.g., due to IC process and/or temperature. In an exemplary design, the bias voltage generator includes a replica transistor that tracks the transistor(s) and an op-amp that provides a gate voltage for the replica transistor. The bias voltage is generated based on the gate voltage. The bias voltage generator may generate the bias voltage (i) to track the threshold voltage of the transistor(s) in a first mode or (ii) based on a fixed voltage in a second mode. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111253 | DRIVER FOR SWITCHING ELEMENT AND CONTROL SYSTEM FOR MACHINE USING THE SAME - In a driver, a charging module electrically charges the on-off control terminal of the switching element for turning on the switching element, and a limiting module performs a task of limiting a voltage at the on-off control terminal of the switching element by a predetermined voltage to thereby limit an increase of a current flowing between the input and output terminals of the switching element. A determining module determines whether the voltage at the on-off control terminal of the switching element deviates from the predetermined voltage while the limiting module is performing the limiting task. A correcting module corrects the voltage at the on-off control terminal of the switching element to be close to the predetermined voltage when it is determined that the voltage at the on-off control terminal of the switching element deviates from the predetermined voltage. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111254 | INTEGRATED CIRCUIT CHIP AND SYSTEM HAVING THE SAME - An integrated circuit chip includes: an internal circuit; a data output circuit configured to output a data packet of the internal circuit in response to a strobe signal; an oscillator configured to generate a first clock signal; a divider configured to divide the first clock signal and generate a second clock signal; and a strobe signal supply unit configured to supply the second clock signal as the strobe signal during an initial period of transmission of the data packet and supply the first clock signal as the strobe signal after the initial period. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111255 | INTEGRATED CIRCUIT CHIP AND SYSTEM HAVING THE SAME - An integrated circuit chip includes: an internal circuit; a data output circuit configured to output a data packet of the internal circuit in response to a strobe signal; an oscillator configured to generate a first clock signal; a divider configured to divide the first clock signal and generate a second clock signal; and a strobe signal supply unit configured to supply the second clock signal as the strobe signal during an initial period of transmission of the data packet and supply the first clock signal as the strobe signal after the initial period. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111256 | DESERIALIZERS - Deserializers are provided. The deserializer includes a data aligner, a selection signal generator and a selection output unit. The data aligner is configured to align data in response to internal clock signals having different phases from each other to generate higher aligned data and lower aligned data. The selection signal generator is configured to detect a phase of one of the internal clock signals in response to a phase detection signal to generate a selection signal. The phase detection signal includes a pulse generated according to a write command signal and a write latency signal. The selection output unit is configured to output the higher aligned data or the lower aligned data as selected alignment data in response to the selection signal. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111257 | FREQUENCY DIVIDER, CLOCK GENERATING APPARATUS, AND METHOD CAPABLE OF CALIBRATING FREQUENCY DRIFT OF OSCILLATOR - A clock generating apparatus includes an oscillator and a frequency synthesizer. The oscillator is utilized for generating a reference clock signal. The frequency synthesizer is coupled to the oscillator and utilized for synthesizing a target clock signal in accordance with the reference clock signal and a frequency division factor that has been adjusted or compensated, and outputting the target clock signal as an output of the clock generating apparatus. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111258 | Power-on-Reset and Supply Brown Out Detection Circuit with Programmability - A low-power wideband Power-on-Reset (PoR) and supply brown out detection circuit is proposed, wherein a technique for accurately controlling the PoR trip points and hysteresis voltage is presented. The PoR circuit includes a CMOS circuit with asymmetric rise and fall delays for monitoring wideband supply voltage transients including supply brown out. Being a non-bandgap and non-comparator based circuit, it consumes a very small power and Si area. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111259 | POWER-ON RESET CIRCUIT - A power-on reset circuit includes a power confirmation module and a reset signal generator. The power confirmation module receives a supply voltage and generates a reference voltage and a comparison voltage. A magnitude of the reference voltage rises a first time delay after receipt of the supply voltage, and a magnitude of the comparison voltage rises a second time delay after receipt of the supply voltage. The second time delay is greater than the first time delay. The power confirmation module further outputs a confirmation signal based on the reference voltage and the comparison voltage. The reset signal generator outputs a reset signal according to the confirmation signal. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111260 | PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD AND SIGNAL TIMING CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - A printed circuit board includes a sending element, a plurality of receiving elements, and a control unit. The sending element is configured to generate a sending signal. The receiving elements are configured to receive a control signal respectively. The control unit is coupled to the sending element through a first wire and to the receiving elements through a plurality of second wires. The control unit is provided with a comparison table that stores related information of the second wires. When receiving the sending signal, the control unit generates the control signals according the related information of the second wires. At least one of the control signals is transmitted to the corresponding receiving element, and the rest of the control signals are delayed for a preset time and then transmitted to the rest of the receiving elements. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111261 | SWITCHING DEVICE DRIVING APPARATUS - A switching device driving apparatus for preventing arm short circuit is provided, including: a first switching device driving unit for receiving a control signal for controlling a first switching device and a second switching device so that they will not turn ON at the same time and outputting an ON/OFF drive signal to the first switching device; and a second switching device driving unit for receiving the control signal and outputting an ON/OFF drive signal to the second switching device, in which the first switching device driving unit outputs a drive signal for increasing the delay of the ON timing of the first switching device with respect to the OFF timing of the second switching device with increase in ambient temperature. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111262 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - An object is to provide a low-power semiconductor device which does not require a latch circuit to hold data at the output of inverter circuits. In the semiconductor device, an input of a first inverter circuit is connected to an input terminal through a source and a drain of a first transistor. An input of a second inverter circuit is connected to an output of the first inverter circuit through a source and a drain of a second transistor. An output of the second inverter is connected to an output terminal. An inverted clock signal and a clock signal are input to gates of the first transistor and the second transistor, respectively. The first and the second transistor have extremely low off-current, which allows the output potential of the device to remain unchanged even when the input varies. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111263 | SHIFTER CAN AVOID UTILIZING PARTIAL PULSE - A shifter that can avoid utilizing a partial pulse, comprising: at least one shifting stage, for receiving an external clock signal or a command triggering clock signal to generate sampling signals according a command signal; and a command triggering clock signal generating circuit, for generating the command triggering clock signal according to the command signal. The shifting stage utilizes the external clock signal to generate the sampling signal but does not utilize the command triggering clock signal to generate the sampling signal, if the command triggering clock signal may have a partial pulse for a cycle that the shifting stage generates the sampling signal. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111264 | PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING SIGNAL TIMING SEQUENCE THEREOF - A printed circuit board includes multiple receiving components for respectively receiving control signals and a transmitting component coupled to the receiving component through multiple leads. Given that the lengths of the leads may be different to each other, the control unit generates the control signals to the leads according to the information about the leads, and firstly delivers at least one of the control signals to the corresponding receiving component(s), and then delivers the remaining control signals to the receiving components after a predetermined time. Furthermore, a method for controlling a signal sequence for the printed circuit board includes generating multiple control signals depending on the information about leads and delivering at least one of the control signals to the corresponding receiving component and delivering the remaining control signals to the remaining receiving components after the predetermined time. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111265 | DELAY CIRCUIT - A delay circuit for receiving an input signal and generating a delayed output signal. The delay circuit includes a first delay module and a second delay module. The first delay module includes a first delay unit for generating a first delayed signal according to an input signal and a first logic unit, coupled to the first delay unit, for generating a first delayed output signal according to the first delayed signal and the input signal. The second delay module includes a second delay unit for generating a second delayed signal according to the first delayed output signal and a second logic unit, coupled to the second delay unit, for generating the delayed output signal according to the second delayed signal and the input signal. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111266 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR HIGH-SPEED GENERAL PURPOSE LEVEL-SHIFTING - A level shifter and method are disclosed. In one embodiment, the level shifter includes a DC biasing component connected with both an AC coupling component and a high voltage output amplifier. The AC coupling component receives an input signal from a low voltage domain and output a first voltage signal. The DC biasing component is configured to bias the first voltage signal using a bias voltage based on a previous output signal in a high voltage domain. The high voltage output amplifier is configured to amplify the DC biased voltage signal in the high voltage domain and provide an output signal in the high voltage domain. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111267 | LEVEL SHIFTER AND OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIER - A level shifter includes a signal receiving module, including at least one signal receiving end for receiving at least one input signal and being conducted or non-conducted according to the input signal; a level adjusting module, configured to generate the adjusted output signal according to the input signal, wherein the level adjusting module includes a first connection end and a second connection end, the second connection end is coupled to the signal receiving module; and a switch module, including a first end coupling to the first connection end and a second end coupling to the second connection end. If the switch module is conducted, an current path is formed between the first connection end, the second connection end and the signal receiving module through the switch module. If the switch module is not conducted, current is blocked from flowing from the first connection end to the second connection end. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111268 | TRANSISTOR CONTROL CIRCUIT AND POWER SUPPLY DEVICE - A transistor control circuit includes: an electrode control circuit configured to apply a positive potential to a control electrode in a transistor that includes the control electrode between a gate and a drain. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111269 | THROUGH-SILICON VIA SELF-ROUTING CIRCUIT AND ROUTING METHOD THEREOF - A through-silicon via self-routing circuit includes a plurality of through-silicon vias (TSVs) and a plurality of planar die. The plurality of planar die are connected by the plurality of TSVs. And each one of the plurality of planar die includes a built-in self-tester, a built-in self-routing switching network, and a core circuit. The built-in self-tester has a plurality of valid-bit leads and a plurality of through-silicon via leads to connect the plurality of TSVs. The built-in self-routing switching network is connected to the built-in self-tester, for selecting from the plurality of TSVs for conducting. The core circuit has a to plurality of I/O leads linked to the built-in self-routing switching network. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111270 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE, AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - An A-NPC circuit is configured so that the intermediate potential of two connected IGBTs is clamped by a bidirectional switch including two RB-IGBTs. Control is applied to the turn-on di/dt of the IGBTs during the reverse recovery of the RB-IGBTs. The carrier life time of an n | 2014-04-24 |
20140111271 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE HAVING BOOSTING CIRCUIT - A semiconductor device includes a boosting circuit that boosts an internal power supply voltage in a boosting range according to an external power supply voltage, an external voltage-level comparison circuit that compares the external power supply voltage and a predetermined reference voltage, and a variable resistor circuit that includes a variable resistor connected to an output terminal of the boosting circuit. The variable resistor circuit controls a resistance value of the variable resistor based on a comparison result of the external voltage-level comparison circuit. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111272 | Power Control System with Performance Monitoring - A system and method for controlling performance and/or power based on monitored performance characteristics. Various aspects of the present invention may comprise an integrated circuit comprising a first circuit module that receives electrical power. A second circuit module may monitor one or more performance characteristics of the first circuit module and/or the integrated circuit. A third circuit module may, for example, determine power control information based at least in part on the monitored performance characteristic(s). The power control information may be communicated to power supply circuitry to control various characteristics of the electrical power. Various aspects of the present invention may also comprise an integrated circuit comprising a first module that monitors at least one performance characteristic of a first electrical device. The integrated circuit may also comprise modules that determine power control information based on the monitored performance characteristic(s) and communicate such power control information to power supply circuitry. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111273 | INDUCTOR WITH CONDUCTIVE TRACE - Among other things, an inductor comprising a conductive trace and a method for forming the inductor are provided. The inductor comprises a magnetic structure, such as a ferrite core. A molding material, such as a dielectric, is formed around the magnetic structure. A conductive trace, comprising one or more conductive pillars interconnected by one or more upper interconnects and one or more lower interconnects, is formed around the magnetic structure to form the inductor. The conductive trace allows physical limitations associated with winding a wire to be avoided, and thus allows the inductor to be smaller than wire wound inductors. In one example, the inductor is formed within an integrated circuit package comprising an active device, such as an integrated circuit. In this way, the inductor can be connected to the integrated circuit within the integrated circuit package. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111274 | PROGRAMMABLE REVISION CELL ID SYSTEM AND METHOD - An integrated circuit comprising a plurality of metal programmable revision identification (MPRI) cells, wherein each MPRI cell further comprises a plurality of metal layers, a plurality of vias and an output. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111275 | EFFICIENT POWER TRANSFER POWER AMPLIFIER (PA) ARCHITECTURE - An efficient power transfer power amplifier (PA) architecture is disclosed that includes a first PA, a first impedance transformation network (ITN) coupled to the first PA, a second PA, and a second ITN coupled to the second PA. A switching network having a plurality of load outputs along with a first switch input coupled to a first impedance output of the first ITN and a second switch input coupled to a second impedance output of the first ITN, a third switch input coupled to a third impedance output of the second ITN, and a fourth switch input coupled to a fourth impedance output of the second ITN. A control system is adapted to control the switching network to switch signals at the first, second, third, and fourth switch inputs such that select ones of the signals travel paths having matching impedances to loads coupled to the plurality of load outputs. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111276 | BOOST CONVERTER CONTROL FOR ENVELOPE TRACKING - Techniques for controlling boost converter operation in an envelope tracking (ET) system. In an aspect, an enable generation block is provided to generate an enable signal for a boost converter, wherein the enable signal is turned on in response to detecting that a sum of a first headroom voltage and an enable peak of a tracking supply voltage is greater than an amplifier supply voltage of the ET system. The enable signal may be turned on for a predetermined enable on duration. In another aspect, a target generation block is provided to generate a target voltage for the boost converter, wherein the target voltage comprises the sum of a second headroom voltage and a target peak of the tracking supply voltage. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111277 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR EXPANDING OPERATION REGION OF POWER AMPLIFIER - An apparatus for amplifying power is provided. The apparatus includes a supply modulator for generating a supply voltage based on an amplitude component of a transmission signal, and a power amplify module for amplifying power of the transmission signal using the supply voltage, wherein the power amplify module includes a first power amplifier and a second power amplifier, and when an output power of the transmission signal is greater than a reference power, the first power amplifier amplifies the power of the transmission signal using the supply voltage, and when the output power of the transmission signal is equal to or less than the reference power, the second power amplifier amplifies the power of the transmission signal using the supply voltage. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111278 | DYNAMICALLY BIASED OUTPUT STRUCTURE - A transconductance amplification stage ( | 2014-04-24 |
20140111279 | ENVELOPE TRACKING DISTRIBUTED AMPLIFIER - A system and method amplify a waveform in a wireless network. An envelope of a waveform is detected to form an envelope waveform. The envelope waveform is shaped to form a shaped waveform, the shaping based on one or more characteristics of a distributed amplifier. The shaped waveform is filtered to form a filtered waveform. The filtered waveform is amplified to form a first amplified waveform. The distributed amplifier amplifies at least a part the waveform based on the first amplified waveform to form a second amplified waveform. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111280 | ELECTRONIC DEVICE, FIBER-OPTIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEM COMPRISING THE ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE ELECTRONIC DEVICE - An electronic device, a fiber-optic communication system comprising the electronic device and a method of operating the electronic device are provided. The electronic device comprises a transimpedance-type amplifier having a transimpedance stage comprising an amplifier which is coupled in series with an input node. A feedback resistor is coupled in series between an output node of the amplifier and an inverting input node of the amplifier to provide a virtual ground node which is coupled to the input node, the inverting input node of the amplifier and to the feedback resistor. A current source is coupled to the virtual ground node so as to compensate for an offset current in an input signal which is coupled to the input node of the electronic device. Further, the electronic device comprises a control stage which is configured to control the current source as a function of a current through the feedback transistor. | 2014-04-24 |
20140111281 | LOW DISSIPATION AMPLIFIER - A low dissipation, low distortion amplifier includes a driver amplifier stage and a main output stage, with a plurality of impedance networks providing, among other things, feedback paths from outputs of the driver and main output stages to the input of the driver stage. The impedance networks also provide coupling paths from the outputs of the driver and main output stages to the load. The impedance networks can all be formed of resistors, capacitors, or network combinations thereof. An additional feedback path can be added from the load to the driver stage to flatten out the frequency response at low frequencies. The driver and main output stages may be operated in Class AB and B modes respectively, and/or in Class G or H modes. An intermediate amplifier driver stage may be added between the driver and main output stages. | 2014-04-24 |