Dallas Semiconductor Corporation

Texas Instruments Corporation

Teledyne Industries, Inc.

Royalty Funding Ltd.

James D Awtrey

Robert D Lee

Hal Kurkowski

Robert G Nelson

A device and method for measuring temperature is disclosed. The device, for example, can include a thermocouple configured to generate a voltage indicative of a junction temperature; a memory device configured to store a unique device ID and to store data; a logic unit connected to the thermocouple and the memory device; an I/O interface connected to the logic unit, the I/O interface configured to communicate with a computer system; and an internal temperature sensor connected to the logic unit, the internal temperature sensor configured to determine a cold junction temperature.

Environmental condition sensor device and method

A precision, low cost, capacitor sensor comprised of two parallel plates, with an air dielectric, with preferably both substrates comprised of vitreous materials and electrically conductive coating, but with at least one of the substrates and coating being transparent. The coatings are preferably of identical material, thickness and pattern to offset stress distortion of the sensor plates from thermal expansion and contraction. Uniform spacing between the plates is provided by means of glass fibers of uniform diameter, dispersed in a matrix of adhesive and bonded under pressure, deposited between the plates as two thin semicircular seal rings surrounding the dielectric and separated by a diametrical gap, allowing entrance or escape of air dielectric. A novel feature, provided by at least one plate and coating being transparent, is use of optical measuring techniques during fabrication to verify acceptability of the manufacturing process and uniformity of the sensor product. This permits easy, rapid, efficient and economical grading and process control of the sensors during fabrication with resulting improved precision performance of the product and economical cost to manufacture. As an option, three or more of the four faces of the two substrates will bear conductive coatings, for structural stability, to minimize distortion in capacitance due to changes in temperature.

A precision capacitor sensor

The disclosure is directed to an analog-digital converter which includes a source having an output of fixed frequency time-spaced pulses. An oscillator having an output of time-spaced pulses, harmonically related to pulses from the source, is comprised of a plurality of digital gates connected serially in a loop. At least one of the digital gates includes impedance means such as a resister or capacitor, responsive to an analog condition to form a modulator. Change in the value of the impedance changes the time constant of the modulator to effect a change in the time-spaced pulses related to the instantaneous amplitude of the analog condition. The outputs of the source and the oscillator are applied to a comparator. Means responsive to the comparator is employed to correct the oscillator time-spaced pulses toward an in phase state relative to the time-spaced pulses from the source. A digital signal is produced whose value is proportional to the correction made to the oscillator time-spaced pulses and is thus representative of the instantaneous value of the analog condition.

Analog to digital converter

A metal-insulator-semiconductor structure is disclosed which includes provision for canceling clock-line noise. In a preferred embodiment, the noise radiated by and capacitively coupled from the multiphase clock lines in a charge-coupled-device structure is canceled by forming at least one passive diode adjacent the output diode of the CCD. The passive diode is spaced from the clock lines by a distance which as closely as possible matches the distance which the output diode is spaced from the clock lines. The output diode is connected to the non-inverting input of a differential amplifier while the passive diode is connected to the inverting input of the differential amplifier; the differential amplifier can be either formed on the chip or separate from the chip. The clock line radiated noise is common to both diodes and is therefore canceled by the differential amplifier.

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Garland, TX, United States of America

James D Awtrey