The Whitaker Corporation

M/a -com, Inc.

Other

Tyco Electronics Corporation

Cobham Defense Electronic Systems Corporation

Rockerswitch LLC

Paul John Schwab

Kristi Dhimiter Pance

Neil James Craig

Graham John Wells

Wayne Mack Struble

Nitin Jain

David J Fryklund

Andrew K Freeston

Gerald Griffin

Ronald Francis Hebert

Leonard A DeRoche

John B Stevens

Andrew Freeston

Nelson Spike Jones

John Stephen Atherton

An apparatus and method for selecting combinations of pickups on a guitar or other stringed instrument allows a performer to control the pickup selections without interrupting instrument play. Combinations of pickups are selected by a processor according to measurements of orientation, position, and/or rate of movement made by an accelerometer. The accelerometer measurements can be filtered. Any or all elements of the system can be contained in a hollow space within the instrument. A manual control can be included to override the processor. Pickup combinations and/or accelerometer measurement ranges can be specified by manual controls while in a training mode. In a sequential mode, pickup combinations are selected in a preset order and for preset time periods. The accelerometer sampling rate can be between 1000 and 100 samples per second, and the sampled data can be stored in an 11 by 11 array.

Microprocessor controlled, accelerometer based guitar pickup switching system

In accordance with principles of the present invention, a two or more pole dielectric resonator circuit is provided with resonators that are elliptical in cross section orthogonal to the longitudinal axis. The resonators are mounted so that they are rotatable about their longitudinal axes, such that the straight line distance between two adjacent resonators measured in a straight line between orthogonal to and intersecting the longitudinal axes of the two resonators is a function of the orientation of the resonators about their longitudinal axes. The resonators can be oriented about their longitudinal axes in any orientation to adjust their spacing, which is directly proportional to their coupling magnitude, which, in turn, is proportional to the bandwidth of the circuit.

Rotatable elliptical dielectric resonators and circuits with such dielectric resonators

A dielectric resonator with an air (or other dielectric) gap axially interrupting the body of the resonator and circuits employing such resonators. Preferably, the resonator body is conical or a stepped cylinder. However, the invention also is workable with a straight-sided cylindrical resonator body.

Dielectric resonators with axial gaps and circuits with such dielectric resonators

In order to permit electronic tuning of the frequency of a circuit including dielectric resonators, such as a dielectric resonator filter, tuning plates are employed adjacent the individual dielectric resonators. The tuning plates comprises two separate conductive portions and an electronically tunable element electrically coupled therebetween. The electronically tunable element can be any electronic component that will permit changing the capacitance between the two separate conductive portions of the tuning plates by altering the current or voltage supplied to the electronically tunable element. Such components include virtually any two or three terminal semiconductor device. However, preferable devices include varactor diodes and PIN diodes.

Electronically tunable dielectric resonator circuits

A serial controller for use in controlling various radio frequency (RF) modules within an RF integrated circuit is disclosed. The serial controller is coupled to an serial bus that internal to the RFIC that transmits commands and data from a microcontroller to a data receiver module within the serial controller. The serial commands and data are transmitted across the serial bus in a data packet format having an address-overhead portion and a data portion, wherein the data receiver module removes the address-overhead bits from the packet and provides the data portion of the packet as output data. A decoder/coder logic module coupled to the data receiver receives the serial data and is operative to process the serial data and in response thereto activate one or more control signals. An RF module includes at least one circuit and one or more switching elements that are coupled to the one or more control signals. The switching elements are responsive to the corresponding control signals by switching one or more switchable component into the circuit or isolating the switchable component from the circuit to adjust or change one or more parameter of the circuit so as to vary the output of the RF module in a controlled manner.

Serial control of radio frequency integrated circuits

A scalable N&times;M switching matrix architecture is characterized by a readily calculable number of crossover locations and comprises one or more single pole, N throw (&ldquo;SPNT&rdquo;) switches and, for each such switch, an N state impedance converter/amplitude compensation network.

Scalable N&times;M, RF switching matrix architecture

A packaged integrated circuit configured for interconnection to an external component comprises a die (,) having a high frequency contact (,), the die (,) being disposed on a lead frame (,). The lead frame (,) comprises a plurality of leads (,). At least two of the leads are first and second RF port leads (,) which are electrically connected to the high frequency contact (,). When mounted to a printed circuit board substrate, there is a capacitor (,) connected between the first and second RF port leads (,) to achieve frequency specific signal attenuation at an unwanted frequency with minimal contribution of insertion loss at a desired frequency.

Integrated circuit having a parasitic resonance filter

An apparatus for propagating high frequency energy hag a wavelength of .lambda. in a dielectric medium has first and second signal lines, substantially coplanar with each other, and carrying high frequency energy, A ground trace separates the signal lines and has a plurality of vias, each spaced a distance greater than one quarter .lambda. and less than one half .lambda. apart from another one of the vias.

Isolation in multi-layer structures

A packaged integrated circuit configured for interconnection to an external component comprises a die (1) having a high frequency contact (8), the die (1) being disposed on a lead frame (3). The lead frame (3) comprises a plurality of leads (9). At least two of the leads are first and second RF port leads (9a, 9b) which are electrically connected to the RF port. When mounted to a printed circuit board substrate, there is a capacitor (12) connected between the first and second high frequency contact (8) leads (9a, 9b) to achieve frequency specific signal attenuation at an unwanted frequency with minimal contribution of insertion loss at a desired frequency.

A control circuit is provided that can be used to compensate for pinch off voltage sensitive circuits. The control circuit comprises a control FET (26) having a gate (27), a drain (29), and a source (28). The control FET source (28) is connected to a tracking potential (23) through control FET source resistor (31) in series with a constant voltage drop element (32). A control voltage input (22) is applied to the control FET drain (29). A current flow through the control FET (26) results in a transfer function that is substantially linear for linear changes in control voltage input below a voltage pinch off value of the control FET (26). As the voltage control output (23) approaches the pinch off voltage value of the control FET (26), smaller changes in control voltage output (23) are realized for the same change in control voltage input (22).

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Hudson, NH, United States of America

Paul John Schwab