Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.

Micro Linear Corporation

Sony Corporation

Sony Electronics Inc

Urs H Mader

Mark Robert Plagens

Bryan Andrew Mueller

Erik S Wheeler

Jason Allen Wortham

Henry C Chu

Marco A Zuniga

Ilija Jergovic

Hideyuki Sato

Michael D McJimsey

Jeff Kotowski

Brett A Miwa

Angelo Genova

Franco Cocetta

James J Locascio

Marvin Lyle Peak, Jr

Xiaoying Yu

Chi-Teh Chiang

Roger Chen

Joseph Brian Wymelenberg

Daryl Jay Sugasawara

Yi-Chang Hsieh

Yvonne Ko

An integrated standard-compliant data acquisition device includes an electrically insulating package including a plurality of conductive leads and an integrated circuit (IC) disposed within the electrically insulating package and electrically coupled to at least some of the plurality of conductive leads. The IC includes a first multiplexer (MUX), a second MUX, a third MUX, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a plurality of registers, a fourth MUX, control logic, and communication circuitry. In operation, a first circuit value under a first condition can be determined and stored, a second circuit value under a second condition can be determined and stored, and the decision as to whether there is a fault condition can be mad by comparing the first circuit value and the second circuit value.

Integrated standard-compliant data acquisition device

A current sense device includes a reference transistor for electrically coupling to a power transistor, a sense transistor for electrically coupling to the power transistor, and control circuitry. The control circuitry is configured to (a) control current through the sense transistor such that a voltage at the sense transistor has a predetermined relationship to a voltage at the power transistor, and (b) control current through the sense transistor according to one or more operating conditions at the reference transistor, to compensate for aging of the power transistor.

Current sense devices and associated methods

A differential communication system includes a first differential communication device including a differential transmitter, a second differential communication device including a differential receiver, and a differential isolator coupling the differential transmitter to the differential receiver. The differential receiver includes a comparator operative to develop waveform region information from the received waveform, a filter adapted to remove noise from the received waveform using the waveform region information, and an adaptive sampler adapted to adjust a received waveform sampling point after it has been filtered.

Method and apparatus for differential communications

An electric circuit comprising means for communicating with an external device coupled to means for measuring the charge condition of an external battery. In some embodiments, the circuit comprises at least one level shifter for changing the reference voltage of communication signals. In some embodiments, the circuit comprises a first driver and a second driver for driving external switching elements for the controlled charge and discharge of the battery.

Low side NMOS protection circuit for battery pack application

Voltage balancing in multi-cell battery packs is improved by estimating instantaneous voltages on the cells. In accordance with one embodiment, an apparatus for reading voltages from multiple voltage sources includes a first multiplexer coupled to multiple voltage sources and a controller. The controller is programmed to output from the first multiplexer a sequential pair of voltages read from each of the multiple voltage sources. The multiple sequential pairs of voltages all have a common midpoint in time. The multiple sequential pairs of voltages are all read within a small time window, such as 100 microseconds. In one embodiment, the multiple voltage sources are Li-ion or other high-voltage cells, though other types of cells can also be used.

System for and method of virtual simultaneous sampling with a single ADC core

I2C/SMBus ladders and ladder enabled ICs (devices) to enable daisy-chained I2C/SMBus communication. The devices are particularly useful in monitoring and/or servicing high-voltage battery stacks and other voltage stacks. The devices are powered from a respective voltage increment in the voltage stack, and include level shifting circuitry so as to be operative with an input voltage up to the breakdown voltage of the level shifting circuitry. Various features are disclosed, including but not limited to a unique data line drive, capacitive coupling between devices in a daisy chain with line clamps for circuitry protection and capacitive coupling charge wiping, and clock stretching to accommodate chain latency.

12C/SMBus ladders and ladder enabled ICs

A relaxation oscillator for generating an oscillator output signal having a predetermined frequency. The relaxation oscillator includes an interleaved charge pump for providing a restoring charge to an integrator in response to at least one charge pump control signal. The relaxation oscillator further includes an integrator having an integrator input connected to the current summing node. The integrator is adapted to produce an integrator output signal having the predetermined frequency at an integrator output. A comparator having an input connected to the integrator output is adapted to generate the oscillator output signal having the predetermined frequency in response to the integrator output signal.

Precision relaxation oscillator without comparator delay errors

A system and method for effectively managing operating power for an electronic device may include a battery pack coupled to the electronic device for supplying operating power to the electronic device. A battery controller may be configured as a single integrated-circuit device to alternately manage the battery pack either in a single-cell implementation or in a dual-cell implementation. The battery controller may include a charge pump device to provide an internal controller power supply for operating the battery controller in the single-cell implementation.

System and method for efficiently implementing a battery controller for an electronic device

A closed-loop control of the transformer voltage in a Royer inverter for cold cathode fluorescent lamps to provide a wide dimming range capability, such as by way of example, an approximately 100:1 dimming range. This dimming range is achieved by a combination of current control and pulse control to provide a much wider dimming range than can be achieved by using either form of control alone. Various additional features and capabilities of the invention are also described.

Cold cathode fluorescent lamp controller

A voltage to frequency converter using a charge pump to restore the output voltage of the input integrator. The charge pump implementation allows the voltage to frequency converter's input to sense voltage above and below ground with a single supply using a charge pump, which can provide either a positive charge or a negative charge as the restoring force to the integrator. Inclusion of an interleaved charge pump provides advantages of implementation simplicity and of high performance. The voltage to frequency converter concentrates all offset and leakage errors at the input of the integrator amplifier, which in the preferred embodiment is a chopper stabilized amplifier providing very low offset. The voltage to frequency converter is intended for realization in integrated circuit form, providing very high performance in an integrated circuit having very low power requirements.

Single supply voltage to frequency converter optimized for low voltage sensing above and below ground

A circuit that senses a current signal in a secondary winding of a transformer by monitoring a current signal in a primary winding of the transformer. The monitored current signal contains an effective current component and a magnetization current component. The magnitude of the effective current signal is related to the magnitude of the current signal in the secondary winding by the turns ratio of the transformer. The magnetization current signal produces flux in the transformer core and does not contribute to producing current in the secondary winding of the transformer. In addition, the magnetization current is 90 degrees out of phase with the effective current signal in the primary winding. The effective current signal in the primary winding is in phase with the voltage signal applied to the primary winding. The invention integrates the monitored current signal over 0 degrees to 180 degrees of the effective current signal waveform. Since the magnetization current signal is 90 degrees out of phase with the effective current signal, the magnetization current signal component is cancelled from the monitored current signal by the integration operation. Therefore, the result of the integration operation is representative of a current signal in the secondary winding of the transformer and does not contain error caused by the magnetization current of the transformer. The result of the integration operation is used in a feedback loop to control the current in the secondary winding. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a fluorescent lamp is coupled to the secondary winding of the transformer.

Transformer primary side lamp current sense circuit

A circuit that forms a square wave pulse train signal wherein each pulse is centered about a zero crossing of a reference sinusoid. A first capacitor is coupled to be charged and discharged at equal rates by a first transconductance amplifier. Upon a first positive zero crossing of the reference sinusoid, the first transconductance amplifier begins charging the first capacitor. Upon the first negative zero crossing, the first transconductance amplifier begins discharging the first capacitor until a first predetermined voltage level is reached. Upon reaching the first predetermined voltage level, the first transconductance amplifier begins charging the first capacitor again. The voltage on the first capacitor is compared by a first comparator to a second predetermined voltage level higher than the first voltage level. The output of the first comparator is a pulse which is centered about a second positive zero voltage crossing of the reference sinusoid. The voltage on the first capacitor is discharged until a third positive zero crossing of the reference sinusoid when the cycle begins again. A second capacitor is coupled to be charged and discharged by a second transconductance amplifier. Upon the second positive zero crossing of the reference sinusoid, the second transconductance amplifier begins charging the second capacitor. A second pulse is formed centered about the third positive zero crossing in the same manner as the first pulse. The pulses are combined into a single signal forming a train of pulses wherein a pulse is centered about each positive zero crossing of the reference sinusoid.

Method and circuit for forming pulses centered about zero crossings of a

A circuit for forming a substantially periodic signal having a linear relationship between amplitude and time over a portion of its period, wherein a slope in the linear portion is controllable. A transconductance amplifier has a gain which is controllable depending upon a level of biasing current. A capacitor is coupled to an output of the transconductance amplifier wherein a voltage level on the capacitor defines the periodic waveform. Logic signals coupled to inputs to the transconductance amplifier control a direction of current flow from the transconductance amplifier to charge and discharge the capacitor. The biasing current is controllable to control a slope of the periodic waveform. In the preferred embodiment, the invention is used in conjunction with a circuit for forming pulses centered about positive zero crossings of a sinusoidal signal. The biasing current to the transconductance amplifier has two components. A first component of the biasing current is constantly supplied and a second component of the biasing current is selectively supplied. Therefore, the slope of the waveform may have one of two values depending upon whether or not the second component of the biasing current is selected to increase the biasing current of the transconductance amplifier.

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Urs H Mader