The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 01, 2019
Filed:
Mar. 29, 2018
Cirrus Logic International Semiconductor Ltd., Edinburgh, GB;
Cirrus Logic, Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
The present disclosure relates to a protection system for protecting a MEMS transducer of a MEMS device from electrostatic capture, wherein the MEMS transducer is operable in a normal-sensitivity, mode and in a reduced-sensitivity mode. The protection system comprises: an overload detector for detecting an overload condition arising as a result of an excessive sound pressure level at the MEMS transducer; a signal estimator configured to generate an estimate of a sound pressure level at the MEMS transducer; and a controller configured, in response to detection by the overload detector of an overload condition, to: disable an output of the MEMS transducer; and after a delay of a first predetermined period of time: cause the MEMS transducer to operate in the reduced-sensitivity mode; enable the output of the MEMS transducer; and cause the MEMS transducer to return to the normal-sensitivity mode if the estimate of the sound pressure level generated by the signal estimator while the MEMS transducer is operating in the reduced-sensitivity mode is below a safe sound pressure level threshold for a second predetermined period of time.