...that power steering was invented by independent inventor Francis W. Davis? As chief engineer in the 1920s of the truck division of the Pierce Arrow Motor Car Company, he saw how hard it was to steer heavy vehicles. So that he would be able to keep the profits from his future invention, Davis left his job, rented a small engineering shop in Waltham, Mass., and developed a hydraulic power steering system that led to power steering.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7667541 | Amplifier circuit and wireless communication device An amplifier circuit has a current conversion circuit that receives a high frequency signal and produces a signal current according to the high frequency signal; a gain control circuit that includes a control signal input for receiving a control signal, a first outp... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7656232 | Wideband variable gain amplifier with clipping function The present invention relates to a variable gain amplifier. The variable gain amplifier includes an input unit including first and second input nodes and an output node, the input unit being configured to receive first and second input signals. The variable gain amp... | 02/02/2010 |
| 7489195 | Variable gain amplifying circuit A variable gain amplifying circuit comprises two stages, a first stage and a second stage with a common voltage-to-current converter. Each stage comprises two BJTs, two voltage controlled current sources, a variable resistor with a variable resistance, and the commo... | 02/10/2009 |
| 7456689 | Amplifier circuit and gain control method thereof An amplifier circuit is provided with a control section that respectively selectively supplies either a second voltage or a third voltage to gates of a plurality of second transistors and gates of a plurality of third transistors by respectively switching the connec... | 11/25/2008 |
| 7443435 | Column amplifier with automatic gain selection for CMOS image sensors A column amplifier architecture having automatic gain selection for CMOS image sensors, which reduces the effect of analog noise, while maintaining a system's dynamic range. A comparator compares an amplified column buffer output signal to a reference voltage. The o... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7443242 | AGC circuit An AGC circuit includes: a variable gain amplifier circuit having a gain controlled with a gain control signal; a rectifier circuit for rectifying an output signal of the variable gain amplifier circuit; a voltage comparator for comparing a rectified signal with a t... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7433662 | Mixer gain control with gain tracking offsets An apparatus and method to use a gain control network across source terminals of cascode transistors that drive a differential current to control gain. The drains of the cascode transistors are coupled to a load such as a mixer. The cascode arrangement provides high... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7432763 | Gain boosting for tuned differential LC circuits A gain boost circuit and methodology are described for providing improved gain boosting with tuned amplifier circuits, such as differential low noise amplifier circuits having output resonant tank circuits. By selectively controlling the current source for a negativ... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7429891 | Method and system for low noise amplifier (LNA) gain adjustment through narrowband received signal strength indicator (NRSSI) Methods and systems for processing a plurality of signals are disclosed herein. Aspects of the method may comprise amplifying an input signal. The amplified input signal may be bandpass filtered. Amplification of the input signal may be adjusted based on only narrow... | 09/30/2008 |
| 7415254 | Power control circuit, semiconductor device and transceiver circuit using the same There is provided a power control circuit having a stable high-speed operation, and a semiconductor device and a transceiver circuit using it. The power control circuit controls the gain of an amplifier so that power outputted from the amplifier reaches a desired va... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7411456 | AGC circuit An AGC circuit includes: a variable gain amplifier circuit having a gain controlled with a gain control signal; a rectifier circuit for rectifying an output signal of the variable gain amplifier circuit; a voltage comparator for comparing a rectified signal with a t... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7408407 | Low noise variable gain amplifier The present invention provides systems and methods for asymmetrically varying gain in a low noise amplifier. The amplifier includes a first stage amplifier, a plurality of second stage amplifiers coupled to the first stage amplifier, a comparator coupled to one of t... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7395039 | Transmitter In a transmitter of the present invention, a modulated signal is separated into an amplitude component and a phase component which are inputted to a radio-frequency modulated signal input terminal and a supply voltage terminal of a radio-frequency power amplifier. A... | 07/01/2008 |
| 7391829 | Apparatus, system and method for receiver equalization In some embodiments, a frequency dependent gain circuit is coupled to an output of an amplifier. The gain circuit provides at least two ranges of frequency dependent gain characteristics in response to the output of the amplifier. A control circuit provides one of t... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7386075 | Apparatus for and method of optimizing the performance of a radio frequency receiver in the presence of interference An apparatus for and method of extending the dynamic range of a RF communications receiver. The invention provides a mechanism for controlling the gain of both the LNA and down conversion mixer in the front end portion of an RF receiver. Both the LNA and the mixer a... | 06/10/2008 |
| 7386280 | Gain insensitive high-pass VGA An integrated circuit radio transceiver and method therefor includes a high-pass variable gain amplifier (HPVGA) operably disposed within one of the transmitter and the receiver front ends operable to provide a linear variable gain and a substantially constant high-... | 06/10/2008 |
| 7382193 | Preserving linearity of an isolator-free power amplifier by dynamically adjusting gain and phase An amplifier circuit (100) includes a driver stage ( ) 120 with at least an active device (140) for pre-amplification and output of a pre-amplified signal; and an output stage (160) with at least an active device (180) for further ... | 06/03/2008 |
| 7369781 | Burst mode optical receiver considering characteristic of extinction ratio of received optical signal Provided is a burst mode optical receiver considering a characteristic of an extinction ratio of a received optical signal is provided. By using a peak detector considering a characteristic of an extinction ratio, top and bottom peak voltages of actual burst packets... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7362178 | Wide dynamic range amplifier gain control Linear wide dynamic range variable gain amplifiers can be configured using a variable gain amplifier having an abbreviated gain control range in combination with a discrete attenuator controlled to select an attenuation from a predetermined set of attenuation values... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7358818 | Optical receiver for an optical communication The present invention provides an optical receiver operable for optical signals each having different transmission speed. The optical receiver includes a light-receiving device, a pre-amplifier, a main amplifier, and a control circuit. The pre-amplifier, may be a tr... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7352240 | Method and apparatus for protecting devices in an RF power amplifier A method and apparatus are provided for use with a power amplifier for protecting active devices on the power amplifier. A peak detector is used by control circuitry to detect the presence of a peak voltage that exceeds a threshold voltage. In response to the detect... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7353010 | Techniques for fast automatic gain control An automatic gain control (AGC) technique can quickly sense signal size over a large dynamic range by using a peak detector block in the analog portion of the receiver. The peak detector block can compare a received signal to predetermined thresholds (chosen to divi... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7352241 | Variable gain amplifier A variable gain amplifier is provided. The variable gain amplifier includes a first cascode amplifier which includes a first common source transistor and a first common gate transistor, a second cascode amplifier which forms a differential pair with the first cascod... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7352242 | Programmable gain trim circuit A programmable gain amplifier includes a first gain setting circuit and a second gain setting circuit that are both coupled to an output of an amplifier. A trim adjustment circuit is and arranged to complete feedback to the amplifier by digitally panning between the... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7343256 | Configurable voltage regulator A configurable semiconductor has a device characteristic that is controllable as a function of at least one external impedance. A measurement circuit measures an electrical characteristic of the at least one external impedance and determines a select value correspon... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7342458 | Negative gain transductance amplifier circuit The invention proposes a negative gain transconductance amplifier circuit (1) for capacitive load that includes: an RC serial circuit connected between an input terminal (E) of the amplifier circuit and a intermediate terminal (A); an amplificat... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7340229 | High frequency amplification circuit and mobile communication terminal using the same A gain control circuit 12 comprises an FET 41 operating as a variable resistor. A gate terminal of the FET 41 is supplied with a control voltage VC applied to a gain control terminal 23. A source terminal and a drain terminal of the FET | 03/04/2008 |
| 7339434 | Linear-in-dB variable gain amplifier using geometric ladder circuit A variable gain amplifier uses a geometric ladder circuit that produces a transfer function having substantially uniform steps measured in dB. Where the ladder has a plurality of substantially identical resistor rungs of a first resistance, one stile that is a condu... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7336127 | Doherty amplifier configuration for a collector controlled power amplifier An efficient power amplifier circuitry for a mobile terminal or similar wireless communication device is provided. The power amplifier circuitry includes an output stage configured as a collector controlled Doherty amplifier, wherein the collector controlled Doherty... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7336935 | Dynamic power control circuit of wireless communication device The present invention is to provide a dynamic power control circuit for a wireless communication device, which comprises a power detector, a comparator, a low pass filter and an adder disposed between a radio frequency auto-gain control circuit and an antenna thereo... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7332964 | Gain-step transconductor A gain-step transconductor circuit operates with multiple gain values. The gain can be stepped from one gain value to another by selecting a different signal path between an input node and an output amplifier. The output amplifier may operate as a common source ampl... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7332963 | Low noise amplifier A low noise amplifier is provided that includes a first circuit block capable of amplifying a first voltage signal that is input to the amplifier. The first circuit block includes a first terminal coupled to a first supply voltage by a variable resistance, and a sec... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7330075 | Output impedance control circuit and control method thereof The invention provides an apparatus and a method for adjusting an output impedance of an output stage. The apparatus comprises a detector for outputting a direct current potential corresponding to the impedance of the output stage circuit. It also comprises a contro... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7330071 | High efficiency radio frequency power amplifier having an extended dynamic range A system and method are provided for efficiently amplifying a radio frequency signal. In general, the system includes power amplifier circuitry that efficiently amplifies an input signal under power back-off conditions. In one embodiment, the power amplifier circuit... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7317357 | High linearity low noise variable gain amplifier with continuous gain control A variable gain amplifier comprises a plurality of serially connected transistor cells, in which each of the transistor cells has a plurality of connecting terminals. The first terminals of the transistor cells are serially coupled together to receive a first input ... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7312856 | Programmable pulse capture device with automatic gain control The invention an optical system and a method for automatically controlling the gain of a receiver in an optical system. The optical system includes an optical receiver, a pulse capture unit, and an automatic gain control. The pulse capture unit includes a capture un... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7312511 | Semiconductor device with electrically isolated ground structures This invention provides a high frequency power module which is incorporated into a mobile phone and which incorporates high frequency portion analogue signal processing ICs including low noise amplifiers which amplify an extremely weak signal therein. A semiconducto... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7313416 | Scalable power amplifier A power amplifier for a dual antenna is disclosed. The power amplifier comprises at least four controlled amplifier loops receiving a signal to be transmitted. The power amplifier also comprises a first combining structure combining at least two of the amplifier loo... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7305571 | Power network reconfiguration using MEM switches A structure and method for power distribution to a network for an integrated circuit chip complex are provided. The chip complex has at least two sectors, each having at least one power providing connection with at least one of said connections beings individually a... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7298212 | Automatic level control circuit with improved attack action An automatic level control circuit comprises a gain controllable amplifier, a comparing and outputting circuit which compares a level of an output signal from the gain controllable amplifier with a reference level and outputs a result of comparison as a comparison r... | 11/20/2007 |