Bradley Donald Herrman

7443180, Oct 28, 2008

Dec 6, 2006

11/567449

Moises Cases - Austin TX, US
Daniel N. de Araujo - Cedar Park TX, US
Bradley D. Herrman - Cary NC, US
Erdem Matoglu - Austin TX, US
Bhyrav M. Mutnury - Austin TX, US
Pravin S. Patel - Cary NC, US
Nam H. Pham - Round Rock TX, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G01R 31/02
G01R 31/26

324754, 324765

The invention is directed to an on-chip probing apparatus. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the on-chip probing apparatus includes: a plurality of switches on a chip; a plurality of externally accessible probe points on the chip; and a multiplexer for controlling the plurality of switches to selectively couple an output signal of the chip to one of the plurality of probe points.

7525319, Apr 28, 2009

Aug 28, 2008

12/200208

Rubina Firdaus Ahmed - Cary NC, US
Moises Cases - Austin TX, US
Bradley Donald Herrman - Cary NC, US
Kent Barclay Howieson - Austin TX, US
Bhyrav Murthy Mutnury - Austin TX, US
Pravin Patel - Cary NC, US
Peter Robert Seidel - Cary NC, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G01R 31/04
G01R 31/02
G01R 31/28

324538, 324754, 714734

A method of electrically qualifying high speed printed circuit board (PCB) connectors includes mounting a PCB connector on a test card, sending bit patterns through a first portion of the test card, evaluating a waveform on a sense signal on a second portion of the test card for the bit patterns launched on said first portion of the test card to measure common mode noise, and comparing the measured common mode noise of the second portion of the test card to a golden standard performed on a pre-qualified connector. The first portion of the test card comprises connectors to inject bit patterns. The second portion of the test card includes a split plane which induces common mode noise on a sense signal, the sense signal, and a termination pack. If the measured common mode noise on the PCB connector is worse than the golden standard, then the PCB connector is disqualified. If the measured common mode noise on the PCB connector is as good as or better than the golden standard, then the PCB connector is qualified.

7533458, May 19, 2009

Jul 17, 2008

12/174810

Moises Cases - Austin TX, US
Bradley D. Herrman - Cary NC, US
Kent B. Howieson - Austin TX, US
Erdem Matoglu - Austin TX, US
Bhyrav M. Mutnury - Austin TX, US
Pravin S. Patel - Cary NC, US
Nam H. Pham - Round Rock TX, US
Caleb J. Wesley - Winston Salem NC, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

H05K 3/36

29830, 29825, 29832, 29846, 156293

Methods and systems for reducing noise coupling in high-speed digital systems. Exemplary embodiments include a method, including etching a plurality of high speed signal traces onto a core insulating layer, forming trenches on respective sides of the plurality of high speed signal traces, thereby removing insulating material adjacent to the plurality of high speed signal traces and forming pedestals having remaining insulating material, the plurality of high speed signal traces disposed on and coupled to the remaining insulating material, coupling pre-preg material on the high speed signal traces, removing the pre-preg material adjacent the trenches, thereby retaining the pre-preg material aligned with the high speed signal traces, and heating and pressing a core layer to the pre-preg layer, and heating and pressing the pre-preg layer to the core insulating layer.

7701222, Apr 20, 2010

Oct 19, 2007

11/875001

Moises Cases - Austin TX, US
Bradley Donald Herrman - Cary NC, US
Kent Barclay Howieson - Austin TX, US
Erdem Matoglu - Austin TX, US
Bhyrav Murthy Mutnury - Austin TX, US
Pravin Patel - Cary NC, US
Nam Huu Pham - Round Rock TX, US
Caleb James Wesley - Winston Salem NC, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G01K 3/00
G01J 5/00
G01K 17/00
G01R 27/32

324501, 374122, 374137, 702136, 324637

A method for testing a printed circuit board to determining the dielectric loss associated with the circuit board material relative to a standard. Dielectric losses in the material generate heat when a high frequency electronic signal, such as a microwave frequency signal, is communicated through a microstrip that is embedded within the printed circuit board. The temperature or spectrum at the surface of printed circuit board is measured and compared against the temperature or spectrum of the standard to determine whether the material under test is acceptable. While various temperature measurement devices may be used, the temperature is preferably measured without contacting the surface, such as using an infrared radiation probe.

7725783, May 25, 2010

Jul 20, 2007

11/780505

Moises Cases - Austin TX, US
Daniel N. de Araujo - Cedar Park TX, US
Bradley D. Herrman - Cary NC, US
Erdem Matoglu - Austin TX, US
Bhyrav M. Mutnury - Austin TX, US
Pravin Patel - Cary NC, US
Nam H. Pham - Round Rock TX, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G11C 29/00

714718, 714 5, 714 25, 714 42, 714 43, 714 56, 714704, 714712, 365201, 702 38

The present invention assesses memory (DIMM) strength by calculating frequency content of a radiated field which is collected by an apparatus, such as a dipole antenna. Radiated field is created by accelerated charge, which is a function of the slew rate or DIMM strength. Radiated power is directly proportional to the frequency at which bits are driven. By separating the radiated field from the near field or stored field, the DIMM strength content is isolated from other functional DIMM issues, such as tRCD latency, refresh cycles, addressing mode, etc. By examining the radiated power, the disadvantages of the prior art, such as by probing the DIMM's contacts, are avoided.

7813447, Oct 12, 2010

Nov 15, 2006

11/560257

Daniel N. De Araujo - Cedar Park TX, US
Moises Cases - Austin TX, US
Bradley D. Herrman - Cary NC, US
Erdem Matoglu - Austin TX, US
Bhyrav M. Mutnury - Austin TX, US
Pravin S. Patel - Cary NC, US
Nam H. Pham - Round Rock TX, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

H04L 25/03

375296, 375146, 375147, 375229, 375284, 375316

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for dynamic phase equalization in a communication channel. A transmitter history module stores a plurality of bits from a data stream that is transmitted through the communication channel. A transmitter detection module detects a pre-transition bit of a first value that is preceded in the data stream by at least one bit of the first value and followed by a transition bit with a second value. A driver module transmits the data stream by driving the communication channel. A transition module pre-drives the communication channel to the second voltage of the transition bit during a bit time interval of the pre-transition bit.

7956688, Jun 7, 2011

Oct 7, 2009

12/574923

Rubina F. Ahmed - Cary NC, US
Bradley D. Herrman - Cary NC, US
Pravin Patel - Cary NC, US
Peter R. Seidel - Cary NC, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

H03F 3/45
H03K 19/094

330254, 330258, 326 82, 326 84, 326 86

Embodiments of the invention include a common mode cancellation circuit and method for correcting signal skew in a differential circuit. According to one embodiment, an op amp circuit is used to correct the mismatch between transmission line lengths in the differential circuit. The CMCC can be embodied as an ASIC and added on to an existing differential signaling systems to correct and compensate for board wiring skew or other causes of phase misalignment. The result is restoration of the cross-over intersection of the plus and minus signals of the differential pair closer to the common voltage level point, as if the signals had been in phase.

8084692, Dec 27, 2011

Oct 25, 2007

11/924416

Moises Cases - Austin TX, US
Bradley D. Herrman - Cary NC, US
Kent B. Howieson - Austin TX, US
Erdem Matoglu - Austin TX, US
Bhyrav M. Mutnury - Austin TX, US
Pravin S. Patel - Cary NC, US
Nam H. Pham - Round Rock TX, US
Caleb J. Wesley - Winston Salem NC, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

H05K 1/03

174255, 174256

An apparatus having reduced noise coupling includes a core layer having an upper and lower surface, the upper and lower surface each including a copper sheet layer, a pre-preg layer having an upper surface and a lower surface, the upper surface of the pre-preg layer coupled to the lower surface of the core layer, a core insulating layer having an upper surface and a lower surface, the upper surface of the core insulating layer coupled to the lower surface of the pre-preg layer, a return current reference layer disposed on the lower surface of the core insulator layer and high-speed signal traces disposed on the upper surface of the core insulating layer, each of the high speed signal traces disposed on a pedestal defined by a section of the pre-preg layer and the core insulating layer, each pedestal being separated by an air gap disposed between adjacent pedestals.