INESC TEC obtains the first patents as sole owner in the US and South Korea
The C4MiR technology - Control Module for Multiple Mixed-signal Resources Management result in the first patent family whose applications were granted in USA (US9921835B2) and South Korea (KR10-1842540).
21st April 2018
The C4MiR technology - Control Module for Multiple Mixed-signal Resources Management result in the first patent family whose applications were granted in USA (US9921835B2) and South Korea (KR10-1842540).
This patent family, of which INESC TEC is the sole patent holder, includes patent applications under analysis in Europe, China and Japan. It will also protects the C4MiR technology in several areas, including those in which this technology has the greatest impact, Industry and ICT.
Concerning the industry sector, more specifically the electronic components and semiconductors industry, there is the problem of accuracy of sensors, components and electronic circuits that, after having passed the initial quality tests at the time of their manufacture, aren’t checked again for integrity and operability.
In the absence of standards for the calibration and monitoring of mixed-signal integrated circuits, this technology comes forward with a proposal to close this gap, so that the sensors can be tested and monitored throughout their lifetime.
As for ICT, C4MiR contributes with a systematic and flexible method in order to test mixed-signal integrated circuits during their lifetime, helping in standardizing the way these tests are done, which can be included in the microcircuits’ design.
These capabilities could even benefit chip and electronic circuit designs in other ways beyond the test possibilities, namely through new synchronization capabilities and greater efficiency that this technology brings to this type of buses, assuming a very wide application potential in the ICT area, particularly when applied to industry and the Internet of things.
Besides the direct involvement in these areas, C4Mir will also have an indirect impact on other sectors such as agri-food, automobile, marine economics, material and raw material, health, medical devices, manufacturing technologies, robotics, contributing to the technological potential of the Portuguese industry.
José Machado da Silva (CTM - INESC TEC's Centre for Telecommunications and Multimedia), Miguel Velhote (CBER - INESC TEC’S Centre for Biomedical Engineering Research) and António Salazar (Synopsis) were the inventors of C4MiR.