PATRICK RANDALL COOPER
Pilots at Ivy Cir, Houston, TX

5805882, Sep 8, 1998

Jul 19, 1996

8/684413

Patrick R. Cooper - Houston TX
David J. DeLisle - Spring TX
Hung Q. Le - Katy TX

Compaq Computer Corporation - Houston TX

G06F 9445

395652

In accordance with the invention, a computer system is provided with a flash read-only-memory (ROM), a microcontroller and a data port. The microcontroller initially owns the flash ROM. The microcontroller further has a separate ROM upon which it can execute boot-up instructions. After booting up, the microcontroller checks the flash ROM contents, preferably by performing a check-sum of the flash ROM contents. If the checksum of the flash ROM contents matches an expected value, the microcontroller releases ownership of the flash ROM to the computer system so that the computer system boots-up as normal. If the microcontroller determines that the flash ROM has become corrupted, the microcontroller accesses the data port and looks for a flash programming protocol. If the protocol is present at the data port, the microcontroller receives the data from the data port and programs the flash ROM accordingly. In this manner, the flash ROM can be updated to a good known state, even if the computer system is not able to boot up due to, among other things, the corruption of the flash ROM.

6058012, May 2, 2000

Apr 27, 1998

9/067071

Patrick R. Cooper - Houston TX
William C. Hallowell - Spring TX
Mark S. Tracy - Tomball TX
Curtis Progl - Montgomary TX
Minh H. Nguyen - Houston TX

Compaq Computer Corporation - Houston TX

H05K 720

361704

A thermal management controller to regulate the operating temperature of high speed, high circuit density semiconductor dice in an electronic product. The thermal management controller monitors the temperature of a heat sink in thermal contact with the high speed, high circuit density semiconductor dice and also monitors the operational status of one or more specified devices which may increase the heat load within the electronic product. As the temperature of the heat sink increases and/or as specified devices increase the heat load in the electronic product, the thermal management controller will start cooling fans and/or increases the speed of the cooling fans to increase heat removal from the electronic product by forced convection. As the temperature of the heat sink decreases and/or as specified devices cease contributing to the heat load in the electronic product, the thermal management controller will decrease the speed of the cooling fans and/or turn off the cooling fans to decrease heat removal from the electronic product. If the temperature of the heat sink rises above a predetermined temperature, the thermal management structure will reduce the clock speed of the semiconductor dice.

5200689, Apr 6, 1993

Jan 24, 1992

7/824935

Armando Interiano - Houston TX
Randall L. Hess - Cypress TX
Patrick R. Cooper - Houston TX
Joseph F. Freiman - Cypress TX

Compaq Computer Corporation - Houston TX

H02J 700

320 20

A battery charge controller and fuel gauge which accurately monitors the voltage, temperature, and charge and discharge current of a rechargeable battery, and calculates the battery's charge capacity and charge level. Each time the battery is fully discharged, any calculated charge level remaining is divided by subtracted from the previously calculated charge capacity. When the battery is fully charged, the charge level is set equal to the charge capacity. During subsequent charge and discharge, the current is converted to a coulomb count and added or subtracted from the charge level to maintain an accurate charge level. Fast charge inefficiency due to temperature is considered by subtracting a temperature proportional factor before the charge level of the battery is updated. The charge level, voltage and temperature are used to determine the optimal fast charge termination point to achieve full charge and prevent temperature abuse and overcharge. A fast charge is applied only if the battery is within proper voltage and temperature ranges.

5542077, Jul 30, 1996

Sep 10, 1993

8/119691

Drew S. Johnson - Houston TX
Randall L. Hess - Cypress TX
Patrick R. Cooper - Houston TX

Compaq Computer Corporation - Houston TX

G06F 126

395750

A computer system which utilizes a CMOS memory/RTC and does not have a separate battery for powering the CMOS memory/RTC. A serial EEPROM is utilized to maintain the contents of the CMOS memory. When the computer is entered into a setup mode and the CMOS information is to be saved, it is saved to both the CMOS memory and to the serial EEPROM. Upon booting up, a check is made to see if the CMOS memory has not lost data. If it has, then the copy stored in the serial EEPROM is retrieved and utilized. In a second embodiment, a flash EEPROM used to store the BIOS of the computer also stores this information. The flash EEPROM is a type where the EEPROM is divided into several partitions and each can be programmed independently of the others. The partition of the flash EEPROM used for the CMOS information is originally erased. The partition is sufficiently large to contain numerous copies of the CMOS data.

5315228, May 24, 1994

Jan 24, 1992

7/825638

Randall L. Hess - Cypress TX
Patrick R. Cooper - Houston TX
Armando Interiano - Houston TX
Joseph F. Freiman - Cypress TX

Compaq Computer Corp. - Houston TX

H02J 704

320 31

A battery charge controller and fuel gauge which accurately monitors the voltage, temperature, and charge and discharge current of a rechargeable battery, and calculates the battery's charge capacity and charge level. Each time the battery is fully discharged, any calculated charge level remaining is divided by two and subtracted from the previously calculated charge capacity. When the battery is fully charged, the charge level is set equal to the charge capacity. During subsequent charge and discharge, the current is converted to a coulomb count and added or subtracted from the charge level to maintain an accurate charge level. Fast charge inefficiency due to temperature is considered by subtracting a temperature proportional factor before the charge level of the battery is updated. The charge level, voltage and temperature are used to determine the optimal fast charge termination point to achieve full charge and prevent temperature abuse and overcharge. A fast charge is applied only if the battery is within proper voltage and temperature ranges.

5534889, Jul 9, 1996

Sep 10, 1993

8/119422

Daniel B. Reents - Spring TX
Patrick R. Cooper - Houston TX
James H. Garrett - Spring TX
Philip J. McKenzie - Houston TX

Compaq Computer Corporation - Houston TX

G09G 500

345132

A liquid crystal display (LCD) panel which has its contrast controlled through the use of a pulse width modulation (PWM) circuit contained in the video controller and a contrast control circuit. In response to a particular video refresh mode, the PWM circuit modulates the pulse width of a signal that is an input to the contrast control circuit. The pulse width is changed by the use of a base contrast register and two offset registers. Depending on the video mode, the base register is used alone or is combined with one of the offset registers to provide a signal to indicate the duty cycle of the signal. The pulse width modulated signal is converted to a DC bias contrast voltage which is provided to the LCD panel.

5455907, Oct 3, 1995

Sep 10, 1993

8/119718

Randall L. Hess - Cypress TX
Gaines C. Teague - Spring TX
Patrick R. Cooper - Houston TX
Daniel B. Reents - Spring TX
Hung Q. Le - Houston TX

Compaq Computer Corp. - Houston TX

G06F 1500

395162

A computer system with a digitizer based screen display in which the digitizer data is buffered through a first-in first-out memory (FIFO). The processor is only interrupted when a full digitizer data packet is available in the FIFO, rather than being interrupted on each data byte available in the FIFO. The FIFO can hold multiple digitizer data packets, so that data is not lost should the processor in the computer system be unable to immediately handle these digitizer data packets. The system also provides a filter in a separate controller that examines each digitizer data packet to determine if the pen is in a predefined screen location that performs a prespecified function. If so, rather than pass the digitizer data packet to the system processor through the FIFO, the command is passed through a separate register to the processor based on the "hotspot" touched on the screen.

4400778, Aug 23, 1983

Dec 7, 1981

6/328038

John Vivian - Houston TX
Patrick R. Cooper - Houston TX
Ronald B. Higgins - Houston TX
John A. Harlan - Houston TX
Paul M. Perry - Houston TX
Juan B. Vallhonrat - Houston TX
Donald P. Golden - Houston TX

Litton Resources Systems, Inc. - Houston TX

G06F 1300

364200

A data processing system having an architecture that will allow high-speed direct device-to-device data transfers without the necessity of first detouring the data through a computer memory. The system consists of a host computer and a remote signal processing subsystem connected thereto. A Direct Device Access Bus and a plurality of data processing devices are provided. A controller associated with a Signal Processing Subsystem supervisor, selectively interconnects desired ones of a set of data processing devices via the Direct Device Access Bus to provide direct communication between the selected devices within a set. Several sets of devices can be serviced concurrently by the technique of dynamic time slot allocation.