Author: claimsbot

1. A phase-locked loop circuit comprising:
a phase comparator for comparing phases between a reference signal and a feedback signal and for outputting a phase difference signal indicating a phase difference therebetween;
a charge pump for outputting a charge pump current according to the phase difference signal;
a low-pass filter that includes a resistor and a capacitor, the low-pass filter smoothing the charge pump current and converting the smoothed current into a control voltage;
a voltage-controlled oscillator for generating an oscillation signal with a frequency according to the control voltage;
a frequency divider for generating a frequency-divided signal by frequency-dividing the oscillation signal and for outputting the frequency-divided signal to the phase comparator as the feedback signal; and
a power supply voltage node,
wherein the resistor in the low-pass filter is a variable resistor that is changed according to the control voltage,
wherein the variable resistor has a first field-effect transistor having a drain to which the control voltage is applied,
wherein the low-pass filter has a first capacitor connected between a source of the first field-effect transistor and the power supply voltage node; and
wherein the low-pass filter has a fixed resistor connected between the drain of the first field-effect transistor and the first capacitor.
2. The phase-locked loop circuit according to claim 1, wherein the voltage-controlled oscillator has a load comprising a load field-effect transistor, and
the first field-effect transistor and the load field-effect transistor have a same channel length and a same channel width and have different numbers of parallel transistors.
3. The phase-locked loop circuit according to claim 1, wherein a bias voltage is applied to a gate of the first field-effect transistor.
4. The phase-locked loop circuit according to claim 3, wherein the fixed resistor is connected between the source and the drain of the first field-effect transistor.
5. The phase-locked loop circuit according to claim 4, further comprising a power supply voltage node,
wherein the first field-effect transistor is a p-channel field-effect transistor.
6. The phase-locked loop circuit according to claim 4, further comprising a reference potential node, wherein the first field-effect transistor is an n-channel field-effect transistor, and
the low-pass filter has a first capacitor connected between the source of the first field-effect transistor and the reference potential node.
7. The phase-locked loop circuit according to claim 3, wherein the variable resistor has a second field-effect transistor that is connected in parallel with the first field-effect transistor and is diode-connected.
8. The phase-locked loop circuit according to claim 7, wherein the fixed resistor is connected between the source and the drain of the first field-effect transistor.
9. The phase-locked loop circuit according to claim 8, further comprising a power supply voltage node, wherein the first field-effect transistor and the second field-effect transistor each are a p-channel field-effect transistor.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A card apparatus, comprising:
a card shuffler, including:
a card-handling system configured to:
receive a set of cards from a card infeed tray;
form randomized subsets of cards within a temporary card storage device having card storage areas configured to receive cards therein; and
individually output the randomized subsets of cards from the card storage areas to a card output tray;

a card recognition system configured to sense card information including a rank and a suit of at least the cards within the individual subsets of cards output to the card output tray as the cards are carried past the card recognition system by the card shuffler; and
a control system operably coupled with, and configured to control, the card-handling system and the card recognition system and further configured to assign a card to each card storage area to form the randomized subsets of cards.
2. The card apparatus of claim 1, wherein the card shuffler further includes an authorization element configured to permit only authorized users to access at least some functions of the card shuffler.
3. The card apparatus of claim 2, wherein the authorization element includes a device selected from the group consisting of a retina scanner, an RFID scanner, a card reader, and a fingerprint scanner.
4. The card apparatus of claim 1, wherein the card shuffler further includes a memory operably coupled with the control system, the memory configured to store the card information for current and historical rounds for each player of a wagering game.
5. The card apparatus of claim 4, wherein the card shuffler further includes a display operably coupled with the control system, the display configured to display the card information to a dealer without alerting the player.
6. The card apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control system includes:
a first processor configured to determine a random order for the cards to be loaded into the card storage areas of the card-handling system; and
a second processor configured to interpret the card information sensed by the card recognition system.
7. The card apparatus of claim 6, wherein the control system is further configured to associate an identity for each card with a location of the card within the card-handling system.
8. The card apparatus of claim 1, wherein the card handling system is configured to form each subset of cards to have a predetermined number of cards corresponding to a hand for players of a wagering game supported by the card handling shuffler.
9. The card apparatus of claim 1, wherein the temporary card storage device includes a carousel having compartments.
10. The card apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control system is further configured to control operation of the card-handling system to perform at least one additional function selected from the group consisting of shuffling the cards, arranging the cards in a desired order, verifying completeness of a subset of cards, reading special markings on the cards, scanning cards for unauthorized markings, identifying cards lacking required markings, measuring card wear, decommissioning cards, applying markings to cards, scanning cards for unauthorized electronic devices, and delivering special cards to the output tray.
11. A method comprising:
receiving a set of cards in an infeed system of a card shuffler;
physically forming random subsets of cards as groups within at least one temporary card storage area of a card-handling system of the card shuffler;
identifying card information for at least each card of the subsets of cards; and
dispensing the subsets of cards as groups from the at least one temporary card storage area to an output system of the card shuffler.
12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:
tracking a position for each card grouped with a subset of cards within the card handling device;
tracking card information for each card grouped within the subset of cards; and
associating the position of each card with the card information.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein associating the position of each card with the card information occurs during a time that is selected from the group consisting of:
after a randomized subset of cards is formed within the card-handling system;
as the randomized subset of cards is removed from the card-handling system;
after an individual randomized subset of cards is dealt to a player; and
after all randomized subsets of cards are dealt to all players of a round.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein associating the position of each card with the card information is performed only for randomized subsets of cards that are used in a round and not for unused cards in the round.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein associating the position of each card with the card information includes storing the position and storing the card information that are generated by separate processes.
16. The method of claim 11, further comprising maintaining a play history for the subsets of cards dealt to each active player station of a gaming table.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein maintaining a play history includes:
storing card information for a maximum number of hands per player position in an internal memory of the shuffler; and
storing card information for additional hands beyond the maximum number of hands per player in a computer that is external to the shuffler.
18. The method of claim 11, wherein dispensing the subsets of cards as groups from the at least one temporary card storage area to an output system of a card shuffler includes:
dispensing a first subset of cards as a first group to the output system; and
dispensing a second subset of cards as a second group responsive to the control system receiving a signal indicating that the first subset of cards has been removed from the card output system.
19. The method of claim 11, further comprising electronically generating a plurality of hands within a control system of the card shuffler prior to physically forming the subsets of cards as groups within at least one temporary card storage area of the card-handling system.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein electronically generating a plurality of hands within the control system includes:
electronically generating a random sequence for the set of cards to define an electronic deck; and
identifying subsets of cards that would be formed if the electronic deck were a physical deck that is dealt to the players by the dealer.
21. A card apparatus, comprising:
a card shuffler, including:
a card-handling system; and
a processor operably coupled with the card-handling system, the processor configured to control the card-handling system to internally form random subsets of cards and deliver each random subset of cards to an output tray; and

a card recognition system configured to recognize card information including a rank and a suit of each card formed into a random subset of cards.
22. The card apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor configured to control the card-handling system is further configured to internally form the random subsets in internal compartments as hands prior to being delivered to the output tray.
23. The card apparatus of claim 22, wherein the card recognition system includes a device configured to sense the rank and the suit of each card as the card passes from an infeed tray to the internal compartment of the card-handling system.
24. The card apparatus of claim 22, wherein the processor is further configured to electronically generate hand information prior to the card-handling device forming the random subsets as hands in the internal compartments.
25. The card apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a gaming table with a plurality of player areas equipped with a sensor to detect an active player position, wherein a number of random subsets of cards to be delivered is limited to a number of active player positions detected.
26. The card apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a table management system including overhead imaging equipment configured to capture game information from a live table game played on the gaming table, and compare the game information and the card information stored in the card shuffler to identify discrepancies between the game information and the card information.

1. A vehicle computing device adapted to provide a user interface to a vehicle system to control at least one function of the vehicle system, comprising:
a transceiver adapted to wirelessly communicate with a mobile client device over a wireless data connection; and
a processing unit that communicates with the mobile client device via the transceiver, where the processing unit (i) receives from the client device via the wireless data connection a request to provide user interface data for controlling the at least one vehicle system, (ii) transmits control instructions via the wireless data connection to the client device, the control instructions comprising instructions for displaying at least one graphical control element at the client device to control the at least one function of the vehicle system, wherein the control instructions are interpreted by a platform independent application running on the client device, (iii) receives input data from the client device comprising a detected user input corresponding to an actuation of the graphical control element detected by the client device; and (iv) provides the received user input to the vehicle system to enable control of the function of the vehicle system by the client device.
2. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the processing unit provides the control instructions such that the control instructions define a structured document.
3. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, further comprising a web server operated by the processing unit, the control instructions defining contents of a web page provided by the web server.
4. The vehicle computing device of claim 3, where the request received from the client device comprises a request message from a web client operated on the client device to the web server, the processing unit being configured to include the control instructions in a response message to be transmitted from the web server to the web client of the client device.
5. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the processing unit receives from the vehicle system information to be given out to the user and to include in the control instructions to be transmitted to the client device control instructions for displaying the received information at the client device.
6. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the data connection is a wireless local area network connection.
7. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the processing unit receives authorization data from the client device to transmit the control instructions to the client device only if the received authorization data corresponds to a predetermined authorization.
8. The vehicle computing device according to claim 1, where the processing unit receives authorization data from the client device and provides user specific settings for the vehicle system andor user specific access to the vehicle system in accordance with a user profile identified by the authorization data.
9. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the control instructions further comprise control instructions to assign at least one function of the vehicle system to a mechanical control element of the client device.
10. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the vehicle system is at least partly implemented by an application running on the processing unit of the vehicle computing device.
11. The vehicle computing device of claim 1, where the vehicle system is selected from a group comprising a vehicle navigation system, a vehicle multimedia system, a vehicle communication system a driver assistance system, a vehicle infotainment system, a vehicle information system, and a vehicle telemetry system.
12. A method of providing a user interface for a vehicle system for controlling at least one function of the vehicle system, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a vehicle computing device configured to communicate with a mobile client device over a wireless data connection;
providing in the vehicle computing device control instructions comprising instructions for displaying at least one graphical control element at a client device to control the at least one function of the vehicle system;
configuring the control instructions such that they can be interpreted by a platform independent application operable on a client device; and
configuring the vehicle computing device such that the vehicle computing device transmits the control instructions via the wireless data connection to a client device in response to receiving a request for user interface data from the client device.
13. The method according to claim 12, where the step of configuring the control instructions is performed such that the control instructions define a structured document.
14. The method according to claim 12, where the step of configuring the control instructions is performed such that the control instructions define the contents of a web page, the platform independent application being a web browser.
15. The method according to claim 12, where the step of configuring the vehicle computing device further comprises the step of providing a web server on the computing device, where the request for user interface data being a request message from a web client operated on the client device, and wherein the control instructions are configured to be comprised in a response message from the web server to the web client of the client device.
16. The method according to claim 12, further comprising the step of configuring the vehicle computing device so as to receive from the vehicle system information to be given out to the user, the step of configuring the control instructions being performed such that the control instructions include control instructions for displaying the received information at the client device.
17. A method of operating a vehicle computing device for providing a user interface to a vehicle system to control at least one function of the vehicle system, the vehicle computing device being configured to communicate with a mobile client device over a wireless data connection, the method comprising:
receiving from the client device via the wireless data connection a request to provide user interface data for controlling the at least one vehicle system;
transmitting control instructions via the wireless data connection to the client device, the control instructions comprising instructions for displaying at least one graphical control element at the client device for controlling the at least one function of the vehicle system, wherein the control instructions are interpreted by a platform independent application running on the client device;
receiving input data from the client device comprising a detected user input corresponding to an actuation of the graphical control element detected by the client device; and
providing the received user input to the vehicle system, thereby enabling the control of the function of the vehicle system by the client device.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the method further comprises performing the following steps at the client device:
receiving the control instructions transmitted by the vehicle computing device;
interpreting the control instructions via the platform independent application running on the client device to generate image data comprising the at least one graphical control element;
displaying the generated image data;
detecting the actuation of one of the displayed graphical control elements by a user as a user input; and
transmitting input data comprising the detected user input to the vehicle computing device.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A method for creating multiple different heads-up display images at different apparent distances from a viewer, comprising:
generating a first image using a first subset of modulating elements of an array of image pixel modulating elements of a spatial light modulator;
generating a second image using a second subset of modulating elements of the array of image pixel modulating elements of the spatial light modulator, the second subset of modulating elements separated from the first subset of modulating elements, such that the second image is separately generated from the first image;
directing light from the first image along a first optical path onto a transparent display surface to form a first virtual image at a first apparent distance within a field of view of a viewer looking through the display surface;
directing light from the second image along a second optical path, shorter than the first optical path, onto the transparent display surface to form a second virtual image at a second apparent distance within the field of view of the viewer looking through the display surface.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the array of image pixel modulating elements comprises an array of micromirrors of a digital micromirror device.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first image is a far virtual image, and the second image is a near virtual image.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein directing light along the first optical path includes directing light onto a first portion of a first mirror and onto a first portion of a second mirror; and directing light along the second optical path includes directing light onto a second portion of the first mirror and onto a second portion of the second mirror.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein directing light along the first optical path further includes directing light onto a third mirror positioned outside of the second optical path; and directing light along the second optical path further includes directing light onto a fourth mirror positioned outside of the first optical path.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the third and fourth mirrors are relatively moveable to set the relative path lengths of the respective first and second optical paths.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein directing light along the first optical path includes directing light through a transparent display cover and then onto a windshield, from which the light directed along the first optical path enters the field of view of the viewer.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein directing light along the second optical path includes directing light through the transparent display cover and then onto the windshield, from which the light directed along the second optical path enters the field of view of the viewer.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first apparent distance is about 8 to 30 meters ahead of the viewer, and the second apparent distance is about 2 to 4 meters ahead of the viewer.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the display surface is a windshield of an automobile, the display cover is the cover of an automobile heads-up display system, and the first and second images are directed to form the far and near virtual images at different apparent distances from a driver seated behind a steering wheel of the automobile and observing the oncoming roadway through the windshield.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the far virtual image includes at least one of direction information, warning information or graphics appearing on a road area observed ahead of the driver.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the far virtual image appears superimposed over an object of interest on the road.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the far virtual image appears as a highlighted outline of a road sign overlapped onto a road sign.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein the near virtual image includes instrument panel or sensor data.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the near virtual image appears ahead of the driver, below the far virtual image.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the near virtual image appears over the roadway at a position near to a front hood of the automobile.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the near virtual image includes an alphanumerical display of at least one of current odometer speed, radiator coolant temperature or oil pressure.
18. The method of claim 3, wherein the first and second optical paths are established by mirrors configured so that mirrors used to establish a path length for one of the first and second optical paths are selectively movable relative to mirrors used to establish a different path length for the other of the first and second optical paths.
19. A system for creating multiple different heads-up display images at different apparent distances from a viewer, comprising:
a spatial light modulator having an array of image pixel modulating elements configured for generating a first image using a first subset of the modulating elements, and for generating a second image using a second subset of the modulating elements, the first subset of the modulating elements separated from the second subset of the modulating elements such that the second image is separately generated from the first image;
first optical elements defining a first optical path configured for directing light from the first image onto a transparent display surface to form a first virtual image at a first apparent distance within a field of view of a viewer looking through the display surface;
second optical elements defining a second optical path, shorter than the first optical path, configured for directing light from the second image onto the transparent display surface to form a second virtual image at a second apparent distance within the field of view of the viewer looking through the display surface.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein the array of image pixel modulating elements comprises an array of micromirrors of a digital micromirror device; the first optical elements include a first mirror; and the second optical elements include a second mirror; and further including a mechanical mechanism for moving the first mirror relative to the second mirror to set the relative lengths of the first and second optical paths.