Seiko Epson Assigned Patent

Seiko Epson Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,171,638) developed by Tokuda, Yasunobu, Okaya, Japan, for a “nonvolatile storage device, integrated circuit device, and electronic apparatus.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A latch circuit that latches stored data of a nonvolatile storage device used for setting the function of a semiconductor device and adjusting the characteristics of the semiconductor device required a dedicated input-output circuit for a test of the semiconductor device. By providing a dummy storage device, it becomes possible to perform a test of the semiconductor device without providing a dedicated input-output circuit.“

The patent application was filed on April 5, 2013 (13/857,418).