John Melanson, senior technical advisor for Cirrus Logic in Austin.

John Melanson, senior technical advisor for Cirrus Logic in Austin.

John Melanson, a senior technical fellow with Cirrus Logic, has 278 U.S. patents and another 91 pending.

Melason has more patents that Nikola Tesla.

And this week, Melanson received the Outstanding Inventor Award from the Austin Intellectual Property Law Association.

Melanson has worked for more than 40 years in the technology industry, including 15 years at Cirrus Logic, which develops high-precision, analog and mixed signal integrated circuits, in Austin.

“Many of his patents have contributed to pioneering engineering breakthroughs in the fields of audio-signal processing, mixed-signal processing and light emitting diode (LED) controller technologies,” according to a news release.

In the past, Melanson has received the 2007 State Bar of Texas Inventor of the year award and in 2004 he received an Academy Award for pioneering digital audio editing in the film industry.