Sensors with enhanced time division multiplexing frames

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12284248-B2
Application number	US-202318360692-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 27, 2023
Priority date	Apr 27, 2021
Publication date	Apr 22, 2025
Grant date	Apr 22, 2025

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to a device and method for generating and transmitting a TDM signal including both raw data and processed data. The device includes a sensor having a time division multiplexing (TDM) interface. The TDM interface transmits both raw data and processed data in a single TDM signal by reserving one or more slots inside a TDM frame for transmission of the processed data. The sensor also embeds additional information inside a data stream of raw data by repurposing one or more of values of the raw data as an exception code, flag, or another type of notification. The device is also enabled to transmit data, and disabled when not in use in order to conserve power.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
generating, by a sensor, measurement data having a maximum value and a minimum value;
generating, by the sensor, an exception code based on the measurement data;
generating, by the sensor, a time division multiplexing (TDM) signal that includes the exception code, the exception code having a value equal to at least one of the maximum value or the minimum value of the measurement data; and
outputting, by the sensor, the TDM signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating, by the sensor, a plurality of exception codes based on the measurement data;
generating, by the sensor, a TDM signal that includes the plurality of exception codes, the plurality of exception codes includes a first exception code having a value equal to the maximum value of the measurement data and a second exception code having a value equal to the minimum value of the measurement data; and
outputting, by the sensor, the TDM signal that includes the plurality of exception codes.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
selecting, by a multiplexer, between the measurement data, the first exception code, and the second exception code for transmission.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the sensor is an accelerometer, and the measurement data includes an acceleration measurement.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the exception code indicates an occurrence of an event, a status, or an error.

6. A device, comprising:
sensing circuitry configured to generate measurement data, the measurement data configured to have a plurality of values;
a processor configured to generate an exception code based on the measurement data; and
a time division multiplexing (TDM) transmitter configured to generate a TDM signal that includes the exception code, the exception code being equal to a value of the plurality of values.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein the exception code is equal to a maximum value of the plurality of values.

8. The device of claim 6 wherein the exception code is equal to a minimum value of the plurality of values.

9. The device of claim 6 , further comprising:
a multiplexer configured to select between the measurement data and the exception code for transmission by the TDM transmitter.

10. The device of claim 6 wherein the sensing circuitry includes an accelerometer, and the measurement data includes an acceleration measurement.

11. The device of claim 6 wherein the exception code indicates an occurrence of an event, a status, or an error.

12. A method, comprising:
transmitting, by a master electronic device, frame synchronization signals;
receiving, by a slave electronic device, the frame synchronization signals, the slave electronic device including a time division multiplexing (TDM) interface; and
enabling or disabling, by the slave electronic device, the TDM interface based on a number of the frame synchronization signals received by the slave electronic device.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
transmitting, by the slave electronic device, data to the master electronic device via the TDM interface in response to receiving a frame synchronization signal of the frame synchronization signals.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining, by the slave electronic device, the number of the frame synchronization signals is greater than or equal to a threshold value; and
enabling, by the slave electronic device, the TDM interface in response to determining the number of the frame synchronization signals is greater than or equal to the threshold value.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
determining, by the slave electronic device, a number of times a frame synchronization signal is absent at an expected time is greater than or equal to a threshold value; and
disabling, by the slave electronic device, the TDM interface in response to determining the number of times the frame synchronization signal is absent at the expected time is greater than or equal to the threshold value.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the slave electronic device expects to receive the frame synchronization signal from the master electronic device at equal time intervals.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the slave electronic device expects to receive the frame synchronization signal from the master electronic device after the master electronic device receives a frame of data.

18. A system, comprising:
a master electronic device configured to transmit a plurality of frame synchronization signals; and
a slave electronic device including a time division multiplexing (TDM) interface, the slave electronic device configured to receive at least one synchronization signal of the plurality of frame synchronization signals, the TDM interface being enabled or disabled based on the at least one synchronization signal.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the TDM interface is enabled in case a total number of the at least one synchronization signal is greater than or equal to a threshold value.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the TDM interface is disabled in case a number of times a synchronization signal of the plurality of frame synchronization signals is absent at an expected reception time is greater than or equal to a threshold value.

Assignees

• St Microelectronics Srl
• Stmicroelectronics S Rl

Inventors

• Rizzo Piazza Roncoroni Alessandra Maria
• Quartiroli Matteo
• Baldrighi Paola

Classifications

• H04J3/1647

  Subrate or multislot multiplexing · CPC title

• H04L67/12 Primary

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• H04L12/4035 Primary

  in which slots of a TDMA packet structure are assigned based on a contention resolution carried out at a master unit (TDM/TDMA multiplex systems per se H04J3/1694; hybrid switching systems H04L12/64) · CPC title

• H04J3/0652 Primary

  Synchronisation among time division multiple access [TDMA] nodes, e.g. time triggered protocol [TTP] (bus network with centralized control in which slots are of a TDMA packet structure H04L12/4035) · CPC title