Reconfigurable sensor unit for electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016252542-A1
Application number	US-201514749118-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 24, 2015
Priority date	Feb 26, 2015
Publication date	Sep 1, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An electronic device includes a printed circuit board (PCB) having at least one conductive trace thereon. A system on chip (SoC) is mounted on the PCB and electrically coupled to the conductive trace. A sensor chip is mounted on the PCB in a spaced apart relation with the SoC and electrically coupled to the conductive trace such that the sensor chip and SoC are electrically coupled. The sensor chip includes an accelerometer and/or a gyroscope, and a control circuit. The control circuit is configured to receive configuration data as input, acquire data from the accelerometer and/or the gyroscope. The control circuit is also configured to process the data so as to generate a context of the electronic device relative to its surroundings, the processing being performed in using a processing technique operating in accordance with the configuration data, and output the context.

First claim

1 . An electronic device, comprising:
a printed circuit board (PCB) having at least one conductive trace thereon; a system on chip (SoC) mounted on the PCB and electrically coupled to the at least one conductive trace; a sensor chip mounted on the PCB in a spaced apart relation with the SoC and electrically coupled to the at least one conductive trace such that the sensor chip and SoC are electrically coupled; wherein the sensor chip comprises:
an accelerometer and/or a gyroscope;
a control circuit configured to:
receive configuration data as input,
acquire data from the accelerometer and/or the gyroscope,
process the data so as to generate a context of the electronic device relative to its surroundings, the processing being performed in using a processing technique operating in accordance with the configuration data, and
output the context.

2 . The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising at least one additional sensor; wherein the SoC is configured to acquire additional data from the at least one additional sensor; and wherein the control circuit is further configured to receive the additional data from the SoC, and to process the data and the additional data when generating the context of the electronic device relative to its surroundings.

3 . The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the at least one additional sensor is selected from a group consisting of: a barometer, a magnetometer, a proximity sensor, a microphone, a touch sensitive display, and a light sensor.

4 . The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising a transceiver; wherein the SoC is configured to receive, via the transceiver, updated configuration data from an external server; and wherein the control circuit is configured to process the data so as to generate the context of the electronic device relative to its surroundings, by performing the processing using the processing technique operating in accordance with the updated configuration data.

5 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the control circuit comprises a plurality of configuration registers into which the configuration data is received as input.

6 . The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the control circuit further comprises a programmable logic device configured to perform the processing using the processing technique in accordance with the configuration data from the plurality of configuration registers.

7 . A sensor chip mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) and electrically coupled to a system on chip (SoC) mounted on the PCB via at least one conductive trace, the sensor chip comprising:
an accelerometer and/or a gyroscope; a control circuit configured to:
receive configuration data as input,
acquire data from the accelerometer and/or the gyroscope,
process the data so as to generate a context of the electronic device relative to its surroundings, the processing being performed in using a processing technique operating in accordance with the configuration data, and
output the context.

8 . The sensor unit of claim 7 , wherein the control circuit comprises a plurality of configuration registers into which the configuration data is received as input.

9 . The sensor unit of claim 8 , wherein the control circuit further comprises a programmable logic device configured to perform the processing using the processing technique in accordance with the configuration data from the plurality of configuration registers.

10 . The sensor unit of claim 7 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to receive additional data from the SoC, and to process the data and the additional data when generating the context of the electronic device relative to its surroundings.

11 . The sensor unit of claim 7 , wherein the configuration data comprises changeable parameters of the processing technique.

12 . The sensor unit of claim 11 , wherein the changeable parameters comprise latency and/or accuracy and/or power consumption.

13 . The sensor unit of claim 11 , wherein the changeable parameters comprise an acquisition rate of the data and/or a range of accepted values of the data.

14 . The sensor unit of claim 11 , wherein the changeable parameters comprise parameters of a digital filter applied by the processing technique.

15 . The sensor unit of claim 11 , wherein the changeable parameters comprise first and second processing algorithms to be used by the processing technique in respective first and second modes, the second processing algorithm being less complex than the first processing algorithm, the second mode being a higher power consumption mode than the first mode.

16 . The sensor unit of claim 7 , wherein the context of the electronic device relative to its surroundings comprises a location of the electronic device relative to a body of its user.

17 . The sensor unit of claim 7 , wherein the context of the electronic device relative to its surroundings comprises movement of the electronic device in a gesture indicating that a user thereof is intending to look at the electronic device.

18 . The sensor unit of claim 7 , wherein the context of the electronic device relative to its surroundings comprises a form of locomotion currently being employed by a user of the electronic device.

19 . The sensor unit of claim 7 , wherein the configuration data comprises which features of the data to compute.

20 . The sensor unit of claim 19 , wherein the features of the data are selected from a group consisting of: a mean acceleration of the electronic device, a deviance of acceleration of the electronic device, rotational acceleration of the electronic device, linear acceleration of the electronic device, a mean of roll, pitch, and yaw, a variance of roll, pitch, and yaw, a number of acceleration peaks in the data over a given period of time, a number of zero crossings in the data over a given period of time, peak values of the data over a given period of time, and magnitudes of acceleration of the electronic device at different points in time.

21 . The sensor unit of claim 7 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to receive updated configuration data from an external server; and wherein the control circuit is configured to process the data so as to generate the context of the electronic device relative to its surroundings, by performing the processing using the processing technique operating in accordance with the updated configuration data.

22 . The sensor unit of claim 7 , wherein the control circuit is further configured to receive updated configuration data from the SoC; and wherein the control circuit is configured to process the data so as to generate the context of the electronic device relative to its surroundings, by performing the processing using the processing technique operating in accordance with the updated configuration data.

Assignees

• St Microelectronics Inc

Inventors

• Chowdhary Mahesh
• Dayal Sankalp

Classifications

• G01P15/18

  in two or more dimensions · CPC title

• G01C21/20 Primary

  Instruments for performing navigational calculations (G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01C19/5776 Primary

  Signal processing not specific to any of the devices covered by groups G01C19/5607 - G01C19/5719 · CPC title

• G01C21/165

  combined with non-inertial navigation instruments · CPC title

• G01C19/32 Primary

  Indicating or recording means specially adapted for rotary gyroscopes · CPC title