Devices, systems and methods for multiple channel communication across an isolation barrier

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023275621-A1
Application number	US-202217681176-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 25, 2022
Priority date	Feb 25, 2022
Publication date	Aug 31, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

A device includes: first and second electronic sides; an isolation barrier galvanically isolating the electronic sides from one another and including a signal coupler configured to enable signaling between the electronic sides over the isolation barrier via electromagnetic coupling; and transceiver circuitry included in both electronic sides and configured to implement, based on a frequency response profile of the isolation barrier, full-duplex communication between the electronic sides using the same signal coupler. According to another embodiment of a device, the device includes: electronic circuitry; an isolation barrier galvanically isolating the electronic circuitry and including a signal coupler configured to enable signaling over the isolation barrier via electromagnetic coupling; and transceiver circuitry configured to implement, based on a frequency response profile of the isolation barrier, full-duplex communication between the electronic circuitry of the device and electronic circuitry of another device using the same signal coupler.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A device, comprising:
a first electronic side; a second electronic side; an isolation barrier galvanically isolating the first electronic side and the second electronic side from one another, the isolation barrier including a signal coupler configured to enable signaling between the first and second electronic sides over the isolation barrier via electromagnetic coupling; and transceiver circuitry included in both the first and second electronic sides and configured to implement, based on a frequency response profile of the isolation barrier, full-duplex communication between the first and second electronic sides using the same signal coupler.

2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the second electronic side includes a gate driver for a power transistor, wherein the first electronic side includes control circuitry for the gate driver, and wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously transmit a modulation signal from the first electronic side to the second electronic side and a telemetry signal from the second electronic side to the first electronic side using the same signal coupler and based on the frequency response profile of the isolation barrier.

3 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the first electronic side is a primary side of a digital isolator, wherein the second electronic side is a secondary side of the digital isolator, and wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously transmit a first signal from the primary side to the secondary side and a second signal from the secondary side to the primary side using the same signal coupler and based on the frequency response profile of the isolation barrier.

4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises:
a first oscillator on the first electronic side and tuned to a first carrier frequency that corresponds to a first resonance frequency of the isolation barrier; a second oscillator on the second electronic side and tuned to a second carrier frequency that corresponds to a second resonance frequency of the isolation barrier; a first bandpass filter on the first electronic side and tuned to the second carrier frequency; and a second bandpass filter on the second electronic side and tuned to the first carrier frequency.

5 . The device of claim 4 , wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously transmit the first carrier frequency modulated with first data via the first oscillator and the second carrier frequency modulated with second data via the second oscillator, and wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously recover the second data via the first bandpass filter and the first data via the second bandpass filter.

6 . The device of claim 4 , wherein the second carrier frequency is a harmonic of the first carrier frequency.

7 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises:
a single oscillator on the first electronic side and having a carrier frequency; a first variable reactance on the first electronic side; a second variable reactance on the second electronic side, the first variable reactance and the second variable reactance forming an equivalent reactance that is configured to shift the carrier frequency to one of a plurality of shifted frequencies; a first filter circuit on the first electronic side and having a bandpass filter tuned for the one of the plurality of shifted frequencies; and a second filter circuit on the second electronic side and having a bandpass filter tuned for the one of the plurality of shifted frequencies.

8 . The device of claim 7 , wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to set the first variable reactance to a first reactance value based on first data at the first electronic side and to set the second variable reactance to a second reactance value based on second data at the second electronic side such that the equivalent reactance is set to a transmission reactance value and the carrier frequency is shifted to the one of the plurality of shifted frequencies, and wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously recover the second data via the bandpass filter of the first filter circuit tuned to a frequency associated with the second reactance value and the first data via the bandpass filter of the second filter circuit tuned to a frequency associated with the first reactance value.

9 . The device of claim 7 , wherein for a shift in the carrier frequency brought about by a change in the first variable reactance on the first electronic side or by a change in the second variable reactance on the second electronic side, the transceiver circuitry is configured to change a center frequency of each bandpass filter on the electronic side at which the shift in the variable reactance is implemented, by an amount corresponding to the shift in the carrier frequency.

10 . The device of claim 7 , wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises a lookup table that stores the plurality of shifted frequencies, and wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to retrieve the one of the plurality of shifted frequencies and change the center frequency of each bandpass filter on the electronic side at which the shift in the variable reactance is implemented to the shifted frequency retrieved from the lookup table.

11 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the isolation barrier has a wideband frequency response, and wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises:
an oscillator on the first electronic side for each carrier frequency included in a first group of carrier frequencies within the wideband frequency response; an oscillator on the second electronic side for each carrier frequency included in a second group of carrier frequencies within the wideband frequency response; a bandpass filter on the first electronic side tuned to each carrier frequency included in the second group of carrier frequencies; and a bandpass filter on the second electronic side tuned to each carrier frequency included in the first group of carrier frequencies.

12 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously transmit a plurality of carrier frequencies from the first group modulated with first data via the oscillators on the first electronic side and a plurality of carrier frequencies from the second group modulated with second data via the oscillators on the second electronic side, and wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously recover the second data via the bandpass filters on the first electronic side and the first data via the bandpass filters on the second electronic side.

13 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the oscillators on the first electronic side are independent of and decoupled from the isolation barrier by first capacitance decoupled voltage buffers, and wherein the oscillators on the second electronic side are independent of and decoupled from the isolation barrier by second capacitance decoupled voltage buffers.

14 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the oscillators on the first electronic side are independent of and decoupled from the isolation barrier by first directly coupled current buffers, and wherein the oscillators on the second electronic side are independent of and decoupled from the isolation barrier by second directly coupled current buffers.

15 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver circuitry included in the first electronic side and/or the second electronic side is configured to implement multi-channel communication over the isolation barrier.

16 . A

Assignees

• Infineon Technologies Austria Ag

Inventors

• Fabbro Simone
• Bassi Matteo
• Karman Saleh
• Norling Karl
• Padovan Fabio
• Pojak Natasa

Classifications

• H04B5/266

  One coil at each side, e.g. with primary and secondary coils · CPC title

• H04B5/22

  Capacitive coupling · CPC title

• H04B1/38

  Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving · CPC title

• H04L5/1461 Primary

  Suppression of signals in the return path, i.e. bidirectional control circuits · CPC title

• H04L5/0005

  Time-frequency · CPC title