Temperature measurement devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9534962-B2
Application number	US-83875110-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 19, 2010
Priority date	Jul 19, 2010
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

A temperature measurement device is provided to measure an environment temperature and includes a thermistor, a resistor, a determination circuit, and a measurement circuit. The thermistor is coupled to a first node. The thermistor has a specific impedance value at a specific environment temperature point. The resistor has a first terminal coupled to the first node. The determination circuit determines a real impedance value of the resistor. The measurement circuit is coupled to the first node for receiving a measurement value signal generated at the first node and obtains a value of the specific environment temperature point according to the measurement value signal and the real impedance value of the resistor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A temperature measurement device for measuring an environment temperature comprising:
a thermistor, coupled to a first node, having a specific impedance value at a specific environment temperature point;
a resistor, having a first terminal coupled to the first node;
a determination circuit for obtaining a real impedance value of the resistor, wherein the real impedance value of the resistor is affected by process variation and the real impedance value of the resistor is different from a theoretical impedance value of the resistor; and
a measurement circuit, coupled to the first node, for receiving the real impedance value of the resistor from the determination circuit, receiving a voltage measurement value signal generated at the first node, and obtaining a value of the specific environment temperature point according to the voltage measurement value signal and the real impedance value of the resistor,
wherein the resistor has the theoretical impedance value, and the measurement circuit obtains the value of the specific environment temperature point according to the voltage measurement value signal, the real impedance value and the theoretical impedance value of the resistor.

2. The temperature measurement device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the measurement circuit comprises a compensation unit for determining an offset and/or a gain of the voltage measurement value signal according to the real impedance value of the resistor and compensating the voltage measurement value signal by the offset and/or the gain to obtain the value of the specific environment temperature point.

3. The temperature measurement device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the measurement circuit comprises:
a lookup table for storing a plurality of temperature values corresponding to various signal magnitudes and various impedance values; and
a processing unit for receiving the real impedance value of the resistor from the determination circuit, looking up one temperature value of the temperature values from the lookup table according to a magnitude of the voltage measurement value signal and the real impedance value of the resistor, wherein the temperature value stored in the lookup table which corresponds to the magnitude of the voltage measurement value signal and the real impedance value of the resistor serves as the value of the specific environment temperature point.

4. The temperature measurement device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the determination circuit comprises:
a current source for providing a current to the resistor; and
a calculation unit, coupled to a first terminal and a second terminal of the resistor, for detecting a first voltage of the first terminal of the resistor and detecting a second voltage of the second terminal of the resistor;
wherein the calculation unit calculates the real impedance value of the resistor according to the current, the first voltage, and the second voltage.

5. The temperature measurement device as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the determination circuit further comprises:
a first analog-to-digital conversion unit, coupled to the first terminal of the resistor, for digitizing the first voltage and outputting the digitized first voltage to the calculation unit; and
a second analog-to-digital conversion unit, coupled to the second terminal of the resistor, for digitizing the second voltage and outputting the digitized second voltage to the calculation unit.

6. The temperature measurement device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising an analog-to-digital conversion circuit, coupled to the first node, for receiving the voltage measurement value signal, digitizing the voltage measurement value signal, and outputting the digitized voltage measurement value signal to the measurement circuit.

7. The temperature measurement device as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the resistor, the determination circuit, the measurement circuit, and the analog-to-digital conversion unit are in a same chip.

8. The temperature measurement device as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a low pass filter circuit, coupled to the first node, for receiving the voltage measurement value signal, filtering the voltage measurement value signal, and outputting the filtered voltage measurement value signal to the measurement circuit.

9. The temperature measurement device as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the resistor, the determination circuit, the measurement circuit, and the low pass filter circuit are in a same chip.

10. The temperature measurement device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the resistor, the determination circuit, and the measurement circuit are in a same chip.

11. The temperature measurement device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the temperature measurement device measures an environment temperature of an optical pickup unit in an optical disc drive.

12. A temperature measurement device for measuring an environment temperature comprising:
a thermistor, coupled to a first node, having a specific impedance value at a specific environment temperature point;
a resistor, having a first terminal coupled to the first node;
a determination circuit for obtaining a real impedance value of the resistor; and
a measurement circuit, coupled to the first node, for receiving the real impedance value of the resistor from the determination circuit, receiving a voltage measurement value signal generated at the first node, and obtaining a value of the specific environment temperature point according to the voltage measurement value signal and the real impedance value of the resistor, and
wherein the resistor has a theoretical impedance value, and the measurement circuit obtains the value of the specific environment temperature point according to the voltage measurement value signal, the real impedance value and the theoretical impedance value of the resistor.

13. A temperature measurement device for measuring an environment temperature comprising:
a thermistor, coupled to a first node, having a specific impedance value at a specific environment temperature point;
a resistor, having a first terminal coupled to the first node;
a determination circuit for obtaining a real impedance value of the resistor, wherein the real impedance value of the resistor is affected by process variation and the real impedance value of the resistor is different from a theoretical impedance value of the resistor; and
a measurement circuit, coupled to the first node, for receiving the real impedance value of the resistor from the determination circuit, receiving a voltage measurement value signal generated at the first node, and obtaining a value of the specific environment temperature point according to the voltage measurement value signal and the real impedance value of the resistor,
wherein the resistor has a theoretical impedance value and further has a second terminal coupled to a voltage source, and the measurement circuit comprises a calculation unit for calculating the value of the specific environment temperature point by applying the voltage measurement value signal, the real impedance value and the theoretical impedance value of the resistor, and a voltage value of the voltage source in a predetermined formula.

Assignees

• Lan Kuo-Jung
• Mediatek Inc

Inventors

• Lan Kuo-Jung

Classifications

• G01K7/24 Primary

  in a specially-adapted circuit, e.g. bridge circuit · CPC title

• G01K3/005

  Circuits arrangements for indicating a predetermined temperature (fire detection G08B17/00) · CPC title