IP Library Granted Patent US 7,692,506
Granted Patent B2
US 7,692,506 · App. 12/181,011 · Granted Apr 6, 2010

Oscillation driver device, physical quantity measuring device, and electronic instrument

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 7,692,506
App. No.
12/181,011
Granted
Apr 6, 2010
Kind
B2
Abstract

An oscillation driver device includes a gain control amplifier, an automatic gain control circuit, and a mode setting circuit. When the mode setting circuit has switched a mode from a normal operation mode to a low power consumption mode, the automatic gain control circuit is disabled, and the gain in an oscillation loop that drives the vibrator changes from a state in which the gain in the oscillation loop is controlled to be unity by the automatic gain control circuit to a state in which the gain in the oscillation loop is set to be larger than unity. When the mode setting circuit has switched the mode from the low power consumption mode to the normal operation mode, the automatic gain control circuit resumes operation, and the gain in the oscillation loop changes from the state in which the gain in the oscillation loop is set to be larger than unity to the state in which the gain in the oscillation loop is controlled to be unity by the automatic gain control circuit.

Claims (27)

1. An oscillation driver device that is connected to a vibrator to form an oscillation loop and causes the vibrator to produce driving vibrations, the oscillation driver device comprising:

a gain control amplifier that causes the vibrator to produce the driving vibrations by controlling an oscillation amplitude in the oscillation loop;

an automatic gain control circuit that controls the gain of the gain control amplifier based on a signal obtained from the oscillation loop; and

a mode setting circuit that switches a mode between a normal operation mode and a low power consumption mode,

when the mode setting circuit has switched the mode from the normal operation mode to the low power consumption mode, the automatic gain control circuit being disabled, and a gain in the oscillation loop that drives the vibrator changing from a state in which the gain in the oscillation loop is controlled to be unity by the automatic gain control circuit to a state in which the gain in the oscillation loop is set to be larger than unity; and

when the mode setting circuit has switched the mode from the low power consumption mode to the normal operation mode, the automatic gain control circuit resuming operation, and the gain in the oscillation loop changing from the state in which the gain in the oscillation loop is set to be larger than unity to the state in which the gain in the oscillation loop is controlled to be unity by the automatic gain control circuit.

2. The oscillation driver device as defined in claim 1 ,

the oscillation driver including a comparator that generates a synchronous detection reference signal based on a signal obtained from the oscillation loop, the synchronous detection reference signal being used to synchronously detect a detection signal obtained from the vibrator,

the oscillation loop that drives the vibrator including a first oscillation loop that includes the vibrator and the gain control amplifier and a second oscillation loop that includes the vibrator and the comparator;

the gain in the second oscillation loop being larger than unity;

when the mode setting circuit has switched the mode from the normal operation mode to the low power consumption mode, the automatic gain control circuit being disabled, and the oscillation loop that drives the vibrator being switched from the first oscillation loop that includes the vibrator and the gain control amplifier to the second oscillation loop that includes the vibrator and the comparator; and

when the mode setting circuit has switched the mode from the low power consumption mode to the normal operation mode, the automatic gain control circuit resuming operation, and the oscillation loop that drives the vibrator being switched from the second oscillation loop that includes the vibrator and the comparator to the first oscillation loop that includes the vibrator and the gain control amplifier.

3. The oscillation driver device as defined in claim 1 ,

the oscillation driver device including:

a first switch that is turned ON in the normal operation mode and is turned OFF in the low power consumption mode, the first switch supplying a first gain control signal output from the automatic gain control circuit to the gain control amplifier when the first switch is turned ON; and

a second switch that is turned OFF in the normal operation mode and is turned ON in the low power consumption mode, the second switch supplying a second gain control signal that causes the gain in the oscillation loop to be larger than unity to the gain control amplifier when the first switch is turned ON.

4. The oscillation driver device as defined in claim 3 ,

the first gain control signal and the second gain control signal being voltage signals, the voltage signals being supplied to the gain control amplifier as a high-potential-side power supply voltage of the gain control amplifier.

5. The oscillation driver device as defined in claim 1 ,

the vibrator being a capacitive-coupling vibrator; and

the gain control amplifier causing the vibrator to produce the driving vibrations by applying a rectangular-wave driving signal to the vibrator.

6. A physical quantity measuring device that measures a physical quantity corresponding to a detection signal output from a vibrator based on driving vibrations produced by the vibrator and the physical quantity to be measured, the physical quantity measuring device comprising:

the vibrator;

the oscillation driver device as defined in claim 1 that causes the vibrator to produce the driving vibrations; and

a detection device that detects an output signal corresponding to the physical quantity based on the detection signal,

the detection device including a synchronous detector that synchronously detects the detection signal based on the output from the comparator.

7. An electronic instrument comprising the physical quantity measuring device as defined in claim 6 .

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 2, 2022
From: SEIKO EPSON CORP.
To: COLUMBIA PEAK VENTURES, LLC
Reel/Frame 058952/0475 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 17, 2008
From: KANAI, MASAHIRO; OTSUKA, EITARO; YOSHIDA, NAOKI
To: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 021546/0572 →