IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,474,135
Granted Patent B2
US 11,474,135 · App. 16/600,255 · Granted Oct 18, 2022

Auto-centering of sensor frequency of a resonant sensor

Inventors: Siddharth Maru (Austin, TX); Vadim Konradi (Austin, TX); Matthew Beardsworth (Austin, TX); Tejasvi Das (Austin, TX)
Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
G01R27/28G01D5/243
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,474,135
App. No.
16/600,255
Granted
Oct 18, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

A system may include a resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor, a driver configured to drive the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor at a driving frequency, and a measurement circuit communicatively coupled to the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor and configured to determine a measured change in a resonant frequency of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor and based on the measured change, modify the driving frequency.

Claims (61)

1. A system comprising:

a resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor;

a driver configured to drive the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor at a driving frequency; and

a measurement circuit configured to:

measure at least one of phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor and amplitude information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor;

determine a measured change in the resonant frequency of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor based on the at least one of phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor and amplitude information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor; and

based on the measured change, modify the driving frequency.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the measurement circuit is further configured to:

measure at least one of phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor and amplitude information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor; and

modify the driving frequency when a change in the at least one of phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor and amplitude information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor exceeds a threshold value.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the threshold value is based on a quality factor of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the measurement circuit is further configured to modify the driving frequency when the measured change exceeds a threshold value.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the threshold value is based on a quality factor of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the measurement circuit further comprises a quality factor estimator configured to estimate a quality factor of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the quality factor estimator is configured to estimate the quality factor based on at least one of phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor and amplitude information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the measurement circuit is further configured to modify the driving frequency based on the quality factor.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the measurement circuit is configured to modify the driving frequency by:

determining a change in phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor; and

adjusting the driving frequency by a frequency change based on the phase information and a slope of a phase-versus-frequency curve of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the measurement circuit is configured to calculate the frequency change to be equal to the change in phase information divided by the slope.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein:

the measurement circuit further comprises a quality factor estimator configured to estimate a quality factor of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor; and

the measurement circuit is configured to calculate the slope based on the quality factor.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the measurement circuit is configured to modify the driving frequency to match a resonance frequency of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the measurement circuit is configured to verify that modification of the drive frequency results in the drive frequency matching a resonance frequency of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the measurement circuit is configured to modify the driving frequency such that the system operates in a linear region of a phase-versus-frequency curve of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the measurement circuit is configured to:

blank measurement of phase information of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor for a measurement cycle following modification of the driving frequency; and

ensure that the phase information change caused by the modification of the driving frequency is not communicated to downstream processing.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the measurement circuit is configured to:

measure phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor; and

based on the phase information, determine a displacement of a mechanical member relative to the resonant sensor, wherein the displacement of the mechanical member causes a change in an impedance of the resonant sensor.

17. A method comprising:

measuring at least one of phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor and amplitude information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor;

determining the measured change in the resonant frequency of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor based on the at least one of phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor and amplitude information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor; and

based on the measured change, modifying the driving frequency.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

measuring at least one of phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor and amplitude information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor; and

modifying the driving frequency when a change in the at least one of phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor and amplitude information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor exceeds a threshold value.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the threshold value is based on a quality factor of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

20. The method of claim 17 , further comprising modifying the driving frequency when the measured change exceeds a threshold value.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the threshold value is based on a quality factor of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

22. The method of claim 17 , further comprising estimating a quality factor of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

23. The method of claim 22 , further comprising estimating the quality factor based on at least one of phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor and amplitude information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

24. The method of claim 22 , further comprising modifying the driving frequency based on the quality factor.

25. The method of claim 17 , further comprising modifying the driving frequency by:

determining a change in phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor; and

adjusting the driving frequency by a frequency change based on the phase information and a slope of a phase-versus-frequency curve of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

26. The method of claim 25 , further comprising calculating the frequency change to be equal to the change in phase information divided by the slope.

27. The method of claim 26 , further comprising:

estimating a quality factor of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor; and

calculating the slope based on the quality factor.

28. The method of claim 17 , further comprising modifying the driving frequency to match a resonance frequency of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

29. The method of claim 17 , further comprising verifying that modification of the drive frequency results in the drive frequency matching a resonance frequency of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

30. The method of claim 17 , further comprising modifying the driving frequency such that the system operates in a linear region of a phase-versus-frequency curve of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor.

31. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

blanking measurement of phase information of the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor for a measurement cycle following modification of the driving frequency; and

ensuring that the phase information change caused by the modification of the driving frequency is not communicated to downstream processing.

32. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

measuring phase information associated with the resistive-inductive-capacitive sensor; and

based on the phase information, determining a displacement of a mechanical member relative to the resonant sensor, wherein the displacement of the mechanical member causes a change in an impedance of the resonant sensor.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 4, 2022
From: CIRRUS LOGIC INTERNATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR LTD.
To: CIRRUS LOGIC, INC.
Reel/Frame 060724/0136 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 11, 2019
From: MARU, SIDDHARTH; KONRADI, VADIM; BEARDSWORTH, MATTHEW; DAS, TEJASVI
To: CIRRUS LOGIC INTERNATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR LTD.
Reel/Frame 050693/0339 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62828566 · Apr 3, 2019
Related Publication 20200319237A1 · Oct 8, 2020
Cited By (2)
US 12,442,683 US 12,463,643