Methods for switch health determination
AssigneeNXP USA, Inc.
InventorsWilliam E. Edwards, Anthony F. Andresen, Randall C. Gray
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The embodiments described herein provide systems and methods for determining the health status of a sensed switch. In general, the embodiments described herein determine a measure of a health status of the sensed switch by comparing a voltage on the sensed switch, ascertaining a first comparator state under one test condition and ascertaining a second comparator state under a second test condition. The first comparator state and the second comparator state are and then compared to determine the measure of the health status of the sensed switch.
Claims13
A method performed by a switch health determination system for determining a health status of a switch, the method comprising:
- selectively comparing, by a comparator coupled to the switch, a voltage on the switch to a first threshold voltage and a second threshold voltage, wherein the first and second threshold voltages have different values;
- ascertaining a first comparator state when the first threshold voltage is provided to the comparator, and ascertaining a second comparator state when the second threshold voltage is provided to the comparator;
- comparing the first comparator state to the second comparator state;
- determining a measure of health status of the switch based at least in part on the comparing of the first comparator state to the second comparator state;
- and
- adjusting a threshold voltage used to read a state of the switch in response to the measure of the health status of the switch.
A method performed by a switch health determination system for determining a health status of a switch, the method comprising:
- supplying, by a current source, current to the switch;
- selectively comparing, by a comparator coupled to the switch, a voltage on the switch resulting from the current supplied to the switch to a first threshold voltage and a second threshold voltage, wherein the first and second threshold voltages have different values;
- ascertaining a first comparator state when the first threshold voltage is provided to the comparator;
- ascertaining a second comparator state when the second threshold voltage is provided to the comparator;
- comparing the first comparator state to the second comparator state;
- determining a measure of health status of the switch based at least in part on the comparing of the first comparator state to the second comparator state;
- and
- adjusting a threshold voltage used to read a state of the switch in response to the measure of the health status of the switch.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.