Digital microphone with over-voltage protection
AssigneeKnowles Electronics, LLC
InventorsDeepak Bharadwaj, Payel Mukherjee, Balabrahmachari Matcha, Gururaj Ghorpade
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The disclosure relates generally to microphone and vibration sensor assemblies (100) having a transducer (102), like a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device, and an electrical circuit (103) disposed in a housing (110) configured for integration with a host device. The electrical circuit includes an output driver circuit, a low drop out (LDO) regulator circuit, and an over-voltage protection circuit with improved capacity and response time.
Claims21
A sensor assembly comprising:
- a transducer configured to generate an analog signal responsive to sensing changes in an environment;
- and
- an integrated circuit coupled to an output of the transducer, the integrated circuit comprising:
- a signal processing circuit connectable to a transducer of the digital sensor assembly;
- an output driver circuit coupled to the signal processing circuit;
- a low drop out (LDO) regulator circuit coupled to the output driver circuit;
- and
- an over-voltage protection circuit comprising:
- a current-sink circuit coupled to the output driver circuit and configured to sink current associated with reflected energy received by the output driver circuit;
- a current comparator circuit coupled to the current-sink circuit;
- and
- a control circuit coupled to the current comparator and configured to change a state of the current comparator when a voltage of the reflected energy exceeds a threshold,
- wherein the current comparator enables the current-sink circuit to sink current associated with the reflected energy upon changing state.
An integrated circuit for interfacing with a transducer of a digital sensor assembly, the integrated circuit comprising:
- a signal processing circuit connectable to a transducer of the digital sensor assembly;
- an output driver circuit coupled to the signal processing circuit;
- a low drop out (LDO) regulator circuit coupled to the output driver circuit;
- and
- an over-voltage protection circuit comprising:
- a current-sink circuit coupled to the output driver circuit and configured to sink current associated with reflected energy received by the output driver circuit;
- a current comparator circuit coupled to the current-sink circuit;
- and
- a control circuit coupled to the current comparator and configured to change a state of the current comparator when a voltage of the reflected energy exceeds a threshold,
- wherein the current comparator enables the current-sink circuit to sink current associated with the reflected energy upon changing state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.