# US 12,191,931 B2 · Devices, systems and methods for multiple channel communication across an isolation barrier

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- Number: US 12,191,931 B2
- Document ID: US12191931B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/681,176
- Filed: 2022-02-25
- Published: 2023-08-31
- Granted: 2025-01-07
- Earliest claimed: 2022-02-25
- Assignees: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
- Applicants: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
- Inventors: Simone Fabbro; Matteo Bassi; Saleh Karman; Karl Norling; Fabio Padovan; Natasa Pojak
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12191931B2

## CPC

- H04B 5/26: using coils
- H04B 1/38: Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving
- H04B 5/22: Capacitive coupling
- H04B 5/266: {One coil at each side, e.g. with primary and secondary coils}
- H04L 5/14: Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
- H04B: TRANSMISSION
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

A device includes: first and second electronic sides; an isolation barrier galvanically isolating the electronic sides from one another and including a signal coupler configured to enable signaling between the electronic sides over the isolation barrier via electromagnetic coupling; and transceiver circuitry included in both electronic sides and configured to implement, based on a frequency response profile of the isolation barrier, full-duplex communication between the electronic sides using the same signal coupler. According to another embodiment of a device, the device includes: electronic circuitry; an isolation barrier galvanically isolating the electronic circuitry and including a signal coupler configured to enable signaling over the isolation barrier via electromagnetic coupling; and transceiver circuitry configured to implement, based on a frequency response profile of the isolation barrier, full-duplex communication between the electronic circuitry of the device and electronic circuitry of another device using the same signal coupler.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A device, comprising:
a first electronic side;
a second electronic side;
an isolation barrier galvanically isolating the first electronic side and the second electronic side from one another, the isolation barrier including a signal coupler configured to enable signaling between the first and second electronic sides over the isolation barrier via electromagnetic coupling; and
transceiver circuitry included in both the first and second electronic sides and configured to implement, based on a frequency response profile of the isolation barrier, full-duplex communication between the first and second electronic sides using the same signal coupler,
wherein the second electronic side includes a gate driver for a power transistor,
wherein the first electronic side includes control circuitry for the gate driver,
wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously transmit a modulation signal from the first electronic side to the second electronic side and a telemetry signal from the second electronic side to the first electronic side using the same signal coupler and based on the frequency response profile of the isolation barrier.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1, wherein the first electronic side is a primary side of a digital isolator, wherein the second electronic side is a secondary side of the digital isolator, and wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously transmit a first signal from the primary side to the secondary side and a second signal from the secondary side to the primary side using the same signal coupler and based on the frequency response profile of the isolation barrier.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1, wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises:
a first oscillator on the first electronic side and tuned to a first carrier frequency that corresponds to a first resonance frequency of the isolation barrier;
a second oscillator on the second electronic side and tuned to a second carrier frequency that corresponds to a second resonance frequency of the isolation barrier;
a first bandpass filter on the first electronic side and tuned to the second carrier frequency; and
a second bandpass filter on the second electronic side and tuned to the first carrier frequency.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The device of claim 3, wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously transmit the first carrier frequency modulated with first data via the first oscillator and the second carrier frequency modulated with second data via the second oscillator, and wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously recover the second data via the first bandpass filter and the first data via the second bandpass filter.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The device of claim 3, wherein the second carrier frequency is a harmonic of the first carrier frequency.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1, wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises:
a single oscillator on the first electronic side and having a carrier frequency;
a first variable reactance on the first electronic side;
a second variable reactance on the second electronic side, the first variable reactance and the second variable reactance forming an equivalent reactance that is configured to shift the carrier frequency to one of a plurality of shifted frequencies;
a first filter circuit on the first electronic side and having a bandpass filter tuned for the one of the plurality of shifted frequencies; and
a second filter circuit on the second electronic side and having a bandpass filter tuned for the one of the plurality of shifted frequencies.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The device of claim 6, wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to set the first variable reactance to a first reactance value based on first data at the first electronic side and to set the second variable reactance to a second reactance value based on second data at the second electronic side such that the equivalent reactance is set to a transmission reactance value and the carrier frequency is shifted to the one of the plurality of shifted frequencies, and wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously recover the second data via the bandpass filter of the first filter circuit tuned to a frequency associated with the second reactance value and the first data via the bandpass filter of the second filter circuit tuned to a frequency associated with the first reactance value.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The device of claim 6, wherein for a shift in the carrier frequency brought about by a change in the first variable reactance on the first electronic side or by a change in the second variable reactance on the second electronic side, the transceiver circuitry is configured to change a center frequency of each bandpass filter on the electronic side at which the shift in the variable reactance is implemented, by an amount corresponding to the shift in the carrier frequency.

### Claim 9 (depends on 6)

The device of claim 6, wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises a lookup table that stores the plurality of shifted frequencies, and wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to retrieve the one of the plurality of shifted frequencies and change the center frequency of each bandpass filter on the electronic side at which the shift in the variable reactance is implemented to the shifted frequency retrieved from the lookup table.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1, wherein the isolation barrier has a wideband frequency response, and wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises:
an oscillator on the first electronic side for each carrier frequency included in a first group of carrier frequencies within the wideband frequency response;
an oscillator on the second electronic side for each carrier frequency included in a second group of carrier frequencies within the wideband frequency response;
a bandpass filter on the first electronic side tuned to each carrier frequency included in the second group of carrier frequencies; and
a bandpass filter on the second electronic side tuned to each carrier frequency included in the first group of carrier frequencies.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The device of claim 10, wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously transmit a plurality of carrier frequencies from the first group modulated with first data via the oscillators on the first electronic side and a plurality of carrier frequencies from the second group modulated with second data via the oscillators on the second electronic side, and wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously recover the second data via the bandpass filters on the first electronic side and the first data via the bandpass filters on the second electronic side.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The device of claim 10, wherein the oscillators on the first electronic side are independent of and decoupled from the isolation barrier by first capacitance decoupled voltage buffers, and wherein the oscillators on the second electronic side are independent of and decoupled from the isolation barrier by second capacitance decoupled voltage buffers.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The device of claim 10, wherein the oscillators on the first electronic side are independent of and decoupled from the isolation barrier by first directly coupled current buffers, and wherein the oscillators on the second electronic side are independent of and decoupled from the isolation barrier by second directly coupled current buffers.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1, wherein the transceiver circuitry included in the first electronic side and/or the second electronic side is configured to implement multi-channel communication over the isolation barrier.

### Claim 15

A device, comprising:
electronic circuitry;
an isolation barrier galvanically isolating the electronic circuitry, the isolation barrier including a signal coupler configured to enable signaling over the isolation barrier via electromagnetic coupling; and
transceiver circuitry configured to implement, based on a frequency response profile of the isolation barrier, full-duplex communication between the electronic circuitry of the device and electronic circuitry of another device using the same signal coupler,
wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises an oscillator tuned to a first carrier frequency that corresponds to a first resonance frequency of the isolation barrier and a bandpass filter tuned to a second carrier frequency that is a harmonic of the first carrier frequency,
wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously transmit the first carrier frequency modulated with first data via the oscillator and receive the second carrier frequency modulated with second data via the bandpass filter.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The device of claim 15, wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to implement multi-channel communication over the isolation barrier.

### Claim 17

A device, comprising:
electronic circuitry;
an isolation barrier galvanically isolating the electronic circuitry, the isolation barrier including a signal coupler configured to enable signaling over the isolation barrier via electromagnetic coupling; and
transceiver circuitry configured to implement, based on a frequency response profile of the isolation barrier, full-duplex communication between the electronic circuitry of the device and electronic circuitry of another device using the same signal coupler,
wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises:
a single oscillator having a carrier frequency;
a variable reactance forming part of an equivalent reactance that is configured to shift the carrier frequency such that information encoding at the device is implemented by changing the variable reactance; and
a filter circuit frequency tuned based on the variable reactance.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The device of claim 17, wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to set the variable reactance to a first reactance value to encode first data and to a second reactance value to encode second data.

### Claim 19 (depends on 17)

The device of claim 17, wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to change the frequency tuning of the filter circuit if the variable reactance is changed from one reactance value to another reactance value.

### Claim 20

A device, comprising:
electronic circuitry;
an isolation barrier galvanically isolating the electronic circuitry, the isolation barrier including a signal coupler configured to enable signaling over the isolation barrier via electromagnetic coupling; and
transceiver circuitry configured to implement, based on a frequency response profile of the isolation barrier, full-duplex communication between the electronic circuitry of the device and electronic circuitry of another device using the same signal coupler,
wherein the isolation barrier has a wideband frequency response,
wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises an oscillator for each carrier frequency included in a first group of carrier frequencies within the wideband frequency response and a bandpass filter tuned to each carrier frequency included in a second group of carrier frequencies within the wideband frequency response,
wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously transmit a plurality of carrier frequencies from the first group modulated with first data via the oscillators and receive a plurality of carrier frequencies from the second group modulated with second data via the bandpass filters.

### Claim 21

A device, comprising:
a first electronic side;
a second electronic side;
an isolation barrier galvanically isolating the first electronic side and the second electronic side from one another, the isolation barrier including a signal coupler configured to enable signaling between the first and second electronic sides over the isolation barrier via electromagnetic coupling; and
transceiver circuitry included in both the first and second electronic sides and configured to implement, based on a frequency response profile of the isolation barrier, full-duplex communication between the first and second electronic sides using the same signal coupler,
wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises:
a first oscillator on the first electronic side and tuned to a first carrier frequency that corresponds to a first resonance frequency of the isolation barrier;
a second oscillator on the second electronic side and tuned to a second carrier frequency that corresponds to a second resonance frequency of the isolation barrier;
a first bandpass filter on the first electronic side and tuned to the second carrier frequency; and
a second bandpass filter on the second electronic side and tuned to the first carrier frequency,
wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously transmit the first carrier frequency modulated with first data via the first oscillator and the second carrier frequency modulated with second data via the second oscillator,
wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously recover the second data via the first bandpass filter and the first data via the second bandpass filter.

### Claim 22

A device, comprising:
a first electronic side;
a second electronic side;
an isolation barrier galvanically isolating the first electronic side and the second electronic side from one another, the isolation barrier including a signal coupler configured to enable signaling between the first and second electronic sides over the isolation barrier via electromagnetic coupling; and
transceiver circuitry included in both the first and second electronic sides and configured to implement, based on a frequency response profile of the isolation barrier, full-duplex communication between the first and second electronic sides using the same signal coupler,
wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises:
a single oscillator on the first electronic side and having a carrier frequency;
a first variable reactance on the first electronic side;
a second variable reactance on the second electronic side, the first variable reactance and the second variable reactance forming an equivalent reactance that is configured to shift the carrier frequency to one of a plurality of shifted frequencies;
a first filter circuit on the first electronic side and having a bandpass filter tuned for the one of the plurality of shifted frequencies; and
a second filter circuit on the second electronic side and having a bandpass filter tuned for the one of the plurality of shifted frequencies.

### Claim 23 (depends on 22)

The device of claim 22, wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to set the first variable reactance to a first reactance value based on first data at the first electronic side and to set the second variable reactance to a second reactance value based on second data at the second electronic side such that the equivalent reactance is set to a transmission reactance value and the carrier frequency is shifted to the one of the plurality of shifted frequencies, and wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously recover the second data via the bandpass filter of the first filter circuit tuned to a frequency associated with the second reactance value and the first data via the bandpass filter of the second filter circuit tuned to a frequency associated with the first reactance value.

### Claim 24 (depends on 22)

The device of claim 22, wherein for a shift in the carrier frequency brought about by a change in the first variable reactance on the first electronic side or by a change in the second variable reactance on the second electronic side, the transceiver circuitry is configured to change a center frequency of each bandpass filter on the electronic side at which the shift in the variable reactance is implemented, by an amount corresponding to the shift in the carrier frequency.

### Claim 25 (depends on 22)

The device of claim 22, wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises a lookup table that stores the plurality of shifted frequencies, and wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to retrieve the one of the plurality of shifted frequencies and change the center frequency of each bandpass filter on the electronic side at which the shift in the variable reactance is implemented to the shifted frequency retrieved from the lookup table.

### Claim 26

A device, comprising:
a first electronic side;
a second electronic side;
an isolation barrier galvanically isolating the first electronic side and the second electronic side from one another, the isolation barrier including a signal coupler configured to enable signaling between the first and second electronic sides over the isolation barrier via electromagnetic coupling; and
transceiver circuitry included in both the first and second electronic sides and configured to implement, based on a frequency response profile of the isolation barrier, full-duplex communication between the first and second electronic sides using the same signal coupler,
wherein the isolation barrier has a wideband frequency response,
wherein the transceiver circuitry comprises:
an oscillator on the first electronic side for each carrier frequency included in a first group of carrier frequencies within the wideband frequency response;
an oscillator on the second electronic side for each carrier frequency included in a second group of carrier frequencies within the wideband frequency response;
a bandpass filter on the first electronic side tuned to each carrier frequency included in the second group of carrier frequencies; and
a bandpass filter on the second electronic side tuned to each carrier frequency included in the first group of carrier frequencies,
wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously transmit a plurality of carrier frequencies from the first group modulated with first data via the oscillators on the first electronic side and a plurality of carrier frequencies from the second group modulated with second data via the oscillators on the second electronic side,
wherein the transceiver circuitry is configured to simultaneously recover the second data via the bandpass filters on the first electronic side and the first data via the bandpass filters on the second electronic side.