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US 12,620,998 B2Granted
Methods and circuits for electrical power supply
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics S.r.l.
InventorsAlberto Bianco, Francesco Ciappa, Donato Bondetti
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A circuit includes at least one coupling node configured to be coupled, via a cable, to a load to transmit a supply voltage thereto. The circuit includes test circuitry configured to sense at least one sensing signal indicative of a value of the cable impedance and/or of the cable voltage across the cable, to perform a comparison between the at least one sensing signal and at least one threshold indicative either of a threshold resistance value for the cable impedance or indicative of a threshold voltage value for the cable voltage, produce a comparison signal as a result of the comparison.
Claims13
A circuit, comprising:
- at least one coupling node configured to be coupled, via a cable, to a load to transmit a supply voltage thereto, the cable having a cable impedance and configured to carry a cable voltage;
- and
- test circuitry coupled to the at least one coupling node, the test circuitry configured to:
- sense at least one sensing signal indicative of a value of the cable impedance and/or of a cable voltage across the cable;
- perform a comparison between the at least one sensing signal and at least one threshold indicative either of a threshold resistance value for the cable impedance or indicative of a threshold voltage value for the cable voltage;
- produce a comparison signal as a result of the comparison, the comparison signal having a first logic value or a second logic value, as a result of the at least one sensing signal reaching or failing to reach the at least one threshold;
- and
- assert a flag signal based on the logic value of the comparison signal, the flag signal being indicative of the value of the cable impedance being lower than the threshold resistance value or being indicative of a cable voltage across the wired cable being greater than the threshold voltage value, wherein the test circuit includes:
- an I/O node configured to provide the sensing signal;
- at least one Zener diode interposed to the at least one resistive element of the coupling circuit and the I/O node;
- a capacitive element coupled between ground and the I/O node;
- an analog-to-digital converter circuit coupled to the I/O node to sense the sensing signal therefrom, the analog-to-digital converter circuit configured to perform the comparison and to produce the comparison signal based on the comparison;
- and
- a logic unit coupled to the ADC circuit to receive the comparison signal from the analog-to-digital converter circuit, wherein the ADC circuit is configured to produce the comparison signal having the first logic value or the second logic value based on the at least one sensing signal reaching or failing to reach the at least one threshold and the logic unit is configured to assert the flag signal based on the logic value of the comparison signal.
11 more elements
A method, comprising:
- coupling at least one coupling node, via a cable, to a load to transmit a supply voltage thereto, the cable having a cable impedance and configured to carry a cable voltage;
- sensing at least one sensing signal indicative of a value of the cable impedance or of the cable voltage across the cable;
- performing a comparison between the at least one sensing signal and at least one threshold indicative either of a threshold resistance value for the cable impedance or indicative of a threshold voltage value for the cable voltage;
- producing a comparison signal as a result of the comparison, the comparison signal having a first logic value or a second logic value based on the at least one sensing signal reaching or failing to reach the at least one threshold;
- asserting a flag signal based on the logic value of the comparison signal, the asserted flag signal being indicative of the value of the cable impedance being lower than the threshold resistance value, or being indicative of a cable voltage across the wired cable being greater than the threshold voltage value;
- and
- asserting a drive signal with the first logic value during a first time-interval;
- after lapse of the first time-interval, leaving the drive signal floating during a second time interval;
- asserting the drive signal after lapse of the second time-interval;
- performing the comparison between the at least one sensing signal and at least one threshold indicative a threshold resistance value for the cable impedance during the discharge of the capacitive element at lapse of the second time interval, producing the comparison signal as a result of the comparison, the comparison signal having a first logic value or a second logic value, as a result of the at least one sensing signal reaching or failing to reach, the at least one threshold;
- and asserting the flag signal based on the logic value of the comparison signal being indicative of the value of the cable impedance being lower than the threshold resistance value.
8 more elements
A device, comprising:
- a transmission interface including:
- a first coupling node configured to be coupled to a cable;
- a sensing circuit coupled to the first coupling node and configured to sense an electrical quantity of the cable via the first coupling node, wherein the sensing circuit includes a first resistor coupled to the first coupling node and a Zener diode coupled to the first resistor;
- a testing circuit coupled to the sensing circuit and configured to provide a signal indicative of an operational condition of the cable based on the electrical quantity;
- and
- a control circuit coupled to the testing circuit and configured to drive the testing circuit block to perform a test on the coupling node and to receive the signal from the testing circuit based on the test, wherein the control circuit includes a single bit ADC configured to receive the signal from the testing circuit, a logic circuit coupled to an output of the single-bit ADC and configured to assert a flag indicative of a fault in the cable based on the signal, and a tri-state buffer including an input coupled to the logic circuit and an output coupled to the input of the single-bit ADC.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.