Measuring power consumption of ciruit component operating in ultra-low power mode
AssigneeAtmel Corporation
InventorIngar Hanssen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
By powering an electronic component operating in an ultra-low power mode from a pre-charged measuring capacitor and measuring the time to discharge the capacitor to a trip voltage level, measurement data can be obtained. In some implementations, the capacitance of the capacitor can be obtained by adding a known current to the unknown current drawn from the capacitor and calculating the capacitance using a mathematical formula.
Claims14
A method of obtaining measurement data from a circuit component operating in an ultra-low power mode, the method comprising:
- charging a capacitor to a voltage level using a voltage source of the circuit component;
- disconnecting the voltage source from an internal power system of the circuit component, enabling the capacitor to power the circuit component;
- responsive to the enabling,
- starting a counter;
- determining that a voltage across the capacitor exceeds a trip voltage;
- stopping the counter;
- and
- obtaining measurement data for the circuit component using output of the counter.
A circuit for obtaining measurement data from a circuit component operating in an ultra-low power mode, comprising:
- a voltage source coupled to a capacitor and configured for charging the capacitor to a voltage level using a voltage source of the circuit component;
- control logic configure for disconnecting the voltage source from an internal power system of the circuit component to enable the capacitor to power the circuit component;
- a counter coupled to the control logic and configured to determine a discharge period;
- and
- a comparator having inputs coupled to the capacitor and a trip voltage, and an output coupled to the control logic, the comparator configured to compare continuously a voltage across the capacitor and the trip voltage and to generate a trip signal at the output when the voltage across the capacitor exceeds the trip voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.