Current Loop Voltage Modulator for Communication Interface
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsDaniel Milton Alley, Bruce Henderson, Vitaly Alexandrovich Tkachuk, Longhui Shen, Ye Xu, Alan Carroll Lovell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems for communicating over a communication interface are provided. An integrated circuit includes circuitry for monitoring a current flowing between two terminals of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit also includes a voltage driver circuit for modulating a voltage between two terminals of the integrated circuit. The voltage driver modulates the voltage across the two terminals of the integrated circuit to encode data according to the Highway Addressable Remote Transducer protocol.
Claims20
An integrated circuit, comprising:
- a differential amplifier having a first input and a second input, wherein the first input is coupled directly to a first of two terminals of the integrated circuit and wherein the second input is coupled indirectly to a second of the two terminals of the integrated circuit, and wherein the differential amplifier is configured to generate a voltage difference signal in relation to a voltage difference across the first input and the second input;
- a modulator-demodulator (modem) configured to receive the voltage difference signal and generate an output signal;
- and
- a voltage driver configured to modulate a voltage across the two terminals of the integrated circuit according to the output signal from the modem while maintaining the current flowing between the two terminals of the integrated circuit;
- wherein the output signal from the modem is configured to cause the voltage driver to modulate the voltage across the two terminals of the integrated circuit to encode data according to the Highway Addressable Remote Transducer (HART) protocol.
A system, comprising:
- a transmitter;
- and
- a receiver comprising an integrated circuit and electrically coupled to the transmitter by wires forming a current loop, the integrated circuit comprising:
- a differential amplifier having inputs across a current flowing through the current loop, wherein the differential amplifier is configured to monitor a current flowing through the current loop;
- a modulator-demodulator (modem) configured to generate an output signal based on the current flowing through the current loop;
- and
- a voltage driver configured to modulate a voltage across two terminals of the current loop based on the output signal from the modem while maintaining the current flowing through the current loop;
- wherein the transmitter is configured to transfer information to the receiver by modulating the current flowing through the current loop, and the receiver transfers information to the transmitter by modulating the voltage across the two terminals of the current loop.
(canceled)
An electronic circuit, comprising:
- a resistor configured to form a voltage across its terminals in relation to a current flowing through a current loop formed between the electronic circuit and a transmitting circuit;
- a differential amplifier configured to generate a signal in relation to the voltage formed by the resistor, wherein the signal is passed to a modulator-demodulator (modem) and an analog-to-digital converter for processing;
- and
- a voltage driving circuit configured to receive signals from the modem and modulate a voltage across terminals of the current loop based on the signals received from the modem.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.