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US 2020/0149928 A1Published application
Sensor devices, systems and methods
AssigneeInfineon Technologies AG
InventorsTobias WERTH, Dirk HAMMERSCHMIDT, Helmut KOECK, Andrea MONTERASTELLI
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Abstract
Magnetic field sensor devices, corresponding systems and corresponding methods are discussed where a plurality of magnetic field sensors senses a magnetic field. An evaluation circuit generates a first signal component associated with a periodicity of a magnetic field, and a second signal component at least for periods of the magnetic field exceeding a threshold period length, the second signal component having a resolution smaller than the first signal component.
Claims20
A sensor device, comprising:
- a magnetic field sensor arrangement comprising a plurality of magnetic field sensors;
- and
- an evaluation circuit coupled to the magnetic field sensor arrangement, the evaluation circuit configured to generate a first signal component associated with a periodicity of a magnetic field sensed by the magnetic field sensor arrangement and to generate a second signal component having a resolution smaller than the first signal component,
- wherein the evaluation circuit is configured to:
- determine a phase between a first signal and a second signal, wherein the first signal is derived from a first set of the plurality of magnetic field sensors and the second signal is derived from a second set of the plurality of magnetic field sensors,
- determine an incremental phase error based on the determined phase and a constant phase difference, and
- generate the second signal component as the incremental phase error.
4 more elements
A sensor device, comprising:
- a magnetic field sensor arrangement comprising a plurality of magnetic field sensors;
- and
- an evaluation circuit coupled to the magnetic field sensor arrangement, the evaluation circuit configured to generate a first signal component associated with a periodicity of a magnetic field sensed by the magnetic field sensor arrangement and to generate a second signal component having a resolution smaller than the first signal component,
- wherein the evaluation circuit is configured to perform a phase estimation and generate the second signal component based on an estimated phase determined from the phase estimation,
- wherein the phase estimation comprises calculating the estimated phase based on a first signal and a second signal, wherein the first signal is derived from a first set of sensor signals from the plurality of magnetic field sensors, and the second signal is derived from a second set of sensor signals from the plurality of magnetic field sensors, and
- wherein:
- the first signal is a difference signal between a first sensor signal from a first sensor of the plurality of magnetic field sensors and a second sensor signal from a second sensor of the plurality of magnetic field sensors, and
- the second signal is a difference between twice a third sensor signal from a third sensor of the plurality of magnetic field sensors and a sum of the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal.
5 more elements
A sensor device, comprising:
- a magnetic field sensor arrangement comprising a plurality of magnetic field sensors;
- and
- an evaluation circuit coupled to the magnetic field sensor arrangement, the evaluation circuit configured to generate a first signal component associated with a periodicity of a magnetic field sensed by the magnetic field sensor arrangement and to generate a second signal component having a resolution smaller than the first signal component,
- wherein the evaluation circuit is configured to calculate virtual sensor signals associated with virtual sensors arranged between the plurality of magnetic field sensors, and generate the second signal component based on the virtual sensor signals,
- wherein the evaluation circuit is configured to calculate the virtual sensor signals by calculating weighted sums of sensor signals from the plurality of magnetic field sensors,
- wherein the plurality of magnetic field sensors include a first sensor configured to generate a first signal and a second sensor configured to generate a second signal, and
- wherein the evaluation circuit is configured to generate a first virtual sensor signal based on a sum of the first signal and one half of the second signal, generate a second virtual sensor signal based on a sum of one half of the first signal and one half of the second signal, and generate a third virtual sensor signal based on a sum of the second signal and one half of the first signal.
4 more elements
A method, comprising:
- measuring a magnetic field with a magnetic field sensor arrangement comprising a plurality of magnetic field sensors;
- generating a first signal component associated with a periodicity of the magnetic field;
- and
- generating a second signal component with a resolution smaller than the first signal component,
- wherein the generating the second signal component comprises:
- determining a phase between a first signal and a second signal, wherein the first signal is derived from a first set of the plurality of magnetic field sensors and the second signal is derived from a second set of the plurality of magnetic field sensors;
- determining an incremental phase error based on the determined phase and a constant phase difference;
- and
- generating the second signal component as the incremental phase error.
6 more elements
A method, comprising:
- measuring a magnetic field with a magnetic field sensor arrangement comprising a plurality of magnetic field sensors;
- generating a first signal component associated with a periodicity of the magnetic field;
- and
- generating a second signal component with a resolution smaller than the first signal component,
- wherein generating the second signal component comprises performing a phase estimation,
- wherein performing the phase estimation comprises calculating an estimated phase based on a first signal derived from a first set of sensor signals from the plurality of magnetic field sensors and a second signal derived from a second set of sensor signals from the plurality of magnetic field sensors,
- wherein the first signal is a difference signal between a first sensor signal from a first sensor of the plurality of magnetic field sensors and a second sensor signal from a second sensor of the plurality of magnetic field sensors, and
- wherein the second signal is a difference between twice a third sensor signal from a third sensor of the plurality of magnetic field sensors and a sum of the first sensor signal and the second sensor signal.
5 more elements
A method, comprising:
- measuring a magnetic field with a magnetic field sensor arrangement comprising a plurality of magnetic field sensors;
- generating a first signal component associated with a periodicity of the magnetic field;
- and
- generating a second signal component with a resolution smaller than the first signal component,
- wherein generating the second signal component comprises calculating virtual sensor signals associated with virtual sensors arranged between the plurality of magnetic field sensors,
- wherein the plurality of magnetic field sensors include a first sensor configured to generate a first signal and a second sensor configured to generate a second signal,
- wherein calculating virtual sensor signals comprises:
- calculating the virtual sensor signals by calculating weighted sums of sensor signals from the plurality of magnetic field sensors,
- generating a first virtual sensor signal based on a sum of the first signal and one half of the second signal;
- generating a second virtual sensor signal based on a sum of one half of the first signal and one half of the second signal;
- and
- generating a third virtual sensor signal based on a sum of the second signal and one half of the first signal.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.