Electronic device with fault communication
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics International N.V.
InventorsVanni Poletto, Gianluca Tortora, Antonella Doretta Canobbio, Antoine Pavlin
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Abstract
An electronic device includes a first terminal, a second terminal, and a safety circuit coupled with the first terminal and the second terminal. The first terminal and the second terminal are couplable with a microcontroller. The safety circuit is configured to send internal fault information to and receive external fault information from the microcontroller through the first terminal at a first speed, control an on/off status of the electronic device based on detecting a fault, and communicate operational information with the microcontroller through the second terminal at a second speed less than the first speed.
Claims20
An electronic device comprising:
- a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal and the second terminal being couplable with a microcontroller;
- and
- a safety circuit coupled with the first terminal and the second terminal, the safety circuit being configured to:
- send internal fault information to and receive external fault information from the microcontroller through the first terminal at a first speed;
- control an on/off status of the electronic device based on detecting a fault;
- and
- communicate operational information with the microcontroller through the second terminal at a second speed, the second speed being less than the first speed.
An electronic device comprising:
- a power driver;
- a digital core coupled with the power driver, the digital core further coupled with a microcontroller through a serial peripheral interface (SPI);
- and
- a bidirectional pad coupled with the power driver and the digital core, the bidirectional pad being configured to:
- receive an external fault signal from the microcontroller to disable the electronic device, and
- transmit an internal fault signal to the microcontroller indicating detected internal faults;
- and
- an activation latch coupled with the power driver, the digital core, and the bidirectional pad, the activation latch being configured to maintain a disabled state of the electronic device until receiving:
- a release of the external fault signal on the bidirectional pad, and
- an enable signal through the SPI.
A method for fault handling, the method comprising:
- receiving a fault signal at a bidirectional pad of a device;
- setting a disable circuit to an error state, the disable circuit being coupled with the bidirectional pad;
- turning off a power driver with a latch, the latch being coupled with the disable circuit;
- and
- after clearing the error state in the disable circuit, turning on the power driver with the latch by sending a clear command from a serial peripheral interface to the latch.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.