UNIVERSAL INTERFACE COMPATIBILITY OF A SENSOR

• US 20090083459A1
• Filed: 09/22/2008
• Published: 03/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ypoint Capital, Inc,
• Original Assignee: Ypoint Capital, Inc,
• Inventors: Harish, Divyasimha
• Granted Patent: US 8,495,263 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/63
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0423 Input/output
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31125 Signal, sensor adapted interfaces build into fielddevice
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/33203 Wireless transmission of power and data, inductively, rotary transformer

Abstract

A method and apparatus of a universal interface compatibility of a sensor are disclosed. In one embodiment, a universal interface method includes acquiring an electrical power of an external source and conditioning the electrical power to provide to a sensor. The universal interface method further includes transferring the processed electrical power to the sensor, receiving a sensor output, converting the sensor output to a compatible form, and communicating the compatible form to an interface. The external source may include at least one of a USB power source, a battery, and a wall charger. The electrical power may be conditioned by at least one of detecting an input voltage, adjusting a variance of the electrical power, and altering a voltage of the electrical power. The compatible form may include at least one of a digital signal and an analog signal.

Claims

1. A universal interface method, comprising:

acquiring an electrical power of an external source;

conditioning the electrical power to provide to a sensor;

transferring the processed electrical power to the sensor;

receiving a sensor output;

converting the sensor output to a compatible form; and

communicating the compatible form to an interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the external source is comprised of at least one of a USB power source, a battery, and a wall charger.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the electrical power is conditioned by at least one of detecting an input voltage, adjusting a variance of the electrical power, and altering a voltage of the electrical power.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the compatible form is comprised of at least one of a digital signal and an analog signal.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the compatible form is communicated through at least one of a wired interface, a wireless interface, and an analog interface.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the sensor output is comprised of at least one of an approximately 0 to 20 millivolt signal, an approximately 0 to 5 Volt signal, a 4-20 mA signal, a frequency based output, and a digital signal.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the wired interface is coupleable using at least one of a USB standard, an I2C standard, and an SPI standard.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the compatible form is communicated through the wired interface using at least one of the approximately 0 to 20 millivolt signal, the approximately 0 to 5 Volt signal, the 4-20 mA signal, a frequency based output, and the digital signal.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the compatible form to a display.

10. A universal interface apparatus, comprising:

a power conditioning module to acquire an electrical power of an external source and to condition the electrical power to provide to a sensor;

a processing module to receive a sensor output and convert it to a compatible form; and

an output module to communicate the compatible form to an interface.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the external source is comprised of at least one of a USB power source, a battery, and a wall charger.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the electrical power is conditioned by at least one of detecting an input voltage, adjusting a variance of the electrical power, and altering a voltage of the electrical power.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the compatible form is comprised of at least one of a digital signal and an analog signal.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the compatible form is communicated through at least one of a wired interface, a wireless interface, and an analog interface.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the sensor output is comprised of at least one of an approximately 0 to 20 millivolt signal, an approximately 0 to 5 Volt signal, a 4-20 mA signal, a frequency based output, and a digital signal.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the output module is comprised of at least one of a digital output module and an analog output module.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a counter module to provide a count to the processing module when a frequency based output is received by the universal interface apparatus.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing module is further comprised of an A/D module to convert an analog sensor output to a digital form.

19. The method, comprising:

forming a power conditioning module in a universal interface apparatus to acquire an electrical power of an external source and to condition the electrical power to provide to a sensor;

placing a processing module in the universal interface apparatus to receive a sensor output and convert it to a compatible form; and

creating an output module in the universal interface apparatus to communicate the compatible form to an interface.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the external source is comprised of at least one of a USB power source, a battery, and a wall charger.