Circuits and Methods for Processing a Signal Generated by a Plurality of Measuring Devices
First Claim
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1. An electronic circuit, comprising:
- a plurality of measuring devices to generate a corresponding plurality of measuring device signals, each one of the plurality of measuring device signals having a respective magnitude related to an angle of a direction of a sensed parameter;
a preprocessing circuit coupled to receive a signal representative of the plurality of measuring device signals, coupled to receive an index value identifying a selection of one or more measuring devices from among the plurality of measuring devices, and configured to generate either a first preprocessed output signal representative of a selected one or more of the plurality of measuring device signals selected in accordance with the index value or a second preprocessed output signal representative of a sum of a selected set of signals representative of the plurality of measuring device signals selected in accordance with the index value; and
a post processing circuit coupled to receive the first or the second preprocessed output signal and configured to relate a crossing of a predetermined value of the first or the second preprocessed output signal to the index value, wherein the crossing of the predetermined value is representative of the angle of the direction of the sensed parameter, wherein the post processing circuit comprises;
an analog-to-digital converter coupled to receive a signal representative of the first or the second preprocessed output signal and configured to generate a digital converted signal, wherein the digital converted signal corresponds to the index value.
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Abstract
Circuits and methods use a feedback arrangement to select one or more measuring devices from a plurality of measuring devices in order to rapidly identify a direction of a sensed parameter. In some embodiments, the plurality of measuring devices corresponds to a plurality of magnetic field sensing elements and the sensed parameter is a magnetic field.
34 Citations
35 Claims
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1. An electronic circuit, comprising:
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a plurality of measuring devices to generate a corresponding plurality of measuring device signals, each one of the plurality of measuring device signals having a respective magnitude related to an angle of a direction of a sensed parameter; a preprocessing circuit coupled to receive a signal representative of the plurality of measuring device signals, coupled to receive an index value identifying a selection of one or more measuring devices from among the plurality of measuring devices, and configured to generate either a first preprocessed output signal representative of a selected one or more of the plurality of measuring device signals selected in accordance with the index value or a second preprocessed output signal representative of a sum of a selected set of signals representative of the plurality of measuring device signals selected in accordance with the index value; and a post processing circuit coupled to receive the first or the second preprocessed output signal and configured to relate a crossing of a predetermined value of the first or the second preprocessed output signal to the index value, wherein the crossing of the predetermined value is representative of the angle of the direction of the sensed parameter, wherein the post processing circuit comprises; an analog-to-digital converter coupled to receive a signal representative of the first or the second preprocessed output signal and configured to generate a digital converted signal, wherein the digital converted signal corresponds to the index value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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- 11. The circuit of claim 11, wherein the post processing circuit further comprises a digital filter coupled to receive the digital converted signal and configured to filter the digital converted signal to provide a digital filtered signal representative of the angle of the direction of the magnetic field.
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19. A method of processing a plurality of measuring device signals generated by a plurality of measuring devices, comprising:
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receiving a signal representative of the plurality measuring device signals, each one of the plurality of measuring device signals having a respective magnitude related to an angle of a direction of a sensed parameter; receiving an index value identifying a selection of one or more measuring devices from among the plurality of measuring devices; generating either a first preprocessed output signal representative of a selected one or more of the plurality of measuring device signals selected in accordance with the index value or a second preprocessed output signal representative of a sum of a selected set of signals representative of the plurality of measuring device signals selected in accordance with the index value; and relating a crossing of a predetermined value of the first or the second preprocessed output signal to the index value, wherein the crossing of a predetermined value is representative of the angle of the direction of the sensed parameter, wherein the relating comprises; converting a signal representative of the first or the second preprocessed output signal with an analog-to-digital converter to generate a digital converted signal, wherein the digital converted signal corresponds to the index value; and feeding back the index value to the step of receiving the index value. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification