LINEAR WALK ARRANGEMENT

• US 20140042932A1
• Filed: 08/10/2012
• Published: 02/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Original Assignee: Arno Rabenstein, Attila Tomasovics
• Inventors: TOMASOVICS, Attila, RABENSTEIN, Arno
• Granted Patent: US 8,829,816 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/307
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/20 Controlling the colour of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/16 by timing means
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

Representative implementations of devices and techniques provide a linear walk arrangement for a control signal. A modified clock signal is used to increment or decrement a value of the control signal toward a target value. The modified clock signal is based on a specified transition time and a difference between an initial value for the control signal and the target value. Multiple control signals may be transitioned such that the control signals arrive at their respective target values simultaneously, notwithstanding the differences in transitions among the control signals.

Claims

1. A hardware device, comprising:

an increment/decrement portion arranged to receive a modified clock signal and to linearly increment or decrement an intensity value toward a target intensity value, based on the modified clock signal; and

a divider portion arranged to receive a clock signal and a transition time value and to modify the clock signal based on the transition time value to produce the modified clock signal, the transition time value representing a time for the intensity value to transition from an initial intensity value to the target intensity value.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprising a pseudo-fractional divider arranged to modify the clock signal based on a comparison of a reverse ordered count and a difference between the initial intensity value and the target intensity value.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the pseudo-fractional divider includes at least one of a bit reverse counter, a prescaler, and a comparator.

4. The device of claim 1, further comprising a feedback loop arranged to feed an incremented or decremented intensity value back to the input of the increment/decrement portion and/or the input of the divider portion.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the divider portion is further arranged to modify the clock signal based on a difference between the initial intensity value and the target intensity value to produce the modified clock signal.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the divider portion is arranged to modify a frequency of the clock signal to produce the modified clock signal, the frequency based on the time for the intensity value to transition from the initial intensity value to the target intensity value and a difference between the initial intensity value and the target intensity value.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the target intensity value and the transition time value are user selectable.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is arranged to control a rate of change of at least one of a color and a brightness of a lamp.

9. A system implemented in hardware, comprising:

a first linear walk device arranged to linearly increment or decrement a first channel control signal value from a first initial value to a first target value at a first rate of change; and

a second linear walk device arranged to linearly increment or decrement a second channel control signal value from a second initial value to a second target value at a second rate of change, such that the first channel control signal value arrives at the first target value and the second channel control signal value arrives at the second target value substantially simultaneously.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a first clock component operating the first linear walk device at a first frequency and a second clock component operating the second linear walk device at a second, different frequency.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first frequency is based on a difference between the first initial value and the first target value and the second frequency is based on a difference between the second initial value and the second target value.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the first rate of change and the second rate of change are unequal.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the first channel control signal value is arranged to control an intensity of a first color component of a lamp and the second channel control signal value is arranged to control an intensity of a second color component of the lamp.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein each of the first and second linear walk devices includes an increment/decrement component and a variable clock base.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein each variable clock base of the first and second linear walk devices includes at least one of a pseudo-fractional divider and a bit-reverse counter.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the first channel control signal value arrives at the first target value and the second channel control signal value arrives at the second target value at a user-selected target time.

17. The system of claim 9, further comprising a plurality of additional linear walk devices, each of the plurality of additional linear walk devices arranged to increment or decrement respective additional control signal values from respective initial values to respective target values, such that each of the respective additional control signal values arrives at its respective target value substantially simultaneously with the first channel control signal value arrival at the first target value and the second channel control signal value arrival at the second target value.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the additional linear walk devices includes:

an increment/decrement component arranged to receive a modified clock signal and to linearly increment or decrement a respective additional control signal value toward an associated respective target value, based on the modified clock signal; and

a divider component arranged to receive a clock signal and a transition time value and to modify the clock signal based on the transition time value to produce the modified clock signal, the transition time value representing a target time for the respective additional control signal value to transition from the respective initial value to the associated respective target value.

19. A method, comprising:

selecting a transition time for a lamp to transition from a first color to a second color;

determining a first rate of change for a first channel control signal value to transition from a first initial value to a first target value, the first rate of change based on the transition time and a difference between the first initial value and the first target value;

determining a second rate of change for a second channel control signal value to transition from a second initial value to a second target value, the second rate of change based on the transition time and a difference between the second initial value and the second target value;

linearly incrementing or decrementing the first channel control signal value at the first rate of change toward the first target value; and

linearly incrementing or decrementing the second channel control signal value at the second rate of change toward the second target value, such that the first channel control signal value arrives at the first target value and the second channel control signal value arrives at the second target value substantially simultaneously.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising modifying a frequency of a clock signal to form a first modified clock signal based on the transition time and the difference between the first initial value and the first target value and a second modified clock signal based on the transition time and the difference between the second initial value and the second target value.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising controlling at least one of a color and a brightness of the lamp via the first channel control signal value and the second channel control signal value.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving a subsequent first target value and a subsequent second target value;

determining a subsequent first rate of change for the first channel control signal value to transition from the first target value to the subsequent first target value, the subsequent first rate of change based on the transition time and a difference between the first target value and the subsequent first target value;

determining a subsequent second rate of change for the second channel control signal value to transition from the second target value to the subsequent second target value, the subsequent second rate of change based on the transition time and a difference between the second target value and the subsequent second target value;

linearly incrementing or decrementing the first channel control signal value at the subsequent first rate of change toward the subsequent first target value; and

linearly incrementing or decrementing the second channel control signal value at the subsequent second rate of change toward the subsequent second target value, such that the first channel control signal value arrives at the subsequent first target value and the second channel control signal value arrives at the subsequent second target value substantially simultaneously.

23. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more logic devices arranged to individually increment or decrement a plurality of control signal values from unique initial values to associated unique target values, such that each of the plurality of control signal values arrive at their respective target values substantially simultaneously, the one or more logic devices arranged to individually increment or decrement the plurality of control signal values at unique rates of change based on differences between each respective initial value and its associated target value.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the plurality of control signal values are arranged to control at least one of a color intensity and a brightness of a lamp.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the one or more logic devices include at least one of a prescaler, a counter, a bit reversing device, and a comparator.