SYNCHRONOUS MEASUREMENT SYSTEM

• US 20160036916A1
• Filed: 03/03/2014
• Published: 02/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: KATAYAMA, Takao, JIN, Mikimoto, TAKEDA, Kazuyoshi
• Granted Patent: US 9,986,035 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/462 LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

A synchronous measurement system includes a main controller, a plurality of sub-controllers connected to the main controller, and a plurality of sensor units connected to the sub-controller. The sub-controllers include a sub-controller master and a sub-controller slave connected to the sub-controller master. The main controller transmits a start command to the sub-controller master. The sub-controller master generates a trigger signal according to reception of the start command and transmits the trigger signal to the sub-controller slave. Each of the plurality of sub-controllers transmits a synchronization command to the plurality of sensor units on the basis of the trigger signal.

Claims

1. A synchronous measurement system comprising:

a main controller;

a plurality of sub-controllers connected to the main controller; and

a plurality of sensor units connected to each of the plurality of sub-controllers, wherein

the plurality of sub-controllers include;

a sub-controller master; and

a sub-controller slave connected to the sub-controller master,

the main controller transmits a start command to the sub-controller master,

the sub-controller master generates a trigger signal according to reception of the start command and transmits the trigger signal to the sub-controller slave, and

the plurality of sub-controllers transmits a synchronization command to the plurality of sensor units on the basis of the trigger signal.

2. The synchronous measurement system according to claim 1, wherein

the start command includes information concerning a number of times of measurement, and

the sub-controller master repeatedly generates the trigger signal by the number of times of measurement according to the reception of the start command.

3. The synchronous measurement system according to claim 2, wherein the start command includes information concerning a measurement interval.

4. The synchronous measurement system according to claim 1, wherein

a plurality of the sub-controller slaves are provided, and

the plurality of sub-controller slaves are connected to the sub-controller master in series.

5. The synchronous measurement system according to claim 1, wherein the trigger signal is a digital signal.

6. The synchronous measurement system according to claim 1, wherein the trigger signal is an optical signal.

7. The synchronous measurement system according to claim 1, wherein

the main controller and the plurality of sub-controllers are connected via a LAN, and

the sub-controller slave receives the start command from the main controller and is set in a standby state for staying on standby for reception of the trigger signal.

8. The synchronous measurement system according to claim 1, wherein the sensor unit includes at least one acceleration sensor and at lease one angular velocity sensor.

9. The synchronous measurement system according to claim 1, further comprising a display section connected to the main controller, wherein

in an operation check mode carried out before measurement, an ID is transmitted from the sensor unit in response to a command from the sub-controller, and

error information of the sensor unit not responding to the command is displayed on the display section by the main controller.