Sensor system for detecting movements

• US 6,542,847 B1
• Filed: 12/20/2000
• Issued: 04/01/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Fey, Wolfgang, Lohberg, Peter, Zydek, Michael, Loreck, Heinz
• Primary Examiner(s): Barlow, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cherry, Stephen J.
• Application Number:
  US09/646,692
• Time in Patent Office: 832 Days
• Field of Search: 734/88, 734/95, 735/09, 324/166, 324/173, 324/207.25, 702/150, 702/151, 702/145, 702/148
• US Class Current: 702/148
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 3/489 Digital circuits therefor

Abstract

The present invention describes a sensor assembly for detecting movements, wherein a sensor signal is produced in an active sensor (1) by an encoder (E) acted upon by the movement, and which includes a first device (2, 3, 4, 5) that permits converting the sensor signal, along with at least one additional information, into an output signal which can be transmitted to an evaluating device, and which is in particular characterized in that a second device (1a) is provided by which a signal voltage that depends on an air slot (d) between the active sensor (1) and the encoder (E) is detected and sent to the first device (2, 3, 4, 5) for transmission as additional information.

Claims

1. Sensor assembly, comprising:

an active sensor for sensing a signal voltage and producing an analog signal in response to an air slot between said active sensor and an encoder;

a signal processing device operatively connected to said active sensor for converting the analog signal to a digital signal having a bit sequence comprising an 8-bit word;

a slide register operatively connected to said signal processing device for receiving and intermediately storing the digital signal from said signal processing device;

a state generator operatively connected to said signal processing device and said slide register; and

a current source operatively connected to said state generator for generating an output signal comprising a first current pulse representing motion information and a second current pulse representing additional information, the first and second current pulses separated by a first pause interval,

wherein the second current pulse is comprised of an 8-bit sequence having four bits followed by three bits and a parity bit, the three bits representing a numerical value of a field strength of the air slot between the active sensor and the encoder.

2. Sensor assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first current pulse has a different amplitude than the second current pulse.

3. Sensor assembly according to claim 2, wherein the first current pulse has an amplitude that is twice an amplitude of the second current pulse.

4. Sensor assembly according to claim 1, wherein the four bits of the second current pulse comprises a first bit that is reserved, a second bit representing a temperature measured by the active sensor, a third bit representing whether a direction of rotation of the encoder is valid, and a fourth bit representing the direction of rotation of the encoder with respect to a reference direction of rotation.

5. Sensor assembly according to claim 1, wherein the second current pulse is followed by a second pulse interval.

6. Sensor assembly according to claim 1, wherein the signal processing device includes a comparator for comparing the signal voltage with a minimum value and for producing a first status signal when the signal voltage drops below the minimum value.

7. Sensor assembly according to claim 6, wherein the signal processing device includes means for recognizing a direction of rotation of the encoder and for producing a second status signal representing the direction of rotation of the encoder.

8. Sensor assembly according to claim 7, wherein the signal processing device produces a third status signal representing whether the direction of rotation of the encoder is valid.