Power management system for wireless autonomous transducer solutions

• US 8,832,468 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2011
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stichting Imec Nederland
• Original Assignee: Stichting Imec Nederland
• Inventors: Pop, Valer, Bouwens, Frank, Huang, Li, Dolmans, Guido, Elfrink, Rene, Vullers, Ruud
• Primary Examiner(s): CONNOLLY, MARK A
• Application Number:
  US13/174,396
• Publication Number:
  US 20120030486A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,167 Days
• Field of Search: 713/300, 713/320, 713/340
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 21/00 Measuring or testing not otherwise provided for

Abstract

An autonomous transducer system is disclosed. In one aspect, the system includes an energy scavenging module, energy storage module, a load circuit having at least one functional block providing a given functionality, and a power management module arranged for providing power supplied by the energy scavenging module to the load circuit or for exchanging power with the energy storage module. The power management module may further include a tuning module configured to tune the at least one functional block of the load circuit according to a given configuration scheme.

Claims

1. An autonomous transducer system comprising:

an energy scavenging module;

an energy storage module;

a load circuit comprising at least one functional block providing a given functionality; and

a power management module configured to provide power supplied by the energy scavenging module to the load circuit or to exchange power with the energy storage module, wherein the power management module comprises a tuning module configured to tune the at least one functional block of the load circuit according to a given configuration scheme and based on information stored internally in the load circuit wherein the power management module further comprises circuitry for measuring a temporal voltage behavior of the energy storage module, and wherein the temporal voltage behavior is taken into account in the given configuration scheme.

2. The autonomous transducer system according to claim 1, wherein the power management module further comprises a power budget module configured to propagate and determine a power budget based on information of the power supplied by the energy scavenging module and of power consumed by the at least one functional block.

3. The autonomous transducer system according to claim 2, wherein the given configuration scheme is at least partly selected based on the power budget.

4. The autonomous transducer system according to claim 2, wherein the given functionality of the at least one functional block is tuned according to the given configuration such that the power budget is positive.

5. The autonomous transducer system according to claim 2, wherein the power budget module is configured to determine the power budget taking the dynamic power consumption and the leakage power of the at least one functional block into account.

6. The autonomous transducer system according to claim 2, wherein the power budget module is configured to determine the power budget taking storage properties of an energy storage module into account.

7. The autonomous transducer system according to claim 1, wherein the given configuration scheme is at least partly selected based on external settings and/or user defined parameters.

8. The autonomous transducer system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one functional block of the load circuit comprises a plurality of tunable parameters for setting the given configuration scheme.

9. The autonomous transducer system according to claim 1, wherein the tuning module is configured to tune the given functionality by adapting the sampling frequency of an analog to digital converter and/or adapting the frequency of transmission and/or reception.

10. A method of managing the power budget of an autonomous transducer system, the method comprises:

determining a power budget based on information of power supplied by an energy scavenging module and of power consumed by at least one functional block of a load circuit of the transducer system;

tuning the given functionality of the at least one function block according to a given configuration and based on information stored internally in the load circuit such that the power budget is positive; and

measuring a temporal voltage behavior of an energy storage module, wherein the given configuration scheme is at least partly selected based on the temporal voltage behavior.

11. The method of managing the power budget of an autonomous transducer according to claim 10, wherein the process of tuning the given functionality comprises adapting the sampling frequency of an analog to digital converter and/or adapting the frequency of transmission and/or reception.

12. The method of managing the power budget of an autonomous transducer according to claim 10, wherein the process of determining the power budget takes the dynamic power consumption and the leakage power of the at least one functional block into account.

13. The method of managing the power budget of an autonomous transducer according to claim 10, wherein the process of determining the power budget takes storage properties of an energy storage module into account.

14. The method of managing the power budget of an autonomous transducer according to claim 10, wherein the given configuration scheme is at least partly selected based on the power budget.

15. The method of managing the power budget of an autonomous transducer according to claim 10, wherein the given configuration scheme is at least partly selected based on external settings and/or user defined parameters.

16. An autonomous transducer system comprising:

means for scavenging energy;

means for storing energy;

means for providing at least one functional block;

means for providing power supplied by the energy scavenging means to the functional block providing means or for exchanging power with the energy storage means, wherein the power providing or exchanging means comprises means for tuning the at least one functional block of the functional block providing means according to a given configuration scheme and based on information stored internally in the functional block providing means; and

means for measuring a temporal voltage behavior of the energy storing means, wherein the given configuration scheme is at least partly selected based on the temporal voltage behavior.

17. The autonomous transducer system according to claim 16, wherein the power providing or exchanging means further comprises means for determining a power budget based on information of the power supplied by the energy scavenging means and of power consumed by the at least one functional block.