Method of forming a transducer controller and apparatus therefrom
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An transducer controller comprising:
- a transmit control circuit configured to form a first drive signal having a first period and a first frequency to excite a transducer to emit a first emitted signal;
a decay time circuit configured to measure a decay time interval for reverberations of the transducer to decay to a first value wherein the reverberations are in response to the first emitted signal;
a control circuit configured to assert a decay time error signal responsively to the decay time interval being no less than a first value;
a reverberation period circuit configured to measure a reverberation period of the reverberations responsively to an asserted state of the decay time error signal;
the control circuit configured to adjust the first period responsively to a difference between the first period and the reverberation period including increase the first period responsively to the reverberation period being less than the first period and to decrease the first period responsively to the reverberation period being no less than the first period; and
the transducer controller configured to, subsequently to the adjust the first period, receive a first reflected signal representative of a reflection of the first emitted signal and to use the first reflected signal to calculate a distance of an object from the transducer.
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Abstract
In one embodiment, a transducer controller is configured to form an integrated distance measuring and diagnostic cycle that includes measuring a decay time of a transducer and to selectively adjust a period of the transmitted signal responsively to a value of a reverberation period.
19 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An transducer controller comprising:
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a transmit control circuit configured to form a first drive signal having a first period and a first frequency to excite a transducer to emit a first emitted signal; a decay time circuit configured to measure a decay time interval for reverberations of the transducer to decay to a first value wherein the reverberations are in response to the first emitted signal; a control circuit configured to assert a decay time error signal responsively to the decay time interval being no less than a first value; a reverberation period circuit configured to measure a reverberation period of the reverberations responsively to an asserted state of the decay time error signal; the control circuit configured to adjust the first period responsively to a difference between the first period and the reverberation period including increase the first period responsively to the reverberation period being less than the first period and to decrease the first period responsively to the reverberation period being no less than the first period; and the transducer controller configured to, subsequently to the adjust the first period, receive a first reflected signal representative of a reflection of the first emitted signal and to use the first reflected signal to calculate a distance of an object from the transducer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of forming a transducer controller comprising:
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configuring the transducer controller to form a first drive signal having a first period and a frequency to excite a transducer to emit a first emitted signal; configuring the transducer controller to terminate the first drive signal; configuring the transducer controller to measure a second period of a reverberation signal formed by a reverberation of the transducer resulting from terminating the first drive signal; configuring the transducer controller to adjust the first period responsively to a value of the second period; configuring the transducer controller to conduct a distance measuring operation subsequently to measuring the second period wherein the distance measuring uses a distance signal received by the transducer controller and includes a reflection of at least a portion of the first emitted signal; and configuring the transducer controller to form another drive signal to excite the transducer wherein the another drive signal has a third period that is different from the first period. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of forming a transducer controller comprising:
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configuring the transducer controller to drive a transducer with a first period to form a first emitted signal and to use a reflection from the first emitted signal to measure a distance to an object; configuring the transducer controller to measure a reverberation period of a reverberation of the transducer formed in response to the first emitted signal; configuring the transducer controller to adjust the first period responsively to the reverberation period wherein measure the reverberation period and adjust is a portion of the operation to measure the distance to the object; and configuring the transducer controller to, subsequently to adjust the first period, receive the reflected signal from the first emitted signal and to use the reflected signal to calculate the distance. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification