Protected transmission of independent sensor signals

• US 9,602,894 B2
• Filed: 08/19/2014
• Issued: 03/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Original Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Inventors: Hammerschmidt, Dirk
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): Casillashernandez, Omar
• Application Number:
  US14/462,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20160057510A1
• Time in Patent Office: 945 Days
• Field of Search: 34087001-87044
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 15/00 Arrangements characterised by the use of multiplexing for the transmission of a plurality of signals over a common path
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 2200/00 Transmission systems for measured values, control or similar signals
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 25/00 Arrangements for preventing or correcting errors; Monitoring arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a sensor system having a shared communication interface that transmits sensor signals having independent channel protection data from a plurality of sensors. In some embodiments, the sensor signal has a plurality of sensors that independently generate sensor signals corresponding to a sensed quantity. A plurality of channel protection elements respectively receive one of the sensor signals and to introduce channel protection data into the received sensor signal to generate a channel protected sensor (CPS) signal. A shared communication interface receives CPS signals from one or more of the channel protection elements and to selectively provide the CPS signals onto a transmission line according to one or more communication protocols. By introducing channel protection data to the sensor signals upstream of the shared communication interface, a same communication interface can be used to transmit channel protected sensor signals from a plurality of independent sensors.

Claims

1. A sensor system, comprising:

a plurality of sensors configured to independently provide sensor data corresponding to a sensed quantity to a processing element;

a plurality of processing elements, respectively configured to receive the sensor data output from the plurality of sensors and to generate sensor signals from the sensor data;

a plurality of channel protection elements, respectively configured to receive one of the sensor signals output from the plurality of processing elements and to introduce channel protection data into the received sensor signal to generate a channel protected sensor (CPS) signal, wherein the CPS signal is a digital signal;

a shared communication interface configured to receive CPS signals from the plurality of channel protection elements and to provide the CPS signals onto a transmission line coupled to an engine control unit according to one or more communication protocols, wherein the shared communication interface receives the CPS signals prior to the CPS signals being multiplexed by the shared communication interface onto the transmission line;

a feedback path configured to provide the transmitted signal to a message decoding element configured to generate a recovered first CPS signal by decoding a protocol encoded first CPS signal comprised within the transmitted signal;

a message integrity block configured to detect faults in the recovered first CPS signal by operating upon the channel protection data of the recovered first CPS signal;

a safety check element configured to compare or correlate a second sensor signal from a second sensor to the recovered first sensor signal generated from the recovered first CPS signal;

wherein the safety check element is configure to provide a status bit to a first channel protection element and to provide a second sensor signal to a second channel protection element if the safety check element indicates that a fault is present in the recovered first CPS signal;

wherein the second channel protection element is configured to provide a second CPS signal to the protocol generation element if the safety check element indicates that the fault is present in the recovered first CPS signal; and

wherein the second channel protection element is configured to not provide the second CPS signal to the protocol generation element if the safety check element indicates that a fault is not present in the recovered first CPS signal.

2. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of channel protection elements, respectively comprise a plurality of:

an ID appending block configured to append an identification code to the received sensor signal, wherein the identification code identifies a sensor that generated the received sensor signal;

a message counter block configured to append timing information or a message count to the received sensor signal;

a redundancy block configured to append a redundancy code to the received sensor signal;

a combination of the message counter block and the redundancy block, wherein the message counter block is configured to modify a seed value used by the redundancy block to generate the redundancy code; and

a combination of the ID appending block and the redundancy block, wherein the ID appending block is configured to generate the identification code using a different redundancy generation algorithm than that used by the redundancy block.

3. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the shared communication interface comprises:

a protocol generation element configured to receive the CPS signals from the plurality of channel protection elements and to define the one or more communication protocols; and

a physical driver configured to physically generate a transmitted signal on the transmission line having one or more protocol encoded CPS signals encoded according to the one or more communication protocols.

4. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the feedback path extends from an output of the protocol generation element to an input of the message decoding element.

5. The sensor system of claim 1, further comprising:

a receiver configured to receive the transmitted signal from an output of the physical driver and to provide the transmitted signal to the message decoding element.

6. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the protocol generation element is configured to change a communication protocol of a first CPS signal if the message integrity block detects a fault in the recovered first CPS signal.

7. The sensor system of claim 1, wherein the safety check element is configured to provide a status information to a first channel protection element configured to append the status information to a first CPS signal;

and wherein the status information is indicative of whether the plurality of sensors are operating properly.

8. A sensor system, comprising:

a first sensor configured to generate a first sensor signal corresponding to a sensed quantity;

a second sensor configured to generate a second sensor signal corresponding to the sensed quantity;

a first channel protection element coupled to an output of the first sensor and configured to introduce first channel protection data into the first sensor signal to generate a first channel protected sensor (CPS) signal, wherein the first channel protection data is a status bit indicative of whether the first sensor is operating properly;

a second channel protection element coupled to an output of the second sensor and configured to introduce second channel protection data into the second sensor signal to generate a second CPS signal, wherein the second channel protection data is a status bit indicative of whether the second sensor is operating properly;

a protocol generation element connected to the first channel protection element and the second channel protection element and configured to receive the first CPS signal and the second CPS signal and define one or more communication protocols;

a physical driver configured to physically generate a transmitted signal on a transmission line having one or more protocol encoded first and second CPS signals encoded according to the one or more communication protocols; and

a receiver connected to the physical driver and configured to receive the transmitted signal.

9. The sensor system of claim 8, wherein the first channel protection element and the second channel protection element, respectively comprise a plurality of:

an ID appending block configured to append an identification code to the received sensor signal, wherein the identification code identifies a sensor that generated the received sensor signal;

a message counter block configured to append timing information or a message count to the received sensor signal;

a redundancy block configured to append a redundancy code to the received sensor signal;

a combination of the message counter block and the redundancy block, wherein the message counter block is configured to modify a seed value used by the redundancy block to generate the redundancy code; and

a combination of the ID appending block and the redundancy block, wherein the ID appending block is configured to generate the identification code using a different redundancy generation algorithm than that used by the redundancy block.

10. The sensor system of claim 8, further comprising:

a feedback path configured to provide the transmitted signal to a message decoding element configured to generate a recovered first CPS signal by decoding a protocol encoded first CPS signal comprised within the transmitted signal;

a message integrity block configured to detect faults in the recovered first CPS signal by operating upon the channel protection data of the recovered first CPS signal; and

a safety check element configured to compare or correlate the second sensor signal to a recovered first sensor signal generated from the recovered first CPS signal.

11. The sensor system of claim 10, wherein the feedback path extends from an output of the protocol generation element to an input of the message decoding element.

12. The sensor system of claim 10, further comprising:

a receiver configured to receive the transmitted signal from the feedback path, which extends from an output of the physical driver to an input of the receiver.

13. The sensor system of claim 10,

wherein the second channel protection element is configured to provide the second CPS signal to the protocol generation element if the safety check element indicates that a fault is present in the first CPS signal;

and

wherein the second channel protection element is configured to not provide the second CPS signal to the protocol generation element if the safety check element indicates that a fault is not present in the first CPS signal.

14. The sensor system of claim 10,

wherein the safety check element is configured to provide a status information to the first channel protection element, which is configured to append the status bit to the first CPS signal;

and

wherein the status information is indicative of whether at least one of the first sensor and the second sensor are not operating properly.

17. The sensor system of claim 10, wherein the protocol generation element is configured to change a communication protocol of a first CPS signal if the message integrity block detects a fault in the recovered first CPS signal.

15. A method, comprising:

independently generating a plurality of independent sensor signals;

separately introducing channel protection data into one or more of the plurality of sensor signals to generate one or more channel protected sensor (CPS) signals, wherein the one or more CPS signals are digital signals;

prior to the CPS signals being multiplexed by a shared communication interface onto a transmission line, providing the one or more CPS signals to the shared communication interface configured to receive the one or more CPS signals;

after the shared communication interface receives the CPS signals, providing the one or more CPS signals to the transmission line according to one or more communication protocols;

transmitting the one or more CPS signals to a receiver;

using the channel protection data from the one or more CPS signals to determine if faults have been generated during protocol generation or during transmission of the one or more CPS signals;

generating a status bit indicative of whether the plurality of sensors are operating properly;

appending the status bit to a first CPS signal; and

transmitting the first CPS signal and the status bit to the receiver.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein introducing channel protection data into the plurality of sensor signals, comprises one or more of:

appending an identification code to a received sensor signal, wherein the identification code identifies a sensor that generated the received sensor signal;

appending timing information or a message count to the received sensor signal; and

appending a redundancy code to the received sensor signal;

appending the timing information and the redundancy code to the received sensor signal, wherein the timing information is used to modify a seed value used to generate the redundancy code; and

appending an identification code and the redundancy code to the received sensor signal, wherein the identification code is generated using a different redundancy generation algorithm than that used to generate the redundancy code.