INTEGRATED CIRCUIT, DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM AND DIAGNOSTIC METHOD

• US 20160300083A1
• Filed: 03/29/2016
• Published: 10/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Socionext Inc.
• Original Assignee: Socionext Inc.
• Inventors: REN, Jialin
• Granted Patent: US 10,192,078 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/2822 of microwave or radiofrequency circuits of attenuation, gain, e.g. using network analyzers G01R27/28
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/31721 Power aspects, e.g. power supplies for test circuits, power saving during test for scan test G01R31/318575
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0095 Testing the sensing arrangement, e.g. testing if a magnetic card reader, bar code reader, RFID interrogator or smart card reader functions properly testing of electrical circuits G01R31/28

Abstract

An integrated circuit is one that performs radio communication with an external apparatus and includes a processing circuit, a diagnostic circuit configured to perform a diagnosis of the processing circuit according to a plurality of diagnostic items and a charging circuit configured to store charge for causing the diagnostic circuit to operate, during a period of performing radio communication, in which the diagnostic circuit is configured to perform the diagnosis on a first subset of the plurality of diagnostic items by using the charge stored in the charging circuit during a first period of not performing radio communication.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit that performs radio communication with an external apparatus, the integrated circuit comprising:

a processing circuit;

a diagnostic circuit configured to perform a diagnosis of the processing circuit according to a plurality of diagnostic items; and

a charging circuit configured to store charge for causing the diagnostic circuit to operate, during a period of performing radio communication,

wherein the diagnostic circuit is configured to perform the diagnosis on a first subset of the plurality of diagnostic items by using the charge stored in the charging circuit during a first period of not performing radio communication.

2. The integrated circuit according to claim 1, wherein the integrated circuit is incorporated in a radio tag.

3. The integrated circuit according to claim 1, wherein setting information indicating the diagnostic items is stored in the diagnostic circuit.

4. The integrated circuit according to claim 3, wherein the diagnostic items of the setting information are selected according to a value of a counter incorporated in the diagnostic circuit.

5. The integrated circuit according to claim 1, wherein the diagnostic circuit is configured to perform the diagnosis on the first subset of the plurality of diagnostic items during the first period of not performing radio communication and then perform the diagnosis on a second subset or all the remaining diagnostic items of the plurality of diagnostic items during a second period of not performing radio communication after the radio communication is performed after the first period.

6. The integrated circuit according to claim 1, wherein the charging circuit comprises:

a first charging circuit configured to charge a first capacitor to generate a first voltage; and

a second charging circuit configured to charge a second capacitor to generate a second voltage which is higher than the first voltage.

7. The integrated circuit according to claim 6, wherein the first voltage is an operating voltage of the processing circuit.

8. The integrated circuit according to claim 6, wherein the second charging circuit charges the first capacitor based on the second voltage when the first voltage is smaller than a first value and charges the second capacitor based on the first voltage when the first voltage is larger than the first value.

9. The integrated circuit according to claim 1, wherein the diagnostic circuit comprises a memory configured to store a result of the diagnosis.

10. The integrated circuit according to claim 9, further comprising a communication circuit configured to transmit the result of the diagnosis to the external apparatus during a period of performing radio communication subsequent to the first period.

11. The integrated circuit according to claim 1, further comprising a detector configured to detect whether or not radio communication is being performed with the external apparatus,

wherein the diagnostic circuit is configured to start the diagnosis according to a detection result of the detector.

12. The integrated circuit according to claim 1, wherein the diagnostic circuit is configured to perform the diagnosis on a plurality of diagnostic items corresponding to a plurality of voltage states for a single period of not performing radio communication.

13. The integrated circuit according to claim 12, wherein the diagnostic circuit is configured to consecutively perform the diagnosis on the plurality of diagnostic items corresponding to the plurality of voltage states.

14. A diagnostic system comprising

an external apparatus;

and

an integrated circuit configured to perform radio communication with the external apparatus, the integrated circuit including;

a processing circuit;

a diagnostic circuit configured to perform a diagnosis of the processing circuit according to a plurality of diagnostic items; and

a charging circuit configured to store charge for causing the diagnostic circuit to operate, during a period of performing radio communication,

wherein the diagnostic circuit is configured to perform the diagnosis on a first subset of the plurality of diagnostic items by using the charge stored in the charging circuit during a first period of not performing radio communication.

15. The diagnostic system according to claim 14, wherein the diagnostic circuit is configured to perform the diagnosis on the first subset of the plurality of diagnostic items during the first period of not performing radio communication and then perform the diagnosis on a second subset or all the remaining diagnostic items of the plurality of diagnostic items during a second period of not performing radio communication after the radio communication is performed after the first period.

16. The diagnostic system according to claim 14, wherein the charging circuit comprises:

a first charging circuit configured to charge a first capacitor to generate a first voltage; and

a second charging circuit configured to charge a second capacitor to generate a second voltage which is higher than the first voltage.

17. The diagnostic system according to claim 14,

wherein the diagnostic circuit comprises a memory configured to store a result of the diagnosis, and

the integrated circuit further includes a communication circuit configured to transmit the result of the diagnosis to the external apparatus during a period of performing radio communication subsequent to the first period.

18. A diagnostic method comprising:

storing charge in a charging circuit for a period of performing radio communication with an external apparatus; and

performing a diagnosis of the processing circuit according to a subset of a plurality of diagnostic items by using the charge stored in the charging circuit during a first period of not performing radio communication.

19. The diagnostic method according to claim 18, wherein a result of the diagnosis is stored in a memory.

20. The diagnostic method according to claim 19, wherein the result of the diagnosis is transmitted to the external apparatus during a period of performing radio communication subsequent to the first period.