Infineon Technologies Ag

Richard Heinz

Stephan Leisenheimer

Severin Neuner

Benjamin Kollmitzer

Hyun Jeong Kim

Joo Il Park

Sigmund Zaruba

Sebastian Ladurner

Udo Ausserlechner

Armin Satz

Christof Bodner

Catalina-Petruta Juglan

Sehwan Kim

Michael Ortner

Filippo Grillotti

Andreas Jansen

Andrea Hollenbach

Joo Ii Park

Florian Slanovc

Peter Leitner

Lacramioara Mihaela Smochina

A current sensor arrangement includes a first conductor structure extending in a first direction and configured to carry a first current along the first direction; a second conductor structure extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and configured to carry a second current along the second direction; and a magnetic field sensor arranged between the first conductor structure and the second conductor structure and configured to receive a first magnetic field produced by the first current and a second magnetic field produced by the second current. The first conductor structure and the second conductor structure overlap with the magnetic field sensor in a third direction that is perpendicular to the first and second directions. The magnetic field sensor includes a first sensor element sensitive to the first magnetic field and a second sensor element sensitive to the second magnetic field.

Dual current magnetic field sensor

A sensor system may include a magnet arranged such that a linear position of the magnet corresponds to a position of a trigger element on a substantially linear trajectory, and such that an angular position of the magnet corresponds to a selected position of a selection element, the selected position being one of a plurality of selected positions. The sensor system may include a magnetic sensor to determine the position of the trigger element based on a strength of a first magnetic field component and a strength of a second magnetic field component, and determine the selected position of the selection element based on a strength of a third magnetic field component and the strength of the second magnetic field component. The first magnetic field component, the second magnetic field component, and the third magnetic field component may be perpendicular to each other.

Contactless magnetic sensing trigger system

A sensor system may include an object, a magnet, and a magnetic sensor. The magnet may be connected to the object such that a center of the magnet is offset from an axis of the object. The magnetic sensor may include a first three-dimensional (3D) sensing pixel and a second 3D sensing pixel. The magnetic sensor may be arranged such that the first 3D sensing pixel and the second 3D sensing pixel are at different distances from a tilt point of the object. The magnetic sensor may be arranged such that the first 3D sensing pixel and the second 3D sensing pixel are at different distances from the center of the magnet.

Stray field robust magnetic sensor system for detecting a state of a tiltable and rotatable object

The innovative concept described herein relates to a magnetic-field-based current measuring device. The latter includes, inter alia, an at least two-dimensionally measuring magnetic field sensor mounted at a node at which a first, a second and a third electrical conductor, each coming from different directions, are brought together. The magnetic field sensor is configured to determine in each case a magnitude and/or a direction of the magnetic fields which are respectively generated in the first, second and third electrical conductors and meet at the node, and to derive, on the basis thereof, information about a magnitude and/or a direction of the individual electric currents flowing at the node. The innovative concept described herein additionally relates to a corresponding method for magnetic-field-based measurement of electric currents using a magnetic-field-based current measuring device.

Magnetic-field-based current measuring device and method for magnetic-field-based measurement of electric currents

A sensor system may include a first magnet arranged such that a position of the first magnet corresponds to a position of a trigger element on a linear trajectory. The sensor system may include a second magnet arranged such that a position of the second magnet corresponds to a selected position of a selection element. The sensor system may include a magnetic sensor to detect a strength of a first magnetic field component, a strength of a second magnetic field component, and a strength of a third magnetic field component. The magnetic sensor may be further to determine the position of the trigger element based on the strength of the first magnetic field component and the strength of the second magnetic field component, and to determine the selected position of the selection element based on the strength of the third magnetic field component.

Implementations relate to a sensor assembly for determining rotation about an axis and linear movement parallel to the axis. The sensor assembly comprises a magnetic structure comprising a north pole radially displaced from the axis and a south pole radially displaced from the axis and opposite to the north pole. The north pole and the south pole of the magnet extend radially into the direction of the axis at an axial end of the sensor assembly. The sensor assembly further comprises at least one sensor element sensitive to magnetic fields radially between the north pole and the south pole.

Sensor assembly for determining rotation about an axis and linear movement parallel to the axis

A method for determining a rotation angle of a magnet includes measuring a 3D magnetic field vector of a magnetic field generated by the magnet, wherein the 3D magnetic field vector describes at least a part of an ellipse in 3D space during a rotational movement of the magnet. The method further includes mapping the measured 3D magnetic field vector to a 2D vector based on a compensation mapping, wherein the compensation mapping is configured to map the ellipse in 3D space to a circle in 2D space. The method further includes determining the rotation angle of the magnet based on the 2D vector.

Sensor devices and methods for determining a rotation angle of a magnet

The described techniques address deadlocking issues associated with interconnected hardware devices that share bus lines associated with a digital communication interface. A watchdog-based solution is described that may be implemented internally within the interconnected hardware devices or, alternatively, as an external component. The watchdog circuity may monitor a logic state of one or more internal connections of a hardware device and cause one or more portions of the hardware device to reset when a deadlock condition is detected using this internal monitoring.

Watchdog for addressing deadlocked states

A method of determining a position of a first object includes receiving a first component and a second component of a vector field jointly generated by the first object and by a second object. The method further includes using the second component of the vector field to provide a compensation quantity indicating a contribution of the second object to the first component of the vector field. Further, the method includes determining the position of the first object using the first component of the vector field and the compensation quantity.

Method of determining a position of a first object in a positioning system, a positioning system and a computer program

A serial peripheral interface (SPI) communication system includes a memory configured with a start register address and an end register address that define a register address range for a data operation; a chip select terminal configured to receive a chip select signal comprising an active and idle signal levels that define a plurality of chip select frames; a serial data input terminal configured to receive a master out, slave in (MOSI) signal, wherein the MOSI signal includes configuration information received in a first chip select frame of the data operation, wherein the configuration information includes an operation command bit indicating whether the data operation is a write operation or a read out operation and an auto-incrementation control bit indicating whether automatic register address incrementation across chip select frames is enabled or disabled; and a serial data output terminal configured to transmit a master in, slave out (MISO) signal.

Serial peripheral interface (SPI) automatic register address incrementation across data frames

An exemplary embodiment of a circuit for determining information about the position, attitude, or orientation of a magnet comprises an input interface configured to receive components of a magnetic field produced by the magnet. An evaluation logic unit corresponds to at least one trained neural network and is configured to determine the information about the position, attitude, or orientation of the magnet on the basis of the received components.

Circuit and a method for determining an attitude of a magnet, and joystick

An integrated Hall sensor device for measuring a magnetic field is provided. The integrated Hall sensor device includes: a semiconductor chip; a first Hall sensor for generating a first magnetic field measurement signal dependent on a first component; a second Hall sensor for generating a second magnetic field measurement signal dependent on a second component of the magnetic field; a first stress sensor for generating a shear stress measurement signal dependent on mechanical stresses in the semiconductor chip; and an evaluation device for determining one or more properties of the magnetic field depending on the first magnetic field measurement signal, the second magnetic field measurement signal. and the first shear stress measurement signal.

Integrated hall sensor device and method for measuring a magnetic field by means of an integrated hall sensor device

A control stick may include a magnet and a three-dimensional (3D) magnetic sensor. The 3D magnetic sensor may determine a twist angle of a handle of the control stick based on a strength of a magnetic field at the 3D magnetic sensor. A twisting of the handle may modify an air gap between the 3D magnetic sensor and the magnet. The strength of the magnetic field may be based on strengths of first, second, and third magnetic field components. The 3D magnetic sensor may determine a tilt angle of the handle based on a ratio of the strength of the first magnetic field component to the strength of the third magnetic field component. A tilting of the handle in a direction corresponding to the first magnetic field component may modify the ratio of the strength of the first magnetic field component to the strength of the third magnetic field component.

Control stick including a single magnetic sensor for twist angle and tilt angle detection

A magnetic sensor device includes a three-dimensional (3D) magnetic sensor and a magnet that produces a magnetic field. The 3D magnetic sensor is arranged within the magnetic field and is configured to measure three different magnetic field components of the magnetic field and generate sensor signals in response to the measured three different magnetic field components. The magnet is arranged in a default spatial position in an absence of any applied spatial force, where the magnet is configured to rotate about a rotation axis based on an applied rotational force. The magnetic field varies inhomogeneously with regards to at least one of the three magnetic field components upon rotation of the magnet about the rotation axis.

Multiple position detection using an inhomogeneously varying magnetic field

A magnetic angle sensor includes a semiconductor chip that includes: a pair of vertical Hall sensor elements configured to generate vertical Hall sensor signals in response to a magnetic field impinging thereon; a first pair of lateral Hall sensor elements configured to generate first lateral Hall sensor signals in response to the magnetic field impinging thereon; a second pair of lateral Hall sensor elements configured to generate second lateral Hall sensor signals in response to the magnetic field impinging thereon; and a sensor circuit configured to: determine a first angle value corresponding to an orientation of the magnetic field based on the vertical Hall sensor signals, determine a second angle value corresponding to the orientation of the magnetic field based on the first and the second lateral Hall sensor signals, and determine whether the first and the second angle values are within an acceptable tolerance range of each other.

Growing community of inventors

Munich, Germany

Richard Heinz