The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 29, 2000
Filed:
Mar. 02, 1998
Gerald Brinks, Burgrieden, DE;
Manfred Weinacht, Dettingen/Teck, DE;
Temic Telefunken Microelectronic GmbH, Heilbronn, DE;
Abstract
The invention concerns a process for driving a sensor with offset control. Such processes for driving are required, for example, to be used in acceleration transducers in motor vehicles for triggering, e.g., airbags or belt-tensioning devices. However, with existing processes the output nominal signal was repeatedly corrupted, e.g., by temperature-related interference signals, also known as the offset. In addition, existing systems are unreliable during turn-on. However, with the process according to this invention, the sign and the value of the difference between the output signal and a reference voltage is detected at a fixed or variable time pulse, with the sign changing the measuring voltage at the output and the difference value determining the clock frequency for this control process. Also, during turn-on a significantly increased clock frequency will be reduced in stages until the operating frequency is reached. The process according to this invention, therefore, allows reliable and low cost acceleration transducers to be realized.