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:
May. 21, 2013
Filed:
May. 09, 2011
Paul Rozgo, Dublin, OH (US);
Ryan Jones, Dublin, OH (US);
Lamar Floyd Ricks, Lewis Center, OH (US);
Honeywell International Inc., Morristown, NJ (US);
Abstract
Methods and devices for increasing a sensor resolution are disclosed. In one example, a two measurement process is used. A first measurement is used to effectively measure across a full range (e.g. 0 to 5 VDC) of the sensor. This first measurement may identify the current operating point of the sensor (e.g. 3.5 VDC). A second measurement may then be made to effectively measure across a sub-range of the sensor that encompasses the current operating point of the sensor (e.g. across a sub-range of 3.0 to 4.0 VDC for a current operating point of 3.5 VDC). The gain of the amplifier may be raised during the second measurement to produce a higher resolution measurement. In some cases, the first measurement may be used to determine an appropriate offset that may be applied so as to scale the amplifier to the desired sub-range of sensor that includes the current operating point of the sensor. In some cases, the two measurements may be used together to compute an effectively higher resolution measurement signal. In some cases, this may allow for a smaller and/or cheaper sensor to be used, while still achieving good results.