Sensor Addressing via Microcontroller Iteration
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Solution Overview
Problem
In systems utilizing multiple I2C-enabled devices, reprogramming each device's address with additional support hardware complicates the system, especially when devices reset to a default address upon power cycles.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising sensors with programmable addresses, paired with microcontrollers, where a controller iteratively activates each sensor and assigns a unique address, allowing for individual polling and data collection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If additional support hardware (wires, multiplexers, extenders) is used to reprogram addresses, then each sensor can be uniquely addressed, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the address assignment function from external hardware (wires, multiplexers, extenders) and relocates it to the microcontroller's software control. The microcontroller sequentially activates sensors and assigns addresses through software, eliminating the need for additional physical address configuration hardware while maintaining unique addressing capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-configuration through a boot sequence where the microcontroller automatically activates sensors in sequence and assigns unique addresses without external intervention. Each sensor is individually addressed through the I2C bus using the assigned address, enabling the system to manage its own addressing without requiring complex external hardware or manual programming.
2Ease of manufacture
If devices reset to default address upon power cycles, then device initialization is simplified, but unique addressing capability is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a preliminary boot sequence that executes before normal operation begins. During this boot sequence, the microcontroller activates each sensor in sequence and assigns a unique address. This preliminary action ensures that when the system transitions to normal operation, all sensors have been pre-configured with unique addresses, preventing address conflicts during subsequent power cycles while maintaining initialization simplicity.
Data Source
AI summary
An example system includes: a set of sensors, each sensor having a programmable address; a set of microcontrollers, each microcontroller paired with one sensor from the set of sensors; a controller configured to: enable an operational state of the set of sensors to uniquely address each sensor in the set of sensors by sequentially, for each microcontroller in the set of microcontrollers, causing the microcontroller to activate the sensor paired with the microcontroller and assigning a unique address to the activated sensor; scan the set of sensors using the unique address of each sensor to obtain data detected by the sensor.