Interface Adaptor for Hot-Swappable Sensor Recognition
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional controller-sensor arrangements face challenges in dynamically adding, substituting, or swapping sensors due to the need for specific control instructions and the lack of identification information from sensors, making the process time-consuming and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of an interface adaptor that acts as a communication intermediary between the controller and sensor, providing a slave device identification controller to store and transmit sensor data, enabling the controller to identify sensor type and capabilities, and a power regulator to manage power requirements, facilitating seamless addition, substitution, or swapping of sensors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional master-slave arrangement is used without interface adaptor, then device complexity is reduced, but sensor addition/substitution/swapping becomes time-consuming and inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
An interface adaptor is introduced as an intermediary device between the controller and sensor. The adaptor includes a slave device identification controller that stores and transmits sensor identification information to the controller, enabling automatic sensor recognition and instruction selection without manual configuration, thereby significantly speeding up sensor addition, substitution, or swapping operations.
Solution Approach 2:
Sensor identification information and corresponding control instructions are pre-stored in the interface adaptor's memory before the sensor is connected to the system. When a sensor is added or swapped, the controller automatically retrieves the appropriate instructions from the adaptor based on the sensor's identification, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual configuration or instruction loading.
2Extent of automation
If sensor identification information is not provided, then device complexity is minimized, but controller cannot automatically select appropriate control instructions
Solution Approach 1:
The interface adaptor acts as an information intermediary that bridges the gap between the sensor and controller. It stores sensor identification information in its memory and automatically transmits this information to the controller upon sensor connection, enabling the controller to automatically recognize the sensor type and select the appropriate control instructions without manual intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where the sensor's identification information is transmitted back to the controller through the interface adaptor. The controller uses this feedback information to automatically determine the sensor type and retrieve the corresponding control instructions, creating a closed-loop automatic recognition system.
3Loss of time
If manual configuration of control instructions is required, then device complexity is reduced, but system latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple sets of control instructions corresponding to different sensor types are pre-loaded into the controller's memory along with their associated sensor identification information. When a sensor is connected, the controller immediately retrieves the appropriate pre-stored instructions based on the sensor's identification, eliminating the need for manual configuration and significantly reducing system latency.
Solution Approach 2:
The interface adaptor serves as a mediator that facilitates rapid instruction retrieval by providing the controller with the sensor's identification information. This enables the controller to quickly match the sensor type with the corresponding pre-stored control instructions, reducing the time required for instruction management compared to manual configuration methods.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to sensor system arrangements and configurations. In particular, the invention provides methods, devices, systems and computer program products for implementing master-slave based or controller-sensor based configurations, which enable sensor devices to be readily added, substituted, swapped or hot-swapped into or out of a controller-sensor device arrangement. In an embodiment, the sensor system of the present invention includes an interface adaptor configured to enable the above.