초록 ▼

A microcontroller for use in battery charging and monitoring applications is disclosed. The microcontroller includes a microprocessor and various front-end analog circuitry such as a slope A/D converter and a multiplexer for allowing a plurality of analog input signals to be converted to correspondi

A microcontroller for use in battery charging and monitoring applications is disclosed. The microcontroller includes a microprocessor and various front-end analog circuitry such as a slope A/D converter and a multiplexer for allowing a plurality of analog input signals to be converted to corresponding digital counts indicative of signal level. In order to make the measurements of the selected analog inputs more precise, the microcontroller uses a unique calibration procedure whereby selected parameters associated with the analog circuitry that are subject to variation are measured during test and corresponding calibration constants are calculated therefrom and stored in program memory. These stored calibration constants are subsequently used by the microprocessor in conjunction with the digital counts of the analog input signals for calculating a more precise measurement of the analog input signals.

대표청구항 ▼

[ We claim:] [1.] A method for increasing the precision of measurements made by a microcontroller by digital trimming of analog components of the microcontroller, the microcontroller being fabricated on a semiconductor chip to execute programs and instructions and to generate control signals as a re

[ We claim:] [1.] A method for increasing the precision of measurements made by a microcontroller by digital trimming of analog components of the microcontroller, the microcontroller being fabricated on a semiconductor chip to execute programs and instructions and to generate control signals as a result of execution by the microcontroller of programs and instructions for selectively controlling an external controllable system, the microcontroller including microprocessor means for executing instructions, program memory means for storing programs to be executed by the microcontroller and data memory means for storing data, the microcontroller also including a plurality of analog components for use in measuring a plurality of mixed analog input signals, the method comprising the steps ofmeasuring parameters associated with at least some of the plurality of analog components, including the step of obtaining digital representations of said measured parameters;obtaining respective calibration constants in response to said measured parameters;storing said calibration constants in the program memory of the microcontroller;sampling selected ones of the plurality of analog input signals at different sampling rates depending upon variation of signal amplitude, including the step of obtaining digital representations of the selected analog input signals; andusing said calibration constants in conjunction with said sampled analog input signals to digitally trim the analog components to increase the precision of measurements made by the analog components, whereby obtain more precise values of the selected analog input signals.