KR101109601B1 - Infrared transiting module and System on a Chip including the module - Google Patents

Abstract

An infrared transmitting module for generating an infrared pulse signal from an electric pulse signal is provided. The infrared transmission module stores a memory unit for storing pulse waveform data, a clock generator for generating a counter clock signal based on counter clock frequency information, and a carrier generator for generating a carrier clock signal based on carrier clock frequency information. The pulse signal generator for generating an electric pulse signal by modulating based on the pulse waveform data stored in the unit, and the infrared transmitting module receive pulse waveform data, counter clock frequency information, and carrier clock frequency information from an external device. And an interface and a controller for providing pulse waveform data to the memory unit, and providing the counter clock frequency information and the carrier clock frequency information to the clock generator. Thus, the user can freely adjust the frequency or duty ratio of the carrier signal on which the infrared signal is carried.

Description

Infrared transiting module and System on a Chip including the module

1 is a view showing a part of the waveform of the infrared signal generated by the infrared transmitter.

2A and 2B are diagrams showing waveforms corresponding to data bit values 0 and 1 of an infrared signal, respectively.

3 is a conceptual block diagram of an infrared transmitting module in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a detailed block diagram of the infrared transmitting module of FIG. 3.

5 is a view showing waveform diagrams for explaining the operation of the infrared transmitting module of FIG.

The present invention relates to an infrared transmission module and a system on chip (SoC) having the module.

The transmitter of the infrared remote controller used for the near remote control transmits an infrared signal. Infrared receivers that receive infrared signals use protocol (s) that are unique to each manufacturer. Therefore, the infrared transmitter must also follow the protocol specification of the infrared receiver.

When data to be transmitted is input, an infrared transmitter dedicated to a specific protocol generates and transmits an infrared signal for only a single protocol to an infrared receiver based on a carrier frequency and a modulation scheme determined by the protocol.

1 shows a portion of the waveform of an infrared signal generated by an infrared transmitter. In the waveform shown in FIG. 1, symbol-on-time corresponds to the period during which infrared radiation is emitted. The combination of symbol-on-time and symbol period represents one data bit. Figure 2 shows the waveform of the data bits of the infrared signal used by Samsung Electronics. 2A shows a waveform of bit value 0 with a symbol-on-time of 0.56 ms and a symbol period of 1.125 ms. FIG. 2B shows a waveform of bit value 1 having the same symbol-on-time but 2.25 ms symbol period as the waveform of FIG. 2A.

These waveforms, which represent '0' and '1', may vary between manufacturers' protocols. In addition, each signal frame containing these bit waveforms may also vary from protocol to protocol. In addition, depending on the protocol, the carrier frequency or modulation scheme may be different. Therefore, there is a need for an infrared transmission module supporting various carrier frequencies and multiple modulation schemes to support various protocols. For example, individual infrared transmitters are required that match the carrier frequency and modulation scheme used by an infrared receiver embedded in a home appliance or remote control receiver.

However, the infrared transmitter integrated in the existing semiconductor chip could not change the 'high' or 'low' width of the pulse, the carrier frequency could not be changed, and the duty ratio could not be changed. In addition, a method using a universal asynchronous receiver / transmitter (UART) module for infrared transmission is also used, but this method can only adjust the pulse interval.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an infrared transmission module capable of changing the pulse waveform, carrier frequency, and duty ratio of an infrared signal.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a System on a Chip having the above-described infrared transmitting module.

In order to achieve the above object of the present invention, there is provided an infrared transmitting module for generating an infrared pulse signal from an electric pulse signal, the infrared transmitting module comprising: a memory unit for storing pulse waveform data; A clock generator for generating a counter clock signal based on the counter clock frequency and a carrier clock signal based on the carrier clock frequency; And a pulse signal generator for modulating the carrier clock signal based on the pulse waveform data stored in the memory to generate an electric pulse signal. The infrared transmitting module receives pulse waveform data, counter clock frequency information, and carrier clock frequency information from an external device, provides the received pulse waveform data to the memory unit, and receives the received counter clock frequency information and carrier clock frequency information. And an interface and a controller for providing the clock generator.

To achieve another object of the present invention, a system on chip (SoC) includes the infrared transmission module for achieving the object of the present invention.

Other objects and features of the present invention and the advantages thereof will become more apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 shows an infrared transmission module according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the infrared transmission module includes an interface and a controller 30, a FIFO memory unit 40, a clock generator 50, and a pulse signal generator 60. The FIFO memory section 40 stores pulse waveform data. The clock generator 50 generates a counter clock signal based on the counter clock frequency and a carrier clock signal based on the carrier clock frequency. The pulse signal generation unit 60 modulates the carrier clock signal based on the pulse waveform data stored in the FIFO memory unit 40 to generate an electric pulse signal. The interface and the controller 30 receive pulse waveform data, a counter clock frequency, and a carrier clock frequency from an external device (not shown) of the infrared transmitting module.

The infrared transmission module of FIG. 3 having such a configuration will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

4 is a detailed block diagram of the infrared transmitting module of FIG. 3. FIG. 5 shows waveform diagrams for describing the operation of FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 4, the interface and the controller 30 include an interrupter 32 and a controller 34. The interrupt unit 32 generates an interrupt signal based on whether the FIFO memory unit 40 is full or empty. The generated interrupt signal is connected to an external device (not shown) via an Advanced Peripheral Bus (APB), for example, a main controller (not shown) or a main memory of a system on chip (SoC) including the infrared transmitting module of FIG. 3. (Not shown). The external device supplies pulse waveform data to the controller 34 in response to the interrupt signal via the APB bus.

In addition to the pulse waveform data, the control unit 34 also receives carrier clock frequency information and counter clock frequency information from an external device via the APB bus. Note that the pulse waveform data, the carrier clock frequency information, and the counter clock frequency information may have different values according to the manufacturer's protocol. The carrier clock frequency information and the counter clock frequency information may be received in the form of a clock division value. The control unit 34 supplies the received pulse waveform data to the FIFO memory unit 40 and supplies the received carrier clock frequency information and counter clock frequency information to the clock generator 50.

The FIFO memory unit 40 includes a plurality of FIFO registers (fifo ₁ to fifo ₈ ), each of which is a logic indicating a logic level of high or low among the pulse waveforms constituting one data bit, for example. The counter value CV corresponding to the level bit LB and the logic level bit is stored. For example, pulse waveform data for data bit " 0 " shown in FIG. 2A is stored in two FIFO registers, one FIFO register for a section of 0.56 ms, which is a logic level high corresponding to symbol-on-time. The logic level bit and the counter value are stored. The other FIFO register stores the logic level bit and the counter value for a section of logic level low of 0.565 ms (= 1.125 ms-0.56 ms). The FIFO register (fifo ₁ ) at the front of the FIFO memory unit 40 is connected to the pulse signal generator 60, and the FIFO register at the rear of the FIFO memory unit 40 is connected to the control unit 34.

In this embodiment, the case where data bits are stored in two FIFO registers is described. However, this example does not limit the present invention, which means that a pulse waveform having two or more logic 'high' levels or two or more logic 'low' levels may be used to represent one data bit. Because it is obvious.

In this embodiment, the FIFO memory section 40 is used as a storage means for storing pulse waveform data. However, it is obvious that any type of memory that can be provided at the level of those skilled in the art related to this technology can be used in place of the FIFO memory section 40, so that the use of the FIFO memory section 40 is intended to limit the present invention. Note also that it is not self-evident.

The FIFO memory unit 40 generates a signal (Full / Empty) indicating, for example, when all the FIFO registers are empty or full. This signal is supplied to the interrupt generator 32 via the control unit 34. The interrupt generator 32 generates an interrupt signal based on the signal received from the FIFO memory 40, and via the APB bus. Send to an external device. The interrupt signal may be generated to indicate when all the FIFO registers in the FIFO memory section 40 are fully filled or completely empty. Alternatively, the interrupt generation condition may be changed so that an interrupt signal is generated when only two or six FIFO registers of the FIFO memory unit 40 store data.

The clock generator 50 generates a carrier clock signal from the system clock based on the carrier clock frequency information, and generates a counter clock signal from the system clock based on the counter clock frequency information. At this time, if the carrier clock frequency information or the counter clock frequency information includes a divided value, the clock generator 50 outputs a carrier clock signal or a counter clock signal having a frequency obtained by dividing the frequency of the system clock by the divided value. The carrier clock signal is supplied to the mixer 62 and the counter clock signal is supplied to the counter 64.

The counter 64 reads pulse waveform data including the counter data CV corresponding to the logic level bit data LV from the FIFO register fifo ₁ using the FIFO read signal FIFO RD. When the pulse waveform data currently read is 9'h107, the counter 64 starts outputting the high level pulse corresponding to the logic level bit value "1" to the mixer 62. Since the counter value included in '07' in the pulse waveform data is "07", the counter 64 continues counting the counter clock until the counted value becomes 6, and accordingly, the output of the counter 64 counts. The value is high level from "0" to "6".

The mixer 62 mixes the carrier clock signal output from the clock generator 50 and the counter clock signal output from the counter 64 to output an electric pulse signal having a pulse waveform of the carrier clock while the counter output is at a high level. do. This electric pulse signal is used to drive an infrared light emitting element (not shown), and as a result, the electric pulse signal is converted into an infrared pulse signal.

The infrared transmission module according to the embodiment of the present invention may be used to generate an infrared pulse signal corresponding to various carrier frequencies and various transmission protocols by adding one module to a system on chip.

As described above, the infrared transmission module of the present invention has a pulse signal having a desired width for each of the logic high level and the logic low level of the pulse waveform based on the pulse waveform data, the counter clock frequency information, and the carrier clock frequency information. Can be generated. Therefore, the present invention provides a protocol such as pulse phase modulation (PPM), pulse width modulation (PWM), bi-phase modulation, and the like by changing pulse waveform data, counter clock frequency information, and carrier clock frequency information. Can support

In addition, when the infrared transmitting module according to the present invention is used in the infrared remote control, the user of the infrared remote control can change or adjust the high level pulse width or the low level pulse width of the infrared pulse signal using an application program. Therefore, the user can freely adjust the frequency or duty ratio of the carrier signal on which the infrared signal is carried.

Claims (6)

An infrared transmitting module for generating an infrared pulse signal from an electric pulse signal, A memory unit for storing pulse waveform data; A clock generator for generating a counter clock signal based on the counter clock frequency information and a carrier clock signal based on the carrier clock frequency information; And And a pulse signal generator configured to generate an electric pulse signal by modulating the carrier clock signal based on the pulse waveform data stored in the memory unit. 2. The infrared signal of claim 1, wherein the pulse waveform data includes a logic level bit and a count value, the logic level bit representing a specific level of a pulse waveform, and a counter value corresponding to the logic level bit representing an length of the specific level. Send module. The method of claim 2, wherein the pulse signal generation unit A counter for outputting a counter pulse signal with a pulse width whose logic level bit is determined by a logic level and a corresponding counter value; And And a mixer configured to mix the counter pulse signal and the carrier clock signal to output an electric pulse signal. The method of claim 3, wherein the counter, When the logic level bit is high level, a count pulse signal having a high level is output for a period of the counter clock pulse number corresponding to the counter value, And a counter pulse signal having a low level for a period of the counter clock pulse number corresponding to the counter value when the logic level bit is low level. A system on a chip (SoC) comprising the infrared transmitting module of claim 1. The method of claim 1, wherein the pulse waveform data, the counter clock frequency information, and the carrier clock frequency information are received from an external device, and the received pulse waveform data is provided to the memory unit, and the received counter clock frequency information and the carrier clock frequency are received. And an interfacing and controller for providing information to the clock generator.

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