JP2007251614A - Semiconductor device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology for manufacturing electronic equipment whose operation can be easily changed. <P>SOLUTION: This semiconductor device has a substrate, a plurality of semiconductor chips arranged on the substrate, and a semiconductor chip for control which is arranged on the substrate and transmits a signal to the semiconductor chips while switching semiconductor chips of a transmission destination by adjusting the directivity of an antenna, wherein the semiconductor chip for control can dynamically reconfigure a circuit configuration and can dynamically change the semiconductor chips selected as a transmission destination in accordance with the circuit configuration. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly to a semiconductor device that transmits signals by wireless communication between semiconductor chips arranged on a substrate.

In a conventional electronic device, an electronic device such as a semiconductor module is connected to a printed wiring board (PWB) using solder. Within the PWB, the outer layer of the substrate
A circuit is three-dimensionally formed of a good electrical conductor such as a copper wire on the inner layer.

In PWB, the wiring structure is complicated, so there is a limit to the improvement in mounting density. Therefore, a technique for connecting semiconductor modules by wireless communication has been studied.
Yu Su, Jau-Jr Lin, and Kenneth KO, “A 20-GHz CMOS RF Down-Converter with an On-chip Antenna,” 2005 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, pp. 270-272, February 2005

  However, in the case of the prior art as described above, since the position and circuit configuration of the electronic device are fixed, it is difficult to change or expand the function of the circuit once configured.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of manufacturing an electronic device whose operation can be easily changed.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following configuration. The present invention is a semiconductor device that transmits signals by wireless communication between semiconductor modules (semiconductor chips) arranged on a substrate. A plurality of semiconductor chips arranged on the substrate and the control semiconductor chip transmit and receive information by wireless communication. Since the semiconductor chips are not connected by a good electrical conductor such as a copper wire but are connected by radio, it is possible to prevent the wiring structure from becoming complicated.

  The control semiconductor chip in the present invention wirelessly transmits a signal to the semiconductor chip while switching the transmission destination semiconductor chip by adjusting the directivity of the antenna. Here, it is preferable to adjust the directivity of the antenna so that the signal is transmitted only to the semiconductor chip that needs to communicate. If radio waves are transmitted to a semiconductor chip that does not need to communicate, noise may be generated and cause malfunction. By adjusting the directivity of the antenna, unnecessary radio waves can be prevented from being transmitted to a semiconductor chip that does not need to communicate, and such malfunctions can be reduced. Further, by adjusting the radio wave transmission output to the minimum necessary transmission output, it is possible to prevent the influence of noise and save power. Since the semiconductor chip and the control semiconductor chip are fixed on the substrate and the positions thereof are known in advance, the directivity of the antenna and the transmission output can be adjusted according to the semiconductor chip of the communication partner.

The antenna used in the control semiconductor chip is preferably an array antenna. The array antenna is a plurality of element antennas (for example, patch antennas) arranged. The individual antennas can be arranged in various ways such as linear, planar (triangular, quadrangular, circular, etc.), and three-dimensional. In an array antenna, directivity can be adjusted by co-phase excitation of the element antenna. The antenna is preferably composed of a control semiconductor chip and a single chip, but may be located outside the control semiconductor chip.

Further, the control semiconductor chip in the present invention can dynamically reconfigure (programmable) the circuit configuration, and can dynamically change the operation. The control semiconductor chip includes a plurality of arithmetic units, a wiring portion connecting them, and a control unit that controls the configuration of the wiring circuit. The operation can be dynamically changed by the control unit changing the configuration of the wiring circuit. As such a chip, an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), a PLD (Programmable Logic Device), a reconfigurable chip (Reconfigurable Chip), or the like can be used.

  In this way, by using a reconfigurable (programmable) chip as the control semiconductor chip, it becomes possible to dynamically change the semiconductor chip to be selected as the transmission destination and to perform flexible circuit design. is there. That is, it is possible to virtually increase the number of circuits, and it is possible to provide a semiconductor device having many functions. In addition, it is possible to change specifications and expand functions even after product shipment.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it becomes possible to manufacture the electronic device which can change operation | movement easily.

  Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
1st Embodiment of this invention is an image recognition apparatus mounted in the vehicle, Comprising: It is an image recognition apparatus which detects an observation target object from the image imaged with the vehicle-mounted camera. The image recognition process is divided into a plurality of processes such as a spatial filtering process, a feature amount extraction process, and a pattern matching process. In this embodiment, image recognition processing is performed using a dedicated module (LSI chip) that executes each processing. Further, it is desirable to change the algorithm of the image recognition process depending on the observation object and the characteristics of the input image. For example, it is desirable to use different algorithms depending on whether detection is performed in units of automobiles, motorcycles, and persons from the input image, and detection is performed in units of passenger cars, buses, and trucks. Further, it is preferable to use different algorithms according to the resolution of the input image, illumination conditions, and the like. In this image recognition apparatus, an algorithm to be used is switched according to an observation object detected from an input image.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image recognition system according to the present embodiment. The image recognition apparatus transmits drive signals to the image processing modules 3a, 4a, and 5a constituting the image recognition system A, the image processing modules 3b, 4b, and 5b constituting the image recognition system B, and the image processing modules. It is composed of a control / communication module 2. Each of these modules is arranged on one printed wiring board (PWB) 1.

  The image recognition system A is an image recognition system that detects an observation object in units of an automobile, a motorcycle, and a person from an input image. The image processing module 3a is a module that performs spatial filtering processing such as smoothing processing and image enhancement in order to remove noise from the input image from the camera 6. The image processing module 4a is a module that extracts a feature amount from an image. The image processing module 5a is a module that performs a pattern matching process for detecting whether an observation target is present in an image by determining whether the pattern matches a predetermined pattern based on the extracted feature amount.

The image recognition system B is an image recognition system that detects an observation object in units of passenger cars, buses, and trucks from an input image. Similarly to the above, the image processing modules 3b, 4b, and 5b perform image filtering processing, feature amount extraction processing, and pattern matching processing, respectively. However, the algorithm in each process is optimized according to the observation object.

The control / communication module 2 transmits a drive signal to each image processing module to execute image processing. Each image processing module and the control / communication module 2 have a built-in transceiver, and perform signal transfer using a wireless technology such as UWB (Ultra Wide Band), wireless LAN, or Bluetooth (registered trademark).

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the control / communication module 2. The control / communication module 2 includes a control unit 10, a configuration change unit 11, and an array antenna 12. The control unit 10 controls what information is transmitted to which image processing module. More specifically, the communication destination image processing module is specified, and the directivity and transmission output of radio waves transmitted from the array antenna 12 are controlled. Further, the use band is switched according to the transmission information.

  The array antenna 12 is configured by arranging a plurality of element antennas (for example, patch antennas), and has directivity in an arbitrary direction by adjusting the phase and amplitude of a signal transmitted from each element antenna. be able to. Since the control / communication module 2 and each image processing module are fixed on the PWB 1, it is determined which direction should have directivity and how much transmission output should be communicated according to the communication partner. can do. By adjusting the directivity and transmission output in this way, unnecessary radio waves transmitted to the image processing module that does not need to communicate can be reduced. As a result, noise generated by crosstalk can be reduced, and malfunctions can be suppressed. The control / communication module 2 and each image processing module are preferably arranged so that there are no obstacles such as other modules on the communication path.

  The control / communication module 2 is configured by a reconfigurable chip, and the wiring circuit can be dynamically changed by the configuration changing unit 11. As a result, the system can be dynamically changed as necessary. In the present image recognition apparatus, the system is configured to switch the image recognition system to be used depending on what observation object is detected from the input image. Be changed. The control / communication module 2 may be a programmable device such as an FPGA instead of a reconfigurable chip.

  Next, the operation of the image recognition apparatus will be described. First, the control / communication module 2 receives an image (input image) captured by the camera 6. Here, when the target is detected from the input image in units of vehicles, motorcycles, and persons, the configuration change unit 11 rewrites the software of the control / communication module 2 (changes the configuration of the wiring circuit) and recognizes the image. The operation is changed to use the system A (consisting of the image processing modules 3a, 4a, and 5a). The control / communication module 2 wirelessly transmits a drive signal to the image processing module 3a and performs a spatial filtering process on the input image. The control / communication module 2 receives the processing result from the image processing module 3a. Similarly, the control / communication module 2 sequentially transmits drive signals to the image processing modules 4a and 5a, executes feature amount extraction processing and pattern matching processing, and receives the processing results. In this way, the observation object is detected from the input image.

When an object is detected in units of passenger cars, trucks, and buses from the input image, the configuration change unit 11 rewrites the software of the control / communication module 2 to configure the image recognition system B (configured from the image processing modules 3b, 4b, 5b Change the behavior to use. The control / communication module 2 sequentially transmits drive signals to the image processing modules 3b, 4b, and 5b to execute spatial filtering processing, feature amount extraction processing, and pattern matching processing, and receives the processing results. In this way, the observation object is detected from the input image.

  In this embodiment, since the devices are connected wirelessly, it is possible to avoid the problem that the wiring connection that occurs when copper wiring or the like is used as in the prior art becomes high density. Further, since a reconfigurable (reconfigurable) chip is used, it is not necessary to prepare a control / communication module 2 for each image recognition algorithm, and a plurality of (two in this embodiment) are provided by internal software rewriting. It can correspond to the algorithm of. Therefore, the number of parts can be reduced, the manufacturing cost can be reduced, and the space can be saved. Furthermore, function expansion / change (for example, image recognition processing using the image processing modules 3a, 4a, and 5b) can be handled by rewriting software.

(Second Embodiment)
The second embodiment of the present invention is a motor control system for driving and controlling a motor. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of the motor control system. The motor control system includes a drive signal generator 21, motor drivers 22a, 22b, and 22c, and motors 23a, 23b, and 23c. The drive signal generator 21 sequentially transmits drive signals to each motor driver, and the motor driver that has received the drive signals drives the corresponding motor.

  The drive signal generation unit 21 and the motor drivers 22a, 22b, and 22c in the present embodiment are arranged on one printed wiring board (PWB) 24. A transmitter / receiver is incorporated in each of the drive signal generation unit 21 and each motor driver, and signal transfer is performed using a wireless technology such as UWB, wireless LAN, or Bluetooth.

  The drive signal generator 21 has the same configuration (see FIG. 2) as the control / communication module in the first embodiment, and includes a controller, a configuration changer, and an array antenna. The drive signal generator 21 can have directivity in an arbitrary direction by adjusting the phase and amplitude of the radio wave transmitted from the array antenna. Further, the transmission output is appropriately adjusted according to the communication distance. By adjusting the directivity and transmission output in this way, unnecessary radio waves transmitted to other motor drivers can be reduced. As a result, noise generated by crosstalk can be reduced, and malfunctions can be suppressed. The drive signal generator 21 and each motor driver are preferably arranged so that there are no obstacles such as other modules on the communication path.

  The drive signal generator 21 is constituted by a reconfigurable chip, and its wiring circuit can be changed dynamically. Therefore, the motor drive method (transmission order of drive signals to each motor driver, signal structure, etc.) can be changed as appropriate. By using such a reconfigurable chip, it is possible to virtually increase the number of circuits and provide a motor control system having many functions. This also leads to a reduction in the number of components, which can reduce manufacturing costs and save space.

  Each motor driver needs to be controlled with a high voltage (500 V in this embodiment) in order to drive the motor. Conversely, the drive signal generator 21 is controlled with a low voltage (5 V in this embodiment). When such a motor driver and the drive signal generator 21 are connected by a common bus or signal line, it is necessary to adjust the control voltage. As a result, noise may occur and malfunction may occur. This problem is not limited to motor drive devices, but is a problem common to devices that drive and control high-voltage components.

In this embodiment, since wireless communication is used for driving signal transmission between the motor driver and the driving signal generator 21, it is not necessary to adjust the control voltage. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the generation of noise accompanying the adjustment of the control voltage and the malfunction due to the noise. That is, the present embodiment includes a first semiconductor chip to which a predetermined voltage is supplied, and a second semiconductor chip to which a voltage different from the predetermined voltage is supplied and transmits a signal to the first semiconductor chip; The second semiconductor chip can also be understood as an invention of a semiconductor device (high voltage component drive control device) characterized by transmitting a signal to the first semiconductor chip by wireless communication. is there.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the image recognition apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the control and communication module in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the motor control system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wiring board 2 Control / communication module 3a, 4a, 5a Image processing module 3b, 4b, 5b Image processing module 6 Camera 10 Control part 11 Configuration change part 12 Array antenna 21 Drive signal generation part 22a, 22b, 22c Motor driver 23a, 23b, 23c Motor 24 Wiring board

Claims (1)

A substrate,
A plurality of semiconductor chips disposed on the substrate;
A control semiconductor chip that is arranged on the substrate and wirelessly transmits a signal to the semiconductor chip while switching a transmission destination semiconductor chip by adjusting the directivity of the antenna;
Have
The control semiconductor chip can dynamically reconfigure a circuit configuration, and the semiconductor chip selected as a transmission destination can be dynamically changed according to the circuit configuration.

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