KR20160065732A - wireless wakeup signal transmitter for electronic equipment and receiver for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a technology related to wireless wakeup signal transmitter and receiver used for an electronic device activated by a wakeup signal while usually keeping a sleep mode. The wireless wakeup signal transmitter modulates the frequency or the amplitude of a high frequency carrier signal according to digital wakeup pattern information and transmits the modulated frequency or amplitude of the high frequency carrier signal. The wireless wakeup signal receiver comprises: an antenna; a wireless signal detection unit outputting a digital signal representing a change in the frequency or the amplitude of the high frequency carrier signal from the wireless signal received from the antenna; and a wakeup determination unit outputting an interrupt signal when the digital signal outputted from the wireless signal detection unit is the digital wakeup pattern information.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a wireless wakeup signal transmitter for an electronic device,

A technique relating to a wireless wake-up signal transmitter and receiver for use in an electronic device that is normally in a sleep mode and is activated by a wakeup signal is disclosed.

Among electronic devices, there are devices that operate in a normal sleep mode in order to increase power consumption, activate in response to an event, and then return to a sleep mode when the process is finished. For example, according to the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT), which is becoming an issue nowadays, things are equipped with wireless communication devices and connected to the Internet. These things Internet appliances should be designed to be cheap, small in size and consuming low power. These devices operate most of the time in sleep mode to manage power consumption and are only activated when necessary.

There is a timer method that wakes up the device by generating a wake-up signal at the set time of the SoC (System on Chip) internal timer of the device by activating the devices in the sleep mode only when necessary. However, since the slave device in the sleep mode wakes up at a predetermined time and communicates with the master device, the timer device can not communicate with the slave device in the sleep mode when the master device such as a smartphone wants to communicate with the slave device There is

Another method of activating devices in sleep mode only when needed is to use external interrupts to generate an interrupt signal to the external interrupt terminal at a desired point in time. Generally, external interrupt signal generators include switch, Hole sensor, near magnetic sensor, and NFC which are operated by user directly. These external interrupt signal generators are very low in power consumption, but users must manually perform physical actions There is a problem that the master device such as a smart phone can not automatically wake up slave devices. In addition, conventional external interrupt signal generators need to have separate transmitter and receiver systems so that additional hardware must be added to various existing smartphone devices. Conventionally, external interrupt generators can not be integrated with existing communication module ICs (WIFI, BT, and ZigBee) or require large antennas even when they are integrated into an IC such as NFC.

The present invention proposes an external interrupt signal generator capable of automatically waking up a slave device at a desired time in a sleep mode in the above-described sleep mode, and it is an object of the present invention to solve the fundamental problems of various external interrupt generators I would like to propose.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a wireless wakeup signal transmitter and a receiver capable of maximizing a sleep mode waiting time of a short range wireless communication electronic device and reducing power consumption

Furthermore, the present invention aims to perform communication after the user automatically wakes up the wireless communication devices without manually performing a physical operation.

And to provide a wireless wake up transmission and receiver which can be integrated together with a conventional wireless communication apparatus.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a general-purpose wake-up signal transmission method utilizing various conventional short-range wireless communication devices without any additional wake-up transmitter hardware.

According to one aspect, a wireless wake-up signal transmitter and receiver are disclosed. The disclosed wireless wakeup signal transmitter modulates the frequency or amplitude of a high frequency carrier signal according to digital wakeup pattern information and transmits the modulated signal. According to one aspect, the high frequency carrier signal may be a signal in the GHz band. More specifically, the high frequency carrier signal may be a signal in the 2.4 GHz band.

According to an aspect, a wireless wakeup signal transmitter modulates and transmits the amplitude of a high frequency carrier signal in accordance with digital wakeup pattern information. According to an additional aspect, the digital wakeup pattern information may initially have an identification header period having a value corresponding to the maximum amplitude value. For example, this identification header section may have a length of 6 to 10 ms.

According to one aspect, a wireless wake-up signal transmitter of an electronic device is stored in a memory and executed by a processor, and the modem unit is controlled so that a signal output from the modem unit modulates the frequency or amplitude of the high- And the like. According to a further aspect, the modem portion can be used for a local communication that a wireless wakeup signal transmitter uses for data communication. According to a further aspect of the present invention, the program controls the modem to output a signal of a predetermined frequency, and controls the modem to operate in an on-off keying manner by interrupting the output according to the digital wake-up pattern information.

According to yet another aspect, the program can control the modem unit to modulate the digital wakeup pattern information in a FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) manner and transmit the modulated digital wakeup pattern information. For example, when using a plurality of channels in which the modem additional frequency is used, the program can control the modem unit to transmit certain information alternately to two channels having the maximum frequency difference of the carrier signal according to the digital wakeup pattern information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a digital signal processing apparatus comprising an antenna, a radio signal detector for outputting a digital signal representing a change in frequency or amplitude of the radio frequency carrier signal from the radio signal received from the antenna, And a wake-up determination unit for outputting an interrupt signal in the case of the pattern information.

According to an aspect, the radio signal detecting unit may be an envelope detector that outputs an envelop signal corresponding to the amplitude of the high frequency carrier signal. In addition, the radio signal detecting section outputs the maximum amplitude signal corresponding to logic '1' in the section where the high frequency carrier signal exists, and outputs the minimum amplitude signal corresponding to, for example, logic '0' And may be an on-off keying envelope detector. According to an additional aspect, the radio signal detection section may be composed solely of passive elements such as resistors, inductors, capacitors, for example.

According to a further aspect, the wake-up determination unit can determine the digital signal by measuring the duration of the maximum amplitude signal and the minimum amplitude signal. More specifically, the wake-up determination unit can measure the duration by counting pulses of a constant period for each signal period.

According to a further aspect, the pulse generator may be an RC clock generator circuit. The wireless wake-up signal receiver may further include a sleep mode power supply unit for supplying power to the wake-up determination unit. More specifically, the sleep mode power supply unit may include a charging unit for charging the radio signal received from the antenna, and a rectifying unit for rectifying and supplying the output of the charging unit.

According to another aspect, the radio signal detector may be implemented as a frequency demodulator that outputs a maximum amplitude signal when the frequency of the radio signal received from the antenna is the first frequency and a minimum amplitude signal when the frequency is the second frequency.

The proposed wireless wake - up signal transmitter can be realized by software control of various general wireless communication devices (WIFI, BT, ZigBee) modems which do not require any hardware and use high frequency in GHz unit. In this way, it is possible to wake up the slave devices in the sleep mode by generating a wireless wakeup signal only by changing the software without adding additional wireless wakeup transmitter hardware to various master devices (smartphone) Band full range of wireless communication devices. In addition, since the software can be directly applied to various devices incorporating a wireless communication device, it can be applied not only to new products but also to existing products.

In addition, since the GHz band frequency is used, the size of the antenna is small as in the case of the antenna of the conventional radio communication apparatus, and the antenna of the conventional radio communication apparatus is commonly used as a mode (connected to the sleep mode wake- , General mode connection to general wireless communication device). Accordingly, it is possible to fabricate a small-sized module such as a small pattern antenna, for example, to attach to or implant the human body.

In addition, since a wakeup signal is transmitted using a modem of a local communication type such as bluetooth, zigbee, or WiFi, which is commonly used in a terminal, a wireless wakeup signal is transmitted using a conventional general terminal without adding a module or a circuit .

Furthermore, sensor devices or electronic devices that support short-range wireless communications in this manner can receive such wireless wakeup signals with the simplest addition of circuitry.

In addition, since very simple information is transmitted / received through a simple modulation / demodulation method, the frequency band of the receivable signal is very wide, so that it has almost similar reception performance over the entire ISM frequency band which can be used for unauthorized use.

Also, although the overall communication frequency band is slightly different for various short-range wireless communication standards, and the detailed communication channel frequency and channel frequency interval are slightly different from each other, the wireless wake-up signal receiver of the proposed invention is not limited to the communication frequency band, It is possible to receive various types of wireless wakeup signals generated from various wireless communication apparatuses with almost the same performance irrespective of the channel frequency difference,

Further, receiver compatibility is ensured through the same reception performance characteristics for various transmission signals of such a wireless wakeup signal receiver. In other words, in general, a receiver optimized for a transmitter or a transmission signal is different for each transmitter or a transmission signal. The proposed wireless wakeup signal receiver can receive all the wireless wakeup signals generated by various wireless communication devices with one circuit It has perfect receiver compatibility.

In addition, additional hardware is not required for the transmitter, thereby reducing costs. In addition, since it is implemented by simple hardware corresponding to the purpose of wake-up in the receiver side, it can be easily integrated into a wireless communication chip and can be implemented. Also, when a wireless wakeup receiving chip is used as an external component for compatibility with a commercial wireless communication chip, the size and cost are improved compared to the conventional case.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an electronic shelf label including an NFC module 190.
2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a wireless wake up signal receiver according to one embodiment.
3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wake-up determination unit 230 according to an embodiment.
4 is a signal comparative diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. All.
5 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a wireless wake-up signal transmitter according to an embodiment.
6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic shelf label according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic shelf label according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The foregoing and further aspects are embodied through the embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the components of each embodiment are capable of various combinations within an embodiment as long as no other mention or mutual contradiction exists. Furthermore, the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

In order to clearly illustrate the present invention, parts not related to the description are omitted, and like parts are denoted by similar reference numerals throughout the specification. And, when a section is referred to as "including " an element, it does not exclude other elements unless specifically stated to the contrary. As used herein, the term " block " refers to a block of hardware or software configured to be changed or pluggable, i.e., a unit or block that performs a function in hardware or software.

As a possible technique for achieving the above-mentioned object, NFC (Near Field Communication) technology can be considered. This technology uses the frequency of 13.56MHz and the communication distance is within a few centimeters. The receiver charges the internal power using the radio signal sent by the transmitter without charge of the battery and performs data communication. Such a passive NFC wireless communication device can be thought of as a wake-up receiver capable of generating an external interrupt signal at a desired point of time while consuming less power than the above-mentioned sleep mode level.

For example, FIG. 1 shows an example of an electronic shelf label including an NFC module 190. The electronic shelf label is attached to the shelf of the store, receives product information through wireless communication with the gateway, and displays product information. The electronic shelf label includes a short range communication module 170 operating according to a protocol defined on the PHY / MAC layer according to IEEE 802.15.4 standard, for example, and receives product information through communication with the gateway, ). The control unit 110 controls this process. According to a further aspect, the control unit 110 is connected to the NFC module 190.

The electronic labels are divided into a plurality of groups, and the product information is updated for each group. Electronic labels managed through the same gateway can form a group. In order to reduce the power consumption of the electronic label powered by the battery, the electronic labels remain in a sleep state except for the wakeup period required for information update. Further, the display unit 130 uses an electronic paper display (EPD: Electronic Paper Display) that maintains the information display state even if power is not supplied.

For initialization after power is applied via the battery, the wireless wake-up signal transmitter forces the electronic shelf label to wake up. For example, the wireless wake up signal transmitter may be a smart phone 180 with an embedded NFC reader. The NFC module 190 receives a radio signal supplied from the NFC reader through the antenna and charges the internal capacitor, thereby being activated by the power source. Recognizes the wakeup information pattern received from the NFC reader of the smartphone 180 and generates a hardware interrupt to the control unit 110. [ Where the antenna of the NFC module 190 is typically a coil antenna. Thus, an interrupt is applied to the control unit, for example, the microprocessor in the sleep state to switch to the wake-up state. The wake-up electronic label scans the wake-up channel to discover the gateway to form a wireless network. When the gateway is searched, it performs a label activation operation of registering itself in the gateway. After the initial activation operation, the electronic label receives and displays product information on the display unit 130 by transmitting and receiving an information inquiry request frame and an information inquiry response frame in its corresponding data channel.

However, this NFC wireless communication technology is a device that wakes up an electronic device and has the following problems.

1. Large antenna size

The NFC method uses a relatively low frequency of 13.56 MHz and uses a magnetic induction phenomenon to perform energy transfer and communication. Therefore, a coil antenna having a relatively large area is required for a transmitter and a receiver. A terminal such as a smart phone that can be considered as a transmitter has no problem in mounting such a coil antenna. However, in the case of a sensor device which can be a receiver, for example, a sufficient space such as a credit card may not be secured, so that mounting of the coil antenna may be difficult. For example, it is difficult to apply a large and large area coil antenna required for the NFC method in the case of a sensor device that is implanted into the body in the form of a small chip on the body.

2. Compatibility with master device

To communicate by NFC method, NFC chip and antenna coil must be added separately. Most of the smartphones that are convenient to use as a general transmitter are equipped with WiFi and Bluetooth as default, but NFC is only partially installed, so you need a separate adapter to use as a wireless wake-up signal transmitter.

3. Excessive cost over function

NFC is capable of data communication, although the data transmission rate is low and the communication distance is very short. However, the data amount to be transmitted and received by the electronic device is often too large to be transmitted by the NFC method although there may be a difference depending on the application field. Therefore, a separate local wireless communication device (WIFI, BT, zigbee) must be additionally provided for data communication. As a result, the electronic device must have a communication component capable of receiving a wireless wakeup signal in a sleep state separately from the data communication, thereby incurring additional costs.

In this context, the inventors can avoid or minimize the addition of components at the transmitter and the receiver, and at the same time instantly wake up the electronic device in sleep mode at any desired time, We propose a wireless wakeup signal transmission and reception technology applicable to electronic devices. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The foregoing and further aspects will become more apparent from the following description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a wireless wakeup signal receiver according to one embodiment. As shown, the wireless wake-up signal receiver according to one embodiment includes an antenna 290, a wireless signal outputting a digital signal indicative of a change in frequency or amplitude of the high frequency carrier signal from the wireless signal received from the antenna 290, And a wake-up determination unit 230 for outputting an interrupt signal when the digital signal output from the wireless signal detection unit 210 is digital wake-up pattern information.

According to one aspect, the high frequency carrier signal may be a signal in the GHz band. More specifically, the high frequency carrier signal may be a signal in the 2.4 GHz band. Many local communication standards such as bluetooth, zigbee and WiFi are using this 2.4 GHz band. The antenna can be shared by using the frequency for transmitting the wireless wakeup signal and the frequency used for data communication for wakeup in the same band. In addition, it is possible for a transmitter to send out a wake-up signal using a familiar communication module used for data communication.

In one embodiment, the radio signal detector 210 may be an envelope detector that outputs an envelope signal corresponding to the amplitude of the high frequency carrier signal. The envelope signal is a curved signal tangent to the high frequency carrier signal. In one embodiment, the envelope detector may be a diode detector consisting of a passive element of diodes, capacitors and resistors. As an example, the envelope detector may comprise a low-pass filter in the diode rectifier circuit. In another example, an envelope detector accumulates received RF signals without active amplification through an N stage rectifier circuit, rectifying and amplifying the signal. This signal is then compared with a reference voltage through a comparator in a detector circuit to produce a digital signal of zero or one.

In one embodiment, the envelope detector is composed of a minimum number of elements and can be integrated together in a conventional communication SoC. In another embodiment, the envelope detector may be in the form of a separate component integrated into a single package. In either case, the output can be connected to the external interrupt terminal of the microprocessor inside the SoC. If the chip is embedded in the SoC chip, there is no need to purchase additional parts or assembly costs. However, there is a need to provide a wireless wakeup receiver chip in the form of an external component in order to be applied to a large number of existing electronic apparatuses that have already been sold and used.

In another embodiment, the radio signal detector may be an on-off keying envelope detector that outputs a maximum amplitude signal in a section where a high-frequency carrier signal exists and a minimum amplitude signal in a section without a high-frequency carrier signal. In this embodiment, the maximum amplitude signal is a signal of logic '1' and the minimum amplitude signal is a signal of logic '0'. That is, the radio signal detector 210 generates 0 and 1 digital signals from the signals received from the antenna.

In this on-off keying embodiment, the wireless wakeup signal amplitude-modulates (AM) digital data with a 2.4 GHz carrier. In order to transmit the data of '1', a 2.4 GHz sine wave is transmitted at the maximum amplitude, and the sine wave is not transmitted in the interval '0'. For detection, a circuit consisting only of passive elements such as a diode detector may be used.

The wake-up determination unit 230 determines whether the desired digital wake-up pattern information is input from the digital signals 0 and 1 output from the wireless signal detection unit 210, and generates a final interrupt signal. The wake-up determination unit 230 may be implemented by an analog circuit or a digital circuit.

According to an aspect, the wake-up determination unit 230 can determine the digital information by measuring the duration of the maximum amplitude signal and the minimum amplitude signal. In the radio signal detecting section, a signal close to a square wave corresponding to the presence or absence of the received signal is output. The wake-up determination unit may configure the circuit using RLC passive elements to detect a fixed square-wave signal pattern. For example, it is possible to configure eight consecutive delay units to detect the signal pattern '11110001', and to configure a circuit that compares the signals delayed by each delay with the signal pattern value.

As another example, the wake-up determining unit 230 may be implemented by a circuit for outputting a comparison value indicating whether a value obtained by integrating a received signal for a predetermined time meets a reference value, and a circuit for delaying the comparison value and performing a logical multiplication.

As another example, the wake-up determination unit 230 can measure the duration by counting pulses of a predetermined period during each signal period. More specifically, the wake-up determination unit 230 may count a pulse of a predetermined period during each signal interval to measure the duration.

3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wake-up determination unit 230 according to an embodiment. As shown in the figure, the wake-up determining unit 230 includes a pulse generating unit 310 and a rising edge of the output of the wireless signal detecting unit 210, A first counter 330 for counting the output pulses of the radio signal detecting unit 210 and an inverter 370 for inverting the output of the radio signal detecting unit 210. The rising edge of the output of the radio signal detecting unit 210 A second counter 350 which is enabled by the rising edge of the output of the inverter 370 and counts the output pulses of the pulse generator 310, And a comparator 390 that compares the count value of the counter 350 with a reference value.

Referring to FIG. 3, the first counter 330 counts the output pulses of the pulse generator 310 that outputs pulses at regular intervals, and counts the output pulse of the radio signal detector 210 during a logic '1' period. The first counter 330 is reset at the rising edge of the output of the radio signal detector 210 and is enabled and starts counting and at the falling edge of the output of the radio signal detector 210, After the count is ended, the count value is held until the next reset. In the illustrated embodiment, the first counter 330 is a 4-bit counter capable of counting up to 16 pulses. The first counter 330 is not limited to this, and may be a counter of bits smaller or larger than 4 bits.

 The second counter 350 counts the output pulses of the pulse generator 310 that outputs pulses at regular intervals and counts while the output of the radio signal detector 210 is logic '0'. The second counter 350 is reset at the rising edge of the output of the radio signal detector 210 and is enabled at the falling edge of its output to start counting and counts at the next rising edge of the output of the radio signal detector 210 Lt; / RTI > In the illustrated embodiment, the second counter 350 is a 4-bit counter capable of counting up to 16 pulses. The first counter 330 is not limited to this, and may be a counter of bits smaller or larger than 4 bits.

The comparator 390 compares the value of the first counter 330 and the value of the second counter 350 with the reference pattern value. The value of the first counter 330 maintains the final count value while the output of the radio signal detector 210 is logic '0'. Therefore, when the count value of the second counter 350 coincides with the reference value, a pulse is outputted from the comparator and an external interrupt is generated in the microprocessor.

The illustrated embodiment determines whether to wake up from the length of the interval of logical '1' and the length of the next logical '0'. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is possible to use the length of an arbitrary number of consecutive logical '1' and logical '0' values.

4 is a signal comparative diagram for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. In the drawing, a) at the top shows wake-up pattern information. According to an aspect, a value corresponding to the first counter value of the reference value of the comparator may be a value corresponding to a maximum amplitude signal having a length of 6 to 10 ms. That is, the length of the interval of the first logic '1' in the digital wakeup pattern information may be 6 to 10 ms. This is because the length of the longest continuous logic '1' signal in a commercial Bluetooth standard such as bluetooth, zigbee, or WiFi is less than 5 ms.

 Since the radio signal detector 210 is implemented as a simple rectifier and / or an envelope detector, it is insensitive to a change in the frequency of a radio carrier (RF carrier), so that it is unnecessary to separately set a communication channel in the transmitter. In addition, it is very insensitive to various modulation schemes of various short-range wireless communication standard devices, so that they can not be distinguished from each other, and only distinction can be made as to whether or not the RF signal in the approximately 2 GHz band exists temporally. Thus, the wireless wakeup signal sets the length of the first logic '1' longer than the maximum long packet length of various short-range wireless communication standards to distinguish it from the various short-range wireless communication packet signals. It is then optional to add an interval of logical '0' and an interval of logical '1' to an appropriate length for additional discrimination.

In particular, when the wake-up determination unit 230 is implemented as an analog circuit, it is determined whether or not the length of each signal section is equal to or greater than a predetermined length in order to distinguish data of a specific pattern.

4), the digital wakeup pattern information b) is an RF signal received by the antenna and fed to the radio signal detecting unit, c) is an output signal of the radio signal detecting unit, and d) is a signal for explaining the operation of the wake- And the finally output interrupt signal.

As described above, the length of the first logic '1' of the wireless wakeup signal is set to about 6 to 10 ms, which is a sufficient margin time, in order to distinguish from the conventional wireless communication standard packet, and then an additional length of '0' is set. When an RF OOK signal such as b) is input to the antenna, a digital output signal such as c) is obtained while passing through a radio signal detecting unit. Then, the digital wake-up determination unit samples a signal with a low-power clock to measure the length of a period between logic '1' and logic '0'. If it is determined to be similar to the pattern of the determined wireless digital wake-up pattern information, Signal. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the length of the additional logic '1' period can be measured by adding the number of delay units determined according to the digital wakeup pattern information.

The pulse train in FIG. 4D shows the output of the pulse generator 310 in FIG. The first counter 330 measures the length of the preceding long logic '1' interval, and the count value is 11. The second counter 350 measures the length of the interval of the next consecutive short logic '0', the count value being 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the embodiment of FIG. 3 operates to generate an interrupt signal at its output if the count values of the first and second counters are '11' and '3', respectively.

According to a further aspect, the pulse generating section 310 may be an RC clock generating circuit. The clock for the digital circuit operation is required. The clock for the sleep mode operation is an RC clock having a low power & low frequency (usually several kHz to several tens of kHz) characteristics rather than a commonly used X-tal clock generator of several MHz to several tens MHz Generators are used.

The wireless wake-up signal receiver may further include a sleep mode power supply unit for supplying power to the wake-up determination unit. The electronic apparatus having the sleep mode and the active mode preferably has a structure in which the power supply unit is divided into a sleep mode power supply unit and an active mode power supply unit. Some components have different operating power or operating clocks in the sleep mode and active mode in order to make the power consumption efficient. The sleep mode power supply supplies sleep mode power only to parts operating in the sleep mode. The active mode power supply supplies power corresponding to the active mode to all of the components operating in the active mode. The sleep mode power supply only supplies low power while consuming only low power.

According to another aspect, the sleep mode power supply unit may include a charging unit that charges the wireless signal received from the antenna, and a rectifier that rectifies the output of the charging unit and supplies the rectified output to the wireless wake-up signal receiver. Therefore, the wireless wakeup signal receiver of the electronic device does not consume power from the battery in the sleep mode, but starts charging by charging the power source from the radio signal when receiving the radio signal of sufficient strength.

2, according to another aspect, the radio signal detecting unit 210 detects a maximum amplitude signal when the frequency of the radio signal received from the antenna 290 is the first frequency and a minimum amplitude signal when the frequency is the second frequency And a frequency demodulator for outputting the frequency demodulated signal. That is, the radio signal detector 210 detects a signal of a frequency modulation scheme. In this embodiment, the maximum amplitude signal is a signal of logic '1' and the minimum amplitude signal is a signal of logic '0'. That is, the radio signal detector 210 generates 0 and 1 digital signals from the signals received from the antenna.

The frequency demodulator is known in various ways such as a frequency discrimination circuit and a phase discrimination circuit. In the proposed invention, since only two information '0' and '1' are transmitted through a considerably long pulse width, it can be implemented by a simple frequency discrimination circuit.

Even when the radio signal detector 210 is a frequency demodulation system, its output is the same as that of the amplitude modulation system, and thus the wake-up determination unit 230 can be applied in the same manner as the amplitude modulation system. That is, the wake-up determination unit 230 can determine the digital signal by measuring the duration of the maximum amplitude signal and the minimum amplitude signal. The detailed description of the configuration of the wake-up determination unit 230 in this embodiment is omitted.

According to a further aspect, when the wake-up determination unit 230 is implemented in a digital manner, the pulse generation unit 310 may be an RC clock generation circuit. The clock for the digital circuit operation is required. The clock for the sleep mode operation is an RC clock having a low power & low frequency (usually several kHz to several tens of kHz) characteristics rather than a commonly used X-tal clock generator of several MHz to several tens MHz Generators are used.

The wireless wake-up signal receiver according to this embodiment may further include a sleep mode power supply unit for supplying power to the wake-up determination unit. The electronic apparatus having the sleep mode and the active mode preferably has a structure in which the power supply unit is divided into a sleep mode power supply unit and an active mode power supply unit. Some components have different operating power or operating clocks in the sleep mode and active mode in order to make the power consumption efficient. Sleep All The power supply supplies sleep mode power only to components operating in sleep mode. The active mode power supply supplies power corresponding to the active mode to all of the components operating in the active mode. The sleep mode power supply only supplies low power while consuming only low power.

According to another aspect, the sleep mode power supply unit according to this embodiment may include a charging unit for charging the radio signal received from the antenna, and a rectifying unit for rectifying the output of the charging unit and supplying the rectified output to the wireless wake-up signal receiver. Therefore, the wireless wakeup signal receiver of the electronic device does not consume power from the battery in the sleep mode, but starts charging by charging the power source from the radio signal when receiving the radio signal of sufficient strength.

5 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of a wireless wake-up signal transmitter according to an embodiment. The transmitter shown in Fig. 5 may be, for example, a smart phone. As another example, it may be an industrial personal portable terminal. According to one aspect, the wireless wakeup signal transmitter modulates the frequency or amplitude of the high frequency carrier signal according to the digital wakeup pattern information and transmits it. Here, the high frequency carrier signal may be a signal in the GHz band. Thus, the antenna size of the receiver can be reduced. According to another aspect, the high frequency carrier signal may be a signal of a band for data communication. For example, the high frequency carrier signal may be a signal in the 2.4 GHz band. It is a band used in general-purpose short-range wireless communication such as bluetooth, zigbee, and WiFi.

In FIG. 5, the short-range communication module 170 is a Bluetooth communication module. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various schemes such as zigbee and WiFi may be applied. The control unit 110 is a brain that controls the operation of the terminal as a whole and executes various application programs. For example, the control unit 110 may be configured to include a multicore processor, its peripheral devices, and input / output devices. In the illustrated embodiment, the display portion 130 is an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display. The memory 150 may be implemented as a large-capacity flash memory.

That is, the wireless wakeup signal transmitter of the electronic device is stored in the memory 150 and is executed by the processor of the controller 110, and the signal output from the near field communication module 170 is transmitted to the digital wake- Up pattern information to control the short-range communication modem unit so as to modulate the up-pattern information. According to one aspect, the short-range communication module 170 is used for data communication in addition to wake-up signal transmission.

In one embodiment, the wireless wakeup signal transmitter modulates and transmits the amplitude of the high frequency carrier signal according to the digital wakeup pattern information. For this, the control unit 110 controls the output of the local communication module 170 to be a sine wave or a square wave of a predetermined period for a predetermined duration determined according to the digital wakeup pattern information, under the control of the application program. In the case of the Bluetooth module, the GFSK (Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying) method is used. However, it is possible to output a sinusoidal wave or a square wave having a predetermined period by controlling intentionally generated information to be transmitted on the same channel. Since the digital wakeup pattern information is digital data, even in the case of amplitude modulation, it can be controlled by on / off of the sinusoidal output, since the amplitude is only in the case of the logic '1' and the case of the logic '0'. That is, it may be controlled so as to operate in an on-off keying manner by interrupting the output of the high-frequency carrier signal according to the digital wake-up pattern information. At this time, for the reason as described above, the digital wakeup pattern information may have an identification header section having the value corresponding to the amplitude maximum value at the beginning.

In another embodiment, the digital wake-up pattern information can be modulated by FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) method and transmitted. Since the information to be output is digital information and the amount of information thereof is very small and low speed, frequency modulation can be implemented by controlling the same Bluetooth module in a different manner. In a simple embodiment, the frequency modulated digital wakeup pattern information is sent out in such a form that only two sine waves with different frequencies are alternately output. In the illustrated embodiment, the program controls the Bluetooth modem to transmit certain information alternately to the two channels having the greatest frequency difference of the carrier signal according to the digital wakeup pattern information. The Bluetooth 4.0 standard defines 40 channels in 2MHz increments in the 2.400 to 2.4835 GHz band. Therefore, the channel with the lowest frequency is 2.402 GHz, and the channel with the highest frequency is 2.480 GHz. By controlling the sine wave to be alternately outputted by these two channels, it is possible to receive the radio signal of only two frequencies without distinguishing the channel in the receiving receiver.

6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic shelf label according to an embodiment of the present invention. The electronic device has a wireless wake up signal receiver 690. According to an aspect, an electronic device includes an antenna 630, a wireless wake up signal receiver 690 that receives a wireless wake up signal from the antenna 630, and a wireless wake up signal receiver 690 to the wake-up mode of the electronic device. Parts corresponding to the embodiment of Fig. 1 are referred to by the same reference numerals.

When the control unit 110 is still in the sleep mode, the wireless wake up signal receiver 690 receives the wireless wake up signal from the wireless wake up signal transmitter 280 and controls the external interrupt terminal of the microprocessor included in the control unit 110 And triggers the execution of the hardware interrupt routine. The control unit 110 includes a separate data communication module 170 for data communication. However, the added wireless wake up signal receiver 690 has a simple enough structure to be able to reduce the added cost. In one embodiment, the data communication module 170, the controller 110, and the memory 150 are configured as one system-on-chip (SoC). In yet another embodiment, up to wireless wake up signal receiver 690 may be integrated together in a system on chip. In the illustrated embodiment, the data communication module 170 is a zigbee communication module. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may include a module of another local communication type such as bluetooth, as well as a relatively remote communication means such as WiFi, LTE and Wibro.

Further, the data communication module 170 and the wireless wakeup signal receiver 690, which are wireless communication means for data communication, may each have separate antennas when space is not restricted. However, One common antenna may be shared and used. In this case, an RF switch is needed to switch the signal path between one common antenna and two wireless communication modules. If the wireless wakeup receiver circuit is implemented as a single chip inside a wireless SoC, the RF switch may also be integrated.

According to an aspect, the electronic device includes an antenna 610 for a data communication module and an antenna 630 for a wireless wake up signal receiver.

According to another aspect, the electronic device may further include a sleep mode power supply 650 for supplying power to the wireless wake up signal receiver 690. [ The electronic apparatus having the sleep mode and the active mode preferably has a structure in which the power supply unit is divided into a sleep mode power supply unit and an active mode power supply unit. Some components have different operating power or operating clocks in the sleep mode and active mode in order to make the power consumption efficient. Sleep All The power supply supplies sleep mode power only to components operating in sleep mode. The active mode power supply supplies power corresponding to the active mode to all of the components operating in the active mode.

According to another aspect, in the illustrated embodiment, the sleep mode power supply 650 includes a charging unit 651 for charging the radio signal received from the antenna, and a sleep mode power supply unit 655 for rectifying the output of the charging unit 651, And a rectifying unit 653 for supplying the rectified voltage to the rectifying unit 653. Therefore, the wireless wakeup signal receiver of the electronic device does not consume power from the battery in the sleep mode, but starts charging by charging the power source from the radio signal when receiving the radio signal of sufficient strength.

However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the sleep mode power supply unit 650 may be implemented as a switching mode power supply, for example, that supplies power to the always on parts including the control unit 110 .

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic shelf label according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the illustrated embodiment, the RF switch 710 switches the path to the data communication module 170 for data communication or to the wireless wake up signal receiver 690, which communicates the common antenna 700 wirelessly with the external device. do. When the electronic device, in this case the electronic shelf label, is in the sleep mode, the RF switch 710, in accordance with an aspect, routes the path to the wireless wake up signal receiver 690 side as shown. When the wireless wakeup signal is received and the controller 110 wakes up according to a hardware interrupt, the controller 110 transmits the RF switch 710 to the data communication module 170 to communicate with the gateway through the data communication module 170. [ To switch the path to the other side.

 According to this aspect, in the sleep mode, the common antenna 700 is connected to the path of the wireless wake up signal receiver 690 side. The controller 110 connects the common antenna 700 to the path of the data communication module 170 for data communication.

Similar to the above-described embodiment, although not shown, according to another aspect, the electronic device may further include a sleep mode power supply for supplying power to the wireless wake-up signal receiver.

According to another aspect similar to the above embodiment, the sleep mode power supply may include a charging unit for charging the radio signal received from the antenna, and a rectifying unit for rectifying the output of the charging unit and supplying it to the wireless wake-up signal receiver have. Therefore, the wireless wakeup signal receiver of the electronic device does not consume power from the battery in the sleep mode, but starts charging by charging the power source from the radio signal when receiving the radio signal of sufficient strength.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims (48)

An antenna;
A radio signal detector for outputting a digital signal indicating a change in frequency or amplitude of the high frequency carrier signal from a radio signal received from the antenna;
A wake-up determination unit for outputting an interrupt signal when the digital signal output from the wireless signal detection unit is digital wake-up pattern information;
The wireless wake-up signal receiver of the electronic device.
The method of claim 1, wherein the high frequency carrier signal
A wireless wake - up signal receiver of an electronic device which is a signal in the GHz band.
The method of claim 2, wherein the high frequency carrier signal
A wireless wake up signal receiver of an electronic device that is a signal in the 2.4 GHz band.
The radio communication system according to claim 1, wherein the radio signal detector
A radio wakeup signal receiver of an electronic device, which is an envelope detector for outputting an envelope signal corresponding to an amplitude of a high frequency carrier signal.
The radio communication system according to claim 1, wherein the radio signal detector
An on-off keying envelope detector for outputting a maximum amplitude signal in a section where a high frequency carrier signal is present and a minimum amplitude signal in a section without a high frequency carrier signal.
The radio communication system according to claim 1, wherein the radio signal detector
A wireless wake - up signal receiver of an electronic device consisting solely of passive components.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the wake-
A wireless wakeup signal receiver of an electronic device for determining digital information by measuring the duration of a maximum amplitude signal and a minimum amplitude signal.
8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the wake-
A wireless wake-up signal receiver of an electronic device that measures a duration by counting pulses of a constant period for each signal interval.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the wake-
A pulse generating unit;
A first counter for counting output pulses of the pulse generator while the output of the radio signal detector is logic '1';
A second counter for counting the output pulses of the pulse generator while the output of the radio signal detector is logic '0'; And
A comparator for comparing the count value of the first counter and the count value of the second counter with a reference value corresponding to the digital wakeup pattern information;
The wireless wake-up signal receiver of the electronic device.
10. The wireless wake-up signal receiver of claim 9, wherein a value corresponding to a first counter value of the reference value of the comparator is a value corresponding to a maximum amplitude signal having a length of 6 to 10 ms.
10. The wireless wake-up signal receiver of claim 9, wherein the pulse generator is an RC clock generator circuit.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the wireless wake up signal receiver
A sleep mode power supply unit for supplying power to the wake-up determination unit; And a wireless wake-up signal receiver of the electronic device.
13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the sleep mode power supply comprises: a charging unit charging the radio signal received from the antenna; A rectifying unit for rectifying and supplying the output of the charging unit; The wireless wake-up signal receiver of the electronic device.
The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the radio signal detector comprises:
And a frequency demodulator for outputting a maximum amplitude signal when the frequency of the radio signal received from the antenna is the first frequency and a minimum amplitude signal when the frequency is the second frequency.
15. The wireless wake-up signal receiver of claim 14, wherein the wake-up determination unit determines a digital signal by measuring a duration of a maximum amplitude signal and a minimum amplitude signal.
15. The wireless wake-up signal receiver of claim 14, wherein the wake-up determination unit measures the duration by counting pulses of a predetermined period during each signal period.
17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the wake-
A pulse generating unit;
A first counter for counting output pulses of the pulse generator while the output of the radio signal detector is logic '1';
A second counter for counting the output pulses of the pulse generator while the output of the radio signal detector is logic '0'; And
A comparator for comparing the count value of the first counter and the count value of the second counter with a reference value corresponding to the digital wakeup pattern information;
The wireless wake-up signal receiver of the electronic device.
18. The wireless wake-up signal receiver of claim 17, wherein the pulse generator is an RC clock generator circuit.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the wireless wake-up signal receiver comprises: a sleep mode power supply for supplying power to the entire receiver; And a wireless wake-up signal receiver of the electronic device.
20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the sleep mode power supply comprises: a charging unit charging the radio signal received from the antenna; A rectifying unit for rectifying and supplying the output of the charging unit; The wireless wake-up signal receiver of the electronic device.
A wireless wake-up signal transmitter of an electronic device that modulates and transmits the frequency or amplitude of a high-frequency carrier signal according to digital wake-up pattern information.
22. The wireless wake-up signal transmitter of claim 21, wherein the high frequency carrier signal is a GHz band signal.
22. The wireless wake-up signal transmitter of claim 21, wherein the high frequency carrier signal is a signal for a data communication band.

22. The wireless wake-up signal transmitter of claim 21 wherein the high frequency carrier signal is a signal in the 2.4 GHz band.
The wireless wake-up signal transmitter of claim 21, wherein the amplitude of the high-frequency carrier signal is modulated according to digital wake-up pattern information and transmitted.
The wireless wake-up signal transmitter according to claim 25, wherein the wireless wake-up signal transmitter controls whether the high frequency carrier signal is output according to the digital wakeup pattern information so as to operate in an on-off keying manner.
26. The wireless wake-up signal transmitter of claim 25, wherein the digital wake-up pattern information has an identification header interval that is initially consecutive with a value corresponding to an amplitude maximum value.
26. The wireless wake-up signal transmitter of claim 25, wherein the identification header duration is 6-10 ms long.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the electronic wakeup signal transmitter
A processor;
Non-transit memory;
A local communication modem unit for modulating the high frequency carrier wave; And,
A program stored in the memory and executed by the processor to control the short-range communication modem unit so that a signal output from the short-range communication modem unit modulates a frequency or an amplitude of a high-frequency carrier signal according to digital wake-up pattern information;
The wireless wake-up signal transmitter of the electronic device.
The wireless wake-up signal transmitter of claim 29, wherein the short-range communication modem unit is also used for data communication in addition to the wake-up signal transmission.
The wireless wakeup control method according to claim 29, wherein the program controls the modem to output a signal of a predetermined frequency, and controls the wireless wakeup Signal transmitter.
30. The wireless wake-up signal transmitter according to claim 29, wherein the program controls the modem unit to modulate the digital wake-up pattern information according to a FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) method.
The wireless wake-up signal transmitter according to claim 29, wherein the program controls the modem unit to transmit certain information alternately to two channels having a frequency difference of a carrier signal of the maximum according to digital wake-up pattern information.
An antenna;
A wireless wake-up signal receiver according to claim 1 for receiving a wireless wake up signal from the antenna; And
A controller for controlling the entire apparatus, wherein the controller controls the electronic equipment in a wakeup mode by an output of the wireless wake up signal receiver;
.
35. The electronic device of claim 34, wherein the electronic device comprises:
A data communication module for wirelessly communicating with an external device;
An RF switch for selectively connecting the antenna to one of a path to a data communication module or a wireless wake up signal receiver, and for connecting an antenna to a path of a wireless wake up signal receiver in a sleep mode; Further comprising:
The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the control unit
In the sleep mode, when the wireless wake-up signal receiver receives a wireless wake-up signal, the wake-up controller controls the RF switch to connect to the data communication module side.
35. The electronic device of claim 34, wherein the electronic device comprises:
An electronic device in which the short range communication module and the wireless wake up signal receiver use the same frequency band.
35. The electronic apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the high frequency carrier signal is a GHz band signal.
35. The electronic device of claim 34, wherein the high frequency carrier signal is a signal in the 2.4 GHz band.
The electronic apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the radio signal detector is an envelope detector for outputting an envelop signal corresponding to the amplitude of the high frequency carrier signal.
The electronic apparatus as claimed in claim 34, wherein the radio signal detector is an on-off keying demodulator that outputs a maximum amplitude signal in a section where a high-frequency carrier signal exists and a minimum amplitude signal in a section without a high-frequency carrier signal.
35. The electronic device according to claim 34, wherein the radio signal detecting unit comprises only passive elements.
The electronic apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the wake-up determination unit determines the digital signal by measuring the duration of the maximum amplitude signal and the minimum amplitude signal.
The electronic apparatus according to claim 43, wherein the wake-up determination unit counts pulses of a predetermined period for each signal period to measure the duration.
The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the electronic device further comprises: a sleep mode power supply unit for supplying power to the wake-up determination unit; Further comprising:
46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the sleep mode power supply comprises: a charging unit charging the radio signal received from the antenna; A rectifying unit for rectifying the output of the charging unit and supplying the rectified output to the wireless wake-up signal receiver; .
35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the radio signal detector comprises:
A frequency demodulator for outputting a maximum amplitude signal when the frequency of the high frequency carrier signal is the first frequency and a minimum amplitude signal when the frequency of the high frequency carrier signal is the second frequency from the radio signal received from the antenna; .
49. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the frequency demodulator comprises:
A first integrator for integrating the radio signal received from the antenna by a first time constant;
A comparator for comparing the output of the integrator with a reference value;
.

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