WO2023220861A1

WO2023220861A1 - Radio and radio circuit including dual controllers

Info

Publication number: WO2023220861A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/093055
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ren Qiang Yan; Bi Hua LI
Original assignee: Techtronic Cordless Gp
Priority date: 2022-05-16
Filing date: 2022-05-16
Publication date: 2023-11-23

Abstract

A radio (100) includes a battery receptacle (200) located on the housing (104), the battery receptacle (200) configured to receive a battery pack (202). The radio (100) further includes one or more speakers (112) contained within the housing (104), and a radio circuit (300). The radio circuit (300) includes one or more amplifiers (316) configured to output a signal to the one or more speakers (112); a receiver configured to receive a radio signal; a first controller (304) isolated from the one or more amplifiers (316), the first controller (304) configured to control the receiver, and a second controller (308) separate from the first controller (304), the second controller (308) configured to control the one or more amplifiers (316).

Description

RADIO AND RADIO CIRCUIT INCLUDING DUAL CONTROLLERS

FIELD

Embodiments relate to radios, and more specifically, a radio and radio circuit including dual controllers.

SUMMARY

Amplifiers for radios may rely on digital processing and high-speed switching technology, which may cause interference to AM and FM radio signals. As a result, performance of the radio deteriorates.

Thus, one embodiment provides a radio including a battery receptacle located on the housing, the battery receptacle configured to receive a battery pack. The radio further includes one or more speakers contained within the housing, and a radio circuit. The radio circuit includes at least one amplifier configured to output a signal to the one or more speakers; a receiver configured to receive a radio signal; a first controller isolated from the at least one amplifier, the first controller configured to control the receiver, and a second controller separate from the first controller, the second controller configured to control the at least one amplifier.

Another embodiment provides a radio circuit including at least one amplifier configured to output a signal to one or more speakers, and a receiver configured to receive a radio signal. The radio circuit further includes a first controller isolated from the at least one amplifier, the first controller configured to control the receiver, and a second controller separate from the first controller, the second controller configured to control the at least one amplifier.

Other embodiments will become apparent by consideration of the detailed description and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a front perspective view of a radio according to some embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a rear perspective view of the radio of FIG. 1 according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a radio circuit of the radio of FIG. 1 according to some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a radio circuit of the radio of FIG. 1 according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before any embodiments are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the following drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

Features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. The detailed description uses numerical and letter designations to refer to features in the drawings. Like or similar designations in the drawings and description have been used to refer to like or similar parts of the invention.

As used herein, the terms “first” , “second” , and “third” may be used interchangeably to distinguish one component from another and are not intended to signify location or importance of the individual components. The singular forms “a, ” “an, ” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The terms “coupled, ” “fixed, ” “attached to, ” and the like refer to both direct coupling, fixing, or attaching, as well as indirect coupling, fixing, or attaching through one or more intermediate components or features, unless otherwise specified herein. As used herein, the terms “comprises, ” “comprising, ” “includes, ” “including, ” “has, ” “having” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of features is not necessarily limited only to those features but may include other features not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, “or” refers to an inclusive-or and not to an exclusive-or. For example, a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present) , A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present) , and both A and B are true (or present) .

Terms of approximation, such as “generally, ” “approximately, ” or “substantially, ” include values within ten percent greater or less than the stated value. When used in the context of an angle or direction, such terms include within ten degrees greater or less than the stated angle or direction. For example, “generally vertical” includes directions within ten degrees of vertical in any direction, e.g., clockwise or counter-clockwise.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems are described below with regard to specific embodiments. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any feature (s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature of any or all the claims.

FIGS. 1-2 illustrate a radio 100 according to some embodiments. The radio 100 includes a housing 104. The housing 104 may be formed of plastic or a similar material. The housing 104 includes a speaker grill 108 configured to cover one or more speakers 112. The radio 100 may further include a user input interface 116 and a display 120 located on the housing 104.

The user input interface 116 is used to control the radio 100. For example, the user input interface 116 allows the user to control main power, volume, track changes, and/or connectivity of the radio 100. The user input interface 116 may include a control panel (e.g., buttons, touch screen, remote receiver, and/or rotatable dial) for controlling the operation of the radio 100.

The display 120 may be any suitable display for displaying operation aspects of the radio 100. The display 120 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) , a light-emitting diode (LED) display, an organic LED (OLED) display, an electroluminescent display (ELD) , a surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED) , a field emission display (FED) , a thin-film transistor (TFT) LCD, etc.

In some embodiments, the radio 100 includes a port 124 (for example, an auxiliary port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, etc. ) for providing a wired communications link between the radio 100 and an external device (for example, a microphone, a MP3 player, a smart phone, a tablet, and/or a computer) . In some embodiments, the radio 100 further includes a handle 128 coupled to (or integrated into) the housing 104.

The housing 104 may further define a battery pack receptacle 200. The battery pack receptacle 200 is configured to receive a battery pack 202 (illustrated in the block diagrams of Figs. 3 &4) , such as but not limited to a power tool battery pack. The battery pack 202 may include a battery pack housing containing one or more battery cells connected in a series-type and/or parallel-type configuration. In some embodiments, the battery cells may have a lithium-ion chemistry. The housing of the battery pack 202 may further include a battery pack interface configured to physically couple to the battery pack receptacle 200. The battery pack receptacle 200 may further include a power receptacle 204. The power receptacle 204 may receive a line voltage, for example an alternating-current (AC) line voltage or direct-current (DC) line voltage.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the radio 100 includes a radio circuit 300, according to some embodiments. The radio circuit 300 includes a first controller 304, a second controller 308 separate from the first controller 304, a radio module 312, and at least one amplifier 316. In some embodiments, the amplifier 316 is a class-D amplifier. The radio module 312 is configured to receive, using a receiver, audio information in the form of AM or FM radio signals. The amplifier 316 is configured to amplify the audio information originating from the radio module 312. Although illustrated as a single amplifier 316, in other embodiment, the radio 100 may include two or more amlifiers.

The first controller 304 is configured to control the radio module 312, while the second controller 308 is configured to control the amplifier 316. As illustrated, in some embodiments, the first controller 304 and the radio module 312 are isolated (for example, galvanically isolated) from the amplifier 316 (and thus second controller 308) in order to prevent an interference in radio signals due to high-speed switching in the amplifier 316.

The first and

second controllers

304, 308 may include a plurality of electrical and electronic components that provide power, operational control, and protection to the components and modules within the controllers and/or the radio 100. For example, the first and

second controllers

304, 308 may include, among other things, a main processing unit (e.g., a microprocessor, a microcontroller, or another suitable programmable device) and a main memory. In some embodiments, the first and

second controllers

304, 308 are implemented partially or entirely on a printed circuit board or a semiconductor (e.g., a field-programmable gate array [ “FPGA” ] semiconductor) chip, such as a chip developed through a register transfer level ( “RTL” ) design process. In other embodiments, the first and

second controllers

304, 308 are implemented partially or entirely on separate printed circuit boards or semiconductors.

The radio circuit may further include a power supply 320 having a power input 324, a voltage regular 328, a power controller 332, and a power filter 336. The power supply 320 supplies a nominal voltage to components of the radio 100, such as the first controller 304 and the second controller 308. The power supply 320 is configured to receive power, via the power input 324 (for example, from the battery pack 202 coupled to the battery pack receptacle 200 or an AC power supply via the power receptacle 204) . The power supply 320 converts power received from the power input 324 into the nominal voltage. As illustrated, in some embodiments, the power supply 320 may also supply a nominal voltage to external device and/or components, such as but not limited, via a universal serial bus (USB) port.

The radio circuit may also include a Bluetooth circuit (or moduler) 340, an audio processor 344, and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 348. The radio module 312 provides the received radio signals as radio audio information input to the audio processor 344. The audio processor 344 may then perform one or more processing operations on the audio information input using signal processing techniques and outputs the processed audio information. In various embodiments, the one or more processing operations may include filtering, delay, frequency dependent gain adjustments, volume adjustments, noise cancellation, and/or the like. The audio processor 344 may then output the processed audio information to the ADC 348.

The Bluetooth circuit 340 employs a Bluetooth protocol to allow the radio 100 to receive an information stream, including audio information, from an external device (for example, a smart phone, a laptop, and/or a computer) . In some embodiments, the Bluetooth circuit 340 provides the audio information as Bluetooth audio information input to the audio processor 344 for processing as detailed above. In some embodiments, the amplifier 316 is further configured to amplify the audio information originating from the Bluetooth circuit 340. Although illustrated as a Bluetooth circuit 340, in other embodiments, the circuit 300 may include, in addition to or in lieu of Bluetooth circuit 340, other wireless communication modules using one or more other wireless communication protocols (for example, but not limited to WiFi) .

In some embodiments, the first controller 304 is further configured to control the Bluetooth circuit 340, the audio processor 344, and the display 120. The first controller 304 may also be configured to receive user input via the user input interface 116, while the second controller may be configured to control the ADC 348 and the amplifier 316.

The amplifier 316 is electrically and/or communicatively coupled to the one or more speakers 112 for outputting audio information as sound. In some embodiments, the ADC 348 transmits the audio information to the amplifier 316, for example using an I2S bus.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the radio 100 alternatively includes a radio circuit 400, according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, radio circuit 400 may include components that perform substantially the same function as radio circuit 300. The radio circuit 400 includes a first controller 404, a second controller 408 separate from the first controller 404, a radio module 412, and at least one amplifier 416. In some embodiments, the amplifier is a class-D amplifier. The radio module 412 is configured to receive, using a receiver, audio information in the form of AM or FM radio signals. The amplifier 416 is configured to amplify the audio information originating from the radio module 412.

The first controller 404 is configured to control the radio module 412, while the second controller 408 is configured to control the amplifier 416. As illustrated, in some embodiments, the first controller 404 and the radio module 412 are isolated (for example, galvanically isolated) from the amplifier 416 in order to prevent an interference in radio signals due to high-speed switching in the amplifier 416.

The first and

second controllers

404, 408 may include a plurality of electrical and electronic components that provide power, operational control, and protection to the components and modules within the controllers and/or the radio 100. For example, the first and

second controllers

404, 408 include, among other things, a main processing unit (e.g., a microprocessor, a microcontroller, or another suitable programmable device) and a main memory. In some embodiments, the first and second controllers are implemented partially or entirely on a printed circuit board or a semiconductor (e.g., a field-programmable gate array [ “FPGA” ] semiconductor) chip, such as a chip developed through a register transfer level ( “RTL” ) design process. In other embodiments, the first and

second controllers

404, 408 are implemented partially or entirely on separate printed circuit boards or semiconductors.

The radio circuit 400 may further include a power supply 420 having the power input 324, the voltage regular 328, the power controller 332, and the power filter 336. The power supply 420 may be substantially similar to the power supply 320 described above in reference to FIG. 3.

The radio circuit 400 may also include a Bluetooth circuit, an audio processor, and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) implemented into the second controller 408. The Bluetooth circuit may employ a Bluetooth protocol to allow the radio 100 to receive an information stream, including audio information, from an external device (for example, a smart phone, a laptop, and/or a computer) . In some embodiments, the Bluetooth circuit, he audio processor, and the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) are separate from the second controller 408. The radio module 412 may provide the received radio signals as radio audio information input to the second controller 408 for processing by the audio processor. The audio processor included in the second controller 408 may then perform similar processing techniques on at least one of the radio audio information or the Bluetooth audio information as described above in reference to FIG. 3. In some embodiments, the processed audio information is converted (via the ADC) before being output to the amplifier 416.

In some embodiments, the first controller 404 is configured to control the radio module 412 and the display 120, while the second controller 408 is configured to control the Bluetooth circuit and amplifier 416. The first controller 404 may also be configured to receive user input via the user input interface 116. In some embodiments, the first controller 404 is configured to process the user input (e.g., mode change, volume adjustment, etc. ) and transmit the processed user input to the second controller 408.

The amplifier 416 is electrically and/or communicatively coupled to the one or more speakers 112 for outputting audio information as sound. In some embodiments, the second controller 408 transmits the audio information to the amplifier 416, for example using an I2S bus.

Thus, the embodiments provide, among other things, a radio and a radio circuit including dual controllers. Various features and advantages of the application are set forth in the following claims.

Claims

A radio comprising:

a housing;

a battery receptacle located on the housing, the battery receptacle configured to receive a battery pack;

one or more speakers contained within the housing; and

a radio circuit including

one or more amplifiers configured to output a signal to the one or more speakers;

a receiver configured to receive a radio signal;

a first controller isolated from the one or more amplifiers, the first controller configured to control the receiver, and

a second controller separate from the first controller, the second controller configured to control the one or more amplifiers.
The radio of claim 1, further comprising

a Bluetooth circuit configured to receive an information stream, wherein the first controller is further configured to control the Bluetooth circuit.
The radio of claim 2, further comprising

an audio processor configured to process at least one of the radio signal or the information stream.
The radio of claim 1, further comprising

a Bluetooth circuit configured to receive an information stream, wherein the second controller is further configured to control the Bluetooth circuit.
The radio of claim 4, further comprising

an audio processor configured to process at least one of the radio signal or the information stream, wherein the audio processor is included in the Bluetooth circuit.
The radio of claim 1, further comprising

a display located on the housing; and

a user input interface located on the housing;

wherein the first controller is further configured to control the display and receive user input via the user input interface.
The radio of claim 6, wherein

the first controller is further configured to transmit the user input to a Bluetooth circuit.
The radio of claim 1, wherein

the one or more amplifiers is a class D amplifier.
A radio circuit comprising:

one or more amplifiers configured to output a signal to one or more speakers;

a receiver configured to receive a radio signal;

a first controller isolated from the one or more amplifiers, the first controller configured to control the receiver, and

a second controller separate from the first controller, the second controller configured to control the one or more amplifiers.
The radio circuit of claim 9, further comprising

a Bluetooth circuit configured to receive an information stream, wherein the first controller is further configured to control the Bluetooth circuit.
The radio circuit of claim 10, further comprising

an audio processor configured to process at least one of the radio signal or the information stream.
The radio circuit of claim 9, further comprising

a Bluetooth circuit configured to receive an information stream, wherein the second controller is further configured to control the Bluetooth circuit.
The radio circuit of claim 12, further comprising

an audio processor configured to process at least one of the radio signal or the information stream, wherein the audio processor is included in the Bluetooth circuit.
The radio circuit of claim 9, wherein

wherein the first controller is further configured to control a display and receive user input via a user input interface.
The radio circuit of claim 14, wherein

the first controller is configured to transmit the user input to a Bluetooth circuit.
The radio of claim 9, wherein

the one or more amplifiers is a class D amplifier.