Patent ID: 9652905
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: G01D,G07C

Claim:
1. A sensor integrated circuit, the sensor integrated circuit comprising a controller and a diagnostic module in communication with the controller, the controller being configured for providing a diagnostic reporting signal, the diagnostic reporting signal being a periodic superposition signal on a sensing output of the sensor integrated circuit and/or on a supply current of the sensor integrated circuit, wherein the periodic superposition signal has periodic pulses with a predetermined fixed pulse duration and a predetermined periodicity, the controller furthermore being configured for altering the predetermined periodicity or predetermined fixed pulse duration of the periodic superposition signal upon a fault detection in the diagnostic module communicated to the controller; wherein the predetermined fixed pulse duration and/or the predetermined periodicity corresponds with the operating period of a micro-power sensor using Active/Standby cycling for power saving, and/or the predetermined fixed pulse duration and/or the predetermined periodicity corresponds with the measurement cycle in the sensor.