Patent ID: 7775109
Filing Date: 2010-08-17
Classification: G01C,G01P

Abstract:
1. A sensor device comprising: a driving circuit configured to output a drive signal; a sensing element to which the drive signal from the driving circuit is supplied; a detecting circuit configured to extract a response signal from the sensing element; a processing circuit configured to extract a sense signal from the response signal from the detecting circuit; an output circuit configured to output the sense signal from the processing circuit; a failure diagnosing circuit configured to determine whether a part subjected to failure diagnosis is normal or abnormal, the part subjected to failure diagnosis being at least one of the detecting circuit, the processing circuit, and the output circuit, the failure diagnosing circuit being further configured to output a failure detection signal based on results of the determination; and a time determining device configured to determine time point information, add the time point information to an output signal related to generation of the failure detection signal, and add the time point information to an output signal related to generation of the sense signal; wherein the failure detection signal is correlated with the sense signal, using the time point information.