Patent ID: 7949436

Claim:
A method for automatically detecting and correcting a misalignment between a first chip and a second chip during a data communication process, during which the second chip transmits a data signal to the first chip, wherein the data signal is transmitted from a first proximity communication structure on the second chip and is received by a second proximity communication structure on the first chip, and wherein each proximity communication structure includes an array of individual proximity communication elements, the method comprising: receiving the data signal at the first chip from the second chip, wherein the transmitted data signal is steered through a subset of the individual proximity communication elements in the first proximity communication structure; using a position-detection sensor integrated with the first chip to determine a misalignment of the first chip with respect to the second chip based at least on a signal strength of the received data signal, wherein determining the misalignment involves: detecting the individual proximity communication elements in the second proximity communication structure that receive the transmitted data; and determining the relative positions of the first and second chips based on the sending and receiving individual proximity communication elements; and when a misalignment is detected between the first chip and the second chip, using an actuation mechanism integrated with the first chip to automatically correct the misalignment, wherein the automatically detecting and correcting of the misalignment are performed concurrently with the data communication process.