20120204132 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONFIGURABLE SYSTEMS - The invention relates to methods and devices to define and control the design of a configurable chip module, instrument or systems, for example, for measurement, control and communication systems or any portion thereof. The module may include one or more chip elements. This can be achieved using, for example, a Graphical User interface (GUI), that transforms selections made by the user to a hardware and/or software configuration for the system in a process transparent to the user. This enables implementation of a plurality of devices and larger subsystems on a chip or chip module without specific semiconductor design knowledge from the user. This transformation process is thus accomplished transparently to the user, who operates the GUI to define the measurement or action which needs to be performed thereby resulting in an automatic combination of hardware and/or software elements available to create a specific configuration. | 08-09-2012 |
20110248318 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONFIGURABLE SYSTEMS - The present invention relates to a flexible analog/digital configuration, preferably on a chip, that can be used for receiving various inputs, processing those inputs, and displaying/communicating the results and/or providing a response thereto. More particularly, the present invention can measure multiple parameters and, when properly programmed, can easily organize the data from multiple sensors or other analog or digital sources. It can present or display different, or similar, pages for setting up each measurement (or each measured parameter) (e.g., by sensor, class of sensors, etc.) to enable an easy to use approach for individuals without needing to know the specifics as to many parameters. This user-friendly approach can be performed using a configurable chip module system. A configurable chip module system can include analog elements, digital elements, and connection elements between the analog and digital elements, where some of the analog elements and/or digital elements receive inputs from one or more sources and where some of the analog elements and/or digital elements generate output signals for generating control signals and/or outputs that present measurements to output receiving elements. The system includes a configuration mechanism that automatically configures the connection elements in response to receiving selections entered on a user interface, where the user interface allows a user to input commands to modify the structure of the chip module system. | 10-13-2011 |