US12638283 - Communications in electronic detonators
This patent describes an electronic detonator blasting system that enhances communication efficiency between a master controller and multiple detonators through a bus system. The master controller sends commands and clock pulses, allowing each detonator to respond asynchronously, improving the overall speed of the blasting process.
Claim 1
1 . A blasting system, comprising: a master controller coupled to a bus, the master controller storing a mapping of local IDs and respective detonator global unique serial ID numbers for a plurality of individual detonators; and an integer number M electronic detonators of the plurality of individual detonators coupled to the bus, the M electronic detonators having a memory that stores a respective one of the local IDs; the master controller configured to send a voltage signal that represents a command or communications request to the bus, and subsequently send an integer number N voltage clock pulses to the bus, N being an integer greater than M; and each respective detonator of the M electronic detonators configured to: responsive to said each respective detonator detecting the command or communications request from the master controller, respond to the command or communications request by asynchronously sending one or more current pulses to the bus a predetermined time delay after receipt of the command or communication request and responsive to an ith one of the N voltage clock pulses, the ith one being an integer that uniquely corresponds to a local ID of the local IDs stored in said each respective detonator and stored in the mapping of the local IDs and the respective detonator global unique serial ID numbers in the master controller. a master controller coupled to a bus, the master controller storing a mapping of local IDs and respective detonator global unique serial ID numbers for a plurality of individual detonators; and an integer number M electronic detonators of the plurality of individual detonators coupled to the bus, the M electronic detonators having a memory that stores a respective one of the local IDs; the master controller configured to send a voltage signal that represents a command or communications request to the bus, and subsequently send an integer number N voltage clock pulses to the bus, N being an integer greater than M; and each respective detonator of the M electronic detonators configured to: responsive to said each respective detonator detecting the command or communications request from the master controller, respond to the command or communications request by asynchronously sending one or more current pulses to the bus a predetermined time delay after receipt of the command or communication request and responsive to an ith one of the N voltage clock pulses, the ith one being an integer that uniquely corresponds to a local ID of the local IDs stored in said each respective detonator and stored in the mapping of the local IDs and the respective detonator global unique serial ID numbers in the master controller.
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