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US 12,489,433 B2Granted
Signal transmission device, method, and time-of-flight distance measuring device capable of accurately maintaining delay amount of delay unit
AssigneePixart Imaging Inc.
InventorsYueh-Lin Chung, Tso-Sheng Tsai
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of a signal transmission device includes: providing at least one delay line circuit having a plurality of first delay units connected in series; providing a control voltage as a supply voltage provided for a first delay unit of the at least one delay line circuit; and adjusting the control voltage to maintain a delay amount of the first delay unit at a specific delay amount when a variation of the delay amount of the first delay unit occurs.
Claims18
A signal transmission device, comprising:
- at least one delay line circuit, comprising a plurality of first delay units connected in series;
- and
- a delay control circuit, coupled to the at least one delay line circuit, for providing a control voltage as a supply voltage provided for a first delay unit of the at least one delay line circuit and for adjusting the control voltage to maintain a delay amount of the first delay unit at a target delay amount when a variation of the delay amount of the first delay unit occurs;
- wherein the signal transmission device is a delay-locked loop device being used to lock the delay amount of the first delay unit, and the delay control circuit is a frequency-locked loop circuit and comprises:
- an error amplifier, having a first input coupled to a reference voltage, a second input coupled to a converted voltage, and an output being used to generate the control voltage;
- a ring oscillator, coupled to the error amplifier, for generating an oscillation frequency signal based on the control voltage outputted from the error amplifier;
- and
- a frequency-to-voltage converter, coupled to the error amplifier and the ring oscillator, for converting the oscillation frequency signal into the converted voltage, using the converted voltage as a feedback voltage, and providing the feedback voltage into the error amplifier.
5 more elements
A method of a signal transmission device, comprising:
- providing at least one delay line circuit having a plurality of first delay units connected in series;
- providing a control voltage as a supply voltage provided for a first delay unit of the at least one delay line circuit;
- adjusting the control voltage to maintain a delay amount of the first delay unit at a specific delay amount when a variation of the delay amount of the first delay unit occurs, the signal transmission device being a delay-locked loop device which is used to lock the delay amount of the first delay unit;
- providing an error amplifier having a first input coupled to a reference voltage, a second input coupled to a converted voltage, and an output being used to generate the control voltage;
- using a ring oscillator to generate an oscillation frequency signal based on the control voltage outputted from the error amplifier;
- using a frequency-to-voltage converter to convert the oscillation frequency signal into the converted voltage;
- using the converted voltage as a feedback voltage;
- and
- providing the feedback voltage into the error amplifier.
6 more elements
A time-of-flight distance measuring device, comprising:
- an illumination circuit, for emitting a light ray into an object to be measured according to a modulation signal;
- a pixel array, for sensing a reflected light ray from the object to be measured according to a modulation signal so as to generate a reception signal;
- a distance measuring circuit, coupled to the illumination circuit and the pixel array, for generating the modulation signal and for receiving the reception signal to perform a distance calculation based on the reception signal and the modulation signal to obtain a distance measurement result;
- and
- a signal transmission device, displaced and coupled between the illumination circuit and the distance measuring circuit, displaced and coupled between the pixel array and the distance measuring circuit, comprising:
- at least one delay line circuit, comprising a plurality of first delay units connected in series, for delaying and transmitting the modulation signal into the illumination circuit and the pixel array;
- and
- a delay control circuit, coupled to the at least one delay line circuit, for providing a control voltage as a supply voltage provided for a first delay unit of the at least one delay line circuit and for adjusting the control voltage to maintain a delay amount of the first delay unit at a specific delay amount when a variation of the delay amount of the first delay unit occurs.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.