Resolution in measuring the pulse width of digital signals
AssigneeSTMicroelectronics Pvt. Ltd.
InventorBalwant Singh
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for providing improved resolution in the measuring the pulse width of digital signals comprising counting the integral number of measuring clock pulses covered by said digital pulse and triggering a chain of cascaded high resolution delay elements from the trailing edge of said measuring clock pulses. Further, the invention measures the delay count obtained from said chain of cascaded delay elements from the trailing edge of the last measuring clock pulse up to the end of said digital pulse, and adds said measured delay count to said integral measuring clock pulse count to obtain the total width of said digital pulse.
Claims32
A method for providing improved resolution in the measuring the pulse width of digital signals, comprising the steps of:
- counting the integral number of measuring clock pulses covered by said digital pulse,
- triggering a chain of cascaded high resolution delay elements from the trailing edge of said measuring clock pulses,
- measuring the delay count obtained from said chain of cascaded delay elements from the trailing edge of the last measuring clock pulse up to the end of said digital pulse, and
- adding said measured delay count to said integral measuring clock pulse count to obtain the total width of said digital pulse.
A system for providing improved resolution in the measuring the pulse width of digital signals, comprising
- means for counting the integral number of measuring clock pulses covered by said digital pulse,
- means for triggering a chain of cascaded minimum delay elements from the trailing edge of said measuring clock pulses,
- means for measuring the delay count obtained from said chain of cascaded delay elements from the trailing edge of the last measuring clock pulse up to the end of said digital pulse, and
- means for adding said measured delay count to said integral measuring clock pulse count to obtain the total width of said digital pulse.
A circuit for measuring a duration of a pulse, the circuit comprising:
- a clock generator operable to generate a clock signal;
- a counter coupled to the clock generator and operable to receive the pulse and to count full periods of the clock signal for the duration of the pulse;
- and
- a delay coupled to the clock generator and operable to receive the pulse and to measure a partial period of the clock signal for the duration of the pulse.
A method, comprising:
- measuring a width of a pulse with a first resolution;
- measuring the width of the pulse with a second resolution;
- and
- calculating the width of the pulse by combining the first- and second-resolution measurements.
A method for measuring a width of a pulse, the method comprising:
- generating in response to the pulse a clock signal having a period and clock edges;
- counting an integer number of clock periods that occur during the pulse;
- determining an integer number of delay elements through which a current clock edge propagates;
- and
- calculating the width of the pulse by summing a first time period represented by the counted number of clock periods and a second time period represented by the determined number of delay elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.