Auto ranging counter
AssigneeRCA Corporation
InventorPaul N. Dackow
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
At the inception of a time interval whose duration is to be measured, pulses whose rate may be varied are applied to a first counter. A second counter controls the rate of the pulses applied to the first counter. An overflow sensing circuit is connected to the output of the first counter for, in response to each overflow signal at the output of the first counter, incrementing the second counter which then causes pulses having a new rate to be applied to the first counter and for, concurrently, presetting the counter to a new count. The new rate is equal to 1/N the old rate and the new count is equal to 1/N the count in the first control prior to the overflow. The elapsed time information in the circuit is therefore always valid.
Claims9
The combination comprising:
- first and second counters;
- timing means for producing pulses whose frequency may be altered;
- means for selectively applying said pulses to said first counter;
- means responsive to the count in said second counter coupled to said timing means for decreasing the frequency of the pulses produced by said timing means by a factor of 1/N each time the count in said second counter increases where N is a positive integer greater than 1;
- and
- overflow sensing means coupled between said first and second counters responsive to an overflow signal at an output of said first counter for incrementing the count in said second counter and for presetting the count in said first counter to a new count which is equal to 1/N the count in the first counter prior to its overflow.
An auto-ranging counting system comprising:
- counting means adapted to received pulses;
- controllable timing means for producing at its output pulses whose rate may be altered;
- means for selectively applying said pulses to said counting means;
- and
- means responsive to an overflow condition at an output of said counting means for altering, in response to an overflow signal, the rate of the pulses produced by the controllable timing means, the new rate being equal to 1/N the rate of the pulses applied to the counting means immediately prior to the overflow condition, and said means responsive to an overflow condition also including means coupled to said counting means for setting, in response to an overflow signal, the count of said counting means to a value equal to 1/N the count in the counting means immediately prior to the overflow condition.
The combination comprising:
- first and second counters;
- timing means for producing pulses whose frequency may be altered;
- means for selectively applying said pulses to said first counter;
- means responsive to the count in said second counter coupled to said timing means for decreasing the frequency of the pulses produced by said timing means from a frequency f.sub.1 to a frequency f.sub.2 each time the count in said second counter increases;
- and
- overflow sensing means coupled between said first and second counters responsive to an overflow signal at an output of said first counter for incrementing the count in said second counter and for presetting the count in said first counter to a new count;
- where the new count times 1/f.sub.2 is equal to the old count times 1/f.sub.1.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.