Circuit for generating sampling signals at closely spaced time intervals

Abstract

An electronic circuit suitable for sampling an incoming data bit stream in order to recover the information contained in the data stream contains an input section, a reference section, and a comparing section. The input section produces a ramp signal that switches between a first endpoint voltage and a second endpoint voltage in a periodic manner. The reference section furnishes a plurality of reference voltages between the two endpoint voltages. The comparing section compares the ramp signal to the reference voltages to produce corresponding sampling signals. Each sampling signal makes a first voltage transition as the ramp signal passes a corresponding reference voltage in going from the second endpoint voltage to the first endpoint voltage. Accordingly, the first transitions of the sampling signals occur in groups, each group being spread out in time during part of a period of the ramp signal. A data sampling portion of the circuit utilizes the sampling signals to sample the input data bit stream.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.