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US 6,219,394 B1Granted
Digital frequency sampling and discrimination
AssigneeTropian, Inc.
InventorWendell Sander
Life of this patent
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AssigneeTropian, Inc.
InventorWendell Sander
Estimating the term…
The present invention, generally speaking, provides a very simple, all-digital method and apparatus for determining the ratio of frequencies of two signals. One of the signal may be a known reference frequency, allowing the instantaneous frequency of an unknown input signal to be readily determined. A frequency sampling technique is employed that produces a stream of digital bits which contains information regarding the ratio of frequencies. From the stream of digital bits is formed a digital word indicative of the ratio of frequencies. The digital word may be formed using a digital filter. Advantageously, an extensive body of digital filtering techniques applicable to Sigma-Delta (sometimes referred to as Delta-Sigma) A/D converters may be applied directly to the digital stream. By using an appropriately-chosen weighting function, high accuracy may be obtained.
A method of determining a ratio of frequencies of a first clock signal and a second clock signal comprising:
An apparatus for determining a ratio of frequencies of a first clock signal and second clock signal comprising:
A circuit for producing a data stream indicative of a ratio of frequencies of two clock signals comprising a first input terminal to which a first clock signal is applied, a second input terminal to which a second clock signal is applied, and producing as an output signal a stream of digital bits or symbols wherein a frequency ratio of the clock signals is variable throughout a range including non-integer values, each digital bit or symbol of a sequence of consecutive digital bits or symbols representing a number of transitions n of a predetermined polarity of the first clock signal that occurred during a corresponding period in a sequence of consecutive periods of the second clock signal, where n is a non-negative integer, such that further processing of the stream of digital bits or symbols yields a digital word, formed from a substantial number of said digital bits or symbols, representing the ratio of frequencies.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.