Integrated circuit and apparatus for detecting oscillations

An integrated circuit comprising:

• an input configured to couple to an external circuit to receive a resonant signal;
• an output configured to couple to the external circuit;
• a bias circuit coupled to the output and configured to provide an excitation pulse to the output;
• a comparator including a first input coupled to the input and configured to receive the resonant signal, the comparator further including a second input configured to receive a threshold value, and including an output to provide an output signal, the output signal including a plurality of pulses corresponding to oscillations in the resonant signal that exceed the threshold value;
• a counter including an input coupled to the output of the comparator and including an output, the counter configured to count pulses in the output signal of the comparator and to provide a signal representing a count value to the output of the counter;
• and
• a discriminator circuit configured to compare the count value to a damping threshold and to provide a discriminator output signal in response to the comparison.

A method comprising:

• comparing a resonant signal at a first input of a comparator of an integrated circuit to a threshold value at a second input of the comparator to produce a comparator output signal, the comparator output signal including a plurality of pulses corresponding to oscillations in the resonant signal that exceed the threshold value;
• counting pulses in the comparator output signal using a counter circuit of the integrated circuit to produce a count value;
• comparing, using a discriminator of the integrated circuit, the count value to a damping threshold;
• and
• providing a discriminator output signal at an output of the discriminator in response to comparing, the discriminator output signal having a first value when the count value is equal to or exceeds the damping threshold, and otherwise having a second value.