Techniques to determine signal timing
AssigneeAltera Corporation
InventorsJie Shen, David W. Mendel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A measurement circuit includes a phase detection circuit and delay circuitry. The phase detection circuit compares a first signal to a second signal to generate a first phase difference when the delay circuitry generates the second signal based on the first signal. The phase detection circuit compares the first signal to the second signal to generate a second phase difference when the delay circuitry generates the second signal based on a third signal provided to a signal network. The measurement circuit determines a delay of the signal network based on the first and second phase differences.
Claims21
A measurement circuit comprising:
- delay circuitry coupled to a first signal network;
- and
- a phase detection circuit coupled to the delay circuitry to compare a first signal to a second signal to generate a first phase difference when the delay circuitry generates the second signal based on the first signal,
- wherein the phase detection circuit compares the first signal to the second signal to generate a second phase difference when the delay circuitry generates the second signal based on a third signal provided to the first signal network, and wherein the measurement circuit determines a delay of the first signal network based on the first and second phase differences.
A circuit comprising:
- delay circuitry that comprises a first multiplexer circuit;
- a phase detection circuit coupled to the delay circuitry to compare a phase of a first signal to a phase of a second signal to generate a first phase difference when the first multiplexer circuit causes the delay circuitry to generate the second signal based on the first signal, wherein the phase detection circuit compares a phase of the first signal to a phase of the second signal to generate a second phase difference when the first multiplexer circuit causes the delay circuitry to generate the second signal based on a third signal;
- and
- a control circuit coupled to the phase detection circuit to determine a phase of the third signal based on the first and second phase differences.
A method comprising:
- comparing a first signal to a second signal using a phase detection circuit to generate a first phase difference when delay circuitry generates the second signal based on the first signal, wherein the delay circuitry is coupled to the phase detection circuit;
- comparing the first signal to the second signal using the phase detection circuit to generate a second phase difference when the delay circuitry generates the second signal based on a third signal that is provided to a first signal network;
- and
- determining a delay of the first signal network based on the first and second phase differences using a control circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.