Phase difference detector having concurrent fine and coarse capabilities
First Claim
1. A chronometer for measuring respective chronological displacements between first edges of a first switched signal and corresponding second edges of a second switched signal, the chronometer comprising:
- (a) a timing marks receiver that receives a common set of chronologically spaced-apart timing markers including a set of spaced-apart coarse timing markers and including, for each coarse timing marker, a cluster of plural spaced-apart fine timing markers, where each cluster can align temporally in accordance with a predefined orientation relative to its respective coarse marker, and where at least some of the fine timing markers are temporally interposed between the coarse timing markers;
(b) a coarse locations determiner, operatively coupled to the timing marks receiver, for designating a first of the coarse timing markers as corresponding to a given first edge of the first switched signal, for designating a second of the coarse timing markers as corresponding to a given second edge of the second switched signal; and
for generating therefrom a coarse displacement signal that coarsely represents a chronological displacement present between the given first and second edges of the respective first and second switched signals;
(c) a first fine location determiner, operatively coupled to the timing marks receiver, for identifying a first of the fine timing markers in the cluster of the designated first coarse timing marker as a fine marker that temporally lies at or immediately adjacent to the given first edge; and
(d) a second fine location determiner, operatively coupled to the timing marks receiver, for identifying a second of the fine timing markers in the cluster of the designated second coarse timing marker as one that temporally lies at or immediately adjacent to the given second edge.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A phase difference detector having concurrent fine and coarse capabilities is enabled by synchronizing operations of the coarse phase detector to operations of the fine phase detector. In one embodiment, clusters of fine timing markers are generated by delay stages of a delay locked loop (DLL) that is locked onto a regulated frequency source. The K'"'"'th one of every cluster of J fine timing markers is designated as a coarse marker. A first timing means determines which of J fine markers in a first cluster is closest to a rising edge of a reference signal. A second timing means determines which of J fine markers in a second cluster is closest to a rising edge of a follower signal. A third timing means determines how many coarse markers separate the rising edges of the reference and follower signals. The first through third timing means operate in parallel. An arithmetic combining means combines temporal displacement values obtained from the determinations of the first through third timing means to thereby produce a phase displacement measurement signal of broad range and high precision across its operating range.
-
Citations
42 Claims
-
1. A chronometer for measuring respective chronological displacements between first edges of a first switched signal and corresponding second edges of a second switched signal, the chronometer comprising:
-
(a) a timing marks receiver that receives a common set of chronologically spaced-apart timing markers including a set of spaced-apart coarse timing markers and including, for each coarse timing marker, a cluster of plural spaced-apart fine timing markers, where each cluster can align temporally in accordance with a predefined orientation relative to its respective coarse marker, and where at least some of the fine timing markers are temporally interposed between the coarse timing markers; (b) a coarse locations determiner, operatively coupled to the timing marks receiver, for designating a first of the coarse timing markers as corresponding to a given first edge of the first switched signal, for designating a second of the coarse timing markers as corresponding to a given second edge of the second switched signal; and
for generating therefrom a coarse displacement signal that coarsely represents a chronological displacement present between the given first and second edges of the respective first and second switched signals;(c) a first fine location determiner, operatively coupled to the timing marks receiver, for identifying a first of the fine timing markers in the cluster of the designated first coarse timing marker as a fine marker that temporally lies at or immediately adjacent to the given first edge; and (d) a second fine location determiner, operatively coupled to the timing marks receiver, for identifying a second of the fine timing markers in the cluster of the designated second coarse timing marker as one that temporally lies at or immediately adjacent to the given second edge. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A method of measuring respective chronological displacements between first edges of a first switched signal and corresponding second edges of a second switched signal, the method comprising:
-
(a) receiving a set of chronologically spaced-apart timing signals including a set of spaced-apart coarse timing markers and for each coarse timing marker, a cluster of spaced-apart fine timing markers, where each cluster can align temporally in accordance with a predefined orientation relative to its respective coarse marker, and where upon alignment at least some of the fine timing markers are temporally interposed between the coarse timing markers; (b) first designating a first of the coarse timing markers as corresponding to a given first edge of the first switched signal; (c) second designating a second of the coarse timing markers as corresponding to a given second edge of the second switched signal; (d) in response to said first and second designating steps, (b) and (c), generating a coarse displacement signal that coarsely represents a chronological displacement present between the given first and second edges of the respective first and second switched signals; (e) first identifying a first of the fine timing markers in the cluster of the designated first coarse timing marker as a fine marker that temporally lies at or immediately adjacent to the given first edge; and (f) second identifying a second of the fine timing markers in the cluster of the designated second coarse timing marker as one that temporally lies at or immediately adjacent to the given second edge. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
-
-
36. A phase difference detector comprising:
-
(a) a first fine edge locater for determining a first phase relation between a supplied first switching signal and a supplied plurality of finely out-of-phase clock signals; (b) a second fine edge locater for determining a second phase relation between a supplied second switching signal and the supplied plurality of finely out-of-phase clock signals; and (c) a fine displacement determiner, responsive to the first and second fine edge locaters and receiving coarse marker signals which can be used to designate coarse timings of respective switching edges of the first and second switching signals, the fine displacement determiner providing one or more indications of fine phase differences between the switching edges of the first and second switching signals and respective ones of the coarse marker signals. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
-
Specification