Signal splitting system and method for enhanced time measurement device operation
First Claim
1. A signal measurement system for measuring relative timing of signal events in at least one measurement signal, said signal measurement system comprising:
- input circuitry for receiving a measurement signal, wherein said input circuitry is configured to convert the measurement signal into a timing signal indicative of selected events of the measurement signal, wherein said timing signal is characterized by a first frequency level;
signal splitting circuitry configured to receive the timing signal from said input circuitry and to split the timing signal a predetermined number of times and to generate at least first and second datastreams characterized by a second frequency, said second frequency being lower than said first frequency; and
measurement circuitry for obtaining measurements between selected events in said at least first and second datastreams.
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Abstract
A system and corresponding method for measuring relative timing of signal events in at least one measurement signal includes input circuitry for receiving such a measurement signal. The input circuitry may include a comparator configured to convert the measurement input signal into a binary timing signal that is indicative of selected transitions, or signal events, in the measurement signal. The original measurement signal, or subsequently generated timing signal, is then provided to signal splitting circuitry that is configured to split such signal a predetermined number of times and to generate a plurality of data streams whose frequency level is lower than the frequency level of the original measurement signal. The signal splitting circuitry may correspond to respective pluralities of edge-triggered devices, for example flip-flops, that are provided in a cascaded series of groups, and may in some embodiments further include a plurality of logic gates coupled between selected grouped pluralities of edge-triggered devices as well as delay elements coupled between selected inputs and outputs of the respective logic gates. Once the signal splitting circuitry generates a plurality of parallel data streams representative of the transition information in the original measurement input signal, such parallel data streams can then be relayed to one or more measurement channels such that time-stamped measurements of selected signal events can be obtained by interpolator-based measurement circuitry.
13 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A signal measurement system for measuring relative timing of signal events in at least one measurement signal, said signal measurement system comprising:
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input circuitry for receiving a measurement signal, wherein said input circuitry is configured to convert the measurement signal into a timing signal indicative of selected events of the measurement signal, wherein said timing signal is characterized by a first frequency level;
signal splitting circuitry configured to receive the timing signal from said input circuitry and to split the timing signal a predetermined number of times and to generate at least first and second datastreams characterized by a second frequency, said second frequency being lower than said first frequency; and
measurement circuitry for obtaining measurements between selected events in said at least first and second datastreams. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A time measurement device for measuring relative timing of changes in a signal, said time measurement device comprising:
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an input for receiving an input signal characterized by a first frequency level;
a first plurality of edge-triggered devices configured to receive said input signal and to generate a first plurality of datastreams that are characterized by a second frequency level, wherein the second frequency level is less than the first frequency level; and
a second plurality of edge-triggered devices configured to receive selected of said first plurality of datastreams and to generate a second plurality of datastreams that are characterized by a third frequency level, wherein the third frequency level is less than the second frequency level. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of measuring relative timing changes in an input signal, said method comprising the following steps:
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providing a measurement signal characterized by a first frequency level;
splitting the measurement signal a predetermined number of times to generate at least first and second datastreams characterized by a second frequency level, wherein said second frequency level is lower than said first frequency level; and
obtaining time-stamped measurements of selected signal events within said at least first and second datastreams. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification