Patent · US Expired

Measurement averaging counting apparatus employing a randomly phase modulated time base to improve counting resolution

US3938042A · kind A · utility

7Cited by
5References
12Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 12, 1974
Grant dateFeb 10, 1976
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 12, 1994

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG04F10/04
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A measurement averaging counting apparatus employing a randomly phase modulated time base provides resolution improvement when measuring an applied signal comprising time intervals or pulsed frequencies repetitively occurring at rates synchronous to a counter's clock frequency. The phase of a reference frequency is varied in response to a random signal. The phase modulated reference frequency is applied to a frequency multiplier chain which multiplies both the frequency and the effective amount of phase modulation. The randomly phase shifting output of the frequency multiplier chain is applied as a clock signal to a measurement averaging counter thereby destroying coherence between the clock signal and the applied signal and allowing statistical averaging to take place.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.