Patent · US Active

Gated ring oscillator for a time-to-digital converter with shaped quantization noise

US8138843B2 · kind B2 · utility

24Cited by
15References
9Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 13, 2007
Grant dateMar 20, 2012
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 14, 2027

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03K23/54
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Described is a compact, lower power gated ring oscillator time-to-digital converter that achieves first order noise shaping of quantization noise using a digital implementation. The gated ring oscillator time-to-digital converter includes a plurality of delay stages configured to enable propagation of a transitioning signal through the delay stages during an enabled state and configured to inhibit propagation of the transitioning signal through the delay stages during a disabled state. Delay stages are interconnected to allow sustained transitions to propagate through the delay stages during the enabled state and to preserve a state of the gated ring oscillator time-to-digital converter during the disabled state. The state represents a time resolution that is finer than the delay of at least one of the delay stages. A measurement module determines the number of transitions of the delay stages.

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