Digital phase-locked loop

1. A digital phase-locked loop comprising:

a digitally controlled oscillator for generating an output clock signal;

a phase detector device for detecting an analog phase difference between a dependent clock, which is digitally dependent on the output clock signal, and a reference clock, the phase detector device converting the detected analog phase difference into a corresponding digital control value for the digitally controlled oscillator, the phase detector device having:

a phase detector generating a first pulse signal and a second pulse signal dependent on the analog phase difference, a pulse of the first pulse signal being generated if the dependent clock is slower than the reference clock, and a pulse of the second pulse signal being generated if the dependent clock is faster than the reference clock; and

a quantizing device for converting the information contained in the pulses of the first and second pulse signals for the phase difference into the corresponding digital control value; the quantizing device having

a first circuit section for sampling the first and second pulse signals and for subtracting the samples of the first and second pulse signals to generate a corresponding digital difference value, and

a counter whose counter reading is altered in a manner dependent on the respectively generated digital difference value of the first circuit section, the counter reading serving as a basis for the digital control value; and

a digital loop filter through which the digital control value of the phase detector device connects to the digitally controlled oscillator to set the output clock signal.

2. The phase-locked loop of claim 1 , further comprising a frequency divider for connecting the output clock signal to the phase detector device.

3. The phase-locked loop of claim 1 , further comprising a frequency divider for connecting the reference clock to the phase detector device via at least one frequency divider.

4. The phase-locked loop of claim 1 , wherein the digitally controlled oscillator comprises a crystal oscillator.

5. The phase-locked loop of claim 1 , wherein the quantizing device further comprises:

a second circuit section configured to monitor the digital difference value signal generated by the first circuit section for the end of a pulse and to generate a reset for the counter for resetting the counter reading thereof; and

an output register through which an instantaneous counter reading of the counter is output, the output register being activated when the reset signal of the second circuit section is present.

6. The phase-locked loop of claim 5 , wherein the quantizing device further comprises a third circuit section configured to detect an absence of pulses in the digital difference value signal generated by the first circuit section and to replace a last digital value output by the output register by the value zero.

7. The phase-locked loop of claim 1 , wherein the phase detector device further comprises:

a pulse detector device configured to monitor the occurrence of pulses of the first pulse signal and of the second pulse signal and to generate a digital correction value depending on whether a pulse occurs in the first pulse signal or in the second pulse signal; and

an addition device for receiving the digital correction value from the pulse detector device, receiving the digital control value from the quantizing device, and adding the digital correction value to the digital output value to generate a resultant digital summation value to be provided to the digital loop filter.

8. The phase-locked loop of claim 7 , wherein the pulse detector device is configured to generate the digital correction value in the form of a pulse signal with a programmable pulse length.