Digital filter and method of determining its coefficients

1. A decimation filter circuit configured to convert a digital input sequence into a digital output sequence, the decimation filter circuit comprising:

an integrator circuit stage comprising a plurality of closed-loop controlled time-delay elements, wherein the integrator circuit stage is arranged on an input side of the decimation filter circuit; and

a further circuit stage, wherein the further circuit stage is arranged on an output side of the decimation filter circuit, wherein the integrator circuit stage operates at a higher clock frequency than the further circuit stage, wherein the further circuit stage comprises, on the input side, a weighting network and, on the output side, a time-delay element network comprising at least one time-delay element, wherein output signals from the integrator circuit stage are fed on the input side to the weighting network and output signals of the weighting network are fed on the input side to the time-delay element network,

wherein the time-delay of each of the time-delay elements of the integrator circuit stage is equal to the time-delay of each of the at least one time-delay element of the further circuit stage.

2. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the integrator circuit stage is configured to have each closed-loop controlled time-delay element set, at an instant which is identical for all closed-loop controlled time-delay elements, to the value which is predetermined for the respective closed-loop controlled time-delay element.

3. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 2 , wherein the integrator circuit stage is configured to have the setting to the predetermined value occur periodically.

4. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined value, to which each closed-loop controlled time-delay element is set, is 0 for all closed-loop controlled time-delay elements.

5. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the closed-loop controlled time-delay elements of the integrator circuit stage comprise analogue integrators.

6. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the closed-loop controlled time-delay elements of the integrator circuit stage comprise closed-loop controlled registers which are clocked with a clock pulse of the integrator circuit stage.

7. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 6 , wherein each closed-loop controlled register has a respective word width dependent on a configuration of the digital filter which is sufficient to process any desired input sequence of the digital filter without an overrun.

8. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the further circuit stage comprises time-delay elements which are clocked with a clock pulse of the further circuit stage.

9. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the weighting network prepares input signals for the time-delay element network with a linear combination of the output signals of the integrator circuit stage.

10. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the closed-loop controlled time-delay elements of the integrator circuit stage are arranged in series.

11. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one time-delay element of the further circuit stage comprises a plurality of time-delay elements arranged in series.

12. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 1 , wherein a respective Nth value of each output of the closed-loop controlled time-delay elements represents an input value of the further circuit stage.

13. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the further circuit stage comprises L portions and L−1 time-delay elements, L being greater than 1, in that each portion is configured in such a way that it performs a function

S

i

D

=

∑

j

=

1

M

⁢

E

j

×

K

i

,

j

D

,

in which i ranges from 1 to L and is an index of the corresponding portion, j is an index of the corresponding input value of the further circuit stage, M indicates the number of closed-loop controlled time-delay elements of the integrator circuit stage, E j is an input value of the further circuit stage, K D i,j is a coefficient and S D i is an output value of the ith portion, wherein the sum S Q L is fed to the first time-delay element of the further circuit stage, and wherein the output of each time-delay element of the further circuit stage is linked with the respective sum S D i , in which i ranges from 1 to L−1.

14. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 13 , wherein the coefficients are adjusted in such a way that zero points of the transfer function of the digital filter lie side by side.

15. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the integrator circuit stage comprises a first closed-loop controlled time-delay element connected on the input side to the input of the filter, a second closed-loop controlled time-delay element connected on the input side to the output of the first closed-loop controlled time-delay element, and a third closed-loop controlled time-delay element connected on the input side to the output of the second closed-loop controlled time-delay element, wherein a respective Nth value of the output of a first closed-loop controlled time-delay element of the further circuit stage is provided as the first input value, an Nth value of the output of a second closed-loop controlled time-delay element of the further circuit stage is provided as the second input value, and an Nth value of the output of a third closed-loop controlled time-delay element of the further circuit stage is provided as the third input value, a first variable is determined by dividing the first input value by 2, a second variable is determined by deducting the first variable from the second input value, in that a third variable is determined by multiplying the first variable by N, in that a fourth variable is determined by adding the second variable and the third variable, in that a fifth variable is determined by multiplying the fourth variable by N, in that a sixth variable is determined by deducting the second variable from the third variable, in that a seventh variable is determined by multiplying the sixth variable by N, in that an eighth variable is determined by multiplying the third input value by 2, in that a ninth variable is determined by deducting the eighth variable from the fifth variable, in that a sum of the seventh variable and the third input value are fed to a first time-delay element of the further circuit stage on the input side, in that a sum of the output value of the first time-delay element of the further circuit stage and the ninth variable are fed to a second time-delay element of the further circuit stage on the input side, and in that a sum of the output value of the second time-delay element of the further circuit stage and the third input value produces the value of the output of the filter.

16. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the weighting network is configured to perform a multiplication or division by a number Z, wherein Z satisfies the following equation: Z=2 n where nεN, is performed by a shift operation by n, shifting occurring in the direction of the highest value bit during multiplication and in the direction of the lowest value bit during division.

17. The decimation filter circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the integrator circuit stage is configured to have each closed-loop controlled time-delay element set to a value which is predetermined for the respective closed-loop controlled time-delay element.