Granted Patent B2

US 7,855,582 · App. 12/102,845 · Granted Dec 21, 2010

Abstract

Claims (24)

1. A device for detecting a timing of an edge of an input signal with respect to a timing of a predefined edge of a periodic signal, the edge of the input signal defining a state change between a first state and a second state of the input signal, the device comprising:

a phase-shift element for shifting a phase of the input signal relative to a phase of the periodic signal by a phase shift value, wherein the state change is sensed at a point in time determined by the timing of the predefined edge; and

a detection element for detecting the timing of the edge of the input signal relative to the timing of the predefined edge based on the phase shift value,

wherein the phase-shift element is an adjustable digital delay element for delaying the input signal by an adjustable delay value as the phase shift value,

wherein the delay element adjusts the delay value by controlling the delay value in discrete steps, and

wherein the delay element has a switchable capacitor for adjusting the delay value.

2. A device for detecting a timing of an edge of an input signal with respect to a timing of a predefined edge of a periodic signal, the edge of the input signal defining a state change between a first state and a second state of the input signal, the device comprising:

a phase-shift element for shifting a phase of the input signal relative to a phase of the periodic signal by a phase shift value, wherein the state change is sensed at a point in time determined by the timing of the predefined edge; and

a detection element for detecting the timing of the edge of the input signal relative to the timing of the predefined edge based on the phase shift value,

wherein the phase-shift element is an adjustable digital delay element for delaying the input signal by an adjustable delay value as the phase shift value,

wherein the delay element adjusts the delay value by controlling the delay value in discrete steps, and

wherein the phase-shift element shifts the phase of the input signal in a number of discrete steps, each of which has a predefined delay value per step as the phase shift value, until the state change is detectable at a point in time defined by the timing of the predefined edge of the periodic signal.

3. The device according to 1 , further comprising a control element that adjusts the delay value of the delay element as a function of an output signal of the detection element, when an output signal of the detection element indicates that no state change is present.

4. The device according to claim 3 , wherein the control element determines and outputs the delay value based on the controlled discrete steps as the detected timing of the edge of the input signal relative to the timing of the predefined edge of the periodic signal.

5. The device according to claim 1 , further comprising a timer that, in response to a control signal from a control element, outputs a timer signal having a timer signal edge that defines the state change between a first and a second state of the timer signal, wherein the control element repeats the control signal and changes the delay value with each repetition until a phase zero-crossing is detected by the detection element as a termination condition.

6. The device according to claim 5 , further comprising an analysis element for detecting a characteristic of the timer based on a series of phase shift values as a function of timings.

7. The device according to claim 1 , wherein a difference in the timing of the edge and the predefined edge is less than a period of the periodic signal.

8. A measurement method for detecting a characteristic of a timer that, in response to a control signal indicating a timing of an edge of an output signal of the timer relative to a timing of a predefined edge of a periodic signal, outputs a another timer signal having a timer signal edge that defines a state change between a first and a second state of the timer signal, the method comprising:

generating a first control signal and a second control signal, the first control signal indicating a first edge of a timer output with a first timing relative to a timing of a predefined edge of a periodic signal, and the second control signal indicating a second edge of the timer output with a second timing relative to a timing of a predefined edge of the periodic signal;

shifting a phase of a first timer signal with a first timer signal edge relative to the phase of the periodic signal by a first phase shift value by adjusting a first delay value of a digital delay element for which the state change is detected at a point in time determined by the timing of the predefined edge;

shifting a phase of a second timer signal with a second timer signal edge, which is delayed relative to the phase of the periodic signal, by a second phase shift value by adjusting a second delay value of a delay element for which the state change is detected at a point in time determined by the timing of the predefined edge;

detecting the timing of the first timer signal edge based on the first delay value as the phase shift value;

detecting the timing of the second timer signal edge based on the second delay value as the phase shift value; and

detecting a characteristic based on a series of phase shift values as a function of the timing of the first and second timer signal edges.

Assignments (11)