17885844. TIME-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER AND DIGITAL PHASE-LOCKED LOOP CIRCUIT COMPRISING THE SAME simplified abstract (SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.)
TIME-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER AND DIGITAL PHASE-LOCKED LOOP CIRCUIT COMPRISING THE SAME
Organization Name
Inventor(s)
Min Seob Lee of Yongin-si (KR)
Shin Woong Kim of Yongin-si (KR)
Joon Hee Lee of Goyang-si (KR)
TIME-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER AND DIGITAL PHASE-LOCKED LOOP CIRCUIT COMPRISING THE SAME - A simplified explanation of the abstract
This abstract first appeared for US patent application 17885844 titled 'TIME-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER AND DIGITAL PHASE-LOCKED LOOP CIRCUIT COMPRISING THE SAME
Simplified Explanation
The patent application describes a time-to-digital converter that converts time intervals into digital values. It includes several components such as a phase frequency detector, a ring oscillator, a counter array, a multiplexer, an analog-to-digital converter, a calibrator, and adders.
- The phase frequency detector receives input and feedback clocks from a phase-locked loop.
- The ring oscillator generates multi-phase clocks with a specific period.
- The counter array counts the number of oscillations of the ring oscillator within a first period.
- The multiplexer divides the first period into multiple zones based on the edge information of the multi-phase clocks and selects voltage information from neighboring phase clocks in the first zone.
- The analog-to-digital converter converts the selected voltage information into digital values.
- The calibrator includes an offset lookup table generation circuit, a gain-corrected analog-to-digital conversion output generator, and a second adder.
Potential applications of this technology:
- Time measurement in various systems such as communication networks, scientific instruments, and industrial automation.
- High-resolution time-of-flight measurements in LiDAR systems for autonomous vehicles.
- Time synchronization in distributed systems and networks.
Problems solved by this technology:
- Accurate and precise conversion of time intervals into digital values.
- Reduction of errors and noise in the time-to-digital conversion process.
- Calibration of the converter to improve accuracy and compensate for any inherent offsets or gain variations.
Benefits of this technology:
- Improved accuracy and precision in time measurements.
- Higher resolution and faster conversion of time intervals.
- Calibration capability to enhance the performance and reliability of the converter.
Original Abstract Submitted
Provided is a time-to-digital converter, comprising a phase frequency detector configured to receive a phase-locked loop input clock and a feedback clock, a ring oscillator configured to perform oscillation with multi-phase clocks of a first period, a counter array configured to count the number of oscillations in which the ring oscillator oscillates in a first period by the number of positive integers during the first pulse width, a multiplexer configured to divide the first period into a plurality of zones using edge information of the multi-phase clocks of the ring oscillator, and selects and outputs voltage information of a plurality of neighboring phase clocks included in a first zone from the plurality of zones, an analog-to-digital converter, a calibrator, and a first adder, wherein the calibrator comprises, an offset lookup table generation circuit, a gain-corrected analog-to-digital conversion output generator, and a second adder.
