Patent attributes
A time-to-digital converter converts the difference between transition times of a reference clock signal and an oscillating signal to a digital signal whose value is proportional to the transitions timing difference. The time-to-digital converter includes an edge detector, a time-to-voltage converter, and an analog-to-digital converter. The edge detector is adapted to detect, during each period of the reference clock signal, the edge (transition) of the oscillating signal that is closest to the edge of the reference clock signal. The time-to-voltage converter is adapted to generate an analog signal proportional to a difference in time between the detected edge of the oscillating signal and the edge of the reference clock signal. The analog-to-digital converter is adapted to convert the analog signal to a digital signal whose value is proportional the difference between the occurrence of the detected edge of the oscillating signal and the edge of the reference clock signal.