Patent ID: 11936398
Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
Field: Basic communication processes (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  G | IPC G  H

Claim 9:
10. A method for performing analog-to-digital conversion on analog signals across a probe and a remote processing unit, the method comprising:
obtaining an analog signal at a first ASIC at the probe;
processing the analog signal using the first ASIC, thereby generating a binary bit-stream based on the analog signal, wherein the binary bit-stream comprises asynchronous time-domain pulses;
propagating the binary bit-stream from the first ASIC to a second ASIC at the processing unit, wherein the second ASIC is spatially separated from the first;
performing time-to-digital conversion on the binary bit-stream by way of a time-to-digital converter housed on the second ASIC, thereby generating a digital output,
wherein the time-to-digital converter comprises a pipeline time-to-digital converter, the pipeline time-to-digital converter comprising:
a coarse time-to-digital converter, wherein the coarse time-to-digital converter is adapted to:
receive the binary bit-stream; and
output:
a coarse digital output; and
a coarse residue time; and

a fine time-to-digital converter block, adapted to receive the coarse residue time, wherein the fine time-to-digital converter block comprises:
one or more fine time-to-digital converters connected in series, each adapted to:
receive an incoming residue time from the previous fine, or coarse, time-to-digital converter in the series;
output an outgoing residue time to the subsequent fine time-to-digital converter in the series; and
output a fine digital output.