Patent ID: 7460441
Filing Date: 2008-12-02
Classification: G01R,G04F

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for measuring a long time period, comprising: a clock interval counter having a clock input coupled to a system clock, wherein the clock interval counter begins counting system clock cycles after a start of an event and stops counting system clock cycles after an end of the event; a first time measurement unit comprising: a second time measurement unit comprising: an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for converting the first and second voltages to first and second digital representations, respectively, thereof and a digital processor, wherein the digital processor converts the first and second digital representations of the first and second voltages, respectively, to first and second time values, respectively, reads the count of the system clock cycles from the clock interval counter, converts the count of the system clock cycles to a third time value, adds the first time value to the third time value, and subtracts the second time value from the sum of the first and third time values in determining a time period of the event.