Patent ID: 7620857

Claim:
A circuit arrangement for controllably delaying electrical signals between a circuit input and at least one circuit output, comprising: a first delay chain having n series-connected delay elements, each of which comprising an active circuit with a fixed transit time, wherein an input of a first delay element is connected to the circuit input, wherein an output of each delay element is selectively connectable to a forwarding circuit leading to a first circuit output via a respectively associated switch of a first group of switches, wherein the forwarding circuit has a second delay chain leading to the first circuit output, the second delay chain comprising n series-connected delay elements, each of which comprising an active circuit with a fixed transit time, and wherein the output of each delay element of the first delay chain is selectively connectable to a respective input of the (n−i+1)th delay element of the second delay chain via the respectively associated switch of the first group of switches, wherein i=1 . . . n is defined as an ordinal number of the delay elements of the first delay chain, wherein the forwarding circuit has a third delay chain, leading to a second circuit output, with n +1 series-connected delay elements, each of which comprising an active circuit with a fixed transit time, wherein an input of a last delay element of the third delay chain is connectable to the circuit input via an associated switch of a second group of switches, and wherein the output of each delay element of the first delay chain is selectively connectable to a respective input of the (n−i+1)th delay element of the third delay chain via a respectively associated other switch of the second group of switches.