Patent ID: 6893154

Claim:
A thermal sensor to sense a temperature comprising: an oscillator circuit to generate a first oscillating signal and a second oscillating signal; and a counter circuit having, a first counter circuit to perform a first count on said first oscillating signal, wherein said first counter circuit asserts an output signal when said first count reaches a predetermined value; a second counter circuit to perform a second count on said second oscillating signal, wherein upon assertion of said output signal by said first counter circuit said second counter circuit halts said second count and asserts a value of said second count after halting said second count; a first synchronizer circuit to synchronize an edge of said output signal of said first counter circuit with an edge of said second oscillating signal in order to assert a first control signal to halt said second count of said second oscillating signal by said second counter circuit; a second synchronizer circuit to synchronize an edge of said first control signal with an edge of a first clock signal to assert a second control signal; and a shift resister to receive in parallel said value of said second count held by a counter register upon receipt of said second control signal, wherein said shift register serially shifts said value of said second count to an output node to assert said temperature detected by said thermal sensor.