Patent ID: 7405983

Claim:
A method of delaying an input signal, comprising: a.) serially receiving the input signal at a plurality of rows of delay elements; b.) applying a row selection signal to a row of delay elements to select the row from among the plurality of rows of delay elements; c.) supplying a column selection signal to a tap buffer associated with a delay element in the selected row to select an output of the delay element, wherein the column selection signal is applied to corresponding tap buffers associated with each of the plurality of rows, and wherein tap buffers selected by a column selection signal are offset between contiguous rows by at least one column to form an oblique arrangement of columns of tap buffers relative to the plurality of rows of delay elements; d.) coupling outputs of tap buffers associated with delay elements in each row to form an output of each row; e.) coupling outputs of each of the plurality of rows to provide an incrementally-delayed input signal from the selected row; f.) outputting the incrementally-delayed input signal from the selected delay element in the selected row; and g.) changing row selection from the selected row to a contiguous row of the plurality of rows in the absence of a change in the selection of the corresponding tap buffers.