Patent ID: 6874933

Claim:
An apparatus integral of an integrated circuit for measuring temperature of the integrated circuit, said apparatus comprising: (a) a clock circuit that includes at least one Flip Flop that outputs a signal having a delay that determines a period of the signal that is temperature dependent on the operation of the integrated circuit; (b) a storage component that stores a count of each period of a signal corresponding to a predetermined temperature over a predetermined length of time; (c) a generator that enables each period of the signal outputted by the clock circuit to be counted during operation of the integrated circuit over a first length of time; and (d) a register that outputs a count of each period of the clock circuit output signal that occurred during the first length of time, wherein the current temperature on the integrated circuit is determined based on the stored count of the period of the signal corresponding to the predetermined temperature and the outputted count of each said period of a first length of time.