The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 15, 2008
Filed:
Aug. 30, 2006
Joern Naujokat, Freising, DE;
Ralf Sonnhueter, Schrobenhausen, DE;
Markus Dietl, Munich, DE;
Texas Instruments Deutschland GmbH, Freising, DE;
Abstract
An integrated circuit device comprises internally on-chip an oscillator with a signal output. The device has a reference clock input, a first counter with a count input, a control input and a counter output, a second counter with a count input, a control input and an overflow indication output, and a test control logic circuit. The count input of the first counter is connected to the signal output of the oscillator. The count input of the second counter is connected to the reference clock input. The overflow indication output of the second counter is connected to an input of the test control logic circuit. The test control circuit has an output connected to the control input of the first counter to apply a stop counting control signal to the first counter after it has received an overflow indication signal from the second counter. The first counter after it has received a stop counting control signal provides a count at the counter output which is indicative of the output frequency of the oscillator. The device includes all the hardware necessary to perform an on-chip test of the oscillator, thereby obviating the need for serial testing on sophisticated and expensive test equipment.