Measurement of maximum of a series of time intervals

Claim 2

Circuitry for measuring the maximum time interval between pairs of signals among a pluraliTy of such pairs comprising: A. a first register; B. a second register; C. means controlled by a first pair of signals for causing the first register to contain a registration indicative of the time interval between the signals of the first pair; D. means controlled by the later occurring signal of each pair for causing the second register to contain a registration indicative of the registration then in the first register; E. means controlled by each pair of signals succeeding the first pair for causing the second register to change its old registration to a new registration indicative of the difference between the new time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair and the old time interval indicated by the old registration; F. and, means controlled by the second register during the time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair for causing the first register to contain a registration indicative of the longer of the new and old time intervals.

Claim 3

Circuitry for measuring the maximum time interval between pairs of signals among a plurality of such pairs comprising: A. a source of pulses recurring at a constant frequency substantially greater than the recurrence frequency of the two signals of each pair; B. a first pulse count register; C. a second pulse count register; D. means controlled by a first pair of signals for causing the first register to contain a pulse count indicative of the number of pulses from the source occurring during the time interval between the signals of the first pair; E. means controlled by the later occurring signal of each pair for causing the second register to contain a pulse count indicative of the pulse count then in the first register; F. means controlled by each pair of signals succeeding the first pair for causing the second register to change its old pulse count to a new pulse count indicative of the difference between the new time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair and the old time interval indicated by the old pulse count; G. and, means controlled by the second register during the time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair for causing the first register to contain a pulse count indicative of the number of pulses from the source occurring during the longer of the new and old time intervals.

Claim 4

Circuitry for measuring the maximum time interval between pairs of signals among a plurality of such pairs comprising: A. a source of pulses recurring at a constant frequency substantially greater than the recurrence frequency of the two signals of each pair; B. a first pulse count register; C. a second pulse count register; D. means controlled by a first pair of signals for causing the first register to contain a pulse count indicative of the number of pulses from the source occurring during the time interval between the signals of the first pair; E. means controlled by the later occurring signal of each pair for causing the second register to contain a pulse count indicative of the pulse count then in the first register; F. means controlled by each pair of signals succeeding the first pair for causing the second register to change its old pulse count to a new pulse count indicative of the difference between the new time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair and the old time interval indicated by the old pulse count; G. and, means controlled by the second register during the time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair for causing the first register to contain a pulse count indicative of the number of pulses from the source occurring during the longer of the new and old time intervals.

Claim 5

Circuitry for measuring the maximum time interval between pairs of signals among a plurality of such pairs comprising: A. a source of pulses recurring at a constant frequency substantially greater than the recurrent frequency of the two signals of each pair; B. a first pulse count register of a given count capacity; C. a second pulse count register of the same given count capacity; D. means for causing pulses from the source to be counted in the first register during the first time interval between the signals of a first pair; E. means controlled by the later occurring signal of each pair for causing the second register to contain a pulse count equal to the complement of the pulse count then in the first register; F. means controlled by each pair of signals succeeding the first pair for adding source pulses to the pulse count in the second register during the time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair; G. and, means controlled by the second register during the time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair for causing the pulse count in the first register to equal the sum of the pulse count in the first register at the start of the interval and the number of source pulses exceeding the capacity of the second register.

Claim 6

Circuitry for measuring the maximum time interval between pairs of signals among a plurality of such pairs comprising: A. a source of pulses recurring at a constant frequency substantially greater than the recurrent frequency of the two signals of each pair; B. a first pulse count register of a given count capacity; C. a second pulse count register of the same given count capacity; D. means for causing pulses from the source to be counted in the first register during the first time interval between the signals of a first pair; E. means controlled by the later occurring signal of each pair for causing the second register to contain a pulse count equal to the complement of the pulse count then in the first register; F. means controlled by each pair of signals succeeding the first pair for adding source pulses to the pulse count in the second register during the time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair; G. and, means controlled by the second register during the time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair for causing the pulse count in the first register to equal the sum of the pulse count in the first register at the start of the interval and the number of source pulses exceeding the capacity of the second register.

Claim 7

Circuitry for measuring the maximum time interval between pairs of signals among a plurality of such pairs comprising: A. a source of pulses recurring at a constant frequency substantially greater than the recurrence frequency of the two signals of each pair; B. a first pulse count register of a Given count capacity; C. a second pulse count register of the same given count capacity; D. means for causing pulses from the source to be counted in the first register during the first time interval between the signals of a first pair; E. means controlled by the latter occuring signal of each pair for causing the second register to contain a pulse count equal to the complement of the pulse count then in the first register; F. means controlled by each pair of signals succeeding the first pair for adding source pulses to the pulse count in the second register during the time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair; G. and, means controlled by the second register during the time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair for adding to the pulse count in the first register all source pulses exceeding the capacity of the second register.

Claim 8

Circuitry for measuring the maximum time interval between pairs of signals among a plurality of such pairs comprising: A. a source of pulses recurring at a constant frequency substantially greater than the recurrence frequency of the two signals of each pair; B. a first pulse count register of a Given count capacity; C. a second pulse count register of the same given count capacity; D. means for causing pulses from the source to be counted in the first register during the first time interval between the signals of a first pair; E. means controlled by the latter occuring signal of each pair for causing the second register to contain a pulse count equal to the complement of the pulse count then in the first register; F. means controlled by each pair of signals succeeding the first pair for adding source pulses to the pulse count in the second register during the time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair; G. and, means controlled by the second register during the time interval between the signals of such succeeding pair for adding to the pulse count in the first register all source pulses exceeding the capacity of the second register.

Claim 9

The invention defined in claim 4 wherein: A. the second register comprises an up-counter responsive to each pulse transmitted thereto to increase by one the pulse count therein: B. and, the means for adding source pulses to the pulse count in the second register comprises first gating means controlled by a pair of signals for allowing source pulses to be transmitted to the up-counter during the time interval between the signals of the pair.

Claim 10

The invention defined in claim 5 wherein: A. the first register comprises a first up-counter responsive to each pulse transmitted thereto to increase by one the pulse count therein; B. the second register-up-counter comprises a second up-counter; C. and, the means for adding source pulses to the pulse count in the first register comprises second gating means controlled by the second up-counter during the time interval between the signals of a pair for allowing all source pulses exceeding the capacity of the second up-counter during the time interval to be transmitted to the first up-counter.

Claim 11

The invention defined in claim 6 wherein: A. the second up-counter includes means for providing a control signal upon the addition to the second up-counter of a source pulse exceeding the capacity thereof; B. and, the second gating means is controlled by the control signal to allow source pulses to be transmitted to the first up-counter.

Claim 12

The invention defined in claim 7 wherein: A. the second up-counter comprises a plurality of binary counting stages settable from capacity count to zero count upon the addition of a source pulse; B. and, the means for providing a control signal comprises a control signal generator controlled by the second up-counter to generate the control signal whenever the second up-counter is set from capacity count to zero count.

Claim 13

The invention defined in claim 8 wherein: A. the first up-counter comprises a plurality of binary counting stages equal in number to the plurality of stages in the second up-counter; B. and, the means for causing the second register to contain a pulse count equal to the complement of the pulse count in the first register comprises a plurality of transfer gates connected between the first and second up-counters and controlled by the later occurring signal of a pair to transfer to the second up-counter as a new count therein the complement of the count then existing in the first up-counter.

Claim 14

The invention defined in claim 9 wherein the first gating means comprises a first gate connected between the source of pulses and the second up-counter.

Claim 15

The invention defined in claim 10 wherein the second gating means comprises a second gate connected between the first gate and the first up-counter.

Claim 16

The invention defined in claim 9 wherein the means for causing source pulses to be counted in the first register during the first time interval between the signals of a first pair comprises means effective prior to measurement of time intervals for registering zero count in the first up-counter by setting all staGes thereof to binary zero.

Claim 17

The invention defined in claim 12 wherein the means for causing source pulses to be counted in the first register during the first time interval between the signals of a first pair also comprises means effective prior to measurement of time intervals for registering maximum count in the second up-counter by setting all stages thereof to binary one.