Pulse generator system responsive to spindle motor rotational phase signal for providing digital pulses at rate dependent upon motor speed

Claim 2

A control responsive to an input signal of a recurrent nature having a phase which may vary with respect to some reference phase, said control comprising a system clock, means responsive to said input signal and to said system clock for generating an input phase pulse at a time representing the phase of said input signal and synchronized with said system clock, means responsive to said system clock for generating a reference waveform of substantially the same recurrence rate at said input waveform, means for recurrently comparing the phase represented by said input phase pulse and the phase of said reference waveform and for storing an indication of the sense of the phase difference and a quantity dependent upon the amount of phase difference, means responsive to a recurrent control signal and to said stored indication for generating output pulses at a rate not greater than the recurrence rate of said recurrent signal and whose number is dependent upon said stored quantity and is a measure of said phase difference.

Claim 3

A control as claimed in claim 1 in which said stored quantity dependent on the phase difference is stored in digital form.

Claim 4

A control as claimed in claim 1 further comprising means responsive to the generation of said output pulses and to said stored indication of phase sense for varying the phase of said reference waveform to bring said reference waveform substantially in phase with said input phase pulse.

Claim 5

A control responsive to an input signal of a recurrent nature having a phase which may vary with respect to some reference phase, said control comprising a system clock, means responsive to said input signal and to a system clock for generating an input phase pulse at a time representing the phase of said input signal and synchronized with said system clock, range control means for generating range control signals indicating low, medium and high rates of change of said input signal, comparison means for periodically comparing the phases of said input signal and a reference signal of substantially the same recurrence rate as said input signal, means for storing a quantity dependent upon the number of discrete units of timing periods between the phases of said input and reference signals, wherein said timing periods are increased in length by a scale factor in response to a high range control signal, output means for generating a number of output pulses equal to said number of discrete units of timing periods in the absence of either a low or high range control signal, and for generating a number of output pulses equal to a scale factor times said number of discrete units of timing periods in response to a low range control signal.

Claim 6

A control responsive to an input signal of a recurrent nature having a phase which may vary with respect to some reference phase, said control comprising a system clock, means responsive to said input signal and to a system clock for generating an input phase pulse at a time representing the phase of said input signal and synchronized with said system clock, range control means for generating range control signals indicating low, medium and high rates of change of said input signal, comparison means for periodically comparing the phases of said input signal and a reference signal of substantially the same recurrence rate as said input signal, means for storing a quantity dependent upon the number of discrete units of timing periods between the phases of said input and reference signals, wherein said timing periods are increased in length by a scale factor in response to a high range control signal, output means for generating a number of output pulses equal to said number of discrete units of timing periods in the absence of either a low or high range control signal, and for generating a number of output pulses equal to a scale factor times said number of discrete units of timing periods in response to a low range control signal.

Claim 7

A control as claimed in claim 4 further comprising pulse rate spreading means responsive to a said low range control signal for substantially evenly spreading said output pulses over the time between detection of phase differences.

Claim 8

A control comprising phase comparison means for comparing the phase of an input signal of recurrent nature and a reference waveform of substantially the same recurrence rate, means for storing an indication of the phase difference between said phase compared signals, an incrementable register, means responsive to said comparison for incrementing said register a number of increments indicative of said phase difference, means responsive to the number stored in said register being different than some reference number and to a periodic control signal for generating sets of signals each comprising output pulses and incrementations of said register until the number stored in said register is said reference number.

Claim 9

A control comprising phase comparison means for comparing the phase of an input signal of recurrent nature and a reference waveform of substantially the same recurrence rate, means for storing an indication of the phase difference between said phase compared signals, an incrementable register, means responsive to said comparison for incrementing said register a number of increments indicative of said phase difference, means responsive to the number stored in said register being different than some reference number and to a periodic control signal for generating sets of signals each comprising output pulses and incrementations of said register until the number stored in said register is said reference number.

Claim 10

A control as claimed in claim 6 further comprising means responsive to the generation of said output pulses for varying the phase of said reference waveform to bring said reference waveform substantially in phase with said input phase pulse.

Claim 11

A control as claimed in claim 7 wherein said means for comparing and storing comprises a first register which receives input pulses applied thereto and may recycle after N input pulses, and means responsive to the phase difference between said input phase pulse and said reference waveform for applying a number of input pulses to said first register to cause said first register to progress to a quantity which differs from the initial position of said register by an amount indicative of said phase difference.

Claim 12

A control as claimed in claim 8 wherein said means for generating output pulses comprises, single pulse generating means for generating a single output pulse only when enabled and when said comparison is over and provided said first register does not contain a representation of said reference condition, feedback pulse generating means for generating feedback pulses substantially coincident with said output pulses, and enabling means responsive to each period of said periodic control signal for enabling said single pulse generating means whereby the recurrence rate of said recurrent control signal controls the maximum output rate of said output pulses.

Claim 13

A control as claimed in claim 9 further comprising range control means responsive to the rate of change of phase of said input signal for generating a plurality of range control signals appropriate for different rates of phase change.

Claim 14

A control as claimed in claim 10 wherein said means for comparing and storing comprises, a second register, means connecting said feedback pulses to the input of said second register to increment said second register, second register feedback means for providing, when not blocked, repetitive pulses to increment said second register, means responsive to appropriate ones of said range control signals for blocking said feedback means, and means responsive to said second register being in a predetermined state for blocking said feedback means and for connecting said output feedback pulse applied to said second register to the input of said first register.

Claim 15

A control as claimed in claim 11 wherein said means for applying a number of inputs to said first register comprises, means for generating first lead and lag zone gating signals which define respectively N discrete small time periods on both sides of the zero phase of the reference waveform, means for generating second lead and lag zone gating signals which are a scale factor larger than said first lead and lag zone gating signals and which define N discrete larger time periods which are a scale factor larger than said small time periods, means responsive to a higher range control signal for changing the condition of said first regisTer by an amount indicative of X where X is the number of large discrete time periods separating the phase of said reference waveform and said input phase pulse, and means in the absence of said higher range control signal for changing the condition of said first register by an amount indicative of X where X is the number of small discrete time periods separating the phase of said reference waveform and said input phase pulse.

Claim 16

A control as claimed in claim 12 further comprising, means for generating a low range command signal, means responsive to a lower range control signal for applying said low range command signal to said single pulse generator whereby each said single output pulse is generated only in response to the application of a low range command signal, feedback control means responsive to the interval of time between the complete generation of a previously determined plurality of substantially evenly spaced pulses in a set of signals and the next detected phase difference, to minimize said interval.

Claim 17

A control as claimed in claim 13 wherein said input phase signal is developed by a resolver connected to a spindle motor and further comprising indexing means responsive to a signal indicative of the rotational position of said spindle motor for blocking said output pulses until said spindle motor reaches a predetermined rotational position.

Claim 18

A control comprising phase comparison means for comparing the phase of an input signal of recurrent nature and a reference waveform of substantially the same recurrence rate, means for storing an indication of the phase difference between said phase compared signals, a pulse counter which cycles after N input pulses and has a rest position corresponding to a count of R, means responsive to said comparison for applying a number of pulses indicative of said phase difference to said pulse counter to cause said counter to count from said rest position R the indicated number of pulses, means responsive to the count in said counter being different than said rest position count and to a periodic control signal for generating output pulses and feedback pulses at a maximum rate equal to the rate of said periodic control signal, and means for applying said feedback pulses to said pulse counter to progress said counter back to the rest position R.

Claim 19

A control comprising phase comparison means for comparing the phase of an input signal of recurrent nature and a reference waveform of substantially the same recurrence rate, means for storing an indication of the phase difference between said phase compared signals, a pulse counter which cycles after N input pulses and has a rest position corresponding to a count of R, means responsive to said comparison for applying a number of pulses indicative of said phase difference to said pulse counter to cause said counter to count from said rest position R the indicated number of pulses, means responsive to the count in said counter being different than said rest position count and to a periodic control signal for generating output pulses and feedback pulses at a maximum rate equal to the rate of said periodic control signal, and means for applying said feedback pulses to said pulse counter to progress said counter back to the rest position R.

Claim 20

A control as claimed in claim 1 in which said stored quantity dependent on the phase difference is stored in digital form, further comprising means responsive to the generation of said output pulses and to said stored indication of phase sense for varying the phase of said reference waveform to bring said reference waveform substantially in phase with said input phase pulse.

Claim 21

A control as claimed in claim 16 further comprising utilization means responsive to said stored indication of the sense of the phase difference for control purposes.