Phase-multiplexed CCD transversal filter

Claim 1

A phase-multiplexed CCD transversal filter, comprising: a multi-phase sampling clock source for producing a plurality of sampling clock signals having a predetermined frequency and different predetermined phases of a single clock cycle; a plurality of charge coupled devices defining serially arranged delay elements, each of said charge coupled devices receiving a different sampling clock signal so that said charge coupled devices acquire samples of an input signal in a predetermined consecutive order; means for sensing the value of the charge stored in said serially arranged delay elements and combining predetermined weighting coefficients therewith; and means for summing said sensed and weighted values to provide an output signal which is related to the input signal in accordance with a predetermined transfer function, wherein said plurality of charge coupled devices consists of N CCD's connected in parallel, said multiphase sampling clock source produces N clock signals having the same frequency f c so that the apparent sampling frequency f s =Nf c , and each CCD has M taps so that said filter appears to comprise a single CCD having a length of N times M elements.