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saturating n bit counter

Hi,
i am confused with saturating n bit counter. Is it not simply a
normal counter with following sequence ??

000
001
010
100
101
110
111 ??

if so what is the difference between normal counter and saturating
counter ?
 
P

Peter Bennett

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,
i am confused with saturating n bit counter. Is it not simply a
normal counter with following sequence ??

000
001
010
100
101
110
111 ??

if so what is the difference between normal counter and saturating
counter ?


I have never heard the term "saturating counter" in some 40 years of
working in electronics.

However, I might make a wild guess that a "staturating counter" is one
which counts up to its maximum value, then stops, rather than "rolling
over" to zero, and starting again.

Where did you see this term? Can you give any more information that
might clarify the meaning?

--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
new newsgroup users info : http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca
 
S

Sjouke Burry

Jan 1, 1970
0
Peter said:
I have never heard the term "saturating counter" in some 40 years of
working in electronics.

However, I might make a wild guess that a "staturating counter" is one
which counts up to its maximum value, then stops, rather than "rolling
over" to zero, and starting again.

Where did you see this term? Can you give any more information that
might clarify the meaning?
The list shows a nice graycode start.
Graycode changes one bit at a time, so to get
a normal count, you need a translation table.
The name should probably be graycode counter.
Has often been used to minimize transmission
errors.
 
I have never heard the term "saturating counter" in some 40 years of
working in electronics.

However, I might make a wild guess that a "staturating counter" is one
which counts up to its maximum value, then stops, rather than "rolling
over" to zero, and starting again.

Where did you see this term? Can you give any more information that
might clarify the meaning?

--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
new newsgroup users info :http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq
GPS and NMEA info:http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron:http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca




well i encountered this countere while I was reading computer
architecture's branch prediction strategy, even wiki mentions this
counter...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_prediction

that is what makes me confused ...what is so much special about this
counter ??
 
R

Rich Grise

Jan 1, 1970
0
well i encountered this countere while I was reading computer
architecture's branch prediction strategy, even wiki mentions this
counter...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_prediction

that is what makes me confused ...what is so much special about this
counter ??

It sounds, from context, that it's just an up-down counter that doesn't
wrap. i.e., given "up" counts it counts to (say) 3, then won't count
any more, but the next "down" count decrements it to 2, and so on, down
to zero, where it won't decrement any more, but can still count up again.

Hope This Helps!
Rich
 
R

Roger Dewhurst

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi,
i am confused with saturating n bit counter. Is it not simply a
normal counter with following sequence ??

000
001
010
100
101
110
111 ??

if so what is the difference between normal counter and saturating
counter ?

Perhaps you are referring to a counter that is saturated by the incoming
signals. An example is a scintillometer used to count gamma rays. If the
count rate reaches a point at which the average time between counts equals
the time it takes for the processor to count the signals the device is
saturated. At hight count rates which fall below saturation level it is
necessary to apply a mathematical correction to make up for the signals that
are lost through overlap with a previous signal. I have forgotton the
equation, but it is quite a simple one.

R
 
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