Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

I've been trying to determine the proper algorithm for a gate and/or
trigger delay. Heres the dilemma.
I assume that the length of the gate should be preserved, so the
trailing edge of the gate needs to be delayed by an amount equal to
the leading edge. Delaying a trigger is easier since its just a
very short pulse, but if a module is to allow for the delay of both
gates and triggers, the delay time for the gate and the trigger must
be the same with reasonable precision.
The first question is what happens if the incoming gate ends before
the delayed gate has been produced (assume a delay of 3 seconds with
a gate length of 1 second) is the delayed gate still produced at
the output? or must the incoming gate be present to enable the
delayed gate to be produced at the output?
This leads to the second question. If the delayed gate is to be
produced at the output even if the incoming gate stops, what happens
if the key (or other event) is pushed a second time before the
delayed gate is output? Should the relationship between the leading
edgeof the first gate, the trailing edge of the first gate and the
leading edge of the second gate be preserved?
This is important because it seems to me if multiple events are to
be all delayed and fed through to the delayed output, the circuit
must be a sort of 1-bit shift register with the delay control either
selecting a tap or controlling the clock speed. If multiple events
are not to be preserved a simple analog circuit involving a
capacitor for timing and a couple of analog switches will do the job.
I realize this could be implemented using a PIC and in fact I think
one MOTMer has already done this, but even if a PIC is used the
question is still valid as the algorithm must still be worked out.
I'd certainly like to hear everyones opinion on this one.