17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the selective outputting comprises: generating a first comparison signal based on a comparison between chronologically successive values of a signal derived from the counter word; generating a second comparison signal based on a comparison between chronologically successive values of a signal derived from the integrator word; and forwarding the phase error word or the first reference word or the second reference word based on the first and second comparison signals.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the selective outputting comprises: generating a first comparison signal based on a comparison between chronologically successive values of a signal derived from the counter word; generating a second comparison signal based on a comparison between chronologically successive values of a signal derived from the integrator word; and forwarding the phase error word or the first reference word or the second reference word based on the first and second comparison signals. 18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the selective outputting further comprises: forwarding the first reference word if in a predetermined time period a number of signal pulses in the first comparison signal is less than a number of signal pulses in the second comparison signal; forwarding the second reference word if in the predetermined time period the number of signal pulses in the first comparison signal is greater than the number of signal pulses in the second comparison signal; or forwarding the phase error word if in the predetermined time period the number of signal pulses in the first comparison signal is equal to the number of signal pulses in the second comparison signal.