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EP0516379A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Digital voltage-controlled oscillators

Assignee: Sony Corp
•
Filing: 1992-05-27
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2012-05-27
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Abstract

Abstract A digital VCO comprises a ring oscillator (1) formed of a plurality of inverters (11a ... 11o) connected in series, each inverter (11a ... 11o) being capable of controlling its delay amount, and a frequency control circuit (2) for controlling the oscillation frequency of the ring oscillator (1) to correspond to a reference frequency. A selector switch (3) is provided for selecting specified output taps from output taps (101 ... 115) of the ring oscillator (1), one output tap (101 ... 115) being provided for each of the inverters (11a ... 110), to take the output therefrom, and switching control means (4) are provided for controlling the selector switch (3) such that the output taps from which the output is taken are switched cyclically.

Inventors

  • 👤 Takaaki C/O Pat. Div. Sony Corporation Yamada
  • 👤 Hiroshi C/O Pat. Div. Sony Corporation Yamagata

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-30 15:56
CPC Classifications
H; H03; H03L; H03L7/00; H03L7/06; H03L7/16; H03K; H03K3/00; H03K3/02; H03K3/027; H03K3/03; H03K3/0315; H03L7/08; H03L7/099; H03L7/0995; H03L7/0996

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 4
Claim 1
Independent Claim 119 words
A digital VCO comprising: a ring oscillator (1) formed of a plurality of inverters (11a ... 11o) connected in series, each inverter (11a ... 11o) being capable of controlling its delay amount; a frequency control circuit (2) for controlling the oscillation frequency of said ring oscillator (1) to correspond to a reference frequency; a selector switch (3) for selecting specified output taps from output taps (101 ... 115) of the ring oscillator (1), one output tap (101 ... 115) being provided for each of said inverters (11a ... 11o), to take the output therefrom; and switching control means (4) for controlling said selector switch (3) such that the output taps from which the output is taken are switched cyclically.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 30 words
A digital VCO according to claim 1, wherein said switching control means (4) comprises a rate multiplier (12), a frequency divider (13), an up/down counter (14), and a decoder (15).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 24 words
A digital VCO according to claim 1, wherein said switching control means comprises an adder (20), a latch circuit (21), and a decoder (15).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 46 words
A digital VCO according to any preceding claim, comprising a latch circuit (17) operative to latch an output of the decoder (15) in synchronism with the output of said ring oscillator (1) so that an unwanted pulse is prevented from being produced in the output signal.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

EP0403990A2 Cited

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