System and method for voltage controlled oscillator automatic band selection

Claim 1

A system for establishing the frequency of a voltage controlled oscillator operating within one of a plurality of narrowly defined frequency bands, said system operable to control the selection of the frequency band based upon the frequency of a reference signal, said system comprising: a resonant circuit for establishing a stable output frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator, said resonant circuit having a plurality of selectable elements which operate to establish the set point for the stable output frequency; selection control circuitry for selecting said elements of said resonant circuit, said selection circuitry including: means for monitoring the phase between the reference signal and an output signal of the voltage controlled oscillator and for providing an imbalance signal when an imbalance is determined; means responsive to the imbalance signal for determining whether a selectable element increase or a selectable element decrease is necessary to change said frequency band in order to correct said imbalance, and for providing an element increase signal or an element decrease signal; and means, including a binary counter, and controlled by said element increase signal or said element decrease signal, for changing an existing setting of the currently enabled selectable elements.

Claim 2

A system for establishing the frequency of a voltage controlled oscillator operating within one of a plurality of narrowly defined frequency bands, said system operable to control the selection of the frequency band based upon the frequency of a reference signal, said system comprising: a resonant circuit for establishing a stable output frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator, said resonant circuit having a plurality of selectable elements which operate to establish the set point for the stable output frequency; selection control circuitry for selecting said elements of said resonant circuit, said selection circuitry including: means for monitoring the phase between the reference signal and an output signal of the voltage controlled oscillator and for providing an imbalance signal when an imbalance is determined; means responsive to the imbalance signal for determining whether a selectable element increase or a selectable element decrease is necessary to change said frequency band in order to correct said imbalance, and for providing an element increase signal or an element decrease signal; and means, including a binary counter, and controlled by said element increase signal or said element decrease signal, for changing an existing setting of the currently enabled selectable elements.

Claim 6

A method for establishing the frequency of a voltage controlled oscillator operating within one of a plurality of narrowly defined frequency bands, said method operable to control the selection of the frequency band based upon the frequency of a reference signal, said method comprising the steps of: establishing a stable output frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator by the use of a resonant circuit having a plurality of selectable elements which operate to establish the set point for the stable output frequency; selecting one or more of said elements of said resonant circuit, said selecting step including the steps of: monitoring the phase between the reference signal and an output signal of the voltage controlled oscillator and providing an imbalance signal when an imbalance is determined; determining by said imbalance signal whether a selectable element increase or a selectable element decrease is necessary to change said output frequency in order to correct the imbalance, and providing an element increase signal or an element decrease signal; and changing an existing setting of the currently enabled selectable elements in response to said element increase signal or element decrease signal.

Claim 7

A method for establishing the frequency of a voltage controlled oscillator operating within one of a plurality of narrowly defined frequency bands, said method operable to control the selection of the frequency band based upon the frequency of a reference signal, said method comprising the steps of: establishing a stable output frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator by the use of a resonant circuit having a plurality of selectable elements which operate to establish the set point for the stable output frequency; selecting one or more of said elements of said resonant circuit, said selecting step including the steps of: monitoring the phase between the reference signal and an output signal of the voltage controlled oscillator and providing an imbalance signal when an imbalance is determined; determining by said imbalance signal whether a selectable element increase or a selectable element decrease is necessary to change said output frequency in order to correct the imbalance, and providing an element increase signal or an element decrease signal; and changing an existing setting of the currently enabled selectable elements in response to said element increase signal or element decrease signal.