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US6121808A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

DLL calibrated phase multiplexer and interpolator

Assignee: National Semiconductor Corp
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Filing: 1998-05-18
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Granted: 2000-09-19
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Expires: 2018-05-18
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Abstract

Abstract A programmable phase adjuster spans a clock signal's period with N linearly distributed phase steps. The resulting phase adjust resolution is finer than that of an inverter delay for a given process. Enhancement of the phase resolution of a phase picker CRM architecture enables use of the architecture for recovering clock signals from high data rate data streams in a way that minimizes power and area and allows optimization for multi-channel applications.

Inventors

  • 👤 Brian Gaudet

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-29 10:10
CPC Classifications
H; H03; H03L; H03L7/00; H03K; H03K5/00; H03K5/13; H03K5/131; H03L7/06; H03L7/08; H03L7/081; H03L7/0812; H03L7/0814; H03L7/0818

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 2
Claim 1
Independent Claim 228 words
A delay interpolation circuit comprising: a phase interpolator calibrator that takes adjacent coarse phase signals from a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and uses closed loop feedback to create a reference current that is used to bias a digital-to-analog converter DAC such that the full range of the DAC causes a current controlled delay cell to span a delay equal to the phase difference between adjacent coarse phase signals in a linear manner; a delay interpolator that delays a clock signal output received from a phase multiplexer by an integer multiple N of a predefined phase delay, clock signal output delay being calibrated by the phase interpolator calibrator; a delay adjuster connected to the delay interpolator for providing the value of N to the delay interpolator; a delay selector that responds to a phase difference signal corresponding to the phase difference between an incoming data signal and a reference signal by providing corresponding first and second control signals, the first control signal being provided to the delay adjuster for use in determining the value of N; and a coarse phase selector that responds to the second control signal by providing a coarse phase select signal to the phase multiplexer, the coarse phase select signal causing the phase multiplexer to select the clock signal from among a plurality of coarse phase-separated clock signals provided as inputs to the phase multiplexer.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 228 words
A delay interpolation circuit comprising: a phase interpolator calibrator that takes adjacent coarse phase signals from a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and uses closed loop feedback to create a reference current that is used to bias a digital-to-analog converter DAC such that the full range of the DAC causes a current controlled delay cell to span a delay equal to the phase difference between adjacent coarse phase signals in a linear manner; a delay interpolator that delays a clock signal output received from a phase multiplexer by an integer multiple N of a predefined phase delay, clock signal output delay being calibrated by the phase interpolator calibrator; a delay adjuster connected to the delay interpolator for providing the value of N to the delay interpolator; a delay selector that responds to a phase difference signal corresponding to the phase difference between an incoming data signal and a reference signal by providing corresponding first and second control signals, the first control signal being provided to the delay adjuster for use in determining the value of N; and a coarse phase selector that responds to the second control signal by providing a coarse phase select signal to the phase multiplexer, the coarse phase select signal causing the phase multiplexer to select the clock signal from among a plurality of coarse phase-separated clock signals provided as inputs to the phase multiplexer.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 2003-09-19 2004-03-20 2004-09-19 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 2007-09-19 2008-03-20 2008-09-19 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2011-09-19 2012-03-20 2012-09-19 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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