Patents Assigned to Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
  • Patent number: 10003340
    Abstract: A multi-format signal driver interface has first, second and third pairs of transistors arranged in a back-to-back relationship. First transistors and second transistors of the first and second pairs of transistors form respective first and second parallel arrangement. The first transistors of the third pair of transistors are in series with the first parallel arrangement, and the second transistors of the third pair of transistors are in series with the second parallel arrangement. The sizing of the second pair of transistors is greater than the first and third pairs of transistors. A pre-driver module configures the multi-format signal driver interface to output a selected signal format. A differential amplifier is selectively couple-able to said pre-driver module to provide a common mode voltage. In each format the interface employs a current loop in the output. The transistor pairs are one-to-one loaded in each mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventor: Chi Yu Lung
  • Patent number: 9858134
    Abstract: A low latency digital clock fault detector has an edge detector including a delay line generating pulses on edges o an incoming clock signal of a width determined by the length of said delay line. A watchdog timer with flip-flops in a pipeline configuration has a first input held at a static logic level, a second input receiving a reference clock, and a third reset input. The watchdog is being responsive to the pulses to maintain a stable output in the presence of said pulses and generate a fault indication in the absence of the pulses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: Mark A Warriner, Mark L Thrower
  • Patent number: 9667237
    Abstract: In a digital phase locked loop comprising a PLL loop including a first software-implemented controlled oscillator (SDCO) responsive to a control value to generate output phase and frequency values locked to a reference input signal, and a hardware-implemented controlled oscillator responsive to output phase and frequency values from said first SDCO to synthesize said clock signals, hardware delays are compensated for by sampling said synthesized clock signals, or derivatives thereof, to generate synthesized clock phase values. The synthesized clock signal phase values are compared with feedback phase values derived from the PLL loop to generate a compensation value to modify the synthesized clock signals or derivatives thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: MICROSEMI SEMICONDUCTOR ULC
    Inventors: Qu Gary Jin, Paul H. L. M. Schram, Krste Mitric, Cathy Zhang, Gabriel Rusaneanu, Wenbao Wang
  • Patent number: 9647674
    Abstract: A clock signal generator responsive to synchronization pulses to perform actions has a phase locked loop (PLL) part including a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) and an output driver coupled to the DCO, and a synthesizer part including a frequency synthesizer responsive to frequency and phase information from the DCO to generate a synthesized clock and programmable output dividers for generating output clocks from the synthesized clock. An interface establishes communication between the PLL part and the synthesizer part. The output driver is programmed to compute a phase offset required to align a selected output divider with the phase of the DCO and transmit the computed offset to the selected output divider over said interface for application to said selected output divider upon the occurrence of a synchronization pulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: Paul H. L. M. Schram, Krste Mitric, Gabriel Rusaneanu
  • Patent number: 9634675
    Abstract: A phase locked loop with holdover mode has a loop filter for creating an offset frequency value for a controlled oscillator. The loop filter includes a register for storing the current offset frequency value the said controlled oscillator. A first multiplexer responsive to a holdover signal selects, depending on the quality of a reference signal, the output of the loop filter or a holdover queue to control the controlled oscillator. A second multiplexer responsive to the holdover signal selects for input to the register, depending on the quality of the reference signal, the sum of an output of the register and a value derived from the current phase difference between the output of the controlled oscillator and the reference signal or a current output value of the holdover queue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: Paul H. L. M. Schram, Krste Mitric
  • Patent number: 9595972
    Abstract: Master clock redundancy is provided for a digital phase locked loop having a digital controlled oscillator (DCO) driven by a master clock source, for example, a crystal oscillator. One of a plurality of a crystal oscillators generating clock signals is selected to drive the DCO. The performance of the crystal oscillators is monitored, and the DCO is switched from being driven by a previously selected crystal oscillator to a newly selected crystal oscillator upon loss of a clock signal from the previously selected crystal oscillator or when the performance of the previously selected crystal oscillator falls below a predetermined acceptable level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: Slobodan Milijevic, Johannes Hermanus Aloysius de Rijk, Paul H. L. M. Schram, Mark A Warriner
  • Patent number: 9584138
    Abstract: A multi-channel phase locked loop (PLL) device has a plurality of PLL channels. Each channel includes a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) supplying an output clock, via an output divider, to a respective output pin. A first multiplexer selects any of the PLL channels for alignment. A feedback calibration PLL is responsive to a feedback signal derived from an output clock of a selected channel at the respective output pin. A delay control module is responsive to an output of the feedback calibration PLL to adjust the phase of the output clock.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: Krste Mitric, Qu Gary Jin, Guohui Situ, Paul H. L. M. Schram, Changhui Cathy Zhang, Richard Geiss
  • Patent number: 9503254
    Abstract: A loop filter in a modified phase locked loop has a proportional path generating first output signal that is proportional to an input signal and an integral path for generating a second output signal that is an integral of the input signal. An additional functional path generates a third output signal that is a predetermined function of the input signal. The predetermined function is of the form f(s)/g(s), where f and g are polynomial functions. An adder combines the first, second, and third output signals into a common output signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: Kamran Rahbar, Peter Crosby
  • Patent number: 9444474
    Abstract: A multi-loop phase locked loop (PLL) system with noise attenuation has a first PLL including a local oscillator, a second PLL coupled to an output of the first PLL, and a third PLL in a feedback path between the second PLL and first PLL. A first phase comparator compares an input signal with the first feedback signal to generate a first phase error signal for the first PLL. The first phase error signal is multiplied by a scaling factor k determining the amount of noise attenuation. The third PLL has a bandwidth preferably at least ten times higher than the second PLL so that the overall transfer function of the second and third PLLs is approximately the transfer function of the second PLL. The transfer function of the third PLL is multiplied by a scaling factor 1/k. This arrangement allows the use of an uncompensated local oscillator in the first PLL. The noise generated in the uncompensated local oscillator is reduced by the attenuation factor k.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: Kamran Rahbar, Qu Gary Jin
  • Patent number: 9444461
    Abstract: A universal input buffer has a pair of input pins. A first input of a multiplexer is coupled to the second input pin and a second input of the multiplexer receives a common mode voltage of a differential signal applied to the first pin. The multiplexer is responsive to a selection signal to select either of the first and second inputs of said multiplexer. A pair of single-input buffers have inputs coupled respectively to the first and second input pins. A first input of a first differential buffer is coupled to the first input pin, a first input of a second differential buffer is coupled to the second input pin, the second input of the first differential buffer is coupled to the output of the multiplexer, and the second input of the second differential buffer receives a common mode voltage of a differential signal applied to the second pin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: Slobodan Milijevic, Guohui Situ
  • Patent number: 9444470
    Abstract: A double phase-locked has a first phase-locked loop including a first narrowband loop filter configured to reduce phase noise in a first input clock, and a second phase-locked loop including a second loop filter configured to receive a second input clock from a stable clock source. The second clock has a frequency close to said first clock. The first loop has a bandwidth at least an order of magnitude less than the second loop. A coupler couples the first and second phase-locked loops to provide a common output. The double phase-locked loop can be used, for example, to provide time-of-day information in wireless networks or as a fine filter for cleaning phase noise from clock signals recovered over telecom/datacom networks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventor: Slobodan Milijevic
  • Patent number: 9209965
    Abstract: A network interface for recovering timing information over packet networks has line card at the edge of a local network and a timing card separate from the line card. A physical interface time-stamps incoming timing packets based on smoothed recovered clock signals. A clock recovery module on the line card generates timing signals from the time-stamped incoming timing packets. A first phase locked generates raw clock signals from the timing signals. A second phase locked loop on the timing card generates the smoothed clock signals from said raw clock signals and applies them to the clock recovery module on the line card.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: Kamran Rahbar, Peter Crosby
  • Patent number: 9143138
    Abstract: A phase locked loop frequency synthesizer has a controlled oscillator for generating an output signal at a desired frequency, a phase/frequency detector module for comparing a feedback signal derived from the controlled oscillator with a reference signal to generate an error signal, a loop filter for processing said at least one error signal from said phase/frequency detector module to generate a combined control signal for the controlled oscillator. The gain of the phase/frequency detector module can be adjusted, preferably by varying the pulse width and pulse cycle, to maintain the overall gain of the phase locked loop within a given range and thereby maximize signal to noise ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: Jun Steed Huang, Guohui Kobe Situ
  • Patent number: 9124415
    Abstract: A clock generator with glitchless phase adjustment having a phase locked loop with a controlled oscillator providing an output representing a phase value. One or more output modules generate one or more output clocks from the output. One or more adjustment modules add a requested phase adjustment to an output clock. The phase adjustment modules are configured to break the requested phase adjustment into smaller increments and apply the increments to an output clock generated in said at the output modules one cycle at a time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: David Colby, Joep De Rijk, Paul H. L. M. Schram, Tanmay Zargar
  • Patent number: 9094185
    Abstract: A digital phase locked loop has a phase acquisition module that outputs a first phase value representative of the phase of a reference signal expressed with respect to an internal phase reference. A phase offset write module convert a phases offset commanded from an external source into a phase offset correction value expressed with respect to the internal phase reference. A phase offset controller sums the phase offset correction values to produce a second phase value, which is added to the first phase value to produce a third phase value expressed with respect to the internal phase reference. A digital controlled oscillator (DCO) outputs a fourth phase value expressed with respect to the internal phase reference. A phase detector outputs a fifth phase value representing the difference between the third and fourth phase values. A loop filter derives a frequency offset for the DCO based on the fifth phase value. An output module generates one or more output clocks from the fourth phase value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: MICROSEMI SEMICONDUCTOR ULC
    Inventors: Paul H. L. M. Schram, Krste Mitric, Slobodan Milijevic, Tanmay Zargar, David Colby
  • Patent number: 9058286
    Abstract: A digital infinite impulse response filter has a plurality of cascaded filter elements, with each filter element defining a pole of the filter and wherein the poles lie inside a unit circle. The filter elements are configured such that the p of the last filter element is a real number. In one embodiment the poles are arranged as complex conjugate pairs. In another embodiment the real part of the output of each filter element is extracted before being passed to the next filter element. This architecture offers improved idle tone with reduced complexity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventor: Qu Gary Jin
  • Patent number: 9059811
    Abstract: In a computer-implemented method of adjusting a local clock at a receiver in a packet network, the local clock is generated by a phase locked loop locked to a master clock with the aid of time-stamped timing packets arriving over the network from the master clock with a packet delay distribution about a nominal delay. The timing packets are filtered to adjust for the packet delay distribution. A control input for the phase locked loop is derived from the timing packets. The amount of skew in the packet delay distribution about the nominal delay is determined, and the arrival times of timing packets are then selectively modified to correct for the amount of skew in the packet delay variation distribution prior to filtering the timing packets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: Jun Huang, Gary Q. Jin
  • Patent number: 8971548
    Abstract: A method of reducing noise in an environment where the noise source is in a fixed location relative to a pair of microphones, such as in a camera with a zoom motor, involves receiving signals x1(t), x2(t) from the respective microphones, and filtering each of the signals x1(t), x2(t) with respective first and second linear filters having filter coefficients obtained by computing eigenfilters corresponding to data samples from the respective microphones for noise only and signal only conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: Kamran Rahbar, Dean Morgan
  • Patent number: 8957711
    Abstract: Phase slope is controlled in a phase locked loop wherein a phase error signal controlling a controlled oscillator has a proportional component and an integral component, by determining whether the proportional component falls within a range bounded by upper and lower limit values. The proportional component is combined with the integral component if the proportional component falls within the range to provide the phase error signal. Otherwise, the proportional component is modified to meet a phase slope requirement while leaving the integral component unmodified. The modified proportional component is combined with the unmodified integral component to provide the phase error signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventors: Q. Gary Jin, Kamran Rahbar, Krste Mitric, Tanmay Zargar
  • Patent number: 8941424
    Abstract: A digital phase locked loop has a digital controlled oscillator, a phase comparator comparing the output signal of the digital controlled oscillator, or a signal derived therefrom, with a reference signal to produce a phase error signal. A loop filter produces a control signal for the digital controlled oscillator from an output of the phase comparator the loop filter. The loop filter has a proportional part producing a proportional component of the control signal, an integral part producing an integral component of the control signal, and an adder receiving the respective proportional and integral components at first and second inputs thereof to produce the control signal. The integral part includes a delayed feedback loop normally configured to accept the integral component at an input thereof. A first switch replaces the integral component at the input of the delayed feedback loop by the control signal in response to an activation signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2015
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor ULC
    Inventor: Qu Gary Jin