Patents by Inventor Patrick T. Lynch

Patrick T. Lynch has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7944261
    Abstract: Method and apparatus for detecting clock loss in clock circuit. An example of the invention relates to detecting loss of a feedback clock signal input to a digital clock manager, where the feedback clock signal is derived from the reference clock signal. A clock divider is provided to produce a divided feedback clock signal from the feedback clock signal. A first pair of flip-flops is configured to store samples of the divided feedback clock signal on consecutive edges of the reference clock signal. A second pair of flip-flops is configured to store samples of the divided feedback clock signal on consecutive edges of an inversion of the reference clock signal. Detection logic is configured to detect whether each of the first pair of flip-flops and each of the second pair of flip-flops store the same value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2011
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick T. Lynch, Amit Wadhwa
  • Patent number: 6847246
    Abstract: Method and apparatus for reducing power dissipation and jitter in a delay line is described. The delay line includes a plurality of delay elements. At least one of the plurality of delay elements includes a gate terminal configured to receive gate control signals for activating or deactivating one or more of the delay elements. The delay line further includes gate control circuitry for providing gate control signals to the gate terminal of at least one of the plurality of delay elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2005
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Alireza S. Kaviani, Patrick T. Lynch, Paul G. Hyland, Patrick J. Crotty, Tao Pi
  • Patent number: 6788119
    Abstract: Delay lock loops (DLLs) that include delay line circuits with an optional clock pulse width restoration feature, and programmable delay circuits that enable the DLLs. A DLL can include optional inversions before and after at least one of the delay lines included in the DLL. Because two inversions are provided, the overall logic of the delay line is preserved. A DLL typically includes several different delay lines. Therefore, by selectively inverting the clock signal between the delay lines, the effect of each delay line on the clock pulse width can be balanced to provide an output clock signal having a pulse width closer to that of the input clock than would be achievable without the use of such selective inversion. In embodiments where the DLL forms a portion of a programmable logic device (PLD), the optional inversions can be controlled, for example, by configuration memory cells of the PLD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2004
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Paul G. Hyland, Patrick T. Lynch