Synchronizing Patents (Class 327/141)
  • Publication number: 20140078852
    Abstract: For example, a semiconductor device includes a first latency counter, which selects whether to give an odd-cycle latency to an internal command signal; and a second latency counter, which gives a latency to an internal command signal at intervals of two cycles. The latency counters are connected in series. Since the number of bits in control information, which is used to set a latency, is smaller than the types of settable latency as a result, it is possible to reduce wiring density.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2013
    Publication date: March 20, 2014
    Applicant: Elpida Memory, Inc.
    Inventor: Hiroki Fujisawa
  • Patent number: 8674736
    Abstract: A method of synchronizing clock signals may include generating a replicated delay associated with a delay of a clock signal path. The clock signal path may be associated with communication of a slave clock signal by a master block of a circuit to a slave block of the circuit. The method may further include selecting the slave clock signal from one of multiple clock signals based on the replicated delay. Each of the multiple clock signals may have a same frequency and a different phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventor: Asako Toda
  • Patent number: 8664983
    Abstract: A clock data recovery circuit includes a sampler circuit, a filter circuit, a control circuit, and a phase shift circuit. The sampler circuit samples input data in response to a clock signal. The filter circuit is coupled to the sampler circuit. The control circuit is coupled to the filter circuit. The phase shift circuit provides the clock signal to the sampler circuit. The control circuit causes the phase shift circuit to shift a phase of the clock signal by a first phase shift, and by a second phase shift after the phase of the clock signal has shifted by the first phase shift, in response to the filter circuit indicating to shift the phase of the clock signal by more than a predefined phase shift.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Altera Corporation
    Inventor: Lip Kai Soh
  • Patent number: 8659332
    Abstract: A signal circuit includes a clock terminal for transmitting a reference clock and a data terminal for transmitting an input/output data. In an embodiment, the frequency of the reference clock is one-eighth of the bit rate of the input/output data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2014
    Assignee: Raydium Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Ko-Yang Tso, Hui-Wen Miao, Yann-Hsiung Liang, Chin-Chieh Chao, Ren-Feng Huang
  • Patent number: 8649474
    Abstract: In a synchronous detection of an OFDM signal as an input signal composed of carrier waves, a clock generation part generates clock signals CK1 to CKk having a frequency quadruple of a frequency of each of carrier waves. A TAD sequentially calculates a moving average of the input signal by using the clock signals CK1 to CKk every quarter period of each carrier wave. A detection processing part sequentially executes addition-subtraction operation of the moving average values obtained by the TAD in order to calculate an amplitude value of each carrier wave. An unwanted component eliminating part subtracts amplitude values containing components of carrier waves having an odd multiple frequency of the carrier wave thereof from the amplitude values of the carrier waves in the input signal by a value which is an odd-submultiple of the amplitude value of the carrier wave having the odd-multiplied frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2014
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventor: Tomohito Terazawa
  • Patent number: 8649419
    Abstract: A method for compensator for comparator offset is provided. A first propagation delay for a first signal traversing a comparator to a first output terminal of the comparator and a second propagation delay for a second signal traversing the comparator to a second output terminal of the comparator are measured. The first and second propagation delays are then compared to generate a comparison result, and the comparator is adjusted to compensate for an input voltage offset based at least in part on the comparison result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2014
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: Robert F. Payne
  • Patent number: 8643411
    Abstract: A system for generating a gated clock signal includes an AND gate and a clock gating cell. The AND gate receives a reset signal and an input clock signal and generates a clock signal that is provided to a clock input terminal of the clock gating cell. The clock gating cell generates a gated clock signal based on an input signal and the clock signal. Gating the clock input to a latch allows a means for conserving power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventors: Gaurav Goyal, Amol Agarwal, Abhishek Mahajan
  • Patent number: 8643410
    Abstract: A system for compensating for variations in the frequency of an input clock signal having a first frequency includes a coarse counter that receives the input clock signal, counts a predetermined number of clock pulses of the input clock signal, and generates a coarse compensated clock signal having a second frequency. A first compensation module adjusts a clock pulse of the input clock signal based on a coarse compensation value. A residual period adjustment module accumulates a fine compensation value for each clock pulse of the coarse compensated clock signal. A fine counter operates at a third frequency of a fine clock signal, receives an adjusted delay value based on the accumulated fine compensation value, counts a number of fine clock pulses in each clock pulse of the coarse compensated clock signal, and generates a fine compensated clock signal having the second frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventors: Prashant Bhargava, Mohit Arora, James R. Feddeler, Martin Mienkina
  • Patent number: 8643412
    Abstract: Provided is a test apparatus that tests a device under test, comprising a phase comparing section that compares a phase of an internal clock generated in the test apparatus and a phase of a clock superimposed on a device signal output by the device under test; an adjusting section that adjusts a phase shift amount of the internal clock with respect to the device signal, based on the phase comparison result; an acquiring section that acquires the device signal according to the internal clock whose phase shift amount with respect to the device signal is adjusted; and an inhibiting section that inhibits change of the phase shift amount based on the phase comparison result, for at least a portion of a period during which the clock is not superimposed on the device signal. Also provided is a test method relating to the test apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Advantest Corporation
    Inventor: Daisuke Watanabe
  • Patent number: 8635040
    Abstract: A signal measuring device, comprises one set, or a plurality of sets, of measuring unit(s) measuring an object of measurement in synch with a driving clock signal for measurement and outputting result of measurement as first data, and a timing identification unit which, in accordance with a measurement-start command, outputs a value, which differs every period, as second data in synch with a reference signal having a prescribed period and a speed lower than that of the driving clock signal; and a storage unit collecting and successively storing the first data and the second data as one set in synch with the driving clock signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2014
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Koichi Nose, Masayuki Mizuno, Atsufumi Shibayama
  • Patent number: 8634506
    Abstract: Generate a series of digital data according to a pair of differential signals received from a low speed universal serial bus. Calibrate coarsely a frequency of an oscillator according to a width of an end-of-packet of the series of digital data. And calibrate finely the frequency of the oscillator according to a width of a SYNC pattern of the series of digital data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2014
    Assignee: Weltrend Semiconductor Inc.
    Inventors: Fu-Yuan Hsiao, Ke-Ning Pan
  • Patent number: 8634510
    Abstract: A bang-bang frequency detector with no data pattern dependency is provided. In examples, the detector recovers a clock from received data, such as data having a non-return to zero (NRZ) format. A first bang-bang phase detector (BBPD) provides first phase information about a phase difference between a sample clock and the clock embedded in the received data. A second BBPD provides second phase information about a second phase difference between the clock embedded in the received data and a delayed version of the sample clock. A frequency difference between the sample clock and the clock embedded in the received data is determined based on the first and second phase differences. The frequency difference can be used to adjust the frequency of the sample clock. A lock detector can be coupled to a BBPD output to determine if the sample clock is locked to the clock embedded in the received data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Xiaohua Kong, Vannam Dang, Tirdad Sowlati
  • Patent number: 8634503
    Abstract: A clock-data recovery system and method promotes fast adjustment to large phase changes in the incoming data signal. The system can include phase alignment circuitry, clock generator circuitry, time-to-digital converter circuitry, and sampling circuitry. The phase alignment circuitry uses the incoming data signal and a feedback clock signal to generate an output clock signal. The clock generator circuitry uses the output clock signal to generate base phase clock signals of different phases or polarities. The time-to-digital converter circuitry uses the base phase clock signals and the incoming data signal to generate the feedback clock signal. The time-to-digital converter circuitry bases the feedback clock signal on the base phase clock signal that is aligned more closely in phase with the incoming data signal than the other base phase clock signals. The sampling circuitry re-times or recovers the data signal using one or more of the base phase clock signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2014
    Inventors: Brian J. Misek, Robert K. Barnes, Peter J. Meier
  • Patent number: 8629699
    Abstract: A clock data recovery circuit which has a high degree of jitter tolerance and can alleviate increase in the phase number of a multi-phase clock, power consumption, and a semiconductor chip area is provided. Each circuit of plural edge detection circuits comprises a first edge detection circuit and a second edge detection circuit. The first detection circuit detects that a data edge leads in phase more than ?1 phase from an edge detection phase, the second detection circuit detects that the data edge laggs in phase more than +1 phase from the edge detection phase. In response to the first output signal or the second output signal, the edge detection phase is changed by the amount of ?1 phase or +1 phase. When the data edge is detected in the range of ±1 phase, a next edge detection phase is maintained in the current state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2014
    Assignee: Renesas Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Yusuke Wachi, Takayuki Noto, Tomoaki Takahashi, Takashi Kawamoto
  • Publication number: 20140009633
    Abstract: A system and method for utilizing multiple configurable lanes for clock and data transfer in source synchronous systems that may utilize a clock signal from another source for interpreting data received from the source. In an embodiment, a system may include a transmitter configured to transmit at least one clock signal and at least one data signal to a receiver device. The receiver device may have at least one clock lane and at least one data lane for receiving signals from the transmitter device. The clock lane(s) and data lane(s) can be arranged in any order as per requirement of system design. In the receiver, after manufacture, each data lane may be configured to be clocked by any clock lane.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2012
    Publication date: January 9, 2014
    Applicant: STMICROELECTRONICS PVT. LTD
    Inventors: Sanjeev CHOPRA, Hiten ADVANI
  • Patent number: 8620605
    Abstract: A method for detecting and determining a position of faults using reflectometry in a wired electrical network including: injecting a test signal e(t) into a cable in the electrical network, a timing of successive injections being controlled by a synchronization module that generates an emission clock signal and a reception clock signal; retrieving a reflected signal on the cable; sampling the reflected signal at a frequency Fe=1/Te, where Te is a sampling period; counting a number of samples obtained for the reflected signal and comparing the number of samples obtained with a number n predefined as a function of a length of the cable or the electrical network to be diagnosed, where n is an integer; repeating the injecting, the sampling, and the counting steps N times, shifting the emission clock signal by a duration ?; reconstituting the reflected signal from n*N samples obtained; and analyzing the reconstituted reflected signal to detect a fault.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives
    Inventors: Julien Guilhemsang, Fabrice Auzanneau, Yannick Bonhomme
  • Patent number: 8618967
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and circuits provide a time to digital converter comprising a sigma-delta modulator. The sigma-delta based time to digital converter may receive an analog signal representing a phase error between a reference clock signal and a feedback clock signal and generate a digital signal representing the phase error. The sigma-delta modulator may comprise a subtractor, an integrator, a feedback path, and a quantizer. The subtractor may receive the analog signal and subtract a feedback signal from the analog signal and the integrator may integrate the output of the subtractor. The sigma-delta modulator may accumulate a voltage or a charge over a capacitor as pulses are received from the analog signal and after a number of clock cycles, the capacitor may be discharged to generate a pulse in an output signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Broadcom Corporation
    Inventors: Parastoo Nikaeen, Stefanos Sidiropoulos, Marc Joseph Loinaz
  • Patent number: 8619934
    Abstract: A clock data recovery system is described. It includes a high pass filter for transmitting a filtered data signal in response to receiving an input data signal; an adder for summing the filtered data signal with a feedback signal, wherein the adder produces a summed input signal; a plurality of clocked data comparators for receiving the summed input signal, wherein the clocked data comparators determine an input data bit value; a plurality of clocked error comparators for receiving an error signal associated with clock recovery; an equalization and adaptation logic for selecting an error sample such that a phase associated with the error sample is locked at a second post cursor; and a phase mixer for transmitting a delay in response to receiving the phase and the delay is transmitted to the clocked-data comparators and the clocked-error comparators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Hae-Chang Lee, Arnold Robert Feldman, Andrew Joy
  • Patent number: 8610471
    Abstract: A delay locked loop includes a closed loop circuit configured to generate preliminary delay information, a control unit configured to update the preliminary delay information into delay information in response to a control signal, and a first delay unit configured to delay an input clock signal by a first delay value determined by the delay information and generate an output clock signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: SK Hynix Inc.
    Inventors: Yong-Hoon Kim, Hyun-Woo Lee
  • Patent number: 8611451
    Abstract: A method of operation in a receive circuit is disclosed. The method comprises entering an initialization mode followed by receiving training data from a lossy signaling path. The training data originates from a transmit circuit. The received training data is sampled and minimax transmit equalizer coefficients are generated based on the sampled data. The minimax transmit equalizer coefficients are then transmitted back to the transmit circuit. The initialization mode is exited and an operating mode initiated, where transmit data precoded by the minimax transmit equalizer coefficients is received.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: Aquantia Corporation
    Inventor: Hossein Sedarat
  • Patent number: 8604835
    Abstract: In a semiconductor device, there are provided first to third pairs of nMOS transistors between a GND and two sense nodes and first to third pairs of pMOS transistors between the two sense nodes and the power supply. A first internal clock signal and its inverted signal are supplied to gates of the first pair of nMOS transistors and the second pair of nMOS transistors, respectively. Complementary external clock signals are supplied to the gates of the third pairs of nMOS transistors and the third pairs of pMOS transistors. An inverted version of a second internal clock signal and the second internal clock signal are supplied to gates of the first and second pairs of pMOS transistors. The two sense nodes are connected to inputs of a differential amplifier. The output of the differential amplifier is latched by a latch circuit. Also provided an equalizing circuit precharging/equalizing the two sense nodes (FIG. 2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Elpida Memory, Inc.
    Inventors: Koji Kuroki, Ryuji Takishita
  • Patent number: 8605847
    Abstract: In described embodiments, a transceiver includes a clock and data recovery module (CDR) with an eye monitor and a cycle slip monitor. The cycle slip detector monitors a CDR lock condition, which might be through detection of slips in sampling and/or transition timing detection. The cycle slip detector provides a check point to sense system divergence, allowing for a mechanism to recover CDR lock. In addition, when the CDR is out-of-lock, the various parameters that are adaptively set (e.g., equalizer parameters) might be invalid during system divergence. Consequently, these parameters might be declared invalid by the system and not used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Mohammad Mobin, Mark Trafford, Ye Liu, Vladimir Sindalovsky, Amaresh Malipatil
  • Publication number: 20130321043
    Abstract: A pulse synchronizer circuit converts an input data signal generated under a source-clock domain into an output data signal under a destination-clock domain, where the destination clock is independent of the source clock. The pulse synchronizer circuit successfully converts each data pulse in the input data signal into a corresponding data pulse in the output data signal when the source clock is faster than the destination clock, when the source clock is slower than the destination clock, when an input data pulse has a duration of one source-clock cycle, and when an input data pulse has a duration of multiple source-clock cycles. The pulse synchronizer circuit has source-domain circuitry and destination-domain circuitry. The source-domain circuitry detects input data pulses and determines whether they are single- or multi-cycle data pulses. The destination-domain circuitry generates output data pulses based on the processing of the source-domain circuitry.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 1, 2012
    Publication date: December 5, 2013
    Applicant: LSI CORPORATION
    Inventor: Tony S. El-Kik
  • Publication number: 20130321044
    Abstract: A system including a power supply and a clock circuitry to generate a plurality of clock signals. Each clock signal is synchronous with a primary clock signal. First, second, and third clock signals of the plurality of clock signals are asynchronous to each other. The system further includes a plurality of switches. Each switch of the plurality of switches is communicatively coupled to the power supply and the clock circuitry. A first switch of the plurality of switches receives the first clock signal, a second switch of the plurality of switches receives the second clock signal, and a third switch of the plurality of switches receives the third clock signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 13, 2013
    Publication date: December 5, 2013
    Applicant: LIFE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jeremy JORDAN, Todd REARICK
  • Publication number: 20130321042
    Abstract: In an aspect of this disclosure, a device for synchronizing a communication end device with a base station may be provided. The device may include: a primary synchronization determiner configured to determine a first synchronization parameter; and a secondary synchronization signal generator configured to simultaneously generate a plurality of bits of a secondary synchronization signal based on the first synchronization parameter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2012
    Publication date: December 5, 2013
    Applicant: INTEL MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS GMBH
    Inventor: Wen Xu
  • Patent number: 8594263
    Abstract: A sampling clock selection module for a serial data stream is disclosed. The sampling clock selection module includes a multi-phase generation circuit, a sampling circuit, a comparison unit and a logic operation unit. The multi-phase generation circuit generates a plurality of non-overlapping clock phases derived from a reference clock signal. The phase selection circuit selects a sampling clock phase under a calibration mode. The sampling circuit performs sampling on the serial data stream a plurality of times to generate a plurality of sampled values in response to the sampling clock phase. The comparison unit compares the sampled values with the serial data stream so as to update a plurality of flag signals. The logic operation unit performs a logic operation on the flag signals so as to select a sampling clock phase under a normal operation mode from the clock phases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: Raydlum Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Ren-Feng Huang, Hui Wen Miao, Ko-Yang Tso, Chin-Chieh Chao
  • Patent number: 8593186
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a control signal generator configured to generate a control signal that is enabled in a predetermined duration in response to an enabling of a chip selection signal, a clock controller configured to transfer a clock as a decoding clock in a duration for enabling of the control signal and disable the decoding clock in a duration for disabling of the control signal, and a command decoder configured to generate an internal command by decoding the chip selection signal and one or more command signals in synchronization with the decoding clock.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: SK Hynix Inc.
    Inventor: Choung-Ki Song
  • Patent number: 8595537
    Abstract: A system and method are disclosed to generate and terminate clock shift modes during initialization of a synchronous circuit (e.g., a delay-locked loop or DLL). Upon initialization, the DLL is entered into a ForceSL (Force Shift Left) mode and an Onlx mode (i.e., left shifting on each clock cycle). The feedback clock that tracks the phase of the reference clock (derived from the system clock) is initially delayed in a coarse phase detector prior to applying it to the coarse phase detection window. Two delayed versions of the feedback clock are sampled by the reference clock to generate a pair of phase information signals, which are then used to establish an advanced phase equal (APHEQ) signal. The APHEQ signal is used to terminate the ForceSL and Onlx modes, thereby preventing wrong ForceSL exit due to clock jitter or feedback path overshooting during Onlx exit, and resulting in faster DLL locking time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Kang Yong Kim
  • Publication number: 20130307598
    Abstract: An apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes an analog timing controller and a digital state machine. An input circuit in the digital state machine is configured to receive a plurality of analog input signals, and an analog event circuit is coupled to the analog timing circuit, the glitch filter, and the input circuit. The analog event circuit and input circuit are configured to generate a composite event signal from the analog input signals and by using the analog timing circuit. The glitch filter is configured to receive the composite event signal. A clock generator also is coupled to the glitch filter, wherein the clock generator is configured to generate an aperiodic clock signal. The aperiodic clock signal is configured to be a synchronous clock signal for the digital state machine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 17, 2012
    Publication date: November 21, 2013
    Applicant: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Gary F. Chard, Scott A. Morrison, Susan A. Curtis, Daniel A. King
  • Patent number: 8588356
    Abstract: A method for receiving a signal having a succession of symbols, transmitted by a digital modulation, each symbol transmitted having a phase and an amplitude belonging to a set of values in finite number, the method includes evaluating a phase error (PHE) on a received symbol (S), resulting from a signal transmission noise, correcting the phase of the received symbol according to the phase error evaluated, demodulating the symbol corrected in phase, and modeling the transmission noise by a Gaussian component not correlated with the signal received and defined by a power and an interference component defined by an amplitude and which phase is substantially uniformly distributed, the phase error of the received symbol evaluated on the basis of the power of Gaussian component and the amplitude of the interference component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2013
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics (Grenoble 2) SAS
    Inventor: Jacques Meyer
  • Publication number: 20130300465
    Abstract: System and method for signal synchronization. The system includes a first selection component, a first signal generator, a second signal generator and a first gate drive component. The first selection component is configured to receive a first mode signal and generate a first selection signal based on at least information associated with the first mode signal. The first signal generator is configured to, if the first selection signal satisfies one or more first conditions, receive a first input signal and generate at least a first clock signal based on at least information associated with the first input signal. Furthermore, the first gate drive component is configured to, if the first selection signal satisfies the one or more first conditions, receive at least the first clock signal and output a first drive signal to a first switch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2013
    Publication date: November 14, 2013
    Inventors: Yongsheng Su, Liquiang Zhu, Qiang Luo, Lieyi Fang
  • Patent number: 8581642
    Abstract: A data transfer circuit includes primary data holding circuits that hold input data according to a first clock pulse signal and output data being held; and secondary data holding circuits that hold the output data of the primary data holding circuits according to a second clock pulse asynchronous to the first clock pulse and output data being held. Pulse signal generator generates a pulse signal synchronous with the second clock pulse signal when a pulse edge of the first clock pulse signal and a pulse edge of the second clock pulse signal occur at different timings and generates a pulse signal having the pulse edge the second clock pulse signal removed therefrom when the pulse edge of the the first clock pulse signal and the pulse edge of the the second clock pulse signal occur at the same timing. The secondary data holding circuits hold the output data of the primary data holding circuits synchronously with the pulse signal generated by the pulse signal generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Oki Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Daisuke Kadota
  • Patent number: 8582705
    Abstract: The present invention provides a serializer/deserializer (SERDES) circuit that can cover both client- and network-side interfaces for high-speed data rates. The present invention leverages commonality between the client and network (also known as line) side, and accommodates differences in a flexible manner. In one exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides a four-channel implementation to meet the requirement of both interfaces. The SERDES circuit can be capable of supporting both 40 Gb/s and 56 Gb/s data rates, can include an integrated DQPSK pre-coder and I/Q input/output signals, and can support RZ clock recovery. Additionally, the SERDES circuit can include differential coding support, electronic pre-emphasis, receiver-side electronic dispersion compensation, and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Ciena Corporation
    Inventors: Michael Y. Frankel, John P. Mateosky, Stephen B. Alexander
  • Patent number: 8576964
    Abstract: There is provided a radio receiver including: a first matched filter, a second matched filter, a first frame synchronization determining unit and a first phase determining unit. The first matched filter performs matching processing on the basis of N first tap coefficients and sign information of a received digital signal to obtain first output data. The second matched filter performs matching processing on the basis of M (M is a natural number smaller than the N) second tap coefficients, the sign information and amplitude information of the received digital to obtain second output data. The first frame synchronization determining unit determines a first frame synchronization timing of the received digital signal on the basis of the first output data. The first phase determining unit determines a first phase amount of the received digital signal on the basis of the second output data and the first frame synchronization timing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kentaro Taniguchi, Hirotsugu Kajihara
  • Patent number: 8576961
    Abstract: A method for determining an overlap and add length estimate comprises determining a plurality of correlation values of a plurality of ordered frequency domain samples obtained from a data frame; comparing the correlation values of a first subset of the samples to a first predetermined threshold to determine a first edge sample; comparing the correlation values of a second subset of the samples to a second predetermined threshold to determine a second edge sample; using the first and second edge samples to determine an overlap and add length estimate; and providing the overlap and add length estimate to an overlap and add circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Olympus Corporation
    Inventors: Haidong Zhu, Dumitru Mihai Ionescu, Abu Amanullah
  • Publication number: 20130285716
    Abstract: A system comprising an interface configured to condition a signal associated with a power system; a clock module configured to generate a synchronization signal; and a module coupled to the interface and configured to digitize the signal from the interface; filter the digitized signal; and generate a time-shifted, digitized signal in response to the filtering and the synchronization signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2012
    Publication date: October 31, 2013
    Inventor: Richard T. Dickens
  • Publication number: 20130278306
    Abstract: A sensor device for monitoring the environment of a vehicle includes at least two sensors, each with a signal generator, a transmitting antenna, and at least two receiving antennas, characterized in that at least one reference clock pulse generator for generating a common reference clock pulse for the signal generators of the at least two sensors is provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2013
    Publication date: October 24, 2013
    Inventors: Thomas Wixforth, Andreas von Rhein
  • Publication number: 20130278305
    Abstract: In integrated circuit chips that are used for RFID, a method of calibrating an operation frequency that is generated in an operation frequency generator and a semiconductor wafer including a calibration circuit are provided. The method of calibrating an operation frequency of integrated circuit chips includes: supplying DC power to the integrated circuit chips; selecting an integrated circuit chip to perform calibration of an operation frequency; receiving an operation frequency that is generated in the selected integrated circuit chip; generating a frequency calibration value by comparing the operation frequency with a calibration target frequency; transmitting a control signal including the frequency calibration value to the integrated circuit chip; and releasing a selection of the integrated circuit chip in which calibration of the operation frequency is complete.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2012
    Publication date: October 24, 2013
    Applicant: ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE
    Inventors: Hyunseok KIM, Su Na Choi, Heyung Sub Lee, Cheol Sig Pyo
  • Patent number: 8564337
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a multi-clock interface, an integrated circuit and a module thereof having the multi-clock interface and a library having cells corresponding to the above noted circuitry. In one embodiment the multi-clock interface includes: (1) a multi-clock reset synchronizer configured to receive a first external clock signal and a second external clock signal that is a multiple of the first clock signal, the reset synchronizer configured to synchronize a reset of both the first and second external clock signals and based thereon generate a reset release signal and (2) a multi-phase clock generator configured to receive the reset release signal and the second clock signal, the multi-phase clock generator configured to generate multiple clock phases from the second clock signal based on the reset release signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Stefan Block, Herbert Preuthen, Juergen Dirks
  • Patent number: 8565288
    Abstract: A method for performing delay locked looping upon a received signal which reduces the asymmetry of auto-correlation function resulting from sampling is provided. The received signal is a spread spectrum code signal, and the method includes: generating a plurality of replica spread spectrum code signals according to an estimated code phase delay and phase spacing, the replica spread spectrum code signals having phases respectively different from the phase of the received signal; calculating a spread spectrum code error statistics signal according to the replica spread spectrum code signals and the received signal; and adjusting the estimated code phase delay according to the spread spectrum code error statistics signal and a phase difference between a sampled point of at least one replica spread spectrum code signal and a corresponding signal transition point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventors: Kai-Di Wu, Kun-Sui Hou
  • Publication number: 20130265090
    Abstract: Apparatuses, circuits, and methods are disclosed for reducing or eliminating unintended operation resulting from metastability in data synchronization. In one such example apparatus, a sampling circuit is configured to provide four samples of a data input signal. A first and a second of the four samples are associated with a first edge of a latching signal, and a third and a fourth of the four samples are associated with a second edge of the latching signal. A masking circuit is configured to selectively mask a signal corresponding to one of the four samples responsive to the four samples not sharing a common logic level. The masking circuit is also configured to provide a decision signal responsive to selectively masking or not masking the signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 10, 2012
    Publication date: October 10, 2013
    Applicant: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Yantao Ma
  • Patent number: 8553826
    Abstract: A method and system of applying modulated carrier signals to tree networks and processing signals tapped from the tree networks to generate output signals with phase-synchronized carriers are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Blue Danube Labs, Inc.
    Inventors: Mihai Banu, Vladimir Ivanov Prodanov
  • Patent number: 8552771
    Abstract: A method including receiving an output signal from a sensor array, providing power to the sensor array and to the first analog-to-digital converter, generating a plurality of clock signals that are synchronous with a primary clock signal, providing a first clock signal of the plurality to the first analog-to-digital converter and providing a second clock signal of the plurality to the first switcher. The first clock signal is asynchronous with the second clock signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Life Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Jeremy Jordan, Todd Rearick
  • Publication number: 20130249608
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a control signal generator configured to generate a control signal that is enabled in a predetermined duration in response to an enabling of a chip selection signal, a clock controller configured to transfer a clock as a decoding clock in a duration for enabling of the control signal and disable the decoding clock in a duration for disabling of the control signal, and a command decoder configured to generate an internal command by decoding the chip selection signal and one or more command signals in synchronization with the decoding clock.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2012
    Publication date: September 26, 2013
    Inventor: Choung-Ki SONG
  • Publication number: 20130249612
    Abstract: A low-power, high-performance source-synchronous chip interface which provides rapid turn-on and facilitates high signaling rates between a transmitter and a receiver located on different chips is described in various embodiments. Some embodiments of the chip interface include, among others: a segmented “fast turn-on” bias circuit to reduce power supply ringing during the rapid power-on process; current mode logic clock buffers in a clock path of the chip interface to further reduce the effect of power supply ringing; a multiplying injection-locked oscillator (MILO) clock generator to generate higher frequency clock signals from a reference clock; a digitally controlled delay line which can be inserted in the clock path to mitigate deterministic jitter caused by the MILO clock generator; and circuits for periodically re-evaluating whether it is safe to retime transmit data signals in the reference clock domain directly with the faster clock signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 14, 2012
    Publication date: September 26, 2013
    Applicant: RAMBUS INC.
    Inventors: Jared L. Zerbe, Brian S. Leibowitz, Hsuan-Jung Su, John Cronan Eble, III, Barry William Daly, Lei Luo, Teva J. Stone, John Wilson, Jihong Ren, Wayne D. Dettloff
  • Patent number: 8542552
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, there is provided a DLL circuit including a delay chain, a plurality of phase comparators, and a controller. The plurality of phase comparators receive the reference clocks individually and receive respectively the clocks from the delay elements in mutually different stages, among the delay elements of the plurality of stages. The controller simultaneously receives comparison results of the plurality of phase comparators, determines the number of stages that generate the clock of which a phase is synchronized with a phase of the reference clock from among the delay elements of the plurality of stages, and selects the number of output stages from among the delay elements of the plurality of stages based on the determined number of stages so that a delay clock having a demanded delay amount with respect to the reference clock is output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2013
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Akira Aoki
  • Publication number: 20130241600
    Abstract: Representative implementations of devices and techniques provide a spread spectrum clocking signal. In a frequency synthesizer, a sequence of values may be generated and used to modulate a frequency of an input signal to the frequency synthesizer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2012
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Inventors: Nicola DA DALT, Peter PRIDNIG, Werner GROLLITSCH
  • Publication number: 20130241608
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to a unit phase mixer in combination with an input buffer. The unit phase mixer has a pull-up path for pulling an output terminal up to a first voltage. The pull-up path has a first transistor responsive to a first enable signal and a series connected second transistor responsive to a first clock signal. The unit phase mixer has a pull-down path for pulling the output terminal down to a second voltage. The pull-down path has a third transistor responsive to a second clock signal and a series connected fourth transistor responsive to a second enable signal. The input buffer skews the first and second clock signals by different amounts to enable a break-before-make method of operation so that the first voltage is not connected to the second voltage. The unit phase mixer can be used as a building block in more complex mixers which may include the ability to weight the input clocks as well as providing feed-forward paths for certain of the signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2013
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Applicant: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Chang-ki Kwon, Eric Booth
  • Publication number: 20130234764
    Abstract: A phase synchronization circuit for AC voltage includes an optical phase detection unit that outputs a phase detection signal by detecting an externally provided first AC voltage; a power failure detection unit that outputs a power failure signal by detecting the power failure condition of the first AC voltage; a control unit that selectively activates a selection signal according to the control of the power failure detection signal and outputs a phase control signal according to the control of the phase detection signal; a second AC voltage generation unit that generates a second AC voltage to have the same phase of the first AC voltage when outputting a second AC voltage according to the control of the phase control signal; and a selection unit that outputs either the first AC voltage or the second AC voltage according to the control of the selection signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2012
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Inventor: Kyu Min HWANG
  • Patent number: 8526554
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods are disclosed, such as those involving deskewing serial data transmissions. One such apparatus includes a plurality of receivers, each of which is configured to receive a serial data stream. Each of the receivers includes a shift register including a plurality of stages arranged in sequence to propagate a stream of characters. Each of the stages is configured to store a character, and shift the character to a next stage in response to a clock signal. The receiver also includes a multiplexer having a plurality of inputs, each of the inputs being electrically coupled to a respective one of the stages of the shift register, and to select one of the stages to generate an output such that the outputs of the multiplexers in the receivers are deskewed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: Analog Devices, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael Hennedy