With Delay Means Patents (Class 327/161)
  • Patent number: 7558692
    Abstract: A consumption current balance circuit reduces the layout area and suppresses the deterioration of accuracy of a delay time caused by a temperature variation due to a power variation of a delay circuit itself or caused by a load variation of a power supply. The consumption current balance circuit includes a delay circuit for giving a delay time to a timing pulse signal, a compensation circuit for interpolating the consumption current of the delay circuit, a ring oscillator provided in the same power supply area as the delay circuit; an output period counter for measuring the output period of the ring oscillator; and a heater circuit current amount adjusting circuit for adjusting the current amount of the heater circuit to minimize the difference in the output period between the stand-by state and the active state of the ring oscillator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2009
    Assignee: Advantest Corp.
    Inventors: Masakatsu Suda, Satoshi Sudou
  • Publication number: 20090167381
    Abstract: A system for measuring a time between a first periodic signal and a second periodic signal. The second signal has a frequency higher than a frequency of the first signal. According to one embodiment, the system includes an electronic circuit for determining an approximation of the time based on a period of the second signal and for determining an adjustment to the approximation based on the second signal and a third signal corresponding to the second signal and aligned with the first signal. The length of the adjustment is less than the period of the second signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2008
    Publication date: July 2, 2009
    Inventor: Marc Spehlmann
  • Publication number: 20090168563
    Abstract: A system and method for bitwise deskew. A DQS timing is used as reference, the delays of a plurality of transmission wires are calibrated with reference to a DQS line timing. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 31, 2007
    Publication date: July 2, 2009
    Inventor: Yueming Jiang
  • Publication number: 20090167390
    Abstract: A data transfer device can adjust a phase of a clock signal with a simple configuration in a short period of time when transferring a digital data signal in synchronization with the clock signal. Accordingly, the data transfer device includes a data transfer line serially transferring the data signal, a clock transfer line transferring the clock signal, a decision unit deciding an adjustment amount by which the phase of the clock signal accompanying the data signal is shifted, the adjustment amount being used when transferring the data signal in synchronization with the clock signal, and a phase adjusting unit shifting the phase of the clock signal in accordance with the adjustment amount decided by the decision unit while keeping a frequency of the clock signal fixed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 10, 2008
    Publication date: July 2, 2009
    Applicant: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Akihiko Morishita
  • Patent number: 7554371
    Abstract: A delay locked loop for generating an internal clock signal locked to an external clock signal includes: a phase detector for detecting a phase difference between the external clock signal and the internal clock signal; a delay unit controller for generating a control signal and a selection signal in response to an output signal of the phase detector; a variable delay device (VDD), responsive to the control signal and a selection signal, to produce a delayed version of the external clock signal on a VDD output line, the variable delay device being configured such that, if the external clock signal undergoes a change from a first frequency to a second frequency significantly different than the first frequency, then a resultant load on the VDD output line nonetheless remains substantially the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2009
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jun-Bae Kim, Hyun-Ju Lee
  • Publication number: 20090146713
    Abstract: A delay synchronization loop type clock signal generating circuit includes: a digital delay line for delaying a first clock signal and generating a second clock signal; a ring-type shift register for setting the delay time length of the digital delay line by flip-flop output of each stage thereof; and a delay amount control unit for controlling supply of shift clocks to the ring-type shift register, based on phase relation between the first clock signal and the second clock signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2008
    Publication date: June 11, 2009
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michiru Senda, Hiroshi Mizuhashi
  • Publication number: 20090140784
    Abstract: A first system and method relates to an analog current-mode method using branch systems. In the analog current-mode implementation, multiple branches systems can be scaled according to filter coefficients and switched using known data points. Positive coefficients can add current to the summing node, while negative coefficients can remove current from the summing node. Switches can be implemented with quick charge/discharge paths in order to operate at very high data rates. A second system and method relates to a digital look-up table based high-speed implementation. In the digital implementation, outputs can be pre-calculated as an n-bit output word that drives an n-bit DAC. Each bit of the n-bit word can then described as an independent function of the known data points. Each such function can be implemented as a high-speed combinational logic block. Both systems and methods enable the implementation of pulse shaping filters for multi-gigabit per second data transmission.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2008
    Publication date: June 4, 2009
    Applicant: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
    Inventors: Bevin George PERUMANA, Arun Rachamadugu, Stephane Pinel, Joy Laskar
  • Publication number: 20090128204
    Abstract: A time delay apparatus for generating a plurality of phase shifted signals is described comprising a phase tuner generating a phase control signal and a phase interpolator receiving at least one digital signal and generating the plurality of phase shifted signals by. phase shifting the digital signal according to the phase control signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2006
    Publication date: May 21, 2009
    Applicant: Agency for Science, Technology and Research
    Inventors: Teck Hwee Lim, Jee Khoi Yin, Yan Wah Michael Chia
  • Patent number: 7535274
    Abstract: A delay control circuit includes a first delay unit, a signal regulation unit, a selector and a second delay unit. The first delay unit is used for delaying an input signal and generates a delayed input signal. The signal regulation unit is coupled to the first delay unit and outputs a rising edge delay signal and a falling edge delay signal according to the input signal and the delayed input signal. The selector is coupled with the signal regulation unit and outputs one of rising edge delay signal and falling edge delay signal according to the control signal. The second delay unit is coupled to the selector for delaying the output of the selector and outputting an output signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2009
    Assignee: Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Keng-Khai Ong, Yun-Yin Lien, Yew-San Lee
  • Patent number: 7535275
    Abstract: A programmable memory interface circuit includes a programmable DLL delay chain, a phase offset control circuit and a programmable DQS delay chain. The DLL delay chain uses a set of serially connected delay cells, a programmable switch, a phase detector and a digital counter to generate a coarse phase shift control setting. The coarse phase shift control setting is then used to pre-compute a static residual phase shift control setting or generate a dynamic residual phase shift control setting, one of which is chosen by the phase offset control circuit to be added to or subtracted from the coarse phase shift control setting to generate a fine phase shift control setting. The coarse and fine phase shift control settings work in concert to generate a phase-delayed DQS signal that is center-aligned to its associated DQ signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2009
    Assignee: Altera Corporation
    Inventors: Joseph Huang, Chiakang Sung, Philip Pan, Yan Chong, Andy L. Lee, Brian D. Johnson
  • Publication number: 20090121761
    Abstract: A differential serial communication receiver circuit automatically compensates for intrapair skew between received differential signals on a serial differential communication link, with deterministic skew adjustment set during a receiver training period. Intrapair skew refers to the skew within a pair of differential signals, and is hence interchangeable with the term differential skew in the context of this document. During the receiver training period, a training data pattern is received, such as alternating ones and zeros (e.g., a D10.2 pattern as is known in the art), rather than an actual data payload. The differential serial communication receiver circuit includes a differential skew compensation circuit to compensate for intrapair skew.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2009
    Publication date: May 14, 2009
    Applicant: ATI Technologies ULC
    Inventors: Richard Fung, Ramesh Senthinathan, Nancy Chan
  • Patent number: 7532051
    Abstract: A time delay circuit in a battery protection chip for an internal time delay or external time delay selection is disclosed. The protection chip has a selective pin for choosing the internal time delay while the selective pin is floated or the external time delay while the selective pin is connected with a capacitor. The time delay circuit is composed of a charge-discharge circuit, a D flip-flop, a RS latch, a NOR gate, and a 2 to 1 multiplexer (MUX 2:1). According to an embodiment, if the selective pin is floated, the outputs of the D flip-flop, and the RS latch will make MUX 2:1 choose an output signal of the NOR gate having input signals of an internal delay signal and input signal. On the other hand, if the selective pin is connected with an external capacitor having an external capacitance of more than 250 pF, the output signal of the D flip-flop, and the RS latch will make MUX 2:1 choose an output of the charge-discharge circuit but ignore the internal delay signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2009
    Assignee: Neotec Semiconductor Ltd.
    Inventor: Fomin Uladzimir
  • Patent number: 7532050
    Abstract: A delay locked loop includes initialization circuitry that ensures that a DLL is initialized to an operating point that is not to close to either end of a delay vs. control voltage characteristic. The initialization circuitry forces the DLL to initially search for a lock point starting from an initial delay, the delay is varied in one direction, forcing the DLL to skip the first lock point. The initialization circuitry only allows the DLL to vary the delay of the voltage controlled delay loop in the one direction from the initial delay until the operating point is reached.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2009
    Assignee: MOSAID Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Dieter Haerle, Tony Mai, Peter Vlasenko
  • Publication number: 20090115474
    Abstract: A clock synchronization circuit and a clock synchronization method which generate an internal clock synchronized to an external clock is presented. The circuit and method include a clock enable control circuit generating a clock enable control signal controlled by a power supply voltage and a power-down signal. The circuit and method also include a clock generating circuit receiving an input clock which selectively generates an internal clock synchronized to an external clock using the input clock using the clock enable control signal. Whereupon, a locking failure can be prevented by performing a phase update operation selectively in accordance with whether the power supply voltage is varied or not in the power-down mode. Furthermore, current consumption can be reduced by controlling phase update time in accordance with a variable magnitude of the power supply voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2007
    Publication date: May 7, 2009
    Inventor: Seong Jun LEE
  • Publication number: 20090115479
    Abstract: Clock synchronization and skew adjustment circuits that utilize differing unit delay elements in their delay lines in either a graduated or a stepped unit time delay arrangement are for synchronizing with a clock signal. These graduated or a stepped unit time delays allow reduction in the number of the fine unit delay elements of the delay lines by placing a fine delay element granularity at the most critical timings to sense and adjust for the portion of the clock signal time period that are high speed or critical.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2008
    Publication date: May 7, 2009
    Inventors: Tyler Gomm, Gary Johnson
  • Publication number: 20090115477
    Abstract: In order to mitigate electromagnetic interference (EMI), the present invention provides a circuit device for an electronic device including a signal generating unit, a phase adjusting unit and an output interface. The signal generating unit generates a plurality of in-phase signals. The phase adjusting unit is coupled to the signal generating unit and is used for adjusting the plurality of in-phase signals to generate a plurality of output signals, where all or some of the output signals have different phases. The output interface is coupled to the phase adjusting unit and is used for outputting the plurality of output signals to a plurality of signal processing units for image processing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2008
    Publication date: May 7, 2009
    Inventors: Wen-Chi Lin, Che-Li Lin
  • Publication number: 20090115476
    Abstract: A programmable delay lock loop system provides a delayed output signal having a programmed delay from an input signal. A phase detector provides a phase delay signal indicative of an actual phase difference between the input signal and the delayed output signal. An accumulator provides a delay command signal as a function of a difference between a commanded delay and the actual phase difference. A programmable phase delay circuit is configured to generate a ramp signal based upon the input signal, to adjust the ramp signal with respect to a threshold level in response to the delay command signal, to generate a trigger signal based upon a comparison of the ramp signal with the threshold level, and to clock the delayed output signal in response to the trigger signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 1, 2007
    Publication date: May 7, 2009
    Inventor: Daniel N. Harres
  • Publication number: 20090115478
    Abstract: Disclosed is a data output controller that includes an enable signal controller, which generates a control signal having a predetermined pulse width in response to a DQ off signal and a write signal and generates a clock enable signal in response to a read signal and the control signal in synchronization with the control signal when the read signal is activated, and a clock generator that receives the enable signal and an internal clock signal and generates a data clock signal in synchronization with the internal clock signal during an activation period of the enable signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2008
    Publication date: May 7, 2009
    Inventor: Tae Jin Kang
  • Publication number: 20090108893
    Abstract: A designing method is provided for designing an electric circuit including a clock output circuit for delivering a clock signal and a plurality of processing circuits for receiving the clock signal from the clock output circuit via wirings for clock transmission so as to perform a predetermined process based on the clock signal. The method includes, as a method for designing the wirings for clock transmission to have a predetermined length, a first step of connecting wirings between each of the processing circuits and an arbitrary point (as a “first point”) so that the wirings have substantially the same length (as a “first length”), and a second step of connecting the first point to the clock output circuit by a single wire having the length that is obtained by subtracting the first length from the predetermined length. Thus, lengths of the wirings for transmitting the clock signal to the plurality of circuits are adjustable while the entire length of the wirings is minimized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2008
    Publication date: April 30, 2009
    Inventor: Shigeki Otsuka
  • Patent number: 7525354
    Abstract: Methods, circuits, devices, and systems are provided, including embodiments with local coarse delay units. One embodiment includes generating a first delayed signal, a second delayed signal, and a third delayed signal by delaying a clock reference signal with various time delays of a coarse delay line and local coarse delay units. This method embodiment also includes generating a clock output signal based on the first delayed signal, the second delayed signal, or the third delayed signal, depending on a phase difference between the clock reference signal and the clock output signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2009
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Tyler J. Gomm, Kang Y. Kim
  • Patent number: 7525356
    Abstract: A system, apparatus and method for delaying a signal, such as a high-speed signal are disclosed. A multi-stage delay cell is described in which the amount of delay applied to a signal depends on which stages are activated within the cell. In various embodiments of the invention, noise caused by transitions between various delay times within the cell is reduced by efficiently managing voltage states on each of the stages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2009
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Keven Hui, Ting Fang, Hui Yin Seto
  • Patent number: 7525363
    Abstract: A delay line comprises first and second delay arrays and a multiplexer. The first delay array receives a clock signal and a delay control signal, and delays the clock signal to output a first delay array clock signal according to the delay control signal. The second delay array receives a power control signal, the first delay array clock signal and the delay control signal. The second delay array is turned on or off according to the power control signal. If the second delay array is turned on, the second delay array delays the first delay array clock signal to output a second delay array clock signal according to the delay control signal. The multiplexer receives a selecting control signal, the first and second delay array clock signals, and outputs the first delay array clock signal or the second delay array clock according to the selecting control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2009
    Assignee: Via Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Zhongding Liu, Jingran Qu
  • Patent number: 7525364
    Abstract: A first variable delay circuit delays an input signal, introduces a first delay into a first edge of the input signal, and generates a first delay signal. A second variable delay circuit delays the input signal, introduces a second delay into a second edge, and generates a second delay signal. A control circuit controls the first variable delay circuit and the second variable delay circuit such that the first delay and the second delay are identical. A generation circuit combines the first edge of the first delay signal and the second edge of the second delay signal, and generates a third delay signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2009
    Assignee: Fujitsu Microelectronics Limited
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Ariyoshi, Souyou Setsu, Ryusuke Obara
  • Patent number: 7522686
    Abstract: Provided is a burst mode clock data recovery circuit for extracting clock information and data information from transmitted data to process data synchronized with clock. The circuit includes a bit-rate corrector generating an inversed signal at every half cycle of the clock when transition of input data is generated, the inversed signal maintaining a “high” value with respect to a continuous DC input, a first gated-voltage control oscillator connected to the bit-rate corrector in series, the operation thereof being controlled according to the inversed signal, and a bit-rate detector detecting input bit rate from the inversed signal, adjusting a digital code value of a predetermined bit, and controlling an operational frequency of a delay line of the bit-rate corrector and the first gated-voltage control oscillator to be identical to the input bit rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2009
    Assignee: Postech
    Inventors: Jang Jin Nam, Hong June Park
  • Publication number: 20090096499
    Abstract: A transmitting apparatus and method for power amplification with delay control in a wireless communication system are provided. The apparatus includes signal converters, a delay difference measurer, and a delay controller. The signal converters separate a baseband signal into an envelope signal and a phase modulated signal. The delay difference measurer measures a delay difference between an envelope signal path and a phase modulated signal path using a correlation coefficient extraction and interpolation technique. The delay controller sets a delay in a clock period unit to a signal path having a small delay and sets a delay by a remainder delay difference to a signal path having a large delay, depending on the measured delay difference.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 9, 2008
    Publication date: April 16, 2009
    Inventor: Byung-Wook Kim
  • Patent number: 7519087
    Abstract: Disclosed is a frequency multiply circuit for outputting an output signal obtained by variably multiplying the frequency of an input signal includes a synchronous delay circuit, a multiplexing circuit, and a control circuit. The synchronous delay circuit includes a period measuring delay circuit for measuring the period of the input signal and delay reproducing delay circuits each with a delay time thereof variably set based on the period measured by the period measuring delay circuit, for respectively reproducing the delay time. The multiplexing circuit receives a plurality of signals of different phases output from the synchronous delay circuits, for multiplexing. The control circuit variably sets the number of the delay stages of the period measuring delay circuit and the numbers of the stages of the delay reproducing delay circuits, according to the set frequency-multiplication factor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2009
    Assignee: NEC Electronics Corporation
    Inventor: Mitsuaki Tagishi
  • Patent number: 7518423
    Abstract: A digital DLL circuit includes: a register configured to hold a delay target value; an oscillator; a first counter configured to count an external reference clock or an oscillation output from the oscillator; a second counter configured to count the oscillation output from the oscillator or the external reference clock in every measurement cycle determined by the first counter; and a digitally-controlled variable delay circuit. The DLL circuit further includes a control circuit configured to control the reset and activation of the first counter and the second counter, and control the stop of the first and second counters according to need, based on a count value of the first counter, the control circuit subjecting a count value of the second counter and the delay target value of the register to a digital arithmetic operation, and supplying the variable delay circuit with a result of the arithmetic operation as a delay control value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2009
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Ichiro Kumata
  • Patent number: 7515003
    Abstract: All embodiments of the present invention basically include an upper transistor and a lower transistor connected in series between a power supply and ground. The upper transistor and the lower transistor have a shared source (or drain) terminal which becomes a single bidirectional node. They further comprise a sensing gate and a logic gate. The sensing inverter has a function of sensing a voltage at the single bidirectional node and comparing it with an input transition voltage since an input terminal of the sensing inverter is connected to the single bidirectional node. An initial voltage at the single bidirectional node of the filter-based lock-in circuit is almost the same as the input transition voltage of the sensing inverter, where the input transition voltage is an input voltage which causes an output voltage to be V DD 2 .
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2009
    Assignee: ANA Semiconductor
    Inventor: Sangbeom Park
  • Patent number: 7514974
    Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for powering an integrated circuit chip with a supply voltage generated externally to the chip. An on-chip clock signal is generated with a ring oscillator fabricated on the integrated circuit chip. The supply voltage is altered as a function of a difference between a frequency of the on-chip clock signal and a reference clock frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2009
    Assignee: LSI Corporation
    Inventors: Stefan G. Block, Stephan Habel
  • Publication number: 20090085623
    Abstract: Provided herein are approaches for controlling remote slave DLL circuits with a master DLL circuit by conveying a relevant bias signal as a current signal instead of as a voltage signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2007
    Publication date: April 2, 2009
    Inventors: Jacob S. Schneider, Harishankar Sridharan
  • Patent number: 7511544
    Abstract: A digital DLL circuit includes: a first register configured to hold a delay specifying value to specify a delay; a second register configured to specify a correction value for a gate delay inside an LSI; a digitally-controlled variable delay circuit; and a control circuit configured to produce a delay control value to implement control so that a delay by the variable delay circuit is kept at the delay specifying value of the first register. The digital DLL circuit further includes an adder circuit configured to add a gate delay correction value held by the second register to the delay control value output from the control circuit, and output a resultant value to a control input of the variable delay circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2009
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Ichiro Kumata
  • Publication number: 20090079484
    Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention includes a pre-driver to receive data of a first clock phase and to pre-drive the data, a driver coupled to the pre-driver to drive the data onto a link operable to be coupled to a receiver, and an offset driver to drive an offset value associated with the first clock phase onto the link with the data. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2007
    Publication date: March 26, 2009
    Inventors: Taner Sumesaglam, Aaron Martin
  • Publication number: 20090079483
    Abstract: Delay circuits capable of providing delays closely matching propagation delays of synchronous circuits are described. In one design, an apparatus includes a synchronous circuit and a delay circuit. The synchronous circuit includes a forward path from a data input to a data output. The synchronous circuit receives input data and provides output data with a propagation delay. The delay circuit receives an input signal and provides a delayed input signal having a delay matching the propagation delay of the synchronous circuit. The delay circuit includes at least two logic gates in the forward path of the synchronous circuit. The synchronous and delay circuits may be implemented based on the same or similar circuit architecture. The delay circuit may be based on a replica of the synchronous circuit, with the replica having feedback loops broken and clock input coupled to appropriate logic value to always enable the delay circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2007
    Publication date: March 26, 2009
    Applicant: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Mustafa Keskin, Marzio Pedrali-Noy
  • Publication number: 20090079482
    Abstract: Aspects of a method and system for generation of signals up to extremely high frequencies using a delay circuit are provided. In this regard, a variable delay circuit may be adjusted such that an output signal generated by the delay circuit may be twice the frequency of a signal input to the delay circuit. The adjustment may be via an variable capacitance and/or a variable number of delay elements utilized to generate the output signal. Moreover, the adjustment may be based on a signal strength of the output signal. In this regard, the delay may be adjusted to maximize the signal strength of the output signal. The input signal may be delayed to generate a second signal that is 90° phase shifted relative to the input signal. The second signal and the input signal may be mixed to generate the output signal. The output signal may be filtered by a a bandpass filter centered at twice the frequency of the input signal. Accordingly, the center frequency of the bandpass filter may be tunable.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2007
    Publication date: March 26, 2009
    Inventor: Ahmadreza Rofougaran
  • Publication number: 20090079485
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for reducing noise. The apparatus includes a phase detector adapted to determine a phase difference between a first and a second signal, a first circuit adapted to generate a control signal based upon the determined phase difference, and a second circuit. The second circuit is adapted to receive a third signal, receive a fourth signal, modify the fourth signal based upon the control signal, and provide the third signal and the modified fourth signal to the phase detector as the first and second signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2008
    Publication date: March 26, 2009
    Applicant: MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventor: Feng Lin
  • Patent number: 7508245
    Abstract: A lock detector of a delay-locked loop (DLL) includes a lock detection unit and a bias unit. The lock detection unit generates a charge control signal based on a reference current received from an external source and a plurality of delay signals received from an external voltage-controlled delay line (VCDL), controls a charge current based on the charge control signal, and detects a lock state of the DLL based on a voltage that varies depending on the charge current. The bias unit provides a bias voltage for controlling a magnitude of the charge current. Therefore, the lock detector stably detects a lock state of the DLL.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2009
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Doh-Young Kim, Phil-Jae Jeon
  • Patent number: 7501869
    Abstract: A clock receiver architecture for source synchronous digital data communication, the receiver including a forwarded clock amplifier to provide the received forwarded clock signal to a plurality of delay locked loops. Each delay locked loops provides to one or more phase interpolators a set of clock signals generated from the received forwarded clock, where the relative phases of the set of clock signals are uniformly spaced. Phase interpolators interpolate between two adjacent (with respect to phase) clock signals so as to provide a clock signal to sample received data at the center of the data eye. In some embodiments, an on-die voltage regulator provides a regulated supply voltage to the delay locked loops and phase interpolators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2009
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Yongping Fan, Ian Young
  • Patent number: 7495489
    Abstract: Frequency multiplying delay-locked loop techniques are described in which a plurality of phase shifted signals are generated utilizing a delay-locked loop circuit having a clock multiplication, the phase shifted signals having increased frequency relative to the incoming signal. The phase-shifted signals being generated by the delay-locked loop in order to position the clock to an optimal detection point of incoming data signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2009
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Zuoguo Wu, Fenardi Thenus, Sanjay Dabral
  • Patent number: 7493509
    Abstract: A differential serial communication receiver circuit automatically compensates for intrapair skew between received differential signals on a serial differential communication link, with deterministic skew adjustment set during a receiver training period. Intrapair skew refers to the skew within a pair of differential signals, and is hence interchangeable with the term differential skew in the context of this document. During the receiver training period, a training data pattern is received, such as alternating ones and zeros (e.g., a D10.2 pattern as is known in the art), rather than an actual data payload. The differential serial communication receiver circuit includes a differential skew compensation circuit to compensate for intrapair skew.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2009
    Assignee: ATI Technologies ULC
    Inventors: Richard Fung, Ramesh Senthinathan, Nancy Chan
  • Patent number: 7492200
    Abstract: A delayed locked loop (DLL) circuit is provided which reliably provides an initial delay period of a delay line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2009
    Assignee: Hynix Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventor: Kwang Jin Na
  • Publication number: 20090039932
    Abstract: A delay circuit of a semiconductor memory apparatus can include a clock period sensing unit for generating a sensing signal in response to a clock frequency, and a selective delay unit for delaying an input signal for a delay time and then output the input signal as an output signal, wherein the delay time can be one selected from a plurality of delay times according to the sensing signal. The delay time can be selectively determined according to a clock frequency used in a semiconductor memory apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 14, 2008
    Publication date: February 12, 2009
    Applicant: HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR INC.
    Inventor: Seung Bong Kim
  • Patent number: 7489587
    Abstract: Some embodiments of the invention include a delay locked loop having a delay line for delaying an input signal. The input signal is generated from a first signal. A delay controller controls the delay line to adjust the timing relationship between the first signal and an internal signal. The delay locked loop also includes cycle control circuitry for controlling the cycle time of the signal entering the delay line and the cycle time of the signal exiting the delay line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2009
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Debra M. Bell, Paul A. Silvestri
  • Patent number: 7489568
    Abstract: A methodology is disclosed that enables the delay stages of an analog delay locked loop (DLL) or phase locked loop (PLL) to be programmed according to the operating condition, which may depend on the frequency of the input reference clock. The resulting optimized delay stages allow for a broad frequency range of operation, fast locking time over a wide range of input clock frequencies, and a lower current consumption at high clock frequencies. Better performance is achieved by allowing the number of analog delay stages active during a given operation to be flexibly set. The deactivation or turning off of unused delay stages conserves power at higher frequencies. The high frequency range of operation is increased by using a flexible number of delay stages for various input clock frequencies. Because of the rules governing abstracts, this abstract should not be used to construe the claims.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2009
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Kang Yong Kim, Dong Myung Choi
  • Publication number: 20090033391
    Abstract: A method for delaying a control signal, includes receiving a clock signal, determining a number of delay elements required to generate a first delay equal to a target amount of the period of the clock signal, receiving a data signal having an edge generated at the same time as an edge of the control signal, determining a fraction number equal to the number of delay elements needed to generate a second delay for the data signal or the control signal to align their edges, divided by the number of cascaded delay elements necessary to provide a delay equal to the target amount of the period of the clock signal, multiplied by the number of delay elements to generate the first delay, and delaying the control signal by the number of cascaded delay elements to realize said first delay altered by the fraction number of delay elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2008
    Publication date: February 5, 2009
    Inventors: Alain Vergnes, Eric Matullk, Frederic Schumacher
  • Publication number: 20090033389
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are embodiments of a programmable phase adjusting circuit, a programmable phase adjusting mixer circuit and design structures for these circuits. These circuits comprise a variable delay device connected between input and output nodes. The device includes multiple FETs with input diffusion regions that are connected to a voltage rail via switches so that they can be selectively biased, gates that are connected in series to the input node so that a periodic input signal can be propagated sequentially through each of the gates and output diffusion regions that are connected in parallel to the output node. A current source is connected between the output node and another voltage rail for biasing the output node when the variable delay device is off. The variable delay device enables a circuit in which small increments of selectable phase adjustments can be made to the periodic input signal as a function of propagation delay.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2007
    Publication date: February 5, 2009
    Inventors: Wagdi W. Abadeer, Anthony R. Bonaccio, Joseph A. Iadanza
  • Publication number: 20090033392
    Abstract: A delay locked loop can remove a jitter component that inevitably occurs due to feedback latency in the conventional DLL. That is, the present invention has benefit of removing the jitter component by controlling the delay lines based on the predicted data. The delay locked loop includes a pattern detecting unit for generating and storing a noise pattern by detecting inputted noise data, a pre-delay control unit for determining a delay amount depending on the output of the pattern detecting unit, and a pre-delay line for delaying an internal clock depending on the delay amount that is determined by the pre-delay control means.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 18, 2008
    Publication date: February 5, 2009
    Inventor: Kyung-Hoon Kim
  • Publication number: 20090033390
    Abstract: A signal processing apparatus and a control method thereof are provided. The signal processing apparatus includes: a signal processor which respectively processes an input video signal and an input audio signal; a communication unit which is communicably linked with an external audio output unit that outputs the audio signal; and a controller which controls the signal processor to delay and process one of the video signal and the audio signal by a delay value corresponding to the external audio output unit if the external audio output unit is predetermined.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 10, 2008
    Publication date: February 5, 2009
    Applicant: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Won-seok Kim, Je-ik Kim
  • Patent number: 7486319
    Abstract: According to a signal generating circuit including a delay-locked loop, a driving device including the signal generating circuit, and an image capturing apparatus including the signal generating circuit, when a rising edge designation signal for designating a predetermined rise time and a falling edge designation signal for designating a predetermined fall time are input, the signal generating circuit selects, from among a plurality of delay signals, a first delay signal rising at the time designated by the rising edge designation signal and a second delay signal rising at the time designated by the falling edge designation signal and outputs an output signal rising at the predetermined rise time and falling at the predetermined fall time by performing arithmetic processing on the first delay signal and the second delay signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Takaki Watanabe
  • Patent number: 7482850
    Abstract: A technology capable of avoiding malfunction of a delay locked loop without generating a constant phase error in a delay locked loop circuit is provided. In a delay locked loop circuit, a control circuit is disposed in the outside of a delay locked loop, and in phase comparison of the delay locked loop, the control circuit outputs a control signal to the delay locked loop so that the relation in the phase comparison between a reference signal and an output signal is shifted by a set cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2009
    Assignee: Renesas Technology Corp.
    Inventor: Takashi Kawamoto
  • Patent number: 7474136
    Abstract: A DLL circuit uses a rising edge DLL to align the rising edge of the output data to the system clock and a falling edge DLL to align the falling edge of the output data. The DLL circuit does not use the falling edge of the input clock to provide a reference for the falling edge DLL. The DLL circuit uses the rising edge of a first reference clock (a buffered version of the input clock) to align the rising edge of the output data. An additional DLL is used to generate a precise second reference clock that is delayed by exactly one-half period of the first reference clock to align the falling edge of the output data. Any variation in the duty cycle of the input clock or the input clock buffer does not effect the duty cycle of the output data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2009
    Assignee: ProMOS Technologies Pte.Ltd.
    Inventor: John D. Heightley