Patent · US Expired

Circuit and method of detecting an invalid clock signal

US5161175A · kind A · utility

10Cited by
4References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 28, 1991
Grant dateNov 3, 1992
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 28, 2011

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY10S331/02
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A phase lock loop monitors the frequency of redundant input clock signals and switches back and forth therebetween should one or the other become invalid. Thus, the PLL may continue normal operation even with a failure of one input clock signal. If both the input clock signals fail, an internal reference signal maintains the PLL at a nominal operating frequency until one of the input clock signals is restored whereby the loop can quickly re-establish phase lock. To determined validity, the input clock signals are sampled and stored by the reference signal in a predetermined manner. The input clock signal is valid if the samples of the input clock signal each have the same logic state after the sampling period; otherwise, the input clock signal is invalid if the samples of the input clock signal have at least one different logic state after the sampling period.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.