Patent · US Expired

Voltage-controlled oscillator resistant to supply voltage noise

US5955929A · kind A · utility

30Cited by
2References
24Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 27, 1997
Grant dateSep 21, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 27, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03K3/03
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) generates an oscillating signal that is substantially resistant to noise fluctuations in the supply voltage. The VCO is a delay-based VCO which preferably includes a compensation circuit for each delay cell and a noise-immune reference current generator for providing a noise-immune bias current to the conditioning circuit of the VCO. The compensation circuit preferably adjusts the capacitance of the delay cell to compensate for the variations in current caused by the supply noise. The noise-immune reference current generator preferably utilizes a configuration of transistors which maintains through at least one transistor a substantially constant current which is used to bias the conditioning circuit.

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