Patent · US Expired

Slave clock generation system and method for synchronous telecommunications networks

US6121816A · kind A · utility

34Cited by
3References
29Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 23, 1999
Grant dateSep 19, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 23, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F1/10
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A slave clock generation system and method suitable for use with synchronous telecommunications networks generates one or more slave clocks from a selected reference clock using a direct digital synthesis technique. A multiplexer selects a reference clock from a number of available sources, each of which can be at its own spot frequency, based on a predetermined selection order. Toggle detectors monitor each of the available clock sources, and block the selection of any that are not within a specified frequency range. A local oscillator establishes short-term and long-term measurement periods; the cycles of the selected reference clock are counted over consecutive short-term measurement periods to determine the relative frequency of the selected clock with respect to the frequency of the local oscillator. The cycle counts are fed to a phase-to-clock converter, which produces a slave clock output having a frequency that varies with the relative frequency measured for the selected clock. Rounding errors are countered by monitoring both the generated slave clock and the selected reference clock over a long-term measurement period, with the difference between these two cycle counts use…

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