Patent · US Expired

System and method for multiple-phase clock generation

US6809567B1 · kind B1 · utility

11Cited by
12References
68Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 20, 2001
Grant dateOct 26, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 14, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03L7/0891
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system and method for multiple-phase clock generation is disclosed. In one embodiment, a multiple-stage voltage controlled oscillator (“VCO”) transmits a plurality of clock phases to a clock divider circuit which produces the desired number of clock phase outputs. The clock divider circuit in this embodiment includes a state machine, e.g., a modified Johnson counter, that provides a plurality of divided down clock phases, each of which is connected to a separate modified shift register. Each modified shift register contains D-type flip-flops and each D-type flip-flop provides a separate clock phase output. In one embodiment the number of clock phase outputs of the multiple-phase clock is a function of the number of VCO clock phases times the number of desired states in the modified Johnson counter.

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