System and method for compensating for PVT variation effects on the delay line of a clock signal
US7454303B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 21, 2006 |
| Grant date | Nov 18, 2008 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 21, 2026 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11C2207/2254
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The present invention is directed to a method for compensating for process, voltage, and temperature variation without complex online/offline swapping of data paths requiring a dedicated FIFO(First-in First-out) buffer design. Delay cells are trained for each clock path (namely a Functional delay) and a spare delay cell is trained. A ratio is calculated for each Functional delay cell by dividing the Functional delay cells' setting into the spare delay cells' one-fourth cycle setting. These ratios reflect any process variation. Functional mode is then entered and a Master-Slave approach switched to, during which the spare delay cell repeats the training sequence continuously while the Functional delay cells delay the clocks from the RAM(Random Access Memory). Each Functional delay cell is updated at the end of each training sequence of the spare delay cell, compensating for voltage and temperature change, by dividing the ratio into the new spare delay cell one-fourth cycle setting.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.