Patent · US Active

Serial data signal eye width estimator methods and apparatus

US8081723B1 · kind B1 · utility

10Cited by
4References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 9, 2008
Grant dateDec 20, 2011
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 20, 2030

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L7/033
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for determining at least part of the width of the eye of a high-speed serial data signal use clock and data recovery circuitry operating on that signal to produce a first clock signal having a first phase relationship to the data signal. The first clock signal is used to produce a second clock signal whose phase can be controllably shifted relative to the first phase. The second clock signal is used to sample the data signal with different amounts of phase shift, e.g., until error checking circuitry detects that data errors in the resulting sample exceed an acceptable threshold for such errors. The amount(s) of phase shift that caused exceeding the threshold can be used as a basis for a measurement of eye width.

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