Fractional-N frequency synthesizer incorporating cyclic digital-to-time and time-to-digital circuit pair
US9722537B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 20, 2015 |
| Grant date | Aug 1, 2017 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 20, 2035 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH03L2207/50
- WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A novel and useful look-ahead time to digital converter (TDC) that is applied to an all digital phase locked loop (ADPLL) as the fractional phase error detector. The deterministic nature of the phase error during frequency/phase lock is exploited to achieve a reduction in power consumption of the TDC. The look-ahead TDC circuit is used to construct a cyclic DTC-TDC pair which functions to reduce fractional spurs of the output spectrum in near-integer channels by randomly rotating the cyclic DTC-TDC structure so that it starts from a different point every reference clock thereby averaging out the mismatch of the elements. Associated rotation and dithering methods are also presented. The ADPLL is achieved using the look-ahead TDC and/or cyclic DTC-TDC pair circuit.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.