IP Library Granted Patent US 10,938,396
Granted Patent B2
US 10,938,396 · App. 16/352,043 · Granted Mar 2, 2021

Quadrature local oscillator signal generation systems and methods

Inventors: Abhishek Agrawal (Beaverton, OR); Alon Cohen (Petach Tikva, IL); Gil Horovitz (Emek-Hefer, IL); Somnath Kundu (Hillsboro, OR); Run Levinger (Tel Aviv, IL); Stefano Pellerano (Beaverton, OR); Jahnavi Sharma (Hillsboro, OR); Evgeny Shumaker (Nesher, IL); Izhak Hod (Haifa, IL)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
H03L7/081H03L7/083
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,938,396
App. No.
16/352,043
Granted
Mar 2, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

A quadrature based voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) local oscillator (LO) system is disclosed. The system includes a phase detector, a quadrature phase VCO, a quadrature control path, an in-phase control path, and an in-phase VCO. The phase detector is configured to compare and generate phase error between a reference clock and an in-phase VCO output. The quadrature control path configured to generate a quadrature control voltage based on a quadrature VCO output and the in-phase VCO output. The quadrature phase VCO configured to generate the quadrature VCO output based on the quadrature control voltage and the generated phase error. The in-phase control path configured to generate an in-phase control voltage based on the quadrature VCO output and the in-phase VCO output. The in-phase VCO is configured to generate the in-phase VCO output based on the in-phase control voltage and the generated phase error. An all digital dual mode phase locked/phase tracking loop LO generate system is also disclosed.

Claims (21)

1. A quadrature based voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) based local oscillator (LO) generator system comprising:

a phase detector configured to compare a reference clock and an in-phase VCO output and generate a phase error based on the comparison;

a quadrature control path configured to generate a quadrature control voltage based on a quadrature VCO output and the in-phase VCO output;

a quadrature phase VCO configured to generate the quadrature VCO output based on the quadrature control voltage and the generated phase error;

an in-phase control path configured to generate an in-phase control voltage based on the quadrature VCO output and the in-phase VCO output; and

an in-phase VCO configured to generate the in-phase VCO output based on the in-phase control voltage and the generated phase error.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the quadrature VCO includes a varactor based fine frequency control configured to modify the quadrature VCO output based on the generated phase error.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the quadrature VCO includes a varactor based fine frequency control configured to modify the quadrature VCO output based on the quadrature control voltage.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the in-phase VCO includes a varactor based fine frequency control configured to modify the in-phase VCO output based on the generated phase error.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the in-phase VCO includes a varactor based fine frequency control configured to modify the in-phase VCO output based on the in-phase control voltage and a second varactor based fine frequency control configured to modify the in-phase VCO output based on the generated phase error.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the quadrature control path includes a quadrature phase detector configured to generate the quadrature control voltage based on a comparison of the quadrature VCO output and the in-phase VCO output.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the in-phase control path includes an in-phase phase detector configured to generate the in-phase control voltage based on a comparison of the quadrature VCO output and the in-phase VCO output.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising transconductors configured to integrate detected phase errors to generate the quadrature control voltage and the in-phase control voltage.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the phase errors comprise a quadrature phase error based on the output of the quadrature VCO output passed through a pass gate driven by the in-phase VCO output.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the phase errors comprise an in-phase phase error based on the output of the in-phase VCO output passed through a pass gate driven by the quadrature VCO output.

11. The system of claim 1 , further comprising loop filters configured to generate the quadrature and in-phase control voltages.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the quadrature control path is configured to generate negative feedback due to image rejection of a quadrature phase detector.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the in-phase VCO includes a varactor based fine frequency control configured to modify the in-phase VCO output based on the in-phase phase control voltage.

14. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

transconductors configured to integrate detected phase errors to generate the quadrature control voltage and the in-phase control voltage; and

loop filters configured to configured to provide a filtering of the generated quadrature control voltage and the in-phase control voltage.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 25, 2020
From: INTEL CORPORATION
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 053065/0627 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 11, 2019
From: AGRAWAL, ABHISHEK; COHEN, ALON; HOROVITZ, GIL; KUNDU, SOMNATH; LEVINGER, RUN; PELLERANO, STEFANO; SHARMA, JAHNAVI; SHUMAKER, EVGENY; HOD, IZHAK
To: INTEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 049431/0770 →
Cited By (2)
US 12,334,941 US 12,587,218