Circuit device, oscillator, clock signal generator, electronic apparatus, and vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10637484-B2
Application number	US-201916505780-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 9, 2019
Priority date	Jul 10, 2018
Publication date	Apr 28, 2020
Grant date	Apr 28, 2020

Abstract

A circuit device includes an oscillation signal generation circuit that generates an oscillation signal by using a resonator and a processing circuit that estimates an aging characteristic of the oscillation frequency of the resonator based on the result of comparison between the phase of a reference signal based on a satellite signal transmitted from a navigation satellite and the phase of a clock signal based on the oscillation signal. The processing circuit estimates the aging characteristic based on an index value representing the reliability of the state of the received satellite signal and the result of the phase comparison.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A circuit device comprising:
an oscillation signal generation circuit that generates an oscillation signal by using a resonator; and
a processing circuit that estimates an aging characteristic of an oscillation frequency of the resonator based on a result of comparison between a phase of a reference signal based on a satellite signal transmitted from a navigation satellite and a phase of a clock signal based on the oscillation signal,
wherein the processing circuit estimates the aging characteristic based on an index value representing reliability of a state of the received satellite signal and the result of the phase comparison, the index value being information on at least one of intensity of the received satellite signal, the number of navigation satellites from which the satellite signal is receivable, and an elevation angle of each of the navigation satellites.

2. The circuit device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processing circuit estimates the aging characteristic by performing Kalman filtering based on the result of the phase comparison and the index value.

3. The circuit device according to claim 2 ,
wherein the processing circuit changes Kalman gain in the Kalman filtering based on the index value.

4. The circuit device according to claim 3 ,
wherein the processing circuit changes at least one of observed noise variance and system noise variance in the Kalman filtering based on the index value to change the Kalman gain.

5. The circuit device according to claim 2 ,
wherein the processing circuit generates observed noise variance and system noise variance and performs the Kalman filtering by using the observed noise variance and the system noise variance, and
in the generation of the observed noise variance and the system noise variance, a ratio of the observed noise variance to the system noise variance is increased by an amount corresponding to lowness of the reliability represented by the index value.

6. The circuit device according to claim 5 ,
wherein the processing circuit carries out a first process of changing the system noise variance from a first initial value in the generation of the observed noise variance and the system noise variance and adds first data based on the index value to data outputted as a result of the first process.

7. The circuit device according to claim 5 ,
wherein the processing circuit carries out a second process of changing the observed noise variance from a second initial value in the generation of the observed noise variance and the system noise variance and adds second data based on the index value to data outputted as a result of the second process.

8. The circuit device according to claim 1 , further comprising
a phase comparison circuit that compares the phase of the reference signal with a phase of the oscillation signal,
wherein the processing circuit generates frequency control data based on the result of the phase comparison from the phase comparison circuit, and
the oscillation signal generation circuit uses the resonator and the frequency control data to generate the oscillation signal having the oscillation frequency set by the frequency control data.

9. An oscillator comprising:
the circuit device according to claim 1 ; and
the resonator.

10. A clock signal generator comprising:
the circuit device according to claim 1 ;
the resonator; and
a second circuit device that receives the satellite signal.

11. An electronic apparatus comprising the circuit device according to claim 1 .

12. A vehicle comprising the circuit device according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Sudo Yasuhiro

Classifications

• H03L7/093 Primary

  using special filtering or amplification characteristics in the loop (H03L7/087 - H03L7/091 take precedence) · CPC title

• H03L1/022

  by indirect stabilisation, i.e. by generating an electrical correction signal which is a function of the temperature (H03L1/021 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H03L7/146

  by using digital means for generating the oscillator control signal (H03L7/141, H03L7/143 take precedence) · CPC title

• H03L7/099

  concerning mainly the controlled oscillator of the loop · CPC title

• H03L7/181

  a numerical count result being used for locking the loop, the counter counting during fixed time intervals {(H03L7/1806 takes precedence)} · CPC title