Semiconductor device, receiver, transmitter, transceiver and communication system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9496916-B2
Application number	US-201414332657-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 16, 2014
Priority date	Oct 17, 2011
Publication date	Nov 15, 2016
Grant date	Nov 15, 2016

Abstract

A semiconductor device, includes a clock and data recovery unit to which a receive signal is inputted and which extracts, based on an operation clock signal, a clock signal and a data signal from the receive signal, a frequency error adjusting unit which generates a frequency error signal indicating a frequency error between the clock signal extracted from the receive signal and the operation clock signal, an operation clock generation unit which controls, based on the frequency error signal, a frequency of the operation clock signal, and a Spread Spectrum Clock Generator (SSCG) unit which varies the frequency of the operation clock signal by the SSCG unit based on the frequency error signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A semiconductor device, comprising:
a clock and data recovery unit to which a receive signal is inputted and which extracts, based on an operation clock signal, a clock signal and a data signal from the receive signal;
a frequency error adjusting unit which generates a frequency error signal indicating a frequency error between the clock signal extracted from the receive signal and the operation clock signal;
an operation clock generation unit which controls, based on the frequency error signal, a frequency of the operation clock signal; and
a Spread Spectrum Clock Generator (SSCG) unit which varies the frequency of the operation clock signal by the SSCG unit based on the frequency error signal,
wherein, when a difference between a maximum value of the frequency error signal and a minimum value of frequency error signal is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value, the SSCG unit spreads a spectrum of the operation clock signal generated by the operation clock generation unit based on an average value of frequency error signal and, when the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value is larger than the predetermined value, the SSCG unit does not spread the spectrum of the operation clock signal generated by the operation clock generation unit.

2. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , further comprising a frequency error signal storage unit which stores the frequency error signal.

3. The semiconductor device according to claim 2 , further comprising a frequency error signal update control unit which obtains the maximum value and the minimum value of the frequency error signal over a predetermined period of time and which stores, when a difference between the maximum value and the minimum value is brought to or below a predetermined value, the frequency error signal in the frequency error signal storage unit.

4. The semiconductor device according to claim 2 ,
wherein the maximum value, a minimum value and an average value of the frequency error signal over a predetermined period of time are obtained and the average value is stored in the frequency error signal storage unit.

5. The semiconductor device according to claim 2 , wherein the frequency error signal storage unit includes a non-volatile memory and stores the frequency error signal in the non-volatile memory.

6. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , further comprising a deserializer which converts the data signal serially extracted from the receive signal by the clock and data recovery unit into a parallel data signal.

7. The semiconductor device according to claim 2 , further including a frequency error signal storing mode in which the frequency error signal storage unit is controlled to allow writing thereto.

8. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , wherein the clock and data recovery unit, the frequency error adjusting unit, the SSCG unit, and the operation clock generation unit are formed over a same semiconductor substrate.

9. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , further comprising a transmission unit which serially outputs data in synchronization with the operation clock signal.

10. The semiconductor device according to claim 9 , further comprising a serializer which generates a transmit signal by converting a data signal to be outputted in synchronization with the operation clock signal.

11. The semiconductor device according to claim 1 , wherein transmitting and receiving the receive signal conforms to the serial ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) standard.

12. A receiver comprising the semiconductor device according to claim 1 .

13. A transmitter comprising the semiconductor device according to claim 1 .

14. A transceiver comprising the semiconductor device according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Renesas Electronics Corp

Inventors

• Nakadaira Masao

Classifications

• H04B1/38

  Transceivers, i.e. devices in which transmitter and receiver form a structural unit and in which at least one part is used for functions of transmitting and receiving · CPC title

• H03L7/089

  the phase or frequency detector generating up-down pulses (H03L7/087 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04B1/7073 Primary

  Synchronisation aspects · CPC title

• H04B1/02

  Transmitters · CPC title

• H03L7/07

  using several loops, e.g. for redundant clock signal generation · CPC title