Apparatuses, methods, and systems for jitter equalization and phase error detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9735765-B2
Application number	US-201615019764-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 9, 2016
Priority date	Jul 3, 2014
Publication date	Aug 15, 2017
Grant date	Aug 15, 2017

Abstract

Embodiments include apparatuses, methods, and systems for jitter equalization and phase error detection. In embodiments, a communication circuit may include a data path to pass a data signal and a clock path to pass a clock signal. A jitter equalizer may be coupled with the data path and/or clock path to provide a programmable delay to the data signal and/or clock signal, respectively. The delay may be determined by a training process in which a supply voltage may be modulated by a modulation frequency. The delay may be dependent on a value of the supply voltage, such as a voltage level and/or jitter frequency component of the supply voltage. A phase error detector is also described that may be used with the communication circuit and/or other embodiments.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A circuit, comprising:
a supply modulator to modulate a supply voltage at a modulation frequency during a training process of the circuit;
a transmit circuit coupled to the supply modulator to receive the supply voltage, the transmit circuit including:
a data path to pass a data signal;
a clock path to pass a clock signal;
a jitter equalizer coupled with the data path or the clock path to provide a delay to the respective data signal or clock signal;
an error detector to measure a phase error between the data signal and the clock signal; and
a training controller to, while the supply voltage is modulated at the modulation frequency, adjust the delay provided by the jitter equalizer based on the measured phase error.

2. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the modulation frequency is a first modulation frequency, wherein the training controller is further to, while the supply voltage is modulated at a second modulation frequency, adjust the delay provided by the jitter equalizer based on the measured phase error.

3. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the delay provided by the jitter equalizer varies with a voltage level of the supply voltage.

4. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the delay provided by the jitter equalizer varies with a frequency of a jitter component of the supply voltage.

5. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the jitter equalizer is coupled to the data path.

6. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the jitter equalizer is coupled to the clock path.

7. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the error detector is to:
perform an XOR operation between the data signal and the clock signal to generate an xor signal; and
determine the phase error between the data signal and the clock signal based on a mark/space ratio of the xor signal.

8. The circuit of claim 7 , wherein the error detector is to determine the phase error based on the mark/space ratio of the xor signal by being configured to:
perform a logic and operation between the xor signal and an uncorrelated clock signal to generate a first count signal;
perform a logic and operation between an xorb signal and the uncorrelated clock signal to generate a second count signal, the xorb signal being an inverted version of the xor signal; and
determine the phase error between the first and second signals based on a difference between a first number of transitions in the first count signal and a second number of transitions in the second count signal.

9. An apparatus, comprising:
means for performing a logic XOR operation between first and second input signals to generate an xor signal;
means for performing a logic AND operation between the xor signal and a clock signal to generate a first count signal;
means for performing a logic AND operation between an xorb signal and the clock signal to generate a second count signal, the xorb signal being an inverted version of the xor signal; and
means for determining a phase error between the first and second input signals based on a difference between a first number of transitions in the first count signal and a second number of transitions in the second count signal.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the means for determining the phase error includes:
means for counting a number of rising edges in the first count signal for a time period to obtain a first counter value;
means for counting a number of rising edges in the second count signal for a time period to obtain a second counter value; and
means for determining the phase error between the first and second input signals based on a difference between the first and second counter values.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising means for generating an error code that indicates a magnitude and a sense of the determined phase error.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising:
means for determining whether a difference between the first and second counter values is greater than a threshold; and
means for outputting the error code responsive to a determination that the difference is greater than the threshold.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising:
means for determining whether the first counter value or the second counter value is greater than a threshold; and
means for outputting the error code responsive to a determination that the first counter value or the second counter value is greater than the threshold.

14. A circuit comprising:
an error detector to determine a phase error between a first input signal and a second input signal, the error detector including:
XOR logic to perform an XOR operation between the first and second input signals to generate an xor signal;
first AND logic to perform a logic AND operation between the xor signal and a clock signal to generate a first count signal;
second AND logic to perform a logic AND operation between an xorb signal and the clock signal to generate a second count signal, the xorb signal being an inverted version of the xor signal; and
logic to determine a difference between a first number of transitions in the first count signal and a second number of transitions in the second count signal over a same time period to enable determination of the phase error.

15. The circuit of claim 14 , wherein the clock signal is uncorrelated with the first and second input signals.

16. The circuit of claim 14 , wherein the error detector further includes logic to generate an error code that indicates a sense and magnitude of the phase error.

17. The circuit of claim 16 , wherein the circuit further comprises a training controller coupled to the error detector, the training controller to adjust a delay of the first or second input signal based on the error code.

18. The circuit of claim 16 , wherein the logic to generate the error code is to output the error code responsive to a determination that a difference between the first number of transitions and the second number of transitions is equal to or greater than a threshold.

19. The circuit of claim 16 , wherein the logic to generate the error code is to output the error code responsive to a determination that the first number of transitions or the second number of transitions is greater than a threshold.

20. The circuit of claim 14 , further comprising:
a first path to pass the first input signal;
a second path to pass the second input signal;
a supply modulator to modulate a supply voltage at a modulation frequency during a training process of the circuit, wherein the supply voltage is provided to one or more circuit blocks on the first path or second path;
a jitter equalizer to provide a delay to the first input signal or the second input signal;
a training controller coupled to the error detector and the jitter equalizer, the training controller to, while the supply voltage is modulated at the modulation frequency, adjust the delay provided by the jitter equalizer based on the determined phase error.

21. The circuit of claim 14 , wherein the first input signal is a data signal and the second input signal is a clock signal.

22. The circuit of claim 20 , wherein the first path and the second path are included in a transmit circuit that is to transmit the data signal.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Cowley Nicholas P
• Kan Chi Man
• Saraswat Ruchir

Classifications

• H04L1/205

  jitter monitoring · CPC title

• H04B3/146

  using phase-frequency equalisers · CPC title

• H03K2005/00019

  Variable delay · CPC title

• H03L7/097

  using a comparator for comparing the voltages obtained from two frequency to voltage converters · CPC title

• H03K5/13 Primary

  Arrangements having a single output and transforming input signals into pulses delivered at desired time intervals · CPC title