Ring oscillator dynamic adjustments for auto calibration

• US 7,209,401 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2006
• Issued: 04/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: M-Red Inc. (Quest Patent Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Gallitzin Allegheny LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Schmidt, Dominik J., Norman, Robert D
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Khai M.
• Application Number:
  US11/415,771
• Publication Number:
  US 20060197696A1
• Time in Patent Office: 357 Days
• Field of Search: 331/176
• US Class Current: 365/212
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 3/011 Modifications of generator to compensate for variations in physical values, e.g. voltage, temperature to maintain energy constant H03K3/015
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 3/0315 Ring oscillators
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 1/00 Stabilisation of generator output against variations of physical values, e.g. power supply

Abstract

An apparatus compensates for voltage and temperature variations on an integrated circuit with: a voltage sensor having a digital voltage output; a temperature sensor having a digital temperature output; a register coupled to the voltage sensor and the temperature sensor, the register adapted to concatenate the digital voltage output and the temperature output into an address output; and a memory device having an address input coupled to the address output of the register, the memory device being adapted to store one or more corrective vectors.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit comprising:

a voltage sensor having a voltage output;

a temperature sensor having a temperature output;

an analog-to-digital convener (ADC) coupled to the voltage sensor and the temperature sensor, the ADC to convert the voltage output and the temperature output to digital values; and

a storage coupled to receive an input address based upon at least one of the voltage output and the temperature output, the storage configured to store compensation data.

2. The integrated circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

a processor; and

a multiplexer having a first input coupled to the processor and a second input coupled to the ADC and an output coupled to the storage, the multiplexer configured to provide the input address to the storage.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 2, wherein the multiplexer is configured to receive addresses from the processor during initialization and to receive the input address from the ADC during operation.

4. The integrated circuit of claim 1, further comprising a register coupled to the ArC, the register configured to form the input address from the at least one of the voltage output and the temperature output.

5. The integrated circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

a first switch coupled to provide the voltage output to the ADC; and

a second switch coupled to provide the temperature output to the ADC, wherein the first and second switches are controlled by a state machine.

6. The integrated circuit of claim 5, further comprising a wake-up oscillator coupled to the state machine, the wake-up oscillator configured to periodically enable the state machine.

7. The integrated circuit of claim 1, further comprising a ring oscillator coupled to an output of the storage, wherein the storage is configured to provide the compensation data to the ring oscillator based on at least one of the current voltage and temperature of the integrated circuit.

8. A method comprising:

sensing one of a voltage value and a temperature value of an integrated circuit based on an indicator value corresponding to one of voltage or temperature;

accessing a storage of the integrated circuit using an address formed based on the sensed voltage or temperature value, the storage configured to store compensation data; and

dynamically adjusting a frequency of the integrated circuit using the accessed compensation data.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising switching the indicator value to the other of voltage or temperature.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising entering a sleep mode after switching the indicator value.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising generating the compensation data by characterizing the integrated circuit.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the characterizing further comprises varying the voltage and temperature over a predetermined range.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the sensing comprises periodically sensing at a predetermined interval.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising applying the accessed compensation data to a ring oscillator of the integrated circuit.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising preventing the ring oscillator from glitching while switching delay elements of the ring oscillator.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a first storage to store incoming compensation data;

a second storage coupled to the first storage to store the incoming compensation data and to output the incoming compensation data when an update signal is activated;

an oscillator coupled to the second storage to receive the incoming compensation data therefrom, the oscillator configured to vary a frequency of the oscillator using the incoming compensation data; and

a controller coupled to the first and second storages and the oscillator, the controller to hold an output of the oscillator when a value of the incoming compensation data in the first and second storages differs.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the oscillator comprises a ring oscillator.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the controller comprises a state machine to provide changed compensation data to the oscillator while a hold signal is provided to the oscillator.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the state machine is to provide the hold signal while the oscillator adjusts a delay value responsive to the changed compensation data.