Patent ID: 11909356
Assignee: MARVELL ASIA PTE LTD
Field: Basic communication processes (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  G | IPC G  H

Claim 10:
11. A method of distributing synchronous, in-phase, phase-locked clock signals to functional circuits in an integrated circuit transceiver device, the method comprising:
generating a standing wave oscillation at a selectable target frequency in a distributed oscillator including at least one coupled pair of transmission line oscillators, each transmission line oscillator having a respective oscillator core, and at least one respective transmission line, where the at least one respective transmission line of a first transmission line oscillator in the pair of transmission line oscillators is coupled by at least one impedance element to the at least one respective transmission line of a second transmission line oscillator in the pair of transmission line oscillators;
tuning the at least one respective transmission line to an electrical length corresponding to a quarter-wave of the target frequency using a controllable capacitance element;
controlling the at least one impedance element to control an oscillation mode of the distributed oscillator, by closing one or more switches among a plurality of switches to establish one or more nulls in a standing wave of the coupled pair of transmission line oscillators at locations determined by the one or more switches; and
coupling the functional circuits to taps at points along the distributed oscillator.