Transition insensitive timing recovery method and apparatus

A timing recovery circuit comprises a data-driven phase detector and a digital loop filter. The data-driven phase detector is operably coupled to determine at least a phase difference between an input signal and a feedback clock signal to produce a difference signal. Determining the phase difference can comprise digitally determining a timing difference between the input signal and the feedback clock signal, digitally determining a transition of the input signal to produce a transition detect signal, and digitally updating the timing difference based on the transition detect signal and the feedback clock signal. The timing difference can be digitally updated by pre-filtering the timing difference BY TAKING EVERY N TRANSITON OR AVERAGE OF EVERY N TRANSITIONS at a digital pre-filter, based on a pre-filter clock signal produced from the transition detect signal and the feedback clock signal, to produce the difference signal. The loop filter is operably coupled to filter the difference signal to produce a control voltage.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to data communications and more particularly to data recovery within such communication systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general, broadband communications are high-speed (e.g., greater than 45 megabits-per-second) data transmissions within a wide area network (WAN). Although typically broadband communication systems are fiber optic in nature, other media, such as coax cables, twisted pairs and serial backplanes are sometimes used. For example, many broadband networks include fiber optic interfaces that are constructed in accordance with the SONET (Synchronous Optical NETwork) standard. As is known, SONET is an optical interface standard that allows internetworking of transmission products from multiple vendors and prescribed transmission rates from 51.84 megabits-per-second to over 10 gigabits-per-second.

Other standards and protocols employing switching techniques that can vastly differ from the SONET standard are also known. For example, serial backplanes are not regulated by any standard, resulting in the existence of many proprietary signaling/switching schemes to improve the performance and costs of serial backplane systems. Further, timing recovery circuits are typically not protocol agnostic and rely on transition density to solve the problem of timing recovery. The reliance on transition density of prior art timing recovery circuits can lead to improper data sampling because of timing inaccuracy resulting from drifting and loss of synchronization due to low update rates during transitionless data periods.

As is also known, data transmissions via fiber optic and other data links are serial streams of data, but within a network component (e.g., switch, relay, bridge, gateway, et cetera) the data is processed in parallel. As such, each network component typically includes a serializer-deserializer transceiver (i.e., transmitter and receiver). In general, the transmitter converts parallel data into serial data and sources the serial data onto a fiber optic link. A receiver receives serial data via a fiber optic link and converts it back into parallel data.

A critical function of the receiver is to sample accurately the received serial data to be able to produce the parallel data. While the data rates for, for example, fiber optic transmissions are specified, and hence the required clock signals are specified, the clocks of the transceivers are not synchronized. Thus, the phase and/or frequency of the transmitter sourcing the received serial data may not align with the clock signal of the receiver. Such a misalignment, if uncorrected, can produce errors in the resulting parallel data. To correct the misalignment, receivers include a data and clock recovery circuit.

In general, timing recovery circuits and methods can be divided into two categories: phase-locked loop (PLL) architecture based timing recovery, and delay-locked loop (DLL) architecture based timing recovery.FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively, are block diagrams of PLL and DLL based timing recovery circuits that are widely used in various types of communication systems, including fiber optic networks.

As shown inFIG. 1, the PLL based timing recovery scheme can employ a data-driven phase detector, a loop filter, a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), and an optional divider module. The data-driven phase detector produces an output signal that is a measure of the phase/timing difference of its inputs: a data input signal and a feedback clock. The output of the phase detector is filtered through the loop filter to generate a control voltage for the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO). The VCO is a controlled frequency source that produces an output oscillation based on the control voltage. The output oscillation can then be divided down by n (where n is any positive number) in the divider module to produce the feedback clock signal. The rate of the output oscillation is based on the divider module value such that if the divider module value is one, then the rate of the output oscillation is equal to the rate of the data input signal, and if the divider module value is two, the rate of the output oscillation is twice that of the data input signal, etc. As will be appreciated by one of average skill in the art, an auxiliary frequency acquisition loop can be used to aid the VCO in pulling close to the data rate. For example, the feedback clock signal, synchronized with the timing of the data input signal, can be used to retime the data input signal for processing and switching as needed in a communications system implementing the timing recovery scheme.

In the DLL based timing recovery scheme ofFIG. 2, a delay cell replaces the VCO ofFIG. 1. The delay cell introduces an adjustable delay to its input reference clock by means of the control voltage signal. A conceptual diagram of a delay cell based on phase interpolation, as known to those familiar with the art, is shown inFIG. 3.

As shown inFIG. 3, a phase interpolator employs several fixed clock phases (e.g., 0°, 90°, 180°, 270°) to create an adjustable phase. For example, the phase interpolator can produce 16 phases of a reference clock with steps corresponding to 360° divided by 16. The selection of a particular phase is based on the enablement of switches D0–D15. As is also shown, each switch controls a current source that when enabled couples the current source to the output (e.g., the recovered clock signal) via a transistor. For example, if the desired phasing of the recovered clock signal is 0°, switches D0–D3are enabled and the remaining switches are disabled. For a phase shift of 360° divided by 16, switches D1–D4are enabled while D0and D5–D15are disabled. Accordingly, each phase step is achieved by enabling various combinations of the switches.

In both PLL and DLL based timing recovery systems, the accuracy and timeliness of the phase detector output plays a significant role in performance. Because both PLL and DLL based timing recovery circuits are closed loop feedback circuits, when the phase detector updates diminish (i.e., the data input is a relatively long string of zeros or ones), they tend to drift and lose the synchronization with the data input signal. In addition, drifting and loss of synchronization introduces jitter in the feedback clock signal which degrades the data retiming and causes bit errors. These transitionless, relatively long strings of zeros or ones, are of concern for both full-rate and half-rate timing recovery circuits.FIG. 4illustrates examples of data and clock timing relationships for full-rate and half-rate timing recovery schemes.

FIG. 5shows a schematic block diagram of a prior art half-rate binary type phase detector combined with a loop filter. As a result of sampling a data input signal with four equally spaced phases (e.g., 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees) of the feedback clock, XOR (exclusive OR) outputs A, B, C and D indicate whether the feedback clock is late or early with respect to a desired sampling instant of the data input signal. The decision logic within the phase detector processes the XOR outputs to generate a valid late/early decision, which is used to update the timing recovery loop. A digital loop filter having high noise immunity can be used to filter the late/early signal, which is particularly advantageous in highly integrated systems. In addition, use of a digital loop filter eliminates bulky RC components, which can vary due to IC manufacturing process variations and temperature, allowing for the flexible and accurate realization of large time constants in a relatively small silicon area. Decimation (sub-sampling) is widely used in digital filters to adjust the corner frequency of the filters and obtain large time constants.

The phase detector XOR outputs produce a late/early decision on every feedback clock period, while the digital loop filter accepts a decision on every Mth period of a reference clock. If the optional divider module previously discussed with respect toFIGS. 1 and 2is a divide by 1 divider, the feedback clock and the reference clock will be the same frequency. As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the low pass bandwidth of the timing recovery system should be decades smaller than the data rate of concern. Therefore, M values ranging from the 10's to 100's can be possible and may be required. As a result, long transitionless periods of the data input signal combined with large decimation by M in the digital loop filter cause update inaccuracies that degrade the timing recovery performance.

FIGS. 6 and 7provide an example timing diagram and decision table, respectively, for the phase detector and digital loop filter timing recovery circuit ofFIG. 5.FIG. 8shows a block diagram of a prior art implementation of the decision logic for the same circuit.FIGS. 9aand9b, respectively, depict a current mode logic (CML) structure for an XOR gate as a transistor-level schematic and as a conceptual symbol. The CML structure XOR gate ofFIGS. 9aand9bis used inFIG. 10, which provides a schematic block diagram of an analog implementation of the decision logic of the phase detector ofFIG. 5combined with a digital loop filter. During long transitionless periods of the data input signal, the analog implementation ofFIG. 10suffers various problems, including leakage through the RC components, comparator offset and improper sampling due to timing inaccuracy.FIG. 11illustrates the comparator input node signals during a long transitionless period for the analog implementation timing recovery circuit ofFIG. 10.

During high transition density periods, large RC time constants decrease the effect of comparator offset and improper sampling instances because they average toward the correct direction for phase alignment among many decisions per every transition. This is because a few inaccurate decisions among many decisions cannot have a significant impact.FIG. 12is a timing diagram illustrating the latency and inaccuracy introduced due to the comparator offset for the analog implementation ofFIG. 10.

Another problem associated with the prior art timing recovery circuit ofFIG. 10is the inability to determine whether a valid data transition has occurred. This can cause incorrect decisions at the comparator output when there is no transition, resulting in drift of the clock and data alignment. As an improvement to the analog implementation ofFIG. 10, another comparator can be used to flag the data input signal transitions by means of a transition detect signal.FIG. 13is a schematic block diagram of an analog implementation of a phase detector decision logic incorporating a second comparator for detecting data input signal transitions.FIG. 14illustrates an example timing diagram for the phase detector ofFIG. 13. This phase detector can be thought of as a 3-state phase detector where “late”, “early”, and “no transition” are the states and the “late/early” and “transition” output signals are used to switch between the states.

The prior art phase detector ofFIG. 13, however, can still fail to detect single transitions between long transitionless periods of the data input signal due to comparator offset and improper sampling instants.FIG. 15illustrates another example timing diagram for the phase detector ofFIG. 13illustrating that due to phase differences between the feedback clock and the reference clock, late/early signal pulses and transition output signal pulses can be missed. Comparator offsets can further shrink the pulse width of the late/early signal and the transition output signal. Failure to detect a single isolated data input signal transition could be a fatal problem for a timing recovery circuit.

Instead of using a divide by M version of the reference clock, the reference clock itself could be used to sample the phase detector output, and loop update can be achieved at almost the same rate of the feedback clock. As will be realized by one of average skill in the art, however, this will not eliminate the problem associated with an isolated single data transition, because unknown phase differences between the feedback clock and the reference clock still exist. Further, such a design would require supplying significantly more power to the digital loop filter due to increased operating frequency.

Therefore, a need exists for a data and clock recovery circuit for use in digital communication systems that can reduce or eliminate these problems of the prior art.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The timing recovery circuit and applications thereof of the present invention substantially meet these needs and others. An embodiment of the timing recovery circuit comprises a data-driven phase detector and a digital loop filter. The data-driven phase detector is operably coupled to determine at least a phase difference between an input signal and a feedback clock signal to produce a difference signal. Determining the phase difference can comprise digitally determining a timing difference between the input signal and the feedback clock signal, digitally determining a transition of the input signal to produce a transition detect signal, and digitally updating the timing difference based on the transition detect signal and the feedback clock signal. The timing difference can be digitally updated by pre-filtering the timing difference at a digital pre-filter, based on a pre-filter clock signal produced from the transition detect signal and the feedback clock signal, to produce the difference signal. The loop filter is operably coupled to digitally filter the difference signal based on the transition detect signal and the feedback clock signal to produce a control voltage.

The timing recovery circuit of this invention can be implemented as a PLL-based timing recovery circuit or as a DLL-based timing recovery circuit. A PLL-based embodiment of the timing recovery circuit can further comprise a voltage controlled frequency source operably coupled to generate a recovered clock based on the control voltage, and a divider module operably coupled to divide the recovered clock to update the feedback clock signal. A DLL-based embodiment of the timing recovery circuit can further comprise a delay cell operably coupled to delay a reference clock based on the control voltage to generate a recovered clock, and a divider module operably coupled to divide the recovered clock to update the feedback clock signal. The various embodiments of the data recovery circuit of this invention can be incorporated in an optical receiver.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The various embodiments of the timing recovery circuit of the present invention can comprise a data-driven phase detector and a digital loop filter combination that incorporates loop updates based on decisions in synchronous with a recovered clock. Embodiments of this invention can be implemented as a method for high-speed timing recovery using a DLL or PLL-based architecture and can provide for accurate lock and tracking of data transitions in a low transition density environment or in the case of an isolated transition between transitionless periods of an input data signal.

FIG. 16is a schematic block diagram of an optical interface10that includes network interface processors12and14, optical transmitters16and18, optical receivers20and22and optical links24and26. Each optical link24and26may support one or more serial data streams at a rate specified by SONET or other communication standard. Accordingly, the concepts of the present invention are equally applicable in an optical communication system or in serial backplane communication systems, as well as in any digital communication system.

In general, data is transceived via the network interface processors12and14, which may be included in a network component such as a switch, a bridge, a relay, a router, and/or any other type of network component used in fiber optic networks, the Internet, public switch telephone network, and/or any other wide area network or local area network. As shown, the data provided by network interface processor12to optical transmitter16is in a parallel format. The optical transmitter16converts the parallel data into serial data and transmits the serial data via optical link24. Optical receiver20receives the serial data and converts it back into parallel data, which it then provides to network interface processor14.

Similarly, network interface processor14provides parallel data to optical transmitter18. Optical transmitter18converts the parallel data into serial data and communicates it via optical link26to optical receiver22. Optical receiver22converts the serial data into parallel data and provides the parallel data to network interface processor12.

As one of average skill in the art will appreciate, the optical interface10corresponds generally to any interface within any type of digital communication system that employs serial data transmission between devices. Accordingly, the optical links24and26may be replaced by radio frequency links, serial backplanes, microwave links, wires, et cetera. Accordingly, the concepts of the present invention are equally applicable in optical communication systems as well as in any other type of digital communication system.

FIG. 17is a schematic block diagram of optical receiver20or22. As shown, the receiver20or22includes a timing recovery circuit30, amplifiers32and34, demultiplexor36, loss of signal detection module38, output register40, parallel clock circuit42and a plurality of differential buffers44–50. As shown, amplifier32is operably coupled to receive a differential base clock signal54and to provide it to the timing recovery circuit30. Amplifier34receives a differential serial data signal52and provides it to the timing recovery circuit30, to the loss of signal detection module38, and to the demultiplexor36as the received serial input data signal56. As one of average skill in the art will appreciate, the amplifiers32and34may process single-ended signals as well.

The loss of signal detection module38determines whether the received serial input data signal56is above a minimum signal strength threshold. If not, the loss of signal detection module38generates a loss of signal (LOS) indication60. If the received input serial data signal56is above the minimum required signal strength, the recovery circuit30generates a recovered clock signal58therefrom.

Based on the recovered clock signal58, demultiplexor36converts the received input serial data signal56into parallel data that is stored in output register40. Buffers44-1through44-16buffer the output register40to provide the parallel data signal62.

The parallel clock circuit42includes a divide by 16 module and may also include a divide by 4 module. The divide by 16 module receives the feedback clock signal58and produces a clock signal that is 1/16ththe frequency. This signal is provided to the output register40for clocking in the data produced by demultiplexor36. Buffer48may provide a parallel clock signal64to devices outside of the optical receiver20or22. Similarly, buffer50may provide a divide by 4 output reference clock66to devices outside the optical receiver20.

FIG. 18is a schematic block diagram of one embodiment of a recovery circuit30in accordance with the present invention. Recovery circuit30includes a phase detector70, a loop filter72, a voltage controlled frequency source74and a divider module76. Alternatively, recovery circuit30can include a delay cell73, having a reference clock signal75as an input, instead of voltage controlled frequency source74.FIG. 18aillustrates this alternative embodiment. The phase detector70, which may be a bang-bang type phase detector, compares the received serial input data signal56with a feedback clock signal59. If a phase difference exists between the received serial data signal56and the feedback clock signal59, the phase detector70generates a difference signal80.

The loop filter72receives the difference signal80and produces a control voltage signal82. The voltage controlled frequency source74, which may be a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), is operably coupled to receive the control voltage signal82and generate a recovered clock signal58therefrom. Alternatively, as shown inFIG. 18a, delay cell73can be operably coupled to receive the control voltage signal82and delay the reference clock signal75based on the control voltage signal82to generate the recovered clock signal58therefrom. The divider module76divides the recovered clock signal58to produce the feedback clock signal59. The divider module76can be a divide by n divider module, where n is a positive number. If the divider module is a divide by 1 module, then the feedback clock signal59frequency equals the recovered clock signal58frequency.

In general, the functionality of the recovery circuit30is to align the feedback clock signal59with the received serial input data signal56to provide optimal sampling by the demultiplexor of the received serial input data signal56.FIG. 19illustrates this functionality. As shown, the received serial data signal56may be a logic-high or logic-low in transition from cycle-to-cycle. The optimal sampling point of the received serial data signal56is in the center of the data (i.e., furthest away from transitions of the data as possible). Accordingly, the feedback clock signal59is aligned to have its falling edge, in this example, time aligned with the approximate center of the received serial input data signal56. Accordingly, to achieve this time alignment, the embodiments of the timing recovery circuit of this invention shift the recovered clock signal58, and hence the feedback clock signal59, to provide the desired alignment in accordance with the control voltage signal82. AlthoughFIG. 19shows the falling edge of feedback clock signal59time aligned with the approximate center of the received serial input data signal56, either edge of feedback clock signal59is acceptable. The choice can depend on, for example, the type of flip-flops comprising phase detector70(i.e., whether the selected flip-flops are triggered by the falling or rising edge of a signal).

FIG. 20is a schematic block diagram of a digital implementation of phase detector70and loop filter72ofFIG. 18orFIG. 18aaccording to one embodiment of the timing recovery circuit of this invention. As shown, phase detector70includes a decision logic section88comprising input logic modules90,92,94and96, input exclusive OR (XOR) gates98,100,102, and104, output logic modules106,108,110and112, phase shift logic modules114and116, output or (OR) gates118and120, XOR gate121and pre-filter126. The operation of decision logic section88will be familiar to those of average skill in the art.

Input logic modules90,92,94and96are operably coupled to receive serial input data signal56and a phase of feedback clock signal59and to pass through the clocked serial input data signal56. Output logic modules106,108,110and112are operably coupled to receive the outputs of input XOR gates98,100,102and104and a phase of feedback clock signal59. Phase shift logic modules114and116are operably coupled to phase align the output signals from output logic modules106and108, respectively. Output OR gates118and120are operably coupled to receive, respectively, the output signals from output logic module110and phase shift logic module114, and output logic module112and phase shift logic module116, to produce timing difference signal122, and, together with XOR gate121, transition detect signal124, as shown. It is contemplated that the functionality of decision logic section88can be achieved with various digital logic configurations familiar to those skilled in the art. Logic modules90,92,94,96,106,108,110,112,114and116can be D-type flip-flops. AlthoughFIG. 20shows zero, ninety, one-eighty and two-seventy degree phases of feedback clock signal59, any degree phase of feedback clock signal59can be used. For example, finer or coarser phase spacings than shown can be used without departing from the scope of this invention.

Decision logic section88is operably coupled to generate difference signal80based on at least a phase difference between serial input data signal56and feedback clock signal59. Determining the phase difference between serial input signal56and feedback clock signal59includes digitally determining the timing difference signal122between the serial input data signal56and the feedback clock signal59, digitally determining a transition of the serial input data signal56to produce transition detect signal124, and digitally updating the timing difference signal122based on the transition detect signal124and the feedback clock signal59.

Pre-filter126is operably coupled to receive the timing difference signal122and transition detect signal124and to pre-filter (update) the timing difference signal122based on a pre-filter clock signal136, which will be shown and discussed with reference toFIGS. 21aand21b. Pre-filter126may be a decimator operable to decimate the timing difference signal122based on every nth transition of the serial input data signal56, or on an average of every n transitions (decisions) of the serial input data signal56, where n is any positive number. These two decimation schemes are illustrated inFIGS. 21aand21b, respectively. Pre-filter126is designed to pass the phase detector70outputs to the digital loop filter72and to establish the digital loop filter72update in synchronous with the feedback clock signal59utilizing decimation based on serial input data signal56transitions rather than on a fixed clock period rate.

FIG. 21ais a schematic block diagram of one embodiment of pre-filter126for decimation based on taking every nth transition result of serial input data signal56.FIG. 21ashows the case for n=8. Pre-filter126ofFIG. 21aincludes AND gate130, counter132and logic module134. AND gate130is operably coupled to receive feedback clock signal59and transition detect signal124. Counter132is operably coupled to count only in the instance when transition detect signal124has a high value (digital “1”). As a result, the counter132output, pre-filter clock signal136, totals only every eight times that serial input data signal56transitions. Logic module134is operably coupled to receive pre-filter clock signal136and timing difference signal122to update the timing difference signal122based on the pre-filter clock signal136to produce the difference signal80.

FIG. 21bis a schematic block diagram of an alternative embodiment of pre-filter126ofFIG. 20for decimation based on taking the average of every n transitions of serial input data signal56. Decimation based on an average of every n transitions is a more accurate decimation method. A simple algorithm for averaging every N transitions can be written as:
Ifn−1Σj=0Dj≧N/2 then OUT=1, ELSE OUT=0

As shown inFIG. 21b, pre-filter126includes AND gate130, counter132and logic module134ofFIG. 21a. AND gate130is operably coupled to receive feedback clock signal59and transition detect signal124. Counter132is operably coupled to count only in the instance when transition detect signal124has a high value (digital “1”) and generate a pre-filter clock signal136. In the embodiment ofFIG. 21b, however logic module134is operably coupled to receive pre-filter clock signal136and the output signal from decision logic block140. Decision logic block140in combination with logic modules150–157process timing difference signal122to update the timing difference signal122based on the clock signal141output from AND gate130. Decision logic block140is operable to implement a decision logic algorithm such as described above. Logic module150receives as a data input the timing difference signal122and each subsequent logic module151–157receives as a data input the output from the previous logic module as shown. Each logic module150–157receives a clock signal, pre-filter sample signal141, to sample its input. As inFIG. 21a, pre-filter sample signal141only totals when transition detect signal124is high. Logic module134generates difference signal80by updating the processed timing difference signal122based on the pre-filter clock signal136. Logic modules134and150–157can be D-type flip-flops.

FIG. 22illustrates a timing diagram for decision logic section88of phase detector70of the timing recovery circuit of this invention according to the embodiment ofFIG. 20.FIG. 23illustrates a timing diagram for the pre-filter126of the timing circuit of this invention according to the embodiment ofFIG. 21a. In general,FIG. 22illustrates how the late/early decisions (i.e., the timing difference) and the transition detect signal, both generated by the phase detector70, are generated and aligned with the feedback clock signal.FIG. 23illustrates the timing diagram for pre-filter126for the case of decimation based on every eighth transition.

The preceding discussion has presented a timing recovery circuit that may be used in a data recovery circuit of a high-speed serial receiver. Embodiments of the timing recovery circuit of this invention can comprise a data driven phase detector and digital loop filter combination employing a transition-based decimator. This structure can provide the capability of sustaining lock and tracking in the presence of low transition density or isolated transitions between transitionless periods of a serial data input signal. The embodiments of the timing recovery circuit of this invention are capable of extracting the timing information from an isolated single data transition between long transitionless periods and require less data transitions to remain in a locked condition.

The embodiments of the present invention have an added advantage of decoupling the loop update rate and loop bandwidth design parameters. Loop bandwidth can thus be kept very low (in the KHz region) while still realizing a very high speed (in the GHz region) timing recovery operation. The embodiments of the timing recovery circuit of this invention can eliminate incorrect decisions of a traditional prior art phase detector circuit resulting from voltage and timing offsets.

A further embodiment of the present invention can comprise an apparatus for timing recovery from an input signal. As shown inFIG. 24, the apparatus190can comprise a processing module192and a memory194. Processing module192may be a single processing device or a plurality of processing devices. Such a processing device may be a microprocessor, micro-controller, digital signal processor, microcomputer, central processing unit, field programmable gate array, programmable logic device, state machine, logic circuitry, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or any device that manipulates signals (analog and/or digital) based on operational instructions. The memory194may be a single memory device or a plurality of memory devices. Such a memory device may be a read-only memory, random access memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, static memory, dynamic memory, flash memory, and/or any device that stores digital information. Note that when the processing module192implements one or more of its functions via a state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry, the memory storing the corresponding operational instructions is embedded with the circuitry comprising the state machine, analog circuitry, digital circuitry, and/or logic circuitry. The memory194stores, and the processing module192executes, operational instructions corresponding to at least some of the steps and/or functions illustrated inFIGS. 20–23.

In a particular embodiment of apparatus190, the memory194is operably coupled to processing module192and includes operational instructions that cause the processing module192to determine at least a phase difference between the serial input data signal56and a feedback clock signal59to produce a difference signal80, wherein determining the phase difference includes: digitally determining a timing difference signal122between the serial input data signal56and the feedback clock signal59; digitally determining a transition of the serial input data signal56to produce a transition detect signal124; and digitally updating the timing difference signal122based on the transition detect signal124and the feedback clock signal59; filtering the difference signal122to produce a control voltage; generating a recovered clock based on the control voltage; and updating the feedback clock signal59based on the recovered clock.

As one of average skill in the art will appreciate, other embodiments may be derived from the teaching of the present invention, without deviating from the scope of the claims.