Abstract:
Circuits and methods for full rate data reception and transmission using half-frequency clock signals are disclosed. In one embodiment, a flop circuit includes a data input, a data output, and a clock input. The clock signal has a first frequency, while the flop circuit is configured to output data at a rate corresponding to a second frequency. In one embodiment, the second frequency is twice the first frequency. The flop circuit is configured to transmit a first data bit responsive to a first edge (e.g., a rising edge) of the clock signal and a second data bit responsive to a second edge (e.g., a falling edge) of the clock signal that is the next edge following the first edge. Accordingly, the flop circuit may effectively operate at the second frequency utilizing the clock signal at the first lower frequency.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    This invention relates to integrated circuits, and more particularly, the delivery of clock signals in integrated circuits. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    Modern integrated circuits (ICs) often times include structures known as clock trees for distribution and delivery of clock signals to synchronous circuits. Since a large number of circuits may utilize clock signals, clock trees can be large in many ICs. Due to the large size of clock trees can be a significant driver of power consumption. In some cases, a clock tree can consume 25% of the total power consumed by an IC. 
         [0005]    Since the distribution and delivery of clock signals can be a significant driver in power consumption, various power saving techniques have been employed. One commonly used technique is clock gating. Using the technique of clock gating, a clock signal provided to a block of circuitry may be inhibited when the circuitry is idle. Clock gating may be performed at various levels of a clock tree. Fine-grain clock gating may be performed at the level of the clock consumer circuits themselves (e.g., flop circuits). Coarse clock gating may be performed at a higher level that is closer in the clock tree to the root clock signal. 
         [0006]    Another common power saving technique involving clock signals is frequency scaling. In an IC that utilizes frequency scaling, a clock frequency may be increased for a heavier workload and reduced for a lighter workload. For example, in a processor having one or more processor cores, the frequency of a clock signal provided to a given core may be adjusted depending on the processing workload of that core. In some ICs, both clock gating and frequency scaling may be performed to provide even more control over the consumption of power incurred by distribution and delivery of clock signals. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0007]    Circuits and methods for full rate data reception and transmission using half-frequency clock signals are disclosed. In one embodiment, a flop circuit includes a data input, a data output, and a clock input. The clock signal has a first frequency, while the flop circuit is configured to output data at a rate corresponding to a second frequency. In one embodiment, the second frequency is twice the first frequency. The flop circuit is configured to transmit a first data bit responsive to a first edge of the clock signal and a second data bit responsive to a second edge of the clock signal that is the next edge following the first edge. Accordingly, the flop circuit may effectively operate at the second frequency utilizing the clock signal at the first lower frequency. This may reduce clock power consumption while enabling operation at a desired frequency. 
         [0008]    In one embodiment, a flop circuit includes a first latch, a second latch, and a multiplexer. The first and second latches each include respective inputs coupled to a data input. The first latch is configured to latch data from the data input responsive to a first edge of the clock signal. The second latch is configured to latch data from the data input responsive to a second edge of the clock signal that is a next edge subsequent to the first edge. The multiplexer includes first and second inputs coupled to outputs of the first and second latches, respectively. The multiplexer also includes a select input coupled to receive the clock signal. The multiplexer is configured to select the second input responsive to the first edge of the clock signal, and further configured to select the first input responsive to the second edge of the clock signal. 
         [0009]    An integrated circuit is also disclosed. In one embodiment, the integrated circuit includes a clock generator configured to generate a clock signal and a clock tree configured to distribute the clock signal. The clock tree may distribute the clock signal to a plurality of flop circuit configured to transfer data at the second frequency based on a clock signal of the first frequency. The integrated circuit may also include one or more clock doubler circuits configured to receive the clock signal at the first frequency and generate an output clock signal at the second frequency. The output clock signal from the clock doubler may be provided to one or more circuits of the integrated circuit that operate based on receiving the clock signal at the full frequency rather than at the half frequency at which it is distributed via the clock tree. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    The following detailed description makes reference to the accompanying drawings, which are now briefly described. 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of one embodiment of an integrated circuit. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of one embodiment of a flop circuit configured for full-rate data transfer using a half-rate (half-frequency) clock signal. 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a timing diagram illustrating the operation of an embodiment of the flop circuit of  FIG. 2 . 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of one embodiment of a method for operating a flop circuit with a half-frequency clock signal. 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is a logic diagram of one embodiment of a clock doubler and a timing diagram illustrating its operation. 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram of one embodiment of a system. 
       
    
    
       [0017]    While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include”, “including”, and “includes” mean including, but not limited to. 
         [0018]    Various units, circuits, or other components may be described as “configured to” perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that” performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the unit/circuit/component can be configured to perform the task even when the unit/circuit/component is not currently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structure corresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits. Similarly, various units/circuits/components may be described as performing a task or tasks, for convenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a unit/circuit/component that is configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not to invoke 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph six interpretation for that unit/circuit/component. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     Integrated Circuit: 
       [0019]    Turning now to  FIG. 1 , a block diagram of one embodiment of an integrated circuit (IC) is shown. In the embodiment shown, IC  10  includes a clock generator  11  configured to generate a clock signal. The clock signal output from clock generator  11 , the root clock signal, is one half the operating frequency of at least some of the clock consumers within IC  10  (i.e. circuitry which is coupled to receive the root clock signal from clock generator  11 ). For example, the clock consumers of functional unit  15  in the illustrated embodiment may be rated for operation at 1 GHz, while the root clock signal is provided at 500 MHz. 
         [0020]    The root clock signal may be distributed to circuitry within various functional units of IC  10  via a clock tree. The clock tree in this embodiment includes a number of inverters  13  through which the clock signal is provided down to leaf nodes  17  within the various functional units. In the illustrated embodiment, three leaf nodes  17  are illustrated within functional unit  15  (although a greater or lesser number may be present). Each leaf node  17  includes one or more clock consumers. 
         [0021]    In one of leaf nodes  17  in the illustrated example, three flop circuits  20  are included. As will be discussed in further detail below, each of these flop circuits may operate at a frequency that is twice frequency of the root clock signal. Thus, in accordance with the example above, each flop circuit  20  may transfer data at a rate corresponding to a clock frequency of 1 GHz using a clock signal of 500 MHz. 
         [0022]    In two other leaf nodes  17 , synchronous circuits  19  are not configured in the same manner as flop circuits  20 . More particularly, synchronous circuits may operate using a clock signal at full frequency. Again using the example above, if the intended rate of data transfer from or within synchronous circuits  19  is 1 GHz, a clock signal having a frequency of 1 GHz may be utilized. In this example, a clock signal of 1 GHz may be provided via a clock doubler  50 . As will be explained below, clock doubler  50  may receive a clock signal at a first frequency, and generate a corresponding output clock signal having a second frequency (e.g., 2 times) that of the first frequency. Clock doublers  50  may be configured to generate the output clock signal using only logic circuitry, without requiring the additional circuitry of a phase-locked loop (PLL), a delay-locked loop (DLL) or other types of clock generation circuitry. 
         [0023]    It is noted that while specific examples of clock frequencies and data rates have been given above, these figures are not intended to be limiting. Accordingly, embodiments are possible and contemplated using a wide variety of data rates and clock frequencies. Furthermore, it is noted that in some embodiments, the clock frequencies and the data rates may vary during operation. More particularly, embodiments are possible and contemplated in which the clock frequency may be reduced to save power and/or increased to allow for higher performance during certain times during operation of a device in which IC  10  is implemented. 
       Flop Circuit and Operation Thereof: 
       [0024]      FIG. 2  is a logic diagram illustrating one embodiment of a flop circuit  20 . In the embodiment shown, flop circuit  20  is configured to receive and transmit data at a data rate corresponding to a frequency that is twice that of the received clock signal. Flop circuit  20  includes a first latch  21  and a second latch  22 . Latch  21  is coupled to receive the incoming clock signal directly. Latch  22  is coupled to receive a complement of the incoming clock signal (‘Clk_’) via inverter  13 . 
         [0025]    Latches  21  and  22  include respective inputs D 1  and D 2 , each of which is coupled to receive incoming data via the data input of flop circuit (‘Data In’). Latch  21  in this embodiment is configured to latch data responsive to a rising edge of the clock signal. Latch  22  in the embodiment shown is configured to latch data responsive to a falling edge of the clock signal (which corresponds to the rising edge of the complement of the clock signal). 
         [0026]    Flop circuit  20  also includes a multiplexer  23  having a select input coupled to receive the clock signal. A first input of multiplexer  23  is coupled to the output of latch  21  (‘Q 1 ’). A second input of multiplexer  23  is coupled to the output of latch  22  (‘Q 2 ’). When the clock signal is low, multiplexer  23  in the illustrated embodiment selects the output of latch  21  to be transparent to the multiplexer output (‘Qout’). When the clock signal is high, the output of latch  22  is selected to be transparent to the multiplexer output. Thus, in this embodiment, the data latched into the first latch is transmitted from flop circuit responsive to the falling edge of the clock signal. Data latched into the second latch is transmitted responsive to the rising edge of the clock signal. 
         [0027]    Generally specking, data received and latched into a particular latch of the illustrated embodiment of flop circuit  20  responsive to an edge of the clock signal is transmitted responsive to the next edge of the clock signal. Thus, bits of data latched responsive to a rising edge are transmitted on the next falling edge, while bits of data latched responsive to a falling edge are transmitted on the next rising edge. Thus, use of a clock signal that is one half the frequency of the data transfer rate may be enabled by the configuration of flop circuit  20 . Data may therefore be received by and transmitted from flop circuit  20  at a rate that is twice the frequency of the clock signal. For example, if the clock signal is 500 MHz, data may be received into and transmitted from flop circuit  20  at a rate of 1 GHz. 
         [0028]      FIG. 3  is a timing diagram illustrating operation of the embodiment of flop circuit  20  shown in  FIG. 2 . At ( 1 ) in the illustrated example, the clock transitions high and data received on the data input (‘Data In’) is latched to the output of latch  21  (‘Q 1 ’). At ( 2 ), on the next falling edge of the clock signal, data from the output of latch  21  is transmitted from the output of multiplexer  23  (‘Qout’). At ( 3 ), on the falling edge of the clock signal, data from the data input is latched to the output of latch  22  (‘Q 2 ’). At ( 4 ), on the next rising edge of the clock signal, multiplexer  23  selects the output of latch  22  and transmits the data from its output. Thus, data is latched into flop circuit  20  on each edge of the clock signal. Similarly, data is transmitted from flop circuit  20  on each edge of the clock signal. 
         [0029]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method for operating a flop circuits such as flop circuit  20  discussed above. Accordingly, method  400  is described in terms of flop circuit  20 . It is noted however that method  400  may apply to any flop circuit configured to receive and transmit data on each edge of a clock signal, i.e. at twice the rate of the clock signal frequency. 
         [0030]    In the embodiment shown, method  400  begins with a flop circuit receiving data at a full data rate, while receiving a clock signal at a half data rate (block  405 ). In other words, the frequency of the clock signal may be one half the rate at which data is received by the flop circuit. 
         [0031]    On a rising edge of the clock signal, incoming data received on a data input node is latched to an output of a first latch (block  410 ). On the next falling edge, incoming data received on the data input node is latched to an output of a second latch (block  415 ). Furthermore, on the same falling edge, a multiplexer may select the output of the first latch to be transferred to the output of the flop circuit (block  420 ) and transmitted. On the next rising edge of the clock signal, the multiplexer may select the output of the second latch (block  425 ) to be transmitted. On the same rising edge, the method returns to block  410 , as data is again latched into the first latch. The method may repeat itself in this manner during operation of the flop circuit. 
       Clock Doubler Circuit: 
       [0032]    Turning now to  FIG. 5 , a logic diagram illustrating one embodiment of a clock doubler circuit is shown. Clock doubler  50  as shown in  FIG. 5  is coupled to receive an input clock signal via the clock input (‘ClkIn’) and configured to generate and output another clock signal on the clock output (‘ClkOut’). The output clock signal may have a frequency that is twice that of the input clock frequency. It is noted that embodiments are possible and contemplated that are configured to produce output clock signals with other multiples of the input clock signal. Clock doubler  50  in the embodiment shown is implemented using only logic circuitry, inverters, and passgates. Accordingly, clock doubler circuit  50  may be implemented in some ICs in lieu of other clock multiplication circuitry that includes phase locked loops (PLLs), oscillators, and so forth. 
         [0033]      FIG. 5  includes a timing diagram illustrating the operation of clock doubler  50  (when the ‘Long’ signal is not asserted). The various internal signal states resulting from the input clock signal cause the output of NOR gate G 4  to be driven high responsive to the rising edge of the input clock signal and the falling edge of the input clock signal. The output of NOR gate G 4  may fall low approximately halfway between the edges of the input clock signal, thus resulting in an output clock signal having twice the frequency of the input clock signal. Clock doubler  50  may be used to provide a clock signal to circuits within an IC which cannot otherwise be implemented using an embodiment of flop circuit  20  discussed above. Using clock doubler  50  in proximity to such circuits allows the root clock signal to be distributed via the clock tree at one half the required frequency. A local clock doubler  50  may receive the half frequency clock signal and output a full frequency clock signal to the circuit in which it is used. Thus, an IC may be implemented using a combination of the flop circuits  20  and clock doublers  50  in order to provide operation at corresponding to a desired frequency while saving power by distributing the clock signal at one half the frequency. 
         [0034]    Clock doubler  50  in the embodiment shown also includes an input (long&#39;) for increasing the duty cycle of the corresponding output clock signal. Responsive to the assertion of the ‘Long’ signal, the output clock signal may have a duty cycle that is longer than that produced when the ‘Long’ signal is not asserted. Thus, the embodiment of clock doubler  50  may be useful in situations in which both a full frequency clock and one with a longer duty cycle are desired. Clock doubler  50  may also be used to tune a duty cycle when reducing frequency. The example the programmability of one embodiment of clock doubler  50  is illustrated. In some embodiments, additional granularity may be provided using additional control signals and corresponding circuitry. It is noted however that embodiments that are not configured for a variable duty cycle are also possible and contemplated. 
       Exemplary System: 
       [0035]    Turning next to  FIG. 6 , a block diagram of one embodiment of a system  150  is shown. In the illustrated embodiment, the system  150  includes at least one instance of an IC  10  (e.g., from  FIG. 1 ) coupled to one or more peripherals  154  and an external memory  158 . A power supply  156  is also provided which supplies the supply voltages to the IC  10  as well as one or more supply voltages to the memory  158  and/or the peripherals  154 . In some embodiments, more than one instance of the IC  10  may be included (and more than one external memory  158  may be included as well). 
         [0036]    The peripherals  154  may include any desired circuitry, depending on the type of system  150 . For example, in one embodiment, the system  150  may be a mobile device (e.g. personal digital assistant (PDA), smart phone, etc.) and the peripherals  154  may include devices for various types of wireless communication, such as wifi, Bluetooth, cellular, global positioning system, etc. The peripherals  154  may also include additional storage, including RAM storage, solid-state storage, or disk storage. The peripherals  154  may include user interface devices such as a display screen, including touch display screens or multitouch display screens, keyboard or other input devices, microphones, speakers, etc. In other embodiments, the system  150  may be any type of computing system (e.g. desktop personal computer, laptop, workstation, net top etc.). 
         [0037]    The external memory  158  may include any type of memory. For example, the external memory  158  may be SRAM, dynamic RAM (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate (DDR, DDR2, DDR3, LPDDR1, LPDDR2, etc.) SDRAM, RAMBUS DRAM, etc. The external memory  158  may include one or more memory modules to which the memory devices are mounted, such as single inline memory modules (SIMMs), dual inline memory modules (DIMMs), etc. 
         [0038]    Numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.