Patent ID: 8363703

Claim:
A wireless communication element, comprising: at least one of: a receive path configured to receive a first wireless communication signal and convert the first wireless communication signal into a first digital signal based at least on an oscillator signal; and a transmit path configured to convert a second digital signal into a second wireless communication signal based at least on the oscillator signal and transmit the second wireless communication signal; and an oscillator configured to output the oscillator signal to at least one of the receive path and the transmit path, the oscillator comprising a phase-locked loop configured to synchronize an output signal at its output to an input reference signal received at its input, the phase-locked loop comprising: a phase detector configured to compare a first phase of the input reference signal to a second phase of the output signal and generate a phase detector output signal indicative of an a phase difference between the second phase and the first phase, the phase detector comprising: an XOR/XNOR module configured to: perform a logical exclusive OR on the input reference signal and the output signal to generate an XOR signal; and perform a logical inverse exclusive OR on the input reference signal and the output signal to generate an XNOR signal; a lead/lag detection module configured to detect whether the first phase leads or lags the second phase and generate a switch control signal indicative of such detection; and a switch configured to, based on the switch control signal: transmit the XOR signal as the phase detector output signal if the first phase leads the second phase; and transmit the XNOR signal as the phase detector output signal if the first phase lags the second phase; a loop filter coupled to the phase detector and configured to filter the phase detector output signal to generate an error signal; and a voltage controlled oscillator configured to generate the output signal based on the error signal.