Patent ID: 6914458

Claim:
A method for generating a signal with a frequency equal to a product of a reference frequency and a real number, the method comprising: performing a sequence of measurement phases and correction phases; the measurement phase comprising providing an output signal from an oscillator, performing a first integer division of a frequency of the output signal by a first integer divider to obtain a first intermediate signal, determining a first measurement signal representative of a time difference between the first intermediate signal and a reference signal having the reference frequency, generating a first comparison signal derived from the first measurement signal, generating a second comparison signal dependent on a period of the reference signal, on integer and decimal parts of the real number and on the first integer divider, comparing the first and second comparison signals to obtain an error signal representative of a time difference between a period of the output signal and the period of the reference signal, and the correction phase comprising deactivating the first integer division to determine and deliver the error signal to the oscillator, with the output signal from the oscillator forming the desired signal with a frequency equal to the product of the reference frequency and the real number.