Patent ID: 7940140

Claim:
A self-calibrating, dual-band, wide range LC tank Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO) system, comprising: a first Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO); a second Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO); a calibration engine, the calibration engine configured for being connectable to at least one of the first VCO and the second VCO, the calibration engine further configured for automatically establishing and automatically providing a VCO fix capacitor band code setting and a gear control setting, the gear control setting causing the VCO system to selectively activate one of: the first VCO and the second VCO, and further causing the VCO system to selectively inactivate one of: the first VCO and the second VCO, the first VCO configured for providing a first targeted central frequency value, the second VCO configured for providing a second targeted central frequency value, the second targeted frequency value being greater than the first targeted central frequency value, wherein the calibration engine is further configured for automatically comparing a VCO control voltage of the system to a lower threshold voltage and an upper threshold voltage, the lower threshold voltage being a minimum allowable control voltage for the system, the upper threshold voltage being a maximum allowable control voltage for the system, the calibration engine being further configured for at least one of automatically adjusting the VCO fix capacitor band code setting and automatically adjusting the gear control setting when the VCO control voltage is at least one of greater than the upper threshold voltage and lower than the lower threshold voltage; a first power supply regulator, the first power supply regulator configured for being connected to the first VCO and providing a supply voltage to the first VCO, the first power supply regulator further configured for being connected to the calibration engine, wherein when the first VCO is selected by the system to be inactive and the second VCO is selected by the system to be active, the first power supply regulator is powered off by the system, thereby causing the supply voltage supplied from the first power supply regulator to the first VCO to be zero volts; a second power supply regulator, the second power supply regulator configured for being connected to the second VCO and providing a supply voltage to the second VCO, the second power supply regulator further configured for being connected to the calibration engine, wherein when the second VCO is selected by the system to be inactive and the first VCO is selected by the system to be active, the second power supply regulator is powered off by the system, thereby causing the supply voltage supplied from the second power supply regulator to the second VCO to be zero volts; a bandgap reference circuit, the bandgap reference circuit being communicatively coupled with one of: the first power supply regulator and the second power supply regulator.