Patent ID: 7746179

Claim:
A method of selecting a frequency generating element from an array of M frequency generating elements, each element having an output frequency range, the range having an upper frequency limit and a lower frequency limit, wherein the upper frequency limit is higher than the lower frequency limit, corresponding to an input tuning voltage range having an upper tuning limit and a lower tuning limit comprising: a. arranging the frequency generating elements into an order by their output frequencies, such that there is a middle frequency generating element; b. determining a reference tuning voltage corresponding to a lowest practical gain of a frequency generating element; c. determining a reference frequency corresponding to a lowest practical gain of a frequency generating element; d. starting a binary search by selecting the middle frequency generating element and assigning a search variable, having an initial value of M/2; e. comparing the reference tuning voltage to the upper tuning limit of the frequency generating element that has been selected, thereby determining a next frequency generating element to be selected; f. dividing the search variable by two if the search variable does not equal one, thereby determining a new value for the search variable; and g. repeating the steps of comparing and dividing for a number of iterations.