Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The disclosed embodiments of the present invention relate to clock and data recovery circuit, and more particularly, to a multi-mode clock and data recovery circuit and a related method thereof. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     In a communication system, a clock and data recovery circuit is employed in a receiver to sample the received signal (s) correctly. However, clock rates and data rates of systems dramatically rise along with the progress of the semiconductor process and the material technology. However, some systems, such as a passive optical network (PON) and a Gigabit-capable passive optical network (GPON), request that a receiver end should accomplish the clock and data recovery in a short time. The conventional solution to meet the aforesaid request is to employ a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) in a phase-locked loop (PLL) for locking the frequency to provide a local clock in a receiver end, and further set a gated voltage controlled oscillator (GVCO) for locking the phase rapidly. Moreover, the GVCO is controlled by the same control voltage of the VCO, and locks the phase immediately after the frequency is locked. 
     Although two oscillators are controlled by the same control voltage, it is hard to guarantee that the semiconductor process or some other factors would not introduce frequency mismatches. That is to say, it may make the following clock and data recovery process more difficult, or induce a high bit error rate (BER) while an extreme condition, such as consecutive identical digits (CIDs), i.e., a serial data with a larger number of consecutive 0&#39;s or 1&#39;s, is encountered. Therefore, there is a need for an innovative design which can solve this troublesome issue. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a clock and data recovery circuit and related method are proposed to solve the above-mentioned problem. 
     According to a first aspect of the present invention, an exemplary clock and data recovery circuit is disclosed. The exemplary clock and data recovery circuit includes a serial data input terminal, a reference clock input terminal, a control circuit, a detecting circuit, and a controllable oscillator. The serial data input terminal is arranged for receiving a serial data. The reference clock input terminal is arranged for receiving a reference clock. The control circuit is arranged for generating a control signal to selectively configure the clock and data recovery circuit to operate in one of a plurality of stages. The detecting circuit is arranged for generating a first adjusting signal according to at least the reference clock when the clock and data recovery circuit operates in a frequency locking stage, and generating a second adjusting signal according to at least the serial data when the clock and data recovery circuit operates in a clock and data recovery stage. The controllable oscillator is arranged for generating a recovered clock according to the first adjusting signal when the clock and data recovery circuit operates in the frequency locking stage, and generating the recovered clock according to the second adjusting signal when the clock and data recovery circuit operates in the clock and data recovery stage. 
     According to a second aspect of the present invention, an exemplary clock and data recovery method is disclosed. The exemplary clock and data recovery method includes: receiving a serial data; receiving a reference clock; in a frequency detecting stage, generating a first adjusting signal according to at least the reference clock, and generating a recovered clock according to the first adjusting signal by using a controllable oscillator; and in a clock and data recovery stage, generating a second adjusting signal according to at least the serial data, and generating the recovered clock according to the second adjusting signal by using the controllable oscillator. 
     According to a first embodiment of the present invention, the controllable oscillator is a GVCO. The clock and data recovery circuit operates in three different stages, frequency locking stage, fast phase locking, and clock and data recovery. The method of operation is sharing the GVCO and a part of the detecting circuit, and utilizing the control circuit to switch the shared circuits to one of the three stages. 
     According to a second embodiment of the present invention, the controllable oscillator is a GVCO. The clock and data recovery circuit operates in three different stages, frequency locking stage, fast phase locking in a fixed time period, and clock and data recovery. The method of operation is sharing the GVCO and a part of the detecting circuit, and utilizing the control circuit to switch the shared circuits to one of the three stages. 
     According to a third embodiment of the present invention, the controllable oscillator is not limited to a GVCO. The clock and data recovery circuit operates in two different stages, frequency locking stage and clock and data recovery. The method of operation is sharing the GVCO and a part of the detecting circuit, and utilizing the control circuit to switch the shared circuits to one of the two stages. 
     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a clock and data recovery circuit according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a timing diagram illustrating a plurality of operational stages of the clock and data recovery circuit shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating the clock and data recovery circuit according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating a clock and data recovery circuit according to a third embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Certain terms are used throughout the description and following claims to refer to particular components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, manufacturers may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. In the following description and in the claims, the terms “include” and “comprise” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “include, but not limited to . . . ”. Also, the term “couple” is intended to mean either an indirect or direct electrical connection. Accordingly, if one device is electrically connected to another device, that connection may be through a direct electrical connection, or through an indirect electrical connection via other devices and connections. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which is a diagram illustrating a clock and data recovery circuit according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the clock and data recovery circuit  100  includes a serial data input terminal  102 , a reference clock input terminal  104 , a control circuit  106 , a detecting circuit  108 , and a gated voltage control oscillator (GVCO)  110 . The serial data input terminal  102  is used to receive a serial data DIN (e.g., the un-decoded data from the receiver in the previous stage), and coupled to the control circuit  106 , the detecting circuit  108 , and the GVCO  110 , respectively. The reference clock input terminal  104  is used to receive a reference clock CLKREF (e.g., the clock generated by the crystal oscillator at the local end), and coupled to the control circuit  106  and the detecting circuit  108 , respectively. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the input terminal of the control circuit  106  is coupled to the reference clock input terminal  104 , the serial data input terminal  102 , and the output terminal of the GVCO  110 , respectively, and the output terminal of the control circuit  106  is coupled to the input terminal of the detecting circuit  108  and the input terminal of the GVCO  110 , respectively. Specifically, the control circuit  106  includes a phase-locked loop (PLL) locking detector  112 , a clock and data recovery (CDR) locking detector  114 , and a controller  116 . 
     The input terminal of the detecting circuit  108  is coupled to the reference clock input terminal  104 , the serial data input terminal  102 , the output terminal of the control circuit  106 , and the output terminal of the GVCO  110 , and the output terminal of the detecting circuit  108  is coupled to the input terminal of the GVCO  110 . As shown in  FIG. 1 , the detecting circuit  108  includes a detecting module  118 , a charge pump  120 , a loop filter  122 , and a frequency divider  123 , wherein the detecting module  118  includes a phase frequency detector  124 , a phase detector  126 , and a multiplexer  128 . In addition, the input terminal of the GVCO  110  is coupled to the serial data input terminal  102 , the output terminal of the control circuit  106 , and the output terminal of the detecting circuit  108 , respectively, and the output terminal of the GVCO  110  is coupled to the input terminal of the control circuit  106  and the input terminal of the detecting circuit  108 , respectively. 
       FIG. 2  is a timing diagram illustrating a plurality of operational stages of the clock and data recovery circuit shown in  FIG. 1 . It should be noted that the disclosed clock and data recovery circuit of the present invention operates in multiple modes by using the same set of hardware, and the details thereof is as follows. The three stages of the first embodiment of the present invention are a frequency locking stage, a phase locking stage, and a clock and data recovery stage, respectively. The frequency locking stage is for the PLL operation. In this stage, the local end (i.e., the receiver end) generates a receiver clock. The following phase locking stage is for fast locking process. In this stage, the GVCO  110  adjusts the phase of the receiver clock rapidly. Finally, the clock and data recovery stage is for clock and data recovery loop operation. In this stage, the PLL in the previous frequency locking stage will be transformed into the clock and data recovery loop after proper switching and reconfiguration. 
     Specifically, when the clock and data recovery circuit  100  operates in the frequency locking stage (i.e., the initial operational stage of the clock and data recovery circuit  100 ), the clock and data recovery circuit  100  may be regarded as a PLL. In the frequency locking stage, the multiplexer  128 , the charge pump  120  and the loop filter  122  of the detecting circuit  108  are controlled by a control signal SCTRL generated by the control circuit  106  to adjust the configuration of the control circuit  106 . For instance, the multiplexer  128  outputs a first detecting signal SD 1  generated by the phase frequency detector  124  to the charge pump  120 . Please note that, generally speaking, the frequency of a recovered clock CLKRCV generated by the GVCO  110  is higher than the frequency of the reference clock CLKREF. Hence, the frequency divider  123  divides the frequency of the recovered clock CLKRCV based on a predetermined constant, and the phase frequency detector  124  is used to reflect the difference between the feedback clock CLKFB and the reference clock CLKREF, and make the charge pump  120  generate a first charge pump output signal SC 1  to the loop filter  122 . Please note that, in other applications or practical architectures, the frequency divider  123  may be optional. That is, in other embodiments, the frequency divider  123  may be omitted. Hence, the phase frequency detector  124  is used to reflect the difference between the recovered clock CLKRCV and the reference clock CLKREF, and make the charge pump  120  generate the first charge pump output signal SC 1  to the loop filter  122 . In summary, the phase frequency detector  124  generates the first detecting signal SD 1  according to the reference click CLKREF and the recovered clock CLKRCV (i.e., by directly referring to the recovered clock CLKRCV or by indirectly referring to the recovered clock CLKRCV through the feedback clock CLKFB). 
     The loop filter  122  is coupled between the charge pump  120  and the GVCO  110 , and may be regarded as a low pass filter. The main purpose of the loop filter  122  is to reduce high-frequency noise of the charge pump output signal SC 1 . A first adjusting signal SLF 1  generated by the loop filter  122  is the output signal of the detecting circuit  108  in the frequency locking stage. In the frequency locking stage, the GVCO  110  acts as a simple controllable oscillator, and changes the frequency of the recovered clock CLKRCV dynamically according to the first adjusting signal SLF 1 . Once the PLL has a stable locking status (i.e., the output frequency of the PLL is locked to the desired frequency), a first locking detecting signal SL 1  outputted from the PLL locking detector  112  of the control circuit  106  has a transition from a logic low level ‘0’ to a logic high level ‘1’, as shown in  FIG. 2 . It means that the PLL locking detector  112  determines that the frequency has been locked, and the control signal SCTRL outputted from the controller  116  (i.e., the output of the control circuit  106 ) has a corresponding change to control the detecting circuit  108  and the GVCO  110 . In other words, the frequency locking stage is finished, and the process is switched from the frequency locking stage to the following phase locking stage. 
     When the clock and data recovery circuit  100  operates in the phase locking stage (i.e., the second operational stage of the clock and data recovery circuit  100  in the first embodiment of the present invention), the control signal SCTRL outputted from the control circuit  106  would suspend the action of the detecting circuit  108 , and the phase of the recovered clock CLKRCV outputted from the GVCO  110  is rapidly synchronized with and then locked to the phase of the serial data DIN. At this moment, the clock and data recovery locking detector  114  of the control circuit  106  would check the relationship between the recovered clock CLKRCV and the serial data DIN dynamically. Once the clock and data recovery locking detector  114  determines that the phase locking process is finished, a second locking detecting signal SL 2  outputted from it would have a transition from the logic low level ‘0’ to the logic high level ‘1’, as shown in  FIG. 2 . The control signal SCTRL (i.e., the output of the control circuit  106 ) outputted from the controller  116  would have a change at the same time to control the detecting circuit  108  and the GVCO  110  correspondingly. In another word, the phase locking stage is finished, and the process is switched from the phase locking stage to the following clock and data recovery stage. 
     When the clock and data recovery circuit  100  operates in the clock and data recovery stage (i.e., the third operational stage of the clock and data recovery circuit  100  of the first embodiment of the present invention), the clock and data recovery circuit  100  may be regarded as a clock and data recovery circuit. In the clock and data recovery stage, the multiplexer  128 , the charge pump  120 , and the loop filter  122  of the detecting circuit  108  are controlled by a control signal SCTRL outputted from the control circuit  106  to adjust respective configurations. For instance, the multiplexer  128  would output a second detecting signal SD 2  generated by the phase detecting circuit  126  to the charge pump  120 . Please note that, as described above, the frequency of the recovered clock CLKRCV generated by the GVCO  110  is higher than the frequency of the reference clock CLKREF. Hence, the frequency divider  123  divides the frequency of the recovered clock CLKRCV based on a predetermined constant, and the phase detector  126  is used to reflect the difference between the feedback clock CLKFB and the serial data DIN, and make the charge pump  120  generate a second charge pump output signal SC 2  to the loop filter  122 . Similarly, the frequency divider  123  may be optional in other applications or practical architectures. That is to say, in other embodiments, the frequency divider  123  may be omitted, and thus the phase detector  126  is used to reflect the difference between the recovered clock CLKRCV and the serial data DIN, and make the charge pump  120  generate the second charge pump output signal SC 2  to the loop filter  122 . In summary, the phase frequency detector  124  generates the second detecting signal SD 2  according to the reference click CLKREF and the serial data DIN (i.e., by directly referring to the recovered clock CLKRCV or by indirectly referring to the recovered clock CLKRCV through the feedback clock CLKFB). The loop filter  122  may be regarded as a low pass filter, and the main purpose of it is to reduce the high-frequency noise of the charge pump output signal SC 2 . A second adjusting signal SLF 2  generated by the loop filter  122  is the output signal of the detecting circuit  108  in the frequency locking stage. In the clock and data recovery stage, the GVCO  110  acts as a simple controllable oscillator as in the frequency locking stage, and changes the frequency of the recovered clock CLKRCV dynamically according to the first adjusting signal SLF 2 . Due to that the clock and data recovery circuit  100  has finished the phase locking at the end of the phase locking stage, the clock and data recovery loop could stably track and lock the serial data DIN in the following clock and data recovery stage. 
     In some systems, the specification of the GPON defines that, in the phase locking stage (i.e., the aforesaid phase locking stage), a training sequence with consecutive 0&#39;s and 1&#39;s (i.e., 010101 . . . or 101010 . . . ) is inputted as the serial data DIN, and the locking time for the clock and data recovery circuit is required to be within 25 bit time. The GVCO has the characteristic of fast locking, and is generally capable of accomplishing the locking time within one bit-time. Hence, in a second embodiment of the present invention, the clock and data recovery detector  114  employed in the first embodiment of the present invention could be omitted, where a fix locking time is provided according to the corresponding specifications, and after the fix locking time, the process would be automatically switched from the phase locking stage to the clock and data recovery stage. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 3 , which is a diagram illustrating the clock and data recovery circuit according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the clock and data recovery circuit  300  includes a control circuit  202  and the aforesaid serial data input terminal  102 , reference clock input terminal  104 , detecting circuit  108  and GVCO  110 . The major difference between the clock and data recovery circuits  300  and  100  is that the control circuit  202  includes a controller  204  and the aforesaid PLL locking detector  112 , where the clock and data recovery locking detector  114  is precluded. 
     The frequency locking stage of the second embodiment of the present invention is exactly identical to the frequency locking stage of the first embodiment of the present invention. After the frequency locking stage is finished, the clock and data recovery circuit  300  also enters a phase locking stage, and stays in the phase locking stage for a fixed time period (e.g., 25 bit time). For instance, the controller  204  may employ a counter to generate the control signal SCTRL to switch the clock and data recovery circuit  300  from the phase locking stage to a clock and data recovery stage according to the fixed time period. However, using a counter to control the stage switching is for illustrative purpose only, and is not meant to be a limitation of the present invention. Moreover, any feasible designs with similar stage switching functions all belong to the scope of the present invention. In addition, the clock and data recovery stage of the second embodiment of the present invention is exactly identical to the clock and data recovery stage of the first embodiment of the present invention. The function and operation of the controller  204  are similar to that of the controller  110 , and the major difference is that, after a predetermined time period, the controller  204  would actively control the clock and data recovery circuit  300  to leave the current phase locking stage and enter the next clock, without referring to the second locking detecting signal SL 2  generated by the clock and data recovery locking detector  114 . As a person skilled in the pertinent art should readily understand details of the operation of the clock and data recovery circuit  300  after reading above paragraphs, further description is omitted here for brevity. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 4 , which is a diagram illustrating a clock and data recovery circuit according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the clock and data recovery circuit  400  includes a controllable oscillator  402 , a control circuit  404 , and aforesaid serial data input terminal  102 , reference clock input terminal  104  and detecting circuit  108 . In this embodiment, the controllable oscillator  402  is not necessary to be a GVCO, and the control circuit  404  includes a controller  406  and the aforesaid PLL locking detector  112 . 
     Due to that the clock and data recovery stage (i.e., the clock and date recovery mode) of the first and the second embodiments also has the phase locking function, only the phase locking speed at the initial condition is slower than the GVCO. However, in practice, the GVCO may not be necessary in general systems which do not have strict requirements for high data recovery speed. In other words, the clock and data recovery circuit mode could be entered directly after the frequency is locked. For instance, the GVCO  110  of the first and the second embodiments of the present invention may be replaced by the controllable oscillator  402  of the third embodiment, and operations of a frequency locking stage in this embodiment is exactly identical to the operations of the frequency locking stage of the first and the second embodiments of the present invention. After the frequency locking stage finishes, the controller  406  would switch the clock and data recovery circuit  400  into a clock and data recovery stage directly according to the first locking detecting signal SL 1  of the PLL locking detector  112 , and the operations of the clock and data recovery stage is exactly identical to the operations of the clock and data recovery stage of the first and the second embodiments of the present invention. As a person skilled in the pertinent art should readily understand details of the operation of the clock and data recovery circuit  400  after reading above paragraphs, further description is omitted here for brevity. 
     Please note that the configuration of the charge pump  120  of the above embodiments may be further dynamically adjusted in response to the control signal SCTRL. For instance, compared to the charge pump  120  operating in the frequency locking stage, the charge pump  120  operating in the clock and data recovery stage may have different circuit architecture, or have a different circuit characteristic (e.g., a different resistance value and/or a different capacitance value) under the same circuit architecture. Similarly, the configuration of the loop filter  122  of the above embodiments may be further dynamically adjusted in response to the control signal SCTRL. For instance, compared to the loop filter  122  operating in the frequency locking stage, the loop filter  122  operating in the clock and data recovery stage may have different circuit architecture, or have a different circuit characteristic (e.g., a different resistance value and/or a different capacitance value) under the same circuit architecture. 
     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.

Technology Category: h