A monitoring circuit for monitoring the performance of a phase locked loop having a divider therein, the divider comprising at least a first counter, the monitoring circuit comprising at least one memory element for capturing a value of the first counter after a predetermined time from a system event in the operation of the phase locked loop, a variability calculator for comparing a value of the counter with a preceding value of the counter to calculate a variation, and a circuit responsive to the estimate of variation for outputting a status signal.

Provided are a digital phase-locked loop (DPLL) having improved signal characteristics, and a method of operating the DPLL. The DPLL includes a first tracking unit configured to receive a reference signal and a feedback signal that is generated by feeding back an output signal of the DPLL, track the feedback signal, and output a delayed reference signal, and a second tracking unit configured to receive a delayed feedback signal generated by delaying the feedback signal, and the delayed reference signal, and generate an output signal of the DPLL, of which a frequency is controlled according to a phase difference between the delayed feedback signal and the delayed reference signal.

A phase locked loop frequency synthesizer is arranged to provide a target frequency output signal for a radio transmitter or receiver. The synthesizer comprises: a voltage controlled oscillator (2) operating at a first frequency; a first, fixed frequency divider to provide a second frequency, a pre-scaler to provide a variable frequency division of said second frequency to produce a third frequency, said pre-scaler comprising: a second frequency divider (14) connected to said first output (12) and providing a second output at a second frequency; and a phase detector (4) controlling said voltage controlled oscillator (2) on the basis of a comparison between a reference signal and a signal dependent on said third frequency; wherein the synthesizer is configured so that said first output (10, 12) provides said target frequency output signal.

A phase locked loop frequency synthesizer is arranged to provide a target frequency output signal for a radio transmitter or receiver. The synthesizer comprises: a voltage controlled oscillator (2) operating at a first frequency; a first, fixed frequency divider to provide a second frequency, a pre-scaler to provide a variable frequency division of said second frequency to produce a third frequency, said pre-scaler comprising: a second frequency divider (14) connected to said first output (12) and providing a second output at a second frequency; and a phase detector (4) controlling said voltage controlled oscillator (2) on the basis of a comparison between a reference signal and a signal dependent on said third frequency; wherein the synthesizer is configured so that said first output (10, 12) provides said target frequency output signal.

An IC that performs integer and fractional divisions is disclosed. The IC comprises a plurality of shift registers that forms a shift register ring. Consecutive shift registers are coupled to each other through a multiplexer. The IC also includes a multiplexer controller that determines the shift registers to be activated within the shift register ring. The multiplexer controller determines the activation based upon a divisional factor. The IC also includes a pattern controller that generates the control signal to program the shift register.

A switching frequency controller, a voltage converter, and a method are used for controlling switching frequency. The switching frequency controller includes a frequency divider, a frequency detector, an accumulation counter, and an on-time controller. The frequency divider generates a divisional signal having a divisional frequency according to an input signal having a target frequency. The target frequency is 2.sup.N times of the divisional frequency. The frequency detector receives the divisional frequency and a switching control signal, and calculate a number of periods that pass by during each cycle of the divisional signal. The number of periods is represented by (N+1) bits. The accumulation counter increases or decreases a control indication value by a predetermined value according to a most significant bit of the number of periods. The on-time controller adjusts an on-time length of the switching control signal according to the control indication value.

A switching frequency controller, a voltage converter, and a method are used for controlling switching frequency. The switching frequency controller includes a frequency divider, a frequency detector, an accumulation counter, and an on-time controller. The frequency divider generates a divisional signal having a divisional frequency according to an input signal having a target frequency. The target frequency is 2.sup.N times of the divisional frequency. The frequency detector receives the divisional frequency and a switching control signal, and calculate a number of periods that pass by during each cycle of the divisional signal. The number of periods is represented by (N+1) bits. The accumulation counter increases or decreases a control indication value by a predetermined value according to a most significant bit of the number of periods. The on-time controller adjusts an on-time length of the switching control signal according to the control indication value.

A digital frequency synthesizer includes a delay-locked loop (DLL) that generates time-delayed versions of a reference clock signal, a clock divider that executes an integer-division operation on one delayed clock signal to generate an integer-divided clock signal, and control circuitry that generates fractional data for enabling a fractional division. The digital frequency synthesizer further includes a first clock selector that selects one delayed clock signal as a DLL clock signal based on the fractional data, a delay chain that generates time-delayed versions of the DLL clock signal, and a second clock selector that selects one delayed clock signal as a selected clock signal based on the fractional data. A rising edge of the integer-divided clock signal is adjusted based on the selected clock signal to generate a fractional-divided clock signal that is a fractional-divided version of the reference clock signal.

A digital frequency synthesizer includes a delay-locked loop (DLL) that generates time-delayed versions of a reference clock signal, a clock divider that executes an integer-division operation on one delayed clock signal to generate an integer-divided clock signal, and control circuitry that generates fractional data for enabling a fractional division. The digital frequency synthesizer further includes a first clock selector that selects one delayed clock signal as a DLL clock signal based on the fractional data, a delay chain that generates time-delayed versions of the DLL clock signal, and a second clock selector that selects one delayed clock signal as a selected clock signal based on the fractional data. A rising edge of the integer-divided clock signal is adjusted based on the selected clock signal to generate a fractional-divided clock signal that is a fractional-divided version of the reference clock signal.

Systems, devices, and methods related to frequency converter arrangements are provided. For example, a frequency converter arrangement converts a first signal centered at a first frequency to a second signal centered at a second frequency different from the first frequency. The frequency converter arrangement includes local oscillator (LO) circuitry and in-phase, quadrature-phase (IQ) mixer circuitry coupled to the LO circuitry. The LO circuitry includes duty cycle correction circuitry to adjust a duty cycle of a pair of input clock signals. The duty cycle correction circuitry includes coarse tuning circuitry responsive to a digital calibration code, and analog tuning loop circuitry. The LO circuitry further includes quadrature divider circuitry coupled to an output of the duty cycle correction circuitry, where the quadrature divider circuitry generates an in-phase LO signal and a quadrature-phase LO signal from a pair of output clock signals at outputs of the duty cycle correction circuitry.