Pennie & Edmonds LLP
Circuitry for the delay adjustment of a clock signal
 Circuitry for adjusting the phase of an incoming periodic signal, typically a clock signal, throughout the entire period of the periodic signal. Phase adjustment circuitry has high resolution and employs only the number of delay elements in a delay chain necessary to span at least the period of the incoming signal or at least half the period in the case of dual chains receiving complementary clocks. Phase adjustment circuitry includes a delay chain of having a plurality of taps, a boundary detector for indicating when a tap is at a phase boundary of the incoming periodic signal, and selection circuitry for selecting one of the taps from the delay chain based on the boundary detector output and the selection circuitry input such that the selected tap is the desired phase adjustment of the incoming periodic signal and that the delay of the incoming signal is adjustable across its phase boundaries. Phase interpolation between the taps of the delay chain is employed to increase the resolution of the adjustment to the periodic signal. Duty cycle correction of the input clock and the selected output clock is employed to improve accuracy. 
Rambus Incorporated
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H03K H03K
inventional inventional
Pak Shing Jared L. Kevin S. Yiu-Fai Jun Bruno W. Clemenz L. Thomas H. Mark A.
Chau Zerbe Donnelly Chan Kim Garlepp Portmann Lee Horowitz