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US 12,184,300 B2Granted
Duty-cycle-correcting clock distribution architecture
AssigneeGigajot Technology, Inc.
InventorDexue Zhang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Clock and other cyclical signals are driven onto respective capacitively-loaded segments of a distribution path via inverting buffer stages that self-correct for stage-to-stage duty cycle error, yielding a balanced signal duty cycle over the length of the distribution path.
Claims20
An integrated-circuit image sensor comprising:
- a pixel array that includes a plurality of pixel elements, wherein outputs of the pixel elements are controlled by a clock signal;
- and
- a clock distribution circuitry that distributes the clock signal to respective count-value elements configured to receive the clock signal along a signal distribution path, wherein the clock distribution circuitry is configured to:
- alternately generate inverted and non-inverted instances of the clock signal on successive segments of the signal distribution path;
- route the inverted instances of the clock signal to first count-value elements via circuitry that complements the inverted instances of the clock signal;
- and
- route the non-inverted instances of the clock signal to second count-value elements without complementing the non-inverted instances,
- wherein the alternate generation of the inverted and non-inverted instances of the clock signal avoids propagation of a cumulative distortion of the clock signal along the signal distribution path.
5 more elements
A method comprising:
- performing, by an integrated-circuit image sensor:
- generating a clock signal used to control outputs of a plurality of pixel elements in a pixel array;
- distributing, via a clock distribution circuitry, the clock signal to respective count-value elements along a signal distribution path, wherein the distributing includes:
- alternately generating inverted and non-inverted instances of the clock signal on successive segments of the signal distribution path;
- routing the inverted instances of the clock signal to first count-value elements via circuitry that complements the inverted instances of the clock signal;
- and
- routing the non-inverted instances of the clock signal to second count-value elements without complementing the non-inverted instances,
- wherein the alternately generating of the inverted and non-inverted instances of the clock signal avoids propagation of a cumulative distortion of the clock signal along the signal distribution path.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.