Master/slave oscillation production and distribution in a multiple RF transceiver system supporting MIMO operations

A Multiple Input Multiple Output (IMO) Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver system comprising:

• a plurality of RF transceiver Integrated Circuits (ICs) including a first RF transceiver IC and at least one other RF transceiver IC, each of the plurality of RF transceiver ICs including crystal oscillator circuitry;
• a crystal coupled to the first RF transceiver IC, the crystal and crystal oscillator circuitry of the first RF transceiver IC operable to produce a master oscillation;
• master oscillation coupling between the first RF transceiver IC and a second RF transceiver IC of the at least one other RF transceiver IC, the master oscillation coupling operable to couple the master oscillation from the first transceiver IC to the second RF transceiver IC;
• and
• wherein crystal oscillator circuitry of the second RF transceiver IC is operable to produce a first slave oscillation based upon the master oscillation.

A Multiple Input Multiple Output (IMO) Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver system comprising:

• a plurality of RF transceiver Integrated Circuits (ICs) including a first RF transceiver IC and at least two other RF transceiver ICs, each of the plurality of RF transceiver ICs including crystal oscillator circuitry;
• a crystal coupled to the first RF transceiver IC of the plurality of RF transceiver ICs, the crystal and crystal oscillator circuitry of the first RF transceiver IC operable to produce a master oscillation;
• master oscillation coupling between the first RF transceiver IC and the at least two other RF transceiver ICs, wherein the master oscillation coupling is operable to couple the master oscillation from the first RF transceiver IC to each of the at least two other RF transceiver ICs;
• and
• wherein crystal oscillator circuitry of each of the at least two other RF transceiver ICs is operable to produce a corresponding slave oscillation using the master oscillation.

A method for operating a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver system that includes a first RF transceiver Integrated Circuit (IC) and at least one other RF transceiver IC, each of the plurality of RF transceiver ICs including crystal oscillator circuitry, the method comprising:

• the first RF transceiver IC producing a master oscillation using its crystal oscillator circuitry and a crystal coupled thereto;
• coupling the master oscillation from the first RF transceiver IC to the at least one other RF transceiver IC of the plurality of RF transceiver ICs;
• and
• the at least one other RF transceiver IC producing a slave oscillation based upon the master oscillation using respective crystal oscillator circuitry.