Clock and frame synchronization carried as a single composite signal allows the use of a single transmission line with a narrower bandwidth

Abstract

An embodiment generates a composite high speed clock with embedded frame synchronization using simple digital encoding of a high speed reference clock. The high speed reference clock and self-aligned frame synchronization signal are recovered by standard logic gate circuitry. The encoding and decoding circuits are comprised of basic digital logic gates with low propagation delay skew and timing jitter. The encoded clock is easier to transmit from source unit to destination unit over common transmission media (i.e., digital transceivers, amplifiers, splitters, connectors and coaxial cable) because only a single interface is required and because the encoding scheme reduces the composite clock to a minimal transmission bandwidth with constrained waveform harmonic content, relative to a low frequency frame sync with fast rise time that requires a broadband transmission media.