Failsafe clock product using frequency estimation

Abstract

A method for operating a clock product includes generating a quality determination for a reference clock signal based on frequency metrics for a plurality of independent clock signals. The frequency metrics are generated using the reference clock signal. The method includes generating an output clock signal by locking to an active clock signal selected from the plurality of independent clock signals in response to the quality determination satisfying a predetermined quality metric. For each input clock signal of the plurality of independent clock signals, the frequency metrics include a current average frequency count, a prior average frequency count, a standard deviation of prior average frequency counts, and a multiplicative constant corresponding to a number of samples used to determine the current average frequency count, prior average frequency count, and standard deviation.