The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 06, 1998
Filed:
Jun. 06, 1996
Robert C Zak, Lexington, MA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A programmable clock circuit generates a real time clock value, which is incremented in response to a real time clock increment signal. The real time clock increment signal is generated after a selected number of ticks of a system clock signal, with the number of ticks being determined by whether it is operating in a normal mode or an error compensation mode. In the normal mode, the real time clock increment signal is generated after a selected number of ticks of the system clock signal, which results in an increasing cumulative timing error. In the error compensation mode, the real time clock increment signal will be generated after a number of ticks of the system clock signal selected so as to reduce this cumulative error. The programmable clock circuit keeps track of the cumulative error in the real time clock signal while operating in the normal mode. When the cumulative error reaches a selected maximum error, the circuit changes to the error compensation mode to enable a reduction in the cumulative error in the real time clock signal.