Sony patents image sensor tech that syncs data lanes using shared clocks
Sony has filed a patent for a communication device used in image sensors that improves data synchronization. The system uses a selection circuit to pick one data lane as a reference, sharing its clock signal with other lanes to ensure data is aligned correctly.
In the filing’s own words
A plurality of signal processing units each of which outputs an output clock signal and output data that is based on input data and synchronized with the output clock signal to a corresponding lane among a plurality of lanes, and a first selection circuit that selects, according to a reference lane selection signal to select a reference lane from the plurality of lanes, an output clock signal corresponding to the reference lane among the output clock signals respectively output from the plurality of signal processing units, and performs an output thereof to each of the plurality of signal processing units are included. Each of the plurality of signal processing units aligns and outputs the output clock signal and the output data on the basis of either a reference clock signal or the output clock signal output from another signal processing unit among the plurality of signal processing units.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A communication device comprising: a plurality of signal processing units each of which outputs an output clock signal and output data that is based on input data and synchronized with the output clock signal to a corresponding lane among a plurality of lanes; and a first selection circuit that selects, according to a reference lane selection signal to select a reference lane from the plurality of lanes, an output clock signal corresponding to the reference lane among the output clock signals respectively output from the plurality of signal processing units, and performs an output thereof to each of the plurality of signal processing units, wherein each of the plurality of signal processing units aligns and outputs the output clock signal and the output data on a basis of either a reference clock signal or the output clock signal output from another signal processing unit among the plurality of signal processing units.
Facts
- Company
- Sony (Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation)
- Official title
- COMMUNICATION DEVICE, COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND IMAGE SENSOR
- Publication number
- US20260280839A1
- Application number
- 19156649
- Filed
- Feb 20, 2024
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Inventors
- 3
- Claims
- 15
Classified under
H04L 7/0008 Electricity & electronicsH04L 7/033 Electricity & electronicsH04N 25/7795 Electricity & electronicsH04N 25/78 Electricity & electronicsMore from Sony in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.