SHARED CONTROL OF A PHASE LOCKED LOOP (PLL) FOR A MULTI-PORT PHYSICAL LAYER (PHY)

摘要

Methods and systems for shared control of a phase locked loop (PLL) for a multi-port physical layer (PHY) are disclosed. In one aspect, an arbitration logic circuit is coupled to ports of a multi-port PHY sharing a phase locked loop (PLL). Upon receiving an indication that the shared PLL is to be reset, the arbitration logic circuit commands the ports sharing the PLL to enter a state in which any reset of the shared PLL would have minimal or no effect in their operations. In this manner, an integrated circuit (IC) including a multi-port PHY may be configured with only one PLL and associated clock generating logic to provide a clock signal for some or all of its ports, thus reducing its semiconductor area and power consumption. Furthermore, the ports of the multi-port PHY may operate independently from each other obviating any configuration and/or interoperability problems associated with having a shared PLL.