US Patent Issued to STMicroelectronics International on Jan. 20 for "Phase-locked loop circuit and corresponding method of operation" (Italian Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 20 -- United States Patent no. 12,531,717, issued on Jan. 20, was assigned to STMicroelectronics International N.V. (Geneva).

"Phase-locked loop circuit and corresponding method of operation" was invented by Davide Nicolo Fortunato (Palermo, Italy), Antonino Calcagno (Messina, Italy), Gaetano Cosentino (Catania, Italy) and Marco Vinciguerra (Catania, Italy).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "In a PLL, a VCO is controlled by a control voltage and produces an output periodic signal. A comparator compares the control voltage to a comparison signal, and asserts/de-asserts a detection signal if the control voltage is higher/lower than the comparison signal. A digital logic circuit...