Richter is the only prior art that has not already been looked at/considered. Hence it will probably be at least one of the reasons for reexam.

Basically what Ricthter does is looks at the transmission frequency coming into the chip, and adjusts the on-chip system clock to it so that communication between the chip and enternal world can be synchronized .

I do not believe this the an asynchronous system. The I/O must be synchronized. IMHO

I do not believe the clocks are independent. I assume the frequency of the incoming signal is developed by an off-chip clock somewhere. The on-chip system clock is adjusted to the same frequency as the incoming frequency, so the system clock is not independent. IMHO

I do not believe a voltage controlled oscillator is the same as a ring oscillator. IMHO

I do not believe the cpu and oscillator are necessarily of the same construction. IMHO

Lastly, if the system clock was indeed a ring oscillator, I think it is questionable whether the invention would work. Attempting to hold the ring oscillator output a one frequency does not sound simple. Anyone wishing to comment on that aspect or add/subtract to any of the above?

GLTA, Opty