Abstract: Virtual oscillator control is an emerging control method for grid-forming inverters. Compared with existing grid-forming control methods such as droop control and virtual synchronous generator control, it has great advantages in dynamic response speed and transient stability. This paper firstly introduces the basic principles and existing types of virtual oscillator control based on existing research, then proposes a unified design framework and specific design steps for virtual oscillators to solve the problem of lack of generalization in existing virtual oscillator design, the feasibility of the framework is verified through simulation by taking two self-designed virtual oscillators. At the end of the article, the key issues that currently limit the development of virtual oscillator control technology are sorted out and discussed from three aspects: power dispatch capability, anti-disturbance capability, and practical application capability, and possible solutions and future research directions are proposed.