Method and apparatus for debouncing signals

A multichannel filter for simultaneously and independently processing each input signal of a plurality of input signals to produce a corresponding plurality of output signals, the multichannel filter comprising:

• a plurality of independent filter channels, each independent filter channel filtering a corresponding input signal to produce a corresponding output signal;
• and
• adjusting means for independently adjusting a filter response time of each independent filter channel, wherein each output signal for each filter channel maintains one of a first state and a second state until a predetermined number of corresponding previous filter signals each differ from the current input binary signal.

A method for simultaneously processing a plurality of binary signals through a lockout filter having a corresponding plurality of signal filters to produce a corresponding plurality of filtered signals, the method comprising the steps of:

• simultaneously processing a current binary signal for each signal filter and a predetermined number of previous corresponding filtered signals to produce the corresponding current filtered signal;
• and
• repeating the step of simultaneously processing the binary signal and the predetermined number of previous filtered signals for each signal filter to successively produce the plurality of the current filtered signals, each filtered signal being successively produced as each successive corresponding binary signal is processed as the current binary signal.

A method for simultaneously and independently filtering a plurality of input signals to produce a corresponding plurality of output signals, the method comprising the steps of:

• simultaneously filtering each input signal through a corresponding independent filter to produce a corresponding output signal;
• and
• independently adjusting a filter response time of each independent filter, wherein each filter signal maintains one of a first state and a second state until a predetermined number of corresponding previous filter signals each differ from the current input binary signal, the predetermined number of corresponding filter signals being set by the corresponding filter response time.