Switching between lower and higher power modes in an ADC for lower/higher precision operations
AssigneeBroadcom Corporation
InventorsSrinivasa H. Garlapati, Paul Anthony Lettieri, Jason A. Trachewsky, Gregory H. Efland, Tom W. Kwan
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Abstract
An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) disposed in a data reception path to convert data from an analog format to a digital format is switched between two or more power modes to conserve power when data is not being received. ADC stays in a lower power-lower precision mode until an inbound data is detected, at which time the ADC switches to a higher power-higher precision mode to convert the data. Once data conversion is completed, the ADC switches back to the lower power-lower precision mode to conserve power.
Claims23
An apparatus comprising:
- an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) disposed in a data reception path to convert data from an analog format to a digital format;
- and
- a switching circuit coupled to switch the ADC between a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation, in which the first mode of operation places the ADC in a higher precision mode to convert the data than the second mode, but the second mode of operation for the ADC consumes less power than the first mode of operation, the switching circuit to switch to the first mode of operation when preamble information preceding data for higher precision conversion is detected.
An apparatus comprising:
- an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) disposed in a data reception path to convert received data from an analog format to a digital format when reception is by wireless communication;
- a switching circuit coupled to switch the ADC between a higher power-higher precision mode of operation and a lower power-lower precision mode of operation, in which the higher power-higher precision mode of operation is to be used for higher precision conversion of data and the lower power-lower precision mode is to be used to conserve power in the ADC;
- and
- a signal detector to detect presence of preamble information preceding data for higher precision conversion and the signal detector to generate a control signal to the switching circuit to switch the ADC to the higher power-higher precision mode of operation upon detecting the preamble information.
A method comprising:
- detecting presence of preamble information which precedes data for high precision conversion:
- switching an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) into a higher power-higher precision mode of operation to convert data for high precision conversion when the preamble information is received;
- converting the high precision data;
- and
- switching the ADC into a lower power-lower precision mode of operation to conserve power when conversion of data for high precision conversion is completed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.