Electrical circuits with reconfigurable interferer signal routing
AssigneeCambridge Silicon Radio Limited
InventorsIan Sabberton, Paul Christopher Egan
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Abstract
An electrical circuit comprises a source of an interferer signal; at least one component configured for using the signal; at least two electrically parallel conductive paths by which the signal can pass between the source and each of the at least one components; and a signal path selector configured to selectively enable the signal to pass from the source to the component by any of the at least two conductive paths and to, when one of the paths is enabled to carry the signal, disable each of the other at least two paths from carrying the signal.
Claims15
An electrical circuit comprising:
- a source of an interferer signal;
- at least one electrical component configured for using the interferer signal;
- at least two electrically parallel conductive paths through which the interferer signal can pass between the source and each of the at least one electrical components;
- and
- a signal path selector configured to (i) enable the interferer signal to pass from the source to each of the at least one electrical components through a selected one of the at least two electrically parallel conductive paths associated with each of the at least one electrical components and to, when one of the at least two electrically parallel conductive paths associated with each of the at least one electrical components is enabled to carry the interferer signal, (ii) disable the other of the at least two electrically parallel conductive paths associated with each of the at least one electrical components from carrying the interferer signal.
A method of reducing interference in an integrated circuit, the method comprising:
- determining a set of at least two candidate signal routes between a source of an interferer signal and an electrical component configured for consuming the the interfere signal;
- manufacturing a first integrated circuit embodying the source of the interferer signal, the electrical component configured for consuming the interferer signal, at least two electrically conductive paths defining the at least two candidate signal routes and a signal route controller capable of selectively enabling the interferer signal to pass from the source to the electrical component by any of the at least two candidate signal routes and to, when one of the at least two candidate signal routes is enabled to carry the interferer signal, disable each of the other at least two candidate routes from carrying the interferer signal, the signal route controller being configurable in firmware to adopt a selected signal route;
- testing the first integrated circuit to determine a preferred signal route;
- defining firmware suitable for configuring the signal route controller to enable the preferred signal route;
- manufacturing further integrated circuits to a design the same as the first integrated circuit;
- and
- configuring the further integrated circuits in accordance with the defined firmware.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.