Method and apparatus for event detection and adaptive system power reduction using analog compression engine

A method of performing signal compression based analog-to-digital conversion and event detection, comprising:

• sampling an analog input signal;
• a means to modify the sampled input signal;
• comparing the sampled signal against an adaptive threshold;
• a technique to provide power efficient digitization of the sampled input signal that skips already known bits;
• a technique to undo modification on the samples signal and use conventional digitization of the sampled input signal, cycling through all bits of the signal;
• an Analog Compression Engine (ACE), wherein the ACE is configured to determine whether the sampled signal is above or below set amplitude, frequency, and patterned adaptive thresholds, and also adaptively manipulates the sampled signal mathematically through the DACs and/or voltage reference(s) of the quantizer core;
• an Event Detection Engine which has the ability run more complex tests on the signal to determine whether a significant event is present;
• monitoring the activity level an detecting events of the input analog signal and inform subsequent building blocks, including but not limited to a digital signal processor;
• controlling, interrupting, and selecting power modes of the subsequent blocks based on the signal event and information.