Systems, devices, and methods for continuous time signal processing
AssigneeThe Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
InventorsPablo Martinez Nuevo, Yannis Tsividis
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Abstract
The present disclosure shows new mechanisms for sampling an input signal. In particular, some embodiments of the present disclosure include a new type of a level-crossing sampling mechanism called a derivative level-crossing sampling (D-LCS). At a high level, D-LCS involves quantizing the derivative of an input signal when the derivative of the input signal crosses one of the quantization thresholds. For certain class of signals, the derivative of the input signal can vary at a slower speed compared to the amplitude of the input signal. Therefore, by sampling the derivative of the input signal, instead of the input signal itself, the number of samples per unit time can be reduced.
Claims15
A circuit system comprising:
- a differentiator configured to receive an input signal and to provide a derivative of the input signal;
- and
- a quantizer coupled to the differentiator, configured to receive the derivative of the input signal and to sample the derivative of the input signal when the derivative of the input signal crosses one of a plurality of quantization thresholds to provide a quantized derivative of the input signal;
- and
- a continuous time digital signal processing block coupled to the quantizer, configured to receive the quantized derivative of the input signal and process the quantized derivative of the input signal to provide a derivative of an output signal;
- and
- an integrator coupled to the continuous time signal processing block, configured to receive the derivative of the output signal and to integrate the derivative of the output signal to provide the output signal.
A method of processing an input signal using a circuit system, the method comprising:
- receiving, at a differentiator, the input signal;
- determining, using the differentiator, a derivative of the input signal;
- determining, using a quantizer coupled to the differentiator, a plurality of time points at which the derivative of the input signal crosses one of a plurality of quantization thresholds;
- and
- sampling, using the quantizer, the derivative of the input signal at the plurality of time points to provide a quantized derivative of the input signal processing the quantized derivative of the input signal to provide a derivative of an output signal;
- wherein sampling the derivative of the input signal at the plurality of time points to provide the quantized derivative of the input signal comprises determining a per-level representation of quantized derivative of the signal;
- wherein integrating, using an integrator, the derivative of the output signal to provide the output signal.
A communication system for communicating over a communication channel, the communication system comprising:
- a differentiator configured to receive an input signal and to provide a derivative of the input signal;
- a quantizer coupled to the differentiator, configured to receive the derivative of the input signal and to sample the derivative of the input signal when the derivative of the input signal crosses one of a plurality of quantization thresholds to provide a quantized derivative of the input signal;
- and
- a transmission block coupled to the quantizer, configured to receive the quantized derivative of the input signal and to transmit the quantized derivative of the input signal over the communication channel;
- and
- wherein a continuous time digital signal processing block coupled to the quantizer, configured to receive the quantized derivative of the input signal and to process the quantized derivative of the input signal to provide a processed quantized derivative of the input to the transmitter, wherein the transmission block is further configured to transmit the processed quantized derivative of the input signal over the communication channel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.