Band-Pass Signal Processing With Fewer ADCs for Low-Power Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing signal processing systems for low-power applications, such as wearable textiles in Industry 4.0 scenarios, face challenges in reducing power consumption while maintaining effective signal analysis, particularly in speech recognition systems where all signal components are not always necessary for classification, leading to inefficient use of analog-to-digital converters.
Innovation Solution
A method and device that utilize a reduced number of analog-to-digital converters by filtering signals with band-pass filters to identify relevant spectral components, allowing only those with significant information content to be converted, thereby reducing computational and power requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If all band-pass filtered signals are converted using analog-to-digital converters, then complete signal information is preserved, but power consumption and circuit complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the relevant band-pass filtered signals that contain useful information for classification, converting only these selected signals to digital form while leaving others in analog form or discarding them, thereby reducing the number of analog-to-digital conversions needed
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary analysis of band-pass filtered signals to identify which ones contain relevant information before performing analog-to-digital conversion, using this advance knowledge to optimize the conversion process and avoid unnecessary conversions that would waste power
2Use of energy by moving object
If the number of analog-to-digital converters is reduced, then power consumption decreases, but signal processing capability is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different processing qualities to different frequency bands by selectively converting only those band-pass filtered signals that contain relevant information, rather than uniformly converting all signals, thus optimizing power consumption while maintaining necessary signal processing capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent dynamically adjusts the number of active analog-to-digital converters based on the actual content and requirements of the input signal, allowing the system to adapt its processing capability to match the immediate needs rather than operating at fixed maximum capacity
3Use of energy by moving object
If sampling rate is reduced, then power consumption decreases, but feature extraction accuracy may be affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the signal processing into multiple stages: analog band-pass filtering at full resolution, preliminary analysis to identify relevant components, and then digital processing only of selected segments at reduced sampling rates, thereby preserving accuracy for critical features while reducing overall power consumption
Data Source
AI summary
A method for processing a signal includes reading in a signal and filtering the signal using a first number of band-pass filters in order to obtain one band-pass filtered signal per band-pass filter. The first number of band-pass filters is configured to each allow distinct frequency ranges of the signal to pass. The method further includes calculating at least one signal parameter each from the plurality of band-pass filtered signals. The method further includes performing analog-to-digital conversion of the plurality of band-pass filtered signals or signals derived therefrom using a plurality of signal parameters such that a second number of analog-to-digital converters used to perform the analog-to-digital conversion is less than the first number of band-pass filters used to filter the signal.