Granted Patent B2

US 8,811,929 · App. 11/265,867 · Granted Aug 19, 2014

Abstract

Claims (67)

1. A method for managing power of a battery-powered handheld audio device comprises:

receiving, at the battery-powered handheld audio device, an indicia of signal quality for a received continuous-time radio signal; comparing the indicia of signal quality to a signal quality threshold;

upon a favorable comparison, enacting a first analog signal conditioning setting for conditioning a signal corresponding to the continuous time radio signal; and upon an unfavorable comparison, enacting a second analog signal conditioning setting for conditioning the signal corresponding to the continuous time radio signal;

wherein:

the first analog signal conditioning setting includes a first analog filter setting; and

the second analog signal conditioning setting includes a second analog filter setting,

wherein the first analog filter setting causes a corresponding analog filter to consume less power than the second analog filter setting.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the first analog signal conditioning setting includes a first low noise amplifier (LNA) gain;

and the second analog signal conditioning setting includes a second LNA gain that is greater than the first LNA gain.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the first analog signal conditioning setting includes a first ADC setting; and

the second analog signal conditioning setting includes a second ADC setting that is greater than the first ADC setting,

wherein the first ADC setting causes a corresponding ADC to consume less power than the second analog filter setting.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

upon the favorable comparison, disabling a digital filtering operation; and

upon the unfavorable comparison, enabling the digital filtering operation.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the digital filtering operation comprises:

weak-signal processing of the received continuous-time radio signal.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the indicia comprises at least one of:

a signal-to-noise ratio;

a received signal strength indicator;

multi-path echo; and

adjacent channel interference.

7. A method for managing power of a battery-powered handheld audio device comprises:

receiving an indicia of signal quality for a received continuous-time radio signal;

comparing the indicia of signal quality to a signal quality threshold;

upon a favorable comparison, disabling a digital filtering operation used for a signal corresponding to the received continuous-time radio signal; and

upon an unfavorable comparison, enabling the digital filtering operation used for the signal corresponding to the received continuous-time radio signal.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the digital filtering operation comprises:

weak-signal processing of the received continuous-time radio signal.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the indicia comprises at least one of

a signal-to-noise ratio;

a received signal strength indicator;

multi-path echo; and

adjacent channel interference.

10. A battery-powered handheld audio device comprises:

a radio signal decoder integrated circuit operably coupled to produce, from a received continuous-time radio signal, an indicia of signal quality, digital left-channel data, and digital right-channel data; and

a digital audio processing integrated circuit operably coupled to the radio signal decoder integrated circuit via a channel, wherein the digital audio processing integrated circuit produces audio signals for audio playback from at least one of the digital left-and right-channel data and a stored digital audio file,

wherein the digital audio processing integrated circuit includes:

a processing module, and

memory operably coupled to the processing module, wherein the memory stores operational instructions that cause the processing module to:

compare the indicia of signal quality to a signal quality threshold;

upon a favorable comparison, enacting a first analog signal conditioning setting for the audio signals; and

upon an unfavorable comparison, enacting a second analog signal conditioning setting for the audio signals;

wherein the operational instructions that cause the processing module further comprise:

upon the favorable comparison, disable a digital filtering operation; and

upon the unfavorable comparison, perform the digital filtering operation.

11. The battery-powered handheld audio device of claim 10 wherein:

the operational instructions that cause the processing module to perform the first analog signal conditioning setting includes a first low noise amplifier (LNA) gain; and

the operational instructions that cause the processing module to perform the second analog signal conditioning setting includes a second LNA gain that is greater than the first LNA gain.

12. The battery-powered handheld audio device of claim 10 wherein:

the operational instructions that cause the processing module to perform the first analog signal conditioning setting includes a first analog filtering setting; and

the operational instructions that cause the processing module to perform the second analog signal conditioning setting includes a second analog filtering setting,

wherein the first analog filter setting causes a corresponding analog filter to consume less power than the second analog filter setting.

13. The battery-powered handheld audio device of claim 10 wherein:

the operational instructions that cause the processing module to perform the first analog signal conditioning setting includes a first ADC setting; and

the operational instructions that cause the processing module to perform the second analog signal conditioning setting includes a second ADC setting,

wherein the first ADC setting causes a corresponding ADC to consume less power than the second ADC setting.

14. The battery-powered handheld audio device of claim 10 wherein the digital filtering operation comprises:

weak-signal processing of the digital left-channel data and the digital right-channel data.

15. The battery-powered handheld audio device of claim 10 wherein the indicia comprises at least one of:

a signal-to-noise ratio;

a received signal strength indicator;

multi-path echo; and

adjacent channel interference.

16. The battery-powered handheld audio device of claim 10 wherein the channel comprises an Inter-IC ((I 2 C) bus.

Assignments (10)