DC offset compensation

1. Audio amplification circuitry comprising:

an amplifier configured to receive an input signal and provide an amplified output signal; and

a feedback path, wherein said feedback path comprises compensation circuitry for outputting a compensation signal, wherein the compensation circuitry comprises:

a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) configured to sequentially receive a signal based on said amplified output signal and a reference signal so as to sequentially provide a first VCO output signal based on said amplified output signal and a second VCO output signal based on said reference signal, and

a counter configured to generate first pulse counts based upon the first VCO output signal and second pulse counts based upon the second VCO output signal and to provide the compensation signal based on a comparison of the first and second pulse counts.

2. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a multiplexer configured to receive a signal based on the amplified output signal and the reference signal as inputs and to sequentially provide one of said signals at said inputs to the voltage controlled oscillator.

3. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 1 wherein the counter comprises an integrating counter configured to integrate a difference between said first and second pulse counts over a plurality of periods of the first VCO output signal and second VCO output signal.

4. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 3 wherein the integrating counter comprises a pulse counter and an integrator acting on the output of the pulse counter.

5. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 3 wherein the integrating counter comprises an up/down counter.

6. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 1 wherein the compensation circuitry is configured to have a controllably variable bandwidth.

7. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 6 wherein the compensation circuitry comprises a variable gain element for varying the bandwidth.

8. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 7 wherein the variable gain element comprises a multiplier configured to receive a difference between said first and second pulse counts from the counter for each period of first VCO output signal and second VCO output signal and to multiply said difference by a gain factor.

9. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 8 wherein the counter is an integrating counter and wherein the output from the integrating counter is differentiated in a differentiator to provide said difference between said first and second pulse counts for each period of first VCO output signal and second VCO output signal which is input to the variable gain element.

10. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 8 wherein the output from the variable gain element is input to an integrator.

11. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 6 wherein the compensation circuitry is configured to, in use, have a first bandwidth during an initial period and then have a second, lower, bandwidth during a later period.

12. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 1 wherein the compensation signal is applied to said amplifier.

13. Audio amplification signal as claimed in claim 12 wherein the compensation signal directly modulates the input offset voltage of the amplifier.

14. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 1 wherein the feedback path comprises an inner feedback path configured to compensate for offset in a first part of the audio signal path and an outer feedback path configured to compensate for offset in a second part of the audio signal path.

15. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 14 wherein the compensation signal is switchable between the inner and the outer feedback loops.

16. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 1 comprising at least one pair of audio signal paths, each signal path comprising an amplifier configured to receive an input signal and provide an amplified output signal, wherein each pair of signal paths comprises compensation circuitry that is switchable between said pair of signal paths.

17. Audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a clock divider for dividing a master clock signal in two to provide a counter clock signal for clocking the counter wherein the clock divider is configured to be physically adjacent the counter.

18. An audio processing circuit comprising audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 1 .

19. An audio device comprising audio amplification circuitry as claimed in claim 1 .

20. A device as claimed in claim 19 wherein said device is at least one of: a battery powered device, a portable device, a personal audio device, a personal video device; a mobile telephone, a personal data assistant, a gaming device, a portable computing device, a laptop and a satellite navigation system.

21. A method of compensating for DC offset in an audio amplifier output signal, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a signal based on the amplifier output signal;

receiving a reference signal based on a target DC offset;

sequentially driving a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) with the signal based on the amplifier output signal to provide a first VCO output signal; and

driving the same voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) with the reference signal to provide a second VCO output signal;

generating first pulse counts based upon the first VCO output signal and second pulse counts based upon the second VCO output signal;

comparing said first and second pulse counts; and

deriving a DC offset compensation signal from said comparison of pulse count.

22. A method as claimed in claim 21 further comprising integrating a difference between said first and second pulse counts to derive said DC offset compensation signal.

23. A method as claimed in claim 21 further comprising the step of applying a variable gain factor to a difference between said first and second pulse counts.

24. A method as claimed in claim 23 comprising applying a first gain factor for an initial period to provide a coarse compensation and subsequently applying a second gain factor in a subsequent period to provide a more accurate compensation.

25. A method as claimed in claim 21 comprising performing the method only in the absence of an audio signal to be amplified.