Adaptive element shuffler
View Patent ↗A system may include a detector, a controller, a shuffler, and a processor. The detector may detect a signal. The controller may control the shuffler based upon the signal. The shuffler may shuffle a plurality of channels at the input of a plurality of processing elements of the processor based upon the signal. The processor may process the signal according to the plurality of channels as configured by the shuffler.
1. A method for reducing noise in a system due to shuffling of processing elements, the method comprising:
shuffling, by a shuffler, a plurality of channels at inputs of the processing elements periodically at a first non-zero frequency;
detecting, by a detector, one or more first characteristics of a signal being processed by the processing elements; and
shuffling, by the shuffler, the plurality of channels periodically at a second non-zero frequency different from the first non-zero frequency in response to detecting the one or more first characteristics of the signal.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
processing, by the processing elements, the signal according to the plurality of channels as configured by the shuffler.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
shuffling the plurality of channels periodically such that after each shuffle, at least one of the processing elements occupy different position in a signal processing path relative to before shuffling.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
shuffling the plurality of channels periodically at the first non-zero frequency or at the second non-zero frequency comprises shuffling the processing elements such that at least one of the processing elements occupy different positions in a signal processing path once every clock period of the first non-zero frequency or the second non-zero frequency respectively.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting, by the detector, one or more second characteristics of the signal; and
shuffling, by the shuffler, the plurality of channels periodically at a third non-zero frequency different from the second non-zero frequency in response to detecting the one or more second characteristics of the signal.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
the one or more first characteristics comprises an amplitude of the signal being between a first threshold and a second threshold over a first period of time;
the one or more second characteristics comprises the amplitude of the signal being greater than or equal to a second threshold over a second period of time;
the first threshold is less than the second threshold; and
the first non-zero frequency is less than the second non-zero frequency.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
the first non-zero frequency is less than the second non-zero frequency;
the second non-zero frequency is greater than the third non-zero frequency; and
the method further comprising controlling the shuffler to switch from shuffling at the first non-zero frequency to the second non-zero frequency with less delay than switching from shuffling at the second non-zero frequency to the third non-zero frequency.
8. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
the first non-zero frequency is less than the second non-zero frequency;
the second non-zero frequency is greater than the third non-zero frequency;
controlling the shuffler to switch from shuffling at the first non-zero frequency to the second non-zero frequency after detecting the one or more first characteristics of the signal for a first duration; and
controlling the shuffler to switch from shuffling at the second non-zero frequency to the third non-zero frequency after detecting the one or more second characteristics of the signal for a second duration longer than the first duration.
9. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
the first non-zero frequency is less than the second non-zero frequency;
the second non-zero frequency is greater than the third non-zero frequency; and
the method further comprises shuffling, by the shuffler, the plurality of channels periodically at the third non-zero frequency after detecting the one or more second characteristics for a non-zero period of time.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
turning off shuffling upon determining that an amplitude of the signal is less than a first threshold for a predetermined non-zero period of time.
11. A system for reducing noise associated with shuffling, the system comprising:
a plurality of processing elements for processing a signal;
a shuffler to periodically shuffle a plurality of channels at inputs of the plurality of processing elements, such that after each shuffle, at least one of the processing elements occupy different position in a signal processing path relative to before shuffling;
a detector to detect one or more characteristics of the signal being processed by the processing elements; and
a controller to control the shuffler to switch between different non-zero shuffling frequencies of the shuffler based on the one or more characteristics of the signal.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the detector detects the one or more characteristics of the signal indirectly from the processing elements after the signal is converted to digital form by analog-to-digital converters.
13. The system of claim 11 , wherein each processing element comprises at least one of: sample-and-hold circuit, analog-to-digital converter, digital-to-analog converter, or filter.
14. The system of claim 11 , wherein:
each processing element comprises a pair of analog-to-digital converter and digital-to-analog converter; and
the shuffler shuffles reference voltages channeled to inputs of analog-to-digital converters.
15. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:
a timer for measuring a first predetermined non-zero period of time used as a delay when the controller switches from a higher non-zero shuffling frequency to a lower non-zero shuffling frequency.
16. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:
a timer for measuring a second predetermined non-zero period of time used as a delay when the controller switches the shuffler off in response to an amplitude of the signal being less than a first threshold.
17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the shuffler comprises switches controlled by the controller to shuffle the plurality of channels and re-arrange association of processing elements to different bits after each shuffle.
18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the controller further randomizes the different non-zero shuffling frequencies within ranges of frequencies.
19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the controller further tunes the different non-zero shuffling frequencies and thresholds used as the one or more characteristics of the signal to avoid specific frequencies causing noise in the system.
20. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more characteristics of the signal comprises one or more of the following:
amplitude of the signal;
amplitude of a selective range of frequencies of the signal;
root mean square amplitude value of the signal; and
frequency of the signal.
21. The system of claim 11 , wherein the controller determines an amount of distortion at an output of the system to dynamically adjust or tune one or more parameters for the detector or the shuffler.
22. A data converter with adaptive shuffling to reduce shuffling noise, the converter comprising:
a plurality of analog-to-digital converters;
a plurality of digital-to-analog converters coupled to respective outputs of the analog-to-digital converters;
a shuffler to receive a plurality of reference voltages to inputs of the analog-to-digital converters and shuffle the reference voltages channeled to the analog-to-digital converters periodically, such that after each shuffle, the analog-to-digital converters and the digital-to-analog converters occupy different positions in a signal processing path; and
a controller to control the shuffler to change non-zero shuffling frequencies of the shuffler based on one or more characteristics of the signal.