Selective wakeup of digital sensing and processing systems using reconfigurable analog circuits

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, via a user interface, user input to configure reprogrammable and/or reconfigurable analog circuitry that monitors data collected by a sensor network and selectively generates a wakeup signal in response to a defined wakeup event detected by the sensor network, wherein the defined wakeup event is programmable, after the sensor network and reprogrammable and/or reconfigurable analog circuitry is deployed, by receipt of a wireless signal associated with switch and/or bias configuration information;

automatically translating, by a configuration module, the user input into the switch and/or bias configuration information;

compressing the switch and/or bias configuration information, wherein the transmitted switch and/or bias configuration information is the compressed switch and/or bias configuration information, wherein said compressing includes:

determining common switch settings across different channels of the reprogrammable and/or reconfigurable analog circuitry,

separately encoding the common switch settings across different channels as well as unique switch settings of each channel, wherein said encoding includes:

determining whether or not any switch within a given row is set for a row-by-row configurations scheme, and

transmitting a switch identification number for the given row only if a switch is set within the given row; and

wirelessly transmitting the switch and/or bias configuration information to the reprogrammable and/or reconfigurable analog circuitry.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reprogrammable and/or reconfigurable analog circuitry is further configured to wake up from a hibernation state in response to the wakeup signal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the defined wakeup event is frequency movement in a pre-defined direction within a defined range of frequencies.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the defined wakeup event is a presence of speech within a predefined frequency band.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor network is configured to detect at least one of audio, vibration, and motion.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor network comprises a microphone.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor network comprises a gyroscope.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reprogrammable analog circuit comprises a reconfigurable Field-Programmable Analog Array (“FPAA”) including a plurality of computational analog blocks configured to process a signal received from the sensor network.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the plurality of computational analog blocks comprises a spectral analysis stage.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein at least two of the plurality of computational analog blocks are configured to perform parallel processing of signals from the sensor network.

11. A system, comprising:

an apparatus, including:

a sensor network, and

reprogrammable and/or reconfigurable analog circuitry configured to monitor data collected by the sensor network and selectively generate a wakeup signal in response to a defined wakeup event detected by the sensor network, wherein the defined wakeup event is programmable, after the system is deployed, by receipt of a wireless signal associated with switch and/or bias configuration information;

a user device implementing a user interface to receive user input to configure the reprogrammable and/or reconfigurable analog circuitry;

a configuration module to automatically translate the user input into the switch and/or bias configuration information;

a compression module to compress the switch and/or bias configuration information, wherein the transmitted switch and/or bias configuration information is the compressed switch and/or bias configuration information and the compressing includes:

determining common switch settings across different channels of the reprogrammable and/or reconfigurable analog circuitry,

separately encoding the common switch settings across different channels as well as unique switch settings of each channel, wherein the encoding includes:

determining whether or not any switch within a given row is set for a row-by-row configurations scheme, and

transmitting a switch identification number for the given row only if a switch is set within the given row; and

a wireless interface to wirelessly transmit the switch and/or bias configuration information to the reprogrammable and/or reconfigurable analog circuitry.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the reprogrammable and/or reconfigurable analog circuitry is further configured to wake up from a hibernation state in response to the wakeup signal.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the defined wakeup event is frequency movement in a pre-defined direction within a defined range of frequencies.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the defined wakeup event is a presence of speech within a predefined frequency band.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the sensor network is configured to detect at least one of audio, vibration, and motion.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the sensor network comprises a microphone.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the sensor network comprises a gyroscope.

18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the reprogrammable analog circuit comprises a reconfigurable Field-Programmable Analog Array (“FPAA”) including a plurality of computational analog blocks configured to process a signal received from the sensor network.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein at least one of the plurality of computational analog blocks comprises a spectral analysis stage.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein at least two of the plurality of computational analog blocks are configured to perform parallel processing of signals from the sensor network.