A semiconductor circuit including a clocked comparator and an offset application circuit. The clocked comparator is configured to receive a first input signal and a second input signal from a host and compare the first input signal and the second input signal. The offset application circuit is configured to apply an offset to the first input signal. The clocked comparator is configured to be driven based on a reference clock provided from the host.

An apparatus includes an amplifier and a gain control circuit. The amplifier may be configured to provide multiple gain steps. The gain control circuit may be configured to provide fast and precise changes between the multiple gain steps of the amplifier. The gain control circuit may be further configured to change an impedance of the amplifier to switch between the gain steps. The gain control circuit may be further configured to compensate for changes in frequency response related to changing the impedance. The gain control circuit may be further configured to inject a complementary charge to an input of the amplifier to correct a bias voltage deviation and a transient caused by the gain control circuit.

A power amplifier with supply switching is provided. The power amplifier detects a magnitude of an outgoing broadband communication signal and determines whether the magnitude exceeds a predetermined voltage threshold. The power amplifier applies a first gain to the outgoing broadband communication signal using a first voltage supply rail when it is determined that the magnitude exceeds the predetermined voltage threshold and a second gain using a second voltage supply rail that is smaller than the first voltage supply rail when it is determined that the magnitude does not exceed the predetermined voltage threshold. The power amplifier produces an output signal from the outgoing broadband communication signal with the applied first gain or the applied second gain, wherein a current of the outgoing broadband communication signal is switched between the first voltage supply rail and the second voltage supply rail in response to the magnitude being detected.

Variable-phase amplifier circuits and devices. In some embodiments, an amplifier can include a variable-gain stage having a plurality of switchable amplification branches, with each being capable of being activated, such that a combination of one or more activated amplification branches provides respective gain level and phase shift. The plurality of switchable amplification branches can be configured such that the phase shift provided by each combination of one or more activated amplification branches compensates for a phase shift associated with the amplifier operating with the respective gain level of the variable-gain stage.

A distortion imparting device capable of obtaining a natural distortion effect even when output is decreased is provided. The distortion imparting device includes a first amplification part which attenuates an input audio signal on the basis of an attenuation factor set by a user and amplifies the attenuated audio signal, a second amplification part serially connected to the first amplification part, and a limiting part which is connected between an output terminal of the first amplification part and an input terminal of the second amplification part and limits an input voltage of the second amplification part to a predetermined clip voltage, wherein the limiting part determines the clip voltage on the basis of the attenuation factor.

An apparatus for controlling the gain and phase of an input signal input to a power amplifier comprises a gain control loop configured to control the gain of the input signal based on power levels of the input signal and an amplified signal output by the power amplifier, to obtain a predetermined gain of the amplified signal, and a phase control loop configured to obtain an error signal related to a phase difference between a first signal derived from the input and a second signal derived from the amplified signal, and control the phase based on the error signal, to obtain a predetermined phase of the amplified signal. The phase control loop delays the first signal such that the delayed first signal and the second signal used to obtain the error signal correspond to the same part of the input signal. The apparatus may be included in a satellite.

A switched-capacitor gain stage circuit and method include an amplifier connected to an input sampling circuit with sampling switched capacitors for coupling an input voltage and a first or second reference voltage to one or more central nodes during a sampling phase and for coupling the one or more central nodes to an amplifier input during a gain phase, wherein a reference loading circuit uses a plurality of sampling switched capacitors connected in a switching configuration to selectively couple a first reference voltage and/or a second reference voltage to the central node by pre-charging the plurality of sampling switched capacitors with the first and second reference voltages during the sampling phase, and by coupling each of the first and second reference voltages to at least one of the plurality of sampling switched capacitors when connected to the central node during the gain phase.

A number of field effect transistor circuits include voltage controlled attenuators or voltage controlled processing circuits. Example circuits include modulators, lower distortion variable voltage controlled resistors, sine wave to triangle wave converters, and or servo controlled biasing circuits.

In some embodiments, a method for processing an audio signal in an audio processing apparatus is disclosed. The method includes receiving an audio signal and a parameter, the parameter indicating a location of an auditory event boundary. An audio portion between consecutive auditory event boundaries constitutes an auditory event. The method further includes applying a modification to the audio signal based in part on an occurrence of the auditory event. The parameter may be generated by monitoring a characteristic of the audio signal and identifying a change in the characteristic.

In some embodiments, a method for processing an audio signal in an audio processing apparatus is disclosed. The method includes receiving an audio signal and a parameter, the parameter indicating a location of an auditory event boundary. An audio portion between consecutive auditory event boundaries constitutes an auditory event. The method further includes applying a modification to the audio signal based in part on an occurrence of the auditory event. The parameter may be generated by monitoring a characteristic of the audio signal and identifying a change in the characteristic.