In one aspect, a time division interleaving band-pass filter can be used in voice activity detection, which operates at different central frequencies in respective intervals of a predetermined period of time. The band-pass filter circuitry includes multiple band-pass filtering channels sharing a common transistor circuit, bias circuit and current mirror circuit. The multiple band-pass filtering channels operate in a time division interleaving manner, which enables the sharing of the common set of band-pass filter circuitry components. Thus, the present invention allows a reduced chip area as the area does not increase proportionally with the number of filtering channels. The invention also mitigates the influence of transistor fabrication variations on the filter's central frequencies. Moreover, pulse durations t.sub.i are additionally introduced to the determination of the central frequencies, dispensing with the need for matching of current mirror circuits and transistors and resulting in higher accuracy of the band-pass filter's central frequencies.

A band-pass filter is described comprising a first first-order filter stage comprising a first resistor characterized by a first impedance and connected to a first node, referred to as a filter input node, and, through a second node to a first reactive component connected to a third node, the first impedance being such that a first current therethrough is dependent on the difference between the voltages at the first and second nodes; and a second first-order filter stage comprising a second resistor characterized by a second impedance and connected to the second node, and, through a fourth node, to a second reactive component connected to a fifth node. The second impedance is such that a second current therethrough is dependent on the negative of the sum of the voltages at the second and fourth nodes. The band-pass filter further comprises summing means for summing the voltages at the second and fourth nodes to output a voltage at a sixth node.

A circuit comprises a Sallen-Key filter, which includes a source follower that implements a unity-gain amplifier; and a programmable-gain amplifier coupled to the Sallen-Key filter. The circuit enables programmable gain via adjustment to a current mirror copying ratio in the programmable-gain amplifier, which decouples the bandwidth of the circuit from its gain settings. The programmable-gain amplifier can comprise a differential voltage-to-current converter, a current mirror pair, and programmable output gain stages. The Sallen-Key filter and at least one branch in the programmable-gain amplifier can comprise transistors arranged in identical circuit configurations.

An apparatus is disclosed for current-mode filtering with switching. In an example aspect, the apparatus includes a filter including two input nodes, two output nodes, two differential paths, two bypass nodes respectively coupled between the two input nodes and the two output nodes along the two differential paths, a high-pass filter coupled between the two bypass nodes and the two output nodes, two low-pass switches, a band-pass switch, and a low-pass filter coupled in series with the high-pass filter along the two differential paths. The high-pass filter includes two series capacitors, which are respectively coupled between the two bypass nodes and the two output nodes, and two shunt inductors, which are respectively coupled to the two bypass nodes. The two low-pass switches are respectively coupled in parallel with the two series capacitors. The band-pass switch is coupled in series between the two shunt inductors.

A circuit has a first window comparator determining whether a signal at a first input has a voltage higher than a first threshold but lower than a second threshold, and a second window comparator determining whether a signal at a second input has a voltage higher than the first threshold but lower than the second threshold. A logic circuit generates pulses in response to either the first window comparator determining that the signal at the first differential input has a voltage higher than the first threshold but lower than the second threshold or the second window comparator determining that the signal at the second input has a voltage higher than the first threshold but lower than the second threshold. A filter circuit receives the pulses from the logic circuit and generates a flag indicating that the signal is invalid, based upon pulses received from the logic circuit.

A circuit comprises a Sallen-Key filter, which includes a source follower that implements a unity-gain amplifier; and a programmable-gain amplifier coupled to the Sallen-Key filter. The circuit enables programmable gain via adjustment to a current mirror copying ratio in the programmable-gain amplifier, which decouples the bandwidth of the circuit from its gain settings. The programmable-gain amplifier can comprise a differential voltage-to-current converter, a current mirror pair, and programmable output gain stages. The Sallen-Key filter and at least one branch in the programmable-gain amplifier can comprise transistors arranged in identical circuit configurations.

A filter stage system, includes a continuous time baseband filter comprising a feedback loop that employs at least one first impedance node and at least one second impedance node, wherein the at least one first impedance node has a higher impedance than the at least one second impedance node, and wherein the at least one first impedance node provides a dominant pole and the at least one second impedance node provides a non-dominant pole, and wherein the continuous time baseband filter generates a filtered current, and a mirroring component mirrors the filtered current to an output.

A filtering device includes a low-pass filter (LPF), a noise estimation circuit and a first combining circuit. The LPF receives and filters a pre-filtering signal to generate an output signal of the filtering device. The noise estimation circuit estimates an estimated noise signal according to the output signal and the pre-filtering signal. The first combining circuit subtracts the estimated noise signal from an input signal of the filtering device to generate the pre-filtering signal.

A band-pass filter is described comprising a first first-order filter stage comprising a first resistor characterised by a first impedance and connected to a first node, referred to as a filter input node, and, through a second node to a first reactive component connected to a third node, the first impedance being such that a first current therethrough is dependent on the difference between the voltages at the first and second nodes; and a second first-order filter stage comprising a second resistor characterised by a second impedance and connected to the second node, and, through a fourth node, to a second reactive component connected to a fifth node. The second impedance is such that a second current therethrough is dependent on the negative of the sum of the voltages at the second and fourth nodes. The band-pass filter further comprises summing means for summing the voltages at the second and fourth nodes to output a voltage at a sixth node.

A low-pass filter with a super source follower is disclosed. The low-pass filter includes biquad cells. Each biquad cell includes the super source follower, a first capacitor, a second capacitor and a zero controlling capacitor. The super source follower includes a first MOSFET and a second MOSFET. A gate electrode of first MOSFET is coupled to an input voltage. A source electrode of first MOSFET is coupled to a node between the first capacitor and the second capacitor. A drain electrode of first MOSFET is coupled to a gate electrode of second MOSFET. The zero controlling capacitor is coupled between the gate electrode and source electrode of first MOSFET, and the zero controlling capacitor has a capacitance far larger than a parasitic capacitance between the gate electrode and the source electrode of first MOSFET to generate a pair of controllable transmission zeros under low-frequency operation.