Patent ID: 7876869

Claim:
A signal processor, comprising: (a) an input, configured to receive a time-continuous signal having an input dynamic range represented by ratio of a maximum amplitude of a first signal component, and a minimum amplitude difference between two modulation states represented within a second signal required for demodulation thereof, wherein the first signal component and the second signal component have substantially different spectral characteristics; (b) a spectrometer, configured to receive the input, and to determine a spectral characteristic of at least the first signal; (c) a spectral processor, responsive to the spectrometer, configured to selectively attenuate a maximum amplitude of the first signal to produce a filtered signal; (a) a signal quantizer, configured to receive an output of the spectral processor, having a quantizer dynamic range less than the input dynamic range, the quantizer dynamic range being sufficient to detect the two modulation states represented within the second signal, wherein a signal path from the input to the signal quantizer is substantially linear and does not substantially introduce intermodulation distortion which interferes with detection of the two modulation states of the second signal.