Patent ID: 7665361

Claim:
A method for operating a transducer having a moveable element that displaces from an initial position to sense acceleration, the method comprising the steps of: producing a first signal that is responsive to a capacitance of the transducer; applying a first filter to the first signal, wherein the first filter has a frequency range pre-selected to acquire acceleration data, resulting in a filtered first signal; producing, based on the filtered first signal, a second signal representing the acceleration sensed by the transducer, wherein the acceleration has a signal frequency within the frequency range of the first filter; applying a low-pass filter having a cutoff frequency lower than the signal frequency of the acceleration to the second signal to thereby produce a third signal based on the second signal, wherein the third signal represents a low frequency component having a frequency lower than the signal frequency of the acceleration such that the third signal is associated with an offset of the moveable element of the transducer from the initial position; and actuating the transducer with the third signal representing the low-frequency component to thereby apply an electrostatic force that restores the moveable element of the transducer to the initial position in response to an output of the low-pass filter and thereby substantially cancel the offset in the transducer.