Patent ID: 7158843

Claim:
Software definable pre-amplifier apparatus comprising: (a) input interface means that enables at least one input channel to transfer input data from an external source; (b) at least one reconfigurable standard cell based circuit means, which are operatively connected to said input interface means to receive said input data, said at least one reconfigurable standard cell based circuit means being continually reconfigured during circuit operation under control of configuration data allowing said reconfigurable standard cell based circuit means to implement, in hardware, different signal processing functions required for at least one of different digital signal processing algorithms and different audio processing protocols, the at least one reconfigurable standard cell based circuit means being reconfigured at a rate that ensures that data input from at least one of a plurality of input channels and output from at least one of a plurality of output channels is processed in accordance with the required sampling rate or sampled data rate in a way that does not cause any signal aliasing and minimizes noise artifacts on any of the operative input and output channels in relation to the selected signal processing functions to be performed; (c) output interface means that transfer data from the at least one reconfigurable standard cell based circuit means to at least one output channel; (d) a local memory coupled to said at least one reconfigurable standard cell based circuit means, said local memory storing the configuration data and being operative to supply configuration data to said at least one reconfigurable standard cell based circuit means when a different signal processing function is to be performed; and (e) a host processor and associated program memory means for updating configuration data in said local memory and controlling and monitoring operation of the apparatus.