Patent ID: 6904274

Claim:
A signal receiver comprising: a primary signal processor comprising a signal input configured to receive an input signal having a first signal dynamic range, an intermediate signal output configured to provide a scaled signal representative of the input signal, a primary variable-gain amplifier coupled to the signal input and the intermediate signal output, and a primary gain controller coupled to the primary amplifier and configured to control a gain applied by the primary amplifier to maintain the scaled signal within a second signal dynamic range; wherein the primary gain controller comprises: an amplitude calculator comprising an input coupled to the intermediate signal output and an output configured to provide an indication of the signal amplitude of the scaled signal; and a gain calculator comprising an input coupled to the amplitude calculator output and an output coupled to the primary amplifier, and configured to calculate a primary gain control value using the indication of the amplitude of the scaled signal to control the gain applied by the primary amplifier; and a secondary signal processor comprising a signal input coupled to the intermediate signal output, a final signal output configured to provide an output signal representative of the input signal, a secondary variable-gain amplifier coupled to the intermediate signal output and the final output, and a secondary gain controller coupled to the secondary amplifier and configured to control a gain of the secondary amplifier to set the gain of the secondary amplifier to a first gain value when a parameter associated with the scaled signal exceeds a threshold value, and to set the gain of the secondary amplifier to a second gain value different from the first gain value when the signal parameter is less than the threshold values; wherein the secondary gain controller comprises: a delay stage comprising an input coupled to the gain calculator to receive the primary gain control value and an output, and configured to apply a predetermined time delay to the primary gain control value to provide a delayed primary gain control value at the output; and a threshold detector comprising a first input coupled to the delay stage output, a second input coupled to the amplitude calculator to receive the indication of the amplitude of the scaled signal, and an output coupled to the secondary amplifier, and configured to calculate the parameter and determine whether the parameter is above or below the threshold and to set the gain of the secondary amplifier to the first gain value or the second gain value.