Pulsed activation: Saving power for mixed-signal circuits

A novel power saving technique called pulsed activation is explicitly proposed in this paper, which is suited for mixed-signal systems. It is an extension of guarded evaluation from digital systems to mixed-signal systems. The key idea of this approach is to shut down the useless analog part automatically with the internal digital signals. Its basic theoretical framework is presented, and a new pulse stream neuron circuit illustrates the validity of this approach and its great potential.