Patent attributes
An enhancement that reduces the digital interface rate of analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A) converters through the use of compression and decompression is described. The present invention improves A/D converters by compressing the sampled version of the A/D converter's analog input signal in real time, thereby significantly decreasing the required bit rate of the A/D converter's digital interface. Similarly, the present invention improves D/A converters by decreasing the required bit rate of the D/A converter's digital interface. D/A converters enhanced by the present invention include a decompressor that decompresses the D/A converter's compressed digital input in real time, prior to conversion to an analog output signal. The present invention's simplicity and its ability to be implemented using multiple compression and decompression elements allow its use in A/D and D/A converters with arbitrarily high sampling rates. By selecting a desired compression ratio during lossy compression, users of the present invention can precisely control the bit rate of the A/D and D/A converter's digital interface. Users of the present invention can dynamically choose the desired balance between the quality and the bit rate of A/D and D/A converters by adjusting various compression and decompression control parameters.
