Method and apparatus for analog-to-digital conversion

摘要

A method for analog-to-digital conversion of a chronologically changing, analog input signal includes the steps of forming an edited signal from an input signal by subjecting the input signal to a first transfer function and amplifying the result by a defined gain factor, sampling the input signal and the edited signal and subjecting the sampled signals to analog-to-digital conversion to obtain first and second digital data respectively corresponding to the edited signal and the input signal. The number of bits in each of the first and second digital data determines the dynamic range of the analog-to-digital conversion. The first digital data, corresponding to the input signal, are multiplied by a defined factor equal to the defined gain factor. If a transgression of the dynamic range in the analog-to-digital conversion has not occurred, the final analog-to-digital conversion result is calculated making use of the second digital data corresponding to the edited signal. If the dynamic range has been transgressed, the digital data corresponding to the edited signal are not used to determine the final conversion result. An apparatus for practicing the method is also disclosed.