Patent ID: 8126663

Claim:
An electronic signal, level detection method, the method comprising: receiving by an amplifier an analog input signal having a variable voltage; comparing by a comparison circuit the input signal voltage to a threshold; generating by a detector a detection, signal for input signal voltages exceeding the threshold in a periodic first time frame as follows: in response to detection signals, setting an output of a detection register to a first value; and, in response to no detection signals, setting the output of the detection register to a second value, different from the first value; in response to generating detection signals, updating by a counter a count in a periodic second time frame following the first time frame as follows: incrementing the count in response to the generating a detection signal in the first time frame; and, decrementing the count in response to not generating a detection signal in the first time frame; and, using the count to create a metric representation of the difference between the input signal voltage and the threshold.