Patent ID: 7353008

Claim:
A method for converting linear signal levels into decibel units, the method being executed on a digital circuitry device comprising logarithmic computing means in electrical communication with addition means and table lookup means, the method comprising the steps of: shifting a radix point of incident linear signal data in binary form to a most significant bit of said linear signal data by shifting said radix point N bits; determining a base result via said logarithmic computing means as 6 times N; determining a decimal equivalent of said shifted linear signal data to the right of said radix point via said logarithmic computing means; determining an integer correction via said table lookup means using said decimal equivalent as input data, said integer correction being the three Most Significant Bits of said table result; adding said integer correction to said base result to create an integer-corrected result; and creating a final result in decibels by adding a fractional correction to said integer-corrected result, said fractional correction being the remaining Least Significant Bits of said table result.