An Unusual Electronic Analog-Digital Conversion Method

A method of electronic analog-digital conversion is presented which is based upon coder stages exhibiting either of two types of transfer functions characteristic of the binary code on one hand or the reflected binary or Gray code on the other. By cascading a multiplicity of such stages parallel digital outputs can be obtained continuously without any timing, synchronizing, or resetting operations. By the use of feedback employing only one such stage, a serial coder can be made.