Signal processing system and method implementing a non-linear transfer function approximated by a piecewise linear transformation

A range compression system implementing a non-linear PLT transfer function approximated by a piecewise linear transformation (PLT) to range compress input digital data samples having an input range into output data samples having a compressed range, comprising:

• a PLT processor capable of receiving the input digital data samples and processing the input digital data samples to produce a plurality of coefficients corresponding to said processed input digital data samples, said coefficients including segment, gain, and offset coefficients;
• a PLT transfer function circuit coupled to said PLT processor and capable of receiving said input digital data samples and said coefficients in order to range compress said input digital data samples into a smaller output format according to the non-linear PLT transfer function, the non-linear PLT transfer function determined from said coefficients and from a plurality of segments established by said PLT transfer function circuit from said input digital data samples according to a range of values of said input digital data samples, said coefficients corresponding to each of said plurality of segments, said PLT transfer function circuit comprising:
• a segment selection logic circuit synchronized with the input digital data samples for sequentially generating segment codes representative of corresponding segments for the input digital data samples;
• a gain multiplication logic circuit responsive to each segment code for multiplying a corresponding input digital data sample by a corresponding gain coefficient to obtain a gain multiplication value;
• and
• an offset addition logic circuit responsive to each segment code for adding a corresponding offset coefficient to said gain multiplication value such that each input digital data sample is transformed into a range-compressed output data sample according to the non-linear PLT transfer function.

A method of signal processing using a non-linear piecewise linear transformation (PLT) transfer function approximated by a PLT, comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing a PLT processor;
• (b) processing input data in said PLT processor to produce a plurality of coefficients corresponding to said input data and establish a plurality of segments according to a range of values of said input data, said coefficients including segment, gain and offset coefficients;
• (c) providing a PLT transfer function circuit coupled to said PLT processor;
• and
• (d) receiving said input data and said coefficients from said PLT processor at said transfer function circuit to range compress said input data into smaller output data format according to the non-linear PLT transfer function, the non-linear PLT transfer function determined from said coefficients and from a plurality of segments established by said PLT transfer function circuit from said input data according to a range of values of said input data, said coefficients corresponding to each of said plurality of segments.