Quantization circuit and method for quantizing an input quantity

1. A quantization circuit, comprising:

a quantizer configured to provide a quantized sample using an input quantity;

an error estimator configured to determine a quantization error of the quantized sample;

an error corrector configured to correct the quantized sample by a correction value based on the quantization error;

wherein the error estimator comprises an error accumulator configured to determine an accumulated error estimation using the quantization error of subsequent quantized samples;

wherein the error corrector further comprises a correction timer configured to correct every n-th quantized sample using the accumulated error estimation; and

wherein n is an integer variable.

2. The quantization circuit of claim 1 , further comprising:

a delay element coupled between the quantizer and the error corrector.

3. The quantization circuit of claim 2 , wherein a delay time of the delay element corresponds to a processing time of the error estimator.

4. The quantization circuit of claim 1 , wherein the error estimator further comprises a noise filter configured to provide a filtered quantization error.

5. The quantization circuit of claim 4 , wherein the noise filter is operable with a plurality of different filter characteristics.

6. The quantization circuit of claim 5 , further comprising a memory storing different sets of filter coefficients for the plurality of different filter characteristics.

7. A method for quantization, comprising:

providing a quantized sample using an input quantity;

determining a quantization error of the quantized quantity;

correcting the quantized sample by a correction value based on the quantization error;

determining an accumulated error estimation using the quantization error of subsequent quantized samples;

wherein every n-th quantized sample is corrected using the accumulated error estimation; and

wherein n is an integer variable.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

delaying the quantized sample.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the quantized sample is delayed by a processing time of the error estimator.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising filtering the quantization error to provide a filtered quantization error.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein filtering can be performed with a plurality of different filter characteristics.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising reading different sets of filter coefficients for a plurality of different filter characteristics from a memory.

13. The method of claim 7 , further comprising using information on a difference between the correction value and the accumulated error estimation as a contribution to the accumulated error estimation.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising filtering the difference between the correction value and the accumulated error estimation.

15. A computer readable non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon a program having a program code comprising executable instructions for performing the method of claim 7 , when the program code comprising executable instructions of the computer program is executed on a computer or processor.

16. A means for quantizing, comprising:

means for providing a quantized sample using an input quantity;

means for determining a quantization error of the quantized quantity;

means for correcting the quantized sample by a correction value based on the quantization error;

means for determining an accumulated error estimation using the quantization error of subsequent quantized samples;

wherein every n-th quantized sample is corrected using the accumulated error estimation; and

wherein n is an integer variable.

17. The means for quantizing of claim 16 further comprising:

means for delaying the quantized sample.