Analog Signal through USB wires

Question

I am working on a project which requires transfer of signals from external world to computer. I have a source which generates analog signals, and this signal needs to be transmitted on the PC, via USB. Here is my question: What is the interfacing?

The analog signal which I get from the source, do I have to convert it into digital using microcontroller and then transmit via USB, or we can transmit the analog signal as it is through USB? Also I tried cutting the USB wire and found 4 wires inside: V+, V-, Data+, Data-. What is the significance of Data+ and Data-?

Answer 1

Data+ and Data- are wires of differential pair, which is used to transfer digital signal. You cannot use them to transfer analog signal.

The simplest solution is any Arduino board, with AVR microcontroller and UART-to-USB converter (UART is much simple then USB). But actual solution depends on performance you need.