Abstract: A video recording/playback system includes in its recording electronics time-base correctors both for luma signal and for color-under signal, the time-base corrector for luma signal being used to facilitate comb filtering and the time-base corrector for chroma signal being used to maintain luma/chroma tracking during recording. The video recording/playback system includes in its playback electronics time-base correctors both for played-back luma signal and for played-back color-under signal, the time-base corrector for played-back luma signal being used to facilitate comb filtering and the time-base corrector for played-back chroma signal being used to maintain luma/chroma tracking during playback. With appropriate switching, the same pair of time-base correctors can be used in both the recording and the playback electronics of a video recording/playback system.

Abstract: A video recording/playback system includes in its recording electronics time-base correctors both for luma signal and for color-under signal, the time-base corrector for luma signal being used to facilitate comb filtering and the time-base corrector for chroma signal being used to maintain luma/chroma tracking during recording. The video recording/playback system includes in its playback electronics time-base correctors both for played-back luma signal and for played-back color-under signal, the time-base corrector for played-back luma signal being used to facilitate comb filtering and the time-base corrector for played-back chroma signal being used to maintain luma/chroma tracking during playback. With appropriate switching, the same pair of time-base correctors can be used in both the recording and the playback electronics of a video recording/playback system.

Abstract: In a television receiver a downconverter responding to a selected television signal respectively supplies its first and second output signals as the input signals of first and second IF amplifiers, respectively. The downconverter includes a local oscillator for generating oscillations at a frequency controlled in response to the AFT signal. The first IF amplifier includes a first adjacent-channel sound carrier trap, in consequence whereof the first-IF-amplifier response is substantially reduced for the downconverted picture carrier, and an in-channel sound carrier trap. Responsive to the first-IF-amplifier response, a video detector generates a composite video signal in which sound beats are suppressed to relatively low level by the first adjacent-channel sound carrier trap.

Abstract: A video recorder for recording composite video signals includes an analog to digital converter for digitizing samples of the composite video signal being recorded. A sync separator separates horizontal synchronizing information from the composite video signal being recorded. Filtering separates the chrominance information portion of the composite video signal being recorded, and a down-converter mixes that separated chrominance information with a nervous carrier signal thereby to generate a color-under signal. A controlled oscillator generates a succession of pixel clock signals at a rate the frequency and phase of which are determined in accordance with an oscillator control signal, the rate being more than twice the frequency of the nervous carrier signal and setting the rate of the sampling by the analog to digital converter. A counter counts the number of pixel clock signals supplied by the controlled oscillator, and a frequency divider divides the count by a prescribed factor.

Abstract: A horizontal phase detector of a television apparatus receives an analog composite video signal that is sampled and digitized at a rate determined in accordance with a clock signal. The leading edge of a simulated sync pulse signal is computed from the digitized signal using interpolation. The phase detector also receives a second signal that is indicative of a transition edge of a horizontal oscillator signal. The timing of the transition edge is contained in first and second signal parts. The first part is a periodic signal having a transition edge coincident with that of the clock signal, and the second part is a skew signal that represents a fraction of the period of the clock signal. The leading edge of the computed sync pulse signal is phase-compared with the oscillator transition edge to generate a phase difference signal for synchronizing horizontal oscillator operation.

Abstract: A digital television receiver, having a line locked clock, includes a first digital phase locked loop which regenerates quadrature phase related subcarrier signals that are used to synchronously demodulate the chrominance signal components of composite video signals into color information signals. When nonstandard video signals (e.g., from a video tape recorder) are processed by the receiver, frequency instabilities in the line locked clock signal may cause the color information signals to be distorted. To compensate for this distortion, a second phase locked loop is synchronized to a reference signal generated by an analog oscillator. The analog reference signal is linearly added to baseband analog video signals provided by a tuner. The combined signals are digitized by an analog-to-digital converter and then filtered by parallel low-pass and band-pass filters to develop digital signals representing the video signals and the reference signal, respectively.

Abstract: A digital television receiver which uses a line-locked clock signal employs chrominance signal demodulation circuitry which produces a digital oscillatory signal that is locked in phase to the color reference burst signal component of the incoming video signals. An analog voltage controlled oscillator generates an oscillatory signal having a frequency of approximately twice the color subcarrier frequency. This signal is combined with the composite video signals and the combined signal is digitized by an analog to digital converter. The digitized oscillatory signal is separated from the combined digital signal and is used to synchronize a digital phase locked loop. The digital phase locked loop generates two quadrature phase related signals having frequencies that are one-half the frequency of the analog oscillatory signal. These two signals are used to synchronously demodulate the chrominance signal components of the incoming video signals to obtain two quadrature phase related color difference signals.

Abstract: A sync separator detects, in a corresponding part of the waveform of a video signal, the occurrence of the trailing edge of a corresponding sync pulse, in accordance with the rate of change of the video signal. Information obtained from the sync tip and the back porch portions of the corresponding sync pulse is used for generating a slice level signal. A comparator responsive to the slice level signal separates a sync signal from the video signal.

Abstract: A sync separator detects the occurrence of a corresponding sync pulse in a corresponding part of the waveform of a composite video signal. The level of the sync tip is used for updating a slice level signal, provided the level of the sync tip is lower than that of the preceding sync tip signal. A time-out signal is generated at the end of a time-out interval that has elapsed from the last time the sync tip signal was updated, provided the sync tip signal was not updated within such time-out interval. The time-out signal is used for updating the sync tip signal. The sync tip signal is updated according to such sync pulse that occurred during the time-out interval, having the lowest level sync tip. Information obtained from the sync tip and back porch portions of the corresponding sync pulse is used for generating a slice level signal. A comparator responsive to the slice level signal separates a sync signal from the composite video signal.

Abstract: A digital television receiver includes a first phase locked loop which develops a sampling clock signal that is locked to the horizontal line synchronizing signal components of a composite video signal. A second digital phase locked loop is clocked by the sampling clock signal and develops a digital signal that is phase locked to the color burst signal. This digital signal is used as a regenerated color subcarrier signal to synchronously demodulate the chrominance components of the composite video signals into I and Q color difference signals. To compensate for frequency instability in the regenerated subcarrier signal caused by frequency instabilities in the line-locked clock signal, a third digital phase locked loop develops an output signal which is phase locked to a reference signal generated by a crystal controlled oscillator.

Abstract: A digital phase-lock-loop circuit includes a generator that produces a horizontal rate output signal at a controlled frequency and a phase detector responsive to the output signal and to an incoming synchronizing signal. The phase detector is coupled to the generator control port via a loop filter. When the phase between the output signal and the synchronizing signal that synchronizes the phase-lock-loop circuit changes as a result of, for example, head switching in a two-head VTR that supplies the synchronizing signal, a signal representative of such phase change is produced. The phase change representative signal is fed forward to the generator, by bypassing the loop filter of the phase-lock-loop circuit. The phase change representative signal produces an immediate phase shift of the output signal such that the loop filter is not affected by the head switching.

Abstract: A digital television receiver, having a line-locked clock, includes a partly digital, partly analog phase locked loop. This phase locked loop regenerates two quadrature phase related subcarrier signals that are used to synchronously demodulate the chrominance signal components of the composite video signals into two color informaiton signals. The phase locked loop includes an analog voltage controlled oscillator which generates a signal that is independent of any frequency instability in the line locked clock signal. An analog-to-digital converter digitizes this signal to provide one of the subcarrier signals. This subcarrier signal is applied to a read-only memory to generate the second subcarrier signal. The two color information signals are obtained by multiplying the chrominance signals by the first and second subcarrier signals.

Abstract: A phase locked loop system is described in the context of a digital television receiver. The system includes a band-pass filter which shifts the phase of burst samples provided to it by 33.degree.. This phase shift makes the zero-crossing points of the filtered burst signal coincident with the I color difference signal sampling phase relative to the unfiltered burst signal. The phase locked loop uses a zero-crossing phase detector to develop a control signal for a VCO. The oscillatory signal provided by the VCO has a frequency of, for example, four times the frequency of the burst, but shifted in phase relative to the burst to allow sampling composite video signal coincident with the phase of at least one of the I and Q color difference signals.

Abstract: An automatic gain control (AGC) circuit is described in the context of a phase locking system in a digital television receiver. The signal produced by the phase locking system is used to develop a sampling clock signal that is locked in frequency and phase to the color reference burst signal component of a color television signal. An AGC detector develops a gain control signal by averaging only those samples which would correspond to the peaks of the burst signal if the sampling clock signal were locked to the burst signal. The gain control signal is applied to a multiplier which increases or decreases the magnitude of the television signal samples to bring the calculated peak amplitude value of the burst signal within a predetermined range. The AGC circuitry interacts with the phase locking system to decrease the lock-up time when there is a relatively large difference in phase between the burst signal and the sampling clock signal.

Abstract: A phase detector included in a digital television receiver develops first and second phase error signals based on samples of the color reference burst signal taken from one and two horizontal lines respectively. The first phase error signal is used to attain coarse synchronization between a sampling clock signal and the burst signal. The second phase error signal is used to enhance synchronization accuracy after coarse synchronization has been attained.

Abstract: A digital television receiver includes an analog-to-digital converter having a controllable scaling factor and offset. To improve resolution of the digital samples, the scaling factor is increased and the offset is changed when the synchronizing and color reference burst portions of the composite video signal are being converted. In addition, the scaling can be greatly increased at selected times so that the phase of the color reference burst can be more accurately determined.

Abstract: In a television (TV) receiver having digital signal processing in which the video and sound signals are separated in the analog processing circuitry, one analog-to-digital converter (ADC) serves both the video and sound signal paths. The analog video and sound signals are multiplexed into the ADC and are demultiplexed out of the ADC to the digital video processor and to the digital sound processor at predetermined times during each horizontal TV line. In one arrangement, the sound signal conversions are periodically interleaved with the video signal conversions during the horizontal lines. In another arrangement, the sound signal is sampled and stored at normal rate over a horizontal TV line, then converted by the ADC and digitally stored at a higher-than-normal rate during the horizontal blanking interval, and then supplied to the digital sound processor periodically at the normal rate.

Abstract: An analog carrier signal and its sidebands contain modulated information which is to be digitally encoded and processed. Demodulation and digital encoding is accomplished in a single process by an analog-to-digital converter, which samples the analog signals in response to a sampling signal of a frequency which is at least twice the bandwidth of the band of frequencies containing the carrier signal and its information-bearing sidebands. The analog signal samples are digitally encoded, producing a band of digital information signals corresponding to baseband signal components. When used in a television receiver to produce digital signal samples, the band of analog signals may include both sound and picture carriers and their audio and video information. By controlling the phase and frequency of the analog carrier signal in relation to the color subcarrier signal, and deriving the sampling signal from the analog carrier, an ease in video signal demodulation is provided.

Abstract: A circuit for supplying first and second currents to a load comprises two current generators for providing those currents during first and second time intervals and a resistance through which those currents flow. Two control potentials developed by two semiconductor junctions are applied across the resistance. First and second control circuits control the two current generators so that the first and second currents are provided during the first and second time intervals, respectively. The current supply circuit is useful in a multivibrator wherein the timing capacitor thereof is the load to which the first and second currents are supplied.

Abstract: A comb filter arrangement operating at a reduced data rate is provided, which requires comparably fewer storage locations than previous arrangements. A digitized composite video signal of a given codeword rate is applied to a first bandpass filter, which produces a filtered signal restricted to a portion of the passband of the composite video signal. The filtered signal is then subsampled at a rate which satisfies the Nyquist criterion for information of the restricted passband. Codewords, now at a reduced data rate, are applied to a one-H delay line, and delayed and undelayed signals are combined to produce a first comb-filtered signal. The first comb-filtered signal is then applied to a second bandpass filter, which provides a sequence of codewords at the codeword rate of the original digitized composite video signal over a given frequency band. This sequence of codewords is then combined with the codewords of the composite video signal to produce a second comb-filtered signal.