With Variable Response Patents (Class 333/174)
  • Patent number: 4614925
    Abstract: A resonator filter has electrodes disposed in a confronting relationship to each other and has a dielectric base plate interposed therebetween. The filter has ground or common terminals on the electrode portions in different positions which do not include mutually confronting electrode portions. The electrodes have spiral configurations or configurations having at least one bent portion such that the electrodes have a lumped-constant inductance. Voltage signals induced in the electrodes due to mutual induction therebetween are opposite in phase with respect to each other and a parasitic distributed-constant capacitance is produced due to a potential difference between the electrodes and a dielectric constant of the dielectric base plate. As a consequence thereof, a two-terminal parallel resonance band pass filter circuit is formed on an equivalent basis which is composed of the lumped-constant inductance of one of the electrodes and the distributed-constant capacitance between the electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 1984
    Date of Patent: September 30, 1986
    Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Johji Kane
  • Patent number: 4612571
    Abstract: A constant impedance (Z) bandswitched input filter for use in a wideband signal receiver includes a low pass filter, a high pass filter and a bandpass filter for reducing intermodulation distortion as well as for providing a flat input impedance characteristic. The bandpass filter resonates at the crossover frequency between the low and high pass filters for minimizing insertion loss while maintaining a constant termination impedance across the entire input signal bandwidth to reduce the input standing wave ratio (VSWR). Switching means are provided for coupling the high and low pass filters as well as the bandpass filter in circuit depending upon the frequency band tuned to. The constant Z bandswitched input filter is particularly adapted for use in a wide band cable television (CATV) system for substantially reducing intermodulation distortion and signal reflections arising from impedance mismatches, but has application in any cable operated multichannel communications system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 1984
    Date of Patent: September 16, 1986
    Assignee: Zenith Electronics Corporation
    Inventor: Frederick H. Moon
  • Patent number: 4600903
    Abstract: A bandpass filter is presented which is constructed so that bandwidth of the bandpass filter may be varied without varying gain from an input signal to an output signal when the input signal is at a center frequency. A crystal resonator is connected in series with a compensation resistance, and a variable resistance. Ignoring shunt capacitance, the crystal resonator may be modelled by a capacitance, an inductance and a loss resistance coupled in series. The compensation resistance is chosen so that the voltage drop across the compensation resistance is equal to the voltage drop across the loss resistance. A transformer having a primary coil, a secondary coil, and a 1:1 turn ratio between the two coils is included in the circuit. The primary coil is coupled in parallel with the compensation resistance. The output signal appears at an output of the secondary coil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 1984
    Date of Patent: July 15, 1986
    Inventor: Vladan Temer
  • Patent number: 4586007
    Abstract: A two-cavity notch filter including an input terminal inductively coupled to an output terminal having a low impedance connection therebetween, a first relatively high impedance resonant tank circuit including the series combination of a circuit grounded capacitor and circuit grounded inductor having a tap point thereon, a capacitor and optionally in series therewith an inductor connected between the input terminal and tap point. The notch filter also includes a second relatively high impedance resonant tank circuit including the series connection of a circuit grounded capacitor and circuit grounded inductor having a tap thereon, and a capacitor and, optionally, in series therewith an inductor between the output terminal and tap point of the second tank circuit inductor. There is capacitive coupling between the capacitors forming the first and second tank circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 1984
    Date of Patent: April 29, 1986
    Assignee: RCA Corporation
    Inventor: Andrew Ciszek
  • Patent number: 4584544
    Abstract: An interstage coupling network is provided comprising a series connection of an even number of reactive elements coupled between the input and output terminals of the interstage network, a junction point of said series connection of inductors being coupled to a signal reference potential via a first reactive shunt element. A series connection of oppositely-poled switching diodes is coupled in parallel with a portion of said series connection of reactive elements, the junction between the series-coupled diodes being coupled to the signal reference potential via a second reactive shunt element. A third reactive element is coupled between the network output terminal and a point on the series connection of reactive elements which is remote from the input terminal of the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 1985
    Date of Patent: April 22, 1986
    Assignee: RCA Corporation
    Inventor: James Hettiger
  • Patent number: 4571560
    Abstract: A switched bandpass filter includes a plurality of triple tuned bandpass filter sections coupled in parallel between an input and an output terminal and complemented by input and output parallel resonant circuits. Each bandpass filter section includes a switch such as a switching diode by means of which the filter section is either rendered active for passing or inactive for suppressing the frequency band to which it is tuned. Portions of the inactive bandpass filter sections contribute to the resulting frequency response with notches at frequencies outside of the passband of the active filter section. Thus, some components of the inactive bandpass filter sections are reused with the active filter section to gain steep out-of-band rejection slopes. In one embodiment, the switched bandpass filter employs only one switching diode per frequency band and, by reusing two-thirds of the filter components, provides a highly efficient switched bandpass filter arrangement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 1985
    Date of Patent: February 18, 1986
    Assignee: Zenith Electronics Corporation
    Inventor: Pierre Dobrovolny
  • Patent number: 4539536
    Abstract: A charge-transfer-device (CTD) transversal filter which makes use of tap-weight-adjustment circuitry for removing effects of charge-transfer inefficiency (CTI) and fixed-pattern noise (FPN). The tap weights are adjusted by measuring the response of the CTD-transversal filter to an isolated pulse input and to a zero-frequency input. The results of the measurements and reference-filter coefficients are used by the tap-weight-adjustment circuitry in order to set tap weights for the CTD-transversal filter. The tap-weight-adjustment circuitry allows the frequency response of the CTD transversal filter to be accurately tailored even though the CTD filter suffers imperfections due to CTI and FPN.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 1982
    Date of Patent: September 3, 1985
    Assignee: Rockwell International Corporation
    Inventor: Stanley A. White
  • Patent number: 4518936
    Abstract: A commutating filter circuit producing only the fundamental frequency and odd harmonics of an input signal comprises first and second commutating filters each connected to receive the input signal and coupled to pass an output signal to the non-inverting and inverting terminals, respectively, of a differential amplifier. The first filter comprises N stages, each having a time constant of RC and a filter sampling frequency of f.sub.1. The second filter comprises N/2 stages, each having a time constant of 2RC and a filter sampling frequency of 2f.sub.1. The resultant signal from the differential amplifier contains only the fundamental frequencies and odd harmonics of the input signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1983
    Date of Patent: May 21, 1985
    Assignee: RCA Corporation
    Inventor: Eldon M. Sutphin, Jr.
  • Patent number: 4518935
    Abstract: Band-rejection filter of the switched capacitor type in which at least one unwanted frequency component present in an information signal must be suppressed. To that end this filter comprises and adding circuit 4 to which the information signal is applied via a switching device 3 and a feedback signal via a switching device 5. Both switching devices are controlled by a first control signal consisting of a sequence of control signal periods of a duration T.sub.s which are each divided into a tracking phase and into an interrupt phase. During the tracking phase the signal can pass uninterruptedly through the switching device, while during the interrupt phase signals are not allowed to pass. The output of adding circuit 4 is coupled inter alia via a switching device 8 to the input of a bandpass filter 9 whose passband at least coincides with the unwanted frequency component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 1983
    Date of Patent: May 21, 1985
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation
    Inventor: Arthur H. M. van Roermund
  • Patent number: 4513260
    Abstract: Disclosed is a programmable frequency converting filter having a plurality of selectable operating modes, and having frequency passbands of a unique width for each of the operating modes. The programmable frequency converting filter is comprised of a charge transfer device transversal filter, a non-sampling filter, and a frequency band selector. The transversal filter has an output lead coupled to an input of the non-sampling filter, and has clock leads coupled to the output of the frequency band selector. The frequency band selector has control leads for receiving logic signals which together select operating modes from the plurality of modes. The frequency band selector generates, on the clock leads, clocking signals having a unique frequency for each mode of the plurality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 1977
    Date of Patent: April 23, 1985
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventor: Lawrence H. Ragan
  • Patent number: 4480236
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for eliminating narrow band noise and interference from a wide band signal while maintaining the wide band signal substantially intact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 1982
    Date of Patent: October 30, 1984
    Assignee: Sperry Corporation
    Inventor: Richard W. Harris
  • Patent number: 4468640
    Abstract: Loop gain normalization is employed in adaptive filters to control weighting of the filter characteristic updates in order to converge properly to a desired filter characteristic. Filter instability is avoided during intervals that transient or other rapidly pulsating signals are received or inputted by normalizing the update gain with a representation of a so-called fast attack estimate of a prescribed characteristic of the input signal. In one embodiment the fast attack estimate is the maximum of a plurality of power estimates generated from a corresponding plurality of subsets of amplitude samples of the received signal. In another embodiment, the maximum of the magnitude representations of the input signal samples is modified to represent the fast attack power estimate of the received signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 1982
    Date of Patent: August 28, 1984
    Assignee: AT&T Bell Laboratories
    Inventor: Charles W. K. Gritton
  • Patent number: 4468641
    Abstract: Loop gain normalization is employed in adaptive filters to control weighting of the filter characteristic updates in order to converge properly to a desired filter characteristic. Filter stability and rapid high quality convergence is realized for a variety of received or inputted signals by employing both long term and fast attack estimates of a prescribed input signal characteristic to normalize the update gain. In one embodiment, both long term and fast attack input signal power estimates are generated and one of the two estimate values is selected to normalize the update gain. Specifically, the fast attack estimate is modified by a predetermined value and, then, the larger of the long term estimate and modified fast attack estimate is selected to normalize the update gain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 1982
    Date of Patent: August 28, 1984
    Assignee: AT&T Bell Laboratories
    Inventors: Donald L. Duttweiler, Charles W. K. Gritton, Ying G. Tao
  • Patent number: 4460879
    Abstract: An input signal is supplied to a first port of a non-reversible circuit and those frequency components of the input signal applied to a second port of the non-reversible circuit which differ from the resonance frequency of a resonance element connected to the second port are absorbed by a resistive terminating element connected to the second port. On the other hand, a frequency component of the input signal which coincides with the resonance frequency is derived at the third port of the non-reversible circuit. By changing the resonance frequency of the resonance element, the frequency component of the input signal which are provided to the third port can be altered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1981
    Date of Patent: July 17, 1984
    Assignee: Takeda Riken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masaaki Hirose
  • Patent number: 4456895
    Abstract: A two resonator bandpass filter that is tunable is disclosed with each resonator consisting of three series connected inductors and a tuning capacitors. The inductors comprising each resonator are contained in a common enclosure isolated from each other by a ground shield having a fixed aperture opening for electromagnetic coupling between the two resonators. Shorting plugs are used as the bandswitching techniques for switching the bands of the resonators. Variable capacitors in each of the resonator's circuit provide for tuning of each band to a desired frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 1982
    Date of Patent: June 26, 1984
    Assignee: Rockwell International Corporation
    Inventors: Harvey L. Landt, Glenn R. Snider
  • Patent number: 4453145
    Abstract: A band-pass filter circuit has series elements, comprising a parallel resonant circuit and a first inductance, and shunt elements comprising a series resonant circuit and a second inductance, the resonant circuits comprising variable capacitances to permit variation of the frequency over a frequency band. The second inductance may be a transformer. The variable capacitances may be constituted by a plurality of switchable component capacitances, having switches connected between the capacitances and ground.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 1982
    Date of Patent: June 5, 1984
    Assignee: Licentia Patent-Verwaltungs-GmbH
    Inventor: Harald Schuster
  • Patent number: 4450417
    Abstract: A feed forward circuit that can be used as an isolator or filter includes a first and a second directional coupler that, depending on the application, either splits an applied signal into two paths or combines the two paths to obtain an output signal. One path includes an electronically tunable band reject filter (or notch filter) which may be bypassed by a switch in the isolator application, and an inverting amplifier. The second path includes a delay line that compensates for the time delay of the signal in the first path due to the time delay of the inverting amplifier and electronically tunable band reject filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 1981
    Date of Patent: May 22, 1984
    Assignee: Rockwell International Corporation
    Inventor: Andrew F. Folkmann
  • Patent number: 4441090
    Abstract: The effects of crosstalk of an FM carrier from a first signal channel into a second signal channel are reduced by a variable-frequency notch filter coupled in the second channel. The frequency of the notch in the transmission characteristic of the filter is controlled to track the frequency of the FM carrier. Signals in the second channel at the frequency of the FM carrier are attenuated, and therefore the crosstalk signal is attenuated and its effects reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 1982
    Date of Patent: April 3, 1984
    Assignee: RCA Corporation
    Inventor: Henry R. Warren
  • Patent number: 4433315
    Abstract: A tunable coupling network for a frequency multiplier stage providing a passband for a desired harmonic of a fundamental frequency and rejection notches for undesired harmonic frequencies. The passband of the network can be tuned by changing the value of at least one circuit element to track the desired harmonic of the fundamental frequency over a range of fundamental frequencies. In so doing, the rejection notches also move so that they maintain fixed ratios with respect to the passband frequency as the passband moves. In one embodiment the network comprises first and second tunable circuits each including a variable reactive element. The first resonant circuit includes a variable capacitor and two fixed inductors. The second resonant circuit includes a variable inductor and two fixed capacitors. The two resonant circuits are coupled by an interstage coupling capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 1981
    Date of Patent: February 21, 1984
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Johannes J. Vandegraaf
  • Patent number: 4431976
    Abstract: In order to make an adaptive filter, having a delay circuit, (3) taps of which include amplitude control circuits (43, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55, 57) which are controlled by an error signal (output of 149), more suitable for use in television receivers, a number of said amplitude control circuits (45, 55) are controlled by both the error signal (output from 149, 151, 125 and 153 , 127 respectively) and an inverse version of a signal corrected by the filter (output 119, 121, 125 and 123, 127 respectively).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 1981
    Date of Patent: February 14, 1984
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation
    Inventor: Johannes O. Voorman
  • Patent number: 4426630
    Abstract: An electronically tunable band reject filter rejects only frequencies of a signal that are in the reject band around its center frequency. The band reject filter includes an input directional coupler for sampling of the signal that is to be filtered and provides a first and second signal thereby. The first signal is filtered by a bandpass filter that passes only frequencies of the signal that are around the center frequency of the bandpass filter. An output directional coupler combines the second signal with the filtered signal and obtains on a difference port the difference between the second signal and the filtered signal. The frequencies of the signal that are centered around the center frequency of the bandpass filter are thereby rejected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 1981
    Date of Patent: January 17, 1984
    Assignee: Rockwell International Corporation
    Inventor: Andrew F. Folkmann
  • Patent number: 4417220
    Abstract: A notch filter is provided with an ancillary circuit including a non-inverting amplifier and a coupling which enables the filter to form part of an oscillatory loop of which the frequency of oscillation corresponds to the frequency of maximum rejection by the notch filter. Measurement of that frequency facilitates the tuning of the notch filter, which includes capacitors constituted by varactor diodes. The gain of the ancillary circuit may be adjusted to change its mode of operation from oscillation to that of a tuned amplifier so that a sweep of the center frequency of the notch filter through a range of interest facilitates a search for an unknown interfering frequency and the simultaneous tuning of the notch filter to reject that interference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 1981
    Date of Patent: November 22, 1983
    Assignee: Decca Limited
    Inventors: Brian T. Holyman, Charlton R. Baty
  • Patent number: 4412189
    Abstract: Either an input signal of a combining network or an output signal of an inverter arranged on a main path is fed to a side path through a mode switch in a switchable signal compressor/signal expander. Since an input terminal of a control amplifier is connected to a variable filter without passing through a signal amplifier, the deviation of the detection characteristic of a rectifier and integrator attributed to D.C. offset voltages of the signal amplifier and the control amplifier can be reduced. On the other hand, a switchable signal compressor/signal expander in another aspect of performance has a reference voltage generator for producing a D.C. reference voltage, and the output D.C. level of the control amplifier is maintained at a level approximate to the D.C. reference voltage. The other ends of first and second capacitors of the rectifier and integrator are also supplied with the D.C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 1981
    Date of Patent: October 25, 1983
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuo Kominami, Tetsuo Sato, Yuichi Ohkubo
  • Patent number: 4368440
    Abstract: A fail-safe active low-pass filter circuit including a plurality of transistor gates having their inputs coupled to a source of a.c. signals, one of a plurality of field-effect transistor switches coupled to an associated one of the plurality of transistor gates, and a variable R-C network having a variable upper a.c. signal passing level which is determined by which one of the associated transistor gates and field-effect switches is rendered conductive by application of d.c. supply voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 1980
    Date of Patent: January 11, 1983
    Assignee: American Standard Inc.
    Inventor: John O. G. Darrow
  • Patent number: 4322995
    Abstract: There is disclosed herein a music synthesizer which responds to a music note played by a music instrument. The synthesizer has an envelope generator which generates a control signal in relation to the input signal to control the loudness of the synthesized note. Also, the synthesizer has a pair of voltage controlled oscillators, one of which provides a signal having a frequency related to the frequency of the input note, and the other of which provides a signal having a frequency related to the frequency of the input signal offset by the ratio of the difference between a programmed note and a referenced note, such as A440. The programmed note is that note following the operation of a control switch. The synthesizer further includes a series of footpads which control various functions of the synthesizer, such as programming the programmed note, to allow the user to control the synthesized sound while playing an instrument.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 1981
    Date of Patent: April 6, 1982
    Inventor: Donald L. Tavel
  • Patent number: 4319207
    Abstract: In a switching follower filter of the narrow-band-pass type having n switched paths for filtering a signal having a useful component of variable frequency associated with a high background noise, the fundamental frequency of the input signal is captured and then followed by collecting a pre-filtered switching synchronization signal so that part of the input signal remains in the pre-filtered signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 1980
    Date of Patent: March 9, 1982
    Assignee: Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique
    Inventor: Michel Gignoux
  • Patent number: 4315227
    Abstract: Because of the very large variety of useful filter configurations, it is highly desirable to have a generalized circuit topology from which all specific filters can be derived. A generalized switched-capacitor biquadratic active filter comprises a pair of operational amplifiers (10, 11), each of which has an unswitched feedback capacitor (D, B) connected between its output port (3, 3') and its inverting input port (1, 1'). A third through-switched capacitor (C) provides feedback between the output port (3') of the second amplifier (11) and the inverting input port (1) of the first amplifier (10). A diagonally-switched capacitor (A) couples the output port (3) of the first amplifier (10) to the inverting input port (1') of the second amplifier (11). The noninverting input ports (2, 2') of the two amplifiers are connected to signal ground.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 1979
    Date of Patent: February 9, 1982
    Assignee: Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated
    Inventors: Paul E. Fleischer, Kenneth R. Laker
  • Patent number: 4302738
    Abstract: A noise reducing circuit for a frequency discriminator is disclosed for providing a frequency discriminator with reduced sensitivity to noise. Reducing the sensitivity to noise allows certain distortion measurements, such as the well-known SINAD test for broadcast receivers, to be made in the presence of high noise levels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 1980
    Date of Patent: November 24, 1981
    Assignee: Tektronix, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard C. Cabot, Bruce E. Hofer
  • Patent number: 4283693
    Abstract: Circuitry is disclosed for detecting signal amplitudes of a signal which is phase indicative of a digital logic level and providing a feedback signal for use in amplitude adjusting the signal to have a substantially zero slope over the relevant frequency bandwidth. The compensation is obtained by applying a voltage to variable impedance pin diodes which form part of a reactive load circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 1980
    Date of Patent: August 11, 1981
    Assignee: Rockwell International Corporation
    Inventor: Eliseo Saenz
  • Patent number: 4238746
    Abstract: An input signal X(j) is fed directly to the positive port of a summing function and is simultaneously fed through a parallel channel in which it is delayed, and passed through an adaptive linear transversal filter, the output being then subtracted from the instantaneous input signal X(j). The difference, X(j)-Y(j), between these two signals is the error signal .epsilon.(j). .epsilon.(j) is multiplied by a gain .mu. and fed back to the adaptive filter to readjust the weights of the filter. The weights of the filter are readjusted until .epsilon.(j) is minimized according to the recursive algorithm: ##EQU1## where the arrow above a term indicates that the term is a signal vector. Thus, when the means square error is minimized, W.sub.(j+1) =W.sub.(j), and the filter is stabilized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 1978
    Date of Patent: December 9, 1980
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: John M. McCool, Bernard Widrow, James R. Zeidler, Robert H. Hearn, Douglas M. Chabries
  • Patent number: 4223181
    Abstract: Auto-adaptive filtering devices for analysis and treatment or processing of A.F. signals.These devices are characterized in that they include filtering means splitting the applied signals into two parts or channels having complementary spectra, a first channel being considered as error channel to determine a function of versus predetermined criteria, the transmission of the other channel and to react on the positioning of the cutoff frequencies of the filtering means.Main applications being noise reducers, band-reduction devices, devices for speech analysis and synthesis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 1978
    Date of Patent: September 16, 1980
    Inventor: Bernard J. Simeau
  • Patent number: 4218665
    Abstract: A bandpass filter is disclosed which includes a low-pass filter and an analog delay circuit in which the delay time is set by a clock signal. THe analog delay circuit samples the voltage of the low-pass filter capacitor and delays the sampled voltage according to the clock signal. The output of the analog delay circuit is then used to equalize within a certain period of time the voltage of the low-pass filter capacitor. The analog delay circuit may consist of an integrated circuit BBD (Bucket Brigade Device) or CCD (Charge Coupled Device).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 1978
    Date of Patent: August 19, 1980
    Assignee: Nippon Electric Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Hisashi Fujisaki
  • Patent number: 4213106
    Abstract: A tuning apparatus and a method of producing the same. The tuning apparatus comprises a base having a recess for receiving a capacitor therein, and coils mounted on the base, wherein the front ends of the comb teeth of two comb-shaped formed parts obtained by press-working an electrically conductive metal sheet are received in the recess and are fixed in position by pouring resin into the recess, the roots of the comb teeth of the comb-shaped formed parts being then severed, thereby separating the comb teeth from each other to provide independent external terminals. The comb teeth include connector comb teeth whose ends are directly connected to the capacitor terminals, and a presser tooth which urges the capacitor toward the connector comb teeth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 1978
    Date of Patent: July 15, 1980
    Assignee: Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toyoaki Tunematu, Seiichi Takeno, Testuo Yamaguchi, Muneharu Egawa
  • Patent number: 4206474
    Abstract: A remotely controlled chroma key soft edger is described for use with an analog switcher. The keying signal is a low passed filtered and differentially summed with substantially an unfiltered keying signal and the resultant high frequency components are summed with the low pass filtered signal. The gain of the peaking signal is remotely controlled to adjust the summed rise time of the keying signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 1978
    Date of Patent: June 3, 1980
    Assignee: RCA Corporation
    Inventors: Donald C. Herrmann, Lucas J. Bazin
  • Patent number: 4198612
    Abstract: A nonlinear adaptive filter for improving the signal-to-noise ratio of video signals generated from images of features under analysis typically includes filtering components for attenuating low amplitude video noise excursions while passing high amplitude video signal excursions substantially without attenuation. Attenuation of the noise is provided by electrical circuitry operating as a function of the voltage input. In general, the electrical circuitry has a predetermined relationship to the value of the video signal and its noise characteristic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 1978
    Date of Patent: April 15, 1980
    Assignee: Bausch & Lomb Incorporated
    Inventor: Roger R. A. Morton
  • Patent number: 4182997
    Abstract: A filter for a telecommunication system, designed to suppress a signal frequency F.sub.a and to transmit an adjoining frequency F.sub.b without significant attenuation, comprises a resonant cavity of prismatic shape longitudinally traversed by a conductive coil wound on a hollow dielectric core into which an adjusting screw is inserted. One end of the coil is grounded at the cavity wall while its other end is left unconnected and forms with the adjusting screw a variable capacitance C.sub.d with distributed constants; a lumped-constant tuning capacitor C.sub.1 is connected between ground and an input lead connected to an intermediate tap on the coil, the inductance L.sub.2 " of that lead and the inductance L.sub.2 ' of the coil portion between the tap and ground forming an inductive voltage divider bridged by the lumped-constant capacitor C.sub.1. The remainder of the coil, lying between the tap and the unconnected end, forms an inductance L.sub.1 which together with the distributed-constant capacitance C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 1977
    Date of Patent: January 8, 1980
    Assignee: Societe Italiana Telecomunicazioni Siemens S.p.A.
    Inventor: Giuliano Brambilla
  • Patent number: 4162461
    Abstract: Apparatus for extracting the fundamental frequency from a complex audio wave form and for producing a pulse representation of said fundamental frequency includes a low pass filter having a frequency response characteristic which tends to exclude harmonics together with a control circuit including amplifier means, peak detector means and voltage to current converter means for supplying a control signal to the low pass filter thereby to vary the cutoff frequency of the filter and to maintain substantially constant amplitude of the fundmental wave form together with voltage comparator means for comparing the peaks of an alternating current quantity dependent upon the output of said filter with a direct current quantity proportional to the output of the filter, said comparator means thereby producing a pulse per cycle of said fundamental frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 1977
    Date of Patent: July 24, 1979
    Assignee: S.W.I.S., Inc.
    Inventors: David W. Wallis, William H. Stewart