Threshold circuit utilizing series capacitor-diode combination and employing diode clamp to maintain information transmission

Claim 1

A CIRCUIT COMPRISING AN INPUT TRANSISTOR AND AN OUTPUT TRANSISTOR OF THE SAME CONDUCTIVITY TYPE EACH HAVING AN EMITTER, A COLLECTOR AND A BASE; A CAPACITOR AND A UNIDIRECTIONAL CONDUCTING DEVICE SERIALLY CONNECTED, IN THE ORDER NAMED, BETWEEN THE EMITTER OF THE INPUT TRANSISTOR AND THE BASE OF THE OUTPUT TRANSISTOR WITH THE UNIDIRECTIONAL CONDUCTING DEVICE POLED WITH ITS EASY CURRENT FLOW DIRECTION IN OPPOSITION TO THE DIRECTION OF FORWARD BASE CURRENT OF THE OUTPUT TRANSISTOR; MEANS TO APPLY BIASING POTENTIALS TO THE COLLECTOR, EMITTER AND BASE OF THE OUTPUT TRANSISTOR FOR NORMALLY BIASING THE OUTPUT TRANSISTOR IN THE FULL ON CONDITION; MEANS FOR APPLYING A BIAS VOLTAGE AT THE JUNCTION OF SAID CAPACITOR AND SAID UNIDIRECTIONAL CONDUCTING DEVICE FOR NORMALLY REVERSE BIASING SAID UNIDIRECTIONAL CONDUCTING DEVICE BY A PREDETERMINED AMOUNT; A RESISTOR CONNECTED BETWEEN THE EMITTER OF SAID INPUT TRANSISTOR AND A POINT OF REFERENCE POTENTIAL; MEANS CONNECTING THE COLLECTOR OF SAID INPUT TRANSISTOR TO A POINT OF REFERENCE POTENTIAL; AND MEANS FOR APPLYING AT THE BASE OF SAID INPUT TRANSISTOR INFORMATION SIGNALS HAVING AN AMPLITUDE GREATER THAN SAID PREDETERMINED AMOUNT AND A POLARITY TO FORWARD BIAS SAID UNIDIRECTIONAL CONDUCTING DEVICE.