Signal translation employing two-state techniques

Claim 1

SIGNAL TRANSLATION APPARATUS COMPRISING, A TWO-STATE DEVICE HAVING AN INPUT AND AN OUTPUT FOR PROVIDING ONE OF FIRST AND SECOND OUTPUT LEVELS AND SHIFTING TO THE OTHER ONLY IS RESPONSE TO A PREDETERMINED SHIFT IN THE LEVEL ON SAID INPUT, AN INPUT TERMINAL FOR RECEIVING AN EXTERNAL SIGNAL, MEANS FOR COMBINING A FEEDBACK SIGNAL RELATED TO THE SIGNAL ON SAID OUTPUT WITH THE SIGNAL APPLIED TO SAID INPUT TERMINAL TO PROVIDE A COMBINED SIGNAL AT THE COMBINING MEANS OUTPUT, MEANS FOR COUPLING THE OUTPUT OF SAID COMBINING MEANS TO SAID INPUT TO SHIFT SAID TWO-STATE DEVICE OUTPUT BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND LEVELS WHEREBY THE SIGNAL AT SAID OUTPUT INCLUDES A CHARACTERISTIC REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SIGNAL AT SAID INPUT TERMINAL, SAID OUTPUT SIGNAL CHARACTERISTIC BEING ITS AVERAGE VALUE OVER A CYCLE, AVERAGING MEANS, AND MEANS FOR COUPLING SAID TWO-STATE DEVICE OUTPUT TO SAID AVERAGING MEANS TO PROVIDE A SIGNAL HAVING A WAVEFORM CORRESPONDING SUBSTANTIALLY TO THAT OF THE SIGNAL THEN RECEIVED BY SAID INPUT TERMINAL, SAID MEANS FOR COUPLING INCLUDING ESSENTIALLY NONDISSIPATIVE MEANS FOR BLOCKING SPECTRAL COMPONENTS OF THE ENERGY AT SAID TWO-STATE DEVICE OUTPUT FROM SAID AVERAGING MEANS WHICH SPECTRAL COMPONENTS ARE OF FREQUENCY AT LEAST AS HIGH AS THE RATE AT WHICH THE SHIFT BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND LEVELS OCCURS.