US3816664A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Signal compression and expansion apparatus with means for preserving or varying pitch
Assignee: Individual
•
Filing: 1971-09-28
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Granted: 1974-06-11
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Expires: 1991-09-28
Abstract
Abstract Apparatus for compressing, expanding and reading out audio and other signals while preserving or varying their pitch. The apparatus includes means for discarding segments of the signals and compressing the undiscarded segments or, when desired, repeating certain portions of segments as the signals are being read out to reproduce the signals. The apparatus may also include means for converting the signals into word organized digital signals, storing and reading out the digital signals while discarding or repeating certain segments thereof without losing information content, means for interlacing the reading and writing operations, means for varying the write-in rate and means for varying the read-out rate of the signals so as to control the overall rate and pitch of the output.
Inventors
- 👤 R Koch
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 01:55
CPC Classifications
G; G09; G09B; G09B21/00; G09B21/001; G09B21/006; H; H04; H04B; H04B1/00; H04B1/66; H04B1/662
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 35
Claim 1
Independent Claim
263 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals to selectively modify time and pitch comprising means for storing segmental portions of said signals, write operation means capable of entering said segmental portions of said signals to fill the entirety of said storing means, read operation means for extracting at least part of said segmental portions from the entirety of said storing means, the rate of operation of at least one of said operation means being continuously variable relative to the rate of the other, programming control means regulAting the interrelationship and precedence of performance of both of said operation means whereby the entire capacity of said storing means is utilized by said operation means and thereby the effective capacity of said storing means is maximized, said programming control means including at least one continuously variable means for modifying the rate of one of said operation means relative to the other and means for interlacing said operation means in accordance with their continuously variable differential rates and output means to produce modified a.c. signals from said extracted parts of said segmental portions, the first said a.c. signals being reproduced from a recording medium having variable speed driving means and means coordinating the rate of at least one of said read and write operation means with the rate of transport of said recording medium, the last said means including frequency generating means regulating the rate of at least one of said read and write operation means and said generating means and the driving means being related to coordinate the generated frequency and the speed of the driving means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
263 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals to selectively modify time and pitch comprising means for storing segmental portions of said signals, write operation means capable of entering said segmental portions of said signals to fill the entirety of said storing means, read operation means for extracting at least part of said segmental portions from the entirety of said storing means, the rate of operation of at least one of said operation means being continuously variable relative to the rate of the other, programming control means regulAting the interrelationship and precedence of performance of both of said operation means whereby the entire capacity of said storing means is utilized by said operation means and thereby the effective capacity of said storing means is maximized, said programming control means including at least one continuously variable means for modifying the rate of one of said operation means relative to the other and means for interlacing said operation means in accordance with their continuously variable differential rates and output means to produce modified a.c. signals from said extracted parts of said segmental portions, the first said a.c. signals being reproduced from a recording medium having variable speed driving means and means coordinating the rate of at least one of said read and write operation means with the rate of transport of said recording medium, the last said means including frequency generating means regulating the rate of at least one of said read and write operation means and said generating means and the driving means being related to coordinate the generated frequency and the speed of the driving means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
41 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said modified a.c. signals are recorded on a recording medium and the rate of at least one of said read and write operation means is coordinated with the rate of transport of said recording medium.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
16 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 including adjustable means for changing the effective duration of said segments.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
201 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals to selectively modify time and pitch comprising means for storing segmental portions of said signals, write operation means capable of entering said segmental portions of said signals to fill the entirety of said storing means, read operation means for extracting at least part of said segmental portions from the entirety of said storing means, the rate of operation of at least one of said operation means being continuously variable relative to the rate of the other, programming control means regulating the interrelationship and precedence of performance of both of said operation means whereby the entire capacity of said storing means is utilized by said operation means and thereby the effective capacity of said storing means is maximized, said programming control means including at least one continuously variable means for modifying the rate of one of said operation means relative to the other and means for interlacing said operation means in accordance with their continuously variable differential rates and output means to produce modified a.c. signals from said extracted parts of said segmental portions and including adjustable means for changing the effective duration of said segments selectively in a random manner limited according to specified logical rules.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
201 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals to selectively modify time and pitch comprising means for storing segmental portions of said signals, write operation means capable of entering said segmental portions of said signals to fill the entirety of said storing means, read operation means for extracting at least part of said segmental portions from the entirety of said storing means, the rate of operation of at least one of said operation means being continuously variable relative to the rate of the other, programming control means regulating the interrelationship and precedence of performance of both of said operation means whereby the entire capacity of said storing means is utilized by said operation means and thereby the effective capacity of said storing means is maximized, said programming control means including at least one continuously variable means for modifying the rate of one of said operation means relative to the other and means for interlacing said operation means in accordance with their continuously variable differential rates and output means to produce modified a.c. signals from said extracted parts of said segmental portions and including adjustable means for changing the effective duration of said segments selectively in a random manner limited according to specified logical rules.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
200 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals to selectively modify time and pitch comprising means for storing segmental portions of said signals, write operation means capable of entering said segmental portions of said signals to fill the entirety of said storing means, read operation means for extracting at least part of said segmental portions from the entirety of said storing means, the rate of operation of at least one of said operation means being continuously variable relative to the rate of the other, programming control means regulating the interrelationship and precedence of performance of both of said operation means whereby the entire capacity of said storing means is utilized by said operation means and thereby the effective capacity of said storing means is maximized, said programming control means including at least one continuously variable means for modifying the rate of one of said operation means relative to the other and means for interlacing said operation means in accordance with their continuously variable differential rates and output means to produce modified a.c. signals from said extracted parts of said segmental portions and manually operated means for selecting one of a plurality of combiNations of operational modes of said read and write operation means.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
200 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals to selectively modify time and pitch comprising means for storing segmental portions of said signals, write operation means capable of entering said segmental portions of said signals to fill the entirety of said storing means, read operation means for extracting at least part of said segmental portions from the entirety of said storing means, the rate of operation of at least one of said operation means being continuously variable relative to the rate of the other, programming control means regulating the interrelationship and precedence of performance of both of said operation means whereby the entire capacity of said storing means is utilized by said operation means and thereby the effective capacity of said storing means is maximized, said programming control means including at least one continuously variable means for modifying the rate of one of said operation means relative to the other and means for interlacing said operation means in accordance with their continuously variable differential rates and output means to produce modified a.c. signals from said extracted parts of said segmental portions and manually operated means for selecting one of a plurality of combiNations of operational modes of said read and write operation means.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
44 words
Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said means for manually selected said modes includes means for causing said modes to be formed at least in part by logical structures responding adaptively to changes in the relative rates of said read and write operation means.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
222 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals to selectively modify time and pitch comprising means for storing segmental portions of said signals, write operation means capable of entering said segmental portions of said signals to fill the entirety of said storing means, read operation means for extracting at least part of said segmental portions from the entirety of said storing means, the rate of operation of at least one of said operation means being continuously variable relative to the rate of the other, programming control means regulating the interrelationship and precedence of performance of both of said operation means whereby the entire capacity of said storing means is utilized by said operation means and thereby the effective capacity of said storing means is maximized, said programming control means including at least one continuously variable means for modifying the rate of one of said operation means relative to the other and means for interlacing said operation means in accordance with their continuously variable differential rates and output means to produce modified a.c. signals from said extracted parts of said segmental portions, said programming means selectively controlling said read operation means relative to said write operation means to read out parts of certain segments to effect compression and to read out all of certain segments and repeat at least portions of such segments to effect expansion.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
222 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals to selectively modify time and pitch comprising means for storing segmental portions of said signals, write operation means capable of entering said segmental portions of said signals to fill the entirety of said storing means, read operation means for extracting at least part of said segmental portions from the entirety of said storing means, the rate of operation of at least one of said operation means being continuously variable relative to the rate of the other, programming control means regulating the interrelationship and precedence of performance of both of said operation means whereby the entire capacity of said storing means is utilized by said operation means and thereby the effective capacity of said storing means is maximized, said programming control means including at least one continuously variable means for modifying the rate of one of said operation means relative to the other and means for interlacing said operation means in accordance with their continuously variable differential rates and output means to produce modified a.c. signals from said extracted parts of said segmental portions, said programming means selectively controlling said read operation means relative to said write operation means to read out parts of certain segments to effect compression and to read out all of certain segments and repeat at least portions of such segments to effect expansion.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
35 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals according to claim 7 including an analog-to-digital converter for modifying the signals to be stored, said storing means including a digital memory and said output means including a digital-to-analog converter.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
49 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals according to claim 8 including at least one storing means wherein said programming means includes a priority logic circuit enabling one operation and delaying the other operation until said one operation is completed to prevent said operations from occurring coincidentally within said storing means.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
20 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals according to claim 8 wherein said analog-to-digital converter converts said analog signals into digital signals.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
38 words
Apparatus according to claim 8 including a selector switch for discarding digits of a certain level from the digital words being read out of said storing means and thereby establishing the level of resolution in the digital-to-analog conversion.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
75 words
Apparatus according to claim 7 including means for effecting dichotic compression or expansion comprising second output means, means for selectively controlling said read-out means to cause certain parts of certain segments to be read out through one of said output means and other parts of said segments to be read out through the other of said output means, said read out parts being at least in part temporally different parts of said read out segments.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
18 words
Apparatus according to claim 12 including means for partitioning said read out parts according to a predetermined rule.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
27 words
Apparatus according to claim 12 including means for partitioning said read out parts in accordance with the ratio of the rates of said read and write operations.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
48 words
Apparatus according to claim 7 including a buffer for receiving said a.c. signals and feeding said signals to said storing means, said buffer storing a portion of said signals during the read operation and feeding said signals including the stored portion of said signals during the write operation.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
41 words
Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said modified a.c. signals are recorded on a recording medium and the rate of at least one of said read and write operation means is cooRdinated with the rate of transport of said recording medium.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
47 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals according to claim 7 wherein said output means includes a buffer for receiving and storing outputs from said read operation means and acting as an interface means between said storing means and said output means during the time of a write operation.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
50 words
Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said storing means includes a plurality of storing devices and said apparatus further includes means for temporally separating said read and write operations so that at any one time any one of said storage devices is devoted solely to only one of said operations.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
211 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals to selectively modify time and pitch comprising means for storing segmental portions of said signals, write operation means capable of entering said segmental portions of said signals to fill the entirety of said storing means, read operation means for extracting at least part of said segmental portions from the entirety of said storing means, the rate of operation of at least one of said operation means being continuously variable relative to the rate of the other, programming control means regulating the interrelationship and precedence of performance of both of said operation means whereby the entire capacity of said storing means is utilized by said operation means and thereby the effective capacity of said storing means is maximized, said programming control means including at least one continuously variable means for modifying the rate of one of said operation means relative to the other and means for interlacing said operation means in accordance with their continuously variable differential rates and output means to produce modified a.c. signals from said extracted parts of said segmental portions, said programming means including a priority logic circuit enabling one operation and delaying the other operation until said one operation is completed to prevent said operations from occurring coincidentally within said storing means.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
211 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals to selectively modify time and pitch comprising means for storing segmental portions of said signals, write operation means capable of entering said segmental portions of said signals to fill the entirety of said storing means, read operation means for extracting at least part of said segmental portions from the entirety of said storing means, the rate of operation of at least one of said operation means being continuously variable relative to the rate of the other, programming control means regulating the interrelationship and precedence of performance of both of said operation means whereby the entire capacity of said storing means is utilized by said operation means and thereby the effective capacity of said storing means is maximized, said programming control means including at least one continuously variable means for modifying the rate of one of said operation means relative to the other and means for interlacing said operation means in accordance with their continuously variable differential rates and output means to produce modified a.c. signals from said extracted parts of said segmental portions, said programming means including a priority logic circuit enabling one operation and delaying the other operation until said one operation is completed to prevent said operations from occurring coincidentally within said storing means.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
34 words
Apparatus according to claim 19 wherein said programming means includes an address network having an address selector and means including address counters connected with said address selector to control said read and write operations.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
29 words
Apparatus for treating signals according to claim 20 wherein said programming means further includes an up-down counter for varying the logic of the control effected by said programming means.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
25 words
Apparatus according to claim 20 including switching means connected to the addressing means for controlling the duration of individual segments of the signal being processed.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
30 words
Apparatus according to claim 20 including a mode selector switch connected to said programming means for establishing the modes of writing and reading said signals stored in said storing means.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
39 words
The apparatus according to claim 20 including means for varying the effective capacity of said storing means by setting the addressing means whereby the durations of the segments being read out of said storage means are varied at random.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
47 words
Apparatus for treating a.c. signals according to claim 19 wherein said output means includes a buffer for receiving and storing outputs from said read operation means and acting as an interface means between said storing means and said output means during the time of a write operation.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
50 words
Apparatus according to claim 19 wherein said storing means includes a plurality of storing devices and said apparatus further includes means for temporally separating said read out write operations so that at any one time any one of said storage devices is devoted solely to only one of said operations.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
41 words
Apparatus according to claim 19 wherein said modified a.c. signals are recorded on a recording medium and the rate of at least one of said read and write operation means is coordinated with the rate of transport of said recording medium.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
16 words
Apparatus according to claim 19 including adjusTable means for changing the effective duration of said segments.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
48 words
Apparatus according to claim 19 including a buffer for receiving said a.c. signals and feeding said signals to said storing means, said buffer storing a portion of said signals during the read operation and feeding said signals including the stored portion of said signals during the write operation.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
48 words
Apparatus according to claim 19 including a buffer for receiving said a.c. signals and feeding said signals to said storing means, said buffer storing a portion of said signals during the read operation and feeding said signals including the stored portion of said signals during the write operation.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1977-06-10 | 1977-12-10 | 1978-06-11 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1981-06-10 | 1981-12-10 | 1982-06-11 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1985-06-10 | 1985-12-10 | 1986-06-11 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |