Method and apparatus for generating tone signals and the like

Claim 1

A pulse generating circuit comprising: first binary counter means having a clock terminal and a clear terminal and a plurality of least significant bits output terminals and a plurality of most significant bits output terminals, second binary counter means having clock terminal means and load terminal means and output terminal means which pulses at a predetermined count in said second counter means and also having input terminal means for loading a count in said second counter means, latch means interposed between the input terminal means of said second counter means and the most significant bits output terminals of said first counter means, means for clocking said first and second counter means at a first higher frequency, first means for clocking said latch means at a second lower frequency, and second means for clearing said first counter means after clocking of said latch means, the frequency of the pulses at the output terminal means of said second counter means differing a small amount from a whole multiple of said second frequency.

Claim 14

A method of generating a pulse train having a frequency which differs a predetermined amount from a whole multiple of a reference frequency which comprises: supplying clock pulses at a higher frequency and supplying further reference pulses at a frequency lower than said higher frequency, repetitively counting the number of clock pulses during a cycle of said reference frequency and representing the count in the form of a first binary word, transferring a predetermined number less than the total number of the bits of said first binary word commencing at the most significant end of the word to a place of storage to form a second binary word of smaller value than said first binary word, transferring said predetermined number of bits at the beginning of each cycle of the reference frequency, repetitively counting off at least one of: the second binary word and the binary compliment thereof, during the respective cycle of said reference frequency and generating a pulse at the end of each said counting off to form a pulse train having a frequency differing a small amount from a whole multiple of said reference frequency.

Claim 15

A method of generating a pulse train having a frequency which differs a predetermined amount from a whole multiple of a reference frequency which comprises: supplying clock pulses at a higher frequency and supplying further reference pulses at a frequency lower than said higher frequency, repetitively counting the number of clock pulses during a cycle of said reference frequency and representing the count in the form of a first binary word, transferring a predetermined number less than the total number of the bits of said first binary word commencing at the most significant end of the word to a place of storage to form a second binary word of smaller value than said first binary word, transferring said predetermined number of bits at the beginning of each cycle of the reference frequency, repetitively counting off at least one of: the second binary word and the binary compliment thereof, during the respective cycle of said reference frequency and generating a pulse at the end of each said counting off to form a pulse train having a frequency differing a small amount from a whole multiple of said reference frequency.