Speaker volume control apparatus and method

Claim 1

Speaker volume control apparatus comprising: timing means including first and second registers which can be set to digital values representing first and second durations, a counter capable of counting in sequence the values stored in said first and second registers, output means coupled to said counter on which a signal having a waveform representing said stored first and second register values appears, and means for turning said counter on and for turning said counter off at the completion of counting of said first and second registers; buffer inverter means for buffering and inverting the signal appearing on said counter output means; integrating means including a low impedance discharge path for integrating the signal appearing on the output of said buffer inverter means; signal translating means coupled to said integrating means for receiving the integrated signal therefrom; a speaker coupled to said signal translating means and capable of producing a tone of varying volume in response to a signal of varying strength which is applied thereto; and means for applying an integrated signal from said integrating means to said speaker.

Claim 10

A method for controlling the volume of a speaker comprising the following steps: setting the maximum counts of first and second registers in a timer; applying counting pulses to a counter which is controlled by first one and then the other of said registers to provide a repeating pulsed output signal from said timer having a first pulse width at one logic level representing the value stored in said one of said registers and a second pulse width at a second logic level representing the value stored in said other of said registers; controlling the commencement and termination of operation of the counter to control said output signal; buffering and inverting said output signal from said timer; integrating the buffered and inverted signal; applying said integrated signal to a signal translating device to control the on and off states of said signal translating device; and applying an output of said signal translating device to a speaker to control the volume of a tone produced by said speaker.

Claim 11

A method for controlling the volume of a speaker comprising the following steps: setting the maximum counts of first and second registers in a timer; applying counting pulses to a counter which is controlled by first one and then the other of said registers to provide a repeating pulsed output signal from said timer having a first pulse width at one logic level representing the value stored in said one of said registers and a second pulse width at a second logic level representing the value stored in said other of said registers; controlling the commencement and termination of operation of the counter to control said output signal; buffering and inverting said output signal from said timer; integrating the buffered and inverted signal; applying said integrated signal to a signal translating device to control the on and off states of said signal translating device; and applying an output of said signal translating device to a speaker to control the volume of a tone produced by said speaker.