APPARATUS FOR DEFINING CONTINUALLY THE ENVELOPE OF THE MAXIMA THE MINIMA AND OR MODULATION DEPTH OF A VARYING INPUT SIGNAL

摘要

1386332 Detecting maxima and minima R H HAMMERSCHLAG 18 Sept 1972 [20 Sept 1971] 43115/72 Heading G1U [Also in Division H3] Successive maxima (or minima) of an electric signal are gated out upon the occurrence of each following minima (or maxima). In a first embodiment, Fig. I, the output of a peak follower 1 is sampled and held in a store 3 each time a minima detector 6 produces an output, and immediately after a short delay # tv , the peak follower is reset. In a second embodiment Fig. 2 (not shown), the peak follower is replaced by a minimum follower (2) whose output is sampled and held every time a peak is detected. By using both these arrangements Fig. 3 (not shown), any function of the maximum and minimum values, such as modulation depth, which is defined as (max-min)/ (max+min), can be calculated. A detailed circuit which gates out successive minima when the following maximum occurs is described in Figs. 4 and 5. An input signal x is inverted by a unit U to give x which is followed by a peak-follower P. The occurrence of a maximum in x is detected by peak-following x with a unit P to give a signal al and by comparing this signal with the inverted input, namely x, in a comparator K1, which is arranged, with a unit A, to provide an output signal a5 which is "O" when the inputs to the comparator K1 sum to a negative value, and "1" when they sum to a positive value. Thus, the signal a5 has a positive going transition at the instant a maximum occurs in x (in fact, slightly later due to a small stabilizing feedback α around the comparator) which transition generates firstly a signal a8 causing the inverted output of the x peak follower (i.e. the minimum of x) to be stored in a unit S, and secondly a delayed output a10 which resets the x peak follower to a reference level -r. A second comparator K2 detects the resetting of the x peak follower and resets the x peak follower. Three other detailed circuits Figs. 5 and 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (not shown), are also described using generally similar principles. The last of these circuits includes a "minimum selector", Fig. 11, which outputs, at e4, the smaller of two input signals e1, e2, and a circuit Fig. 12 which, on receipt of the inverted signal #x produces an output dl which follows the maximum of the uninverted signal x, and also a two-level signal d5 which has a transition from negative to positive at the instant a . maximum value of x occurs.