Electrical audio signal processing systems and devices – Binaural and stereophonic – Broadcast or multiplex stereo
Reexamination Certificate
1998-01-20
2001-09-25
Mei, Xu (Department: 2644)
Electrical audio signal processing systems and devices
Binaural and stereophonic
Broadcast or multiplex stereo
C381S003000, C381S006000, C381S010000, C375S376000, C375S295000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06295362
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the generation of composite stereo signals for broadcasting in the FM frequency band. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel circuit for direct digital synthesis of composite stereo signals for broadcast in the FM frequency band.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In FM broadcasting, left and right stereo base band signals are low-pass filtered and combined to produce a composite stereo signal. The circuit that combines the left and right component signals and produces the composite stereo signal is called an exciter.
Once generated, the composite signal is used to drive an FM modulator which modulates a carrier wave in accordance with the composite signal. The modulated carrier wave is then broadcast using an FM antenna.
To be broadcast from an antenna, the modulated carrier wave must be an analog signal. For this reason, conventional systems have generated the composite stereo signal using analog equipment. However, there are a number of difficulties that arise in generating the composite stereo signal in the analog format. For example, low-pass filtering and sub-carrier stereo modulation are very complicated for an analog system. Mechanical filters may be used, but are large and bulky. Additionally, analog filters introduce phase distortions and group delay distortions into the resulting signal. These distortions are very difficult to correct.
The alternative is to generate the stereo composite signal in the digital format and then, eventually, convert the signal to an analog signal for broadcasting. With recent advances in the quality of digital signal processing hardware, including high speed, high precision A/D and D/A converters, an FM exciter using digital signal processing has a far superior performance than the counterpart analog system and costs much less.
FIG. 1
shows a typical digital signal processing system for a digital FM exciter. In
FIG. 1
, the left channel
101
provides a left analog audio signal which becomes the left component of the composite stereo signal. Similarly, the right channel
102
provides a right analog audio signal which becomes the right component of the composite stereo signal.
The left and right analog signals are respectively processed by anti-aliasing filters
104
and
105
. After filtering, the left and right signals are respectively converted from analog into digital signals by A/D converters
107
and
108
. The converted digital signals are provided to a digital signal processor (DSP)
109
.
Generally speaking, the DSP
109
combines the left and right signals into a composite digital signal. More specifically, the DSP
109
performs band limiting filtering, pre-emphasizing, left and right channel mixing, sub-carrier generation, sub-carrier modulation and Sin(x)/x compensation for the D/A converter. Additionally, the DSP
109
provides soft level limiting (soft clipping), loudness signal monitoring for analog and digital automatic gain control, and spectrum analysis for optimized system control and operation.
The composite digital signal output by the DSP
109
is then converted to an analog signal by D/A converter
111
and filtered through low pass filter
150
. The result is a composite analog base-band stereo signal
151
which may be used to modulate a carrier wave which is then broadcast by an FM antenna.
The drawbacks of this system result from the fact that the D/A converter
111
and the external analog FM modulator (not shown) must be of the highest quality, and therefore are very expensive. The high quality processing achieved by the front end A/D converters
107
and
108
and the DSP
109
will be lost if the D/A converter
111
and analog FM modulator (not shown) cannot match the performance of the DSP
109
.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a system that digitally generates a high quality analog stereo signal without making excessive demands on the D/A converter and analog FM modulator which must receive and prepare the stereo signal for broadcasting.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to meet the above-described needs and others. Specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a signal generator which digitally modulates a carrier signal to produce a digital modulated signal which can be converted to an analog signal for broadcasting without the need for an analog modulator.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows or may be learned by those skilled in the art through reading these materials or practicing the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be achieved through the means recited in the attached claims.
To achieve the stated and other objects of the present invention, the present invention may be embodied as a digital modulated signal generator having a digital signal processor for receiving and processing left and right signals from left and right signal channels to produce a composite base band signal; and a numerically controlled oscillator for receiving the composite base band signal and generating a modulated digitial carrier signal which is modulated in accordance with the composite base band signal. Preferably, the frequency of the numerically controlled oscillator is updated at a fraction of a clock signal of the numerically controlled oscillator.
The present invention may further include a digital-to-analog converter for converting the modulated digital carrier signal into a modulated analog signal. A band pass filter may be used for filtering the modulated analog signal to remove harmonic distortions created by the numerically controlled oscillator.
Preferrably, the digital signal processor includes six digital signal processing units, each of which has a different sampling rate. The first of these digital signal processing units receives and samples the left and right signals. The first digital processing unit then interpolates the signals with a base band filter to eliminate cross talk between the left and right signals; a pre-emphasis filter; a sampling speed-up converter; and an anti-aliasing filter.
The third of the digital signal processing units computes addition (L+R) and difference (L−R) signals from the left and right signals. The fourth of the digital signal processing units which may receive SCA data and modulate a sub-carrier with the SCA data.
If SCA data is used, the present invention may include an SCA error control circuit which governs the modulation of the sub-carrier, the SCA error control circuit including: a Reed-Solomon encoder; an inter-leaver connected to the Reed-Solomon encoder; a convolution and differential encoder connected to the inter-leaver; a base band shaping unit connected to the convolution and differential encoder; an RF unit connected to the base band shaping unit; a convolution and differential decoder connected to the RF unit; a de-inter-leaver connected to the convolution and differential decoder; and a Reed-Solomon decoder connected to the de-inter-leaver.
The present invention may also include a gain control unit and an analog-to-digital converter in each of the left and right signal channels. The gain control units provide a gain control signal to the respective analog-to-digital converters and to the digital signal processor.
The present invention also encompasses a method of generating a digital modulated signal by digitally modulating a digital carrier signal with a numerically controlled oscillator in accordance with a composite base band signal produced by a digital signal processor from left and right signals received from left and right signal channels. Preferrably, the method includes updating a frequency of the numerically controlled oscillator at a frequency lower than a frequency of a clock signal of the numerically controlled oscillator.
The method of the present invention may also include converting the modulated digital carrier signal into a modulated analog signal for broadcasting. A further step of filte
General Instrument Corporation
Mei Xu
Rader Fishman & Grauer
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