|5701345||Multipath interference reduction system and method||1997-12-23||Howlett et al.||381/13|
|5673324||Radio receiver circuit for deriving at least one reception quality signal||1997-09-30||Kasser et al.||381/13|
|5671286||Strategy for controlling FM stereo separation and frequency response in noisy reception environments||1997-09-23||Gottfried et al.||381/13|
|5592557||Radio receiver with digital signal processing||1997-01-07||Chahabadi et al.||381/10|
|5564093||Frequency modulation receiving apparatus having two intermediate-frequency band pass filters||1996-10-08||Matasumoto||455/266|
|5455866||Adaptive separation control for stereophonic radio receiver||1995-10-03||Ohashi||381/10|
|5432854||Stereo FM receiver, noise control circuit therefor||1995-07-11||Honjo et al.||381/10|
|5235646||Method and apparatus for creating de-correlated audio output signals and audio recordings made thereby||1993-08-10||Wilde et al.||381/17|
|5155770||Surround processor for audio signal||1992-10-13||Maejima||381/11|
|5119420||Device for correcting a sound field in a narrow space||1992-06-02||Kato et al.||381/1|
|5113446||Stereo blend controller for FM receivers||1992-05-12||Kennedy||381/10|
|4977597||Stereo receiver circuit||1990-12-11||Horl||381/11|
|4860354||Arrangement for decoding a stereo multiplex signal||1989-08-22||van Roermund||381/11|
|4054840||FM demodulator using multiplier to which delayed and undelayed input signals are applied||1977-10-18||Sato||455/214|
|3823268||DYNAMIC STEREO SEPARATION CONTROL||1974-07-09||Modafferi||381/10|
|3634626||NOISE-OPERATED AUTOMATIC STEREO TO MONAURAL SWITCH FOR FM RECEIVERS||1972-01-11||Staley||381/11|
|EP0030874||1981-06-24||Distortion reducing circuit for an FM receiver.|
Modern-day stereo transmitters provide, on the transmitter side, for a signal format which emphasizes the base width of the stereo signal and the channel separation in order to enhance the audibility of the three-dimensional sound of a stereo transmission.
This benefit that is associated with the reception of present-day stereo transmitters is lost when the transmitters reach a reception location with only little field strength. This is due to the fact that, in order to have an interference-free channel separation, a minimum field-strength value of the stereo transmitter is required at the receiving location. This is because expensive stereo radio receivers, in particular, car radios, have come equipped for quite some time already with a phased transition from stereo to mono reproduction, which is dependent on the receiving field strength. Therefore, in car radios of this kind, the channel separation is automatically varied in response to a drop in the receiving field strength during travel.
Often, however, besides the fluctuation in the receiving field strength, in order to receive the tuned transmitter, reception areas, which are well serviced by the tuned transmitter, a multi-path reception should be used. An inconvenience that becomes noticeable under such reception conditions is that, even when using the stereo radio receivers described above, with their phased mono-stereo transition tuned to optimal channel separation, one experiences a sudden disruption in the satisfactory stereo reproduction, often only on a short drive into a multi-path reception area. For that reason, for the multi-path reception of the tuned transmitter, stereo radio receivers come equipped with a detector whose output signal controls a changeover switch for switching the receiver to monophonic reproduction.
On travel distances where one encounters brief multipath reception, for example on streets with multi-story buildings or in mountainous regions, the switch is often made between single-path and multi-path reception within one to two seconds, and thus, in a corresponding frequency, between stereo and monophonic reproduction of a stereo transmission. For some time now, drivers have perceived this effect to be so disturbing that, in mountainous regions, they turn off the stereo decoder, when receiving present-day stereo transmitters, and do entirely without the stereo reproduction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,854 describes a conventional FM stereo receiver, which, as a function of reception noises isolated by a high-pass filter from the stereo multiplex signal, including among these multi-path reception as well, generates a control signal for reducing the stereo channel separation of an audio signal to be reproduced, in such a way that in response to a reception noise, it reduces the stereo channel separation and, after expiration of a predefined time period, after the reception noise has decayed, raises it again to its original value.
An arrangement is described in European Patent Application No. 0 030 874 for reducing the influences of reception noises on a reproduced audio signal, in the case of which, from reception noises, a control signal is derived in an analogous manner, with which the band width of the reproduced audio signal is influenced in response to the occurrence of a noise interference.
These types of disturbances are able to be substantially reduced by using a stereo radio receiver according to the present invention, it being possible, outside of the duration of the actual disturbances, to have an at least partially stereophonic reproduction, even if it is with reduced stereo channel separation.
Via an antenna
The two stereo signals contained in the MPX signal are separated in a stereo decoder
When working with a multi-path reception of this kind, phase differences exist among the carrier frequencies of the stereo transmitter on the different paths loading to antenna
The stereo radio receiver described above is conventional, above all, in car radios, so that there is no need to describe the individual modules in detail.
In addition to automatic mono-switching stage
As shown in
From conventional methods, it is possible to permanently set phase shifters or to adjust them at the time of manufacturing in the MPX signal path. To effect an optimal channel separation, the phase shifters are set up at the time the circuit is dimensionally designed or adjusted.
To avoid the disturbances described above, in this embodiment of the present invention, the phase shifter is designed to be controllable by a timing element, and is dimensionally designed so that during the operating time of the timing element, the optimal (i.e., optimization of) channel separation is canceled and is retained to a lesser extent.
A phase shifter of this kind includes, for example, a series resistor R
In parallel to capacitor C
Included in the basic circuit of transistor T
In response to a critical magnitude of the multi-path reception, a detector signal appears at this output, forcing transistor T
At the same time, however, the automatic mono-switching stage
When, during the operating time of timing element C
In the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in
According to an embodiment of the present invention a circuit for a phased mono-stereo transition, which under known methods heretofore is only adjusted dependent upon the field-strength measuring signal, is tuned for a time, even given a maximum reception field strength, to a reduced measure of the channel separation, by specifying a transducer value that simulates a lesser field strength, after one has left a multi-path reception area.
The analog modules in the above described circuits can be replaced, without difficulty, by digitally working processors, when the MPX signal is adapted to be tapped off in digital form at ZF stage
In the first case, the program of stereo processor
In both programs, after the operating time of the timing elements has elapsed, the counter content, which held the reduced (retained) degree of channel separation during the operating time of the timing elements, is incremented in the direction of (i.e., to effect) an increase in the channel separation.