Stero enhancement and directivity servo

• US 4,866,774 A
• Filed: 11/02/1988
• Issued: 09/12/1989
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/1988
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: SRS Labs Incorporated (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hughes Aircraft Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Klayman, Arnold I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Isen, Forester W.
• Application Number:
  US07/266,467
• Time in Patent Office: 314 Days
• Field of Search: 381/1, 381/27, 381/17, 381/18
• US Class Current: 381/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 1/002 Non-adaptive circuits, e.g. manually adjustable or static, for enhancing the sound image or the spatial distribution control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field H04S7/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/30 Control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/307 Frequency adjustment, e.g. tone control H04S7/301 takes precedence

Abstract

In a stereo system having sum and difference signals that are processed for stereo image enhancement, apparent directivity of the stereo sound is increased by the use of servo systems (40,44) for the left and right processed difference signals (L-R)_p, (R-L)_p. Each of the left and right servos (40,44) responds to the respective left or right stereo input signal (L_in, R_in) and amplifies increases in the respective left or right processed difference signals. The amount of amplification is controlled by feeding back the amplified or directivity enhanced difference signal (L-R)_pe, (R-L)_pe, first comparing it with the processed difference signal (L-R)_p, (R-L)_p before directivity enhancement, and then combining it with the input signal (L_in, R_in) in a preselected ratio so as to control the amount of amplification of the processed difference signal that is provided for directivity enhancement.

Claims

1. A stereo image enhancement system comprising:

means for providing sum and difference signals representing respectively the sum of and difference between left and right stereo input signals,

means for processing the sum and difference signals to provide processed sum and difference signals,

servo means responsive to change in amplitude of one of said input signals and to said processed difference signal for varying amplitude of said processed difference signal to provide a directivity enhanced difference signal having an amplitude that varies with variation of said one input signal, and

means responsive to said processed sum signal and said enhanced difference signal for providing left and right stereo output signals.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said servo means includes means responsive to an amplitude increase of a first magnitude of said input signal for increasing amplitude of said processed difference signal by a second magnitude that is considerably greater than said first magnitude.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said second magnitude is between about two to three times greater than said first magnitude.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said servo means includes means responsive to said directivity enhanced difference signal and to said one input signal for controlling amplitude of said directivity enhanced signal.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said servo means comprises means for generating a feedback signal indicative of amplitude variation of said processed difference signal, and control means responsive to said one input signal and to said feedback signal for controlling variation of said processed difference signal to provide said directivity enhanced difference signal.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said servo means comprises means for providing a feedback signal indicative of the difference between the directivity enhanced signal and said processed difference signal, means for generating a control signal that is a function of the feedback signal and said one input signal, and control means responsive to said control signal for varying amplitude of said difference signal.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said servo means comprises an amplitude control circuit having said processed difference signal as an input thereto and having having said directivity enhanced signal as an output, means for providing a feedback signal in accordance with the difference between said processed difference signal and said directivity enhanced signal, means responsive to said feedback signal and to said one input signal for providing a control signal indicative of a predetermined

relation between said feedback signal and said one input signal, and means for feeding said control signal to said amplitude control circuit to control amplitude of said directivity enhanced signal.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said servo means comprises a voltage controlled amplifier, means for feeding said processed difference signal to said voltage controlled amplifier, said voltage controlled amplifier providing said directivity enhanced signal as an output thereof, a difference circuit having said processed difference signal and said directivity enhanced signal provided as inputs thereto and providing a feedback signal, an integrating amplifier having an input and having a control signal output, a resistive summing network connected to said integrating amplifier input and having first and second input resistors, means for feeding said one input signal to said first input resistor, and means for feeding said feedback signal to said second input resistor.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the magnitude of said second input resistor is in the range of about two to three times the magnitude of said first input resistor.

10. The system of claim 8 including means for combining a portion of said processed sum signal with said processed difference signal to provide a combined signal, and wherein said means for feeding said processed difference signal to said voltage controlled amplifier includes means for feeding said combined signal to said voltage controlled amplifier, and wherein said difference circuit has said combined signal and said directivity enhanced signals provided as inputs thereto.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein said means for providing processed sum and difference signals comprises means for providing left and right processed difference signals of mutually opposite phase, and wherein said servo means comprises left servo means responsive to change in amplitude of said left input signal and to a directivity enhanced left signal for varying amplitude of said left processed difference signal to provide a directivity enhanced left signal, and right servo means responsive to change in amplitude of said right input signal and to a directivity enhanced right signal for varying amplitude of said right processed difference signal to provide said directivity enhanced right signal.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein each said left and right servo means comprises an amplifier having a control input, having one of said left and right processed difference signals as a signal input and providing an associated one of said directivity enhanced left and right signals as an output, means for generating a feedback signal indicative of the difference between the signal input and the output of the amplifier, means for comparing the feedback signal with one of the stereo input signals to provide a control signal, and means for feeding the control signal to the control input of the amplifier.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein said servo means comprises an amplitude control circuit having an input, means for combining with said processed difference signal a portion of said processed sum signal to provide a combined signal, and means for feeding the combined signal to the amplitude control circuit input.

14. A stereo image enhancement system comprising:

means for providing sum and difference signals representing respectively the sum and difference between left and right stereo input signals,

difference signal equalizing means responsive to said difference signal for providing a first processed difference signal having frequency components in quieter difference frequency bands that are relatively boosted with respect to components in other frequency bands,

sum signal equalizing means responsive to said sum signal for modifying amplitude of components of said sum signal in said quieter frequency bands to provide a processed sum signal,

means responsive to said first processed difference signal for providing an inverted processed difference signal,

left direction enhancement means responsive to amplitude increases of said left stereo input signal and to said first processed difference signal for increasing amplitude of said first processed difference signal to provide an enhanced left processed difference signal having amplitude increase that are greater than corresponding amplitude increases of said left stereo input signal,

right direction enhancement means responsive to amplitude increases of said right input stereo signal and to said inverted processed difference signal for increasing amplitude of said inverted processed difference signal to provide an enhanced right processed difference signal having amplitude increases that are greater than corresponding amplitude increases of said right input stereo signal, and

means for combining said enhanced right and left processed difference signals and said processed sum signal to provide left and right stereo output signals.

15. The system of claim 14 including means for simultaneously disabling both of said direction enhancement means, said means for combining including means for combining said processed sum signal and said processed difference signal with said inverted processed difference signal to provide said stereo outputs.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein said left direction enhancement means comprises servo means responsive to said left stereo input signal and to said first processed difference signal for varying amplitude of said first processed difference signal so as to obtain said enhanced left processed difference signal.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein said right direction enhancement means comprises servo means responsive to said right stereo input signal and to said inverted processed difference signal for varying amplitude of said inverted processed difference signal so as to obtain said enhanced right processed difference signal.

18. For use in a stereo enhancement system wherein sum and difference signals that represent sum of and difference between left and right stereo input signals are processed to provide a processed sum signal and left and right processed difference signals, and wherein the processed signals are combined to provide left and right stereo output signals, said output signals being fed to a speaker system to produce stereo sound, a method of increasing apparent directivity of sound produced by said speaker system, said method comprising the steps of:

enhancing said left processed difference signal by varying its amplitude in accordance with variation of amplitude of said left input signal, thereby providing a directivity enhanced left signal, and

enhancing said right processed difference signal by varying its amplitude in accordance with variation of amplitude of said right input signal, thereby providing a directivity enhanced right signal.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said step of varying amplitude of said left processed difference signal comprises increasing amplitude of said left processed signal by a first magnitude in response to an increase of amplitude of said left stereo input signal of a second magnitude, where the ratio of said first magnitude to said second magnitude is between about two to one and three to one.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein said step of enhancing said left processed signal comprises applying the left processed signal to a gain controlled amplifier, and varying the gain of said amplifier in accordance with amplitudes of said left stereo signal and said directivity enhanced left signal

21. The method of claim 18 wherein said step of enhancing said left processed difference signal comprises amplifying said left processed difference signal in response to a control signal, generating a feedback signal indicative of change in amplitude of the left processed difference signal, and comparing the feedback signal with the left input signal to generate said control signal.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein said step of enhancing said left processed difference signal comprises the steps of combining said left processed difference signal with a portion of said left processed sum signal to provide a combined signal, and enhancing said combined signal by varying its amplitude in accordance with variation of amplitude of said left input signal

23. The method of claim 21 wherein said step of generating a feedback signal includes comparing said directivity enhanced left signal with said left processed difference signal before amplification of said left processed difference signal.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein said step of comparing comprises combining said feedback and left input signals to produce a combined signal and integrating said combined signal to generate said control signal.

25. The method of claim 21 including the step of combining said feedback and left input signals with an amplitude ratio of feedback signal to left input signal in the range of between two to one and three to one.

26. The method of claim 21 wherein said step of enhancing said right processed difference signal comprises amplifying said right processed difference signal in response to a second control signal, generating a second feedback signal indicative of change in amplitude of the right processed difference signal, and comparing the second feedback signal with the right input signal to generate said second control signal.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein said step of generating a second feedback signal includes comparing said directivity enhanced right signal with said right processed difference signal before amplification of said right processed difference signal

28. The method of claim 26 wherein said step of comparing comprises combining said second feedback and right input signals to produce a combined signal and integrating said combined signal to generate said second control signal.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein said second feedback and right input signals are combined with an amplitude ratio of said second feedback signal to right input signal in the range of between about two to one and three to one.

30. A stereo image enhancement system comprising:

means for providing sum and difference signals that respectively represent sum of and difference between left and right stereo input signals,

means for processing the sum and difference signals to provide a processed sum signal and left and right processed difference signals,

means for combining the sum and difference signals to provide left and right stereo output signals, and

servo means for increasing directivity of sound produced in response to said left and right stereo output signals, said servo means comprising;

left servo means for increasing amplitude of said left processed difference signal in accordance with amplitude increase of said left stereo input signal to provide a directivity enhanced left signal having an amplitude increase that is greater than said amplitude increase of said left stereo input signal, and

right servo means for increasing amplitude of said right processed difference signal in accordance with amplitude increase of said right input stereo signal to provide a directivity enhanced right signal having an amplitude increase that is greater than said amplitude increase of said right stereo input signal.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein said left servo means comprises means for amplifying said left processed difference signal in response to a control signal, means for generating a feedback signal indicative of said directivity enhanced left signal, and means for comparing the feedback signal with the left input signal to generate said control signal.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein said means for amplifying said left processed difference signal comprises means for adding a portion of said processed sum signal to said left processed difference signal to provide a combined signal, and means for amplifying said combined signal in response to said control signal.

33. The system of claim 31 wherein said means for generating a feedback signal includes means for comparing said directivity enhanced left signal with said left processed difference signal before amplification.

34. The system of claim 31 wherein said means for comparing comprises combining said feedback and left input signals to produce a servo error signal, and means for generating said control signal in response to said error signal.

35. The system of claim 34 wherein said means for generating said control signal comprises means for integrating said error signal.

36. The system of claim 34 wherein said means for combining said feedback and left input signals includes means for maintaining the amplitude of said feedback signal at a value considerably greater than the amplitude of said left input signal.

37. The system of claim 34 wherein said means for combining said signals to produce said servo error signal include means for causing the ratio of amplitude of said feedback signal to amplitude of said input signal to be between about two to one and three to one.

38. The system of claim 30 wherein said means for processing said sum and difference signals comprise means for providing said left processed difference signal and inverter means responsive to said left processed difference signal for providing a second processed difference signal.

39. The system of claim 30 wherein said means for processing comprises means for equalizing said difference signal so as to boost frequency components thereof in quieter frequency bands of said difference signal, and means for equalizing said sum signal to relatively attenuate components thereof in said quieter frequency bands of said difference signal.

40. The system of claim 32 wherein said means for amplifying said combined signal comprises means for providing an amplified and enhanced signal having sum and difference components, and means for separately and independently controlling relative amplitudes of said sum and difference components.

41. A stereo image enhancement system comprising:

means for providing sum and difference signals representing respectively the sum of and difference between left and right stereo input signals,

means for processing the sum and difference signals to provide processed sum and difference signals,

means for combining portions of said processed sum and difference signals to provide a combined signal,

servo means responsive to change in amplitude of one of said input signals and to said processed difference signal for varying amplitude of said combined signal to provide a directivity enhanced combined signal having an amplitude that varies with variation of said one input signal, said directivity enhanced combined signal including directivity enhanced sum and difference signal components,

means for controlling relative amplitudes of said directivity enhanced sum and difference components, and

means responsive to said directivity enhanced sum and difference components for providing left and right stereo output signals.

42. A stereo image enhancement system comprising:

means for providing sum and difference signals representing respectively the sum of and difference between left and right stereo input signals,

first means for boosting amplitudes of components of said difference signal in a band of higher frequencies higher than a mid-range band of frequencies relative to amplitudes of components of said sum signal in a corresponding band of higher frequencies,

second means for boosting amplitudes of components of said difference signal in a band of lower frequencies lower than said mid-range band of frequencies relative to amplitudes of components of said sum signal in a corresponding band of low frequencies, and

means responsive to said boosted components of said difference signal and to said sum signal for providing right and left stereo output signals.

43. The system of claim 42 including means for separating said difference signal into high and low frequency band components to enable independent boosting of amplitudes in said higher and lower frequency bands.

44. The system of claim 42 wherein said first and second means for boosting are mutually independent.

45. The system of claim 42 wherein said higher and lower frequency bands are separated from each other by said mid-range band of frequencies, and wherein said responsive means includes means for combining with said boosted components a component of said difference signal in said midrange band of frequencies.

46. The system of claim 42 wherein said second means comprises a first low pass frequency filter responsive to the difference signal for providing a low frequency difference signal component, a second low pass frequency filter responsive to the sum signal for providing a low frequency sum signal component, and means for maintaining a predetermined ratio of amplitudes of said low frequency difference signal component and said low frequency sum signal component.

47. The system of claim 46 wherein said means for maintaining a predetermined ratio comprises means for maintaining amplitude of said low frequency difference signal component at a value not less than the value of the amplitude of said low frequency sum signal component.

48. The system of claim 46 wherein said predetermined ratio is in the range of between one to one and three to one.

49. The system of claim 46 wherein said means for maintaining a predetermined ratio comprises a voltage controlled amplifier responsive to said low frequency component of said difference signal for providing a boosted low frequency difference signal component, means responsive to said low frequency component of said difference signal and to said low frequency component of said sum signal for generating a control signal, and means for controlling gain of said voltage controlled amplifier in accordance with said control signal

50. The system of claim 49 wherein said means for generating a control signal comprises an operational amplifier having said control signal as an output and having a first input, and means for feeding to said first input a signal representing a predetermined ratio of amplitude of said low frequency difference signal component to amplitude of said low frequency sum signal component.

51. The system of claim 42 wherein said first means for boosting amplitude of components of said difference signal comprises a first high pass frequency filter responsive to said difference signal for providing a high frequency difference signal component, a second high pass frequency filter responsive to said sum signal for providing a high frequency sum signal component, a high frequency voltage controlled amplifier having said high frequency difference signal component as an input thereto and providing as its output a boosted high frequency difference signal component, means responsive to said boosted high frequency difference signal component and to said high frequency sum signal component for generating a control signal, and means for controlling gain of said high frequency voltage controlled amplifier in response to said control signal.

52. The system of claim 42 including means responsive to said difference signal for disabling said first means and said second means when the magnitude of said difference signal is less than a predetermined amount.

53. The system of claim 42 wherein said first means provides a high frequency boosted difference signal component, wherein said second means provides a low frequency boosted difference signal component, and including means for combining said high and low frequency boosted difference signal components with said difference signal to generate a processed difference signal.

54. The system of claim 53 including servo means responsive to change in amplitude of one of said input signals and to said processed difference signal for varying amplitude of said processed difference signal to provide a directivity enhanced difference signal having an amplitude that varies with variation of said one input signal, and means for combining said directivity enhanced difference signal, said sum signal, and said input signals to provide left and right stereo output signals.

55. A stereo image enhancement system comprising:

means for providing sum and difference signals representing respectively the sum of and difference between left and right stereo input signals,

low pass servoed equalizer means responsive to the sum and difference signals for providing a low processed difference signal component in a band of relatively low frequencies and having an amplitude boosted relative to amplitude of a component of the sum signal in a corresponding band of relatively low frequencies,

high pass servoed equalizer means responsive to said sum and difference signals for providing a high processed difference signal component in a band of relatively high frequencies and having an amplitude boosted relative to the amplitude of a component of the sum signal in a corresponding band of relatively high frequencies,

means for combining said difference signal with said low processed difference signal component and said high processed difference signal component to provide a composite processed difference signal,

means for generating a dynamically enhanced sum signal, and

means for combining said composite band processed difference signal, said dynamically enhanced sum signal, and said input signals for providing left and right enhanced stereo output signals.

56. The system of claim 55 wherein said means for generating a dynamically enhanced sum signal comprises a voltage controlled amplifier having a first input from said sum signal and having an output which provides said dynamically enhanced sum signal, means for generating a control signal representing a predetermined ratio of amplitudes of said dynamically controlled sum signal and said sum signal, and means responsive to said control signal for controlling gain of said voltage controlled amplifier.

57. The system of claim 55 wherein said means for generating a dynamically enhanced sum signal includes means for combining portions of said composite processed difference signal and said sum signal to provide a combined signal, servo means responsive to change in amplitude of one of said input signals and to said combined signal for varying amplitude of said combined signal having an amplitude that varies with variation of said one input signal, said combined signal including directivity enhanced sum and difference signal components, and means for separating said directivity enhanced sum signal component from said directivity enhanced difference signal component of said combined signal to provide said dynamically enhanced sum signal.

58. The system of claim 55 wherein said means for generating a dynamically enhanced sum signal comprises a center voltage controlled amplifier having an input from said sum signal and having an output which provides said dynamically enhanced sum signal, means for generating left and right control signals, means for combining said left and right control signals to provide a combined control signal, and means responsive to said combined control signal for controlling gain of said center voltage controlled amplifier

59. For use in a stereo enhancement system wherein sum and difference signals that represent sum of and difference between left and right stereo input signals are processed to provide a processed sum signal and left and right processed difference signals, and wherein the processed signals are combined to provide left and right stereo output signals, said output signals being fed to a speaker system to produce stereo sound, a method of enhancing the stereo output signals comprising the steps of:

boosting amplitude of components of said difference signal in a band of higher frequencies higher than a center band of frequencies relative to amplitude of components of said sum signal in a corresponding band of higher frequencies,

boosting amplitude of components of said difference signal in a band of lower frequencies lower than said center band of frequencies relative to amplitude of components of said sum signal in a corresponding band of lower frequencies, and

employing said sum signal and said boosted components of said difference signal for providing right and left stereo enhanced output signals.

60. The method of claim 59 including the step of separating said difference signal into high and low frequency band components.

61. The method of claim 59 wherein said step of boosting amplitude of components of the difference signal in a band of higher frequencies is carried out independently of said step of boosting amplitude of components of said difference signal in a band of lower frequencies.

62. The method of claim 59 including the step of combining with said boosted higher frequency and boosted lower frequency components of the difference signal a signal representing said difference signal components over a center band of frequencies to produce a broad band processed difference signal, said center band including frequencies between said bands of higher and lower frequencies.

63. The method of claim 62 wherein said step of employing said boosted components for providing right and left stereo enhanced output signals comprises the step of providing a dynamically enhanced sum signal and combining said enhanced sum signal with the boosted components of said difference signal.

64. The method of claim 63 including the step of combining portions of said broad band processed difference signal with said sum signal to provide a combined processed signal, varying amplitude of said combined processed signal in response to change in amplitude of one of said input signals to provide a directivity enhanced combined signal having an amplitude that varies with variation of said one input signal, said directivity enhanced combined signal including directivity enhanced sum and difference signal components, separating said directivity enhanced sum signal component from the directivity enhanced difference signal component, and employing a portion of said directivity enhanced sum signal component as said dynamically enhanced sum signal.

65. An enhanced image stereo sound recording for use in a sound recording playback system, said sound recording comprising:

a record medium embodying signal producing means adapted to operate with a sound recording responsive device to produce left and right stereo output signals that are modifications of left and right stereo source signals, said stereo output signals each comprising a combination of signal components including;

(1) a processed high frequency difference signal component which comprises a modification of a band of high frequencies higher than a center band of frequencies of an input difference signal representing the difference of said left and right stereo source signals,

(2) a processed low frequency input difference signal component which comprises a modification of a band of low frequencies lower than said center band of frequencies of an input difference signal representing the difference of said left and right stereo source signals,

(3) a dynamically enhanced sum signal component which comprises a modification of an input sum signal representing the sum of said left and right stereo source signals,

said processed high and low difference signal components being boosted relative to input sum signal components in corresponding frequency bands.

66. The sound recording of claim 65 wherein said processed high frequency difference signal component and a sum signal component in a corresponding band of high frequencies have a predetermined relation of magnitudes that is substantially constant, and wherein said processed low frequency difference signal component and said input sum signal component in a corresponding band of high frequencies have a predetermined relation of magnitudes that is substantially constant.

67. The sound recording of claim 65 wherein said high frequency difference signal component has an amplitude that varies in accordance with one of said input sum and difference signals to continually adjust the amount of boosting of said difference signal component automatically according to the amount of stereo information present in said stereo source signals.

68. The sound recording of claim 65 wherein at least one of said processed high and low frequency difference signal components has a magnitude relative to the magnitude of the input sum signal in a corresponding band of frequencies that is in the range of between one to one and three to one.

69. A method for making a stereo sound recording from left and right stereo source signals comprising the steps of:

providing sum and difference signals representing sum of and difference between left and right stereo source signals,

separately boosting components of said difference signal in a band of low frequencies lower than a center band of frequencies with respect to components of said sum signal in a corresponding band of low frequencies,

separately boosting components of said difference signal in a band of high frequencies higher than said center band of frequencies with respect to components of said sum signal in a corresponding band of high frequencies,

combining said boosted high frequency and boosted low frequency difference signal components with the difference signal, said difference signal having frequencies between said low and high frequency band, to thereby provide a processed difference signal,

combining the sum signal with said processed difference signal to provide stereo enhanced left and right output signals,

feeding the stereo enhanced left and right output signals to a sound recording device, and

operating said sound recording device to make a sound recording.

70. The method of claim 69 including the step of enhancing said processed difference signal by varying its amplitude in accordance with variation of amplitude of said left input signal, thereby providing a directivity enhanced left signal, and combining said directivity enhanced left signal with said processed sum signal to provide said stereo enhanced left and right output signals.

71. A method for producing an enhanced stereo sound image comprising the steps of:

providing sum and difference signals representing sum of and difference between left and right stereo source signals,

separately boosting components of said difference signal in a band of low frequencies with respect to components of said sum signal in a corresponding band of low frequencies,

separately boosting components of said difference signal in a band of high frequencies higher than said center band of frequencies with respect to components of said sum signal in a corresponding band of high frequencies,

combining said boosted high frequency and boosted low frequency difference signal components with components of said difference signal in at least a band of frequencies between said band of low frequencies and said band of high frequencies, to thereby provide a processed wide band difference signal having upper and lower frequency components thereof boosted, and

combining said sum signal with said processed wide band difference signal to provide stereo enhanced left and right output signals.

72. The method of claim 71 wherein said step of separately boosting components of said difference signal in a band of low frequencies comprises the step of maintaining a predetermined ratio of amplitudes of components of said difference signal in said band of low frequencies with respect to amplitudes of components of said sum signal in said corresponding band of low frequencies, and wherein said step of separately boosting components of said difference signal in a band of high frequencies comprises maintaining a predetermined ratio of amplitudes of components of said difference signal in said band of high frequencies with respect to amplitudes of components of said sum signal in said corresponding band of high frequencies.