Ultrasonic energy detector with frequency and amplitude indications and background noise reduction
First Claim
1. A detector for detecting ultrasonic energy in an ambient environment and for supplying humanly perceptible information representative of the magnitude and frequency of the detected ultrasonic energy which is significantly free of adverse influences from anticipated ambient environmental noise, comprising:
- means receptive of the ambient ultrasonic energy and operative for supplying a detected signal representative of the frequency and amplitude of the ambient ultrasonic energy;
means receptive of the detected signal and operative for modifying the amplitude of the detected signal by a selected predetermined amount and for supplying the resulting signal as an adjusted ultrasonic detected signal;
means for supplying an offset signal of a predetermined magnitude directly related to the predetermined amount of modification of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal relative to the detected signal, the predetermined magnitude of the offset signal representing a predetermined contribution of anticipated noise to the amplitude of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal;
means receptive of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal and operative for supplying an envelope signal having a magnitude substantially representative of the instantaneous peak amplitude of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal;
means responsive to the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal and operative for supplying an audio frequency trigger signal having a predetermined frequency directly related to the ultrasonic frequency of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal;
means receptive of the envelope and the offset signals and operative for subtracting the offset signal from the envelope signal and for supplying the resulting signal as a compensated envelope signal; and
means receptive of the trigger signal and the compensated envelope signal for modulating the amplitude of the compensated envelope signal by the trigger signal to obtain an output signal having an audio frequency directly related to the ultrasonic frequency of the detected ultrasonic energy and an amplitude directly related to the amount of detected ultrasonic energy substantially free of predetermined degree of anticipated ambient noise.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An ultrasonic energy detector advantageously supplies both frequency and amplitude information which is related to the ultrasonic frequency and the amplitude of the detected ultrasonic energy. Frequency division is employed to reduce the relatively broad range of ultrasonic frequencies into a narrower audio frequency range while still providing information useful to identify the ultrasonic energy by frequency detection. The effect of anticipated background noise at all levels of gain selected is eliminated by subtracting a signal representative of the anticipated background noise and proportional to the selected predetermined gain from the amplitude of the detected ultrasonic energy.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A detector for detecting ultrasonic energy in an ambient environment and for supplying humanly perceptible information representative of the magnitude and frequency of the detected ultrasonic energy which is significantly free of adverse influences from anticipated ambient environmental noise, comprising:
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means receptive of the ambient ultrasonic energy and operative for supplying a detected signal representative of the frequency and amplitude of the ambient ultrasonic energy; means receptive of the detected signal and operative for modifying the amplitude of the detected signal by a selected predetermined amount and for supplying the resulting signal as an adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; means for supplying an offset signal of a predetermined magnitude directly related to the predetermined amount of modification of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal relative to the detected signal, the predetermined magnitude of the offset signal representing a predetermined contribution of anticipated noise to the amplitude of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; means receptive of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal and operative for supplying an envelope signal having a magnitude substantially representative of the instantaneous peak amplitude of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; means responsive to the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal and operative for supplying an audio frequency trigger signal having a predetermined frequency directly related to the ultrasonic frequency of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; means receptive of the envelope and the offset signals and operative for subtracting the offset signal from the envelope signal and for supplying the resulting signal as a compensated envelope signal; and means receptive of the trigger signal and the compensated envelope signal for modulating the amplitude of the compensated envelope signal by the trigger signal to obtain an output signal having an audio frequency directly related to the ultrasonic frequency of the detected ultrasonic energy and an amplitude directly related to the amount of detected ultrasonic energy substantially free of predetermined degree of anticipated ambient noise. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A detector for detecting ultrasonic energy in an ambient environment and for supplying humanly perceptible information representative of the magnitude and frequency of the detected ultrasonic energy, to thereby enhance recognition of the characteristics of the ultrasonic energy, comprising:
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means receptive of the ambient ultrasonic energy and operative for supplying a detected signal representative of the frequency and amplitude of the ambient ultrasonic energy; means receptive of the detected signal and operative for modifying the amplitude of the detected signal by a selected predetermined amount and for supplying the resulting signal as an adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; means receptive of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal and operative for supplying an envelope signal having a magnitude substantially representative of the instantaneous peak amplitude of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; means responsive to the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal and operative for supplying an audio frequency trigger signal having a predetermined frequency directly related to the ultrasonic frequency of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; and means receptive of the trigger signal and the envelope signal for modulating the amplitude of the envelope signal by the trigger signal to obtain an output signal having an audio frequency directly related to the ultrasonic frequency of the detected ultrasonic energy and an amplitude directly related to the amount of detected ultrasonic energy. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A detector for detecting ultrasonic energy in an ambient environment and for supplying humanly perceptible information representative of the magnitude of the detected ultrasonic energy, to thereby enhance recognition of the characteristics of the ultrasonic energy substantially free of adverse influences from anticipated noise in the ambient environment, comprising:
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means receptive of the ambient ultrasonic energy and operative for supplying a detected signal representative of the amplitude of the ambient ultrasonic energy; means receptive of the detected signal and operative for modifying the amplitude of the detected signal by a selected predetermined amount and for supplying the resulting signal as an adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; means for supplying an offset signal of a predetermined magnitude directly related to the predetermined amount by which the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal is modified relative to the detected signal, the predetermined magnitude of the offset signal representing a predetermined contribution of anticipated noise to the amplitude of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; means receptive of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal and operative for supplying an envelope signal having a magnitude substantially representative of the instantaneous peak amplitude of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; means receptive of the envelope and the offset signals and operative for subtracting the offset signal from the envelope signal and for supplying the resulting signal as a compensated envelope signal; and means receptive of the compensated envelope signal for displaying the magnitude of the compensated envelope signal. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method of detecting ultrasonic energy in an ambient environment and for supplying humanly perceptible information representative of the magnitude and frequency of the detected ultrasonic energy which is significantly free of adverse influences from anticipated noise in the ambient environment, comprising:
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supplying a detected signal representative of the frequency and amplitude of the ambient ultrasonic energy; modifying the amplitude of the detected signal by a selected predetermined amount and supplying the resulting signal as an adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; supplying an offset signal of a predetermined magnitude directly related to the predetermined amount of modification of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal relative to the detected signal, the predetermined magnitude of the offset signal representing a predetermined contribution of anticipated noise to the amplitude of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; supplying an envelope signal having a magnitude substantially representative of the instantaneous peak amplitude of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; supplying a trigger signal having a predetermined audio frequency directly related to the ultrasonic frequency of the adjusted ultrasonic detected signal; subtracting the offset signal from the envelope signal and for supplying the resulting signal as a compensated envelope signal; and modulating the compensated envelope signal by the trigger signal to obtain an output signal having an audio frequency directly related to the ultrasonic frequency of the detected ultrasonic energy and an amplitude directly related to the amount of detected ultrasonic energy substantially free of a predetermined degree of anticipated ambient noise. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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Specification