KR19980064452A - Device for improving the quality of audio and video signals - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus for improving the quality of an audio or video signal include a toroidal inductor having an electrical circuit including an integrated circuit adapted to generate an output pulse signal having a predetermined frequency, and a magnetic core having a central opening and surrounded by a conductive conductor. Wherein the toroidal inductor is powered by the output signal, the apparatus is arranged between a unit and one signal processing unit, and the signal processing unit is powered by one or more phase and center conductors. Coupled to cause the conductor to pass through the central opening of the magnetic core and generate an alternating magnetic field within the core when the toroidal inductor is powered by the output signal, such that the magnetic field acts on the conductor. To induce.

Description

Device for improving the quality of audio and video signals

The present invention is directed to an apparatus for improving the quality of an audio or video signal. In particular the invention relates to a device to be connected between a power source and an audio or video signal processing unit powered by the power source. The video includes an image.

Conventional apparatus for improving the quality of audio and video signals is described in French patent application FR 2 665 809. Such devices include solenoids disposed around the signal carrying conductor to shield the conductor and generate a magnetic field acting on the conductor.

However, the magnetic field generated in the conductor by a magnet surrounding only the conductor has a static effect on the signal-carrying cable. It affects only a limited length because the magnetic field and its effect disappear quickly. In order to influence over longer distances, it would be necessary to add several distant solenoids or magnets around the signal-carrying conductor to repeat this effect to avoid fading of the magnetic field. This creates expensive and large conductors.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which can effectively improve the quality of an audio or video signal.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device which is small in size and low in manufacturing cost.

The device according to the invention is arranged between a power supply and a signal processing unit powered by and connected to the power supply by a cable. Such a device includes an electrical circuit that provides an output pulse signal supplied to a toroidal inductor. The toroidal inductor is arranged to surround the power cable of the signal processing unit. When the toroidal inductor is operated by the output signal, it will generate a large alternating electric field which induces the electric field acting on the power cable. The device according to the invention produces an electrostatic effect which is much stronger than the static effect and extinguishes much later. In fact, this electrostatic effect is due to the variable magnetic field, which induces an electric field acting on the electrons traveling in the power cable.

This effect also suppresses any parasitic effects that may cause distortion of the current. Thus, the current supplied to the signal processing unit will be a more pure current, i.e. a low distortion current that can be easily transformed by the signal processing unit and does not affect any audio or video signals processed by the signal processing unit. Will be. Thus, these units operate more efficiently, resulting in a noticeable improvement in the quality of the processed signal with less loss and distortion.

According to the invention, an apparatus for improving the quality of an audio or video signal comprises an integrated circuit adapted to generate an output pulse signal having a predetermined frequency, an electrical circuit comprising and a magnetic core surrounded by a conducting conductor having a central opening. Wherein the toroidal inductor is powered by the output signal, the apparatus is arranged between a power supply unit and one signal processing unit, and the signal processing unit is arranged in one or more phases and Connected to the power source by a central conductor such that the conductor passes through the central opening of the magnetic core, and generates an alternating magnetic field within the core when the toroidal inductor is powered by the output signal, Induce electric field acting on the conductor.

1 shows schematically a device according to the invention;

1a shows a detailed view of a toroidal inductor as included in a device according to the invention.

2 shows a schematic block diagram of a first embodiment of the device of FIG.

3 schematically shows a block diagram of a second embodiment of the FIG. 1 apparatus;

* Code Description

2, 3 ... signal processing unit 4 ... main electrical circuit

5 .. Inductor 6 ... input stage

7 ... electronic circuit 9 ... bridge rectifier

10 ... Resistor 12 ... Resistor

13 ... Capacitor 14 ... Integrated Circuit

15 ... output terminals 16, 17 ... resistors

51 ... core 52 ... coil

53 ... center opening 91, 92 ... input node

93, 94 ... output node

1 and la, the device according to the invention is indicated by reference numeral 1. The device 1 is arranged between a power supply 2 and a signal processing unit 3 such as an analog device for processing an audio or video signal such as an amplifier, an image processor or a compact disc player. The power supply 2 may be a main or separate power supply used to supply power to the signal processing unit 3 by supplying a power signal.

In general, a power source, such as a mains power source, includes three conductors, a phase conductor, a neutral conductor, and a ground conductor. For this purpose, the signal processing unit 3 will be connected with three input terminals, one phase terminal P, a neutral terminal N and a representative conducting wire. The device 1 comprises a main electrical circuit 4 and a toroidal induct 5 connected to such a circuit. FIG. 1A shows in more detail the toroidal inductor 5 having an annular magnetic core 51 surrounded by a coil 52 connected to the main circuit 4 in more detail. The toroidal inductor 5 is arranged such that the conductors P and N of the signal processing unit 3 pass through the central opening 53 of the core 51. The main circuit 4 provides an output signal for operating the toroidal inductor 5 to generate an alternating magnetic field completely contained in the magnetic core. This alternating magnetic field induces an electric field, which acts on the conductor passing through the central opening 53.

The device 1 is powered by a power source, for example a battery, but such a device is powered by the same power source used to power the signal processing unit. In this case, a bypass of the conductor connecting the power supply 2 to the signal processing unit 3 takes place and is connected to the main circuit 4 input of the device 1 to supply power to the device. Each of these possible embodiments will be described in greater detail below.

2 shows a first embodiment of the device according to the invention in more detail. In this first embodiment, the device 1 is powered by a power source (not shown) that provides an AC power signal, for example an AC voltage / signal processing unit 3 as described above.

For this purpose, the device 1 comprises a main circuit 4 consisting of an input stage 6 and an electrical circuit 7. The input stage 6 has an input means I and three input terminals IP, IN, and IM, and each of the conductors of the power supply 2 is connected to the three input terminals so that the main circuit 4 and the toroidal inductor connected thereto are provided. Supply the necessary voltage to operate 5).

The main circuit 4 is a passive circuit that can be mounted on a printed board and provides an output signal for operating the toroidal inductor 5 when powered.

In this embodiment, the device 1 further comprises an output O having three output terminals OP, ON and OM for connecting to input terminals IP, IN and IM respectively in the following manner. The ground input terminal IM is connected directly to the output terminal OM. Input terminals IP and IN are directly connected to output terminals IP and ON by conductors, respectively. Both connecting conductors pass through the annular inductor 5 annular core opening 53. Finally, these output terminals OP, ON and ON are connected to input terminals P, N and M of the signal processing unit 3 (not shown), respectively.

In this first embodiment, a rectifying circuit is needed to obtain the constant voltage Vcc necessary to operate the electronic circuit 7 of the device 1. The input stage 6 of the device 1 for this purpose comprises a rectifier 9 for rectifying the alternating input voltage provided by the power source. Such rectifiers can be made using Graetz-bridge circuits and are well known to those skilled in the art and will therefore be described briefly. The input terminal IP is connected by the resistor 10 to the input node 91 of the bridge rectifier 9, and the input terminal IN is connected to the input node 92 of the bridge rectifier 9. Bridge rectifier 9 has two output nodes 93 and 94 which provide a rectified voltage. In Figure 2, output node 93 is a positive node and output node 94 is a negative node.

Variable resistor 11 is connected between nodes 93 and 94 to size the rectified voltage. Another resistor 12 is connected directly to node 93 and further connected to negative node 94 through a large capacitor 13 to obtain the required voltage. The voltage at the capacitor 13 is set to be the operating voltage Vcc for the electric circuit 7.

The electrical circuit 7 includes an integrated circuit 14. The integrated circuit 14 is a timer circuit and provides a clock pulse of a constant frequency at the output terminal 15. Such a circuit may be an LM555 / 555C timer circuit manufactured by National Semiconductor. The data sheet of such a circuit describes how to obtain the required frequency of the output pulse, which frequency is determined by load resistors and capacitors connected to different parties in the integrated circuit 14 as described in the data sheet above. These elements are considered part of the integrated circuit 14 and therefore are not shown in the figure. The arrangement used in the device according to the invention generates an output signal as long as it has a predetermined frequency which is higher in frequency than the fundamental frequency of the power signal, for example 60 Hz in the United States and 50 Hz in Europe, which frequency is at least twice the fundamental frequency. Frequency. Very good results are obtained by using a frequency that is twice the fundamental frequency.

The output signal from the integrated circuit 14 is provided to the toroid inductor 5 connected to the output terminal 15 in parallel with the resistor 16. This parallel arrangement is even more connected to the negative node 94 through another resistor. The electrical circuit 7, including the integrated circuit 14 and resistors 16, 17, is thus fed to the toroidal inductor 5 coil 53 used to generate an alternating magnetic field in the core 51. Provide one output signal.

In such an embodiment, the toroidal inductor (5) is for example formed by a core 51 of a high permeability to the Mumetal ^ⓡ, a coil 52 is wound, or in the periphery, for example, a number of rotation, such as 1,100 times Coil is wound. Therefore, the magnetic induction of the toroidal inductor is about 25-490H.

When the main circuit 4 is powered, the output signal generated at the output terminal 15 operates the toroidal inductor 5 and generates a variable magnetic field. The variable magnetic field induces one electric field, which acts on the conductor passing through the central opening 53. The induced electric field acts on the electrons carried by the power signal applied to the signal processing unit 3. Due to this modified power signal, the applicant has found that the quality of the audio or video signal processed by the signal processing unit 3 is improved. Applicants also observed faster images processed by the signal processor with the device according to the invention. The improvement consists in particular of a more stable (stereo) image and a faster processing. These effects can be explained by the fact that the current provided to the signal processing unit is clean, i.e. less distorted, and is more stable compared to the prior art in light of phase shift.

3 shows a second embodiment of the device according to the invention. In a second embodiment, the device 1 has its own power source; In other words, it is different from the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2 in that it is powered by a battery not shown and directly provides a continuous output voltage Vcc. Therefore, in this embodiment no rectifying means is required. Thus, in this embodiment, the integrated circuit 14 is directly connected to the battery. The integrated circuit 14 provides a clock pulse at a constant frequency at its output terminal 15 as described above. These pulses thus form an output signal used to actuate the toroidal inductor 5 by feeding these pulses to the coil 52.

The device according to the second embodiment does not supply power to the signal processing unit 3 as in the case of the first embodiment. Instead, the signal processing unit 3 is directly connected to a power source, i.e., a main power source, for power. However, the two power conducting wires respectively connected to the P- and N- terminals of the signal processing unit 3 have toroidal inductors in order to be affected by the induced electric field generated by the toroidal inductor 5 similar to the first embodiment. It passes through the central opening 53 of (5). Thus, this electric field also acts on the conductor as described above.

The device 1 is contained in an epoxy-coated box. Such an epoxy provides a device that is not sensitive to any electromagnetic interference caused by the device itself or any other device, and allows for large heat dissipation for the different components of the device 1.

The device according to the invention is connected between a power source, such as a mains power source, and a multi-socket which connects all other signal processing units to this power source. Likewise, each signal processing unit receives a modified power signal.

The device according to the invention can be connected in series between one or more power sources and the signal processing unit.

Claims (4)

An electric circuit 4 comprising an integrated circuit adapted to generate an output pulse signal having a predetermined frequency, and A toroidal inductor 5 having a central opening 53 and a magnetic core 5 surrounded by a conducting conductor, the toroidal inductor 5 being powered by the output signal Is arranged between a power supply unit 2 for providing a power signal and a signal processing unit 3 for receiving the power signal, the signal processing unit having one or more phases P and a center N; Is connected to the power source 2 by a conductor so that the conductors P and N pass through the central opening 53 of the magnetic core 51, and the toroidal inductor 5 is driven by the output signal. Apparatus (1) for improving audio and video signal quality by generating an alternating magnetic field in the core when powered, such that the magnetic field induces an electric field acting on the conductors (P, N). 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the predetermined frequency is higher than the fundamental frequency of the power signal. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the predetermined frequency is twice the predetermined frequency of the power signal. The power input and output according to claim 1, wherein the power input means connected to the power supply unit 2, the power output means connected to the signal processing unit 3, and the power input and output connected to each other by the phase and center conductors P and N. And means for further improving audio and video signal quality.