Hybrid Gain Control Circuit for Synchronized Audio Gain Transitions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gain control systems face challenges in synchronizing updates between analog and digital gain stages, leading to signal transients and audible artefacts due to misaligned gain transitions.
Innovation Solution
A hybrid gain control circuit that integrates analog and digital gain stages, using a single circuit to synchronize gain updates and eliminate the need for separate timing controllers, ensuring synchronized gain adjustments across multiple stages.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If separate analog and digital gain stages are used with separate timing controllers, then gain control functionality is achieved, but synchronization between gain updates becomes difficult and signal transients occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines separate analog and digital gain stages with separate timing controllers into a single integrated gain control circuit. This integration eliminates the synchronization problems between separate stages by unifying the timing control mechanism, while maintaining both analog and digital gain control functionalities within the same circuit block.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated gain control circuit performs multiple functions: it provides both analog gain control and digital gain control, and simultaneously serves as the timing controller for both gain stages. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate timing controllers and resolves the synchronization issue between analog and digital gain updates.
2Ease of operation
If gain updates are not synchronized, then independent control of analog and digital gain stages is maintained, but signal transients and audible artefacts are generated
Solution Approach 1:
By merging the timing control functions for analog and digital gain stages into a single integrated circuit, the patent ensures that gain updates occur simultaneously. This unified timing control eliminates the generation of signal transients and audible artefacts that result from unsynchronized gain updates, while preserving independent adjustment capabilities for both gain stages.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If a hybrid gain control circuit integrating analog and digital stages is used, then gain transitions are synchronized and transients are reduced, but circuit integration complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates analog gain control circuitry, digital gain control circuitry, and timing control functions into a single hybrid gain control circuit. This consolidation reduces signal transients by ensuring synchronized gain transitions, while the integrated design manages the complexity through unified architecture rather than separate interconnected components.
Data Source
AI summary
Signal processing circuitry configured to receive an input signal and to output a processed output signal, wherein the signal processing circuitry is configured to: receive an indication of a temporal location of a transient in the input signal; and provide, in the processed output signal, a masking signal bridging the temporal location of the transient to mask the transient.