Volume control for a personal computer internal speaker

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United States of America Patent

PATENT NO 5666431
SERIAL NO

08240860

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ATTORNEY / AGENT: (SPONSORED)

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Abstract

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Method and apparatus for controlling the volume of an internal PC speaker. In the present invention, pulse width modulation (PWM) techniques are used to selectively reduce the signal power generated at the speaker. By substituting a high frequency signal having a symmetric duty cycle for portions of the digital audio signal, the average signal power is reduced. The frequency of the substitute signal is much higher than the speaker bandwidth, contributing negligible power to the output. The ratio of audio signal to high frequency signal determines the output signal level. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a three bit counter is used to separate the audio signal into intervals having eight states apiece. A signal providing -6 dB of attenuation is generated by substituting the toggling output from the least significant bit of the counter during four out of the eight states. A signal providing -12 dB of attenuation is generated by substituting the same toggling output during six out of the eight states. A multiplexer is provided to select between the two attenuated signals, an unattenuated signal and a DC signal (off).

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Patent Owner(s)

Patent OwnerAddress
TDK CORPORATION2-5-1 NIHONBASHI CHUO-KU TOKYO 1036128 ?1036128

International Classification(s)

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Inventor(s)

Inventor Name Address # of filed Patents Total Citations
Gillespie, Gregory S Nevada City, CA 2 66
Glad, Thomas J Nevada City, CA 2 66

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