System for compensating time delay or skew between equidigitally correlated multitrack signals

Claim 1

A SYSTEM FOR COMPENSATING TIME DELAY OR SKEW BETWEEN EQUIDIGITALLY CORRELATED MULTITRACK SIGNALS, COMPRISING INPUT TERMINALS FOR RECEIVING THE RESPECTIVE INPUT SIGNALS, RESPECTIVE OUTPUT PULSE GENERATING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID INPUT TERMINALS AND EACH HAVING A PULSE RELEASE CONTROL LEAD; DELAY-RESPONSIVE MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID INPUT TERMINALS FOR DETECTING THE TIME DELAY BETWEEN SAID INPUT SIGNALS, SAID DELAY-RESPONSIVE MEANS COMPRISING CONVERSION MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID RESPECTIVE INPUT TERMINALS FOR CONVERTING SAID INPUT SIGNALS TO RESPECTTIVELY DIFFERENT QUANTITIES IDENTIFYING THE RESPECTIVE TRACKS; COMPARATOR MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID CONVERSION MEANS FOR DETECTING THE TRACK SEPARATION BETWEEN THE MOST ADVANCED INPUT SIGNAL AND A SUBSEQUENT SIGNAL OF THE SAME DIGIT BY COMPARISON OF SAID RESPECTIVE TRACK-IDENTIFYING QUANTITIES, SAID COMPARATOR MEANS HAVING AN OUTPUT SIGNAL DEPENDENT UPON THE RESULT OF THE COMPARISON; MEANS FOR DETERMINING THE TIME DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SAID MOST ADVANCED INPUT SIGNAL AND SUBSEQUENT INPUT SIGNALS; CLOCK PULSE GENERATING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID DELAY-RESPONSIVE MEANS FOR FURNISHING A CLOCK PULSE TIME-POSITIONALLY CONTROLLED IN ACCORDANCE WITH SAID DELAY, SAID CLOCK PULSE GENERATING MEANS HAVING A CLOCK PULSE OUTPUT CONNECTED TO SAID RELEASE CONTROL LEADS WHEREBY DELAY BETWEEN SAID INPUT SIGNALS IS COMPENSATED BY TIME SHIFTING OF THE OUTPUT PULSES; AND LOGIC CIRCUIT MEANS FORMING FROM SAID COMPARISON RESULT AND SAID TIME DIFFERENCE A CONTROL SIGNAL INDICATIVE OF THE AMOUNT OF SKEW, SAID LOGIC CIRCUIT MEANS FORMING PART OF SAID PULSE GENERATING MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE TIME POSITION OF SAID CLOCK PULSES IN DEPENDENCE UPON SAID SKEW-INDICATIVE CONTROL SIGNAL.

Claim 2

A SYSTEM FOR COMPENSATING TIME DELAY OR SKEW BETWEEN EQUIDIGITALLY CORRELATED MULTITRACK SIGNALS, COMPRISING INPUT TERMINALS FOR RECEIVING THE RESPECTIVE INPUT SIGNALS, RESPECTIVE OUTPUT PULSE GENERATING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID INPUT TERMINALS AND EACH HAVING A PULSE RELEASE CONTROL LEAD; DELAY-RESPONSIVE MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID INPUT TERMINALS FOR DETECTING THE TIME DELAY BETWEEN SAID INPUT SIGNALS, SAID DELAY-RESPONSIVE MEANS COMPRISING CONVERSION MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID RESPECTIVE INPUT TERMINALS FOR CONVERTING SAID INPUT SIGNALS TO RESPECTTIVELY DIFFERENT QUANTITIES IDENTIFYING THE RESPECTIVE TRACKS; COMPARATOR MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID CONVERSION MEANS FOR DETECTING THE TRACK SEPARATION BETWEEN THE MOST ADVANCED INPUT SIGNAL AND A SUBSEQUENT SIGNAL OF THE SAME DIGIT BY COMPARISON OF SAID RESPECTIVE TRACK-IDENTIFYING QUANTITIES, SAID COMPARATOR MEANS HAVING AN OUTPUT SIGNAL DEPENDENT UPON THE RESULT OF THE COMPARISON; MEANS FOR DETERMINING THE TIME DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SAID MOST ADVANCED INPUT SIGNAL AND SUBSEQUENT INPUT SIGNALS; CLOCK PULSE GENERATING MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID DELAY-RESPONSIVE MEANS FOR FURNISHING A CLOCK PULSE TIME-POSITIONALLY CONTROLLED IN ACCORDANCE WITH SAID DELAY, SAID CLOCK PULSE GENERATING MEANS HAVING A CLOCK PULSE OUTPUT CONNECTED TO SAID RELEASE CONTROL LEADS WHEREBY DELAY BETWEEN SAID INPUT SIGNALS IS COMPENSATED BY TIME SHIFTING OF THE OUTPUT PULSES; AND LOGIC CIRCUIT MEANS FORMING FROM SAID COMPARISON RESULT AND SAID TIME DIFFERENCE A CONTROL SIGNAL INDICATIVE OF THE AMOUNT OF SKEW, SAID LOGIC CIRCUIT MEANS FORMING PART OF SAID PULSE GENERATING MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE TIME POSITION OF SAID CLOCK PULSES IN DEPENDENCE UPON SAID SKEW-INDICATIVE CONTROL SIGNAL.