NOISE SUPPRESSING CIRCUIT WITH GAIN CONTROL

Abstract: To suppress noise included in a video signal, the noise level is detected by a noise level detecting circuit (10) which operates only within blanking period, and the noise level is suppressed through control of a gain control circuit (21) in accordance with an output signal from the noise level detecting circuit. The gain control circuit may be a voltage controlled variable gain amplifier (21) which is interposed between a limiter (4) and a subtractor (5) of an in-line noise suppressing circuit (20). A vertical correlation noise canceller may also be combined so that a gain control circuit interposed between a limiter and a subtractor is also controlled.

Description: This invention relates to a noise suppressing circuit, and particularly to a circuit for deriving a video signal with noise being suppressed in a video signal recording/reproducing apparatus such as a video tape recorder or the like. Various types of noise suppressing circuits are known which are used for suppressing noise included in a video signal. Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 show conventional noise suppressing circuits used for suppressing noise included in a video signal processed in a reproducing system such as a video tape recorder. In a circuit according to Fig. 11, high frequency components are derived by a circuit comprising a low pass filter 2 and a subtractor 3 from a video signal incoming through a terminal 1. Then the amplitude is limited by a limiter 4 to derive high frequency small-amplitude components of the video signal which components are regarded as noise, and then this noise is subtracted from the input video signal using a subtractor 5. As a result, a video signal whose noise has been suppressed is output through a terminal 6. Since this circuit performs noise suppression using information within one horizontal scanning period, this circuit will be referred to as an in-line noise suppressing circuit. On the other hand, in a circuit according to Fig. 12, vertical high frequency components of a video signal which is fed into an input terminal 1 are obtained by a 1-H delay circuit 7 and a subtractor 3, and noise is obtained by amplitude limiting using a limiter 4 and an attenuator having a gain of approximately 1/2. This noise is subtracted from the input video signal by a subtractor 5 to obtain a video signal whose noise has been suppressed. Since this circuit performs noise suppression using the fact that a video signal has a vertical correlation (a correlation between two points which are spaced apart by a 1-H period), this circuit will be referred to as a vertical correlation noise canceller. The noise suppressing effect by these noise suppressing circuits is determined by the passing level of the limiter 4 and by the level of the output from the limiter 4 which is to be subtracted from the input video signal. Thus the noise suppressing effect will increase by increasing the passing level of the limiter 4. The in-line noise suppressing circuit shown in Fig. 11 exhibits its maximum noise suppressing effect when the gain of the limiter output and the input video signal are set as (limiter output) : (input video signal) = 1 : 1. However, an unfavorable side effect occurs. That is, the small-amplitude details of the incoming video signal are lost. Furthermore, the vertical correlation noise canceller shown in Fig. 12, exhibits its maximum noise suppressing effect when the gain of the limiter output and the gain of the input video signal are set as (limiter output) : (input video signal) = 1/2 : 1. However, this causes vertical signal components to be lost, and thus there occurs an unfavorable side effect wherein the picture is blurred in a vertical direction. Therefore, in the aforementioned conventional circuits the passing level of the limiter and the level of the limiter-output to be subtracted from the input video signal are set in consideration of the balance with respect to the SN ratio of the video signal. The recent development of magnetic tapes is remarkable, and various types have been developed whose SN ratio has been improved compared to conventional standard magnetic tapes. However, the above-mentioned conventional circuits are arranged such that the limiter level and the limiter output gain are fixed irrespective of the SN ratio of the input video signal. That is, when a video deck is designed, the above-mentioned setting is performed so that a satisfactory SN ratio is obtained when reproducing a standard tape. In conventional video decks, there is a drawback that it is difficult to obtain high quality pictures for using high quality magnetic tape since the unfavorable side effects of dropout of the details of the small-amplitude input video signal and of blur in vertical direction remain unchanged even if the SN ratio is good enough when such a high quality magnetic tape is reproduced. In addition, in the case of using conventional circuits a poor SN ratio will appear on the screen as it is the case of a poor SN ratio of a recorded video signal wherein the poor SN ratio is caused by an incorrect tracking in the reproduce mode or by a radio wave receiving state or the like. The present invention has been developed in order to remove the above-described drawbacks inherent to the conventional noise suppressing circuits and contemplates to provide a noise suppressing circuit which does not loose details of small-amplitude input video signal and which is capable of preventing vertical blur of images with the structure that noise suppressing effect is variable in accordance with the magnitude of the noise level. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a new and useful noise suppressing circuit which is capable of effectively suppressing noise without destroying details of a small-amplitude video signal, thereby improving picture quality. According to a feature of the present invention the noise level is detected within a blanking period by a noise level detecting circuit, and the level of extracted high frequency small-amplitude components is controlled by controlling the gain of a variable gain amplifier provided in an in-line noise suppressing circuit in accordance with the magnitude of the detected noise level. In accordance with the present invention there is provided a noise suppressing circuit for a video signal, comprising: noise subtracting means for obtaining small-amplitude high frequency components of said video signal and for subtracting said small-amplitude high frequency components from said video signal; characterized by a switching signal generating means for generating a switching signal in response to a sync signal derived from said video signal; noise level detecting means responsive to said switching signal for detecting magnitude of noise included in said video signal within a blanking period thereof; and means incorporated within said noise substracting means for controlling magnitude of said small-amplitude high frequency components in accordance with an output signal from said noise level detecting means before said small-amplitude high frequency components are substracted from said video signal. In accordance with the present invention there is also provided a noise suppressing circuit for a video signal, comprising: a vertical correlation noise canceller for obtaining small-amplitude high frequency components of said video signal through detecting vertical correlation and for subtracting said small-amplitude high frequency components from said video signal; and an in-line noise suppressing circuit for obtaining small-amplitude high frequency components included in an output signal from said vertical correlation noise canceller and for subtracting said small-amplitude high frequency components from said output signal from said vertical correlation noise canceller; characterized by a switching signal generating means for generating a switching signal in response to a sync signal derived from said video signal; noise level detecting means responsive to said switching signal for detecting magnitude of noise included in said video signal within a blanking period thereof; and means in each of said vertical correlation noise canceller and said in-line noise suppressing circuit for controlling magnitude of respective said small-amplitude high frequency components in accordance with an output signal from said noise level detecting means. In accordance with the present invention there is further provided a noise suppressing circuit for a video signal, comprising: a switching signal generating means for generating a switching signal in response to a sync signal derived from the video signal; a first subtractor responsive to said video signal and an output signal of a coefficient setting circuit; a 1-H delay circuit responsive to an output signal from said first subtractor; a second subtractor responsive to an output signal from said 1-H delay circuit and to said video signal; a limiter responsive to an output signal from said second subtractor, an output signal of said limiter being fed to an input of said coefficient setting circuit; and a third subtractor; characterized by noise level detecting means responsive to said switching signal for detecting magnitude of noise included in said output signal from said second subtractor within a blanking period; and means for controlling magnitude of said output signal from said limiter in accordance with an output signal from said noise level detecting means, wherein said third subtractor is responsive to an output signal from said magnitude controlling means and to said video signal for producing an output video signal. The object and features of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention; Figs. 2A and 2B are waveform charts for the description of the operation of the first embodiment of Fig. 1; Figs. 3 and 4 are detailed circuit diagrams respectively showing some parts of the circuit shown in Fig. 1; Figs. 5 to 7 are block diagrams of a second, a third and a fourth embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 8 is an explanatory diagram for the description of the deformation of the waveform around the horizontal sync signal; Figs. 9 and 10 are block diagrams of a fifth and a sixth embodiments of the present invention; and Figs. 11 and 12 are block diagrams of respective examples of conventional circuits. The same or corresponding elements and parts are designated by similar reference numerals throughout the drawings. Referring to Fig. 1, a schematic block diagram of a first embodiment of a noise suppressing circuit according to the present invention is shown. The noise suppressing circuit of Fig. 1 generally comprises a monostable multivibrator 13, a high pass filter 9, a noise level detecting circuit 10, and an in-line noise suppressing circuit. More specifically, the noise level detecting circuit 10 comprises first and second switching circuits 11 and 15, a full-wave recitfier 14, a buffer amplifier 17, a d.c. amplifier 18, a low pass filter 19 and a capacitor 16. The in-line noise suppressing circuit 20 comprises a low pass filter 2, first and second subtractors 3 and 5, a limiter 4 and a voltage controlled variable gain amplifier (VCA) 21. In Fig. 1, a video signal "a" (see also Fig. 2A) which is input into a terminal 1 is fed to the first switching circuit 11 with d.c. components being removed by the high pass filter 9. On the other hand, a sync signal "b" (see also Fig. 2A) fed to a terminal 12 is converted into a switching control signal "d" (see also Fig. 2A) having a pulse width within a back porch period by means of the monostable multivibrator 13 for instance, and this switching control signal is fed to the switching circuit 11 to extract the output signal from the high pass filter 9 for this period. Thus, noise "e" (see also Fig. 2A) showing an enlarged waveform of noise included in the top waveform in Fig. 2A is output from the first switching circuit 11 to be fed to the full-wave rectifier 14 having a structure shown in Fig. 3. Here, in place of obtaining the switching control signal "d" by the monostable multivibrator 13, a switching control signal "c" having a pulse width within a sync signal tip period may be obtained (see also Fig. 2A). Since the video signal within the above-mentioned back porch period and the sync signal tip period has originally a constant level, only the above-mentioned noise components "e" are extracted. In the above, the sync signal "b" is a horizontal sync signal of the video signal "a" in this embodiment, and this horizontal sync signal "b" is separated from the video signal "a" in advance by means of an unshown sync separator. The monostable multivibrator 13 actually includes a delay circuit or an additional monostable multibrator in addition to a single monostable multibrator so as to produce the switching control signal "d" in response to the sync signal "b". Hereinbelow the use of the switching control signal "d" within a back porch period will be described. Noise "e" is full-wave rectified by the full-wave rectifier 14 so that a full-wave rectified signal "f" (see also Fig. 2A) is obtained at point A of a circuit shown in Fig. 3, and this signal is converted into a signal "g" (a solid curve designated as "g" in Fig. 2A) by a low pass filter comprising a resistor R1 and a capacitor C1. This signal "g" is fed to the second switching circuit 15 to be sampled with a pulse width period according to the signal "d", and the peak value thereof is held by the capacitor 16 to be turned to a signal "g" (a dotted line in the waveform of signal "g")) by the buffer amplifier 17. The signal "g'" is fed to the d.c. amplifier 18 whose structure is shown in Fig. 4 and to the low pass filter 19 to be d.c. amplified and smoothed to be turned to a noise level detection signal corresponding to the level of the noise components included in the video signal, and is then fed to a voltage controlled variable gain amplifier (VCA) 21 within the in-line noise suppressing circuit 20. The low pass filter 19 has a cutoff frequency which is much smaller than the horizontal scanning frequency. That is, if the resistor R2 has a value of 2.2 Kohm and the capacitor C2 has a value of 100 microF the cutoff frequency would be 0.72 Hz so as to perform smoothing in an adequate manner. On the other hand, a video signal "a" is fed to the low pass filter 2, the subtractor 3 and the limiter 4 of the in-line noise suppressing circuit 20 so that the noise components are extracted in the same manner as in the above-mentioned conventional circuits to be fed to the VCA 21. The gain of the VCA 21 is controlled by the noise level detection signal from the noise level detecting circuit 10, and thus the gain of the output of the limiter 4 is varied in accordance with the noise level to be fed to the subtractor 5. Thus, when the noise level is low, the gain of the VCA 21 is made smaller by the noise level detection signal from the noise level detection circuit 10, and the level of the limiter output to be subtracted from the input video signal by the subtractor 5 is made smaller. As a result, the amount of lost details of small-amplitude images is reduced to reproduce images faithfully although the effect of SN ratio improvement is reduced. On the other hand, when the noise level is high, the gain of the VCA 21 is made larger by the noise level detection signal from the noise level detection circuit 10, and the level of the limiter output to be subtracted from the input video signal by the subtractor 5 is made larger (i.e. the balance of the two inputs to the subtractor 5 is set to be close to 1 : 1). As a result, a sufficient SN ratio improvement is obtained. In the above-described first embodiment, the sync signal fed to the terminal 12 is a horizontal sync signal of a composite video signal as shown in Fig. 2A. However, the present invention may be applied to a circuit arrangement in which the noise level is detected within a vertical blanking period. In other words, when a vertical sync signal is applied to the terminal 12 of the circuit of Fig. 1, the noise level detecting circuit 10 detects the level of noise in the vertical blanking period rather than in the horizontal blanking period. Fig. 2B is a waveform chart useful for understanding how the noise level in the vertical blanking period is detected. In Fig. 2B, waveforms aa, bb, dd, ee, ff, gg, and gg' respectively correspond to the waveforms a, b, d, e, f, g and g' in Fig. 2A. It is to be noted that although the present invention is described mainly in connection with a horizontal blanking period as a period where the noise level is detected, the present invention may also be applied to an arrangement in which noise level in a vertical blanking period is detected. In the above-described first embodiment of Fig. 1, the output signal of the noise level detecting circuit 10 is fed to the VCA 21 included in the in-line noise suppressing cicuit 20. However, the in-line noise suppressing circuit 20 of Fig. 1 may be replaced by a vertical correlation noise canceller including a VCA. More specifically, the low pass filter 2 of the in-line noise suppressing circuit 20 may be replaced by a 1-H delay circuit so as to constitute a vertical correlation noise canceller. Fig. 5 shows a block diagram of a second embodiment of a noise suppressing circuit according to the present invention. In this diagram those parts which have already been described in conjunction with Fig. 1 are designated by the same numerals and a further description thereof is omitted. In this circuit, a high pass filter constructed of a low pass filter 2 and a subtractor 3 which are inherent to in-line noise suppressing, is used to function as the high pass filter 9 of Fig. 1 which is necessary for the input of the noise level detecting circuit 10. With this circuit, the circuit configuration can be simplified. Fig. 6 shows a block diagram of a third embodiment of a noise suppressing circuit according to the present invention. In this diagram those parts which have already been described in conjunction with Fig. 1 are designated by the same numerals and a further description thereof is omitted. This circuit is arranged such that in a reproduce circuit of a video tape recorder, a signal necessary for the noise detection is extracted from the input of a deemphasis circuit 22. In this diagram, a signal reproduced by a magnetic head 23 is fed to a signal separation circuit 25 in which a luminance signal and a color signal are separated, and wherein the luminance signal is fed via an FM demodulator 26 and a low pass filter 27 to a high pass filter 9 and a deemphasis circuit 22. An output signal from the deemphasis circuit 22 is fed via a vertical correlation noise canceller 28 and a non-linear deemphasis 29 to an in-line noise suppressing circuit 20 in which a noise suppression is performed in the same manner as in the previous embodiments. Here, the output from the in-line noise suppressing circuit 20 is fed to a sync separating circuit 30 in which a sync signal is separated and fed to a monostable multivibrator 13. On the other hand, the color signal is processed in a color signal processing circuit 31 in a well known manner to be added to the luminance signal by an adder 32, and the added signal is output at an output terminal 33. In this circuit, since a signal necessary for the noise level detection is obtained at a stage before the high frequency components are attenuated by the deemphasis circuit 22, it is possible to extract high level noise and thus, there is an advantage, that the detection of the same is easy. Fig. 7 shows a block diagram of a fourth embodiment of a noise suppressing circuit according to the present invention. In this diagram, those parts which have already been described in conjunction with Fig. 1 are designated by the same numerals and a further description thereof is omitted. This circuit is arranged such that a VCA 35 provided in the vertical correlation noise canceller 34 and a VCA 21 provided in the in-line noise suppressing circuit 20 are controlled by the noise level detection circuit 10. Since a signal of a portion within a horizontal blanking period is constant over respective lines, noise components are taken out of the subtractor 37 of the vertical correlation noise canceller 34 only, but d.c. components and signal components are cancelled. Therefore, there is no need to provide a high pass filter before the noise level detection circuit 10. The waveform around the horizontal sync signal is shown in Fig. 8A, wherein this waveform is sometimes deformed as shown in Fig. 8B due to the characteristic of a signal processing system when reproducing by a home-use video tape recorder. In this case, there occurs a disadvantage that erroneous control would occur because the above-mentioned deformation would be regarded as noise in the embodiment which obtains the noise level by using the signal "c" shown in Fig. 2A. Since this deformation does not change over respective lines, the above-mentioned disadvantage would not occur in case of only noise components being extracted by cancelling the above-mentioned deformation if the difference to the foregoing signal 1-H before is derived by a subtractor 37 as in the fourth embodiment shown in Fig. 7. Furthermore, in the fourth embodiment, since the above-mentioned deformation is cancelled, there is an advantage that an influence of a rising waveform following a sync signal as shown in Fig. 8B is not taken out even if the switching is performed in a long period of time including the rising portion following the sync signal by the switching circuit 11 (see Fig. 1) of the noise level detection circuit 10. Fig. 9 shows a block diagram of a fifth embodiment of a noise suppressing circuit according to the present invention. In this diagram those parts which have already been described in conjunction with Figs. 1 and 7 are designated by the same numerals and a further description thereof is omitted. This circuit is arranged such that an output signal from the in-line noise suppressing circuit 20 is used as the signal which is necessary for the noise level detection, and the amount of the SN ratio improvement of the in-line noise suppressing circuit 20 and of the vertical correlation noise canceller 34 is controlled so that the SN ratio of the output is constant. Fig. 10 shows a block diagram of a sixth embodiment of a noise suppressing circuit according to the present invention. In this diagram those parts which have already been described in conjunction with Fig. 1 are designated by the same numerals and a further description thereof is omitted. This circuit is adapted to a circuit proposed by the assignee of the present invention in the Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-218283 (Title of the Invention: Luminance signal reproducing apparatus and recording/reproducing apparatus, filed on March 23, 1985). In this diagram, an output signal of a feedback type comb filter comprising subtractors 39 and 40, a 1-H delay circuit 7, a limiter 4 and a coefficient setting circuit 41 is fed to the VCA 21 to control the gain of the VCA 21 by the output of the noise level detecting circuit 10 and the output signal from the VCA 21 is subtracted from the input video signal by the subtractor 42 to derive an output signal from a terminal 6. This embodiment has an effect that the vertical resolution in the proposed apparatus is improved in addition to the above-mentioned effect of the first embodiment. Moreover, this embodiment may be applied to a circuit proposed by the assignee of the present invention in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-218284 (Title of the Invention: Luminance signal reproducing apparatus and recording/reproducing apparatus, filed on March 23, 1985). This circuit utilizes a Δt delay circuit which delays by a short period of time which is much shorter than the period 1-H obtained by using the 1-H delay circuit 7 of Fig. 10, and which Δt delay circuit has an effect of reducing smear immediately after an edge of a large-amplitude input signal and an effect of reducing noise components which are inherent in the proposed apparatus in addition to those above-mentioned effects of the first embodiment. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and may be applicable to noise suppressing circuits using a field memory or a frame memory. According to the present invention since the noise suppressing effect is varied in accordance with the magnitude of the noise level, the noise suppression amount can be increased when the noise level is high. As a result, when the present invention is adapted to an in-line noise suppressing circuit, the drop out of details of a small-amplitude input video signal is prevented, and when the present invention is applied to a vertical correlation noise canceller, a vertical image blur can be prevented because no vertical signal components are lost. Thus the present invention has an advantage that the image quality can be improved compared to conventional circuits. The above-described embodiments are just examples of the present invention, and therefore, it will be apparent for those skilled in the art that many modifications and variations may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims: A noise suppressing circuit for a video signal, comprising: a) noise subtracting means ( 20 ) for obtaining small-amplitude high frequency components of said video signal and for subtracting said small-amplitude high frequency components from said video signal; characterized by b) a switching signal generating means ( 13 ) for generating a switching signal in response to a sync signal derived from said video signal; c) noise level detecting means ( 10 ) responsive to said switching signal for detecting magnitude of noise included in said video signal within a blanking period thereof; and d) means ( 21 , 35 ) incorporated within said noise substracting means ( 20 ) for controlling magnitude of said small-amplitude high frequency components in accordance with an output signal from said noise level detecting means ( 10 ) before said small-amplitude high frequency components are substracted from said video signal. A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that said noise level detecting means ( 10 ) comprises: a) a switching circuit ( 11 ) for deriving noise components within said blanking period, b) a full-wave rectifying circuit ( 14 ) for full-wave rectifying an output from said switching circuit ( 11 ), c) a sample-and-hold circuit ( 15 , 16 ) for sampling and holding an output from said full-wave rectifying circuit ( 14 ), and d) a low pass filter ( 19 ) for smoothing an output from said sample-and-hold circuit ( 15 , 16 ). A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that said noise subtracting means comprises an in-line noise suppressing circuit ( 20 ) for obtaining small-amplitude high frequency components of said video signal and for subtracting said small-amplitude high frequency components from said video signal. A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that said noise subtracting means comprises a vertical correlation noise canceller ( 34 ) for obtaining small-amplitude high frequency components of said video signal through detecting vertical correlation and for subtracting said small-amplitude high frequency components from said video signal. A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 3, characterized in that said in-line noise suppressing circuit ( 20 ) comprises: a) a low pass filter ( 2 ) responsive to said video signal, b) a first subtractor ( 3 ) responsive to said video signal and to an output signal from said low pass filter ( 2 ), c) a limiter ( 4 ) responsive to an output signal from said first subtractor ( 3 ), and d) a second subtractor ( 5 ) responsive to said video signal and to an output signal from said limiter ( 4 ), and wherein said magnitude controlling means ( 21 , 35 ) comprises a voltage controlled variable gain amplifier ( VCA ) interposed between said limiter ( 4 ) and said second subtractor ( 5 ). A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 5, characterized in that said noise level detecting circuit ( 10 ) is arranged to receive said output signal from said first subtractor ( 3 ). A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 3, characterized by a sync separator ( 30 ) responsive to an output signal from said in-line noise suppressing circuit ( 20 ) for separating the horizontal sync signal as said sync signal fed to said switching signal generating means ( 13 ). A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 3, characterized by a sync separator ( 30 ) responsive to an output signal from said in-line noise suppressing circuit ( 20 ) for separating the vertical sync signal as said sync signal fed to said switching signal generating means ( 13 ). A noise suppressing circuit for a video signal, comprising: a) a vertical correlation noise canceller ( 34 ) for obtaining small-amplitude high frequency components of said video signal through detecting vertical correlation and for subtracting said small-amplitude high frequency components from said video signal; and b) an in-line noise suppressing circuit ( 20 ) for obtaining small-amplitude high frequency components included in an output signal from said vertical correlation noise canceller ( 34 ) and for subtracting said small-amplitude high frequency components from said output signal from said vertical correlation noise canceller; characterized by c) a switching signal generating means ( 13 ) for generating a switching signal in response to a sync signal derived from said video signal; d) noise level detecting means ( 10 ) responsive to said switching signal for detecting magnitude of noise included in said video signal within a blanking period thereof; and e) means ( 21 , 35 , VCA ) in each of said vertical correlation noise canceller ( 34 ) and said in-line noise suppressing circuit ( 20 ) for controlling magnitude of respective said small-amplitude high frequency components in accordance with an output signal from said noise level detecting means ( 10 ). A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 9, characterized in that said noise level detecting means ( 10 ) comprises: a) a switching circuit ( 11 ) for deriving noise components within said blanking period, b) a full-wave rectifying circuit ( 14 ) for full-wave rectifying an output from said switching circuit ( 11 ), c) a sample-and-hold circuit ( 15 , 16 ) for sampling and holding an output from said full-wave rectifying circuit ( 14 ), and d) a low pass filter ( 19 ) for smoothing an output from said sample-and-hold circuit ( 15 , 16 ). A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 9, characterized in that said vertical correlation noise canceller ( 34 ) comprises: a) a 1-H delay circuit ( 7 ) responsive to said video signal, b) a first subtractor ( 37 ) responsive to said video signal and to an output signal from said 1-H delay circuit ( 7 ), c) a limiter ( 38 ) responsive to an output signal from said first subtractor ( 37 ), and d) a second subtractor ( 36 ) responsive to said video signal and to an output signal from said limiter ( 38 ), and wherein said magnitude controlling means ( 35 ) comprises a voltage controlled variable gain amplifier ( VCA ) interposed between said limiter ( 38 ) and said second subtractor ( 36 ). A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 9, characterized in that said in-line noise suppressing circuit ( 20 ) comprises: a) a low pass filter ( 2 ) responsive to said output signal from said vertical correlation noise canceller ( 34 ), b) a first subtractor ( 3) responsive to said output signal from said vertical correlation noise canceller ( 34 ) and to an output signal from said low pass filter ( 2 ), c) a limiter ( 4 ) responsive to an output signal from said first subtractor ( 3 ), and d) a second subtractor ( 5 ) responsive to said output signal from said vertical correlation noise canceller ( 34 ) and to an output signal from said limiter ( 4 ), and wherein said magnitude controlling means ( 21 ) comprises a voltage controlled variable gain amplifier ( VCA ) interposed between said limiter ( 4 ) and said second subtractor ( 5 ). A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 12, characterized in that said noise level detecting circuit ( 10 ) is arranged to receive said output signal from said first subtractor ( 3 ) in said in-line noise suppressing circuit ( 20 ). A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 9, characterized by a sync separator ( 30 ) responsive to an output signal from said in-line noise suppressing circuit ( 20 ) for separating the horizontal sync signal as said sync signal fed to said switching signal generating means ( 13 ). A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 9, characterized by a sync separator ( 30 ) responsive to an output signal from said in-line noise suppressing circuit ( 20 ) for separating the vertical sync signal as said sync signal fed to said switching signal generating means ( 13 ). A noise suppressing circuit for a video signal, comprising: a) a switching signal generating means ( 13 ) for generating a switching signal in response to a sync signal derived from the video signal; b) a first subtractor ( 39 ) responsive to said video signal and an output signal of a coefficient setting circuit ( 41 ); c) a 1-H delay circuit ( 7 ) responsive to an output signal from said first subtractor ( 39 ); d) a second subtractor ( 40 ) responsive to an output signal from said 1-H delay circuit ( 7 ) and to said video signal; e) a limiter ( 4 ) responsive to an output signal from said second subtractor ( 40 ), an output signal of said limiter ( 4 ) being fed to an input of said coefficient setting circuit ( 41 ); and f) a third subtractor ( 42 ); characterized by g) noise level detecting means ( 10 ) responsive to said switching signal for detecting magnitude of noise included in said output signal from said second subtractor ( 40 ) within a blanking period; and h) means ( 21, VCA ) for controlling magnitude of said output signal from said limiter ( 4 ) in accordance with an output signal from said noise level detecting means ( 10 ), wherein said third subtractor ( 42 ) is responsive to an output signal from said magnitude controlling means ( 21 , VCA ) and to said video signal for producing an output video signal. A noise suppressing circuit according to claim 16, characterized in that said noise level detecting means ( 10 ) comprises: a) a switching circuit ( 11 ) for deriving noise components within said blanking period, b) a full-wave rectifying circuit ( 14 ) for full-wave rectifying an output from said switching circuit ( 11 ), c) a sample-and-hold circuit ( 15 , 16 ) for sampling and holding an output from said full-wave rectifying circuit ( 14 ), and d) a low pass filter ( 19 ) for smoothing an output from said sample-and-hold circuit ( 15 , 16 ).

Inventors: ICHINOI, YUTAKA
Applicants: VICTOR COMPANY OF JAPAN, LIMITED
Application year: 1986
Main classification: H04N5
IPC codes: H04N5, H03H7