Coding apparatus and magnetic recording system the same

Abstract: By transforming a duobinary signal, such cases are prohibited that a value of -1 is appeared again after a value of zero following -1 as shown in a string of -1 0 → -1 and a value of 1 is appeared again after a value of zero following 1 as shown in a string of 1 → 0 → 1. Narrow-band transmission is made possible by the fact that the direct current (DC) component of a duobinary signal can be eliminated without losing such natures thereof as to be ternary and reproducible original information by discriminating its even level as one (1) and its odd level as zero (0). Since the DC component can be eliminated, electromagnetic conversion systems are hardly subjected to distortion, leading to a reduction of probability of code errors.

Description: This invention relates to a coding apparatus for coding digital signals and a magnetic recording system using the same. As one type of code for coding digital signals, a correlative code is available. The system using this code transmits information of one time slot as a multi-value signal distributed to a plurality of time slots. Examples of this type include, for example, duobinary and partial response coding. Because the information is received as a multi-valued signal, transmission is possible at a narrower frequency band as compared with systems in which reception is of a binary value (such as, for example, NRZ). In order to transmit information at a narrower frequency band using the correlative code, however, the number of multi-value levels increases unavoidably, so that there exists such a problem that the SN ratio of the transmission line is required to be improved. In addition, since the above-mentioned correlative code contains a DC component, when it is to be recorded using a magnetic recording system, there arises a problem that it is not suited for a recording code because an electromagnetic conversion system of the magnetic recording system has a difficulty to do DC transmission. An object of this invention is to provide a coding apparatus for coding digital signals to ternary signals whose DC component becomes zero and yet their transmission is made possible at a narrow frequency band. Another object of this invention is to provide a magnetic recording system using said coding apparatus. According to the present invention, there is provided a coding apparatus comprising: duobinary signal generating means for converting an input two-valued signal string into a duobinary signal string; sign inverting means for selectively inverting the sign of said duobinary signal; and control means for controlling the operation of said sign inverting means so as to render zero the mean value of the duobinary signal string output by said inverting means, wherein said control means comprises code value storing means that is operable to store the preceding value of said duobinary signal string output each time this signal value changes to zero, detection means for providing a detection signal each time the said signal string output changes from zero, and coincidence detecting means that provide a control signal to the sign inverting means only when both i) the said stored value differs from zero and ii) the detection means provides said detection signal. A magnetic recording system in accordance with this invention is structured such that an output signal of the above-mentioned sign inverting circuit is supplied through a recording amplifier to a recording head to be stored into a magnetic recording medium. For the reason that the apparatus of this invention allows a signal to be obtained which is a ternary signal similar to the duobinary signal and yet its DC component becomes zero, the transmission can be carried out at a narrower frequency band than that when the duobinary signal is used. Thus, a coding apparatus in accordance with this invention may be easily introduced into a system such as, for example, a tape-head system of a video-tape recorder or a disk-head system of a floppy disk or hard disk drive, wherein it is difficult to transmit a direct current signal. Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a structure of a coding apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of this invention. Figs. 2 (a) to (d) are signal waveform diagrams showing waveforms at representative points in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the duobinary signal generating circuit in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of each of the sign inverting circuit and sign inversion control signal generating circuit in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing a structure of a magnetic recording system in accordance with an embodiment of this invention. Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a coding apparatus of an embodiment of this invention. Figs. 2 (a) to (d) show signal waveforms for explaining the apparatus shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 2 (a) shows a waveform of a signal inputted into an input terminal 1. This input signal is supplied to a duobinary signal generating circuit 2. The duobinary signal generating circuit 2 is well known and consists, for example, as shown in Fig. 3, of a modulo-two adder 6, delay circuits 7 and 8, and an algebratic summing circuit 9. In addition, the modulo-two adder 6 and the delay circuit 7 constitutes a precoder. The output signal thereof (an output signal of the module-two adder 6) is shown in Fig. 2 (b). The operation of the duobinary signal generating circuit 2 is described, for example, in Sanpo-Shuppan's "Technology of PCM Communications" (by Hisashi Kaneko), p. 79 or "IEEE Transactions on Communication Technology," FEB., 1966, pp. 67 - 68. Fig. 2 (c) shows a waveform of an output signal of said duobinary signal generating circuit 2. This is the generally called duobinary signal. This signal generally has a direct current component, and in such cases as, for example, a string of '0' → '1' → '0' → '1', a value of '1' appears again subsequently to '1' and a value other than zero will result. Another case such as, for example, a string of '0'→ '-1' → '0' →'-1', a value of '-1' appears again subsequently to '-1' and a value other than zero will result. These are the reasons that it has a direct current component. In the electromagnetic converting system of a magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus whose code transmission line is made of a tape-head and the like, if a signal has a direct current component, then the waveform of a signal to be reproduced will cause an increased distortion, resulting in an increase of the probability of code errors. As explained below, the sign inverting circuit 3 and the sign inversion control signal generating circuit 4 of the coding apparatus of this invention is structured such that when a value of '0' appears following a string of '0' → '1' (or in the case that '1' appears continuously, if it appears following the completion of successive '1's) and then a value of '-1' appears successively thereto (in the case that '0' appears successively, if it appears following the completion of the successive '0's), the input value is outputted as it is, and if a value of '1' appears instead of '-1', the input value is outputted after it has been sign-inverted to '-1'. Concrete examples of the sign inverting circuit 3 and sign inversion control signal generating circuit 4 in Fig. 1 are shown in Fig. 4. In Fig. 4, the sign inverting circuit 3 comprises an input terminal 10 for inputting a duobinary signal, a switch 13, a polarity inverting circuit 12, a flip-flop circuit 11, an output terminal 14 and an input terminal 15 for inputting an inversion pulse. The sign inversion control signal generating circuit 4 comprises an input terminal 16 which is to be connected to the above-mentioned output terminal 14, a preceding value comparator 17 for discriminating a change of a present value from the preceding one, a zero detection circuit 24 for detecting that the present value is zero, an AND circuit 25 for obtaining a logical product of the output of the preceding value comparator 17 and the output of the zero detection circuit 24, a memory circuit 26 for storing the preceding value when the present value is changed from the preceding value and further the present value is '0', a coincidence detecting circuit 29 for detecting that the present value of an input signal is a value other than '0' and further it is coincident with the output signal of the memory circuit 26, and an output terminal 38 for outputting an inversion pulse (p). The preceding value comparator 17 comprises, for example, a subtracter 18, a delay circuit 19, a '1' detecting circuit 20, a '-1' detecting circuit 21, and an OR circuit 22. The memory circuit 26 comprises a delay circuit 27 and a sample-hold circuit 28. The coincidence detecting circuit 29 comprises '-1' detecting circuits 34 and 35, '1' detecting circuits 30 and 31, AND circuits 32, 36, 39 and 40, and an OR circuit 37. In addition, each of the delay circuits 19 and 27 is made, for example, of a D flip-flop and delays an input signal string by one time-slot. The '1' detecting circuits 20, 30 and 31 are each a well-known level comparator. The '-1' detecting circuits 21, 34, 35 and the '0' detecting circuit 24 are each a well-known level comparator. Through the sign inverting circuit 3 and the sign inversion control signal generating circuit 4 structured as above, the duobinary signal supplied to the input terminal 14 is subjected to transformation thereby to be such an output signal string as shown in Fig. 2 (d). The output signal string shown Fig. 2 (d) is outputted in conformity with the above-mentioned rule, that is, when a value of '0' appears following s string of '0' →'1' (in the case that '1' appears continuously, if it appears following the completion of successive '1's) and then a value of '-1' appears successively thereto (in the case that '0' appears continuously, if it appears following the completion of successive '0's), the input value is outputted as it is, and if a value of '1' appears instead of '-1', the input value is outputted after it has been sign-inverted to '-1'. Based on the same rule as above, when a value of '0' appears following a string of '0' →'-1' and then '1' appears successively thereto, the input value is outputted as it is, and if a value of '-1' appears instead of '1', the input value is outputted after it has been sign-inverted to '1'. Therefore, the DC component thereof becomes approximately zero when considered in terms of the mean value over time. Also, a coding apparatus of this invention is not limited to the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, and the duobinary signal can be changed in waveform in such a way that when a value of '0' appears following '1' (in the case that '1' appears continuously, if it appears following the completion of successive '1's) and then a value of '-1' appears successively thereto (in the case that '0' appears continuously, if it appears following the completion of successive '0's), the input value is outputted as it is, and if a value of '1' appears instead of '-1', the input value is outputted after it has been sign-inverted to '-1'. Similarly, when a value of '0' appears following '-1' (or in the case that '-1' appears continuously, it appears following the completion of successive '-1's) and then a value of '1' appears successively thereto (or in the case that '0' appears continuously, it appears following the completion of successive '0's), the input value is outputted as it is, and if a value of '-1' appears instead of '1', the input value is outputted after it has been sign-inverted to '1'. For example, another embodiment of a coding apparatus of this invention is that in Fig. 1, wherein an output signal of the duobinary signal generating circuit 2 is input to the sign inversion control signal generating circuit 4, and the sign inverting circuit 3 is controlled by the output signal of the sign inversion control signal generating circuit 4 thereby transforming the duobinary signal in accordance with the above-mentioned rule. A magnetic recording system of this invention is structured such that a signal string obtained as shown above is supplied through a recording amplifier 105 to a tape-head system 100 as shown in Fig. 5. The tape-head system 100 comprises a magnetic head 101 and a magnetic tape 102. Concretely, the tape-head system 100 can be of a type such as, for example, helical scanning to be used in home VTR. In addition, other magnetic recording media such as, for example, magnetic disk can be used instead of the magnetic tape 102 for the recording purpose.

Claims: A coding apparatus comprising: duobinary signal generating means for converting an input two-valued signal string into a duobinary signal string; sign inverting means (3) for selectively inverting the sign of said duobinary signal; and control means (4) for controlling the operation of said sign inverting means so as to render zero the mean value of the duobinary signal string output by said inverting means (3), wherein said control means (4) comprises code value storing means (26) that is operable to store the preceding value of said duobinary signal string output each time this signal value changes to zero, detection means (30,34,39,40) for providing a detection signal each time the said signal string output changes from zero, and coincidence detecting means (31,32,35,36,37) that provide a control signal to the sign inverting means (3) only when both i) the said stored value differs from zero and ii) the detection means (30, 34, 39, 40) provides said detection signal. A magnetic recording system comprising: a coding apparatus according to claim 1; and recording means (100) for recording the output of said sign inverting means (3) onto a magnetic recording medium (102).

Inventors: KOBAYASHI MASAAKI, MATSUDA TOYOHIKO, NAGAOKA YOSHITOMI, SHIMOTASHIRO MASAFUMI, KOBAYASHI, MASAAKI, MATSUDA, TOYOHIKO, NAGAOKA, YOSHITOMI, SHIMOTASHIRO, MASAFUMI
Applicants: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC IND CO LTD, MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
Application year: 1988
Main classification: H03M5
IPC codes: H03M5, H04L25