Automatic gain control for a remote control system having symmetrical

Abstract

The remote control system having symmetrical signaling circuits for radio communications is coupled to a single wire line/audio channel and permits two or more units, base stations and/or remote consoles, to be coupled to the single wire line. Each signaling circuit comprises a wire line coupler for coupling to the wire line, an audio input line and an audio output line. An automatic gain control circuit is coupled between the wire coupler and the audio output line and a filter and line driver are coupled between the audio input line and the wire coupler. A control unit including a microprocessor, a tone encoder, a tone decoder, a timer, a clock, and a memory is coupled by output lines to the automatic gain control circuit for controlling the modes of operation thereof which include a slow decay mode, a fast decay mode, an adapt mode and a hold gain mode. The output from the gain control circuit is also routed through a band pass filter and a limiter to the control unit. Further, the tone encoder of the control unit is coupled to a summing circuit situated between the filter and line driver through a filter and level control circuit. The protocol programmed in the microprocessor enables any unit to take control of the audio channel by initiating the sending of a message. Also mute gates are provided for disabling audio output or audio input while a message is being sent or received over the audio channel.