Constant percentage clipping circuit
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to clipping circuits and more particularly to those circuits in which a portion of a wave is flattened off or limited to some arbitrary level irrespective of the amplitude of the original signal. Further, a floating bias is used in order that the percentage clipping of the waveform may be maintained constant. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     Clippers have often been classified according to the way in which they operate on a wave. For example, designations commonly used are peak clippers, base clippers, and slicers. It should be further noted that the technique of clipping is also quite commonly called limiting and that the words are often used interchangeably. 
     A number of limiter applications including the use of diodes and also the use of operational amplifiers is described in the text Operational Amplifiers Design and Applications by J. G. Graeme, G. E. Tobey and Lawrence P. Huelsman, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1971, at pages 237 - 251. A particular problem with the prior art clipping devices is that a fixed reference voltage is used and any variations in the amplitude of the input waveform changes the ratio of the input signal level to reference voltage level and thus the proportion of the input level clipped is different for any variations in amplitude of the input waveform. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In a clipping circuit, a floating bias source is derived which is responsive to the amplitude of the input waveform. Variations with time of the input waveform amplitude will change the floating bias so that the same proportion of the waveform is clipped regardless of its amplitude. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is a prior art illustration of a clipping circuit which employs a fixed reference potential. 
     FIG. 2 is an illustration of one embodiment of applicant&#39;s invention in which the reference potential is derived from the input amplitude of the waveform. 
     FIG. 3A shows a pair of alternating current waveforms having different amplitudes which would appear at the input to the clipper. 
     FIG. 3B shows the clipped output for the waveforms of FIG. 3A and illustrates by the dash lines that the ratio or percentage of waveform clipped is constant. 
     FIG. 4 is another embodiment of applicant&#39;s invention using two feedback circuit arrangements but employing the output voltage as the charging voltage for the floating bias circuit. 
     FIG. 5 is another embodiment of applicant&#39;s invention in which only one feedback circuit is employed and where the charging current to the floating bias circuit is applied from the output voltage of the clipping circuit. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring first to FIG. 1, the circuit shown is a prior art method of obtaining an arbitrary clipping level. This is a standard diode clipping arrangement with a reference voltage e c  applied via resistor R4 to the inverting input of operational amplifier 6. The alternating current voltage, e in  is applied to the inverting input of amplifier 6 via resistor 2. If the sum of the voltages e in  + e c  is greater than 0, then diode 10 is forward biased and the voltage at lead 16 will follow the input inverted. If the sum of the input and reference voltages is less than 0, then diode 14 will be forward biased and the voltage on lead 18 will follow the signal inverted. By varying the value of the reference voltage one can clip or limit the input signal at any given level. The disadvantage of this method as has been specified hereinabove is that both e in  and e C  must be well controlled to produce a specified clipping level. 
     Referring now to FIG. 2 it may be seen that a reference voltage or &#34;floating bias&#34; is obtained from the input signal by means of capacitor 22. The floating bias voltage is obtained from output 16 via charging resistor 20. A discharge path is provided via resistor 24 to the inverting input of amplifier 6, and resistor 2 to the signal input terminal. The time constant derived from the combination of resistor 24 and capacitor C must be long with respect to the input frequency so that the charge on capacitor 22 will remain constant during the normal operating period. For these conditions a relationship can be established between the voltage on capacitor 22, i.e., reference voltage e c , the voltage at output 16, e 1 , and the input voltage e in . In showing this relationship mathematically the resistance R designations are employed and are those shown on the drawing. Note that the R designations and the numbering designations have been retained consistently throughout all of the drawings. 
     
         Equation e.sub.C ≃ 1/SR.sub.A C e.sub.1 = - 1/SR.sub.A C R.sub.2 /R.sub.1 e.sub.in                                 (1) 
    
     
         e.sub.C /e.sub.in = K .sup.[ for a given frequency         (2) 
    
     Since the ratio of the reference voltage to the input voltage is a constant, the clipping level will vary with the absolute amplitude of the input voltage to maintain a specified clipping percentage as determined by resistors R 1 , R 2 , R A , and capacitor C. This is illustrated diagrammatically in FIG. 3. 
     The circuit shown in FIG. 2 will produce a positive going output, e out , which can be clipped up to 50% or a negative going output, e 1 , which can be clipped 50-100%. In another embodiment shown in FIG. 4, capacitor 22 is charged from diode 14 which is connected to e out  and this produces a positive going output, e out  which can be clipped 50-100% or a negative going output, e 1 , which can be clipped up to 50%. Where only the positive or negative going portion of the alternating wave input is to be clipped the embodiment of FIG. 5 may be used. Other circuit arrangements can be devised which do not depart from the spirit of applicants&#39; invention.