子。当两个接头之间的温度差改变时，一对热电偶两端的电压也将改变。于是电压就提供了温度差的模拟表现形式
The other kind of signal is a digital signal. A digital signal is one that can take on values within two discrete ranges. Such signals are used to represent ON-OFF or YES-NO information. An ordinary household thermostat delivers a digital signal tocontrol the furnace. When the room temperature drops below a preset value, the thermostat switch closes turning on the furnace. Once the room temperature rises high enough, the switch opens turning off the furnace. The current through the switch provides a digital representation of the temperature variation: ON equals \另一种的信号是数字信号。数字信号是在两个离散的范围内能够呈现一定数值的信号。这种信号常用以表示“开—关”或“是—不是”信息。一个普通的家用恒温器传递一种数字信号来控制炉子当房间的温度下降到预定温度以下时，恒温器的开关合上使炉子开始加热；一旦房间的温度上升到足够高，开关就断开使炉子关闭。流过开关的电流提供了温度变化的数字表示：ON即为“太冷”而OFF即为“不太冷”
A signal-processing system is an interconnection of components and devices that can accept an input signal or a group of input signals, operate on the signals in some fashion either to extract or improve the quality of the information, and present the information as an output in the proper form at the proper time. 一个信号处理系统是某些元件或设备之间的
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相互连接，这些元件和设备能够接收一个输入信号或一组输入信号，信号处理系统以某种方式来处理这些信号即提取这些信号或提高这些信号的品质，然后在适当的时间以适当的形式把这个信号表示为输出量。
Fig.2-2 illustrates the components in such a system. The central circles represent the two types of signal processing (digital and analog), while theblock between the two signal- processing blocks represents the conversion of an analog signal to equivalent digital form (A/D=Analog-to-Digital) and the reverse conversion of a digital signal to the corresponding analog form (D/A=Digital-to-Analog). The remaining blocks involve inputs and outputs— getting signals into and out of the processing system. 图2-2显示了这样一个系统的组成部分。中间的圆圈代表了两种类型的信号处理（数字和模拟），而处于信号处理框之间的方框表示模拟信号向等效数字形式（A/D即模拟到数字）的转换，以及从数字信号向相应的模拟形式（D/A即数字到模拟）的逆转换。剩下的方框涉及输入和输出——取得信号以及从处理系统输出信号。 Many electrical signals derived from physical systems are obtained from devices called transducers. We have already encountered an example of an analog transducer, the thermocouple pair. It converts temperature difference (the physical variable) to a voltage (the electrical variable). Generally, a transducer is a device that converts a physical or mechanical variable to an equivalent voltage or current signal. Unlike the
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thermocouple example, however, most transducers require some form of electrical excitation to operate从物理系统获得的很多电气信号是从被称为传感器的器件中输入的。我们已经碰到了一个模拟传感器的例子。即热电偶。它把温度的变化（物理变量）转换成电压（电气变量）。通常，传感器是一种将物理或机械变量转换成等效电压或电流信号的器件。然而，不同于热电偶例子，大多数传感器需要一些形式的电激励以驱动传感器
The output from a system can be in many forms, depending on the use to be made of the information contained in the input signals. One can seek to display the information, either in analog form (using a meter, for example, in which the needle position indicates the size of the variable of interest) or in digital form (using a set of digital display elements that are lit up with a number corresponding to the variable of interest). Other possibilities are to convert the output to sound energy (with a loudspeaker), or to use the output asan input signal to another system, or to use the output as a control signal to initiate some action. 个系统的输出可以有多种形式，这取决于包含在输入信号中的信息所起的作用。我们可以选择何种方式显示这些信息，无论是以模拟形式（例如，使用一种仪表，仪表的指针的位置指明我们所感兴趣的变量的大小）或是以数字形式（使用一套数字显示元件，显示对应于我们所感兴趣的变量的数字）。其它的可能的情况下是将输出转换成声能（利用扬声器），或是将输出作为另一个系统的输入，或是利用输出作为控制
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信号来产生某个动作 第二篇
The mathematics of computers and other digital electronic devices have been developed from the decisive work of George Boole (l815～l864) and many others, who expanded and improved on his work. The body of thought that is known collectively as symbolic logic established the principles for deriving mathematical proofs and singularly modified our understanding and the scope of mathematics. 布尔代数也称为逻辑代数。它是英国数学家乔治－布尔（1815－1864）于1849年创立的。在当时，这种代数纯粹是一种数学游戏。在布尔代数里，布尔构思出一种关于0和1的代数系数，用基础的逻辑符号系统描述物体和概念。这种代数不仅广泛于概率和统计等领域，更为重要的是，它为数字计算机开关电路设计提供了最重要的数学方法。
Only a portion of this powerful system is required for our use. Boole and others were interested in developing a systematic means of deciding whether a proposition in logic or mathematics was true or false, but we shall be concerned only with the validity of the output of digital devices. True and false can be equated with one and zero, high and low, or on and off. These are the only two states of electrical voltage from a digital element. Thus, in this remarkable algebra performed by logic gates, there are only two values, one and zero; anyalgebraic combination or manipulation can yield only these two values. Zero and
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one are the only symbols in binary arithmetic这种很有用的系统中只有一部分内容为我们所应用。布尔等人感兴趣的是推导出一种用来判断某个命题在逻辑上或在数学上是真还是假的系统性的方法，但我们要关注的仅仅是数字设备的输出的正确与否。真或假可以等同于一和零 ，或者等同于开和关。这是电子元件中电压的两种唯一的状态。因此，由逻辑门所完成的这个奇异的代数中，只有两种值，一和零，任何代数组合或者计算只能产生这两种值。零和一是二进制运算中唯一的符号
The various logic gates and their interconnections can be made to perform all the essential functions required for computing and decision-making. In developing digital systems the easiest procedure is to put together conceptually the gates and connections to perform the assigned task in the most direct way. Boolean algebra is then used to reduce the complexity of the system, if possibl，ewhile retaining the same function. The equivalent simplified combination of gates will probably be much less expensive and less difficult to assemble不同的逻辑门和它们之间的相互连接可以用来完成计算以及判断所要求的必要的功能。在开发数字系统时最简单的做法是把逻辑门以及它们之间的连接根据概念排放在一起 以最直接的方式完成 设定的任务。于是我们采用布尔代数来减小系统的复杂程度，如果可能的话，与此同时应保留其相同的功能。逻辑门之间等效的简单的组合可能使得费用更加便宜而在装配上更加容易。
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