JP2000032419A - Audio video transmitter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an audio video transmitter by which a transmitter side can recognize sound quality of a loud amplified sound at a receiver side. SOLUTION: A transmitter side device 1 is provided with a microphone 33 that picks up a loud-spoken sound signal and with a sound quality analysis section 32 that analyzes sound quality elements such as a frequency characteristic of the picked-up loud-spoken sound. The transmitter side device 1 transmits data representing the result of sound quality analysis through a transmission line 26 to a receiver side device 34. With the configuration above, the transmitter side device 1 can recognize quality of the loud-spoken sound at the receiver side device 34, based on data of the result of sound quality analysis transmitted from the receiver side device 34. Then the transmitter side can recognize the quality of the loud-spoken sound as being different in environments in use.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an audio / video transmission apparatus for compressing and encoding an audio signal and a video signal and transmitting / receiving the data via a transmission path.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of audio / video transmission apparatus,
When an acoustic signal is transmitted from the transmitting side to the receiving side, there is no means for recognizing the sound quality of the loudspeaker sound on the receiving side on the transmitting side.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-245748 discloses a "communication device using an acoustic signal", which has a display function capable of recognizing that the other party of the call is surely transmitting his or her own voice. It is an object of the present invention to provide a communication device using a communication device.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 7-336427 discloses a "hands-free telephone" which monitors the volume output on the receiving side on the transmitting side and makes it easy for the speaker to speak at an appropriate volume. It is intended to provide.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional audio / video transmission apparatus, the sound quality of the loudspeaker may be different due to different acoustic conditions on the receiving side depending on the use environment. Despite this, there is a problem that it is not possible to recognize whether or not the loudspeaker sound has the intended sound quality on the transmitting side.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an audio-visual transmission apparatus capable of recognizing the sound quality of a loudspeaker sound on a receiving side on a transmitting side.

[0007]

The present invention adopts the following constitution in order to solve the above problems.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an audio / video transmission apparatus which collects a sound signal loudspeaked on a receiving side, analyzes sound quality elements such as frequency characteristics of the collected loudspeaked sound, and analyzes the sound quality. A configuration is employed in which data indicating the result is transmitted to the transmission side via a transmission path.

With this configuration, it is possible for the transmitting side to recognize the sound quality of the loudspeaker on the receiving side based on the transmitted data of the sound quality analysis result.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An audio-video transmission apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention is an audio-video transmission apparatus for compressing and transmitting an audio signal and a video signal, and transmitting the audio signal. A configuration is provided in which a sounding microphone and analysis means for analyzing a sound quality element such as a frequency characteristic of the collected loudspeaker are transmitted, and data indicating a sound quality analysis result is transmitted to a transmission side via a transmission path.

With this configuration, it is possible for the transmitting side to recognize the sound quality of the loudspeaker on the receiving side based on the data of the transmitted sound quality analysis result.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a configuration is further provided that further includes a display device attached to the transmission device on the transmission side. Therefore, it is possible to display the sound quality analysis result on this display device.

[0013] The result of the sound quality analysis according to the third aspect of the present invention is notified from the transmission device on the transmitting side by a synthesized voice or a signal sound. This allows the receiving side to know the sound quality analysis result.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an audio / video transmission apparatus further comprising a display device attached to the transmission apparatus on the transmission side. With this configuration, it is possible to display the video transmitted from the receiving side on the display device.

In the invention relating to the audio-video transmission device according to the fifth aspect, the sound quality analysis result is notified by a device connected to the transmission device on the transmission side and acting on the tactile sensation of the human body. This allows the receiving side to know the sound quality analysis result.

[0016] In the invention relating to the audio-video transmission apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the sound quality is controlled from the transmission side based on the sound quality analysis result so that the loudspeaker sound of the reception side is obtained with the optimum sound quality intended on the transmission side. It is possible. With this configuration, it is possible to optimally maintain sound quality on the receiving side.

Next, an audio-video transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are block diagrams of an audio-video transmission device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a transmitting device 1 is a main body of a device that transmits an audiovisual signal. The audio signal input from the microphone 2 is compression-encoded by the audio signal encoding unit 6 via the sound quality control unit 3 and the echo suppression unit 4. The compression-encoded audio signal is multiplexed with the compression-encoded video signal output from the video signal encoding unit 8 by the multiplexing unit 9, and is transmitted via the transmission line 10 to the demultiplexing unit 11 of the receiving device 34. Transmitted to The separation unit 11 separates the audio signal and the video signal, and the audio signal is passed to the audio signal decoding unit 14 and the video signal is passed to the video signal decoding unit 12. In the audio signal decoding unit 14, the compression-encoded audio signal is decompressed and sent to the loudspeaker 17 and the sound quality analysis unit 16.

The loudspeaker output from the loudspeaker 17 is collected by a microphone 18, and the sound quality is analyzed by a sound quality analyzer 16. The data of this sound quality analysis result is
The audio signal is sent to the multiplexing unit 25 and multiplexed with the audio signal compressed and encoded by the audio signal encoding unit 22 and the video signal compressed and encoded by the video signal encoding unit 23, Is transmitted to the separation unit 27.

The separation unit 27 separates the audio signal, the video signal, and the data of the sound quality analysis result, and sends the audio signal to the audio signal decoding unit 29 and the video signal to the video signal decoding unit 28. In addition, the sound quality display device 31 and the monitor 30 receive the data of the separated sound quality analysis result from the separation unit 27 and display the sound quality analysis result. Further, the data of the sound quality analysis result is also sent to the sound quality control unit 3, and the sound signal collected by the microphone 2 is controlled to the optimum sound quality intended by the transmitting side according to the usage environment of the receiving side to control the receiving side. Transmit to

In the present embodiment, both the transmitting device 1 and the receiving device 34 have the same structure capable of performing both transmission and reception functions. For this reason, two-way simultaneous communication is possible, and both the transmitting device 1 and the receiving device 34 display the sound quality analysis result of the other party, and the sound signal transmitted from the own apparatus is adjusted according to the usage environment of the other party. It is possible to adjust the sound quality to the optimum and transmit it.

An example of the operation of the audiovisual transmission apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a flow of data for explaining an operation, and is a diagram illustrating a processing example in a flowchart format in relation to “functional blocks” and “data”.

In FIG. 2, a sound quality analysis unit 16 (S5), which performs processing by a microcomputer, converts the audio signal decoded by the audio signal decoding unit 14 (S1) into a reference signal (S5).
Import as 2). The microphone 18 (S3)
The sound signal collected in step (1) is captured as an analysis signal (S4). Here, the analysis signal (S2) for the reference signal (S2)
By analyzing the response of 4), the transfer function of the usage environment on the receiving side can be obtained, and environmental frequency characteristic data and environmental reverberation characteristic data can be derived. Further, by analyzing the background noise of the analysis signal when the reference signal is in a silent state, background noise frequency characteristic data on the receiving side can be obtained.

The multiplexing section 25 (S7) and the transmission path 26 (S7)
8) and transmitted to the transmission-side device 1 via the separation unit 27 (S1
From 1), the sound quality display device 31 (S17) and the monitor 30 (S
18) and the sound quality control unit 3 (S14).

The sound quality display device 31 (S17) displays the environmental frequency characteristic data, the environmental reverberation characteristic data, and the background noise frequency characteristic data using pictures, figures, tables, and characters in an easily understandable manner. On the monitor 30 (S18), the same contents as those of the sound quality display device 31 are displayed alone, and the reception side device 3
4 can be displayed at the same time as the video transmitted.

The sound quality control section 3 (S14), which performs processing by the microcomputer, can control sound quality in two ways. In the first method, the user of the transmitting device 1 operates the sound quality controller 5 (S19) based on the sound quality analysis results displayed on the sound quality display device 31 and the monitor 30. This is a method of controlling the sound quality by sending the data (S20) of the sound quality operation information to the sound quality control unit 3. The second method is a method in which the sound quality unit 3 automatically controls the sound quality based on the data (S12) of the sound quality analysis result. Regardless of which method is used for controlling, the controlled parameters and the sound quality control result data (S15) indicating the amount of change are sent to the sound quality display device 31 and the monitor 30, and the sound quality analysis result data (S12) It is displayed similarly. Further, by continuously monitoring the data of the sound quality analysis result by the sound quality control unit 3, it is possible to detect a change in the environment on the receiving side. Therefore, when a change in the environment is detected, the content is changed to the data (S1) of the detection result of the environment change.
It is also possible to display on the sound quality display device 31 and the monitor 30 as 6).

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the receiving side controls the sound quality of the acoustic signal based on the data of the sound quality analysis result obtained on the receiving side. A loudspeaker sound can be obtained with the optimal sound quality intended.

The term "optimal sound quality" as used herein means providing a sound quality that is easy for a listener on the receiving side to hear. For example, control to reduce the difficulty of hearing of loudspeakers depending on auditory masking characteristics, which occurs when there is background noise with a certain frequency characteristic on the receiving side, or if the listener on the receiving side has a hearing impairment In such a case, control that complements a frequency band that is difficult to hear due to the obstacle, control that matches sound quality to a difference in sound source such as whether a sound signal to be transmitted is sound or music, and the like can be considered.

As described above, in the present embodiment, there is provided a means for collecting an acoustic signal loudspeaked on the receiving side by a microphone and analyzing sound quality elements such as a frequency characteristic of the collected loudspeaked sound. . Means is provided for transmitting data indicating the result of the sound quality analysis to the transmitting side via a transmission path. As a result, the sound quality of the loudspeaker sound on the receiving side can be recognized on the transmitting side based on the data of the sound quality analysis result, and the sound quality can be controlled to the optimum.

[0030]

As is clear from the above description, claim 1
According to the invention described in the above, in a system that compresses and encodes an audio signal and a video signal, the audio signal that is loudspeaked on the receiving side is collected by a microphone, and the frequency characteristics of the collected loudspeaker sound are measured. Analyze sound quality elements. The data indicating the result of the sound quality prayer is transmitted to the transmission side via the transmission path, and the transmission side recognizes the sound quality of the loudspeaker on the reception side based on the data. Therefore, the sound quality of the loudspeaker sound that differs depending on the use environment can be recognized on the transmission side.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the system according to the first aspect, the sound quality analysis result can be displayed on a display device attached to the transmission device on the transmission side. Thus, the user of the transmission device on the transmission side can easily recognize the sound quality analysis result by looking at the display device.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the system according to the second aspect, the transmission-side transmission device notifies the sound quality analysis result by a synthesized voice or a signal sound. Thus, the user of the transmission device on the transmission side can easily recognize the sound quality prayer result by listening to the synthesized voice or the signal sound.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the system according to the first aspect, the display device connected to the transmission device on the transmission side to display the image transmitted from the reception side is provided with a sound quality analysis. Display the result. With this configuration, the user of the transmission device on the transmission side can easily recognize the sound quality analysis result by looking at the monitor.

The invention described in claim 5 is the same as the invention described in claim 4.
, Connected to the transmission device on the transmitting side,
A sound quality analysis result is notified by a vibration device acting on a tactile sensation of a human body. Therefore, the user of the transmission device on the transmission side can easily recognize the sound quality analysis result by keeping the vibration device in contact with the body.

Further, the invention described in claim 6 is the first invention.
System based on the sound quality analysis results
Manual,
Alternatively, the sound quality can be automatically controlled from the transmission side. With this configuration, the sound quality of the loudspeaker sound that varies depending on the use environment can be adjusted to the sound quality intended by the transmission device user on the transmission side.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an audiovisual transmission device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a data flow for explaining an operation;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Transmission side apparatus 2 Microphone 3 Sound quality control part 4 Echo suppression means 5 Sound quality manipulator 6 Acoustic signal coding part 7 Video input device 8 Video signal coding part 9 Multiplexing part 10 Transmission line 11 Separation part 12 Video signal decoding part 13 Monitor 14 Sound signal decoding unit 15 Sound quality display device 16 Sound quality analysis unit 17 Loudspeaker 18 Microphone 19 Sound quality control unit 20 Sound quality controller 21 Echo suppression unit 22 Sound signal encoding unit 23 Video signal encoding unit 24 Video input device 25 Multiplexing Unit 26 transmission path 27 separation unit 28 video signal decoding unit 29 audio signal decoding unit 30 monitor 31 sound quality display device 32 sound quality analysis unit 33 loudspeaker 34 reception device

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An audio-video transmission apparatus for compressing and encoding an audio signal and a video signal, and transmitting the compressed audio signal. The microphone collects an audio signal loudspeaked on a receiving side, and the frequency characteristics of the collected loudspeaker sound. Analysis means for analyzing the sound quality element of the data, transmitting the data indicating the sound quality analysis result to the transmission side via the transmission path, and recognizing the sound quality of the loudspeaker sound of the reception side on the transmission side based on the data. An audio-video transmission device characterized by being made possible. 2. The audio-video transmission device further comprises a display device attached to the transmission device on the transmission side, and the sound quality analysis result can be displayed on the display device. An audiovisual transmission device according to any one of the preceding claims. 3. The audio-video transmission apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the sound quality analysis result is notified from the transmission apparatus on the transmission side by a voice synthesis sound or a signal sound. 4. The audio-video transmission device further comprises a display device attached to the transmission device on the transmission side, wherein the video transmitted from the reception side can be displayed on the display device. The audio-video transmission device according to claim 1. 5. The audio-video transmission apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the sound quality analysis result is notified by a device connected to the transmission device on the transmission side and acting on a tactile sensation of a human body by vibrating. 6. Based on the result of the sound quality analysis, a loudspeaker sound on the receiving side can be obtained with the optimum sound quality intended on the transmitting side.
The audio-video transmission device according to claim 1, wherein sound quality can be controlled from a transmission side.