CN117640875A - Multimedia system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a multimedia system. The multimedia system includes a plurality of transmission apparatuses and a receiving end device. The plurality of transmission devices have microphones, respectively. The receiving end device is coupled with a plurality of transmission devices. When the microphone of one of the plurality of transmission devices is enabled, the receiving end apparatus outputs at least one control signal to at least one other of the plurality of transmission devices to disable the microphone of the at least one other of the plurality of transmission devices.

Description

Multimedia system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a video streaming technology, and more particularly, to a multimedia system.

Background

A Transmitting-end device (TX) of a typical video streaming system is generally only used to provide a transmission interface for Receiving a video stream provided by a video providing device and Transmitting the video stream to a Receiving-end device (RX). Furthermore, in a typical video streaming system, if a video conference is to be performed, a microphone device may be required to be disposed on a receiving device or an electronic device coupled to the transmitting device may be required to be disposed with a microphone device. Therefore, the microphone device may be too far away from the user to be able to receive sound, or if the electronic device is not built with the microphone device, the electronic device may need to be externally connected with an additional microphone device.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a multimedia system, which can be connected to a receiving end device through a plurality of transmitting end devices to realize the function of multi-user remote video conference.

The multimedia system of the invention comprises a plurality of transmitting end devices and receiving end devices. The plurality of transmission devices have microphones, respectively. The receiving end device is coupled with a plurality of transmission devices. When the microphone of one of the plurality of transmission devices is enabled, the receiving end apparatus outputs at least one control signal to at least one other of the plurality of transmission devices to disable the microphone of the at least one other of the plurality of transmission devices.

In an embodiment of the present invention, one of the plurality of transmission apparatuses is an audio device. The receiving end device actively outputs at least one control signal to at least one other of the plurality of transmitting devices to disable a microphone of the at least one other of the plurality of transmitting devices. The audio device is coupled to the receiving device through wired communication.

In an embodiment of the present invention, one of the plurality of transmission apparatuses is a first transmission end device. The first transmitting end device is coupled to the receiving end device through wireless communication. At least one other of the plurality of transmission apparatuses is an audio device. The audio device is coupled to the receiving device through wired communication.

In an embodiment of the present invention, one of the plurality of transmission apparatuses is a first transmission end device. The first transmitting end device is coupled to the receiving end device through wireless communication. At least one other of the transmission apparatuses is a second transmission end device. The second transmitting end device is coupled to the receiving end device through wireless communication.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the microphone preset of each of the plurality of transmission devices is operated in a mute mode, and when at least one of the plurality of transmission devices detects a voice, the microphone of at least one of the plurality of transmission devices is switched to operate in an unmuted mode.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the microphone presets of the plurality of transmitting devices are respectively operated in a non-mute mode. When at least one of the plurality of transmission apparatuses detects a voice, the receiving end device switches the microphone of at least one other of the plurality of transmission apparatuses to operate in a mute mode.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when a plurality of transmitting apparatuses respectively provide a plurality of sound signals to a receiving end device, the receiving end device compares a plurality of volume levels of the plurality of sound signals or determines relative positions of the receiving end device and the receiving end device so as to respectively determine whether to switch microphones of the plurality of transmitting apparatuses respectively to operate in a mute mode or a non-mute mode.

In an embodiment of the present invention, at least one of the plurality of transmission apparatuses is a first transmission end device. The first transmitting end device is coupled to the receiving end device through a wireless communication mode and coupled to the first video and audio providing device through a wired communication mode. When the first video-audio providing device provides the first video signal to the first transmitting end device, the microphone of the first transmitting end device is enabled, and the first transmitting end device provides the first video signal to the receiving end device, wherein the receiving end device disables the microphone of at least one other of the plurality of transmitting devices.

In an embodiment of the invention, the microphone of the first transmitting device generates a first sound signal, and the first audio-video providing device further provides a second sound signal. The first transmitting end device combines the first sound signal and the second sound signal to transmit the sound combined signal to the receiving end device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of transmission devices respectively have physical keys. When the physical key of at least one of the plurality of transmission devices is in a trigger state, the at least one of the plurality of transmission devices enables the microphone of the at least one of the plurality of transmission devices. When the physical key of at least one of the plurality of transmitting devices is in a non-activated state, the at least one of the plurality of transmitting devices disables the microphone of the at least one of the plurality of transmitting devices.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the physical key of at least one of the plurality of transmission devices is in the triggered state, the microphone of at least one other of the plurality of transmission devices is enabled after the at least one other of the plurality of transmission devices waits for the physical key of the other transmission device to be in the non-triggered state.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the microphones of the transmission devices are operated in the mute mode, the receiving device determines the voting information according to the number of the physical buttons of the transmission devices as the trigger states.

In an embodiment of the invention, at least one of the plurality of transmission apparatuses is a first transmission end device, and the first transmission end device is coupled to the receiving end device through a wireless communication manner and coupled to the first audio/video providing device through a wired communication manner. When the first video-audio providing device judges that the first transmission end device is provided with a microphone, the first video-audio providing device disables the built-in microphone and uses the microphone of the first transmission end device.

In an embodiment of the invention, the first transmission end device is coupled to the first audio/video providing device through the HDMI transmission line and the Type-C transmission line.

In an embodiment of the invention, at least one of the plurality of transmission apparatuses is a first transmission end device, and the first transmission end device is coupled to the receiving end device through a wireless communication manner and coupled to the first audio/video providing device through a wired communication manner. When the first video-audio providing device executes the video conference software, the sound processing module of the first transmitting end device receives at least one sound signal provided by other transmitting equipment from the receiving end device, and the sound processing module provides the at least one sound signal to the first video-audio providing device.

In an embodiment of the invention, at least one other of the transmission apparatuses is a second transmission end device, and the second transmission end device is coupled to the receiving end device through a wireless communication manner and coupled to the second audio/video providing device through a wired communication manner. The second video-audio providing device provides at least one sound signal to the second transmitting end device, and the second transmitting end device provides at least one sound signal to the sound processing module of the first transmitting end device through the receiving end device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a microphone built in the first audio/video providing device is not disabled.

In an embodiment of the present invention, when the receiving end apparatus executes the video conference software, the receiving end apparatus registers the plurality of transmission devices as a plurality of virtual microphones, respectively, and the video conference software directly connects the plurality of virtual microphones.

In an embodiment of the invention, the receiving device includes a human-machine interface. The receiving end device controls at least one of the plurality of transmission devices according to the authority setting of the human-computer interface so as to enable the microphone of the at least one of the plurality of transmission devices normally.

Based on the above, the multimedia system of the present invention can determine that when the microphone of one of the plurality of transmission devices is enabled, the microphone of the other of the plurality of transmission devices is automatically disabled, so as to effectively reduce the occurrence of crosstalk interference.

In order to make the above features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a circuit schematic diagram of a multimedia system according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a circuit schematic of a multimedia system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic circuit diagram of the audio/video providing device, the transmitting device and the receiving device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a circuit schematic of a multimedia system according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic circuit diagram of the audio/video providing device, the transmitting device and the receiving device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

For a further understanding of the objects, construction, features and functions of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, the following examples are provided as illustrations of the true practice of the invention. In addition, wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

Fig. 1 is a circuit schematic diagram of a multimedia system according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to fig. 1, the multimedia system 100 includes a Receiving end device 110 (RX) and a plurality of transmission apparatuses 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n, where N is a positive integer. Multimedia system 100 may be implemented as a conferencing system (either an online conferencing system or a video conferencing system), and the following embodiments will be exemplified with respect to conferencing. The receiving end device 110 can be coupled to the transmitting apparatuses 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n through wireless communication. The receiving device 110 can receive a plurality of video streaming data from the transmitting devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n, respectively. In the present embodiment, the transmission apparatuses 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n may include a plurality of transmission-end devices (TX), or include a plurality of transmission-end devices and an audio device. The audio device may be, for example, a smart speaker (soundbox) apparatus. The plurality of transmitting devices may be further coupled to the corresponding plurality of video providing devices, respectively, and may receive the video streaming data provided by the video providing devices, so as to further provide the transmitting video streaming data to the receiving device 110. The receiving end device 110 may further transmit integrated video streaming data (e.g. conference video streaming data) combined by the video streaming data received by the transmitting devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n to at least one of the transmitting devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n.

In other words, the receiving end device 110 may be implemented as a data hub for collecting at least one video streaming data and/or at least one audio signal generated by speaking by a user, and broadcast and send the combined integrated video streaming data and/or audio signal to the transmitting devices 120_1, 120_2-120_n, so as to further provide the combined integrated video streaming data and/or audio signal to the corresponding multiple video providing devices through the transmitting devices 120_1, 120_2-120_n, and play the combined integrated video streaming data and/or audio signal by the corresponding multiple video providing devices respectively through speakers and displays, so as to implement the conference function.

In this embodiment, the receiving end 110 may be further coupled to an audio-visual device, such as a display, a projector or a speaker, to provide the audio-visual data of the conference to the audio-visual device, so that the audio-visual device can play the audio-visual data of the conference. Alternatively, the receiving device 110 provides the conference audio/video data to the conference platform (e.g. the online conference platform or the video conference platform provided on the network server) through the conference software (e.g. the online conference software or the video conference software) and the Internet (Internet), so as to perform the conference function. Alternatively, the receiving end 110 may provide the conference audio/video data to one of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n, so that one of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n may execute the conference software to implement the conference function. In addition, the conference software may be, for example, a "skype" video call software or a "boom" video conference software, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

In the present embodiment, the transmission apparatuses 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n may have microphones (microphones), respectively. When the microphone of one of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n is enabled (i.e., the microphone is operated in the non-mute mode, for example), the receiving-end apparatus 110 may output at least one control signal to at least one other of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n to disable the microphone of at least one other of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n (i.e., the microphone is operated in the mute mode, for example). The microphone may be used to receive sound provided by a user to generate a sound signal. In other words, when a user operating one of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n speaks, the receiving end apparatus 110 can disable the microphone of at least one other of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n to avoid the microphone of at least one other of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n from receiving the sound emitted by the speaker coupled to one of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n, so as to effectively reduce crosstalk (crosstalk) interference.

Further by way of example, the crosstalk interference may refer to, for example, that a microphone of the first transmission device and a microphone of the second transmission device are simultaneously enabled, and a speaker coupled to the first transmission device and a speaker coupled to the second transmission device are also simultaneously enabled, wherein sounds emitted by all speakers will play sounds of all microphones simultaneously, thereby causing the microphone of the second transmission device to possibly receive the speaker coupled to the first transmission device to form crosstalk. Therefore, the multimedia system 100 of the present embodiment can automatically disable (i.e. turn off or operate in a mute mode) the microphones of other transmission devices or the microphones of one or more transmission devices in the vicinity when the microphone of the first transmission device is being used by the user (the user is speaking), so as to effectively reduce the occurrence of crosstalk interference.

Specifically, in an embodiment, the microphones of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n, respectively, may be preset to operate in a mute mode, and when the microphone of at least one of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n detects human voice, the microphone of the at least one of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n is switched to operate in an unmuted mode. In other words, the microphones of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n can determine whether to automatically provide the captured sound to the receiving end device 110 (i.e. automatically turn on the microphone function) according to whether the voice is detected.

Further illustratively, the mute mode may refer to not providing the sound signal generated by the sound detected by the current microphone to the receiving-end device 110, and the non-mute mode may refer to providing the sound signal generated by the sound detected by the current microphone to the receiving-end device 110. Alternatively, in an embodiment, the mute mode may also refer to providing the sound signal generated by the sound detected by the current microphone to the receiving end apparatus 110, but the receiving end apparatus 110 does not further broadcast the sound signal to all the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n, and the non-mute mode may also refer to providing the sound signal generated by the sound detected by the current microphone to the receiving end apparatus 110, and the receiving end apparatus 110 further broadcasts the sound signal to all the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n.

Alternatively, in an embodiment, the microphones of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n may be preset to operate in a non-mute mode, and when the microphone of at least one of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n detects a human voice, the microphone of the at least one of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n is switched to operate in a mute mode (i.e. the microphone function is automatically turned off). In other words, the microphones of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n can determine whether to automatically disable the microphone of at least one other transmission device according to whether the voice is detected, so as to effectively reduce the crosstalk interference.

In an embodiment, when at least a portion of the transmitting devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n first provide a plurality of sound signals to the receiving end device 110, the receiving end device 110 can also compare a plurality of volume levels of the sound signals or determine relative positions of the sound signals to each other to determine to switch the microphones of the transmitting devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n to operate in the mute mode or the non-mute mode, respectively. For example, the transmission apparatuses 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n can automatically determine whether sound is detected or not, respectively, and notify the receiving end device 110. Then, the receiving end apparatus 110 can determine whether to operate the microphone of one of the transmission devices for receiving the sound with the maximum volume in the non-mute mode and operate the microphones of the other transmission devices in the mute mode through calculation by the algorithm, so as to effectively reduce crosstalk interference. Alternatively, the receiving-end apparatus 110 may operate the microphone of one of the transmission devices for receiving the sound with the maximum volume in the non-mute mode, and the microphone of the other transmission device for receiving the sound with the lower volume (non-silence) in the mute mode, wherein the microphone of the other transmission device for which no sound is detected may operate in the non-mute mode or the mute mode. Even more, the receiving end device 110 can determine the relative orientations and the relative distances of the transmitting devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n through the algorithm calculation, so as to control the microphones of some transmitting devices nearest to the speaker to operate in the mute mode, so as to effectively reduce the occurrence of crosstalk interference.

In an embodiment, the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n may also have physical keys, respectively. Taking the transmission device 120_1 as an example, when the physical key of the transmission device 120_1 is in a trigger state (e.g., the user presses a button), the transmission device 120_1 may enable its microphone. Conversely, when the physical key of the transmission device 120_1 is in the non-activated state (e.g., the user does not press the button), the transmission device 120_1 may disable its microphone.

In an embodiment, taking the transmission device 120_1 and the transmission device 120_2 as examples, when the physical key of the transmission device 120_2 is in the triggered state, the receiving end apparatus 110 may also wait for the physical key of the other transmission devices (the transmission device 120_1 or the other transmission devices) to be in the non-triggered state before agreeing to enable the microphone of the transmission device 120_2. Therefore, the crosstalk interference generated by enabling a plurality of microphones or adjacent microphones simultaneously can be effectively avoided.

In an embodiment, when the microphones of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n are operated in the mute mode, the receiving end apparatus 110 can also determine the voting information according to the number of the physical buttons of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n as the triggering states. In other words, the physical keys of the transmission devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n, respectively, can also be applied to voting. For example, the receiving end device 110 may determine that the physical key of the transmitting apparatus 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n is the number of triggered states to determine the number of agreeable tickets, and the receiving end device 110 may determine that the physical key of the transmitting apparatus 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n is the number of non-triggered states to determine the number of disagreeable tickets.

In an embodiment, the receiving end apparatus 110 may further include a human-machine interface (Human Machine Interface, HMI), and the receiving end apparatus 110 may control at least one of the transmitting devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n according to a permission setting of the human-machine interface to enable the microphone of at least one of the transmitting devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n in a normal state. In other words, the receiving device 110 can also determine whether to enable the microphone according to the authority level settings of the transmitting devices 120_1, 120_2 to 120_n, respectively. For example, if the transmitting device 120_2 has the highest authority by the user setting through the man-machine interface of the receiving end apparatus 110, and the transmitting device 120_1 has the lower authority by the user setting through the man-machine interface of the receiving end apparatus 110, the microphone of the transmitting device 120_2 may be continuously enabled, and the microphone of the transmitting device 120_1 may be preset to be disabled until the microphone of the transmitting device 120_1 detects the voice.

Fig. 2 is a circuit schematic of a multimedia system according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 2, the multimedia system 200 includes a receiving end device 210 and a plurality of transmitting end devices 220_1, 220_2 to 220_n. The transmitting-end devices 220_1, 220_2 to 220_n may have microphones, respectively. The transmitting devices 220_1, 220_2-220_N are coupled to the video providing devices 320_1, 320_2-320_N through wired communication. In this embodiment, the audio/video providing devices 320_1, 320_2 to 320_n may be, for example, a notebook computer (Laptop), a Desktop computer (Desktop) or a Tablet computer (Tablet) and the like, and the computer devices may include a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU) and/or a graphics processor (Graphics Processing Unit, GPU). In one embodiment, the audio/video providing devices 320_1, 320_2 to 320_n may further have displays, respectively, and may have Data streams (Data Streaming) capable of supporting multi-screen output and outputting video and audio.

In the present embodiment, the transmitting end devices 220_1, 220_2 to 220_n are respectively coupled to the video providing devices 320_1, 320_2 to 320_n through wireless communication. For example, when the microphone of the transmitting end device 220_1 is enabled, the receiving end device 210 can output at least one control signal to at least one other of the transmitting end devices 220_2 to 220_n to disable the microphone of at least one other of the transmitting end devices 220_2 to 220_n.

In one embodiment, the transmitting device 220_1 is taken as an example, wherein the transmitting device 220_1 is coupled to the audio/video providing device 320_1 through wired communication. When the video providing device 320_1 provides the video signal to the transmitting end device 220_1, the microphone of the transmitting end device 220_1 is enabled, and the transmitting end device 220_1 provides the video signal to the receiving end device 210, wherein the receiving end device 210 further disables the microphone of at least one of the transmitting end devices 220_2 to 220_n. It should be noted that the image signal may be, for example, a shared frame (e.g., an Operating System (OS) frame or an image frame generated by playing an image file) or image data of a video frame (the transmitting device may also include, for example, a camera to generate a character video frame). In other words, the microphone of the transmitting device 220_1 can be matched with the audio/video providing device 320_1 to synchronously provide the video signal and the audio signal to the receiving device 210. In addition, the receiving device 210 can first detect whether the transmitting device 220_1 has a microphone, and detect whether the audio/video providing device 320_1 has a microphone. When the audio/video providing device 320_1 has a microphone, the receiving end device 210 can actively inform the audio/video providing device 320_1 to disable the microphone of the audio/video providing device 320_1. In other words, the microphone of the transmitting device 220_1 can replace the microphone of the audio/video providing device 320_1 to provide the audio signal. In an embodiment, when the audio/video providing device 320_1 has a microphone, the receiving end device 210 can also actively inform the transmitting end device 220_1 to disable the microphone of the transmitting end device 220_1. In other words, the microphone of the audio/video providing apparatus 320_1 can be preferentially used to provide the audio signal.

In an embodiment, when the microphone of the transmitting device 220_1 generates the first sound signal, and the audio-video providing device 320_1 plays the image frame generated by the image file and the second sound signal (i.e. the audio corresponding to the image frame), the audio-video providing device 320_1 can provide the image frame and the second sound signal to the transmitting device 220_1. At this time, the transmitting device 220_1 may also combine the first audio signal and the second audio signal to transmit the audio combined signal to the receiving device 210. In other words, the user operating the audio/video providing apparatus 320_1 can play the video frames with audio and speak at the same time.

Fig. 3 is a schematic circuit diagram of the audio/video providing device, the transmitting device and the receiving device according to the embodiment of the present invention. The following embodiments take the transmitting device 220_1 and the audio/video providing device 320_1 as examples, and the same applies to the transmitting devices 220_1 to 220_n and the audio/video providing devices 320_1 to 320_n. In this embodiment, the receiving end device 210 includes a processor 211 and a wireless communication module 212. The processor 211 is coupled to the wireless communication module 212. The transmitting device 220 includes a processor 221, a wireless communication module 222, a sound processing module 223, a communication interface 224, and a microphone 225. The processor 221 is coupled to the wireless communication module 222, the sound processing module 223 and the communication interface 224. The sound processing module 223 is coupled to the microphone 225. The audio-visual providing device 320 includes a processor 321, a communication interface 322, a speaker 323, and a microphone 324. The processor 321 is coupled to a communication interface 322, a speaker 323, and a microphone 324.

In the present embodiment, the transmitting device 220 is coupled to the wireless communication module 212 of the receiving device 210 through the wireless communication module 222 in a wireless communication manner. In the present embodiment, the wireless communication module 212 and the wireless communication module 222 may include, for example, a WiFi wireless communication interface or a Bluetooth (Bluetooth) wireless communication interface, but the invention is not limited thereto. In this embodiment, the communication interface 224 of the transmitting device 220 is coupled to the communication interface 322 of the audio/video providing device 320 in a wired communication manner. The communication interface 224 of the transmitting device 220 can be coupled to the communication interface 322 of the audio/video providing device 320 through the Type-C transmission line 301 and the HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface, high-definition multimedia interface) transmission line 302. The Type-C transmission line 301 may include a video stream channel 301_1 and a power channel 301_2. The HDMI transmission line 302 may include an audio-visual stream channel 302_1. The communication interfaces 224 and 322 may include a Type-C interface, an HDMI interface, and associated communication circuitry for coupling the Type-C transmission line 301 and the HDMI transmission line 302, respectively.

In the present embodiment, when the transmitting device 220 is coupled to the image providing device 320 through the Type-C transmission line 301 and the HDMI transmission line 302, the communication interface 224 of the transmitting device 220 receives the video streaming data provided by the image providing device 320 through the video streaming channel 302_1 of the HDMI transmission line 302. In the present embodiment, the processor 221 of the transmitting device 220 preferably uses the video stream channel 302_1 of the HDMI transmission line 302 to receive the video stream data provided by the image providing device 320, and the processor 221 of the transmitting device 220 transmits the video stream data to the receiving device 210 through the wireless communication module 222. In other words, when the transmitting device 220 is coupled to the image providing device 320 via the Type-C transmission line 301 and the HDMI transmission line 302, the transmitting device 220 will preferentially use the video streaming data transmitted by the HDMI transmission line 302. In an embodiment, the communication interface 224 of the transmitting device 220 is also coupled to the communication interface 322 of the video providing device 320 only through the Type-C transmission line 301, and the processor 221 of the transmitting device 220 receives the video streaming data provided by the video providing device 320 by using the video streaming channel 301_1 of the Type-C transmission line 301.

In this embodiment, the transmitting device 220 also turns on the power channel 301_2 of the Type-C transmission line 301 through the communication interface 224, so that the communication interface 224 obtains the power signal from the image providing device 320 through the power channel 301_2 and provides the power signal to the power module of the transmitting device 220, so that the transmitting device 220 can obtain the power through the Type-C transmission line 301. The power module of the transmitting device 220 may include associated power circuitry and may provide the power necessary to drive (or enable) the operation of the transmitting device 220. In other words, in the present embodiment, when the transmitting device 220 is coupled to the image providing device 320 through the Type-C transmission line 301 and the HDMI transmission line 302, the transmitting device 220 will preferentially use the HDMI transmission line 302 to transmit the video streaming data, and maintain to use the Type-C transmission line 301 to receive the power signal provided by the image providing device 320.

In the present embodiment, the processors 211 and 221 may be, for example, system on a Chip (SOC), respectively, and the processor 321 may include, for example, a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU) or other programmable general purpose or special purpose Microprocessor (Microprocessor), digital signal processor (Digital Signal Processor, DSP), programmable controller, application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuits, ASIC), programmable logic device (Programmable Logic Device, PLD), other similar processing device, or a combination of these devices.

In this embodiment, the transmitting device 220 may further include a storage unit, where the storage unit may be, for example, a dynamic random access memory (Dynamic Random Access Memory, DRAM), a Flash memory (Flash memory), or a Non-volatile random access memory (Non-Volatile Random Access Memory, NVRAM). The receiving device 210 may also include a storage unit, and the receiving device 210 may be further coupled to the display module through a wired or wireless manner to exchange the extended display capability identification data (Extended Display Identification Data, EDID) with the display module, so as to provide the video streaming data (or the conference video data) to the display module for displaying.

In this embodiment, the processor 221 of the transmitting device 220 may generate (establish) a plurality of virtual extended display capability identification data and store the virtual extended display capability identification data in the storage unit. The processor 221 of the transmitting device 220 may provide the virtual extended display capability identification data to the image providing device 320 via the Type-C transmission line 301 and/or the HDMI transmission line 302. The image providing device 320 can automatically identify a plurality of virtual displays coupled to the image providing device 320 according to the received virtual extended display capability identification data, so that the image providing device 320 can output one or more video streams through the HDMI transmission line 302, wherein the virtual extended display capability identification data can be the same setting data or different setting data.

In the present embodiment, when the processor 321 of the audio/video providing apparatus 320 determines that the transmitting end apparatus 220 has the microphone 225, the audio/video providing apparatus 320 can disable the built-in microphone 324 and use the microphone 225 of the transmitting end apparatus 220 to perform sound reception. The processor 221 of the transmitting device 220 can provide the audio signal to the wireless communication module 212 of the receiving device 210 through the wireless communication module 222, so that the processor 211 of the receiving device 210 can provide the audio signal to the transmitting device 220 and other transmitting devices through the communication interface 413. In this regard, the processor 221 of the transmitting device 220 may further provide the sound signal to the speaker 323 of the audio/video providing device 320 for playing, and the speakers of the audio/video providing devices coupled to other transmitting devices may also play the sound signal. Therefore, in order to reduce the occurrence of crosstalk, the receiving device 210 of the present embodiment may disable the microphones of the other transmitting devices.

In one embodiment, the video conferencing software may be installed in the audio-visual providing device 320, for example. When the processor 321 of the audio/video providing device 320 executes the video conference software, the audio processing module 223 of the transmitting device 220 can receive at least one audio signal provided by the other transmitting device or the microphone 225 from the receiving device 210, and the audio processing module 223 can provide the at least one audio signal to the audio/video providing device 320. For example, assuming that the receiving device 210 may be further coupled to another transmitting device, when the microphone of the other transmitting device is enabled, the receiving device 210 may disable the microphone 225 of the transmitting device 220 first, or even disable the microphones of the other transmitting devices, so as to effectively avoid crosstalk interference. The sound processing module 223 of the transmitting device 220 can receive the sound signal provided by the microphone of another transmitting device from the receiving device 210 and provide the sound signal to the audio-video providing device 320. In other words, for the transmitting device 220, the transmitting device 220 does not know why the sound source is, but only knows that the sound signal is received from the receiving device 210. Also, in an embodiment, the microphone 324 of the audio-visual providing device 320 is not disabled. In this way, the user operating the audio/video providing device 320 can speak through the microphone 324 of the audio/video providing device 320.

In another embodiment, the video conferencing software may also be installed in the receiving device 210, for example. When the receiving end device 210 executes the video conference software, the receiving end device 210 may register the transmitting end device 220 and other transmitting end devices also coupled to the receiving end device 210 as virtual microphones, respectively, and the video conference software executed by the receiving end device 210 directly connects the virtual microphones. For example, when the microphone 225 of the transmitting device 220 is enabled, the receiving device 210 can disable the microphones of the other transmitting devices to effectively avoid crosstalk. At this time, the video conference software executed by the receiving end device 210 may register the microphone 225 of the transmitting end device 220 as a virtual microphone, and the microphone 324 of the audio-visual providing device 320 is disabled. In this way, the user operating the audio/video providing device 320 can speak through the microphone 225 of the transmitting device 220, so that the receiving device 210 can provide the audio signal to the video conference software executed by the processor 211.

It should be noted that the aforementioned registering of the plurality of transmitting end devices as the plurality of virtual microphones means that the video conference software executed by the receiving end device 210 may respectively set (or consider) the plurality of transmitting end devices coupled to the receiving end device 210 as (i.e. consider) a plurality of sound sources (i.e. as a plurality of external microphone apparatuses) so as to receive the sound signals respectively provided by the transmitting end devices. In other words, the transmitting end devices can further provide the audio signals provided by the respective microphones or the respective coupled audio-video providing devices to the receiving end device 210. The registration may be that the video conference software recognizes the transmitting devices as a plurality of external microphone apparatuses, and changes the hardware registration identification codes of the transmitting devices to the hardware registration identification codes of the virtual microphones corresponding to the video conference software, for example. From another perspective, the receiving device 210 can directly consider the transmitting devices as virtual microphones that can provide sound signals, regardless of the source of the sound signals (possibly from the microphones of the transmitting devices or the av stream data provided by the av providing device).

Fig. 4 is a circuit schematic of a multimedia system according to yet another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to fig. 4, the multimedia system 400 includes a receiving end device 410, a plurality of transmitting end devices 420_1 to 420_m, and an audio device 430, wherein M is a positive integer. The transmitting-end devices 420_1 to 420_m may have microphones, respectively. The audio device 430 may be a smart speaker apparatus having a microphone and a speaker. Also, in one embodiment, the audio device 430 may be operated by a user. In one embodiment, the multimedia system 400 may be coupled to a plurality of audio devices, and is not limited to the one shown in fig. 4. The transmitting end devices 420_1 to 420_M are coupled to the video providing devices 520_1 to 520_M through wired communication. The transmitting devices 420_1 to 420_M are coupled to the receiving device 410 through wireless communication. The audio device 430 is coupled to the receiving device 410 through wired communication. However, in one embodiment, the audio device 430 may also be coupled to the receiving device 410 through wireless communication.

In this embodiment, when the receiving end device 410 determines that the microphone of the audio device 430 is enabled, the receiving end device 410 can actively output at least one control signal to at least one of the transmitting end devices 420_1 to 420_m to disable the microphone of at least one of the transmitting end devices 420_1 to 420_m. In one embodiment, when the receiving end device 410 determines that it is coupled to the audio device 430, the receiving end device 410 may also preset the microphone of the audio device 430 to be enabled and disable the microphone of at least one of the transmitting end devices 420_1 to 420_m. In one embodiment, when the receiving end device 410 determines that the microphone of one of the transmitting end devices 420_1 to 420_m is enabled, the receiving end device 410 may actively output at least one control signal to at least one of the audio device 430 and the other transmitting end devices to disable at least one of the microphones of the audio device 430 and the other transmitting end devices. In other words, when a user operating one of the transmitting devices 420_1 to 420_m and the audio device 430 speaks, the receiving device 410 can disable the microphone of the other and/or audio device 430 to effectively reduce crosstalk (crosstalk) interference.

In addition, the specific implementation circuits and the specific implementation implementations of the receiving end device 410, the transmitting end devices 420_1 to 420_m and the audio/video providing devices 520_1 to 520_m in the embodiment of fig. 3 can refer to the descriptions of the receiving end device 210, the transmitting end device 220 and the audio/video providing device 320 described above, and are not repeated here.

Fig. 5 is a schematic circuit diagram of the audio/video providing device, the transmitting device and the receiving device according to the embodiment of the present invention. The following embodiment takes the audio device 430 as an example. In this embodiment, the receiving device 410 includes a processor 411 and a communication interface 413. The processor 411 is coupled to a communication interface 413. The receiver device 410 may also include a wireless communication module 212, such as the receiver device 210 of fig. 2. The audio device 430 includes a processor 431, a communication interface 432, a speaker 434, and a microphone 444. The processor 431 is coupled to the communication interface 432, the speaker 434, and the microphone 444.

In this embodiment, the communication interface 432 of the audio device 430 is coupled to the communication interface 413 of the receiving device 410 in a wired communication manner. The communication interface 432 may be coupled to the communication interface 413 of the receiving device 410 via a Type-C transmission line, an HDMI transmission line, or other Type of transmission line. In this embodiment, when the microphone 444 of the audio device 430 is enabled, the processor 431 of the audio device 430 can provide the audio signal to the communication interface 413 of the receiving end device 410 through the communication interface 432, so that the processor 411 of the receiving end device 410 can provide the audio signal to the audio device 430 and other transmitting end devices through the communication interface 413. In this regard, the processor 431 of the audio device 430 may provide the audio signal to the speaker 434 for playing, and the speakers of the audio-visual providing devices coupled to other transmission end devices may also play the audio signal. Therefore, in order to reduce the occurrence of crosstalk, the receiving device 210 of the present embodiment may disable the microphones of the other transmitting devices. In addition, if the microphone 444 of the audio device 430 is disabled when the microphones of the other transmitting devices are enabled, the receiving device 210 may similarly disable the microphone 444 to reduce the occurrence of crosstalk interference.

In summary, the multimedia system of the present invention can realize a conference system for multiple users, and can provide a sound receiving function through the microphone of the transmitting device, so as to provide a better sound receiving function. The multimedia system of the invention can automatically detect the microphone of the main speaker so as to correspondingly disable all or part of the microphones of other transmission end devices, thereby effectively reducing the occurrence of crosstalk interference. In addition, the multimedia system of the invention can be used together with conference software.

The invention has been described with respect to the above-described embodiments, however, the above-described embodiments are merely examples of practicing the invention. It should be noted that the disclosed embodiments do not limit the scope of the invention. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (18)

1. A multimedia system, comprising:

a plurality of transmission devices each having a microphone; and

a receiving end device coupled with the plurality of transmission devices,

wherein the receiving end apparatus outputs at least one control signal to at least one other of the plurality of transmitting devices to disable the microphone of the at least one other of the plurality of transmitting devices when the microphone of the one of the plurality of transmitting devices is enabled.

2. The multimedia system of claim 1, wherein the one of the plurality of transmitting devices is an audio device, and the receiving device actively outputs the at least one control signal to the at least one other of the plurality of transmitting devices to disable the microphone of the at least one other of the plurality of transmitting devices, wherein the audio device is coupled to the receiving device via a wired communication.

3. The multimedia system of claim 1, wherein the one of the plurality of transmitting devices is a first transmitting device and the first transmitting device is coupled to the receiving device by wireless communication, wherein the at least one other of the plurality of transmitting devices is an audio device and the audio device is coupled to the receiving device by wired communication.

4. The multimedia system of claim 1, wherein the one of the plurality of transmitting devices is a first transmitting device and the first transmitting device is coupled to the receiving device by wireless communication, wherein the at least one other of the plurality of transmitting devices is a second transmitting device and the second transmitting device is coupled to the receiving device by wireless communication.

5. The multimedia system of claim 1, wherein the microphone of each of the plurality of transmission devices is preset to operate in a mute mode, and the microphone of the at least one of the plurality of transmission devices is switched to operate in an unmuted mode when the at least one of the plurality of transmission devices detects a human voice;

or the microphone of each of the plurality of transmission devices is preset to operate in a non-mute mode, and when the at least one of the plurality of transmission devices detects a voice, the receiving end device switches the microphone of the at least one other of the plurality of transmission devices to operate in a mute mode.

6. The multimedia system of claim 1, wherein when the plurality of transmitting devices respectively provide a plurality of sound signals to the receiving device, the receiving device compares a plurality of volume levels of the plurality of sound signals or determines relative positions of the plurality of sound signals to each other to respectively determine whether to switch the respective microphones of the plurality of transmitting devices in a mute mode or an unmuted mode.

7. The multimedia system of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the plurality of transmitting devices is a first transmitting device coupled to the receiving device by wireless communication and coupled to a first audio/video providing device by wired communication, wherein the microphone of the first transmitting device is enabled and the first transmitting device provides the first video signal to the receiving device when the first audio/video providing device provides the first video signal to the first transmitting device, wherein the receiving device disables the microphone of the at least one other of the plurality of transmitting devices.

8. The multimedia system of claim 7, wherein the microphone of the first transmitting device generates a first sound signal, and the first audio-visual providing device further provides a second sound signal, wherein the first transmitting device combines the first sound signal and the second sound signal to transmit a sound combined signal to the receiving device.

9. The multimedia system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transmitting devices each have physical keys,

wherein when the physical key of the at least one of the plurality of transmission devices is in a trigger state, the at least one of the plurality of transmission devices enables the microphone of the at least one of the plurality of transmission devices;

wherein the at least one of the plurality of transmitting devices disables the microphone of the at least one of the plurality of transmitting devices when the physical key of the at least one of the plurality of transmitting devices is in a non-activated state.

10. The multimedia system of claim 9, wherein the microphone of the at least one other one of the plurality of transmitting devices is enabled after the at least one other one of the plurality of transmitting devices waits for the physical key of the other transmitting device to be in the non-activated state when the physical key of the at least one other one of the plurality of transmitting devices is in the activated state.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the receiving device determines the voting information based on the number of the physical buttons of each of the plurality of transmitting devices as the trigger states when the respective microphones of the plurality of transmitting devices are operated in a mute mode.

12. The multimedia system of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the plurality of transmitting devices is a first transmitting device coupled to the receiving device by wireless communication and to a first audio/video providing device by wired communication, wherein the first audio/video providing device disables a built-in microphone and uses the microphone of the first transmitting device when the first audio/video providing device determines that the first transmitting device has the microphone.

13. The multimedia system of claim 12, wherein the first transmitting device is coupled to the first video providing device via an HDMI transmission line and a Type-C transmission line.

14. The multimedia system of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the plurality of transmission devices is a first transmission device, and the first transmission device is coupled to the receiving device by wireless communication and is coupled to a first audio/video providing device by wired communication, wherein the audio processing module of the first transmission device receives at least one audio signal provided by other transmission devices from the receiving device when the first audio/video providing device executes the video conference software, and the audio processing module provides the at least one audio signal to the first audio/video providing device.

15. The multimedia system of claim 14, wherein the at least one other transmission device of the plurality of transmission devices is a second transmission device, and the second transmission device is coupled to the receiving device by wireless communication and is coupled to a second audio/video providing device by wired communication, wherein the second audio/video providing device provides the at least one audio signal to the second transmission device, and the second transmission device provides the at least one audio signal to the audio processing module of the first transmission device by the receiving device.

16. The multimedia system of claim 14 wherein the microphone built into the first audio/video providing device is not disabled.

17. The multimedia system of claim 1, wherein the receiving device registers the plurality of transmitting devices as a plurality of virtual microphones, respectively, when the receiving device executes the video conference software, and the video conference software directly connects the plurality of virtual microphones.

18. The multimedia system of claim 1, wherein the receiving device comprises a human-machine interface, and wherein the receiving device controls the at least one of the plurality of transmitting devices to normally enable the microphone of the at least one of the plurality of transmitting devices according to a permission setting of the human-machine interface.