ES2666659B1 - Disciplinary assistance device for a classroom by means of acoustic signals - Google Patents

Description

D E S C R I P C I O N

DISCIPLINARY ASSISTANCE DEVICE FOR A MEETING CLASSROOM

ACOUSTIC SIGNALS

TECHNICAL SECTOR

The present invention is framed in the Audiovisual Sector, specifically oriented to Education.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is currently the task of the teacher who exercises his function in a classroom to assume the task of maintaining the appropriate silence and order in a classroom. This is often difficult. There is no history of any electronic device that assists the teacher in this task. This device intends to assume this function, serving as a supportive corrective measure when there is an inappropriate level of noise or disturbance in the classroom for the proper teaching function.

EXPLANATION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a device comprising a microphone or other sound-sensitive device, a control unit, which includes a process element responsible for analyzing the sound picked up by said microphone, and a loudspeaker or other sound-emitting device that It produces a tone of a certain frequency, sufficiently intense to be heard despite the classroom noise, as a corrective measure of attitude. The process element determines if the noise level of the classroom is compatible or not with the proper exercise of the teaching function, measuring if a temporary average of the recorded sound intensity exceeds a configurable threshold, and if this threshold is exceeded, it indicates said condition activating the loudspeaker and producing a tone of a frequency also configurable. When said time average of the recorded intensity falls below the threshold, the tone ceases. In a preferred embodiment, the loudspeaker will emit a tone with a frequency in the range of 15000 Hz to 20000 Hz, of increasing intensity, which in no case will exceed the intensity of 80db more than one meter away from the loudspeaker. This tone, in the long run, and in case of not reestablishing the appropriate order, is uncomfortable, but not harmful, for the students, who typically do not reach the age of majority, and is inaudible for the teacher, who must be of necessity a adult and it is unlikely that he can perceive a tone of such frequency. In addition to the acoustic signal, additional stimuli can be included, such as those provided by a luminous panel that indicates the noise level by means of the usual color code (green, yellow, red).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complement the description that is being made and in order to help a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, a set of drawings is included as an integral part of said description, in which the illustrative and non-limiting character has been represented. following:

Figure 1.- Shows the functional block diagram of the invention

1) Disciplinary attendance device

2) Microphone

3) Speaker

4) Control unit

Figure 2 .- Shows the most detailed structure of the preferred embodiment

5) Housing

6) Microphone

7) Speaker

8) Control unit

to. Plate logics

b. Microcontroller

c. Storage for software / firmware

9) Luminous panel

10) Control panel

d. Activation threshold adjustment

and. Output volume adjustment

F. Frequency adjustment

g. Temporary tolerance adjustment

h. Input of the C.A. to C.C.

11) Alternating current to direct current adapter

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

According to fig. 2, the device in its preferred embodiment is composed of a carola (5) of plastic or some other appropriate material, which protects the control unit (8), and has openings to house the microphone (6), e! loudspeaker (7) and the light panel (9), so that the active part of said components faces the outside of the housing. The housing also exposes a panel of controls (10), which allows setting the parameters of detection threshold, output volume, frequency, and temporary tolerance of detection, and the DC power supply. An external AC / DC power adapter (11) is connected to the power plug located on the control panel (10). The control unit (8) comprises a microcontroller sufficiently powerful to process the audio serial in real time, an input / output panel to communicate with the rest of the components of the system, and a ROM or similar memory where the firmware is stored and the software timely. Said control unit is capable of capturing data from the microphone and emitting sounds through the loudspeaker. The light panel (9) consists of a succession of LEDs of green, yellow and red, which are activated in this order as the noise level of the classroom approaches the activation threshold of the acoustic correction of attitude, following the usual convention in which the green color indicates an adequate level of noise, and the red level an inappropriate one, which Sugar gives at the beginning of the corrective measure.

The software that determines whether to apply the corrective measure, and for how long, operates according to the following procedure to detect if many people are talking at the same time:

i. It begins with an initiate state in which tone is not being emitted

ii. A short time window is taken, less than two seconds, and a temporary averaging of the intensity recorded in this interval is performed.

iii. Each time a short window is detected in which the average sound intensity does not exceed the detection threshold parameter, it returns to the initial state. We want to clarify here that in e! appropriate order status in a classroom, in which only one person is speaking at a time (for example, the teacher, or a student who has been asked to read), will take place intervals of short duration with intensity below the threshold every few seconds.

iv. If a number of consecutive short windows is detected, enough to exceed in time the temporary tolerance parameter, in which the intensity exceeds the threshold, the device goes into the response state, starting to emit a high frequency tone.

v. The high frequency tone will increase its intensity until reaching a maximum volume. The time it takes to pass from the minimum volume to the maximum is proportional to the parameter of temporary tolerance.

saw. As soon as a number of windows of short duration accumulate , enough to exceed in time the temporary tolerance parameter, whose average intensity is below the activation threshold, it returns to the initial state.

Claims (5)

1. Device (1) of disciplinary assistance for a classroom by acoustic signals that has a microphone (2), a speaker (3) and a control unit (4), characterized in that the control unit collects sound information from the environment of continuously, through the microphone, and process said information to determine, through a computer procedure, if several people are talking simultaneously in a disorderly manner, and while that condition is detected, emit a high-frequency acoustic signal through the loudspeaker, disciplinary measure mode. Device according to claim 1, wherein the frequency of the disciplinary tone is between 5000 and 20,000 Hz. 3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, which also has a light panel, activated by the control unit, which indicates by light signals the intensity of the sound that is collected through the microphone. Device according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the control unit includes a microprocessor or microcontroller, and has a computer-readable medium in which instructions are stored which, when executed by the control unit, cause it to execute A method to use a computer system to determine if several people are talking simultaneously in a disorderly manner, where the method includes the following steps: i) Information is collected from the microphone during a short interval, between 0.1 and 2 seconds of duration. ii) The average value of the sound intensity during this interval is determined. Mi) If the intensity is lower than the intensity threshold, a counter (A) is set to zero (said counter was initially at zero) and it returns to step i) iv) The counter (A) is incremented. If the value of this counter exceeds a certain threshold value, possibly adjustable, step v) is followed. Otherwise, it returns to step i) v) The emission of high frequency disciplinary tone begins. The counter is reset (A) vi) As in step i) vii) As step ii) viii) If the average intensity is above the intensity threshold, reset the counter (A) to zero and return to step vi) ix) Increase (A). If the value of the counter exceeds a threshold value, follow step x), otherwise go back to step vi) x) The tone emission is stopped, the counter (A) is reset and step i is returned Device according to claim 4, further comprising a control panel, connected to the control unit, which allows adjusting the parameters of the computer method described in claim 4.