JP2002247697A - Environmental audio broadcast system and its broadcast controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an environmental audio broadcast system that provides superior relaxation effects onto users on each occasion corresponding to an environmental condition of a broadcast object area and distributes advertisements, without causing sense of incongruity. SOLUTION: A database DB of a broadcast controller BC stores environmental audio sources and the controller BC receives and stores audio advertisement information from an advertisement agent server DSV. The broadcast controller periodically collects respectively meteorological information and discomfort index detection data in station premises from an information source server ISV and each of station premise broadcast systems ST1-STn; each station selects an optimum environmental audio source on each occasion, on the basis of the collected environmental information elements and calendar information, edits environmental broadcast information with advertisement by each station, on the basis of the audio advertisement information, transmits the environmental broadcast information with advertisement by each station to the corresponding station premise broadcast systems ST1-STn, from which the source is broadcast.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a common area used by an unspecified number of people, such as a concourse at a station, a waiting room, a lobby of a collective building, or the like. The present invention relates to an environmental audio broadcasting system for broadcasting environmental audio materials including pseudo-natural sounds, and a broadcast control device therefor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, rapid changes in the state of society and IT (Inform
Due to the flood of information associated with the spread of related devices, the stress felt by people is increasing, and various measures are being studied to reduce this stress.

[0003] For example, in the medical field, aromatherapy, British massage, spa therapy and the like are performed in addition to medical treatment by psychiatry. However, this kind of coping therapy must rely on specialists and specialized facilities, and it is difficult for an unspecified number of people to use it casually.

[0004] On the other hand, it is considered to relax the user's mind by broadcasting environmental music having a healing effect or artificial natural sound as BGM (Back Grand Music) to a common space such as a hotel or airport lobby. Or some have been implemented. This type of system has attracted particular attention because it can relieve the stress of an unspecified number of people with relatively simple equipment.

[0005]

However, this type of system which has been studied or implemented conventionally broadcasts music or the like arbitrarily selected by an operator at a constant volume regardless of location. is there. For this reason, in a space where the noise level varies depending on the location, such as the premises of a station or an airport lobby, the BGM may not exhibit the intended effect. For example, in a place where noise is relatively large, such as a concourse in a station, BGM is mixed with noise and hardly reaches the user's ear. On the other hand, in a place with little traffic or a waiting space, etc., the BGM reaches the user with a relatively large volume, so that some users may feel uncomfortable.

[0006] In addition, music selection of music to be broadcast is performed manually by an operator. For this reason, the burden on the operator is large, and it is difficult to frequently change music pieces. Also, the music selection tends to be biased depending on the operator's preference.

[0007] Further, various studies have been made to distribute advertisement information using the shared space. However, common spaces used by an unspecified number of people generally have a high public nature, so that sufficient consideration is required for distribution, and a specific distribution method taking this point into consideration has been demanded.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a first object of the present invention is to provide a user with the best relaxation effect every time or every place according to environmental conditions of a broadcast target area. And to provide an environmental audio broadcasting system and a broadcast control device thereof.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide an environmental audio broadcasting system and a broadcast control device which enable an audio advertisement to be distributed in a common space without causing a user to feel uncomfortable. .

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a common space used by an unspecified number of people is defined as a broadcast target area, and music or pseudo-simulation is performed on the broadcast target area. In an environmental audio broadcasting system for broadcasting an environmental audio material including natural sounds, the broadcast target area is divided into a plurality of small areas, and a speaker device is arranged for each of the small areas. Is connected to the broadcast control device via the. The broadcast control device is provided with storage means for storing a plurality of environmental audio materials, and the environmental audio materials are selectively read from the storage means and supplied to the respective speaker devices. On the other hand, each of the speaker devices includes a noise sensor that detects a noise level in a small area where the speaker device is installed, and a volume control unit. Then, when the environmental audio material received from the broadcast control device is loudspeaked and output from the speaker, the volume control means variably controls the output volume of the speaker according to the noise level detected by the noise sensor. It was done.

Therefore, according to the first aspect, the output volume of the environmental audio material is variably controlled in accordance with the noise level of each small area of the broadcast target area. For this reason, for example, in an area where the noise level is relatively large, such as a concourse at a station, the environmental audio material is output at a loud volume that does not disturb the noise. In an area where the noise level is low, the sound is output at a relatively low volume that does not hinder the user. When the noise level changes for each small area, the sound volume is automatically variably controlled in accordance with the change. For this reason, it is possible to always maintain the optimum sound volume in each area according to the noise level.

Further, the first invention provides the broadcast control device,
Environmental information element collecting means for collecting predetermined elements representing environmental conditions of the broadcast target area is further provided, and based on the elements collected by the environmental information element collecting means, environmental audio materials suitable for the environmental conditions of the area are stored. It is also characterized by selectively reading from the means.

With this configuration, if calendar information such as season, month, day of the week, and time zone, and weather information such as weather, temperature, and humidity of the day are collected as elements representing environmental conditions, such information is obtained. Music and pseudo-natural sounds that can relax the user's mood more effectively are selected and broadcast. For this reason, it is possible to further enhance the relaxation effect for the user.

Further, each speaker device is provided with an environmental sensor for detecting an element representing an environmental condition of the small area, and the element detected by the environmental sensor is collected by a broadcast control device to obtain an environmental audio material. Use it for editing. With this configuration, for example, the temperature and humidity of each small area can be detected, and this detection information can be reflected as one of the conditions for selecting environmental music or pseudo-natural sound. Therefore, it is possible to edit environmental audio materials in detail for each small area.

On the other hand, in order to achieve the second object, a second invention provides a broadcast control apparatus, comprising: a first storage means for storing a plurality of environmental audio materials; and a computer device of an advertiser or an advertising agency. And an advertisement collecting means for collecting audio advertisement information via a communication network, and a second storage means for storing the audio advertisement information collected by the advertisement collecting means. Then, environmental audio material and audio advertisement information are selectively read from the first and second storage means, respectively, and environmental broadcast information with advertisement is edited based on the read environmental audio material and audio advertisement information, The edited environmental broadcast information with advertisement is transmitted to the speaker device and output as loudspeakers.

Therefore, according to the second invention, it is possible to give the user a relaxed feeling by broadcasting environmental music or pseudo-natural sound in the same manner as in the first invention. Since the audio advertisement information is distributed in a state of being inserted or superimposed on the sound, the audio advertisement information can be casually transmitted to the user. That is, it is possible to distribute the audio advertisement without impairing the relaxation effect.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an environmental broadcasting system according to the present invention.
The inside of a railway station is to be broadcast.

That is, at each station or main station operated by the railway company, station premises broadcasting systems ST1 to STn are installed. Each station premises broadcast system ST1 to STn is connected to a broadcast control device BC of a railway company via a dedicated line network NWB, for example.
Connected to each other. As the leased line network NWB, for example, an in-house network laid by a railway company is used.

The broadcast control device BC is provided in the host computer of the railway company or as a part of the function of the host computer, and has a database DB for storing various information related to broadcasting.

An information source server ISV is connected to the broadcast control device BC via a public network NWA. The information source server ISV is a server operated by, for example, the Meteorological Agency or a weather information distribution company, and the broadcast control device BC collects weather information, which is one of the elements representing environmental conditions, from the information source server ISV.

The broadcast control device BC includes a public network NWA.
Is connected to the advertisement agency server DSV. A plurality of advertiser terminals CT1 to CTm and a terminal MT of an advertisement production company are connected to the advertisement agency server DSV via a public network NWA. The advertising agency server DSV is an advertiser terminal C
When an advertisement distribution request is received from T1 to CTm via the public network NWA, the terminal MT of the advertisement production company is sent to the public network NW.
A production request for audio advertisement information is transmitted via A.
When the produced audio advertisement information is transmitted from the terminal MT of the advertisement production company via the public network NWA, the audio advertisement information is transmitted to the broadcast control device BC via the public network NWA.

The public network NWA is a public switched telephone network (PSTN).
Switched Telephone Network) and ISDN (Integrate
d Service Digital Network), a packet network, a mobile communication network, and a computer network such as the Internet.

The broadcast control device BC is configured as follows. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration. The broadcast control device BC includes a CPU 11 serving as a main control unit.
It has. The CPU 11 is connected via a bus 12 to a program memory 13 and a data memory 14 comprising a RAM for temporarily storing control data. The CPU 11 also has a public network communication interface 15 and a dedicated line network communication interface 1 via a bus 12.
6. The maintenance terminal interface 17 and the external memory interface 18 are connected.

First, the public network communication interface 1
5 is an advertisement agency server DSV and an information source server ISV according to a communication program defined by the public network NWA.
Sends and receives information to and from The dedicated line network communication interface 16 transmits and receives information to and from each station premises broadcasting system ST1 to STn according to a communication program defined by the dedicated line network NWB. The external memory interface 18 accesses the database DB to write and read information.

The maintenance terminal interface 17 transmits and receives input / output information to and from the maintenance terminal HT. Maintenance terminal HT
Is used by an operator to check the operation state, program, and internal data of the broadcast control device, and is also used to store environmental audio materials recorded on a recording medium in a database DB.

The program memory 13 includes an environmental audio material management control program 13a, an advertisement information reception control program 13b, an environmental information element collection control program 13c, an environmental broadcast information editing program 14d, and an environmental broadcast information distribution control program 13e. And are stored.

Environmental audio material management control program 1
3a manages a large number of environmental audio materials stored in the environmental audio material storage area 21a in the database DB. Specifically, additional storage of newly collected or produced materials and management of old materials are performed. Perform delete processing. The environmental audio material is, for example, music or pseudo-natural sound suitable for environmental broadcasting, and these are stored in the environmental audio material storage area 21a in a state where they are compression-encoded by a predetermined audio encoding method.

The advertisement information reception control program 13b receives the audio advertisement information from the advertisement agency server DSV through the public network communication interface 15 when the audio advertisement information is sent together with the advertisement distribution request. Then, the received audio advertisement information is subjected to a standard check such as length and the like, and the audio advertisement information determined to conform by this check is stored in the advertisement information storage area 21b in the database DB. The audio advertisement information is composed of, for example, a commercial song, and is stored in the advertisement information storage area 21b in a state where the audio advertisement information is compressed and encoded by the audio encoding method, similarly to the environmental audio material.

Environment information element collection control program 13c
Periodically accesses the information source server ISV via the public network communication interface 15 and collects weather information from the information source server ISV. At the same time, it periodically accesses the station premises broadcasting systems ST1 to STn via the dedicated line network communication interface 16 and collects elements related to environmental conditions in each station premises, such as temperature and humidity detection data.

The environmental broadcast information editing program 13d, based on the environmental information elements collected by the environmental information element collection control program 13c, respectively stores the environmental audio material storage area 21a and the audio advertisement information storage area 21b of the database DB. An environmental audio material and audio advertisement information suitable for the occasional environmental conditions are selectively read, and these are edited to create station-specific advertisement-attached environmental broadcast information. As an editing method, for example, audio advertisement information is inserted between songs of environmental audio material.

Environmental broadcast information distribution control program 13e
Each time new environmental broadcast information with advertisement for each station is created by the environmental broadcast information editing program 13d, the environmental broadcast information with advertisement is transmitted to the dedicated line communication interface 1.
6 corresponding to station premises broadcasting systems ST1 to STn
Send to.

On the other hand, station premises broadcasting systems ST1 to STn
Are relay devices RP connected to the leased line network NWB.
And a radio base station BS connected to the relay device RP,
A plurality of loudspeaker devices (in the drawing, three loudspeakers are illustrated) SP1 to SP3 distributed in a broadcast target area EE in the station yard
It is composed of

The relay device RP receives the environmental broadcast information with advertisement sent from the broadcast control device BC and supplies it to the speaker devices SP1 to SP3, and is configured as follows. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration.

That is, the relay device RP includes a CPU 41 as a control unit. The CPU 41 is connected to a program memory 43, a data memory 44 including a RAM, and an environmental broadcast information storage memory 45 via a bus 42. ing. At the same time, a dedicated line communication interface 46, a private network communication interface 47, and a private broadcast equipment interface 48 are connected to the CPU 41 via the bus 42, respectively.

First, the dedicated line network communication interface 46 transmits and receives information to and from the broadcast controller BC according to a communication program specified by the dedicated line network NWB. The private network communication interface 47 transmits and receives information to and from the wireless base station BS. The private broadcast equipment interface 48 transmits and receives signals to and from the private broadcast microphone 49a and the monitor speaker 49b.

On the other hand, the program memory 43 has a private broadcast control program 43a, an environmental broadcast information reception control program 43b, and an environmental information element transmission control program 43c.
Is stored.

The private broadcast control program 43a causes the loudspeakers SP1 to SP3 to loudspeaker output the audio signal for the private broadcast input from the private broadcast microphone 49a, and outputs the signal during a period when the private broadcast is not being performed. The environmental broadcast information with advertisement is read from the environmental broadcast information storage memory 45 and the speaker devices SP1 to SP
3 to output loudspeakers.

Environmental broadcast information reception control program 43b
Receives new environmental broadcast information with advertisements from the broadcast control device BC via the leased line network communication interface 46. Then, the old environmental broadcast information with advertisement stored in the environmental broadcast information storage memory 45 is updated to the new environmental broadcast information with advertisement.

Environment information element transmission control program 43c
Collects detection data of temperature and humidity in a small area from each of the speaker devices ST1 to ST3 when a request to collect environmental information elements arrives from the broadcast control device BC. Then, it is determined whether or not the collected detection data has changed from the previous detection data. If the detection data has changed, the detection data is transmitted from the dedicated network communication interface 46 to the broadcast control device B.
Send to C

The radio base station BS is, for example, a private PHS (Pe
rsonal Handyphone System), Wireless LAN (Local Area)
Network) or a short-range wireless data communication method such as BT (Bluetooth).
It transmits and receives information to and from the mobile station, and has an existing wireless interface and an antenna AT corresponding to these systems.

The broadcast target area EE in the station yard is divided into three small areas E1 to E3, for example, a concourse, a ticket counter and a waiting room space, and the speaker devices SP1 to SP3 are divided into these small areas E1 to E3. It is installed for each. In a small area having a large area and cannot be covered by one speaker, a plurality of speaker devices are arranged.

Each of the speaker devices ST1 to ST3 is configured as follows. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration. That is, after receiving the radio frequency signal transmitted from the radio base station BS by the antenna 31, the radio circuit 4
The signal is then subjected to low-noise amplification, frequency-converted to a signal of an intermediate frequency or a baseband frequency, and input to a modulation / demodulation circuit 33. The modulation / demodulation circuit 33 includes the radio circuit 4
2 is demodulated and the encoded data of the environmental broadcast information with advertisement is input to the audio reproduction circuit 34.

The audio reproducing circuit 34 includes a signal processing circuit 35 and a variable gain amplifier 36. Signal processing circuit 3
Reference numeral 5 reproduces an audio signal of the environmental broadcast information with advertisement by subjecting the encoded data of the environmental broadcast information with advertisement to audio decoding processing. The variable gain amplifier 36 amplifies the audio signal reproduced by the signal processing circuit 35 in accordance with a gain specified by a control circuit 38 described later, and outputs the amplified signal from a speaker 37.

Each of the speaker devices ST1 to ST3 has
A noise sensor 39a, a temperature sensor 39b, and a humidity sensor 39c are provided. Detection signals of these sensors 39a to 39c are input to the control circuit 38.

The control circuit 38 comprises, for example, a microcomputer, and has a volume control function 38a as its control function.
And a detection data transmission control function 38b. The volume control function 38a takes in a noise level detection signal from the noise sensor 39a at regular time intervals. Then, an optimum gain value corresponding to the noise level represented by the detection signal is read from a control table in the control circuit 38, and the gain value is set in the variable gain amplifier 36.

Each time a request for transmitting sensor detection data arrives from the relay device RP, the detection data transmission control function 38b outputs the detection data of the temperature and humidity in the small area obtained by the temperature sensor 39b and the humidity sensor 39c. The packet is transmitted to the relay device RP via the radio base station BS.

Next, the broadcasting operation in the system configured as described above will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the procedure and contents of environmental broadcast control by the broadcast control device BC, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are flowcharts showing the procedures and contents of local broadcast control and environmental broadcast control by the relay device RP, respectively. FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing an information transfer procedure in the system.

When advertisers wishing to distribute advertisements by commercial songs in the station premises, each advertiser has his / her own terminal CT1-C.
Using Tm, an advertisement application is transmitted to the advertising agency server DSV via the public network NWA. This advertisement application includes, for example, advertiser attribute information such as an advertisement period, an advertisement distribution desired area, an advertiser's name and a contact address, in addition to a company name and a product name that the user wants to insert into a commercial song. In the advertiser terminals CT1 to CTm, processing for paying the advertisement fee is performed together with the transmission of the advertisement application. There are various methods for paying the advertisement fee, and electronic payment using the public network NWA is appropriate.

When the application for the advertisement comes, the advertisement agency server DSV transmits an advertisement production request to the terminal MT of the advertisement production company via the public network NWA. When the audio advertisement information produced from the terminal MT of the advertisement production company is delivered via the public network NWA, the audio advertisement information is transmitted to the broadcast control device BC via the public network NWA together with an advertisement distribution request. . In the advertisement distribution request, advertiser attribute information such as an advertisement period, an advertisement distribution desired area, an advertiser name, and a contact address included in the advertisement application are inserted. In this case as well, the advertisement agency server DSV performs processing for paying the advertisement fee together with the transmission of the advertisement distribution request. Electronic payment using the public network NWA is also used to pay the advertisement fee.

In the standby state, the broadcast control device BC monitors the arrival of an advertisement distribution request in step 6a as shown in FIG. In this state, when an advertisement distribution request arrives from the advertisement agency server DSV, the audio advertisement information that arrives together with the advertisement distribution request is received, and the standard of the audio advertisement information is checked. When the length or the like conforms to the standard, the received audio advertisement information is stored in the audio advertisement information storage area 21b in the database DB in step 6c. At this time, the advertisement period included in the advertisement distribution request is stored in the audio advertisement information storage area 21b in association with the audio advertisement information.
The advertisement distribution desired area and the advertiser attribute information are stored as management information.

Similarly, every time an advertisement distribution request arrives from the advertisement agency server DSV, the standard of the audio advertisement information received together with the request is checked. The information is stored in the audio advertisement information storage area 21b.

In step 6b, the broadcast control unit BC monitors the input of a request for updating the environmental audio material in the standby state. In this state, for example, when the operator inputs an update request from the maintenance terminal HT, the music data of the new music is read from the maintenance terminal HT in step 6d, and the music data is additionally stored in the environmental audio material storage area 21a in the database DB. I do.

While performing the above-described standby processing of the audio advertisement information and the environmental audio material, the broadcast control device BC monitors the timer in step 6e. And
Every time a predetermined time elapses, collection of environmental information elements and editing processing of environmental broadcast information based on the environmental information elements are executed.

That is, in step 6f, the broadcast control unit BC first sends a request for transmitting an environmental information element to the information source server ISV via the public network NWA, and the information source server ISV transmits the weather, the predicted maximum temperature and the Collect weather information such as predicted minimum temperature. Next, a dedicated line network N is provided for each station premises broadcasting system ST1 to STn.
A transmission request for an environmental information element is sent via the WB.

On the other hand, each station premises broadcasting system ST1 to ST1
As shown in FIG. 8, the relay device RP of STn monitors the arrival of an environmental information element transmission request from the broadcast control device BC in step 8d. Then, in this state, when a transmission request for an environment information element arrives from the broadcast control device BC,
The relay device RP proceeds to step 8e, where it sends a request to transmit detection data to each of the speaker devices SP1 to SP3 via the radio base station BS.

When each of the speaker devices SP1 to SP3 receives the request for transmitting the detection data, the speaker device SP1 to SP3 encodes the detection data of the temperature sensor 39b and the humidity sensor 39c at this time into a format suitable for wireless transmission, and relays the relay device RP. Send to

When the relay device RP receives the detection data for each of the small areas E1 to E3 sent from each of the speaker devices SP1 to SP3 in step 8e, first, the relay device RP transmits the data to the small areas E1 to E3 based on the detection data. Find the average of the discomfort index. Then, this average value is compared with the value obtained last time to determine whether or not there has been a change (step 8).
f). If the result of this determination is that a change has been detected, the flow proceeds to step 8g, where the new detection data of the discomfort index is transmitted to the broadcast control device BC via the dedicated line network NWB.

On the other hand, if no change in the discomfort index is detected in the determination in step 8f, the process proceeds to step 8f.
In step h, a notification message indicating that there is no change in the detection data is created, and the notification message is transmitted to the broadcast control device BC via the leased line network NWB. Therefore, in this case, a notification message having a short information length is transmitted, and the traffic of the leased line network NWB is reduced. Further, the process of determining an environmental change for each station in the broadcast control device BC described below is also simplified.

When the collection of the environmental information elements is completed, the broadcast controller BC subsequently proceeds to step 6g,
Here, an environmental change for each station is determined based on the collected data of the environmental information elements. If an environmental change is detected in any one of the stations, the process proceeds to step 6h, where the environmental broadcast information is edited according to the environmental change.

For example, if the weather changes from sunny to rain based on the weather information collected from the information source server ISV, the music associated with the rain is selected from the environmental audio material storage area 21a of the database DB. Alternatively, a song that reduces the annoyance of rain is selected. Then, the environmental broadcast information with advertisement is re-edited based on the selected music and the audio advertisement information read from the audio advertisement information storage area 21b. At this time, when the audio advertisement information is selected, an advertisement of a product related to rain may be selected and edited.

Even if the weather does not change from a sunny or cloudy state, if the discomfort index in a station yard rises by a certain value or more, discomfort is generated from the environmental audio material storage area 21a for the station. The song to be relaxed is selected. Then, the environmental broadcast information with advertisement is edited again by using the music and the audio advertisement information.

In addition, when editing the above-mentioned environmental broadcast information, a song associated with a season or a month is selected based on calendar information stored in advance, and the mood of the people at that time is selected according to the day of the week and time zone. Songs that are effective in reducing the music are selected and used for reediting the environmental broadcast information with advertisement.

When the re-editing process of the environmental broadcast information with advertisement is completed, the broadcast control device BC proceeds to step 6i, where the environmental broadcast information with advertisement re-edited for each station is stored in the environment in the database DB. Broadcast information storage area 21
c. Then, in step 6j, the environmental broadcast information with advertisement re-edited for each station is transmitted to the corresponding station premises broadcasting systems ST1 to STn.
Note that, for example, a packet transmission method is used as the transmission method of the environmental broadcast information with advertisement.

On the other hand, each station premises broadcasting system ST1 to ST
Each of the n relay devices RP monitors the arrival of environmental broadcast information in step 8a as shown in FIG.
In this state, when environmental broadcast information with advertisement arrives from the broadcast control device BC, the relay device RP proceeds to step 8b, and receives the environmental broadcast information with advertisement via the leased line communication interface 46. Then, the previously used environmental broadcast information with advertisement stored in the environmental broadcast information memory 45 is updated to the received new environmental broadcast information with advertisement.

When receiving the environmental broadcast information with advertisement, the relay device RP broadcasts the environmental broadcast information with advertisement as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, first, in step 7a, the advertisement environment broadcast information is read from the environment broadcast information memory 45 for a predetermined time, and this information is decoded to reproduce the original data. Then, the original data is transmitted from the private network communication interface 47 to the wireless base station BS.
The wireless base station BS converts the original data sent from the relay device RP into a format for wireless transmission. For example, original data is voice-encoded and then error-correction-encoded, and the encoded data is converted into a wireless packet. Then, this wireless packet is transmitted to each of the speaker devices SP1 to SP
3 for wireless transmission.

On the other hand, each of the speaker devices SP1 to SP3
Receives the radio packet transmitted from the radio base station BS by the radio circuit 32 via the antenna 31 and further demodulates the radio packet by the modulation / demodulation circuit 33 into the received baseband data. Then, the received baseband data is transmitted to the signal processing circuit 3.
In step 5, the original data of the environmental broadcast information with advertisement is reproduced by performing error correction decoding and audio decoding processing, and the original data is further converted into an analog audio signal. This analog audio signal is amplified by a variable gain amplifier 36 and then output from a speaker 37.

During the operation of receiving, reproducing and outputting the environment broadcast information with advertisement, the speaker devices SP1 to SP3 take in the control circuit 38 the detection signals of the noise levels of the small areas E1 to E3 from the noise sensor 39a at regular time intervals. And
An optimal gain value corresponding to the noise level represented by the detection data is read out from a control table in the control circuit 38 by the volume control function 38a of the control circuit 38, and the gain value is set in the variable gain amplifier 36. . For this reason, the volume of the audio signal of the environmental broadcast information with advertisement output from the speaker 37 is controlled to always be an optimum value according to the current noise level in the small areas E1 to E3. Therefore, even in a place where the noise is relatively high such as a concourse or a ticket office, or in a place where the noise is low such as a waiting space, the environment broadcast information with advertisement always reaches the user's ear at an appropriate volume. Will be.

By the way, the relay device RP monitors the input of the normal or emergency local broadcast start request in step 7c during the transmission of the environmental broadcast information with advertisement. In this state, it is assumed that the person in charge of announcement switches on the private broadcast equipment. Then, in step 7d, the relay device RP suspends the operation of transmitting the environmental broadcast information with advertisement, and substitutes the coded voice signal of the person in charge of the announcement input by the microphone 49a via the radio base station BS for each of the speaker devices SP1 to SP7. Send to SP3 (Step 7)
e). Then, when the switch of the private broadcast equipment is turned off, the relay device RP proceeds from step 7f to step 7g, where the interruption of the transmission operation of the environmental broadcast information with advertisement is released, and the relay of the environmental broadcast information with advertisement is performed. Restarts the transmission operation. Thereafter, each time a normal or emergency indoor broadcast is performed, the transmission operation of the environmental broadcast information with advertisement is muted.

FIG. 10 shows an example of the above-described broadcasting operation. A commercial song of a predetermined time length, for example, 10 seconds, is broadcast between each song of the environmental audio material. If the private broadcast is started while the commercial song is being broadcast, the broadcast of the environmental audio material and the commercial song is interrupted, and the sound of the person in charge of the announcement is broadcast on the private place.

As described above, in this embodiment, in the broadcast control device BC, the environmental audio material is stored in the database DB, and the advertisement agency server D
The audio advertisement information is received from the SV and stored. Then, weather information and discomfort index detection data of the station premises are periodically collected from the information source server ISV and the station premises broadcasting systems ST1 to STn, respectively, and the station-based information is collected for each station based on the collected environmental information elements and calendar information. The most suitable environmental audio material at each time is selected, and the environmental broadcast information with advertisement for each station is edited based on the environmental audio material material and the audio advertisement information described above. The information is transmitted and broadcast to the corresponding station premises broadcasting systems ST1 to STn.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the optimum environmental audio material is automatically selected for each station according to the weather conditions, discomfort index, season, Monday, time zone, etc., and the environmental broadcasting is performed. The information is edited and broadcast. For this reason, it is possible to always provide a good recreation effect by audio broadcasting to the center layer of the user at each station.

Further, since the audio advertisement information such as a commercial song is inserted between music pieces of the environmental audio material and distributed, it is possible to casually distribute the advertisement to the user. Moreover, if the audio advertisement information is selected in accordance with conditions such as weather conditions, discomfort index, season, Monday, time zone, etc., it is possible to mainly distribute timely advertisements according to the needs of the user.

Further, in this embodiment, a noise sensor 39a is provided for each of the speaker devices SP1 to SP3, and the output volume of the environmental broadcast information with advertisement is variably controlled according to the noise level of a small area detected by the noise sensor. ing. For this reason, the volume of the audio signal of the environmental broadcast information with advertisement output from the speaker 37 is lower than the small area E.
Control is performed such that the optimum value is always obtained according to the current noise level in 1 to E3. Therefore, for example, even in a place where the noise is relatively large such as a concourse or a ticket counter, or in a place where the noise is small such as a waiting space, or even when the noise level changes according to the time zone, It is possible to always broadcast the environmental broadcast information with advertisement to the user at an appropriate volume.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, when editing the environmental broadcast information with advertisement, depending on the advertisement distribution desired area included in the attribute information of each audio advertisement information, for each station or each small area of each station, an audio advertisement related to the regionality or area. Information may be selected.

In this way, for example, for each station, the audio advertisement information of the stores nearby is mainly selected. When a small area is set at each of the north exit and the south exit at a certain station, for example, audio advertisement information of a store near the exit is mainly selected for each of these areas. For this reason, it is possible to realize more effective advertisement distribution in consideration of regional characteristics.

In the above embodiment, one broadcast control device B is provided for a plurality of station premises broadcasting systems ST1 to STn.
C has been described, and the case has been described in which environmental broadcasts for a plurality of station premises are controlled by the broadcast control device BC. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a broadcast control device may be provided for each of the station premises broadcasting systems ST1 to STn, and thereby environmental broadcasting may be controlled for each station premises. In this case, the relay device RP provided in each station premises broadcasting system ST1 to STn includes:
This can be realized by providing various control functions for environmental broadcasting in the broadcast control device BC.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, each time the broadcast environment information with advertisement is newly edited in the broadcast control device BC, the environment broadcast information with advertisement is transmitted to each station premises broadcast system ST1 to STn. . However, the present invention is not limited to this.For example, when the broadcast control device edits the environmental broadcast information with advertisement on a daily basis, the environmental broadcast information with advertisement is downloaded collectively in a non-broadcast time zone such as at night. Good.

In this way, it is possible to reduce the traffic of the dedicated line network NWB during the operating hours of the station, and to reduce the processing load on the broadcast control device and the CPU in each station premises broadcasting system.

Further, in the above embodiment, when editing the environmental broadcast information with advertisement, the audio advertisement information is inserted between the songs of the environmental audio material. However, the audio advertisement information is superimposed on the environmental audio material. You may. For a common space where advertisement distribution is not suitable, environmental broadcast information that does not include audio advertisement information may be edited and broadcast. Furthermore, whether or not to distribute the audio advertisement information may be set according to the time zone.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, in each station premises broadcasting system ST1 to STn, the relay device RP and each of the speaker devices SP1 to SP3 are connected by the radio network, but these are connected by wire. You may do so.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the broadcasting station area is set as the broadcast target area has been described as an example. However, the present invention is also applied to an apartment building, a hotel, a hospital, a lobby of a government office, a passage in an underground mall, and the like. It is possible.

In addition, the type of the broadcast target area, the configuration and functions of the broadcast control device, the relay device, and each speaker device, the connection between the broadcast control device and the advertising agency server, the advertiser terminal or the information source server. Type and configuration of communication network, type and configuration of communication network for connecting between broadcast control device and each station premises system, type and content of environmental audio material, content of audio advertisement information, editing of environmental broadcast information with advertisement Various modifications can be made to the format without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0083]

As described above in detail, in the first invention, the broadcast target area is divided into a plurality of small areas, and a speaker device is arranged for each of these small areas. Is connected to the broadcast control device via the.
The broadcast control device is provided with storage means for storing a plurality of environmental audio materials, and the environmental audio materials are selectively read from the storage means and transmitted to the respective speaker devices. On the other hand, each of the speaker devices includes a noise sensor that detects a noise level in a small area where the speaker device is installed, and a volume control unit. Then, when the environmental audio material received from the broadcast control device is loudspeaked and output from the speaker, the volume control means variably controls the output volume of the speaker according to the noise level detected by the noise sensor. ing.

Further, in the first invention, the broadcast control device is further provided with environmental information element collecting means for collecting predetermined elements representing environmental conditions of the broadcast target area, and the elements collected by the environmental information element collecting means are provided. An environmental audio material suitable for the environmental condition is selectively read from the storage device based on the environmental condition.

Therefore, according to the first aspect, it is possible to provide a good relaxation effect to the users of the broadcast area in accordance with various factors representing environmental conditions such as noise, temperature, and humidity in the broadcast area. An environmental audio broadcast system and a broadcast control device thereof can be provided.

On the other hand, in the second invention, a first storage means for storing a plurality of environmental audio materials in a broadcast control device;
Advertisement collecting means for collecting audio advertisement information from a computer device of an advertiser or an advertising agency via a communication network, and second storage means for storing the audio advertisement information collected by the advertisement collecting means. Then, environmental audio material and audio advertisement information are selectively read from the first and second storage means, respectively, and environmental broadcast information with advertisement is edited based on the read environmental audio material and audio advertisement information, The edited environmental broadcast information with advertisement is transmitted to the speaker device and output as loudspeakers.

Therefore, according to the second invention, it is possible to provide an environmental audio broadcasting system and a broadcast control device capable of distributing an audio advertisement without causing a user to feel uncomfortable in a common space. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of an environmental audio broadcasting system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a broadcast control device of the broadcast system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a station premises system of the broadcasting system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a relay device of the station premises system shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a speaker device of the station premises system shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an environmental broadcast control procedure by the broadcast control device shown in FIG. 2 and the control contents.

7 is a flowchart showing a private broadcast control procedure by the relay device shown in FIG. 4 and the control contents.

8 is a flowchart showing the procedure and the contents of environmental broadcast relay control by the relay device shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing an information transfer sequence in the broadcast system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a broadcast form of environmental broadcast information with advertisement.

[Explanation of symbols]

 CT1 to CTm: Advertiser terminal DSV: Advertising agency server MT: Advertising production company terminal ISV: Information source server BC: Broadcast control device DB: Database NWA: Public network NWB: Dedicated line network ST1 to STn: Station premises system HT ... Maintenance terminal 11 ... Broadcast control device CPU 12 ... Bus 13 ... Program memory 13a ... Environmental audio material management control program 13b ... Advertisement information reception control program 13c ... Environmental information element collection control program 13d ... Environmental broadcast information editing program 13e ... Environmental broadcast information distribution control program 14 Data memory (RAM) 15 Public network communication interface 16 Private line communication interface 17 Maintenance terminal interface 18 External memory interface 21a Environmental audio material storage area 21b Advertising Information storage area 21c ... Environmental broadcast information storage area RP ... Relay device BS ... Radio base station AT ... Radio base station antenna EE ... Broadcast target area E1-E3 ... Small area SP1-SP3 ... Speaker device 31 ... Speaker device antenna 32 ... Wireless circuit 33 ... Modulation / demodulation circuit 34 ... Audio reproduction circuit 35 ... Signal processing circuit 36 ... Variable gain amplifier 37 ... Speaker 38 ... Speaker control circuit 38a ... Volume control function 38b ... Detection data transmission control function 39a ... Noise sensor 39b ... Temperature sensor 39c Humidity sensor 41 CPU of relay device 42 Bus 43 Program memory 43a Broadcast control program 43b Environmental broadcast information management control program 44 Data memory (RAM) 45 Private network communication interface 46 Private network communication interface 47 ... Environmental broadcasting information Information storage

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. An environmental audio broadcasting system for broadcasting a common space used by an unspecified number of people as a broadcast target area and broadcasting environmental audio material including music or pseudo-natural sound to the broadcast target area. A plurality of speaker devices arranged for each of a plurality of small areas formed by dividing the speaker device, and a broadcast control device connected to each of the speaker devices via a signal transmission path. A storage unit for storing a plurality of environmental audio materials; and a transmission unit for selectively reading the environmental audio materials from the storage unit and transmitting the read environmental audio materials to the plurality of speaker devices via the signal transmission path. Means, each of the plurality of speaker devices, the environmental audio transmitted by the broadcast control device Receiving means for receiving the material via the signal transmission path; a speaker for loudspeaking and outputting a sound corresponding to the environmental audio material received by the receiving means; and detecting a noise level in a small area in which the own device is installed. Noise sensor, and a noise level detected by the noise sensor,
An environmental audio broadcasting system comprising: a volume control unit variably controlling a volume of a sound output from the speaker. 2. The broadcast control device further comprises environment information element collection means for collecting a predetermined element representing an environmental condition of a broadcast target area, and the editing means includes an element collected by the environment information element collection means. 2. The environmental audio broadcasting system according to claim 1, wherein an environmental audio material suitable for the environmental condition represented by the element is selectively read from the storage unit based on the information. 3. The speaker device further includes an environment sensor for detecting a predetermined element representing an environmental condition for each small area, and the environment information element collection unit is detected by the environment sensor from the speaker device. The editing means has a function of collecting elements representing environmental conditions, and the editing means, based on the elements collected by the environmental information element collecting means, stores, for each small area, an environmental audio material suitable for the environmental conditions in the storage means. 3. The environmental audio broadcasting system according to claim 2, wherein the information is selectively read from the system. 4. A broadcast control device that broadcasts an environmental audio material including music or pseudo-natural sound from a speaker device installed in a broadcast target area using a common space used by an unspecified number of people as a broadcast target area, Storage means for storing a plurality of environmental audio materials; environmental information element collecting means for collecting predetermined elements representing environmental conditions of the broadcast target area; and an environment represented by the elements collected by the environmental information element collecting means. Means for selectively reading environmental audio material suitable for the conditions from the storage means, supplying the read environmental audio material to the speaker device, and outputting the loudspeaker sound. 5. An environmental audio broadcasting system for broadcasting a common space used by an unspecified number of people as an area to be broadcast, and broadcasting an environmental audio material including music or pseudo-natural sound to the area to be broadcast. A plurality of speaker devices arranged for each of a plurality of small areas formed by dividing the speaker device, and a broadcast control device connected to each of the speaker devices via a signal transmission path. A first storage unit that stores a plurality of environmental audio materials; an advertisement collection unit that collects audio advertisement information from a computer device of an advertiser or an advertising agency via a communication network; Second storage means for storing audio advertisement information; and environment information from the first and second storage means, respectively. Editing means for selectively reading audio material and audio advertisement information, and editing environmental broadcast information with advertisement based on the read environmental audio material and audio advertisement information; and environmental broadcast with advertisement created by the editing means Transmitting means for transmitting information to the plurality of speaker devices via the signal transmission path, respectively, wherein each of the plurality of speaker devices transmits the environmental broadcast information with advertisement transmitted by the broadcast control device,
An environmental audio broadcasting system comprising: a receiving unit that receives the signal via the signal transmission path; and a speaker that outputs a sound corresponding to the environmental broadcast information with advertisement received by the receiving unit. 6. Each of the plurality of speaker devices includes: a noise sensor that detects a noise level of a small area where the speaker device is installed; and a noise sensor that detects a noise level detected by the noise sensor.
Volume control means for variably controlling the volume of the sound corresponding to the advertisement-equipped environmental broadcast information output from the speaker.
The environmental audio broadcasting system according to claim 5, further comprising: 7. A broadcast control device for broadcasting a common space used by an unspecified number of people as a broadcast target area and broadcasting environmental audio material including music or pseudo-natural sound from a speaker device installed in the broadcast target area, First storage means for storing a plurality of environmental audio materials, advertisement collection means for collecting audio advertisement information from a computer device of an advertiser or an advertising agency via a communication network, and audio collected by the advertisement collection means Second storage means for storing advertisement information; and selectively reading environmental audio material and audio advertisement information from the first and second storage means, respectively, based on the read environmental audio material and audio advertisement information. Editing means for editing the environmental broadcast information with advertisement, and Advertisement with environmental broadcast controller broadcast information, characterized by comprising an output control means for loudspeaker output is supplied to the speaker apparatus. 8. An environment information element collection unit for collecting a predetermined element representing an environmental condition of the broadcast target area, wherein the editing unit is configured to perform a process based on the element collected by the environment information element collection unit. 8. The broadcast control device according to claim 7, wherein an environmental audio material suitable for an environmental condition represented by an element is selectively read from the first storage means. 9. The loudspeaker device further includes an environment sensor for detecting a predetermined element representing an environmental condition for each small area, and the environment information element collecting means is detected by the loudspeaker device by the environment sensor. The editing means has a function of collecting elements representing environmental conditions, and the editing means, based on the elements collected by the environmental information element collecting means, stores, for each small area, an environmental audio material suitable for the environmental conditions in the storage means. 9. The broadcast control device according to claim 8, wherein the broadcast control device selectively reads out the broadcast data from the broadcast control device. 10. An environment information element collection unit for collecting a predetermined element representing an environmental condition of the broadcast target area, wherein the editing unit, based on the element collected by the environment information element collection unit, 10. The broadcast control device according to claim 7, further comprising a function of selectively reading out audio advertisement information suitable for an environmental condition represented by an element from the second storage unit. 11. The editing means selectively reads, for each of the small areas, audio advertisement information related to the small area from the second storage means, and reads the read audio advertisement information and the first storage. The broadcast control according to any one of claims 7 to 9, further comprising a function of editing environmental broadcast information with advertisement for each small area based on the environmental audio material selectively read from the means. apparatus. 12. A plurality of geographically separated common spaces used by an unspecified number of people are set as broadcast target areas, and environmental audio material including music or pseudo-natural sound is broadcast to these broadcast target areas. An environmental audio broadcasting system comprising: a plurality of speaker devices provided in each of the plurality of broadcast target areas; a relay device connected to each of the speaker devices; and a relay device in each of the broadcast target areas. A broadcast control device connected via a first communication network, the broadcast control device comprising: a first storage unit storing a plurality of environmental audio materials; and a computer device of an advertiser or an advertising agency. Advertisement collecting means for collecting audio advertisement information via a second communication network; and advertisement collecting means A second storage means for storing the audio advertisement information collected by the first and second storage means; and selectively reading the environmental audio material and the audio advertisement information from the first and second storage means, respectively. Editing means for editing the environmental broadcast information with advertisement for each broadcast target area based on the information, and the environmental communication information with advertisement for each broadcast target area created by the edit means, respectively, in the first communication network Transmitting means for transmitting to the relay device of the corresponding broadcast target area via the relay device, the relay device of each broadcast target area transmits the self-addressed environmental broadcast information with advertisement transmitted by the broadcast control device to the signal transmission. Receiving means for receiving via a road, and connecting the environmental broadcast information with advertisement received by the receiving means to itself Environmental audio broadcasting system characterized by comprising an output control means for supplying to the loudspeaker output to a plurality of speaker devices to be. 13. A plurality of common spaces geographically separated from each other, which are used by an unspecified number of people, are respectively set as broadcast target areas, and a first communication network is provided to a speaker device installed for each of these broadcast target areas. A broadcast control device for transmitting and outputting environmental audio materials including music or pseudo-natural sounds via a first storage means storing a plurality of environmental audio materials, and a computer device of an advertiser or an advertising agency An advertisement collection unit that collects audio advertisement information via a second communication network; a second storage unit that stores the audio advertisement information collected by the advertisement collection unit; and the first and second storage units. The environment audio material and the audio advertisement information are selectively read, respectively, and the read environment audio data is read. Editing means for editing the environmental broadcast information with advertisement for each broadcast target area based on the material and the audio advertisement information, and the environmental broadcast information with advertisement for each broadcast target area created by the edit means, A transmission unit for transmitting to a speaker device in a corresponding broadcast target area via a communication network and outputting the signal. 14. An environmental information element collecting means for collecting predetermined elements representing environmental conditions of the plurality of broadcast target areas, respectively, wherein the editing means comprises: for each of the broadcast target areas, the environmental information element collecting means. Environmental audio material suitable for the environmental conditions represented by the elements collected by the first storage means and selectively read out the read environmental audio material and the audio data selectively read from the second storage means. 13. The broadcast control device according to claim 12, wherein environmental broadcast information with advertisement for each broadcast target area is edited based on the advertisement information. 15. The editing means selectively reads, from the second storage means, audio advertisement information corresponding to the regionality for each of the broadcast target areas, and reads the read audio advertisement information and the first The broadcast control device according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the environmental broadcast information with advertisement for each broadcast target area is edited based on the environmental audio material selectively read from the storage means.