JP2004158141A - Audio reproducing apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically select and reproduce optimal audio data without making a user perform troublesome audio switching such as selecting audio data matching the reproducing apparatus by confirming the disk package etc. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus is provided with an operation part 15 for allowing the user to set the system constitution of a speaker 22; and an audio stream selecting processing part 104 for selecting a proper number of channels of the audio data according to the set speaker constitution information. According to the speaker constitution information set by the user, a reproduction control part 101 selectively controls the proper number of channels of audio data to be reproduced selectively. Thus, it is possible to omit the troublesome audio switching by the user such as selecting audio data of the number of channels matching the audio reproducing apparatus. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an audio reproducing apparatus and method, and in particular, has a function of selectively reproducing audio data of any number of channels from a recording medium such as a digital versatile disc on which a plurality of audio data having different numbers of channels are recorded. It is suitable for use in audio playback devices.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, various recording media have been provided as recording media for recording data. In recent years, DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs) have become widespread due to the convenience of recording large amounts of data. DVDs include a video DVD in which video information such as a movie is recorded, an audio DVD in which audio information such as music is recorded, and an audio / video DVD in which both video and audio are recorded.
[0003]
The audio DVD enables unprecedented high-quality reproduction of 2ch stereo audio data. Further, it is possible to reproduce multi-channels (for example, 5.1 channels of front left / right + rear left / right + center + subwoofer of an in-vehicle device) exceeding 2 ch which are not available in a conventional CD (compact disc) or the like. By playing back this audio DVD using a DVD audio player, it is possible to enjoy audio playback at a quality higher than that of a CD or video DVD.
[0004]
By the way, when only such multi-channel audio data is recorded on such a DVD audio disc, a person having a 2ch-only playback device can hear only a part of the sound. Or, there is a disadvantage that it cannot be reproduced at all. Therefore, in order to allow even a person who has only a playback device dedicated to 2ch to enjoy the DVD audio disc, a DVD audio disc which records audio data for 2ch playback together with audio data for multichannel playback is also provided. (For example, see Patent Document 1).
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-11-296997
This type of DVD audio disc records two types of audio data for 2-channel reproduction and multi-channel reproduction on the same track. The user can select and reproduce audio data suitable for the reproduction device by a menu or audio switching operation.
[0007]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
How the speaker is connected to the DVD audio player is up to the user. That is, the user can freely select a speaker configuration such as connecting only speakers for 2 ch or connecting speakers for 5.1 ch to construct a system. For this reason, the player is provided with a function of setting the constructed speaker configuration.
[0008]
However, a conventional DVD audio player can only switch audio data by an operation such as audio switching. Therefore, even if the setting of the speaker configuration information is changed, the audio stream to be reproduced is not changed unless an audio switching operation is performed. Therefore, for example, even if the setting is changed from the 2-channel speaker configuration to the 5.1-channel speaker configuration, the reproduced audio stream remains the content for 2-channel reproduction.
[0009]
Conversely, even if the setting is changed from, for example, a 5.1-channel speaker configuration to a 2-channel speaker configuration, the reproduced audio stream remains the content for multi-channel reproduction. In this case, of the reproduced multi-channel audio data, two channels are output from an actual speaker, but audio of the remaining channels is not output from any speaker. As a result, a part of the original sound cannot be heard, and the reproduced sound quality is degraded.
[0010]
By performing processing such as downmixing on the multi-channel reproduced audio data by the player, output audio data for 2 ch can be created in accordance with the speaker configuration after the setting is changed. However, the audio data generated by this downmix does not reach the quality of audio data originally recorded for 2ch reproduction.
[0011]
The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and is optimized even if a user does not have to perform a troublesome audio switching operation such as checking a disk package and selecting audio data suitable for a playback device. It is an object of the present invention to enable automatic selection and reproduction of appropriate audio data.
[0012]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problem, in the audio reproducing apparatus of the present invention, audio data of a number of channels corresponding to speaker configuration information set by a user is recorded from a recording medium on which a plurality of audio data of different numbers of channels are recorded. It is made to play selectively.
[0013]
According to the present invention configured as described above, regardless of which channel number of audio data is selected by the audio switching operation, the playback device automatically optimizes the data according to the speaker configuration information set by the user. The audio data having the appropriate number of channels is selected and reproduced. Alternatively, when the speaker configuration information is set by the user, the audio switching information is appropriately changed so that the number of channels is the same as the number of channels indicated by the speaker configuration information, and the optimal number of channels is determined based on the audio switching information. Is selected and reproduced. This eliminates the need for the user to check the package or the like of the recording medium and perform a switching operation for selecting audio data suitable for the system (speaker configuration).
[0014]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the audio playback device according to the present embodiment.
[0015]
As shown in FIG. 1, the audio reproducing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a servo motor control unit 11, a spindle motor 12, a slider control unit 13, an optical pickup 14, an operation unit 15, an RF amplifier 16, a digital signal processing unit 17, and a RAM 18. , An audio decoder 19, a RAM 20, a D / A converter 21, a speaker 22, and a system controller 100.
[0016]
The system controller 100 includes a playback control unit 101, a playback audio stream attribute information acquisition unit 102, a setting speaker information acquisition unit 103, and an audio stream selection processing unit 104.
[0017]
The servo motor control unit 11 controls the driving of the spindle motor 12, the slider control unit 13, and the optical pickup 14 according to a control signal supplied from the reproduction control unit 101 of the system controller 100. The spindle motor 12 rotates the DVD audio disk 200 loaded in the audio reproducing device. The slider control unit 13 moves the optical pickup 14 on the DVD audio disc 200 in the radiation direction of the DVD audio disc 200, and determines a reproduction position.
[0018]
The optical pickup 14 reads 2-channel or multi-channel audio data from the DVD audio disk 200. The operation unit 15 is used by the user to perform various operations such as music selection, reproduction, stop, fast forward, volume setting, and the like on the audio reproduction device, and is configured by a remote controller (remote controller), for example. The operation unit 15 is also used when performing an audio switching operation for switching between audio data for 2ch reproduction and audio data for multi-channel reproduction, setting operation of speaker configuration information, and the like.
[0019]
The RF amplifier 16 amplifies the audio data read by the optical pickup 14. The digital signal processing unit 17 performs predetermined digital signal processing on the audio data amplified by the RF amplifier 16. The RAM 18 temporarily stores data obtained in the course of digital signal processing performed by the digital signal processing unit 17 and data obtained as a result of the processing.
[0020]
The audio decoder 19 decodes the audio data output from the digital signal processing section 17. The RAM 20 temporarily stores data obtained in the course of the decoding processing performed by the audio decoder 19 and data obtained as a result of the processing. The D / A converter 21 converts the data decoded by the audio decoder 19 into an analog audio signal, and outputs the signal from a speaker 22.
[0021]
Further, the reproduction control unit 101 in the system controller 100 drives the servo motor control unit 11 to control reproduction of audio data from the DVD audio disk 200. When the DVD audio disk 200 records both audio data for 2-channel reproduction and audio data for multi-channel reproduction, control is performed so as to selectively reproduce any one of the audio data.
[0022]
The playback audio stream attribute information acquisition unit 102 acquires attribute information about all audio streams that can be selected in the current playback track of the DVD audio disc 200. The attribute information acquired here includes information such as whether or not a plurality of types of audio data having different numbers of channels are recorded on the DVD audio disc 200, the number of channels of the recorded audio data, and the like.
[0023]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a part of the audio title set information constituting the audio stream recorded on the DVD audio disc 200. Among the various attribute information shown in FIG. 2, the block mode is information indicating whether or not two types of audio data for 2-channel reproduction and multi-channel reproduction exist for the same track. The audio channel is information indicating the number of channels of the recorded audio data.
[0024]
The set speaker information acquisition unit 103 acquires speaker configuration information set by operating the operation unit 15. The audio stream selection processing unit 104 selects an optimal audio stream based on the attribute information obtained by the playback audio stream attribute information obtaining unit 102 and the speaker configuration information obtained by the setting speaker information obtaining unit 103, An audio stream switching instruction is issued to the reproduction control unit 101 as necessary.
[0025]
Specifically, when the user operates the operation unit 15 to change the setting of the speaker configuration information, the user refers to the attribute information of the reproduced audio stream to obtain two types of audio for two-channel reproduction and multi-channel reproduction. It is checked whether data is recorded on the DVD audio disk 200. Then, when two types of audio data are recorded, the audio data of the number of channels corresponding to the speaker configuration information after the setting change is selected, and an instruction to switch the audio stream to the reproduction control unit 101 is issued.
[0026]
The switching instruction is to instruct that the number of channels indicated by the information (hereinafter, audio switching information) set by the audio switching operation or the like be ignored and the number of channels indicated by the speaker configuration information be preferentially adopted. It is possible to do. In this case, the reproduction control unit 101 selectively reproduces one of the audio streams based on the speaker configuration information instead of the audio switching information.
[0027]
Also, the audio switching information may be appropriately changed according to the speaker configuration information so that the number of channels indicated by the speaker configuration information is always the same as the number of channels indicated by the audio switching information. In this case, the reproduction control unit 101 selectively reproduces the audio stream based on either the audio switching information or the speaker configuration information.
[0028]
Next, the operation of the audio reproducing apparatus configured as described above will be described. The DVD audio disk 200 is rotated by a spindle motor 12 whose driving is controlled by a servo motor control unit 11. At this time, the position of the optical pickup 14 in the radiation direction on the DVD audio disk 200 is controlled by the slider control unit 13, and audio data is read from the DVD audio disk 200 through the optical pickup 14.
[0029]
At this time, when audio data for 2-channel reproduction and multi-channel reproduction is recorded on the DVD audio disc 200, the reproduction control unit 101 controls which audio data is reproduced. Further, the reproduction control unit 101 controls the driving of the servo motor control unit 11 and the slider control unit 13 according to an instruction signal given from the operation unit 15. Thereby, reproduction, stop, fast forward, and the like of a desired music designated by the user using the operation unit 15 are performed.
[0030]
The audio data read from the DVD audio disk 200 in this way is amplified by the RF amplifier 16 and then subjected to predetermined signal processing by the digital signal processing unit 17. The audio data subjected to the signal processing is decoded by the audio decoder 19, converted to an analog audio signal by the D / A converter 21, and output from the speaker 22.
[0031]
Although only one speaker 22 is shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of speakers for 2 channels or 5.1 channels are actually provided. The system configuration of the speaker 22 is set by the user to the system controller 100 using the operation unit 15. When the speaker configuration information is set, the audio stream selection processing unit 104 selects an optimal audio stream based on the set speaker configuration information and the attribute information of the reproduced audio stream.
[0032]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the system controller 100 for this selection. In FIG. 3, the set speaker information obtaining unit 103 obtains speaker configuration information set in the system controller 100 (step S1). Also, the reproduction audio stream attribute information acquisition unit 102 acquires attribute information about all audio streams that can be selected in the current reproduction track of the DVD audio disc 200 from the audio decoder 19 (step S2).
[0033]
Then, the audio stream selection processing unit 104 refers to the block mode information of FIG. 2 included in the attribute information acquired by the reproduced audio stream attribute information acquiring unit 102, and is currently loaded in the audio reproducing apparatus. It is confirmed whether or not a plurality of types of audio data having different numbers of channels are recorded on the DVD audio disc 200 (step S3).
[0034]
Here, when a plurality of types of audio data are not recorded, that is, when only audio data for 2ch reproduction or 5.1ch reproduction is recorded, there is no room for selecting data to be reproduced. Therefore, the processing ends without doing anything.
[0035]
On the other hand, when a plurality of types of audio data are recorded on the DVD audio disc 200, the audio stream selection processing unit 104 selects an optimal audio stream based on the speaker configuration information acquired by the set speaker information acquisition unit 103. (Step S4). That is, when the speaker configuration information is 2ch, audio data for 2ch reproduction is selected, and when the speaker configuration information is 5.1ch, audio data for 5.1ch reproduction is selected.
[0036]
Further, when the audio stream selection processing unit 104 selects audio data of a channel different from the speaker configuration information by an audio switching operation or the like, that is, the number of channels indicated by the audio switching information and the number of channels indicated by the speaker configuration information If they are different, the reproduction control unit 101 is instructed to switch to select audio data that matches the speaker configuration information (step S5).
[0037]
As described in detail above, according to the present embodiment, the optimum audio stream is automatically selected by the audio playback device in accordance with the speaker configuration information set by the user. , And troublesome audio switching operation of selecting audio data suitable for the playback device can be omitted. In addition, it is possible to enjoy high-quality audio reproduction by making the most of the actually constructed speaker resources and the number of channels recorded on the DVD audio disc 200 without having to perform such troublesome operations. Can be.
[0038]
Note that, in the above-described embodiment, a description has been given of 5.1 channels as an example of a multi-channel, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the present invention is applicable to any number of channels exceeding 2ch. In addition, the present invention is not limited to the case where two types of audio data are recorded on the DVD audio disc 200, but is also applicable to a case where three or more types of audio data are recorded.
[0039]
Further, in the above embodiment, the device for reproducing the audio DVD has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the present invention can be applied to an apparatus for reproducing an audio / video DVD in which audio information such as music is recorded together with video information such as a movie. In this case, as compared with the configuration of FIG. 1, a stream separation unit that separates data output from the digital signal processing unit 17 into an audio stream and a video stream, a video decoder that decodes and displays the separated video stream, A configuration such as a display may be added, and the audio system can be configured in the same manner as in FIG.
[0040]
In addition, each of the above-described embodiments is merely an example of a specific embodiment for carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be interpreted in a limited manner. That is, the present invention can be embodied in various forms without departing from the spirit or main features thereof.
[0041]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the present invention selectively reproduces audio data of an appropriate number of channels according to the speaker configuration information set by the user. It is possible to enjoy high-quality audio reproduction by automatically selecting audio data having an optimal number of channels suitable for the actual speaker configuration without performing a troublesome audio switching operation.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an audio playback device according to an embodiment;
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a part of audio title set information constituting an audio stream recorded on a DVD audio disc.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the system controller.
[Explanation of symbols]
15 operation unit 100 system controller 101 playback control unit 102 playback audio stream attribute information acquisition unit 103 setting speaker information acquisition unit 104 audio stream selection processing unit

Claims (9)

An audio playback device having a function of selectively playing back audio data of any number of channels from a recording medium on which a plurality of audio data having different numbers of channels are recorded,
Speaker configuration setting means for the user to set the configuration of the speaker,
An audio reproducing apparatus, comprising: audio selecting means for selecting audio data of an appropriate number of channels according to the speaker configuration information set by the speaker configuration setting means. At the time of changing the speaker configuration information, it is checked whether or not a plurality of audio data having different numbers of channels are recorded on the recording medium. 2. The audio playback apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a playback switching unit that switches to audio data of an appropriate number of channels in response. The audio selection means selects audio data of an appropriate number of channels according to the speaker configuration information from audio data of two channels and audio data of more than two channels recorded on the recording medium. The audio reproducing device according to claim 1, wherein: The audio selection means selects audio data of an appropriate number of channels according to the speaker configuration information from among three or more types of audio data having different numbers of channels recorded on the recording medium. The audio playback device according to claim 1. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: playback control means for controlling the audio data of the number of channels selected by the audio selection means based on the speaker configuration information to be selectively played from the recording medium. 3. Audio playback device. An audio playback device having a function of selectively playing back audio data of any number of channels from a recording medium on which a plurality of audio data having different numbers of channels are recorded,
Audio switching means for selecting audio data to be reproduced by a user and setting audio switching information,
Speaker configuration setting means for the user to set the configuration of the speaker,
When the speaker configuration information is set by the speaker configuration setting means, the audio switching information is appropriately changed so that the number of channels indicated by the speaker configuration information is the same as the number of channels indicated by the audio switching information. Synchronization means;
An audio reproducing apparatus, comprising: reproduction control means for controlling to selectively reproduce audio data of a corresponding number of channels from the recording medium based on the audio switching information. Audio reproduction characterized by selectively reproducing audio data having an appropriate number of channels according to speaker configuration information set by a user from a recording medium in which a plurality of audio data having different numbers of channels are recorded. Method. At the time of changing the speaker configuration information, it is checked whether or not a plurality of audio data having different numbers of channels are recorded on the recording medium. 8. The audio reproduction method according to claim 7, wherein the audio data is switched to audio data having an appropriate number of channels in response to the change. When the speaker configuration information is set by the user, the audio switching information is appropriately changed so that the number of channels indicated by the speaker configuration information is equal to the number of channels indicated by the audio switching information. An audio reproducing method characterized by selectively reproducing audio data of a corresponding number of channels from a recording medium in which a plurality of audio data of different numbers of channels are recorded based on information.

Images