JP2005184428A - Acoustic device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To output sounds without causing time difference from respective speakers when a channel sound signal corresponding to part of channel speakers is transmitted in a wired manner, and a channel sound signal corresponding to other channel speakers is transmitted wirelessly in an acoustic device for outputting the sound signals in a plurality of channels. <P>SOLUTION: The acoustic device for outputting sound signals of a plurality of channels and transmitting the sound signals of at least part of the channels among the sound signals of the plurality of channels in a wired manner includes wireless sending means and receiving means for wirelessly transmitting the sound signals of the other channel of the plurality of channels, and a sound signal processing means for delaying the wired transmission of the sound signals of the part of the channels from the wireless transmission of the sound signals from the other channel. The sound signal processing means delays the transmission by an amount of time corresponding to a period of time when the wireless transmission delays from the wired transmission. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an acoustic device that outputs audio signals of a plurality of channels, and more particularly to an acoustic device that wirelessly transmits a part of the channel audio signals to a corresponding channel speaker.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an acoustic device that outputs a plurality of channels of audio signals, a channel speaker is provided corresponding to each channel audio signal, and an audio device that can wirelessly transmit channel audio signals corresponding to each channel speaker is known. ing. In such an acoustic device, it is not necessary to provide a cable for transmitting each channel audio signal from the acoustic device main body to each channel speaker, so that troublesome wiring work can be eliminated. Further, since it is not necessary to route the cable, it is possible to minimize the adverse effect on the aesthetics caused by the cable crawling on the floor, and it is also possible to prevent an accident from occurring when the user trips on the cable. . However, when wireless transmission is performed, depending on the usage environment, wireless transmission may not be performed normally due to unexpected radio interference or interference from other wireless devices using the same frequency band. In view of this, some devices are designed so that channel audio signals can be normally transmitted by switching from wireless transmission to wired transmission using a cable.
JP-A-6-125582

  By the way, in a multi-channel audio device that outputs a channel audio signal of 4 channels (front left channel, front right channel, rear left channel, rear right channel) or more, when the channel audio signal to the speaker is wirelessly transmitted, wired It is conceivable to perform wireless transmission only for the channel audio signal to the rear speaker, which makes it particularly necessary to route the cable for a long time. In wireless transmission, a certain amount of time is required for buffering processing and RF encoding / decoding processing when digital signal processing is performed, and therefore, more transmission time is required than wired transmission. Therefore, when a channel audio signal is sent wirelessly to the rear speaker and wired to another speaker, a time difference occurs between the output of the channel audio signal from the rear speaker and the output of the channel audio signal from the other channel speaker. End up. If there is a time difference in the sound output from each speaker, the intended original sound field may not be formed, which may hinder good listening of the output sound.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and in an audio device that outputs audio signals of a plurality of channels, channel audio signals corresponding to some of the channel speakers are wired and transmitted to other channel speakers. It is an object of the present invention to provide an audio device capable of outputting audio without causing a time difference from each channel speaker when wirelessly transmitting a corresponding channel audio signal.

The audio device according to claim 1, wherein the audio device outputs a plurality of channels of audio signals, and transmits the audio signals of at least some channels among the plurality of channels of audio signals in a wired manner.
Wireless transmission means and reception means for wireless transmission of audio signals of other channels among a plurality of channels, and audio signals for delaying wired transmission of the audio signals of some channels with respect to wireless transmission of audio signals of other channels And a processing means.

  The audio device according to claim 2 is the audio device according to claim 1, further comprising a speaker corresponding to a plurality of channels, wherein the receiving means is provided in at least one of the speakers corresponding to the other channels. It is characterized by being.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the audio device according to the first or second aspect, the audio signal processing means delays the wireless transmission by a time corresponding to a time for which the wireless transmission is delayed with respect to the wired transmission. And

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the acoustic device according to the first to third aspects, when the audio signal processing unit performs wired transmission of an audio signal of another channel, the audio signal of the other channel. The transmission is not delayed.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the invention, wired transmission of the audio signal of the other channel is performed by detecting connection of a connection means for wired transmission of the audio signal of the other channel. Features.

  According to the acoustic device of the present invention, in the acoustic device that outputs the audio signals of a plurality of channels and transmits the audio signals of at least some channels among the audio signals of the plurality of channels, Since the wired transmission is delayed by the time corresponding to the delay of the wireless transmission of the voice signal, the voice can be output from each speaker without causing a time difference.

  In addition, when wired transmission of audio signals of other channels, there is no delay in transmission of audio signals of other channels, so the transmission method of audio signals of other channels can be switched between wireless transmission and yard transmission. In any acoustic apparatus, no matter which transmission method is selected, a sound can be output from each speaker without causing a time difference.

  Furthermore, since the wired transmission of the audio signal of the other channel is performed by detecting the connection of the connection means for wired transmission of the audio signal of the other channel, the connection of the connection means to the acoustic device necessary for wired transmission is required. Accordingly, the presence / absence of delay processing can be automatically switched, and for example, there is no need for troublesome operations such as a user bothering to input switching of connection from wireless to wired.

  First, a schematic configuration of an embodiment of an acoustic device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The acoustic device has a basic configuration of three units: a main unit 1, a front amplifier unit 2, and a rear amplifier unit 3. Four speakers, front left speaker, front right speaker, center speaker, and heavy bass speaker, are wired to the front amplifier unit 2, and two speakers, rear left speaker and rear right speaker, are wired to the rear amplifier unit 3. The Hereinafter, specific configurations of these units will be described.

  The main unit 1 includes a control unit 4, an audio signal generation unit 5, an audio signal processing unit 6, and a D / A conversion unit 7. The control unit 4 outputs a signal as to whether or not to perform delay processing to an audio signal processing unit 6 described later. The audio signal generating unit 5 receives 5.1 channels (as shown in FIG. 3 from a source such as a DVD) as an audio stream divided into frames as shown in FIG. 3 (the heavy bass channel corresponding to the heavy bass speaker is 0.1 channel). )) Is output to the audio signal processing unit 6. The audio signal processing unit 6 performs a decoding process and a later-described delay process on the 5.1 channel digital audio signal output from the audio signal generation unit 5. The D / A converter 7 converts the digital audio signal output from the audio signal processor 6 into an analog audio signal, and outputs the analog audio signal to the front amplifier unit 2 through the cable A.

  The front amplifier unit 2 includes a 3.1 channel amplifier unit 8, a switching unit F9, a wireless transmission unit 10, and a socket 11. The 3.1-channel amplifier unit 8 amplifies the analog audio signals of the front left channel, the front right channel, the center channel, and the heavy bass channel among the 5.1 channel analog audio signals, and then each of the corresponding front left channels wired-connected Output to speaker, front right speaker, center speaker and heavy bass speaker. The switching unit F9 wirelessly transmits the signal output path of the analog audio signal input from the D / A conversion unit (7) through the cable A to the front amplifier unit in response to wireless transmission and wired transmission. Switching between the transmission unit 10 and the socket F11. For example, in the case of wired transmission, a LOW detection signal described later is input to the switching unit F9, and the switching unit F9 switches the signal output path of the analog audio signal to the socket F11 side in response to the LOW signal. In the case of wireless transmission, a HIGH detection signal (to be described later) is input to the switching unit F9. Upon receiving the HIGH signal, the switching unit F9 switches the signal output path of the analog audio signal to the wireless transmission unit 10 (to be described later). . The wireless transmission unit 10 converts the analog audio signals of the rear left channel and the rear right channel input through the switching unit F9 into digital audio signals, respectively, performs buffering processing and RF encoding processing, and then described later. Wireless transmission is performed toward the wireless reception unit 14 that performs the transmission. The socket F11 is for connecting the cable B on the front amplifier unit 2 side.

  The rear amplifier unit 3 includes a two-channel amplifier 12, a switching unit R13, a wireless reception unit 14, and a socket R15. The 2-channel amplifier 12 receives and amplifies the audio signals of the rear left channel and the rear right channel, and then outputs them to the corresponding rear left speaker and rear right speaker connected in a wired manner. The switching unit R13 switches the signal output path of the audio signal input to the two-channel amplifier 12 between the wireless reception unit 14 and the socket R15 corresponding to the case where wireless transmission is performed and the case where wireless transmission is not performed. For example, in the case of wired transmission, the switching unit R13 has a power supply (not shown) provided in the rear amplifier unit 3 and a power supply (not shown) provided in the front amplifier 2 as in the case of connection detection shown in FIG. A LOW detection signal is output by the ground, and upon receiving this LOW detection signal, the switching unit R13 switches the signal output path of the analog audio signal to the socket R15 side. In the case of wireless transmission, a HIGH detection signal (to be described later) is input to the switching unit F13. Upon receiving the HIGH signal, the switching unit R13 switches the signal output path of the analog audio signal to the wireless reception unit 14 side. . The wireless reception unit 14 converts the audio signals of the rear left channel and the rear right channel wirelessly received from the wireless transmission unit 10 into analog audio signals after buffering processing and RF decoding processing, and converts these analog audio signals to the switching unit 13. To the two-channel amplifier 12. The socket R15 is for connecting the cable B on the rear amplifier unit 3 side.

  Next, the flow of audio signal processing when only the rear left channel and rear right channel audio signals of 5.1 channel audio signals are wirelessly transmitted will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, a 5.1 channel digital audio signal is input from the DVD to the audio signal generator 5 (S1). In the audio signal processing unit 6, 5.1-channel digital audio signal decoding processing and delay processing described later are performed on audio signals of specific channels (front left channel, front right channel, center channel, and heavy bass channel). (S2). The digital audio signal is converted into an analog audio signal by the D / A converter 7 (S3), and then input to the front amplifier unit 2 through the cable A. Among the 5.1 channel analog audio signals input to the front amplifier unit 2, the analog audio signals of the front left channel, the front right channel, the center channel, and the heavy bass channel (N in S4) are 3.1 channel amplifier units. 8 and amplified (S5) and then output to the corresponding front left speaker, front right speaker, center speaker, and heavy bass speaker (S6).

  On the other hand, among the 5.1 channel analog audio signals, the rear left channel and rear right channel analog audio signals (Y in S4) are input to the wireless transmission unit 10 via the switching unit F9. The rear left channel and rear right channel analog audio signals input to the wireless transmission unit 10 are converted into digital audio signals (S7), and then RF encoded and buffered (S8). (S9). The wireless reception unit 14 receives the digital audio signals of the rear left channel and the rear right channel, performs buffering processing and RF decoding processing (S10), and converts them into analog audio signals (S11). The analog audio signal is input to the two-channel amplifier via the switching unit R13 and amplified (S12), and then output to the corresponding rear left channel speaker and rear right channel speaker (S13).

  When the audio signal processing unit 6 does not perform delay processing, RF encoding and buffering processing in the wireless transmission unit 10 and buffering and decoding processing in the wireless reception unit 14 require a certain amount of time. When the audio signal of the rear right channel is input from the audio signal processing unit 6 to the corresponding speaker, the audio signals of the front left channel, the front right channel, the center channel, and the heavy bass channel are transmitted from the audio signal processing unit 6 by wired transmission. Compared with the timing inputted to the corresponding speaker, it is delayed for a certain time. For example, FIG. 3 shows a case where an audio stream divided into frames is delayed by two frames. As a result, the rear left channel speaker and the rear right channel speaker output sound later than the front left speaker, the front right speaker, the center speaker, and the heavy bass speaker.

  In the present invention, the front left channel, front right channel, center channel, and heavy bass channel audio signals are input from the audio signal processing unit 6 to the corresponding channel speakers by wired transmission, and the rear left channel is transmitted by wireless transmission. And the audio signal of the front left channel, the front right channel, the center channel, and the heavy bass channel by the time corresponding to the time that the timing at which the audio signal of the rear right channel is input from the audio signal processing unit 6 to the corresponding channel speaker is delayed. By delaying wired transmission, a time difference is not generated from each channel speaker, and sound is output.

  Note that the time for delaying wired transmission of audio signals of the front left channel, front right channel, center channel, and heavy bass channel corresponds to the audio signals of the rear left channel and rear right channel from the audio signal processing unit 6 by wired transmission. In comparison with the timing input to the channel speaker, the time corresponding to the time when the audio signal of the rear left channel and the rear right channel is input from the audio signal processing unit 6 to the corresponding channel speaker by wireless transmission is delayed. Good.

  The delay process is performed as follows, for example. First, among the 5.1 channel digital audio signals output from the audio signal generation unit 5, the control unit 4 converts the audio signals of the front left channel, the front right channel, the center channel, and the heavy bass channel into the audio signal processing unit 6. Is temporarily stored in the internal memory 6a. Then, after elapse of the delay time described above from the start of output of the rear left channel and rear right channel audio signals in the audio signal processing unit 6, the control unit 4 is stored from the memory 6a in the audio signal processing unit 6. The audio signals of the front left channel, front right channel, center channel, and heavy bass channel are sequentially read out, and these audio signals are output to the corresponding channel speakers via the D / A converter 7 and the like.

  Note that this delay time is uniquely determined mainly depending on the types of the wireless transmission unit 10 and the wireless reception unit 14, and therefore the time of the delay processing performed by the audio signal processing unit 6 is the wireless transmission unit 10. And may be set according to the type of the wireless reception unit 14.

  Next, when the wireless transmission is not normally performed, the transmission of the audio signal of the rear left channel and the rear right channel between the front amplifier unit 2 and the rear amplifier unit 3 is changed from the wireless transmission to the wired transmission using the cable B. The switching process will be described. When the rear left channel and rear right channel audio signals are wired, the rear left channel and rear right channel audio signal buffering processing and RF encoding / decoding processing are not required as in wireless transmission. There is a delay in the audio output from the audio signal processing unit 6 to the corresponding channel speaker between the audio signal of the channel and the rear right channel and the audio signal of the front left channel, the front right channel, the center channel and the heavy bass channel. Absent.

  Therefore, when the rear left channel and rear right channel audio signals are wired to the corresponding channel speakers, the audio signal is detected when the wired transmission is determined by detecting that the cable B is connected. Control is performed so as not to perform delay processing in the processing unit 6.

  An example of control for execution of the delay process will be described with reference to FIGS.

  When the cable B is connected to the socket F11 and the socket R15 in order to transmit the rear left channel and rear right channel audio signals from the audio signal processing unit 6 to the corresponding channel speaker by wired transmission using the cable B (S1). Y), the voltage of 5 V from the power supply 16 provided in the front amplifier unit 2 is grounded through the cable B by the ground provided in the rear amplifier unit 3. Then, a LOW detection signal is output to the control unit 4 connected to the power source 16 through the cable A (S2), and the control unit 4 receives this LOW detection signal (determines that wired transmission is performed), A signal indicating that no delay processing is performed is output to the audio signal processing unit 6 (S3). Upon receiving this signal, the audio signal processing unit 6 outputs the audio signals of the front left channel, the front right channel, the center channel, and the heavy bass channel to the corresponding channel speaker without performing the delay processing performed in the case of wireless transmission. (S4). Therefore, the audio signals of the front left channel, the front right channel, the center channel, and the heavy bass channel in the audio signal processing unit 6 performed by the above-described delay processing are not stored in the memory 6a in the audio signal processing unit 6. In addition, these channel audio signals are output to the corresponding channel speakers at the same timing as the rear left channel and rear right channel audio signals. In this wired transmission, a LOW detection signal is input to the switching unit F9, and the switching unit F9 switches the signal output path of the analog audio signal to the socket F11 side in response to the LOW signal. Further, in this case, the switching unit R13 is connected to the low level by the power source (not shown) provided in the rear amplifier unit 3 and the ground (not shown) provided in the front amplifier 2 as in the case of the connection detection shown in FIG. A detection signal is output, and upon receiving this LOW detection signal, the switching unit R13 switches the signal output path of the analog audio signal to the socket R15 side.

  When wireless transmission is performed, that is, when the user does not connect the cable B to the socket F11 and the socket R15 (N in S1), the voltage of 5V from the power supply 16 provided in the front amplifier unit 2 is It is not grounded by the ground provided in the rear amplifier unit 3. Therefore, in this case, a HIGH detection signal is output to the control unit 4 connected to the power source 16 through the cable A (S5), and the control unit 4 receives the HIGH detection signal (determines that wireless transmission is performed). Then, a signal indicating that the delay processing is performed is output to the audio signal processing unit 6 (S6). Receiving this signal, the audio signal processing unit 6 executes the delay process (S7). In the case of this wireless transmission, a HIGH detection signal is input to the switching unit F9, and upon receiving the HIGH signal, the switching unit F9 switches the signal output path of the analog audio signal to the wireless transmission unit 10 side. In the case of wireless transmission, a HIGH detection signal (to be described later) is input to the switching unit F13. Upon receiving the HIGH signal, the switching unit R13 switches the signal output path of the analog audio signal to the wireless reception unit 14 side. .

It is a block diagram about schematic structure of one example of an acoustic device concerning the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the audio | voice signal process in the case of wirelessly transmitting only the audio | voice signal of a rear left channel and a rear right channel among 5.1 channel audio | voice signals. It is the schematic which shows the delay of the digital audio | voice signal (The audio | voice stream divided | segmented by the frame) of a rear left channel and a rear right channel. It is a schematic explanatory drawing of the connection detection of the cable B to a socket. 6 is a flowchart showing delay processing in the audio signal processing unit 6;

Explanation of symbols

6 Audio signal processing unit 10 Wireless transmission unit 14 Wireless reception unit

Claims (5)

In an audio device that outputs audio signals of a plurality of channels and transmits the audio signals of at least some channels among the audio signals of the plurality of channels in a wired manner,
Wireless transmission means and reception means for wireless transmission of audio signals of other channels among a plurality of channels, and audio signals for delaying wired transmission of the audio signals of some channels with respect to wireless transmission of audio signals of other channels An acoustic device comprising processing means. The audio apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a speaker corresponding to a plurality of channels, wherein the receiving unit is provided in at least one of the speakers corresponding to the other channels. The acoustic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the audio signal processing unit delays the wireless transmission by a time corresponding to a time for which the wireless transmission is delayed with respect to the wired transmission. 4. The audio signal processing unit according to claim 1, wherein when the audio signal of the other channel is wired-transmitted, the audio signal processing unit does not delay the transmission of the audio signal of the other channel. The acoustic device according to the above. The audio apparatus according to claim 4, wherein wired transmission of the audio signal of the other channel is performed by detecting connection of a connection unit for wired transmission of the audio signal of the other channel.

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