JP2006129147A - Multi-channel speaker system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a speaker system supporting a multi-channel, which automatically outputs the signal of an adequate channel to a speaker connected at random. <P>SOLUTION: When the number of channels is 5.1, a multi-channel speaker system is composed of a 5.1 channel system AV amplifier and a plurality of speakers 20-24, and 54. The speakers 20-24 detect speaker direction information θ<SB>0</SB>-θ<SB>4</SB>by using a direction sensor, and transmits the information to a 5.1 channel AV amplifier 101. The 5.1 channel AV amplifier 101 calculates a difference ϕ between the direction information of the speakers 21-24 and the direction information of the reference speaker 20. The 5.1 channel AV amplifier 101 transmits the audio signal of a channel corresponding to each of the speakers 21-24 according to a channel corresponding table linking the above-mentioned ϕ with an output channel. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

 The present invention relates to a multi-channel speaker system mainly used for an audio apparatus.

 In a conventional multi-channel AV amplifier, an audio signal output terminal for outputting an audio signal is fixed for each channel. FIG. 7 shows a conventional method for connecting an AV amplifier and a speaker. Reference numeral 1 denotes a 5-channel multi-channel AV (audio-visual) amplifier that receives digital audio data from a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) player or the like and outputs an analog signal for each channel. Each channel of the audio signal output from the multi-channel AV amplifier 1 corresponds to the output from the following five directions for the user at the listening position 5 for listening to the audio from the audio device. The five directions are the left front (L channel), the front (C channel), the front right (R channel), the left rear (LS channel), and the rear right (LS channel). (RS channel) direction. The multichannel AV amplifier 1 includes a C channel output terminal 8, an L channel output terminal 9, an R channel output terminal 10, an LS channel output terminal 11, and an RS channel output terminal 12 which are audio signal output terminals for each channel. Reference numerals 2C, 2L, 2R, 2LS, and 2RS are speakers that receive audio signals from the audio signal output terminals 8 to 12 divided for each channel of the multi-channel AV amplifier 1 and output the audio signals as sounds. It is installed on the front, left front, right front, left rear, and right rear of position 5, respectively.

 When installing the audio device, the user determines the listening position 5 and installs the five speakers 2C, 2L, 2R, 2LS, and 2RS in the above-described five directions with respect to the listening position 5. Then, the cables connected to the audio signal output terminals 8 to 12 of each channel are connected to the speakers 2C, 2L, 2R, 2LS and 2RS, respectively.

 FIG. 8 shows a configuration of a conventional 5.1 channel system AV amplifier 31. Reference numeral 50 denotes an input terminal for receiving a signal from a device that outputs 5.1 channel digital audio data such as a DVD player. A decoding unit 51 extracts the signal for each channel by decoding the digital audio data input from the input terminal 50, converts the signal into an analog signal, and outputs the analog signal. Reference numeral 52 denotes an amplifying unit that amplifies the signal of each channel input from the decoding unit 51 and outputs the amplified signal to the speakers 54, 2C, 2L, 2R, 2LS, and 2RS. A control unit 53 controls the decoding unit 51 and the amplifier unit 52 in response to input of digital audio data to the decoding unit 51 and a user operation. Reference numerals 7 to 12 denote terminals for outputting audio signals of the subwoofer signals SW, C, L, R, LS, and RS.

 By the way, in the audio device described above, if the user does not know exactly which output terminal 8-12 should be connected to the five installed speakers 2C, 2L, 2R, 2LS, 2RS. In addition, if the cables from the output terminals 8 to 12 and the speakers 2C, 2L, 2R, 2LS, and 2RS are incorrectly connected, there is a problem that the user cannot obtain the appropriate sound effect of the 5.1 channel AV amplifier 31 at all. It was.

In Patent Document 1, in order to prevent cable misconnection when connecting an audio device supporting multi-channel and each speaker, the audio signal output terminal and the connection plug of each cable connected to each speaker are color-coded. Then, the invention of a terminal and a connection plug in which terminals of each channel are assembled is disclosed. However, in the invention of Patent Document 1, since the human visually determines the color of the connection plug of the cable connected to the speaker, there is still a possibility of erroneous connection.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-109706

 The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a multi-channel speaker system capable of automatically outputting a music signal of an appropriate channel to a speaker that is randomly installed and connected. With the goal.

 In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention of claim 1 comprises an audio signal output device that outputs a plurality of channels of audio signals from a plurality of output terminals, and a plurality of speakers connected to the plurality of output terminals. In the multichannel speaker system, the plurality of speakers include a speaker unit that converts the audio signal into sound, and direction information output means that outputs direction information indicating the direction of the sound output direction of the speaker unit, The audio signal output device includes: a detecting unit that detects a channel to be sounded by each speaker based on direction information output from the plurality of speakers; and an audio signal of the plurality of channels that receives a detection result of the detecting unit. And switching means for switching to output to the corresponding output terminal. A Chi-channel speaker system.

 According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the orientation information output means is a magnetic sensor that detects the strength of geomagnetism.

 According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the detection means includes a table that indicates the correspondence between the azimuth information and the channel information in advance, and uses the table to obtain the azimuth information. A corresponding channel is detected.

 According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the detecting means includes speaker number detecting means for detecting the number of speakers connected to the output terminal, and a plurality of tables indicating correspondence between the orientation information and channel information. 2. A table corresponding to the number of speakers detected by the speaker number detecting means is selected from the plurality of tables, and a channel corresponding to the azimuth information is detected using the table. The multi-channel speaker system described.

 According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, even if audio signal output terminals are randomly connected to a plurality of installed speakers, a tone signal of an appropriate channel is automatically transmitted to each speaker installation position. Can be output.

 According to the invention described in claim 4, since the total number of speakers connected to the multi-channel AV amplifier can be automatically counted and the optimum channel correspondence table can be automatically used, it is easy to increase or decrease the number of connected speakers. Can respond.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an audio apparatus to which the multi-channel speaker system according to the embodiment is applied. In this figure, 101 is an AV amplifier for 5.1 channel system (hereinafter referred to as AV amplifier), 54 is a subwoofer for bass, and 20 to 24 are speakers.

 First, the speakers 20 to 24 will be described. These speakers 20 to 24 have the same configuration, and details thereof are shown in FIG. In this figure, reference numeral 61 denotes a speaker unit that generates a musical tone signal output from the AV amplifier 101. 62 is an orientation sensor incorporating a magnetic sensor, for example, which detects the orientation of the front surface of the speaker unit 61 in the vertical direction (the direction of arrow Y in the figure), and the detected orientation is the reference orientation (for example, the north direction of geomagnetism). The angle formed is output to the transmission unit 63 as azimuth information. The transmission unit 63 transmits the azimuth information output from the azimuth sensor to the AV amplifier 101.

Next, in the AV amplifier 101, the decoding unit 51 decodes 5.1 channel digital audio data supplied to the input terminal 50, converts it into an analog signal for each channel, and outputs it. The signal switching unit 104 switches the signals of channels L, R, LS, and RS output from the decoding unit 51 according to the switching signal output from the control unit 103 and outputs the signals to the amplifier unit 52. The amplifier unit 52 amplifies signals output from the decoding unit 51 and the signal switching unit 104 and outputs the amplified signals to the output terminals 115 and 110 to 114.
The receiving unit 102 outputs the azimuth information output from the speakers 20 to 24 and received via the terminals 120 to 124 to the control unit 103. The control unit 103 detects where each of the speakers 20 to 24 is based on each direction information, and outputs a switching signal to the signal switching unit 104 according to the detection result. Details will be described later.

Next, the operation of the audio device described above when the speaker is installed will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, as shown in FIG. 3, the user determines the listening position 5, and then installs the speaker 20 used for the C channel in front of the listening position 5. This speaker 20 becomes a reference speaker. Next, the user installs the speakers 21 to 24 at, for example, right front, right rear, left rear, and left front. Here, the position where the speakers 21 to 24 are installed is completely arbitrary. The speakers 21 to 24 are installed such that the direction Y (FIG. 4) of the built-in speaker unit 61 faces the listening position 5. Next, the user installs the subwoofer 54 at a predetermined position.
Next, the user connects the output terminal 115 of the AV amplifier 101 to the subwoofer 54 and the output terminal 110 to the speaker 20. Next, the user connects the output terminals 111 to 114 to the speakers 21 to 24. Here, it is completely arbitrary to which speaker 21 to 24 the output terminals 111 to 114 are connected.

Next, the user turns on the power to the AV amplifier 101. When the power is turned on, each direction sensor 62 of the speakers 20 to 24 detects the direction of the speaker unit 61, and outputs direction information indicating the angle between the detected direction and the reference direction to the transmission unit 63. The transmission unit 63 outputs the direction information to the reception unit 102 of the AV amplifier 101.
On the other hand, when the AV amplifier 101 is turned on, the control unit 103 first acquires the orientation information θ ₀ (see FIG. 3) of the reference speaker 20 via the terminal 120 and the receiving unit 102 (FIG. 4). Step S1).

Next, the control unit 103 generates a speaker number counter i and sets its initial value to 1 (step S2). Next, the control unit 103 determines whether the value of the speaker number counter i is less than 5 (step S3). Here, a speaker whose orientation information is θi is referred to as speaker i. If the speaker number counter i is less than 5, the control unit 103 receives the speaker orientation information θi from the speaker i via any one of the terminals 121 to 124 and the receiving unit 102 (step S4). Then, the control unit 103 is obtained by calculating the difference φi = θi-θ ₀ of the azimuth information theta ₀ azimuth information .theta.i the speaker 20 of the speaker i (step S5).
Next, the control unit 103 refers to the channel correspondence table that determines the channel to be assigned to each speaker, and determines the channel of the speaker i from φi (step S6). Next, the control unit 103 adds 1 to the speaker number counter i (step S7), transitions to step S3, and repeats the above processing until channels are determined for the four speakers.

FIG. 5 shows a channel correspondence table. The column of symbol φ is the difference between the azimuth information of the speaker for which the channel is determined and the azimuth information of the reference speaker, and the column of symbol ch is a channel corresponding to the aforementioned value of φ. For example if the direction information theta ₁ is 210 ° from the speaker 21, the difference between φ ₁ = _{θ 1} -θ directional data theta ₀ azimuth information theta ₁ and the speaker 20 of the speaker _{21 0 = 210 ° -180 ° =} 30 ° , and the The control unit 103 assigns an R channel signal to the speaker 1. If the azimuth information θ ₃ of the speaker 23 is 60 °, the difference between the azimuth information θ ₃ of the speaker 23 and the azimuth information θ ₀ of the speaker 20 φ ₃ = θ ₃ −θ ₀ = 60 ° −180 ° = −120 ° = The controller 103 assigns an LS channel signal to the speaker 23.

 Thereby, even if four speakers 21 to 24 for 5.1 channel system are randomly connected to the output terminals 111 to 114, it is possible to automatically output a musical sound signal of an appropriate channel to the installation position of each speaker. .

 Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the case where the speaker installed in front of the listening position 5 is the reference speaker 20 is shown. However, by changing the conversion table shown in FIG. The speaker to be installed can be the reference speaker 20.

 Note that the subwoofer 54 is different from the other speakers 21 to 24 in the speaker shape, and it is difficult for a connection error between the speaker and the output terminal to occur. Therefore, the bass channel signal SW output from the decoding unit 51 is output from the bass dedicated output terminal 115 without passing through the signal switching unit 104. When the user installs the speaker of the above-described audio apparatus, the subwoofer 54 is fixedly connected to the output terminal 115 dedicated to low sound.

 Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the multi-channel speaker system of the present invention is applied to a multi-channel AV amplifier that can handle a plurality of digital audio systems with different numbers of channels, and a plurality of channel correspondence tables are previously stored in a memory. Prepare and automatically change the channel correspondence table according to the number of channels. The configuration of the multi-channel AV amplifier here is the same as the configuration of the AV amplifier 101 shown in FIG. 1, but the number of channel signals output from the decoding unit 51 due to the difference in the number of channels, the input of the signal switching unit 104 and the amplifier unit 52. The number of output signals and the number of terminals attached to the AV amplifier 101 are different, and the rest of the configuration is the same.

As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, first, the control unit 103 of the multi-channel AV amplifier sequentially checks whether or not speakers are connected to each terminal, and detects the number N of connected speakers (step Sa1). ). Next, the control unit 103 selects a channel correspondence table corresponding to the number N of connected speakers (step Sa2). Thereafter, similarly to the sequence of FIG. 6 in the first embodiment, the control unit 103 acquires the azimuth information θ ₀ from the reference speaker 20 via the reception unit 102 (step S1), and the control unit 103 receives the speaker number counter. i is generated and its initial value is set to 1 (step S2). Next, the control unit 103 determines whether the value of the speaker number counter i is less than the number N of connected speakers acquired above (step Sa3). If the speaker whose azimuth information is θi is the speaker i and the speaker number counter i is less than N, the control unit 103 again determines the azimuth information θi of the speaker i as in the sequence of FIG. 6 in the first embodiment. Receiving via the receiving unit 102 (step S4). Thereafter, the control unit 103 is obtained by calculating the difference φi = θi-θ ₀ of the azimuth information theta ₀ azimuth information .theta.i the speaker 20 of the speaker i (step S5).

 Next, the control unit 103 refers to the channel correspondence table corresponding to the number N of connected speakers selected above, and determines the channel of the speaker i from φi (step S6). Next, after adding 1 to the speaker number counter i (step S7), the control unit 103 transitions to step Sa3 and repeats the above processing until the channels are determined for N-1 speakers excluding the reference speaker.

 As a result, the control unit of the multi-channel AV amplifier automatically recognizes the number of speakers connected to the multi-channel AV amplifier, and automatically outputs audio signals according to the installation position to the N connected speakers. It is possible.

 Further, in the above embodiment, since a plurality of speakers connected to the multi-channel AV amplifier incorporate the amplifier and the wireless transmission / reception device, it is possible to transmit and receive audio data and control signals by wireless communication. The troublesome wiring between the AV amplifier and the plurality of speakers can be eliminated.

 Furthermore, instead of the wireless transmission / reception described above, it is also conceivable to transmit / receive audio data and control signals using a power cable using power line network technology such as Echonet.

 As mentioned above, although one embodiment of this invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and design and the like within the scope not departing from the gist of this invention are included. .

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an AV amplifier for 5.1 channel system used in the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the speaker used for the embodiment. It is a figure which shows the angle difference of the reference | standard azimuth | direction detected by the azimuth | direction sensor of a speaker, and the direction of each speaker by the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which allocates the optimal channel signal to the several speaker by the embodiment. It is an example of the channel corresponding | compatible table which allocates the optimal channel signal to a several speaker in the case where the direction information of a reference | standard speaker is 180 degrees by the same embodiment. The optimal channel for a plurality of speakers when the multi-channel AV amplifier automatically detects the number of connected speakers and automatically selects a channel correspondence table suitable for the number of connected speakers according to the second embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement which allocates a signal. It is a block diagram which shows the connection method of the conventional audio apparatus and a speaker. FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional 5.1 channel system AV amplifier.

Explanation of symbols

1 ... multi-channel AV amplifier, 2C, 2L, 2R, 2LS, 2RS ... speaker, 5 ... listening position, 7 ... subwoofer output terminal, 8 ... C channel output terminal, 9 ... L channel output terminal, 10 ... R channel output 11 ... LS channel output terminal, 12 ... RS channel output terminal, 20 ... speaker (reference speaker), 21-24 ... speaker, 31 ... 5.1 channel system AV amplifier (conventional), 50 ... input terminal, 51 ... decode , 52... Amplifier section, 53... Control section, 54... Subwoofer, 61... Speaker, 62 .. direction sensor, 63... Transmission section, 101 .. 5.1 channel system AV amplifier, 102. Signal switching unit, 110 to 115, output terminal, 120 to 124, terminal, SW, subwoofer signal, C, C channel signal, L, L channel signal, R, R channel signal, LS ... LS channel signal, RS ... RS channel signal, [theta] _{0 to} [theta] ₄ ... Speaker direction information.

Claims (4)

In a multi-channel speaker system composed of an audio signal output device that outputs audio signals of a plurality of channels from a plurality of output terminals, and a plurality of speakers connected to the plurality of output terminals,
The plurality of speakers are:
A speaker unit for converting the audio signal into sound;
Direction information output means for outputting direction information indicating the direction of the sound output direction of the speaker unit;
The audio signal output device includes:
Detecting means for detecting a channel to be sounded by each speaker based on azimuth information output from the plurality of speakers;
Switching means for receiving the detection result of the detection means and switching the audio signals of the plurality of channels to output to corresponding output terminals;
A multi-channel speaker system comprising:  The multi-channel speaker system according to claim 1, wherein the azimuth information output means is a magnetic sensor that detects the strength of geomagnetism.  The detection unit includes a table indicating correspondence between the azimuth information and the channel information in advance, and detects a channel corresponding to the azimuth information using the table. A multi-channel speaker system according to 1. The detection means includes
Speaker number detecting means for detecting the number of speakers connected to the output terminal;
A plurality of tables indicating correspondence between the azimuth information and the channel information;
And a table corresponding to the number of speakers detected by the speaker number detecting means is selected from the plurality of tables, and a channel corresponding to the azimuth information is detected using the table. 2. The multi-channel speaker system according to 1.

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