JP2006135578A - Headphone, audio output device, video display - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a headphone enabling a user to listen to sounds outputted from an audio output unit at the same time when wishing to hear surrounding sounds. <P>SOLUTION: A left ear pad 3L is wired from a player (sound generator) through three wires L, R, G, with the wire G serving as common line. The wires R, G transmit sounds for right ear to a horn 2R while those L, G transmit for left ear to a horn 2L contacts 5, 6 are provided in the left ear pad 3L. When the contacts 5, 6 make, the L, R from the player connects to the horn 2L, horn 2R, respectively. When wishing to cut sounds for the horns 2L, 2R, a user have only to break the contacts 5, 6, respectively. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a headphone and a sound output device having a function of stopping sound or reducing sound output for each ear, and further to a video display device using these.

  Headphones are widely used as a device that can listen to powerful sounds alone, but have the problem that it is difficult to hear the surrounding sounds. In order to solve this problem, an audio player that is usually connected to a headphone is provided with a function of temporarily cutting the sound (mute), so that surrounding sounds can be heard. This mute function is usually provided in an audio output device that outputs audio to the headphones.

JP-A-8-305298 JP 2004-207847 A

  However, when the mute function is used, there is a problem that sounds output from the audio output device cannot be heard although surrounding sounds can be heard.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and even when it is desired to hear surrounding sounds, the headphone, the audio output device, and these capable of simultaneously listening to the sound output from the audio output device, and It is an object of the present invention to provide a used video display device.

  A first means for solving the problem is a headphone that outputs sound to both ears, and has a function of stopping sound or reducing sound output for each ear (claims). 1).

  This means has a function of stopping sound or reducing sound output for each ear even when muting is performed, so that it is possible to continue to listen to the sound output from the sound output device with other ears. By incorporating this function into the headphones, the function can be achieved no matter what audio output device is connected.

  The second means for solving the above-mentioned problem is the first means, which has operation switches on both sides of the left and right center points when mounted on the head, and the operation switches are operated. And a function of stopping the voice or lowering the voice output.

  In this means, it is possible to select which side of the left and right horns the sound is to be stopped or to reduce the sound output by the operation switch, and the operability is good. For example, the voice on the side where the operation switch is turned on is stopped or the voice output is lowered.

  A third means for solving the problem is an audio output device connected to a headphone that outputs sound to both ears, and has a function of stopping sound or reducing sound output for each ear of the headphone. It is an audio output device (claim 3).

  In this means, since the sound output device is provided with a function of stopping sound or reducing sound output for each ear of the headphone, a normal headphone can be used.

  A fourth means for solving the above-mentioned problem is the third means, which has operation switches on both sides of the left and right center points when the headphones are mounted on the head, When the switch is operated, it has a function of stopping sound or reducing sound output (claim 4).

  This means has the same effect as the second means.

  A fifth means for solving the above problem is a video display device that is mounted on the head and displays a video by projecting the video to one eye, and a headphone that outputs sound to both ears and the headphone A sound output device for outputting sound to a headphone, wherein the headphone is the headphone of the first means or the second means, or the sound output device is the third means or the second means 4 is a voice output device according to claim 4 (claim 5).

  When a head mounted display that displays an image by projecting an image on one eye is used, a part of the visual field of the eye representing the image is always blocked. For example, when considering a situation where a person talks to you and mute to listen to the person's story, the person you are talking to often turns your face so that it comes to the side that is not blocked by the video display. Therefore, it is more convenient to mute the sound to the speaker on the side not displaying the video.

  Therefore, it is preferable to use the first means or the second means as the headphone, or the third means or the fourth means as the sound output device.

  A sixth means for solving the above-mentioned problem is a video display device that is mounted on the head and displays a video by projecting the video to one eye, and a headphone that outputs sound to both ears and the headphone A sound output device for outputting sound to the headphone, and a detection mechanism for detecting whether the image is projected on the left or right eye, and based on the detection result of the detection mechanism, The present invention has a function of selecting a voice stop side or a voice output reduction side (Claim 6).

  In this means, a detection mechanism for detecting the side displaying the video is provided, and the side on which mute is executed is determined based on the detection result.

  The seventh means for solving the war record problem has a function of stopping the sound of the headphones only on the side where the image is not projected or lowering the sound output based on the detection result of the detection mechanism. (Claim 7).

  In this means, since it has a function of stopping the sound of the headphones only on the side where the image is not projected or lowering the sound output, normally only the side where the person listens to the external sound (human voice etc.) The sound can be stopped or the sound output can be lowered.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a headphone, an audio output device, and a video display device using these that can simultaneously listen to the sound output from the audio output device even when it is desired to hear surrounding sounds. it can.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a headphone which is a first example of an embodiment of the present invention. The headphone 1 has right (R) and left (L) horns 2R, 2L, and the horns 2R, 2L are held by ear pads 3R, 3L.

  The ear pads 3R and 3L are connected by a connecting portion 4. The connecting portion 4 has elasticity, and is turned to the back side of the head so that the head is sandwiched and the ear pads 3R and 3L are applied to both ears to be attached to the head.

  In FIG. 1, wiring from a player (sound generator) is drawn into the left ear pad 3L. There are three wires, L, R, and G. G is a common line, the sound to the right ear is transmitted to the horn 2R by the wires R and G, and the sound to the left ear is horned by the wires L and G. 2R.

  A contact 5 and a contact 6 are provided in the ear pad 3L. When the contact 5 is made, the wiring L from the player is connected to the horn 2L. When the contact 6 is making, the wiring from the player R is connected to the horn 2R. Therefore, when it is desired to cut the sound to the horn 2L, the contact 5 should be broken, and when it is desired to cut the sound to the horn 2R, the contact 6 should be broken.

  For the make and break of each of the contacts 5 and 6, these contacts may be used as switch contacts or relay contacts driven by other signals.

  FIG. 2 shows a modification of this embodiment. The contact 6 for muting the sound to the right ear is used for the right ear pad 3R, and the contact 5 for muting the contact for the left ear is used for the left ear pad 3L. It is attached to. In the following drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the components shown in the previous drawings, and description thereof will be omitted. The effect of this modification is the same as that shown in FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the outer shape of the headphone shown in FIG. In the headphone 1, the ear pads 3 </ b> R and 3 </ b> L are connected by a connection part 4. The left and right horns are incorporated in the ear pads 3R and 3L, respectively, and the ear pads 8R and 8L are provided in the ear pads 3R and 3L.

  The ear pads 3R and 3L are provided with switches 7R and 7L, respectively, so that the user can operate the switches. The switches 7R and 7L are, for example, push button switches with a latch mechanism, and are repeatedly turned on and off each time they are pressed. These contacts are used as the contacts 5 and 6 shown in FIG.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an outline of a headphone that is a second example of the embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the headphone 1 is a normal headphone, but the structure of the sound generator 11 that sends sound to the headphone is different.

  In the sound generation device 11, the sound signal lines L and R generated from the sound generation unit 12 are connected to the headphones 1 through contacts 14 and 15 driven by the sound control unit 13. Therefore, when it is desired to mute the sound to the left ear, the contact 14 may be broken, and when it is desired to mute the sound to the right ear, the contact 15 may be broken. The voice control unit 13 performs such an operation according to a signal input from the outside. This external input may be provided together with, for example, a volume adjusting varium provided in the sound generator, or may be provided in the headphones 1. When the headphone 1 is not provided, the same control can be performed regardless of the type of headphone used.

  Hereinafter, a head mounted display which is a video display device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. In recent years, it has been used by being worn on the human body, such as a spectacle type that observes an image displayed on a display device such as a liquid crystal panel (LCD) as an enlarged virtual image through an optical system having an eyepiece, a half mirror, or the like. Various video display apparatuses have been proposed and are called wearable displays. Of these, those mounted on the head and used are particularly called head-mounted displays.

  In many cases, the head-mounted display is configured to be mounted on the head while being wound around the head, and corresponds to one eye of the binocular type in which a video display system is formed at a position corresponding to both eyes and the left and right eyes. There is a one-eye type in which an image display system is formed at a position. Of these, the binocular type is mainly used for the purpose of enjoying video. One-eye type devices are expected to be used as display devices such as wearable personal computers and display devices that display instructions to workers. As an example thereof, those of the type described in JP-A-8-305298 (Patent Document 1) and JP-A-2004-207847 (Patent Document 2) are known.

  FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show schematic external views of a head mounted display which is an example of an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 5, a head-mounted display main body 21 is attached to the rear part of the head, and has a mounting part 24 that has elasticity so as to sandwich the head, and a support part that is fitted into the mounting part 24 so that it can be inserted and removed. 23, a display unit 22 that is attached to the tip of the support unit 23 and displays an image, and left and right holding units 25 (also serving as ear pads and headphones) attached to the mounting unit 24 are configured as main parts. Has been. In the figure, the display unit 22 is adjusted to be positioned in front of the left eye by adjusting the pull-out length of the support unit 23, and is used for the left eye.

  The shape of the head mounted display main body 21 is vertically symmetric with respect to the center line A in the vertical direction in the figure. Therefore, if the head-mounted display main body 21 is reversed 180 degrees as shown by the arrows in the figure and rotated by 180 °, the support part 23 and the display part 22 are placed on the right side of the face as indicated by a two-dot chain line in the figure. In this state, the display unit 22 is positioned in front of the right eye and can be used for the right eye.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an outline of the wearing state of FIG. 5 viewed from the left side of the face. A gravity sensor 26 is embedded in the rear end portion of the mounting portion 24, and by detecting the direction of gravity, it is detected which side of the head mounted display main body 21 is the upper surface. Thereby, it is possible to know whether the head mounted display main body 21 is used for the left eye or the right eye.

  Further, for example, in the case of a structure in which the left and right are switched by removing the support portion 23 from the mounting portion 24 and mounting it on the opposite side, the mounting position of the support portion 23 to the mounting portion 24 is detected and used for the left eye It may be detected whether it is used for the right eye.

  In this manner, the left and right of the headphones to be muted are determined by the use side detection sensor (for example, the gravity sensor 26) depending on whether the head mounted display main body 21 is used for the right eye or the left eye. It is preferable to do.

  That is, when a situation is considered in which mute is performed in order to hear the person's story while the headphone is being used, the person who is talking comes to the side that is not blocked by the display unit 22. Therefore, it is more convenient to mute the sound with respect to the speaker on the side where the display unit 22 is not located. For this purpose, a headphone which is an example of the embodiment of the present invention described above can be used as appropriate.

  FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of a circuit for detecting whether the head mounted display main body is used for the right eye or the left eye and determining the horn to be muted based on the result. Show. In order to control the head mounted display main body, it is a matter of course that a circuit for storing and controlling the video to be displayed is necessary, but these are not shown in FIG. Is omitted.

  The circuit shown in FIG. 7 is almost the same as the circuit shown in FIG. 4 except that the contact 16 of the aforementioned use side detection sensor incorporated in the headphone 1 used in the head mounted display main body 21 is provided. The only difference is that the opening / closing signal is inputted to the voice control unit 13, so the description of the same part as in FIG. 4 is omitted, and only the different part is described.

  The contact 16 is configured to open and close differently depending on whether the head-mounted display main body 21 is used for the right eye or the left eye. Can know the usage status of the head-mounted display main body 21.

  When mute is necessary when the head mounted display main body is used for the right eye, the contact 14 is broken to mute the audio signal to the left ear. Conversely, when mute is necessary when the head mounted display main body is used for the left eye, the contact 15 is broken and the audio signal to the right ear is muted.

  In any of the embodiments described above, in the case of muting, audio output to a predetermined ear is cut by a contact. If it is desired to weaken the sound output to the ear on the predetermined side, it can be easily realized by loading a resistor in parallel with the contact in each circuit.

It is a block diagram which shows the outline | summary of the headphones which are the 1st examples of embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the outline | summary of the modification of 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the external shape of the headphones shown in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the outline | summary of the headphones which are the 2nd example of embodiment of this invention. 1 is an outline external view of a head mounted display as an example of an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is an outline external view of a head mounted display as an example of an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the outline | summary of the headphones of the head mounted display shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Headphone, 2R, 2L ... Horn, 3R, 3L ... Ear pad part, 4 ... Connection part, 5 ... Contact, 6 ... Contact, 7R, 7L ... Switch, 11 ... Sound generator, 12 ... Sound generator, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 ... Audio | voice control part, 14 ... Contact, 15 ... Contact, 16 ... Contact, 21 ... Head mounted display main body, 22 ... Display part, 23 ... Support part, 24 ... Mounting part, 25 ... Holding part (headphone), 26 ... Gravity sensor

Claims (7)

A headphone that outputs sound to both ears, and has a function of stopping sound or lowering sound output for each ear. The headphone according to claim 1, which has operation switches on both sides of the left and right center points when mounted on the head, and when the operation switch is operated, the sound is stopped or output. A headphone characterized by having a function of lowering. An audio output device connected to a headphone for outputting sound to both ears, wherein the sound output device has a function of stopping sound or reducing sound output for each ear of the headphone. The audio output device according to claim 3, wherein the headphone has operation switches on both sides of a center point on the left and right when the headphone is mounted on a head, and when the operation switch is operated, An audio output device having a function of stopping or reducing audio output. A video display device that is mounted on the head and displays video by projecting video to one eye, and includes a headphone that outputs audio to both ears and an audio output device that outputs audio to the headphone The headphone is the headphone according to claim 1 or 2, or the voice output device is the voice output device according to claim 3 or 4. apparatus. A video display device that is mounted on the head and displays video by projecting video to one eye, and includes a headphone that outputs audio to both ears and an audio output device that outputs audio to the headphone And a detection mechanism that detects whether the image is projected to the left or right eye, and selects the side that stops the sound of the headphones or the side that reduces the sound output based on the detection result of the detection mechanism A video display device having a function of The video display device according to claim 6, wherein the video display device has a function of stopping a sound of a headphone only on a side on which no video is projected or lowering a sound output based on a detection result of the detection mechanism. A video display device.

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