JP2007036908A - Voice output device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To dispense with removing earphone, even if there is an incoming call during listening to music. <P>SOLUTION: Reproduced voice that is reproduced by a music reproduction apparatus is input to a variable gain amplifier 34 and a monitor circuit 36 via an input terminal 30. An infrared signal carrying received voice is input from a mobile terminal to a light-emitting element 32. A demodulator 40 demodulates an output electrical signal of a light-receiving element 32 to reproduce a voice signal, and informs a central processor unit 38 of a demodulating state and a result. Under the control by the central processor unit 38, the variable gain amplifier 34 amplifies the voice signal from the speech input terminal 30, and a variable gain amplifier 42 amplifies the voice signal from the demodulator 40. A mixer 44 mixes the output voice signals of the variable gain amplifiers 34 and 42 and outputs the mixed voice signals to a loudspeaker 22. When voice input is notified from the demodulator 40, the central processor unit 38 lowers the gain of the variable gain amplifier 34 or sets it to zero. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an audio output device, and more specifically, to a sound insulation type audio output device that prevents external sound from entering the ear, such as headphones or earphones.

  In headphones and earphones, external sounds are blocked even if they partially leak. Recently, products with high sound insulation performance so that almost no external sound can be heard have been commercialized. This type of audio output device is used for viewing music played on a portable music player on the go.

  Due to the widespread use of mobile phones, incoming calls are often received while listening to music. When earphones with high sound insulation performance are attached to both ears, the received sound cannot be heard even if the speaker portion of the mobile phone is brought close to the ears with the earphones attached.

  Therefore, usually, the earphone is removed, the incoming call button of the mobile phone is pressed, and the speaker portion of the mobile phone is applied to the ear. This is cumbersome and often delays answering calls.

  An object of this invention is to show the audio | voice output apparatus which makes such a troublesome operation unnecessary.

  The audio output device according to the present invention is input by a first audio input means for inputting a first audio signal, a second audio input means for inputting a second audio signal, a speaker, and the first audio input means. The first audio signal and the second audio signal input by the second audio input means are synthesized at a specified synthesis ratio and output to the speaker; and the second audio input means And a control device for controlling the synthesis ratio of the synthesis device so as to reduce the volume of the first audio signal in response to the voice input.

  According to the present invention, the first audio signal can be muted or turned down in response to the input of the second audio signal, and the second audio signal can be output from the speaker. It becomes unnecessary to do troublesome operations such as.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a relationship among a headphone 10, a music playback device 12, and a portable terminal 14 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The mobile terminal 14 is, for example, a mobile phone, and can select whether to output sound from a speaker (not shown) or to output from the light emitting element 16 as an infrared signal.

  The headphone 10 has two speakers 20 and 22 corresponding to stereo. One speaker 20 is connected to one output (L signal in the illustrated example) of stereo sound of the music playback device 12. Between the other speaker 22 and the R output of the music playback device 12, a switching device 24 for switching the R output of the music playback device 12 and the audio signal from the portable terminal 14 is connected. Of course, a switching device having the same function as the switching device 24 may be connected to the speaker 20. Which speaker 20, 22 is connected to the switching device 24 depends on which ear the user wants to hear the voice from the portable terminal 14. In this respect, it is convenient that the switching device 24 is removable from the speaker 22.

  In the present embodiment, the mobile terminal 14 outputs the received voice on the infrared signal and outputs it to the outside. The portable terminal 14 includes a light emitting element 16 for that purpose. In addition to the infrared rays, the received voice may be transmitted to the switching device 24 by a radio signal or voice itself.

  FIG. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of the switching device 24. The switching device 24 includes an audio input terminal 30 to which an R output signal of the music playback device 12 is input, and a light receiving element 32 that receives an infrared signal from the mobile terminal 14.

  The audio signal input to the audio input terminal 30 is input to the variable gain amplifier 34 and the monitor circuit 36. The monitor circuit 36 monitors the level of the audio signal from the audio input terminal 30 and supplies the monitoring result to the central controller 38. Using the monitoring result, the central control device 38 performs control such as muting the audio signal from the audio input terminal 30 when there is no sound.

  On the other hand, the light receiving element 32 receives an infrared signal from the portable terminal 14 and converts it into an electrical signal. The demodulator 40 demodulates the electrical signal output from the light receiving element 32 and reproduces an audio signal. The demodulator 40 notifies the central controller 38 of the demodulation state and the result. When the level of the output electric signal of the light receiving element 32 is too low, or when a valid audio signal cannot be reproduced, the central control device 38 performs control such as ignoring or muting the audio output from the portable terminal 14. The audio signal reproduced by the demodulator 40 is supplied to the variable gain amplifier 42.

  The variable gain amplifier 34 amplifies the audio signal from the audio input terminal 30 under the control of the central controller 38. Similarly, the variable gain amplifier 42 amplifies the audio signal from the demodulator 40 under the control of the central controller 38. The mixer 44 mixes the output audio signals of the variable gain amplifiers 34 and 42 and outputs the mixed audio signal to the speaker 22.

  The portion composed of the variable gain amplifiers 34 and 42 and the mixer 44 corresponds to the synthesizing device described in the claims. The combining ratio of the combining device is determined by the gains of the variable gain amplifiers 34 and 42.

  The central controller 38 controls the variable gain amplifiers 34 and 42 as follows according to the monitoring result of the monitor circuit 36 and the notification from the demodulator 40.

  First, in a state where an audio signal is input to the audio input terminal 30 and an audio signal from the mobile terminal 14 is not input, the central control device 38 is configured so that the output volume of the R audio becomes an appropriate level. The gain of the variable gain amplifier 34 is controlled, and the variable gain amplifier 42 is controlled to be muted. This state is simply a state of listening to music played on the music playback device 12. When the level of the sound from the portable terminal 14 is lower than the predetermined threshold, it is processed that the sound signal from the portable terminal 14 is not input.

  Second, in a state where no audio signal is input from the audio input terminal 30 or the portable terminal 14, the central controller 38 controls both the variable gain amplifiers 34 and 42 to the mute state. This state is, for example, a state in which an earphone is worn on the ear, but the music playback device 12 has not been played back yet and the mobile terminal 14 has not received an incoming call.

  Assume that the mobile terminal 14 receives a call while listening to music played by the music playback device 12 (first state). Of course, assuming such a use situation, the voice output mode of the mobile terminal 14 is set in advance to a mode in which the incoming voice is output from the light emitting element 16. When the user presses a telephone start button (not shown) of the mobile terminal 14 to connect to the telephone partner and brings the mobile terminal 14 closer to the right ear, more specifically, the position where the infrared output of the light emitting element 16 is incident on the light receiving element 24 When approaching, an infrared signal carrying the incoming call sound output from the light emitting element 16 enters the light receiving element 32.

  The light receiving element 32 converts the infrared signal into an electric signal. The demodulator 40 demodulates the electrical signal output from the light receiving element 32, supplies the audio signal to the variable gain amplifier 42, and notifies the central control device 38 of the audio input from the portable terminal 14. In accordance with this notification from the demodulator 40, the central controller 38 controls the variable gain amplifier 34 to the mute state, and the variable gain amplifier 42 has a level sufficient to listen to the received voice of the portable terminal 14 through the speaker 22. The gain to be amplified is controlled. As a result of this control, the user can listen to the incoming voice of the portable terminal 14 from the speaker 22 without being disturbed by the reproduced voice of the music playback device 12. At this time, instead of controlling the variable gain amplifier 34 to the mute state, the central controller 38 may lower the gain to such an extent that the reproduced music can be heard faintly as a background sound.

  When it is no longer necessary to listen to the received voice of the mobile terminal 14, the user may move the light emitting element 16 of the mobile terminal 14 away from the light receiving element 32 so that an infrared signal does not enter the light receiving element 32. In addition, when the telephone is terminated, the infrared signal output from the light emitting element 16 is stopped by the user's disconnection operation. Therefore, no infrared signal is input to the light receiving element 32 even if the portable terminal 14 is held on the spot. .

  In this state, a sufficiently strong electric signal is not input from the light receiving element 32 to the demodulator 40. The demodulator 40 notifies the central controller 38 that there is no voice input from the portable terminal 14. The central control device 38 controls the variable gain amplifier 42 in the mute state in accordance with this notification. At this time, if the playback sound from the music playback device 12 is input to the sound input terminal 30, the central control device 38 controls the variable gain amplifier so that the output volume of the playback sound from the speaker 22 becomes an appropriate level. The gain of 34 is controlled. If the playback sound from the music playback device 12 is not input to the sound input terminal 30, the central control device 38 controls the variable gain amplifier 34 to the mute state.

  As described above, in this embodiment, when the mobile terminal 14 receives an incoming call, it is possible to listen to the received voice of the mobile terminal 14 without the operation of removing the headphones 10 from the ear.

  In order to completely mute the playback sound of the sound playback device 12 when listening to the reception sound of the mobile terminal 14, a changeover switch is arranged in place of the variable gain amplifiers 34 and 42 and the mixer 44, and either sound is switched by the switch. Whether to output from the speaker 22 may be selected.

  Although the invention has been described with reference to specific illustrative embodiments, various modifications and alterations may be made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the claims. This is obvious to an engineer in the field to which the present invention belongs, and such changes and modifications are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the relationship between one Example of this invention, a music reproduction apparatus, and a portable terminal. 3 is a block diagram of a schematic configuration of a switching circuit 24. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

10: Headphone 12: Music playback device 14: Portable terminal 16: Light emitting device 20, 22: Speaker 24: Switching device 30: Audio input terminal 32: Light receiving device 34: Variable gain amplifier 36: Monitor circuit 38: Central control device 40: Demodulator 42: Variable gain amplifier 44: Mixer

Claims (5)

First voice input means (30) for inputting a first voice signal;
Second voice input means (32, 40) for inputting a second voice signal;
A speaker (22);
The first voice signal input by the first voice input means (30) and the second voice signal input by the second voice input means are synthesized at a specified synthesis ratio and output to the speaker. A synthesizer (34, 42, 44);
A control device (38) for controlling the designated synthesis ratio of the synthesis apparatus so as to reduce the volume of the first audio signal in response to the voice input from the second voice input means.
An audio output device comprising:   The said 2nd audio | voice input means comprises a light receiving element (32) and the demodulator (40) which demodulates the said 2nd audio | voice signal from the output of the said light receiving element (32). The audio output device according to 1. The synthesizer is
A first variable gain amplifier (34) for amplifying the first audio signal;
A second variable gain amplifier (42) for amplifying the second audio signal;
A mixer (44) for mixing the outputs of the first and second variable gain amplifiers (34, 42)
And
3. The audio output device according to claim 1, wherein the control device controls the gains of the first and second variable gain amplifiers (34, 42).   The said control apparatus (38) controls the said designated synthetic | combination ratio of the said synthesis | combination apparatus so that the said 1st audio | voice signal may be muted according to the audio | voice input from the said 2nd audio | voice input means. Item 4. The audio output device according to any one of Items 1 to 3.   5. The control device according to claim 1, wherein when the second audio signal is not input, the controller (38) sets the synthesis ratio of the second audio signal in the synthesis device to zero. The audio output device according to Item 1.

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