JP2007195078A - Device and program for setting acoustic system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make both ports and connections be clearly seen when connecting ports of element objects representing an element on a configuration screen of an acoustic system. <P>SOLUTION: When displaying an element object representing an acoustic signal processing function to be an element of the acoustic system, the color of a port object representing an input-output terminal of a signal displayed on the element object is displayed by colors (hue, saturation and lightness) preset in each type of a port, and about a connection for connecting a port to a port, colors of port objects of connection targets are displayed with the same hue and saturation and/or lightness obtained by changing the saturation and/or lightness of the port objects of the connection targets as much as a prescribed change amount so as to make the colors look thicker than the colors of the port objects. The change amount may be predetermined in advance by the system and may be set by a user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an acoustic system setting device and a program that can display the connection relationship of each component in an easy-to-see manner on a configuration screen representing the configuration of the acoustic system.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it is known that various acoustic devices are connected to constitute an acoustic system such as a mixer system as a whole. Such an acoustic system has a function of displaying a configuration screen that represents the entire configuration, and connecting a variety of devices on the configuration screen to create a screen that represents the entire configuration. There is. Also, it is known that one mixer engine can connect various components on the same mixer configuration screen to define the overall configuration of the mixer.

  In such a configuration screen, an element object representing a configuration element is called and placed on the screen, and a diagram showing the overall configuration is created by drawing connections between the configuration elements. The connection is performed by selecting terminals (ports) provided in the components and connecting the ports with lines. A port has an interface corresponding to the format of a signal input / output at the port, and is classified according to the interface. For example, there are an Ethernet (registered trademark) port, a digital audio signal port, an analog signal port, a MIDI signal port, and the like. The connection basically connects the same type of ports.

Some acoustic systems can arbitrarily set a color for each type of port of a component (element object) on the above-described configuration screen, and display the port in a set color (for example, the following) Non-patent document 1). The color of the connected line is set to the same color as the port to which the connection is connected, so that it is easily displayed what kind of port the connection is made between.
“DME Designer Version 1.1 User's Manual”, Yamaha Corporation, 2004, Chapter 4 (especially p175-176)

  By the way, in the configuration screen described above, since the port of each component is displayed on the element object on the screen representing the component, the lighter one is easier to see. On the other hand, the darker color of the line representing the connection is easier to see. Therefore, when the port and the connection on the element object are displayed with the same color and the same color, either the port or the connection is difficult to see. Although it is possible to distinguish between the two and make them easier to see if the colors are changed between the port and the connection, there is a demand to use the same color as much as possible in order to make it easy to visually recognize the correspondence between the port and the connection .

  An object of the present invention is to make it easy to see both ports and connections when connecting ports of element objects representing components on the configuration screen of an acoustic system.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an acoustic system setting device that creates and edits the configuration of an acoustic system when the acoustic system is configured by arbitrarily connecting elements that realize various acoustic signal processing functions. An element object representing the element is displayed, a port object representing an input / output terminal included in the element is displayed on the element object, and the port object is arbitrarily set to display the port object. The wire object representing the connection between the port objects, and changing the characteristics of the color of the port object connected by the wire object. The wire object is displayed in the set color. And controlling so.

  The present invention also includes a program for realizing such an acoustic system setting device.

  The color characteristics correspond to parameters for determining a color, such as hue, saturation, and brightness according to an embodiment described later. The parameter to be changed can be any parameter. It is only necessary to change a part of the color of the port so that the color of the port and the color of the wire are different from each other to the extent that it can be recognized that the two are related. For example, when displaying an element object representing an acoustic signal processing function as a component of an acoustic system, the color of a port representing an input / output terminal of a signal displayed on the element object is set in advance for each type of port. The connection colors between the ports are the same as the connection target port color, and the saturation of the connection target port is the same as the color of the connection target port. For example, the saturation and / or lightness of which the lightness is changed by a predetermined change amount are displayed so as to appear darker than the color of the port.

  According to the present invention, the correspondence between a port object and a line (wire object) can be easily recognized visually, and both the port object and the wire object can be displayed in easy-to-see colors.

  An embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration example of an acoustic system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The acoustic system includes a personal computer (PC) 101, an electronic musical instrument 102, a CD player 103, a microphone 104, a word clock master 105, mixer engines 106, 107, 108, power amplifiers 109, 110, and speaker groups 111, 112. .

  The PC 101 is a PC in which management software according to the present invention is installed. By operating this management software, a screen (detailed in FIG. 3) showing the overall configuration of the sound system is displayed on the display of the PC 101 to create, edit, and control of the mixer engine and other devices from the PC 101 can do. The electronic musical instrument 102, the CD player 103, and the microphone 104 are devices that are input sources of acoustic signals. The word clock master 105 is a device that supplies a word clock (a clock signal for synchronizing each device) to each audio device. The mixer engines 106 to 108 are mainly composed of a DSP (digital signal processor), and can perform a mixing process of multiple channels, an effect applying process, and various waveform processing processes by operating a predetermined microprogram. The power amplifiers 109 and 110 are amplifiers that amplify analog acoustic signals output from the mixer engines 107 and 108. The speaker groups 111 and 112 are a plurality of speaker units that emit analog sound signals output from the power amplifiers 109 and 110.

  These units 101 to 112 are physically connected as indicated by 121 to 131. Connections 121 to 131 are connections for exchanging signals of a predetermined format, and each unit 101 to 112 includes a port of a predetermined type of interface for performing the connection. For example, 121 is a connection for network connection (here, Ethernet (registered trademark)), and the PC 101 and the mixer engine 106 have an Ethernet port for connection by the connection 121. Similarly, 122 is a MIDI signal, 123 is a digital sound signal, 124 is an analog sound signal, 125 is a word clock signal, 126 and 127 are multi-channel digital sound signals, and 128 and 129 are multi-channel analog signals. Reference numerals 130 and 131 are connections for exchanging analog sound signals for emitting sound signals from a plurality of speaker units.

  FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the PC 101 in which management software is installed. The PC 101 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 201, a read only memory (ROM) 202, a random access memory (RAM) 203, a display circuit 204, a display unit 205, a detection circuit 206, an operation unit 207, and a communication interface (I / F). 208 and a communication bus 209.

  The CPU 201 is a processing device that executes management software. The ROM 202 is a non-volatile memory that stores a startup routine at power-on, a BIOS that manages low-level I / O processing, and the like. The RAM 203 is a volatile memory that loads a program executed by the CPU 201 and secures various work areas. The display unit 205 is a display that displays various types of information. The display circuit 204 displays the given data on the display unit 205 based on an instruction from the CPU 201. An operation unit 207 indicates operation elements such as a keyboard and a mouse included in a normal personal computer. The operation of the operation unit 207 is detected by the detection circuit 206 and the detection result is sent to the CPU 201. The communication I / F 208 is an interface for connecting to the network 121.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a configuration screen for operating predetermined management software on the PC 101 and creating and editing the entire configuration of the sound system described in FIG. 1 on the display of the PC 101. If a screen showing the overall configuration of such an acoustic system is created and edited and saved, the current overall configuration of the acoustic system can be grasped at a glance by displaying the screen later.

  In the screen 300 of FIG. 3, blocks 301 to 312 are element objects corresponding to the respective parts indicated by 101 to 112 in FIG. 1 (things having the same last two digits of numbers correspond to each other). However, since the speaker groups 111 and 112 in FIG. 1 are each composed of a plurality of speaker units, the screen 300 in FIG. 3 is divided into the speakers 311-1 to 4 and 312-1 to 4-4 and displayed ( These speakers are collectively represented by the numbers 311 and 312). Each of these element objects 301 to 312 is one which is designated on the screen by a predetermined operation and called on the screen, and is arranged at a position shown in the figure. For example, 301 is an element object that represents a PC and is placed at this position, and 302 is an element object that represents an electronic musical instrument and is placed at this position.

  Each of the element objects 301 to 312 includes a port object representing a connection terminal according to its type. How many types of port objects each element object has is determined by attribute information (property) of the element object, and the user can arbitrarily set the attribute information. Small quadrilaterals 321 to 346 attached to the rectangular lines of the element objects are port objects indicating connection terminals of the constituent elements. As described with reference to FIG. 1, each port object 321 to 346 has a type corresponding to the format of a signal exchanged at a port corresponding to the port object. Specifically, the port objects 321 and 322 are for Ethernet, 323 and 324 are for MIDI signals, 325 and 326 are for digital audio signals, 327 and 328 are for analog audio signals, 329, 330, 335, 336, 337, Reference numeral 338 denotes a port object representing a port for a word clock signal. Reference numerals 331 to 334 (and unnumbered port objects arranged below the port objects) are port objects representing digital audio signal ports for one channel. Reference numerals 339 to 342 (and unnumbered port objects arranged below the port objects) are port objects that represent analog audio signal ports for one channel. 343, 345 and the port objects (344, 346, etc.) of the respective speakers 311-1 to 4, 312-1 to 4 are port objects representing ports through which analog sound signals for driving the speakers are passed.

  The user can arbitrarily connect ports of the same type among these port objects on the configuration screen 300 of FIG. Reference numerals 351 to 363 denote connection (wire objects), respectively. The connection indicates a connection line through which a signal corresponding to the type of port connected by the connection is sent. For example, connection 351 indicates an Ethernet signal, connection 352 indicates a MIDI signal, 353, 356, and 357 indicate digital audio signals, and 354 and 360 to 363 indicate analog audio signals. Further, in order to synchronize the operations of the mixer engines 306 to 308, the word clock output from the word clock master 305 is supplied to the mixer engine 306 through the connection 355 connecting the ports 329 and 330, and the mixer engine 306 is connected to the port 335. 336 is supplied to the mixer engine 308 by a connection 358 connecting the ports 336, and is supplied to the mixer engine 307 by a connection 359 connecting the ports 337 and 338 from the mixer engine 308.

  On the screen 300 of the present embodiment, the ports and the connections connecting the ports are displayed in a color corresponding to the type. For example, since the ports 321 and 322 and the connection 351 between them are for Ethernet, they are displayed in a color assigned to the type. However, the color of the connection is changed to a color that has the same hue and saturation as the port color connected by the connection but has a reduced brightness (a color that looks darker). As a result, since the same type of port and its connection are in the same color, it is easy to see the connection relationship between the ports, and the port color is relatively light and the connection color is darker so that it is relatively dark. The port display on the element object is easy to see and the connection display is easy to see. The user can arbitrarily set which color is assigned to which type of port or connection. Also, the user can arbitrarily set a change amount (including a case where the brightness is changed to the same level) indicating how deeply the connection color is changed from the color of the same type of port.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of a setting screen 400 for setting a color for each type of port and connection. This screen 400 is displayed when a predetermined operation for instructing preference setting is performed. Reference numerals 401 to 405 are headings indicating setting items. Under “Ports &Wires;” 401, a display indicating the type of port and connection, such as “Ethernet”, “Digital Audio”,... A setting button for setting a color assigned to each type is displayed below “Color” 402. Below the “Width” 403, a thickness value input area for specifying the thickness of each type of connection is displayed. Below the “Type” 404, a type setting area indicating whether each type of connection is a solid line or a dotted line is displayed. Below the “change amount” 405, a change amount setting area for setting the change amount of the darkness of each type of connection is displayed.

  For example, reference numeral 411 denotes a line for setting a color assigned to the Ethernet, which is one of the types of ports and connections. By turning on the button 412, the user can set the color of the Ethernet port on the screen shown in FIG. In the button 412, the currently assigned color is displayed. A connection thickness can be set in the area 413, a connection type can be set in the area 414, and a connection darkness change amount can be set in the area 415. To set the connection darkness change amount, select one of the four options “as is”, “slightly darker”, “darker”, or “very darker” from the list box in the area 415. Set with. These options indicate that the color of the connection should be “as is”, “slightly darker”, “darker”, or “very darker” than the port color set by turning on the button 412. It is. The amount of change in the connection density will be described in detail later.

  When the OK button 421 is turned on after setting each type of port and connection color as described above, the setting is overwritten as preference data and the screen 400 is closed. The preference data is data for storing color settings for each type of port and connection. When the preference data is rewritten, the ports and connections on the configuration screen 300 in FIG. 3 are redisplayed based on the color settings. When the Cancel button 422 is turned on, the setting is invalidated (the preference data is not rewritten) and the screen 400 is closed.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of a color selection screen 500 displayed when a color setting button (for example, 412) displayed for each type displayed below “Color” 402 in FIG. 4 is turned on. With this screen 500, it is possible to set the color of the type of port corresponding to the setting button turned on in the screen of FIG.

  Reference numeral 501 denotes a basic color sample, which displays 48 basic color samples (preset in advance) in 6 rows and 8 columns. The user can select one of 48 color samples 501 by clicking the mouse cursor. Reference numeral 503 denotes a frame indicating that the color sample 502 is in a selected state. When the OK button 524 is clicked with any color sample 501 selected, the color of the selected color sample is set as the color of the port of that type. A cancel button 525 is a button for canceling the color setting on the screen 500.

  Instead of using the color sample 501, the user can define an arbitrary color. A 2-by-8 rectangle 522 with the heading “Custom colors” is an area where 16 custom colors can be defined. An arbitrary color can be defined by clicking one of these rectangles 522 with a mouse to select the rectangle 522 and clicking a Define Custom Colors button 523. When one of the defined custom color rectangles 522 is selected and the OK button 524 is clicked, the selected custom color is set as the color of the port of the type.

  A method of defining a custom color when the custom color definition button 523 is clicked will be described. Reference numeral 504 denotes an area that indicates hue (Hue) at a position in the horizontal direction and saturation (Saturation) at a position in the vertical direction. If any position in this area 504 is clicked with the mouse, the cross pointer 505 is set to that position, and the hue and saturation corresponding to that position are set. Reference numeral 506 denotes an area for setting lightness (Value of Brightness) at a position in the vertical direction. If any position in this area 506 is clicked with the mouse, a triangle mark 507 is set at that position, and the lightness corresponding to that position is set. The hue, saturation, and brightness set in the areas 504 and 506 are digitized, and the set values are displayed in the numerical display areas 509, 510, and 511 in order. In this embodiment, the hue is represented by a set value in the range of 0 to 239, the saturation is 0 to 240, and the lightness is 0 to 240. Numerical display areas 512, 513, and 514 are areas for displaying RGB (red, green, and blue) luminance values. The luminance value of RGB is expressed by a set value in the range of 0-255.

  When the hue, saturation, and lightness are set in the areas 504 and 506, the hue, saturation, and lightness setting values calculated based on the hue, saturation, and lightness are displayed in the numerical display areas 509, 510, and 511, and the hue is further displayed. RGB luminance values calculated from the set values of saturation and brightness are displayed in the numerical display areas 512, 513 and 514. When the setting values of hue, saturation, and brightness are directly input to the numerical display areas 509, 510, and 511, the RGB luminance values calculated from the hue, saturation, and lightness setting values are displayed in the numerical display areas 512, 513, Further, a cross pointer 505 in the area 504 and a triangle mark 507 in the area 506 are set at positions based on the setting values of hue, saturation, and brightness. Similarly, when RGB luminance values are directly input to the numerical display areas 512, 513, and 514, the setting values of hue, saturation, and brightness calculated from the luminance values are displayed in the numerical display areas 509, 510, and 511. Further, a cross pointer 505 in the area 504 and a triangle mark 507 in the area 506 are set at positions based on the set values of hue, saturation, and brightness. An area 508 displays the color itself defined as described above. When the custom color is defined as described above and the Add to Custom Colors button 521 is clicked, the defined custom color is assigned to the selected rectangle among the 16 rectangles 522.

Here, the amount of change in the color density of the connection will be described. The color of each type of port can be defined on the screen 500 of FIG. As described above, the color density of the connection corresponding to the port is determined based on the setting of the list box (415, etc.) below the “change amount” 405 in FIG. Specifically, the hue and saturation of the connection color are assumed to be the same as the hue and saturation of the port color. The lightness is calculated as follows according to each option in the list box below the “change amount” 405, where V is the lightness of the color of the port.
-When “as is”, the brightness of the connection = V
・ When “Slightly dark”, the brightness of the connection = 0.9 x V
・ When it is “dark”, the brightness of the connection = 0.8 × V
・ When "very dark", the brightness of the connection = 0.7 x V
As a result, the connection is displayed with the lightness gradually darker than the lightness of the port in the order of “as is”, “slightly dark”, “dark”, and “very dark”. Although the darkness is divided into four levels here, the number of levels is arbitrary. A coefficient for multiplying the lightness V of the port is arbitrary, and the coefficient itself may be numerically input. A method of determining the lightness of the connection by subtracting a predetermined value from the lightness V of the port may be used. In short, it may be set so that the connection looks darker than the port.

  In addition, as a method of making the connection color darker than the port color, the saturation may be adjusted instead of the lightness. Saturation ranges from 0 to 240, colorless when saturation = 0, and becomes more vivid as the numerical value increases from 0, and becomes a primary color when saturation = 240. Therefore, it is only necessary to increase a predetermined ratio or add a predetermined value so that the saturation of the connection is larger than the saturation of the port. Further, both brightness and saturation may be adjusted. In FIG. 4, the user can specify the connection darkness change amount in the list box below the “change amount” 405, but the connection darkness is determined by a predetermined method without allowing the user to specify the connection darkness change amount. May be determined. Only one change amount of the darkness may be determined as a whole, and whatever color is assigned to the port, the color darkened by the change amount may be applied to the connection of the port.

  FIG. 6 shows the procedure for displaying the element objects of each device. This process is executed when an instruction to call an element object of a device such as a PC or an electronic musical instrument is given on the configuration screen of FIG. In step 601, the element object of the called device is displayed. In step 602, each port on the element object is displayed in that kind of color. The port color for each type is obtained from the preference data.

  FIG. 7 shows a procedure of connection display processing. This process is executed when an instruction to draw a connection is made between the ports of the element object on the configuration screen of FIG. In step 701, the type of the port selected as an object to be connected is detected. In step 702, it is determined whether the type of change amount is set to “as is”. Otherwise, in step 703, the connection color is determined based on the color assigned to the port type and the amount of change. This determination method is performed as described above for how to determine the brightness of the connection when the change amount is “slightly dark”, “dark”, or “very dark”. In step 704, the determined color connection is displayed between the selected ports. If the change amount is set to “as is” in step 702, the color assigned to the type of the port is determined as it is as the connection color in step 705. In step 706, the determined color connection is displayed between the selected ports.

  FIG. 8 shows a flow of processing for setting the port and connection color. This process is executed when the color is set on the screen 500 in FIG. 5 and the color setting is validated by clicking the OK button 421 on the screen 400 in FIG. First, in step 801, the changed color setting is overwritten on the preference data. In step 802, the type of port whose color setting has been changed is detected from the configuration screen as shown in FIG. In step 803, the detected port color is changed to a newly set color. In step 804, a line connected to that type of port is detected. In step 805, it is determined whether or not the type of change amount is set to “as is”. The processing in steps 808 and 809 when “as is” is set is the same as steps 705 and 706 in FIG. When it is not “as is”, that is, when it is “slightly dark”, “dark”, or “very dark”, the processing in steps 806 and 807 is the same as steps 703 and 704 in FIG.

  FIG. 9 shows the procedure of the change amount setting process. This process is executed when the color setting (especially the change amount setting) is performed on the screen 500 of FIG. 5 and the OK button 421 is clicked on the screen 400 of FIG. 4 to validate the color setting. The First, in step 901, the changed setting of the changed amount is overwritten on the preference data. In step 902, the type of port whose change amount setting is changed is detected from the configuration screen as shown in FIG. In step 903, it is determined whether or not the change amount of that type is set to “as is”. The processing in steps 906 and 907 when “as is” is set is the same as steps 705 and 706 in FIG. When it is not “as it is”, that is, when it is “slightly dark”, “dark”, or “very dark”, the processing in steps 904 and 905 is the same as steps 703 and 704 in FIG.

  In the above embodiment, the example in which the present invention is applied to the case of creating and editing the configuration screen of the acoustic system configured by combining various devices has been described. However, the present invention has various acoustic signal processing functions. It can be applied to any combination of acoustic systems. For example, various components (component elements that constitute a mixer system, such as an n-input m-output mixer, compressor, effect, crossover audio processor, fader, switch, pan, meter, etc.) are placed on the configuration screen. In this case, the mixer system is defined by the connection, but the present invention can be applied to the port of each component and the color of the connection in that case.

  In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the brightness or saturation of a port (port object) is changed to make the connection (wire object) color darker than the port color. However, the present invention is not limited to this. In the present invention, the color of the port object is arbitrarily set, and the color of the wire object is set by changing a part of the characteristics of the color of the port object connected by the wire object.

The figure which shows the structural example of the acoustic system which is one Embodiment of this invention. Diagram showing the schematic configuration of a PC on which management software is installed The figure which shows the example of the composition screen which creates and edits the whole constitution of the sound system The figure which shows the example of the setting screen which sets the color for every kind of port and connection Figure showing an example of the color selection screen Flow chart showing the procedure of element object display processing Flow chart showing the procedure of connection display processing Flowchart showing the flow of port and connection color setting processing Flow chart showing the procedure of change amount setting processing

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... PC, 102 ... Electronic musical instrument, 103 ... CD player, 104 ... Microphone, 105 ... Word clock master, 106, 107, 108 ... Mixer engine, 109, 110 ... Power amplifier, 111, 112 ... Speaker group.

Claims (2)

An acoustic system setting device that creates and edits the configuration of the acoustic system when the acoustic system is configured by arbitrarily connecting elements that realize various acoustic signal processing functions,
A first display means for displaying an element object representing the element and displaying a port object representing an input / output terminal included in the element on the element object;
First setting means for arbitrarily setting the color of the port object;
First control means for controlling the port object displayed by the first display means to be displayed in the color set by the first setting means;
Second display means for displaying a wire object representing a connection between the port objects displayed by the first display means;
A second setting means for setting the color of the wire object by changing some characteristics of the color of the port object connected by the wire object;
An acoustic system setting device comprising: a second control unit configured to control the wire object displayed by the first display unit to be displayed in a color set by the second setting unit. . An acoustic system setting program for performing processing for creating and editing the configuration of the acoustic system in the case of configuring the acoustic system by arbitrarily connecting elements that realize various acoustic signal processing functions,
Computer
A first display means for displaying an element object representing the element and displaying a port object representing an input / output terminal included in the element on the element object;
First setting means for arbitrarily setting the color of the port object;
First control means for controlling the port object displayed by the first display means to be displayed in the color set by the first setting means;
Second display means for displaying a wire object representing a connection between the port objects displayed by the first display means;
A second setting means for setting the color of the wire object by changing some characteristics of the color of the port object connected by the wire object;
And a second control unit that controls the wire object displayed by the first display unit to be displayed in the color set by the second setting unit. Sound system setting program.

Images