JP2008006842A - Information providing device and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information providing device and a method therefor which can make easy to catch a voice when it is applied, for example, to a portable car navigation device and used in a vehicle or the like by being set to a cradle. <P>SOLUTION: Various kinds of information is provided to a user by the voice by using a speaker 3 provided on the device 1 as a full range speaker when it is used as a single, and by using a speaker 6 of the speaker 3 of the device 1 side and a cradle 5 side as a two-way speaker when it is connected to the cradle 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus and an information providing method, and can be applied to, for example, a portable car navigation apparatus. The present invention uses a speaker provided in the device as a full range speaker when used alone, and connects the speaker on the device side and the speaker on the cradle side in two ways when connected to a cradle. By using as a speaker and providing various kinds of information to the user by voice, it is easy to hear the voice when set in a cradle and used in a vehicle or the like.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been provided a car navigation device that can be used by being removed from a vehicle and carried. For this reason, in this type of car navigation apparatus, a display unit such as a liquid crystal display panel is formed, and a navigation map is displayed on the display unit. In addition, a speaker that outputs so-called guide voice is provided, and various information is provided to the user by voice. This type of car navigation device is configured so that it can be mounted on a vehicle and used, for example, by being set on a cradle fixed on the dashboard of the vehicle.

  On the other hand, regarding a portable electronic device, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 37-23869 has proposed a configuration in which an external speaker is connected to a portable electronic device.

By the way, this type of car navigation system has a small speaker so that it can be carried around. There is a risk of becoming hot.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 37-23869

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and intends to propose an information providing apparatus and an information providing method capable of making it easy to hear a sound when used in a vehicle or the like by setting it in a cradle. .

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the invention of claim 1 is applied to an information providing apparatus that is portable from a cradle and provides various information to a user by sound, and generates a sound signal of the sound. A sound source, a speaker on the information providing device side for reproducing the sound, a sound circuit for driving the speaker on the information providing device side with the sound signal, a detecting means for detecting attachment to the cradle, and A control circuit for switching settings of the audio circuit based on a detection result; and an audio signal output terminal for outputting the audio signal to a cradle-side speaker provided in the cradle, wherein the control circuit includes the cradle The audio circuit is set to drive the speaker in the entire frequency band of the audio signal. The information providing device side speaker is used as a full range speaker to provide the audio to the user, and when set in the cradle, the speaker is driven at a high frequency of the audio signal. The audio is provided to the user by a two-way speaker including a speaker on the information providing device side and a speaker on the cradle side.

  Further, the invention of claim 3 is applicable to an information providing method using an information providing apparatus that can be removed from the cradle and carried and provides various kinds of information to the user by voice, and detects attachment / detachment to the cradle. An attachment / detachment detection step; and a system switching step of switching a speaker system that provides the audio to the user based on a detection result of the attachment / detachment detection step. The system switching step includes: The information providing device speaker is used as a full range speaker to provide the audio to the user, and when set in the cradle, the information providing device side speaker and the The sound is output by a 2-way speaker with a cradle speaker. Serial to provide users.

  According to the configuration of claim 1 or claim 3, when set in the cradle, it is set so that the voice can be heard more clearly than when it is removed from the cradle, Various kinds of information can be provided to the user by voice, and even when used in a vehicle, it can be made much easier to hear than before.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, when set to a cradle and using it with a vehicle etc., it can make it easy to hear an audio | voice.

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

(1) Configuration of Embodiment FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a car navigation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The car navigation device 1 is a portable car navigation device, and is configured to be carried around with a built-in secondary battery. For this reason, the car navigation device 1 is provided with a display screen 2 for displaying a map, various operation menus, and the like on the front, and a touch panel for detecting a user operation is provided on the front of the display screen 2. Further, a speaker 3 for outputting a guide sound is provided on the right side and lower side of the front, and a power switch 4 is provided on the upper end surface.

  Further, the car navigation device 1 is configured to be set on the cradle 5 and used in a vehicle or the like as indicated by an arrow A. Here, the cradle 5 is fixed on a dashboard of the vehicle or the like, and a recess for holding the car navigation device 1 in a detachable manner is formed. In addition, a speaker 6 that outputs a guide sound is provided on the back surface, and a connector 7 that is used to input an audio signal related to the speaker 6 is provided on the bottom surface of the recess.

  Corresponding to the configuration of the cradle 5, the car navigation device 1 is provided with a connector 8 on the lower end surface, and when set on the cradle 5, it is connected to the cradle 5 by the connectors 8 and 7.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the car navigation apparatus 1 together with the cradle 5. Here, a GPS (Global Positioning System) unit 11 detects a current position by receiving and processing a radio wave coming from a GPS satellite with an antenna, and notifies the central processing unit 12 of the current position.

  The display unit 13 includes, for example, a liquid crystal display panel (TFT-LCD: Thin Film Transistor-Liquid Crystal Display) that forms the display screen 2 described above with reference to FIG. 2, and is controlled by the central processing unit 12 to display a map, a GUI (Graphical User). Various operation menus by Interface) are displayed. The operation unit 14 detects a user operation by a touch panel arranged on the display screen 2 and notifies the central processing unit 12 of the operation.

  The audio circuit 15 processes the audio data DA output from the central processing unit 12, and drives the speaker 3 by the audio signal SA1 that is the processing result. The audio signal SA2 is output to the connector 8.

  The power supply unit 16 supplies power for operation to each unit from the power source of the secondary battery (battery) 17 or from the power source on the vehicle side input via the connector 8, and the secondary battery 17 is supplied from the power source on the vehicle side. Charge.

  The central processing unit 12 is a control unit that controls the operation of the entire car navigation apparatus 1 and secures a work area in a random access memory (RAM) 19 and executes a program recorded in a read only memory (ROM) 20. As a result, the overall operation of the car navigation apparatus 1 is controlled. In this embodiment, the program is installed and provided in advance in the car navigation apparatus. Instead, the program is provided by being recorded on a recording medium such as an optical disk, a magnetic disk, or a memory card. Alternatively, it may be provided by downloading via a network such as the Internet.

  The central processing unit 12 displays various operation menus on the display unit 13 by executing this program, acquires information on the current position from the GPS unit 11 and displays a map on the display unit 13 in accordance with a user instruction. In addition, the display of the operation menu by the display unit 13 accepts the input of the destination, detects the route from the information of the destination and the current position, and displays a navigation map. Also, audio data DA is output as appropriate, and guide audio is output from the speaker 3. The guide voice is a voice that provides the user with information such as a right turn and a left turn according to the detected route, and is a monaural voice. The audio data DA is recorded and held in a flash memory or the like.

  In these series of processes, the central processing unit 12 switches the setting of the audio circuit 15 when the connection with the cradle 5 is detected via the connector 8.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing in detail the switching of the setting of the audio circuit 15. In the audio circuit 15, a digital / analog conversion circuit (DAC) 21 performs digital / analog conversion processing on the audio data DA output from the central processing unit 12 and outputs an audio signal SA.

  The filter switching circuit 22 passes a predetermined frequency component from the audio signal SA output from the digital-analog conversion circuit 21 to output the audio signal SA1, and switches the pass band according to the setting of the central processing unit 12.

  Specifically, in the filter switching circuit 22, a high-pass filter is formed by the capacitor Cs and the resistor R1, and a resistor R2 and a transistor Tr are provided in parallel on the ground end side of the resistor R1. Here, the resistor R2 is a resistor having a larger resistance value than the resistor R1 so that the function of the high-pass filter is stopped. The filter switching circuit 22 grounds the ground end side of the resistor R1 through the resistor R2 by turning off the transistor Tr, and passes the entire frequency band of the audio signal SA. Further, when the transistor Tr is turned on, the ground end side of the resistor R1 is grounded via the transistor Tr, and the high frequency component of the audio signal SA is selectively output.

  The power amplifier (PA) 23 amplifies the audio signal SA 1 output from the filter switching circuit 22 and drives the speaker 3. As a result, according to the setting of the central processing unit 12, the audio circuit 15 uses the speaker 3 as a full-range speaker when not connected to the cradle 5, and uses the speaker 3 as a tweeter when connected to the cradle 5. use.

  The low-pass filter 24 limits the band of the audio signal SA output from the digital-analog conversion circuit 21 to extract a signal component having a low frequency, and outputs the audio signal SA2 resulting from this extraction to the output terminal of the connector 8. Note that the cutoff frequency of the low-pass filter 24 is set so as to correspond to the cutoff frequency of the filter switching circuit 22.

  Corresponding to the output of the audio signal SA2, the cradle 5 drives the speaker 6 by amplifying the audio signal SA2 input from the input terminal of the connector 7 with a power amplifier (PA) 25. As a result, the audio circuit 15 uses the speaker 6 on the cradle 5 side as a woofer when connected to the cradle 5.

  The connector 8 has a detection terminal for detecting connection with the cradle 5 via a resistor R3 connected to the power supply VCC, and a detection terminal connected to the central processing unit 12. The connector 7 is wired so that the detection terminal of the connector 8 is grounded when connected to the connector 8.

  The central processing unit 12 determines the signal level of the detection terminal at regular time intervals, and detects the connection with the cradle 5 based on the determination result. Here, when the connection with the cradle 5 is not detected, the central processing unit 12 sets the filter switching circuit 22 so as to turn off the transistor Tr and output the entire audio band from the speaker 3. Thus, when the central processing unit 12 is not set in the cradle, the speaker is used as a full range speaker, and various information is provided to the user by voice using the full range speaker.

  On the other hand, when the connection with the cradle 5 is detected, the central processing unit 12 sets the filter switching circuit 22 so that the transistor Tr is turned on to output a high frequency from the speaker 3. As a result, when the car navigation device 1 is set in the cradle 5, the central processing unit 12 forms a two-way speaker system with the speaker 3 on the car navigation device 1 side and the speaker 6 on the cradle 5 side. Various types of information are provided to the user by means of a two-way speaker system.

(2) Operation of Example In the above configuration, in this car navigation device 1 (FIG. 3), route search and route guidance processing is executed in response to a user operation, and a map and a route to the destination are displayed. Displayed in part 13. Various information such as right turn and left turn is provided to the user by voice. In the car navigation device 1, audio data DA relating to the audio is generated by the central processing unit 12. Further, the speaker 3 is driven by the audio circuit 15 by the audio data DA, and the user can acquire various types of information by using the audio reproduced by the speaker 3.

  However, since the car navigation device 1 is configured to be carried and used, the speaker 3 is small, and as a result, various information can be clearly and sufficiently displayed when being carried and used. Can be acquired by voice, but when mounted on a vehicle and used, the voice may not be heard clearly.

  Therefore, in this car navigation device 1, when the speaker 3 is not set in the cradle, the speaker 3 is used as a full range speaker, and various information is provided to the user through the full range speaker 3 by voice. As a result, when the car navigation device 1 is carried and used, various types of information can be provided to the user by voice so that it can be heard clearly and clearly, as in the prior art.

  On the other hand, when the cradle 5 is set, the central processing unit 12 detects the set to the cradle 5 by the change in the voltage of the detection terminal provided in the connector 8. Further, by switching the setting of the audio circuit 15 by the central processing unit 12, the driving of the speaker 3 on the car navigation device 1 side is switched to the driving by the high range of the audio signal SA, and the speaker 3 is set to function as a tweeter. . The audio signal SA2 is output to the cradle 5 via the low-pass filter 24, and the speaker 6 on the cradle 5 side is set to function as a woofer.

  Thus, when the car navigation device 1 is set in the cradle 5, a two-way speaker system is constituted by the speaker 3 on the car navigation device 1 side and the speaker 6 on the cradle 5 side. Information is provided to the user by voice. Accordingly, the car navigation device 1 is set so that the voice can be heard more clearly than when used alone, and various information can be provided to the user by voice and used in the vehicle. Etc., it can be made much easier to hear than in the past.

(3) Advantages of the embodiment According to the above configuration, the speaker provided in the device is used as a full-range speaker when used alone, and the device side is connected when connected to a cradle. By using the speaker and the cradle-side speaker as a two-way speaker and providing various kinds of information to the user by voice, it is possible to make it easier to hear the voice when the cradle is used in a vehicle or the like.

  The car navigation device of this embodiment is provided with a plurality of types of cradles provided with speakers having different characteristics, so that the user can select a desired cradle from the plurality of types of cradles and install it on a vehicle or the like. Configured.

  The car navigation device of this embodiment is configured to detect the characteristics of a speaker provided in the attached cradle by being attached to the cradle. Note that this speaker characteristic detection mechanism is provided on the cradle side so that it can be accessed from the car navigation device when, for example, a concave / convex shape indicating the speaker characteristics is provided on the cradle and this concave / convex shape is detected by a switch provided on the car navigation device side. Various methods can be widely applied, for example, when a memory is provided and information indicating the characteristics of the speaker is recorded in the memory.

  Further, the frequency characteristic and / or signal level of the audio signal for driving the speaker is varied according to the detected characteristic of the speaker. In this case, the frequency characteristics of the audio signal output to the cradle may also be switched. Thus, in this embodiment, the speaker on the apparatus side and the speaker on the cradle side are used as a two-way speaker system, and the characteristics of the sound reproduced on the apparatus side are set according to the characteristics of the speaker of the cradle to be mounted. Variable so that the voice can be heard more clearly.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the central processing unit detects the connection with the cradle and switches the setting of the filter switching circuit has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and instead of this, The transistor Tr may be directly on / off controlled at the signal level of the detection terminal.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the frequency characteristic of the audio signal is changed by the filter switching circuit by connecting to the cradle has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and in addition to this, the signal level of the audio signal is also described. May also be adjusted.

  In the above-described embodiments, the case where the low-pass filter is provided on the apparatus side has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the low-pass filter may be provided on the cradle side.

  Further, in the above-described embodiments, the case where the present invention is applied to a car navigation device and information such as road guidance is provided to the user has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various kinds of information can be transmitted to the user by voice. The present invention can be widely applied to various portable information providing devices.

  The present invention can be applied to a portable car navigation device, for example.

It is a block diagram which shows the audio | voice circuit in the car navigation apparatus of Example 1 of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the car navigation apparatus of Example 1. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the car navigation apparatus of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Car navigation device, 3, 6 ... Speaker, 5 ... Cradle, 12 ... Central processing unit, 15 ... Audio circuit, 22 ... Filter switching circuit, 24 ... Low pass filter

Claims (3)

In an information providing device that can be removed from the cradle and carried, and that provides various information to the user by voice,
A sound source for generating a sound signal of the sound;
A speaker on the information providing device side for reproducing the sound;
An audio circuit for driving a speaker on the information providing apparatus side with the audio signal;
Detection means for detecting attachment to the cradle;
A control circuit for switching the setting of the audio circuit based on the detection result of the detection means;
The speaker on the cradle side provided in the cradle includes an audio signal output terminal for outputting the audio signal,
The control circuit includes:
When removed from the cradle, the speaker on the information providing device side is used as a full-range speaker by setting the audio circuit to drive the speaker in the entire frequency band of the audio signal. Providing the audio to the user;
When set in the cradle, driving the speaker at a high frequency of the audio signal causes the audio to be transmitted to the user by a two-way speaker including the speaker on the information providing device side and the speaker on the cradle side. An information providing apparatus characterized by providing. Comprising information acquisition means for acquiring information of characteristics of the cradle side speaker;
The control circuit includes:
The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the characteristic of the sound reproduced by the speaker on the information providing apparatus side is varied based on the characteristic information acquired by the information acquisition unit. In an information providing method using an information providing apparatus that is portable from a cradle and provides various information to a user by voice,
An attachment / detachment detecting step for detecting attachment / detachment to the cradle;
A system switching step of switching a speaker system that provides the audio to the user based on the detection result of the attachment / detachment detection step,
The system switching step includes:
When the information providing device is removed from the cradle, the audio is provided to the user using the speaker of the information providing device as a full-range speaker;
When set in the cradle, the information is provided to the user by a two-way speaker including a speaker on the information providing device side and a speaker on the cradle side.

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