JP2009021826A - Device and method for processing signal, program, and noise canceling system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a noise canceling system which reduces noise and also improves a monitor function for monitoring external sounds, such as train announcement. <P>SOLUTION: Based on sound pickup signals from a microphone, monitor signals that low frequency components of external sounds are removed, and noise cancel (NC) signals are generated. A vibration board is activated based on both audio signals that are added with the NC signals and the monitor signals, so that operations are performed in a monitor mode that external sounds can be monitored based on the monitor signals under an NC function. Thereby, the NC function is available in the monitor mode, so that conventional problems that users listen audio content in the state that unnecessary external noise is included in the monitor mode can be effectively prevented. In addition, problems that the NC function is not operated in the monitor mode and components of monitor signals which are to be monitored are removed by other external noise are also effectively prevented. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a signal processing apparatus for generating a driving signal for noise cancellation, and a method thereof, as a signal processing apparatus for generating a driving signal for a sound reproduction apparatus such as a so-called headphone or earphone. Further, the present invention relates to a noise canceling system configured to include the sound reproduction device and the signal processing device.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-214892 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-96199

For example, audio contents are generally listened to by an audio playback device such as headphones or earphones. In addition, a noise canceling system that suppresses external noise generated when audio content is listened to by the sound reproducing apparatus and enhances the sound insulation effect has been put into practical use.
In general, in a noise canceling system, as described in the above patent documents, a microphone for noise detection is provided on the sound reproduction device side, and a reverse phase signal that cancels a noise component based on the collected sound signal is provided. Noise cancellation is realized by generating and adding this to the audio signal side.

Here, as a matter of course, in the noise canceling system, it is important to improve the sound insulation / muffling effect. On the other hand, as user needs, for example, when talking to people, trains, buses, There is also a desire to listen to sounds generated in the outside world (especially sounds in the voice band) at the same time, such as when you want to hear announcements when using public institutions such as airplanes.
Considering this point, at present, there is a choice between an NC mode in which the noise cancellation function (NC function) is turned on and a monitor mode in which the NC function is turned off and an external sound pickup signal is added to the audio signal side. Some of the products made possible are also found.
However, in such a configuration, although the sound output based on the audio content is continued in the monitor mode, the NC function is turned off. In this case, in the monitor mode, the user is mixed with unnecessary external noise. It is a problem that the audio content is listened to.
In addition, when the NC function is turned off in the monitor mode as described above, it may be difficult to hear a sound in a necessary voice band. In other words, although the monitor signal is added to the audio signal side as described above, it may be difficult to listen to the target sound in some cases due to mixing of unnecessary external noise in the band. There is.

Therefore, in the present invention, in view of the above problems, the signal processing apparatus is configured as follows.
That is, the signal processing device of the present invention has a mounting portion that is mounted on the listener's ear, and is provided with a diaphragm for sound reproduction inside the mounting portion, and outside the mounting portion. A signal processing apparatus for generating a driving signal for the diaphragm in a sound reproducing apparatus provided with a first microphone provided so as to collect sound, wherein the sound collecting operation is performed by the first microphone. The first sound pickup signal obtained based on the input is input, and a signal characteristic corresponding to the feed forward method set so that the band component below the predetermined frequency of the external sound is canceled and listened to by the listener is given. Thus, a first noise cancellation signal generating means for generating the first noise cancellation signal is provided.
Further, when an instruction to switch to the first operation mode is given as an instruction to switch between the first operation mode and the second operation mode, the first noise cancellation signal generating means performs the input audio signal on the input audio signal. When an addition signal obtained by adding the generated first noise cancellation signal is output and an instruction to switch to the second operation mode is given, the addition signal and a frequency equal to or higher than a predetermined frequency of the first sound pickup signal are output. Selective output means for outputting a monitor signal generated by passing the band component is provided.
In addition, drive signal generation means for generating a drive signal for driving the diaphragm in the sound reproduction device based on the output signal of the selection output means is provided.

Further, the noise canceling system is configured as follows.
That is, the noise canceling system of the present invention has a mounting portion that is mounted on the listener's ear, and includes a sound reproducing device that includes a diaphragm for sound reproduction inside the mounting portion; And a signal processing device for generating a drive signal for the sound reproduction device, wherein the sound reproduction device is provided so as to collect external sound outside the mounting portion. A first microphone is provided.
The signal processing device receives a first sound pickup signal obtained based on a sound pickup operation by the first microphone, cancels a band component of the external sound below a predetermined frequency, and is listened to by the listener. By providing signal characteristics corresponding to the feed forward method set as described above, a first noise cancellation signal generating means for generating a first noise cancellation signal is provided.
Further, when an instruction to switch to the first operation mode is given as an instruction to switch between the first operation mode and the second operation mode, the first noise cancellation signal generating means performs the input audio signal on the input audio signal. When an addition signal obtained by adding the generated first noise cancellation signal is output and an instruction to switch to the second operation mode is given, the addition signal and a frequency equal to or higher than a predetermined frequency of the first sound pickup signal are output. Selective output means for outputting a monitor signal generated by passing the band component is provided.
In addition, drive signal generation means for generating a drive signal for driving the diaphragm in the sound reproduction device based on the output signal of the selection output means is provided.

Here, many components of noise that is detrimental to hearing and noise that hinders listening to speech such as human conversation are in a frequency band lower than the voice band. Therefore, as a monitoring signal generated by passing a band component having a frequency equal to or higher than a predetermined frequency of the collected sound signal of the external sound as described above, a low-frequency component as a noise component is removed, which is advantageous for audio listening. Can be obtained.
According to the above configuration, the drive signal based on the audio signal to which the noise cancellation signal is added is generated as the drive signal for the sound reproducing device in the first operation mode, and the noise is generated in the second operation mode. A drive signal is generated based on both the audio signal to which the cancel signal is added and the monitor signal. In other words, this switches between the NC mode in which noise cancellation (hereinafter simply referred to as NC) is performed and the monitor mode in which the external sound is heard based on the monitor signal while the NC function is turned on. be able to.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to switch between the NC mode in which noise is canceled and the monitor mode in which the external sound is heard based on the monitor signal while the NC function is turned on. That is, the NC function can be kept on even in the monitor mode.
As described above, if the NC function can be turned on even in the monitor mode, it is possible to effectively prevent the user from listening to the audio content in the state in which unnecessary external noise is mixed in the monitor mode as in the prior art. be able to.

  Also, since the NC function is turned on even in the monitor mode, the NC function is turned off in the monitor mode as in the past, and the component of the monitor signal to be listened to is another external noise. Can be effectively prevented from being erased.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to achieve both the sound insulation / muffling effect by noise cancellation and the function of listening to a necessary sound such as an external announcement.

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the invention (hereinafter referred to as an embodiment) will be described.
<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a signal processing apparatus as a first embodiment of the present invention, and shows an internal configuration of a headphone 1 configured to include the signal processing apparatus according to the first embodiment. Yes. In the following description, only a configuration corresponding to an audio signal for one channel is shown for the sake of simplicity. However, in the case of a configuration corresponding to a plurality of channels of audio signals, the configuration described below for each channel. May be provided.
In the following description, “noise cancellation” is also simply referred to as “NC”.

In FIG. 1, a headphone 1 is first provided with a diaphragm unit 2. The diaphragm unit 2 is configured to vibrate an internal diaphragm based on a drive signal (drive voltage) from a drive circuit 8 described later, and to output a sound corresponding to the drive signal.
Further, the headphone 1 is provided with a microphone 3 for collecting an external sound when performing a noise canceling operation. The microphone 3 is mounted on the headphones 1 as shown in FIG. 2A in order to enable a sound collecting operation corresponding to a noise canceling system using a feed forward method (FF method). It is provided on the outside of the part 1A.

FIG. 2A shows an extracted part of the appearance of the headphones 1 including the mounting portion 1A. First, as can be understood from this figure, in the present embodiment, a so-called sealed headphone device is assumed as the headphone 1.
The mounting portion 1A is a portion of the headphone 1 that is attached to the listener's ear. The microphone 3 is provided so as to be exposed to the outside of the mounting portion 1A as shown in the figure, so that external sound can be collected.

  The headphone 1 may be a so-called inner type (earphone) as shown in FIG. The mounting portion 1A in this case is also a portion to be mounted on the listener's ear as shown, and the microphone 3 is also provided so as to be exposed to the outside of the mounting portion 1A. What should I do?

  Although not shown, the diaphragm unit 2 shown in FIG. 1 is provided such that the diaphragm is disposed inside the mounting portion 1A.

Returning to FIG.
In FIG. 1, the collected sound signal from the microphone 3 is amplified by the microphone amplifier 4 and then branched and input to the FF NC signal generation unit 5 and the monitor signal generation unit 7 as shown in the figure.
Here, the collected sound signal in this case is input with a minus (−) polarity as shown in the figure. This is so that the component of the NC signal generated by the FF-system NC signal generation unit 5 based on the collected sound signal is added to the audio signal side so as to be a reverse phase component with respect to the noise sound generated in the outside world. Because.

The FF NC signal generator 5 is set with a signal characteristic α corresponding to a noise canceling system based on the FF system, and gives the signal characteristic α to the collected sound signal input from the microphone amplifier 4. Composed. For this signal characteristic α, an NC signal is generated so that the external sound is canceled and heard by the listener in consideration of the transfer function of each circuit and space in the FF noise canceling system. Thus, the signal characteristics (frequency-amplitude characteristics and frequency-phase characteristics) set to be given to the collected sound signal are obtained. The FF NC signal generator 5 that gives such a signal characteristic α to the input signal can be constituted by a filter circuit, for example.
The NC signal generated by giving the signal characteristic α by the FF system NC signal generation unit 5 is supplied to the adder 6.

Here, in the case of the present embodiment, the signal characteristic α set in the FF system NC signal generation unit 5 is set such that only the band component below the predetermined frequency of the external sound is canceled. Yes.
FIG. 3 shows the noise reduction characteristic by the NC signal generated by giving the signal characteristic α in this case. In this figure, the noise reduction characteristics are shown with the horizontal axis representing the frequency of the external sound and the vertical axis representing the amount of noise reduction by the NC signal.
As shown in the figure, depending on the signal characteristic α in this case, a noise reduction effect can be obtained in a frequency band lower than the voice band indicated by the broken line in the figure. Specifically, a noise reduction effect is obtained for a low frequency portion of about 300 Hz or less.

  For the sake of confirmation, most of the noise components that hinder human conversations and are detrimental to hearing are contained in the low range of 300 Hz or less. Therefore, according to the setting of the signal characteristic α described above, it is possible to cancel most of the noise component that becomes an obstacle to listening to the audio band component.

  In FIG. 1, the headphone 1 is provided with an audio input terminal TAin. An audio signal from a playback device that plays back and outputs audio content such as an external audio player (not shown) is input to the audio input terminal TAin. The audio signal input in this way is input to the adder 6 as shown.

The adder 6 adds the NC signal supplied from the FF NC signal generation unit 5 as described above and the audio signal, and outputs the result to the drive circuit 8.
Here, as described above, the microphone amplifier 4 in this case outputs a sound collection signal having a negative polarity. Therefore, the polarity of the NC signal output from the FF NC signal generation unit 5 is − Polarity. Accordingly, the signal supplied from the adder 6 to the drive circuit 8 is a signal in which an NC signal having a negative polarity is superimposed on the audio signal.

The drive circuit 8 amplifies the input signal and generates a drive signal for driving the diaphragm in the diaphragm unit 2.
Depending on the drive circuit 8 in the present embodiment, the diaphragm is driven by a so-called BTL (Bridged TransLess) connection configuration. Specifically, the drive circuit 8 in this case is provided with two inverting amplifiers 8a and 8b, which are configured so as to operate in opposite phases to each other.

The output signal from the adder 6 is input to the inverting amplifier 8a. The inverting amplifier 8a inverts the polarity of the input output signal from the adder 6 and outputs it.
The output signal from the adder 6 whose polarity is inverted by the inverting amplifier 8a is supplied as a negative polarity drive signal to the diaphragm unit 2 as shown in the figure. In this case, when the polarity of the audio signal is considered as a reference, the output of the inverting amplifier 8a is negative.
As shown, the output signal of the inverting amplifier 8a is branched and input to the inverting amplifier 8b (via an adder 8c described later). As a result, a signal obtained by further inverting the polarity of the input signal from the inverting amplifier 8a is output from the inverting amplifier 8b, and the output signal from the inverting amplifier 8b is supplied as a drive signal on the positive polarity side for the diaphragm unit 2. The
As is well known, by adopting such a configuration as a BTL connection, the vibration amplitude of the voltage is approximately doubled compared to the case of so-called single-end connection, and the diaphragm is driven with approximately four times the power. Therefore, more efficient driving can be realized and the S / N can be advantageous.

The headphone 1 includes a monitor signal generation unit 7, a switch SW, and an adder 8c as a system for generating a monitor signal for enabling listening (monitoring) of external sounds, particularly in a sound band. It has been.
The monitor signal generation unit 7 includes an HPF (High Pass Filter) 7a and a gain circuit 7b, and the collected sound signal from the microphone amplifier 4 described above is input to the HPF 7a. Here, the cut-off frequency of the HPF 7a is set so as to remove a low-frequency component that includes a noise component that is likely to be harsh on hearing. Specifically, it is set so as to cut the band of 300 Hz or less described in FIG. As a result, the low-frequency annoying noise component is removed, and for example, a monitor signal that makes it easy to hear external sounds such as in-car announcements is obtained.
The monitor signal generated by the HPF 7a is amplified by giving a predetermined gain by the gain circuit 7b, and then output from the monitor signal generating unit 7.

  Here, the case where the HPF 7a and the gain circuit 7b are explicitly separated is illustrated as the monitor signal generation unit 7, but in actuality, the monitor signal generation unit 7 actually has a predetermined configuration as described above. It is possible to integrally form a filter circuit or the like that provides frequency-amplitude characteristics for obtaining a signal having a predetermined gain obtained by removing a band component equal to or lower than a predetermined frequency.

The monitor signal output from the monitor signal generator 7 is supplied to the adder 8c through the switch SW. The adder 8c adds the output signal from the inverting amplifier 8a described above and the monitor signal input via the switch SW, and outputs the result to the inverting amplifier 8b.
Here, the polarity of the monitor signal input to the adder 8c via the switch SW is -polarity according to the polarity of the collected sound signal from the microphone amplifier 4 described above. As a result, the polarity of the monitor signal component output from the inverting amplifier 8b is set to a positive polarity. As a result, the monitor signal component with the + polarity can be superimposed on the drive signal on the + polarity side with respect to the diaphragm unit 2, whereby the sound corresponding to the monitor signal is appropriately output from the diaphragm unit 2. Can be.

  The headphone 1 is provided with an operator 9 for turning on / off the switch SW. In this case, the operation element 9 is an operation element such as a button that can be pressed, for example, and is configured such that the switch SW is turned on / off in conjunction with an operation on the operation element 9. That is, in this case, when the switch SW is turned off by the operation of the operation element 9, only the addition signal (signal obtained by adding the NC signal to the audio signal) is supplied to the drive circuit 8. When only the noise cancellation function is turned on and the switch SW is turned on, the monitor signal is supplied to the drive circuit 8 together with the addition signal, and the NC function is kept on. At the same time, the external audio monitoring function is turned on.

  As can be understood from the above description, in this case, switching between the NC mode in which only the NC operation is performed in conjunction with the operation of the operation element 9 and the monitor mode in which the monitor signal is output is performed. Become. That is, in this case, the operator 9 becomes a means for giving an instruction to switch between the NC mode and the monitor mode.

As described above, according to the signal processing device of the first embodiment, the NC mode for performing noise cancellation and the monitor mode for listening to external sound based on the monitor signal while turning on the NC function. Switching can be performed.
Also, according to this, the NC function can be kept on even in the monitor mode. As a result, it is possible to effectively prevent the user from listening to audio content in a state where unnecessary external noise is mixed in the monitor mode, as in the conventional method of turning off the NC function in the monitor mode.
Further, since the NC function can be turned on even in the monitor mode as described above, the NC function is turned off in the monitor mode as in the prior art, and the component of the monitor signal to be listened to is different from the other. It can be effectively prevented that it is wiped out by external noise.

  In the first embodiment, since the signal characteristic α is set so as to cancel only the low-frequency component lower than the audio band, such as a band of 300 Hz or less, it is heard in the monitor mode. It is possible to effectively prevent even the component of the power band to be canceled.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
In the second embodiment, the signal processing device is not provided on the headphone device side as in the case of the first embodiment, but is provided on the audio player side that reproduces an audio signal. FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a noise canceling system 10 configured to include the audio player 12 configured to incorporate the signal processing device and the headphones 11 as described above.
In FIG. 2, parts already described in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

First, the headphone 11 in this case is also provided with the diaphragm unit 2 and the microphone 3. Although not shown, the headphones 11 also have a mounting portion 1A. In this case, the formation positions of the diaphragm unit 2 and the microphone 3 with respect to the mounting portion 1A are the same as those of the headphone 1 of the first embodiment.
In addition, for the diaphragm unit 2 in this case, a + polarity side drive signal and a −polarity side drive signal input via the + pole side output terminal To1 and the −pole side output terminal To2 provided on the audio player 12 side. A signal is supplied.
Furthermore, a sound collection signal from the microphone 3 is supplied to the microphone amplifier 4 on the audio player 12 side via a microphone input terminal Tmin provided on the audio player 12 side.
Although omitted here for convenience of illustration, the headphone 11 is actually connected to the + pole-side input terminal To1 connected to the + pole-side output terminal To1, and to the −pole-side output terminal To2. A pole-side output terminal is provided, and the + polarity-side drive signal and the −polarity-side drive signal are input via the + pole-side input terminal and the −pole-side input terminal, respectively. Similarly, a microphone output terminal connected to the microphone input terminal Tmin is provided on the headphone 11 side, and a sound pickup signal from the microphone 3 is output from the microphone output terminal and supplied to the microphone amplifier 4. It becomes.

The configuration of the signal processing device provided on the audio player 12 side is the same as that shown in FIG. That is, also in this case, the microphone amplifier 4, the FF type NC signal generation unit 5, the adder 6, the monitor signal generation unit 7 (HPF 7a, the gain circuit 7b), the drive circuit 8 (the inverting amplifier 8a, the non-inverting amplifier 8b, the adder 8c). ), A switch SW and an operation element 9 are provided.
However, in this case, the audio signal input to the adder 6 is an audio signal reproduced and output by a reproduction unit (not shown). In other words, the audio player 12 in this case is provided with a playback unit that plays back audio content recorded on a removable medium such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a semiconductor memory, or a CD (Compact Disc). The adder 6 receives the audio signal reproduced by the reproducing unit.
In this case, the + polarity side drive signal output from the drive circuit 8 is supplied to the above-described + polarity side output terminal To1, and the −polarity side drive signal is supplied to the −polarity side output terminal To2. It has become.

  Also by the configuration of the noise canceling system 10 as the second embodiment, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

<Third Embodiment>
FIG. 5 shows a configuration of a noise canceling system 15 as the third embodiment. In this figure, parts already described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.
As shown in the figure, the noise canceling system 15 according to the third embodiment includes the headphones 11 and the audio player 16 described above.

  In the noise canceling system 15 of the third embodiment, the audio player 16 switches the signal characteristic α to be given to the sound pickup signal in accordance with the switching of the NC mode / monitor mode, so that the NC mode and the monitor mode can be used. Thus, switching of the target band for noise cancellation is performed.

In FIG. 5, the audio player 16 in this case includes an FF NC signal generator 19 instead of the FF NC signal generator 5.
This FF-system NC signal generation unit 19 cancels a band component below the first frequency of the external sound and cancels the first signal characteristic α (hereinafter referred to as α1) set so that the listener can listen to it. ) And a second signal characteristic α (denoted as α2) set so that a band component equal to or lower than the second frequency lower than the first frequency is canceled and heard by the listener. The signal characteristic α is selectively given to the collected sound signal inputted from the microphone amplifier 4.
Specifically, the first frequency in this case is 1 kHz, for example, and the second frequency is 300 Hz. That is, according to the FF system NC signal generation unit 19 in this case, the signal characteristic α1 set so as to cancel the band component of 1 kHz or less and the signal set so as to cancel the band component of 300 Hz or less. Any one of the characteristics α2 is selectively given to the sound pickup signal.

And the control part 18 shown in figure is provided as a structure for selecting and controlling which signal characteristic (alpha) is given in the said FF system NC signal generation part 19. FIG. The control unit 18 is constituted by, for example, a microcomputer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory.
In this case, an operation signal from the operation unit 17 is supplied to the control unit 18.
The operation unit 17 includes a plurality of operation elements provided so as to be exposed outside the housing of the audio player 16, for example, and an operation input signal corresponding to the operated operation element is sent to the control unit 18. Configured to supply.

  In this case, at least an NC mode / monitor mode switching operation can be performed as a user operation input via the operation unit 17. The control unit 18 performs on / off control of the switch SW in response to such an operation of switching between the NC mode and the monitor mode, and performs selection control of the signal characteristic α1 / signal characteristic α2 in the FF system NC signal generation unit 19. Do.

FIG. 6 shows the processing operation of the control unit 18 performed in accordance with the above-described NC mode / monitor mode switching operation. The processing operation shown in FIG. 6 is executed by the CPU in the control unit 18 based on the program stored in the memory described above.
First, in step S101, an NC / monitor mode switching operation is waited. That is, based on the operation input signal from the operation unit 17, the system waits until a state where it is assumed that the NC mode / monitor mode switching operation has been performed.

If the NC mode / monitor mode switching operation has been performed, the process proceeds to step S102 to determine whether the current mode is the NC mode. If a positive result is obtained that the current mode is the NC mode, the process proceeds to step S103, the switch SW is turned on, and in step S104, processing for changing the NC upper limit frequency from 1 kHz to 300 Hz is performed. .
That is, since the switching operation in this case is a switching operation from the NC mode to the monitor mode, the signal characteristic α2 is selected for the FF-system NC signal generation unit 19 so that the NC upper limit frequency is shifted from 1 kHz to 300 Hz. Control is performed.

On the other hand, if a negative result is obtained in step S102 that the current mode is not the NC mode, the process proceeds to step S105, the switch SW is turned off, and the NC upper limit frequency is changed from 300 Hz to 1 kHz in step S106. Process to change.
That is, since the switching operation in this case is the switching operation to the NC mode, the signal characteristic α1 is selected for the FF NC signal generation unit 19 so that the NC upper limit frequency is shifted from 300 Hz to 300 Hz. Take control.
When the process in step S106 or the process in step S104 described above is executed, RETURN is obtained as illustrated.

In FIG. 5, the processing operation shown in FIG. 6 is executed by the control unit 18, whereby the NC operation with 1 kHz as the NC upper limit frequency is executed in the NC mode in this case. On the other hand, in the monitor mode, the NC upper limit frequency is shifted to the low frequency side from the NC mode, and the NC operation for the band up to 300 Hz is performed and the sound output based on the monitor signal is performed.
According to the noise canceling system 15 of the third embodiment as described above, the NC effect is improved in the NC mode, and in the monitor mode, the NC target upper limit frequency is, for example, 300 Hz or less as described above. By shifting to a frequency lower than the band, it is possible to prevent the audio band component based on the monitor signal from being canceled.
As a result, it is possible to achieve both the improvement of the NC effect in the NC mode and the improvement of the external audio monitoring performance in the monitor mode.

<Fourth embodiment>
Here, in the description so far, the description has been made on the assumption that each part forming the signal processing device is configured by an analog circuit. However, for example, an FF type NC signal capable of switching the signal characteristic α as described above. When the generation unit 19 is realized by an analog circuit, it is extremely difficult to make the signal characteristic variable by one filter circuit. For example, a filter circuit configured to give the signal characteristic α1, a signal, A filter circuit configured to give the characteristic α2 and a switch for selecting which filter circuit to input the input signal are provided, and any signal characteristic α is added to the sound pickup signal by switching control of the switch. Will be configured.

However, in the case of such a configuration, a plurality of filter circuits are provided, which causes problems such as an increase in the size of the device and an increase in cost due to an increase in circuit mounting space.
Therefore, in the fourth embodiment, the operation as the FF-system NC signal generation unit 19 described in FIG. 5 is configured to be realized by digital signal processing by a DSP (Digital Signal Processor).

  FIG. 7 shows a configuration of a noise canceling system 20 as the fourth embodiment. The noise canceling system 20 of the fourth embodiment is based on the configuration of the noise canceling system 15 of the previous third embodiment, and only a part of the configuration on the audio player side is changed. Become. Accordingly, in FIG. 7, the parts already described up to the third embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

In FIG. 7, the noise canceling system 20 in this case includes an audio player 21 instead of the audio player 16 in the third embodiment.
In this case, depending on the DSP 24 in the figure, an operation corresponding to the FF NC signal generation unit 19, an addition operation of the input audio signal and the NC signal by the adder 6, and a monitor signal generation operation by the monitor signal generation unit 7 Further, the selection operation of the output signal to the drive circuit 8 by the switch SW is also realized.

In this case, the collected sound signal from the microphone amplifier 4 is converted into a digital signal via the A / D converter 23 and input to the DSP 24. The audio signal is converted to a digital signal via the A / D converter 25 and input to the DSP 24.
As shown in the figure, in this case, a control unit 22 is provided instead of the control unit 18 shown in FIG. In this case, the control unit 22 performs the same processing as that in steps S101 and S102 shown in FIG. 6 based on the operation input signal from the operation unit 17, and switches to the NC mode or switches to the monitor mode. It is determined which of the above has been performed. When the switching operation to the NC mode is performed, the NC mode instruction signal is supplied to the DSP 24, and when the switching operation to the monitor mode is performed, the monitor mode instruction signal is supplied to the DSP 24. Is done.

In response to the supply of the NC mode instruction signal and the monitor mode instruction signal from the control unit 22, the DSP 24 executes the operation as shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. Given and programmed. In FIG. 8, the operation realized by the digital signal processing of the DSP 24 is schematically shown as a block. In this figure, the A / D converter 23, the A / D converter 25, and the D / A converter 26 shown in FIG. 7 are also shown.
FIG. 8A shows a case where the NC mode instruction signal is supplied, and FIG. 8B shows a case where the monitor mode instruction signal is supplied.

First, the DSP 24 has hardware resources for realizing a digital filter that performs a filter process capable of switching between the signal characteristic α1 / the signal characteristic α2 in order to enable the operation as the FF-system NC signal generation unit 19. Is given. As such a digital filter, for example, a plurality of IIR (Infinite Impulse Response) filters connected in series or in parallel to an input signal (in this case, a sound pickup signal input via the A / D converter 23). Can be mentioned. That is, by changing the coefficients given to these filters, the signal characteristic α1 and the signal characteristic α2 can be switched.
Similarly, hardware resources for realizing a digital filter for giving a predetermined frequency-amplitude characteristic to an input signal (sound pickup signal) in order to enable the operation as the monitor signal generation unit 7; Hardware resources for realizing the addition operation corresponding to the adder 6 are provided.
Further, in this case, hardware resources for realizing the operation as an inverting circuit for inverting the polarity of the monitor signal are also given.
Here, as can be seen with reference to FIG. 7, the output of the DSP 24 is only one system. For example, as in the third embodiment, a set of NC signal / audio signal, monitor signal, Are not supposed to be output separately. That is, since the polarity of the monitor signal is not reversed by the inverting amplifier 8b, the polarity of the monitor signal is reversed in the DSP 24.

  First, in FIG. 8A, when the NC mode instruction signal is supplied from the control unit 22, the α1 filter 24a in the figure is applied to the collected sound signal by the digital signal input via the A / D converter 23. The digital signal processing is performed. That is, the signal characteristic α1 is given to the collected sound signal by digital signal processing using hardware resources for realizing the digital filter described above. Further, the above-described sound pickup signal (NC signal) given signal characteristics by the α1 filter 24a and the digital audio signal input via the A / D converter 25 are used as hardware as the above-described adder. Addition is performed using resources (adder 24b in the figure). A signal obtained by adding the NC signal and the sound pickup signal is supplied to the D / A converter 26.

In FIG. 8B, when a monitor mode instruction signal is supplied from the control unit 22, the collected sound signal input via the A / D converter 23 is used as an α2 filter 24c in the figure. Then, an NC signal to which a signal characteristic α2 is given is generated by digital signal processing using hardware resources for realizing the digital filter described above.
For the collected sound signal input via the A / D converter 23, hardware resources as a digital filter corresponding to the monitor signal generator 7 described above are used as the monitor signal generator 24d in the figure. In this case, the monitor signal is generated by applying the frequency-amplitude characteristic so that a component of 300 Hz or less is removed and a required gain is given.
Further, the polarity of the monitor signal generated in this way is inverted by a polarity inversion operation using hardware resources for realizing the above-described inversion circuit as the polarity inversion unit 24e in the drawing.
Further, as an adder 24f in the figure, an NC signal generated by the α2 filter 24c, a monitor signal whose polarity is inverted by the polarity inverting unit 24e, and an audio signal input via the A / D converter 25, Are added using the hardware resource as the adder described above.
The addition result by the adder 24f is supplied to the D / A converter 26.

According to such a DSP 24, as in the configuration shown in FIG. 5, the signal obtained by adding the NC signal based on the signal characteristic α1 and the audio signal to the inverting amplifier 8a in the drive circuit 8 in the NC mode. Can be supplied. In the monitor mode, a signal obtained by adding the NC signal based on the signal characteristic α2, the audio signal, and the monitor signal can be output to the inverting amplifier 8a.
Here, as shown in FIG. 7, in this case, the adder 8c in the drive circuit 8 is omitted from the relationship in which the DSP 24 generates the monitor signal, and the inverting amplifier 8b is not connected to the inverting amplifier 8b. Only the output signal from the inverting amplifier 8a is input.

  For confirmation, each operation in the DSP 24 described above is realized by programming the DSP 24. Specifically, the audio player 21 in this case is provided with a memory 27 that can be read by the DSP 24, and the DSP 24 operates according to the DSP program 27a stored in the memory 27, so that each operation described above can be performed. It is realized.

If the switching operation of the signal characteristic α1 / signal characteristic α2 is performed by digital signal processing by the DSP 24 as in the fourth embodiment described above, for example, such a switching configuration is changed to an analog circuit. Compared with the case where mounting is performed, the number of parts can be reduced, the associated cost can be reduced, and the apparatus can be downsized by reducing the circuit mounting area.
In the fourth embodiment, the operation of the monitor signal generator 7 is also realized by digital signal processing by the DSP 24. According to this, the mounting space of the monitor signal generator 7 by an analog circuit is omitted. In this respect, the apparatus can be downsized, the number of parts can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced. Note that the same effect can be obtained with respect to the effect of reducing the size and cost of the apparatus by realizing the operation as the adder 6 and the switch SW by the digital signal processing of the DSP 24.

  For confirmation, the effects of downsizing the device and reducing the number of parts are such that the audio player 21 has a DSP shared with other functional parts (for example, functional parts for realizing various audio signal processing). (And an A / D converter and a D / A converter). In other words, if a DSP for realizing the operation of another functional part is originally provided, the operation as the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 8 can be realized only by changing the programming for the DSP. If this is taken into consideration, an additional configuration using a separate analog circuit can be eliminated, and effects such as downsizing of the apparatus and reduction in the number of parts can be obtained.

<Fifth embodiment>
In the fifth embodiment, a noise cancellation operation by a feedback method (hereinafter simply referred to as an FB method) is performed together with a noise cancellation operation by an FF method.
The fifth embodiment exemplifies a case where the headphone 30 is configured by adding a configuration for performing a noise canceling operation by the FB method to the headphone 1 of the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 shows an internal configuration of a headphone 30 as the fifth embodiment. In this figure as well, portions that have already been described so far are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.
First, for the headphones 30 in this case, a microphone 31 for performing a sound collecting operation corresponding to the FB method is provided.
As is well known, in the noise canceling system using the FB method, the sound output from the diaphragm and the noise transmitted from the outside are close to the position (listening point) where the listener wearing the headphones listens. On the other hand, a microphone is provided. In other words, depending on the microphone 31 provided corresponding to the FB method, it is assumed that both the output sound from the diaphragm and the sound based on the external noise obtained in the internal space of the mounting portion 1A are collected. ing.
For this reason, the microphone 31 is provided at least inside the mounting portion 1A of the headphones 30 and is disposed so as to be close to the diaphragm.

A microphone amplifier 32 and an FB system NC signal generation unit 33 are provided as a system for generating an FB system NC signal based on the collected sound signal obtained by the microphone 31. The microphone amplifier 32 receives the sound pickup signal obtained by the microphone 31, amplifies it, and supplies it to the FB-system NC signal generation unit 33.
Note that the sound collection signal input to the FB system NC signal generation unit 33 via the microphone amplifier 32 is also input with -polarity in the same manner as in the previous FF system.

The FB-system NC signal generation unit 33 is set with a signal characteristic β corresponding to the noise canceling system based on the FB system, and gives the signal characteristic β to the collected sound signal input from the microphone amplifier 32. As for the signal characteristic β, an NC signal for canceling the external sound and listening to the listener is generated in consideration of the transfer function of each circuit and space in the FB noise canceling system. Thus, the signal characteristics (frequency-amplitude characteristics and frequency-phase characteristics) set to be given to the collected sound signal are obtained. The FB system NC signal generation unit 33 can also be constituted by a filter circuit, for example.
Also, as the noise reduction characteristic due to the signal characteristic β set in the FB system NC signal generation unit 33, as in the case shown in FIG. 3, the band component of the external sound, for example, 300 Hz or less is canceled and listened to. It is set so that it can be heard by a person.

The collected sound signal (NC signal) given the signal characteristic β by the FB system NC signal generation unit 33 is supplied to the adder 6.
The adder 6 in this case adds the audio signal input via the audio input terminal TAin, the NC signal from the FB system NC signal generation unit 33, and the NC signal from the FF system NC signal generation unit 5. Then, a signal obtained as a result is supplied to the inverting amplifier 8a in the drive circuit 8 as an addition signal.

With such a configuration, it is possible to perform the noise canceling operation by both the FF method and the FB method in parallel.
Here, the FF method and the FB method have a relationship that is a trade-off between them. In other words, in the FF method, the frequency band in which noise can be effectively canceled (attenuated) is relatively wide and the stability of the system is high, but on the other hand, it is difficult to obtain a sufficient amount of noise cancellation. It has been known. For this reason, for example, depending on the situation such as the positional relationship with the noise source, the transfer function of the noise canceling system assumed in setting the signal characteristic α does not match, and for example, a sufficient noise canceling effect is achieved in a specific frequency band. It has been pointed out that there is a possibility that it will not be obtained. In this case, although noise cancellation is actually effective over a wide frequency band, a phenomenon that noise becomes conspicuous only in a specific frequency band occurs. This makes it difficult to feel the noise cancellation effect.
On the other hand, the FB method is known as having a feature that a sufficient amount of noise cancellation can be obtained although the frequency band in which noise can be canceled is narrow. From this, if a noise canceling system is constructed by combining the FB method with the FF method, a more effective noise canceling operation can be realized by compensating for the disadvantages of each other, and noise correspondingly. The cancellation effect can be improved.

  In the fifth embodiment, the headphone 30 in which the configuration for performing the noise canceling operation by the FB method is added to the headphone 1 of the first embodiment is exemplified. However, the description has been given above. The configuration for performing the noise cancellation operation by the FB method can be similarly applied to, for example, the audio player 12 of the second embodiment and the audio player 16 of the third embodiment.

<Sixth Embodiment>
In the sixth embodiment, noise cancellation by the FF method and noise cancellation by the FB method are combined as in the fifth embodiment, and the signal characteristic β in the noise cancellation system of the FB method is expressed as NC. The mode is switched between the mode and the monitor mode. As in the fourth embodiment, the configuration for generating the NC signal by switching the signal characteristics is realized by digital signal processing by the DSP.

FIG. 10 shows a configuration of a noise canceling system 35 according to the sixth embodiment. As shown in the figure, the noise canceling system 35 includes headphones 36 and an audio player 37. In this figure, parts that have already been described are assigned the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.
First, the headphone 36 is obtained by additionally providing a microphone 31 corresponding to the FB method with respect to the headphone 11 shown in FIG. Also in this case, the microphone 31 is provided so as to be disposed at a position close to the diaphragm inside the mounting portion 1A.

Similarly to the audio player 12 shown in FIG. 4, the audio player 37 includes a microphone amplifier 4, an FF system NC signal generation unit 5, an adder 6, a monitor signal generation unit 7, a switch SW, and a drive circuit 8. In addition, the following points are changed.
First, two microphone input terminals Tmin are provided in order to input the respective collected sound signals from the two microphones (3, 31) provided to the headphone 36. In this case, a terminal for inputting a sound collection signal from the microphone 3 corresponding to the FF method is a microphone input terminal Tmin1, and a terminal for inputting a sound collection signal from the microphone 31 corresponding to the FB method is a microphone input terminal Tmin2. The collected sound signal input from the microphone 3 via the microphone input terminal Tmin1 is supplied to the microphone amplifier 4 in the audio player 37. Also, the sound collection signal input from the microphone 31 via the microphone input terminal Tmin2 is supplied to the microphone amplifier 32 in the audio player 37.
Although illustration is omitted, in this case as well, the headphone 36 is actually provided with microphone output terminals connected to the respective microphone input terminals Tmin. Also in this case, as shown in the figure, the collected sound signal from the microphone 31 is input to the microphone amplifier 32 with -polarity.

  In this case, in the FF system NC signal generation unit 5, the signal characteristic α2 is set as the signal characteristic α. That is, the NC upper limit frequency by the FF noise cancellation operation in this case is set to 1 kHz.

  As an arrangement for generating an FB-type NC signal based on the collected sound signal amplified by the microphone amplifier 32, an A / D converter 38, a DSP 39 and a memory 27, and a D / A converter 26 are shown. Is provided. In addition, a control unit 40 is provided that issues an NC mode / monitor mode instruction to the DSP 39 in response to an NC mode / monitor mode switching operation performed by the operation unit 17. The control unit 40 is the same as the control unit 22 shown in FIG. 7 except that the switch SW is turned on / off in accordance with the switching operation of the NC mode / monitor mode.

The DSP 39 gives a signal characteristic β corresponding to the NC mode / monitor mode instruction from the control unit 40 to the sound pickup signal from the microphone amplifier 32 input via the A / D converter 38. Then, the NC signal of the FB method is generated by making the NC upper limit frequency different in the NC mode / monitor mode.
In this case, the DSP 39 is provided with a hardware resource so that either the signal characteristic β1 with an NC upper limit frequency of 1 kHz or the signal characteristic β2 with an NC upper limit frequency of 300 Hz can be given to the collected sound signal. Is given. That is, hardware resources are provided as a digital filter capable of variably giving the signal characteristic β1 / signal characteristic β2. Then, the signal characteristic β1 is given according to the NC mode instruction from the control unit 40, and the signal characteristic β2 is given according to the monitor mode instruction so as to change the coefficient of the digital filter. Has been programmed.
In this case as well, programming is performed by storing the program in the memory 27 readable by the DSP 39. In this case, the memory 27 stores a DSP program 27b that causes the DSP 39 to perform the operation described in FIG.

  FIG. 11 schematically shows the operation realized by the digital signal processing of the DSP 39 in a block form. In this figure, the A / D converter 23 and the D / A converter 26 shown in FIG. 10 are also shown. FIG. 11A shows a case where the NC mode instruction signal is supplied, and FIG. 11B shows a case where the monitor mode instruction signal is supplied.

As shown in FIG. 11A, when the NC mode instruction signal is supplied from the control unit 40, the collected sound signal by the digital signal input via the A / D converter 23 is shown in FIG. Digital signal processing is performed as the middle β1 filter 39a. That is, the signal characteristic β1 is given to the collected sound signal by digital signal processing using hardware resources for realizing the digital filter described above.
The collected sound signal (NC signal) to which the signal characteristic β1 is given by the digital signal processing as the β1 filter 39a is supplied to the D / A converter 26.

  In FIG. 11B, when the monitor mode instruction signal is supplied from the control unit 40, the sound collection signal input through the A / D converter 23 is subjected to the β2 filter 39b in the figure. An NC signal having a signal characteristic β2 is generated by digital signal processing using hardware resources for realizing the digital filter described above. The NC signal generated by the β2 filter 39b is supplied to the D / A converter 26.

  In FIG. 10, the NC signal generated by the DSP 39 and converted into an analog signal by the D / A converter 26 is supplied to the adder 6. The adder 6 in this case adds the FB NC signal input from the D / A converter 26, the FF NC signal generated by the FF NC signal generator 5, and the audio signal. Then, the result is supplied as an addition signal to the inverting amplifier 8a in the drive circuit 8.

  According to the noise canceling system 35 having the above configuration, in the NC mode, the NC signal (NC upper limit frequency = 1 kHz) generated by the FF NC signal generation unit 5 and the NC signal (NC upper limit frequency = NC) generated by the DSP 39 are used. 1 kHz) is performed. In the monitor mode, the monitor signal is output to the drive circuit 8 by the control of the switch SW by the control unit 40, and the NC upper limit frequency of the NC signal by the FB method is changed to 300 Hz by the operation of the DSP 39 described above. The noise canceling operation will be performed.

As described above, in the sixth embodiment, the NC upper limit frequency is not changed at 1 kHz in both the NC mode and the monitor mode for the FF method, while the NC upper limit in the monitor mode for the FB method. The frequency is shifted from 1 kHz to 300 Hz. According to such a method, in the NC mode, the NC operation with the NC upper limit frequency of 1 kHz can be performed concurrently by both the FF method and the FB method, and a larger NC effect can be obtained. On the other hand, in the monitor mode, the NC upper limit frequency according to the FB method is shifted to a lower frequency side than the voice band, so that it is possible to reduce more annoying low frequency noise.
In the FF method, the NC upper limit frequency in the monitor mode remains 1 kHz. However, as described above, the noise reduction effect by the FF method is relatively low, and in the monitor mode, the monitor signal component is listened to. In this case, listening to the monitor signal component can be performed without any problems because the low frequency component which is a problem is more strongly reduced.
Alternatively, the signal characteristic α on the FF system side can be divided only by removing the low frequency component, and the NC upper limit frequency can be set to 300 Hz.

<Seventh embodiment>
The seventh embodiment is based on the configuration of the noise canceling system 35 of the sixth embodiment described above, and in the monitor mode, the FF system side also sets the NC upper limit frequency to 1 kHz → The frequency is changed to 300 Hz.
Then, in response to making the NC upper limit frequency variable (that is, making the signal characteristic α variable) in this way, the operation of the NC signal generation system on the FF system side is also realized by digital signal processing by the DSP. To do. Furthermore, the monitor signal generation system is also realized by digital signal processing by a DSP.

FIG. 12 shows a configuration of a noise canceling system 41 as the seventh embodiment. In this figure, parts that have already been described are assigned the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.
As shown in the figure, the noise canceling system 41 of the seventh embodiment is similar to the one shown in FIG. 10 above, and is provided with a microphone 3 corresponding to the FF method and a microphone 31 corresponding to the FB method. 36 and an audio player 42.
The audio player 42 includes the microphone amplifier 4, the A / D converter 23, the D / A converter 26, the drive circuit 8, the operation unit 17, and the control unit 22 in the same manner as the audio player 21 shown in FIG. Yes. In the audio player 42, the sound pickup signal from the microphone 3 in the headphone 36 is input to the microphone amplifier 4 via the microphone input terminal Tmin1 as in the case of the sixth embodiment. It has become. The collected sound signal amplified by the microphone amplifier 4 is input to the DSP 43 via the A / D converter 23.
Further, the sound pickup signal from the microphone 31 in the headphone 36 is also input to the microphone amplifier 32 via the microphone input terminal Tmin2 and amplified by the microphone amplifier 32, as in the sixth embodiment. The collected sound signal is input to the DSP 43 via the A / D converter 38.

  The DSP 43 is, for example, a digital filter for providing signal characteristics described in FIG. 8 and the like, a hardware resource for realizing a digital filter for generating a monitor signal, and a hardware resource for inverting the polarity of the monitor signal Furthermore, hardware resources for adding the NC signal and the monitor signal are provided. Then, using these hardware resources, programming is performed so that the operation as shown in FIG. 13 is performed. The DSP 43 in this case is also provided with the memory 27, and the DSP 43 operates according to the DSP program 27c stored in the memory 27, thereby realizing each operation shown in FIG.

  First, as shown in FIG. 13A, in response to the NC mode instruction from the control unit 22, the previously described α1 is applied to the collected sound signal input via the A / D converter 23. An NC signal based on the FF method is generated by giving a signal characteristic α1 by digital signal processing as the filter 24a, and the collected sound signal input via the A / D converter 38 is the same as that shown in FIG. An NC signal based on the FB method is generated by giving the signal characteristic β1 by the digital signal processing as the β1 filter 39a described, and the NC signal based on the FF method, the NC signal based on the FB method, and an A / D converter And the audio signal input via 25 are added by digital signal processing as the adder 43a. The addition result by the digital signal processing as the adder 43 a is supplied to the D / A converter 26.

Further, in FIG. 13B, in response to the monitor mode instruction from the control unit 22, a signal obtained by digital signal processing as the α2 filter 24c is applied to the collected sound signal input via the A / D converter 23. An FB that generates an NC signal by the FF method to which a characteristic α2 is added, and that has been given a signal characteristic β2 by digital signal processing as a β2 filter 39b with respect to the collected sound signal input via the A / D converter 38 An NC signal according to the method is generated.
Further, the collected sound signal input through the A / D converter 23 is subjected to digital signal processing as the monitor signal generation unit 24d to generate a monitor signal, which is generated by the monitor signal generation unit 24d. The polarity of the monitor signal is inverted by digital signal processing as the polarity inverting unit 24e.
Then, by the digital signal processing as the adder 43b in the figure, the NC signal generated by the α2 filter 24c, the NC signal generated by the β2 filter 39b, the monitor signal generated by the polarity inverting unit 24d, and The audio signal input via the A / D converter 25 is added. The addition result by the adder 43b is also supplied to the D / A converter 26.

  According to the noise canceling system 41 according to the seventh embodiment having the above-described configuration, the NC upper limit frequency is lowered to 300 Hz also on the FF system side in the monitor mode, whereby a strong NC effect in the NC mode is achieved. In the monitor mode, the monitor signal component can be more easily heard.

<Modification>
As mentioned above, although each embodiment of this invention was described, as this invention, it should not be limited to the specific example demonstrated so far.
For example, in each embodiment, as the drive circuit 8, a configuration in which the diaphragm is driven by so-called BTL connection is illustrated, but instead of this, it may be configured to be driven by a normal single-ended connection.
FIG. 14 shows a configuration of a signal processing device corresponding to the case of single end connection. In this figure, the part excluding the microphones (3, 31) and the diaphragm unit 2 may be considered as the configuration of the signal processing device. That is, a signal processing device is integrated into a headphone device including the microphone and the diaphragm unit, or the headphone device includes only the microphone and the diaphragm unit. Whether it is to be incorporated on the player side can be changed as appropriate.
FIG. 14A shows a configuration in the case where only the FF system NC operation is performed, and FIG. 14B shows a configuration in which both the FF system NC operation and the FB system NC operation are performed.

In FIG. 14A, in this case as well, the collected sound signal input from the microphone 3 via the microphone amplifier 4 is the same as the configuration of FIG. To be branched and supplied. In this case as well, the polarity of the collected sound signal from the microphone 3 is input.
The NC signal generated by the FF system NC signal generation unit 5 is supplied to the adder 6 where it is added to the audio signal. On the other hand, the monitor signal generated by the monitor signal generation unit 7 is supplied to the inverting circuit 45, where the polarity is inverted here and then supplied to the adder 6 via the switch SW.
Here, in the case of single-end connection, the drive circuit that generates the drive signal by inputting the addition signal from the adder 6 includes a non-inverting amplifier 46 as shown. Therefore, in the drive circuit in this case, the portion for inverting the polarity of the monitor signal is not formed as in the case of the BTL connection. Therefore, the polarity of the monitor signal is reversed as described above (that is, returned to the positive phase). An inverting circuit 45 is provided.

  In FIG. 14B, a microphone 31 is added, and a collected sound signal (also in this case -polarity input) from the microphone 31 is input to the FB system NC signal generation unit 33 via the microphone amplifier 32. The NC signal generated by the FB system NC signal generation unit 33 is supplied to the adder 6. Other configurations are the same as those in the case of FIG.

The switch SW is configured to be turned on / off in conjunction with the operation of the operation element 9 as in FIG. 1, or is turned on / off based on the control of the control unit as in FIG. What is necessary is just to select suitably whether it is set as the structure to make.
14 illustrates the case where each unit is configured by an analog circuit, but part or all of the operation surrounded by the alternate long and short dash line in the drawing can also be realized by digital signal processing by a DSP. Also in this case, when generating the NC signal by the FF method and the NC signal by the FB method, the signal characteristics can be changed according to the switching between the NC mode and the monitor mode.

Further, in the description so far, the case where switching between the NC mode and the monitor mode is possible has been exemplified. However, for example, as shown in FIG. 15 below, the operation as the monitor mode is always performed. You can also That is, a configuration in which the switch SW is omitted from the configuration shown in FIG.
In this way, by configuring so that at least the operation in the monitor mode can be obtained, it is possible for the listener to listen to the external sound based on the monitor signal while turning on the NC function. In other words, even in this case, the NC function can be kept on in the monitor mode, and this allows the user to listen to the audio content with unnecessary external noise mixed in the monitor mode as in the past. Can be effectively prevented.
In addition, since the NC function is turned on even in the monitor mode in this way, the NC function is turned off in the monitor mode as in the past, and the components of the monitor signal to be listened to are different. Can be effectively prevented from being erased by external noise.
In this case as well, only the diaphragm unit and the microphone can be provided on the headphone device side, and other parts can be provided on the audio player side.
In addition, the configuration in which the operation in the constant monitor mode is performed in this way can be realized by digital signal processing by the DSP. The DSP in this case is programmed to generate an NC signal and a monitor signal based on the sound pickup signal from the microphone amplifier 4, and to add and output the input audio signal, the NC signal and the monitor signal. It only has to be done. Also in this case, not only the FF method but also noise cancellation by the FB method can be performed together.

In the description so far, the monitor signal generator 7 is provided with the gain circuit 7b to amplify the monitor signal. However, by amplifying the monitor signal in this way, the configuration corresponding to the BTL connection is obtained. In this case, it is possible to prevent a decrease in volume on the monitor signal side with respect to the audio signal side. In other words, for example, according to the configuration corresponding to the BTL connection shown in FIG. 1, the monitor signal is input only to the inverting amplifier 8 b side and is applied only to the terminal on one side of the diaphragm unit 2. On the other hand, since the audio signal (and NC signal) side is applied to both terminals of the diaphragm unit 2, the volume of the monitor signal is lowered at this point. For this reason, as described in the embodiments, the monitor signal is amplified by the gain circuit 7b to prevent such a decrease in volume.
Further, even when a single-end connection is made, if the monitor signal is amplified in this way, the volume of the monitor signal can be increased accordingly, so that the monitor signal component can be more easily heard.
It should be noted that a gain circuit 7b is intentionally provided (or digital signal processing for amplification by a DSP corresponding to the gain circuit 7b), particularly in the case where it is not necessary to emphasize the monitor signal, such as when a single-ended connection is used. Addition) can be unnecessary.

In the above description, the case where the NC upper limit frequency by the signal characteristic α1 and the signal characteristic β1 set corresponding to the NC mode is set to 1 kHz is merely an example, and the signal The NC upper limit frequency by the characteristic α1 and the signal characteristic β1 may be set so that at least the frequency band that hinders listening to the audio signal component can be reduced.
Similarly, the NC upper limit frequency based on the signal characteristic α2 and signal characteristic β2 set corresponding to the monitor mode is exemplified as 300 Hz. However, the NC upper limit frequency based on the signal characteristic α2 and signal characteristic β2 is at least as follows. What is necessary is just to set it so that the low-frequency noise component, which is supposed to hinder listening to the audio band component, can be reduced.

  Further, in the description so far, the case where the signal processing device of the present invention is applied to a noise canceling system including a single headphone or a headphone and an audio player wired to the headphone is exemplified. However, the signal processing apparatus of the present invention can be applied to a so-called headset or the like. That is, as the headset, for example, a playback audio signal from an external audio player (for example, a mobile phone with an audio playback function) is received wirelessly, and a diaphragm of wired headphones is connected based on the received audio signal. The present invention is also applicable to an apparatus configured to drive In this case, the headphone is provided with a diaphragm unit and a microphone, and the configuration as the signal processing device of the present invention may be provided on the headset side.

1 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a headphone including a signal processing device as a first embodiment of the present invention. It is the figure which showed typically the relationship between the mounting part provided in a headphone, and the arrangement position of a microphone. It is the figure which showed the noise reduction characteristic by the noise cancellation (NC) signal produced | generated with the signal processing apparatus of 1st Embodiment. It is the block diagram which showed the internal structure of the noise canceling system provided with the signal processing apparatus as 2nd Embodiment. It is the block diagram which showed the internal structure of the noise canceling system provided with the signal processing apparatus as 3rd Embodiment. It is the flowchart which showed the processing operation which should be performed in order to implement | achieve the operation | movement as a signal processing apparatus of 3rd Embodiment. It is the block diagram which showed the internal structure of the noise canceling system provided with the signal processing apparatus as 4th Embodiment. It is the figure which showed typically the operation | movement performed by DSP provided with the signal processing apparatus of 4th Embodiment. It is the block diagram which showed the internal structure of the headphones provided with the signal processing apparatus as 5th Embodiment. It is the block diagram which showed the internal structure of the noise canceling system provided with the signal processing apparatus as 6th Embodiment. It is the figure which showed typically the operation | movement performed by DSP provided with the signal processing apparatus of 6th Embodiment. It is the block diagram which showed the internal structure of the noise canceling system provided with the signal processing apparatus as 7th Embodiment. It is the figure which showed typically the operation | movement performed by DSP provided with the signal processing apparatus of 7th Embodiment. It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the signal processing apparatus as a modification corresponding to the case where it is set as a single end connection. It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the signal processing apparatus as a modification corresponding to the case where it is set as a constant monitor mode.

Explanation of symbols

  1,11,30,36,50 Headphone, 1A mounting part, 2 diaphragm unit, 3,31 microphone, 4,32 microphone amplifier, 5,19 FF system NC signal generator, 6 adder, 7 monitor signal generator 7a HPF 7b gain circuit 8 drive circuit 8a 8b inverting amplifier 9 operator 10, 15, 20, 35, 41 noise canceling system 12, 16, 21, 37, 42 audio player 17 operation Unit, 18, 22, 40 control unit, 23, 25, 38 A / D converter, 24, 39, 43 DSP, 24a α1 filter, 24c α2 filter, 24d monitor signal generation unit, 24e polarity inversion unit, 26 D / A converter, 33 FB system NC signal generator, 39a β1 filter, 39b β2 filter, 45 inverting circuit, 46 non-inverting amplifier, SW switch

Claims (12)

It has a mounting part to be mounted on the listener's ear, and a diaphragm for sound reproduction is provided inside the mounting part, and provided to collect external sound outside the mounting part. A signal processing device for generating a drive signal for the diaphragm in a sound reproducing device provided with the first microphone,
The first sound pickup signal obtained based on the sound pickup operation by the first microphone is input, and the feed force set so that the band component below the predetermined frequency of the external sound is canceled and heard by the listener. A first noise cancellation signal generating means for generating a first noise cancellation signal by giving a signal characteristic corresponding to a word system;
When an instruction to switch to the first operation mode is given as an instruction to switch between the first operation mode and the second operation mode, the input noise signal is generated by the first noise cancellation signal generation means. When an addition signal obtained by adding the first noise cancellation signal is output and switching to the second operation mode is instructed, a band component having a frequency equal to or higher than a predetermined frequency of the addition signal and the first sound pickup signal is output. Selection output means for outputting a monitor signal generated by passing
Drive signal generation means for generating a drive signal for driving the diaphragm in the sound reproduction device based on the output signal of the selection output means;
A signal processing apparatus comprising: The selection output means is:
An adder that adds and outputs the first noise cancellation signal to the input audio signal;
A filter circuit for inputting the first sound pickup signal and generating the monitor signal by passing at least a band component equal to or higher than a predetermined frequency of the first sound pickup signal;
The monitor signal generated via the filter circuit is input, and the monitor signal output is turned on / off in response to a switching instruction between the first operation mode and the second operation mode. Configured with
The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1. The first noise cancellation signal generating means is responsive to a switching instruction between the first operation mode and the second operation mode.
As the signal characteristics, a first signal characteristic for canceling a band component below the first frequency and a second signal for canceling a band component below the second frequency lower than the first frequency. It is configured to select any one of the characteristics and to give a signal characteristic to the first collected sound signal.
The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1. At least the operation by the first noise cancellation signal generating means is configured to be executed by digital signal processing by a digital signal processor.
The signal processing apparatus according to claim 3. The sound reproduction device is provided with a second microphone with respect to the inside of the mounting portion,
The second sound pickup signal obtained based on the sound pickup operation by the second microphone is input, and the band component below the predetermined frequency of the external sound is canceled with respect to the second sound pickup signal, so that the listener can hear it. A second noise cancellation signal generating means for generating a second noise cancellation signal by providing a signal characteristic corresponding to the feedback scheme set as described above,
The selection output means is:
When an instruction to switch to the first operation mode is given, an addition signal obtained by adding the first noise cancellation signal and the second noise cancellation signal to the input audio signal is output. When the switching instruction to the operation mode 2 is given, the addition signal and the monitor signal are output.
The signal processing apparatus according to claim 1. The selection output means is:
An adder for adding and outputting the first noise cancellation signal and the second noise cancellation signal to the input audio signal;
A filter circuit for inputting the first sound pickup signal and generating the monitor signal by passing at least a band component equal to or higher than a predetermined frequency of the first sound pickup signal;
The monitor signal generated via the filter circuit is input, and the monitor signal output is turned on / off in response to a switching instruction between the first operation mode and the second operation mode. Configured with
The signal processing apparatus according to claim 5. The second noise cancellation signal generation means is responsive to a switching instruction between the first operation mode and the second operation mode.
As the signal characteristics, a first signal characteristic for canceling a band component below the first frequency and a second signal for canceling a band component below the second frequency lower than the first frequency. It is configured to select any one of the characteristics and apply the signal characteristics to the second sound collection signal.
The signal processing apparatus according to claim 5. At least the operation by the second noise cancellation signal generating means is configured to be executed by digital signal processing by a digital signal processor.
The signal processing apparatus according to claim 7. Further, the operation by the selection output means is configured to be executed by digital signal processing by the digital signal processor.
The signal processing apparatus according to claim 4 or 8, wherein It has a mounting part to be mounted on the listener's ear, and a diaphragm for sound reproduction is provided inside the mounting part, and provided to collect external sound outside the mounting part. A signal processing method for generating a drive signal for the diaphragm in a sound reproducing apparatus provided with the first microphone,
The first sound pickup signal obtained based on the sound pickup operation by the first microphone is input, and the feed force set so that the band component below the predetermined frequency of the external sound is canceled and heard by the listener. A first noise cancellation signal generation procedure for generating a first noise cancellation signal by giving a signal characteristic corresponding to a word system;
When an instruction to switch to the first operation mode is given as an instruction to switch between the first operation mode and the second operation mode, the input audio signal is generated by the first noise cancellation signal generation procedure. When an addition signal obtained by adding the first noise cancellation signal is output and switching to the second operation mode is instructed, the addition signal and a band component equal to or higher than a predetermined frequency of the first sound pickup signal are output. A selection output procedure for outputting the monitor signal generated by passing the signal;
A drive signal generation procedure for generating a drive signal for driving the diaphragm in the sound reproduction device based on the output signal of the selection output procedure;
A signal processing method comprising: It has a mounting part to be mounted on the listener's ear, and a diaphragm for sound reproduction is provided inside the mounting part, and provided to collect external sound outside the mounting part. When generating a drive signal for driving the diaphragm in the sound reproduction apparatus provided with the first microphone, the first sound collection signal and the audio signal obtained based on the sound collection operation by the first microphone are obtained. A program executed by a signal processing device that is adapted to be input and processed,
By giving a signal characteristic corresponding to a feedforward method set so that a band component below a predetermined frequency of the external sound is canceled and listened to by the listener with respect to the first sound pickup signal, A first noise cancellation signal generation process for generating a first noise cancellation signal;
When an instruction to switch to the first operation mode is given as an instruction to switch between the first operation mode and the second operation mode, the audio signal is generated by the first noise cancellation signal generation process. When an addition signal obtained by adding the first noise cancellation signal is output and switching to the second operation mode is instructed, the addition signal and a band component equal to or higher than a predetermined frequency of the first sound pickup signal are output. Selective output processing for outputting the monitor signal generated by passing, and
A program for causing the signal processing apparatus to execute. A sound reproducing device having a mounting portion to be mounted on a listener's ear, and provided with a diaphragm for sound reproduction inside the mounting portion, and for generating a drive signal for the sound reproducing device A noise canceling system comprising a signal processing device,
The sound reproducing device is
A first microphone provided so as to collect external sound outside the mounting portion;
The signal processor is
The first sound pickup signal obtained based on the sound pickup operation by the first microphone is input, and the feed force set so that the band component below the predetermined frequency of the external sound is canceled and heard by the listener. A first noise cancellation signal generating means for generating a first noise cancellation signal by giving a signal characteristic corresponding to a word system;
When an instruction to switch to the first operation mode is given as an instruction to switch between the first operation mode and the second operation mode, the input noise signal is generated by the first noise cancellation signal generation means. When an addition signal obtained by adding the first noise cancellation signal is output and switching to the second operation mode is instructed, a band component having a frequency equal to or higher than a predetermined frequency of the addition signal and the first sound pickup signal is output. Selection output means for outputting a monitor signal generated by passing
Drive signal generation means for generating a drive signal for driving the diaphragm in the sound reproduction device based on the output signal of the selection output means;
This is a noise canceling system.

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