JP2009065562A - Audio output device, and image forming device including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an audio output device capable of preventing difficulty of catching an audio message due to overlap of the audio messages generated by a plurality of devices. <P>SOLUTION: The audio output device collects and analyzes ambient sound prior to or during speech of an audio message, determines whether or not the other device is speaking, and recognizes the importance of contents of the speech when the other device is speaking. When the other device is speaking, the importance of contents of the speech of the other device and that of the device itself are compared with each other, and when the importance of the device itself is higher than that of the other device, the speech is started. On the other hand, when the importance of the other device is higher than that of the device itself, the speech is interrupted or the start of the speech is delayed until the speech of the other device is terminated. Each device carries out the above operation to prioritize the speech with high importance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sound output device that controls output in relation to sound information emitted by another device, and an image forming apparatus including the same.

  An apparatus that provides various guidance and warnings to an operator by voice message has a problem that it is difficult to hear the voice message by surrounding sounds, and various countermeasures have been proposed.

  For example, a device that changes the sound generation speed, pitch, and volume according to the ambient noise state (see Patent Document 1), or a reading state (pause, reading volume, reading speed) that is suitable for the ambient noise level. There is a document reading device (see Patent Document 2) that automatically controls.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-254082 JP 2003-302990 A

  In an environment where multiple devices such as copiers with a function to send voice messages are placed nearby, if multiple devices send voice messages at the same time, it may be difficult to hear the voice messages even if there is no noise around them. End up.

  An object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problem, and an audio output device capable of preventing voice messages from being simultaneously uttered from a plurality of devices and making it difficult to hear and an image forming apparatus including the same It is intended to provide.

  The gist of the present invention for achieving the object lies in the inventions of the following items.

[1] a sound output unit for generating sound information;
An acquisition unit that acquires importance level information indicating the importance level of sound information produced by another device;
The importance level indicated by the importance level information acquired by the acquisition unit is compared with the importance level of the sound information scheduled to be generated by the sound output unit, and the sound output related to the sound information scheduled to be generated according to the comparison result A sound output device comprising: a control unit that controls the sound generation operation of the unit.

  In the above invention, the importance level of the sound information scheduled to be generated by the own machine is compared with the importance level of the sound information generated by the other machine, and the sound generation operation of the own machine is controlled according to the comparison result. . For example, the sounding operation is executed when the importance of the own device is higher, and the sounding start is delayed or stopped until the sounding of the other device is finished when the importance of the own device is lower.

[2] When the importance of the sound information produced by the other device is higher than the importance of the sound information scheduled to be generated, the control unit causes at least the other device to pronounce the sound information scheduled to be generated. The sound output apparatus according to [1], wherein the sound information is delayed until the sound information having the high importance is finished.

[3] The control unit controls the sound generation operation according to the comparison result of the importance only when the importance of the sound information scheduled to be generated is lower than a reference value in the sound output unit. The sound output device according to [1] or [2].

  In the above invention, when the importance of the sound information to be pronounced is equal to or higher than the reference value, the control based on the comparison of the importance (control such as utterance interruption and delay) is not performed. That is, sound information with high importance is pronounced regardless of comparison of importance with other machines.

[4] The control unit compares the characteristics of the sound produced by the other device with the characteristics of the sound scheduled to be produced from the sound output unit, and the sound output unit for the sound produced by the other device. Any one of [1] to [3], wherein the sound generation operation is controlled according to the comparison result of the importance only when it is determined that the distinctiveness of the sound scheduled to be generated is less than a specified value from The sound output device according to one.

  In the above invention, when it is determined that the sound of the own device is easy to hear (with distinctiveness) due to the difference in sound characteristics, control based on the comparison of importance (interruption of speech or delay, etc.) Control) is not performed. That is, when the sound of the own device has discriminability with respect to the sound of the other device, the sound information of the own device is generated regardless of the comparison of the importance with the other device.

[5] A sound output unit for generating sound information;
An acquisition unit that acquires importance level information indicating the importance level of sound information produced by another device;
The importance level indicated by the importance level information acquired by the acquisition unit is compared with the importance level of the sound information being sounded by the sound output unit, and the sound output unit relating to the sound information being sounded according to the comparison result A sound output device comprising: a control unit that controls the sound generation operation.

  In the above invention, when the other device starts sounding while the own device is sounding, the importance of the sound information of the own device and the sound information of the other device is compared, and the sounding operation of the own device is performed according to the comparison result. Be controlled. For example, the sounding operation is continued when the importance of the own device is higher, and the sounding of the own device is interrupted when the importance of the own device is lower.

[6] When the importance of the sound information generated by the other device is higher than the importance of the sound information being generated from the sound output unit, the control unit interrupts the sound output by the sound output unit, The sound output device according to [5], wherein sound generation of the interrupted sound information is delayed until at least sound generation of the highly important sound information by the other device is completed.

  In the above invention, if the importance of the other device is high, the sounding operation of the own device is temporarily interrupted, and after the sounding of the other device is finished, the sounding operation of the own device is resumed.

[7] The sound generation operation is controlled according to the importance comparison result only when the importance of the sound information being sounded by the sound output unit is lower than a reference value [5] or The sound output device according to [6].

  In the above invention, when the importance of sound information during sound generation is equal to or higher than a reference value, control based on the comparison of importance (control of interruption or delay of speech) is not performed. That is, sound information with high importance is continuously sounded as it is regardless of comparison of importance with other machines.

[8] The control unit compares the characteristics of the sound produced by the other device with the characteristics of the sound being produced by the sound output unit, and the sound output unit for the sound produced by the other device. Any one of [5] to [7], wherein the sound generation operation is controlled according to the comparison result of the importance only when it is determined that the distinctiveness of the sound being sounded is equal to or less than a specified value. The sound output device according to one.

  In the above invention, even if the sound of the other device is started during the sound of the own device, if the sound content of the own device is judged to be easy to hear (with distinctiveness) due to the difference in the sound characteristics, the importance comparison is made Control based on, such as control of speech interruption and delay, is not performed. That is, when the sound of the own device has discriminability with respect to the sound of the other device, the sound is continuously generated as it is regardless of the importance comparison with the other device.

[9] A detection unit for detecting whether or not there is an operator within a predetermined range from the device is further provided,
The control unit further determines whether or not there is an operator based on the detection result of the detection unit when controlling the sound generation operation according to the comparison result of the importance, and if there is no operator When it is determined, the sound output by the sound output unit of the sound information to be controlled is stopped. The sound output device according to any one of [1] to [8],

  In the above invention, when controlling the sound generation operation according to the comparison result of the importance, it is further determined whether there is an operator near the device, and if it is determined that there is no operator, Stops sounding the sound information.

[10] The sound according to any one of [1] to [9], wherein the acquisition unit acquires the importance information by capturing and analyzing a sound generated from another device. Output device.

  In the above invention, surrounding sounds are collected and analyzed to determine the presence / absence of the sound of another machine and the importance of the sound content.

[11] An image forming apparatus comprising the sound output device according to any one of [1] to [10].

  In the image forming apparatus according to the invention, the importance of the sound information generated by other nearby devices and the sound information generated by the own device is determined, and sound generation control such as operation guidance and warning messages is performed.

  According to the audio output device and the image forming apparatus including the same according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent voice messages issued by a plurality of devices from being overlapped and difficult to hear.

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

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus 10 including a sound output device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus 10 has a copy function for optically reading a document image and printing the duplicate image on a recording paper, a scan function for saving the image data of the read document as a file, and transmitting it to an external terminal, an external terminal A printer function for printing an image obtained by rasterizing based on print data received from the printer on a recording sheet and outputting it, a facsimile function for transmitting and receiving image data, and the like.

  The image forming apparatus 10 includes a scanner unit 11 and a printer unit 12. The scanner unit 11 performs a function of optically reading a document and acquiring image data.

  The scanner unit 11 sequentially moves, for example, a light source that irradiates light on a document, a line image sensor that receives the reflected light for one line in the width direction, and a line-by-line reading position in the length direction of the document. And a moving path for guiding the light reflected from the original to the line image sensor to form an image, and an optical path including a lens and a mirror.

  The printer unit 12 has a function of printing an image corresponding to image data on a recording sheet. Here, it has a recording paper transport device, a photosensitive drum, a charging device, a laser unit, a developing device, a transfer separation device, a cleaning device, and a fixing device, and forms an image by an electrophotographic process. It is configured as a so-called laser printer.

  The image forming apparatus 10 also includes a control CPU (Central Processing Unit) 13 that functions as a control unit that performs overall control of the operation of the image forming apparatus 10. The control CPU 13 includes an image bus 14 and a system bus that are independent of each other. 15 is connected.

  A read processor 16 and a write processor 17 are connected to the image bus 14. The reading processing unit 16 is connected to the scanner unit 11 and is a circuit that sequentially performs image processing such as seeding correction / luminance density conversion, density γ conversion, and error diffusion on image data input from the scanner unit 11. . The writing processing unit 17 is connected to the printer unit 12 and is a circuit that performs image processing such as cell averaging, resolution conversion, printer γ conversion, minute scaling, and screen processing on image data output to the printer unit 12. is there.

  The system bus 15 includes a program memory 21, a system memory 22, an operation display unit 24, a hard disk device 25, a nonvolatile memory 26, a network I / F unit 27, a facsimile communication control unit 28, and a voice input unit. 31, an audio output unit 32, and a user detection unit 33 are connected.

  The program memory 21 stores a program, and the control CPU 13 executes various processes according to the program. The system memory 22 is used as a work memory or an image memory for temporarily storing various data when the control CPU 13 executes a program. The nonvolatile memory 26 stores various types of information that should be saved even when the power is turned off, such as user information and a counter indicating the usage frequency.

  The operation display unit 24 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD: Liquid Crystal Display) having a touch panel for detecting a pressed coordinate position on the surface, and various operation switches such as a numeric keypad and a start button. Displays a screen, a guidance screen, and accepts various operations from the user.

  The hard disk device 25 is a large-capacity nonvolatile storage device. The hard disk device 25 stores image data of a document read by copying or facsimile transmission, image data printed out, and the like.

  The network I / F unit 27 performs a function of communicating with an external terminal through a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network). The facsimile communication control unit 28 performs communication control for facsimile transmission and facsimile reception.

  The audio input unit 31 functions to collect sound generated around the image forming apparatus 10 and includes a microphone, an input circuit for an audio signal output from the microphone, an A / D conversion circuit, and the like.

  The sound output unit 32 has a function of synthesizing an analog sound signal from digital sound data, amplifying the sound signal, and outputting (sounding) the sound signal from the speaker. The audio output unit 32 includes, for example, an audio codec, an amplifier, a speaker, and the like.

  The user detection unit 33 detects whether the operator is within a predetermined distance (detection range) from the image forming apparatus 10. For example, the user detection unit 33 communicates with an RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) chip incorporated in a personal authentication card possessed by each user and detects the personal authentication card so that the user is within the detection range. Configured to detect presence. In this case, for example, when a certain user is detected continuously for a certain time or more within the detection range, the user is recognized as an operator of the image forming apparatus 10, and the other detected users are passersby. It is judged that.

  In addition, while the user is logged in to the image forming apparatus 10, the user (operator) may be configured to perform indirect detection such as determining that the user is near the image forming apparatus 10. The detection method may be appropriately selected.

  When the image forming apparatus 10 utters a voice message, the surrounding sound is collected by the voice input unit 31, and another machine (an apparatus such as another image forming apparatus arranged in the vicinity) speaks. When the other device is speaking, the content of the voice message spoken by the other device is analyzed, the importance of the voice message between the own device and the other device is compared, and the speech operation of the own device (for example, An utterance control function for controlling interruption and delay) is provided.

  In the program memory 21 as a program for realizing the utterance control function, there are a speech analysis program 21a for analyzing the utterance contents of the other device, and an utterance control program 21b for controlling the utterance operation of the own device based on the comparison result of importance. Is provided. The program memory 21 stores voice management data 21c including the contents of voice messages uttered by the own apparatus, the contents of various voice messages that can be uttered by other apparatuses, and information indicating the importance of each voice message. ing.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the voice management data 21c. In the program memory 21, message IDs (M1, M2, ME...) As identifiers of the respective voice messages, voice information indicating the contents of the voice messages indicated by the message IDs, and importance levels of the voice messages are associated with each other. Registered. In this example, there are five ranks of importance A, B, C, D, and E. Rank A indicates the highest importance, the importance decreases in alphabetical order, and rank E indicates the lowest importance. .

  The voice message M1 is a voice message notifying the occurrence of a severe failure that needs to be dealt with by a service person or the like, and its importance is rank A.

  The voice message M2 is a voice message for notifying the occurrence of a minor failure that can be dealt with by the user, for example, a paper jam, and its importance is rank B.

  The voice message M3 is a voice message for notifying the user when there is an error in the user's operation or setting contents, and the importance is rank C. This voice message M3 is a warning to the user who is operating.

  The voice message M4 is a voice message notifying a user who starts using the image forming apparatus 10 that the apparatus is currently executing another user's job, and its importance is rank D. It has become. The voice message M4 is guidance information for notifying the user who is operating the current device status, and is less important than a warning.

  The voice message M5 is a voice message for guiding the user who uses the image forming apparatus 10 to use and operating procedures, and the importance is the lowest rank E.

  Next, an operation related to the speech control function of the image forming apparatus 10 will be described.

  FIG. 3 shows the flow of speech control processing performed by the control CPU 13 of the image forming apparatus 10 regarding the speech control function. Note that the utterance control process operates when an utterance request is received from a predetermined host process. In other words, the host process determines the necessity of utterance and the voice message to be uttered according to the state of the image forming apparatus 10 and the user operation. It is issued for control processing.

  In the utterance control process, when an utterance request is received, first, surrounding sounds are collected by the voice input unit 31 (step S101), and the contents are analyzed by voice (step S102). That is, it is determined whether the collected sound is just ambient noise or a voice message spoken by another device (including a warning sound), and if it is a voice message spoken by another device, Identify its importance. The analysis of the voice is performed by a general recognition method such as pattern matching with the collected sound.

  If the other device is not speaking as a result of the voice analysis (step S103; N), the own device speaks. Specifically, if the own device has not yet started utterance (step S109; N), the utterance operation related to the voice message specified by the utterance request from the higher-level process is started by the voice output unit 32 (step S110). If the speech is already being performed (step S109; Y), the speech operation is continued as it is.

  As a result of the voice analysis, when the other device is speaking (step S103; Y), it is checked whether the importance of the voice message that the own device is going to speak or is speaking is rank A. (Step S104; Y), starts or continues the speech operation of the voice message of rank A (Steps S109 and S110). That is, if the importance of the voice message scheduled or spoken by the own device is equal to or higher than a predetermined reference rank (the highest rank A in this example), the voice message is spoken even if the other device is speaking. Execute.

  If the importance of the voice message scheduled or spoken by the own device is not rank A (reference rank or higher) (step S104; N), the characteristics of the sound spoken by the other device and the scheduled or spoken speech of the own device The characteristics of the internal sound are compared, and it is determined whether or not the discriminability of the sound of the own device relative to the sound of the other device is equal to or less than a specified value (step S105). For example, characteristics such as volume, pitch, utterance speed, and sound quality are compared, and discrimination is determined from the comparison result.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of a determination table 50 that indicates a determination criterion when determining distinctiveness based on sound specification. For example, if the distance between the other machine and your machine is sufficiently far and the volume of the other machine is less than the reference volume, the sound of your machine is different from the sound of the other machine regardless of other conditions such as the pitch and speed. Is determined to be discriminating (column 51 in the figure). If the volume of the other device is higher than the reference volume but the pitch is different (out of the confusion range), the sound of the other device is distinct from the sound of the other device regardless of other conditions such as speed (speech speed). It is determined that there is (column 52 in the figure).

  Even if the volume of the other device is higher than the reference volume and the pitch is the same (within the confusion range), if the speed (speech speed) is different (out of the confusion range), It is determined that the sound has distinctiveness (column 53 in the figure). If the volume of the other device is above the reference volume and the pitch and speed of each other are the same (within the confusion range), it is determined that the sound of the other device is not distinguishable from the sound of the other device (column 54 in the figure). . The confusion range of each item is determined as appropriate. For example, if the pitch is different by one octave, such as the difference between a male voice and a female voice, it is determined that the range is not confused.

  When it is determined that the sound of the own device is discriminating with respect to the sound of the other device based on the characteristics of the sound (step S105 in FIG. 3; Y), the own device speaks even when the other device is speaking. Since it is determined that the content is easy to hear, the user speaks (steps S109 and S110).

  If it is determined that the sound of the own device is not discriminating with respect to the sound of the other device based on the characteristics of the sound (step S105; N), the importance of the voice message being uttered by the other device and the utterance of the own device The importance level of the voice message scheduled or uttered is compared (step S106).

  As a result of the comparison, if the importance of the voice message scheduled or being spoken by the own device is higher than the importance of the voice message being spoken by another device (step S107; Y), the detection by the user detection unit 33 is further performed. From the result, it is determined whether or not the operator is near the image forming apparatus 10 (step S108). When it is determined that the operator is near (step S108; Y), the user speaks (step S108; Y). Steps S109 and S110).

  When it is determined that the operator is not nearby (step S108; N), and the importance of the voice message scheduled or being spoken by the own device is the same as the importance of the voice message being spoken by the other device or from another device If it is lower (step S107; N), the speech of the own device is stopped or the speech operation of the voice message being spoken is stopped. Specifically, it is checked whether or not the own device is speaking (step S111). If it is speaking (step S111; Y), the speech operation by the voice output unit 32 is stopped (step S112), and if not speaking. (Step S111; N) The speech stop state is continued as it is.

  The series of operations (step S101 to step S112) are repeated until a predetermined release condition is satisfied (step S113; Y). For example, the release condition is that a voice message has been uttered a specified number of times or a predetermined period has passed. The messages M1, M2, M4, etc. in FIG. 2 are instructed by an utterance request from a higher-level process so that the utterance is repeated until a predetermined period elapses, and the determination in step S113 is “until the instructed period elapses. "Deny". For example, if the user presses a stop switch or recovers from a paper jam before the release condition is satisfied, the upper process notifies the utterance control process of the forced termination, and the notification The release condition is satisfied.

  If the utterance release condition is satisfied (step S113; N), the utterance operation by the voice output unit 32 is stopped (step S114), and this process ends.

By executing the above utterance control process, the following operation is realized with respect to the utterance operation.
(1) If the other device is not speaking, the own device speaks.
(2) A voice message having a high importance level is uttered by the own device regardless of the utterance status of the other device.
(3) Even if the importance of the voice message of the own device is lower than the reference value, if the distinctiveness is sufficient for the sound uttered by the other device, it is determined that it is easy to hear and the utterance of the own device is executed. The
(4) When the above (1) to (3) do not apply, the importance of the voice message of the other machine and the voice message of the own machine are compared, and the importance of the own machine is high and there is an operator nearby. If so, your own utterance is executed.
(5) When not corresponding to the above (1) to (4), if the own device is speaking at present, the speaking operation is stopped. Then, during the repetition period, it is monitored whether or not any of the states (1) to (4) is reached, and the utterance of the own device is executed when any of the states (1) to (4) is reached. That is, when the above (1) to (4) are not satisfied, control is performed such that the utterance of the own device is delayed until one of the states (1) to (4) is reached.

  For example, when the utterance of another device stops during the repetition period, the state changes to (1), and the utterance operation of the own device that has been stopped (delayed) is started. In addition, when the operator approaches the image forming apparatus 10 from outside the detection range during the repetition period, the state (4) is established, and the speech operation of the own device that has been stopped (delayed) is started. Is done.

  FIG. 5 shows a specific example. Here, a case where a multifunction device J and a multifunction device K each equipped with an utterance control function are installed in the vicinity is taken as an example. First, an example of delaying the utterance will be described.

  An event that should cause the multi-function device K to utter a voice message M2 of importance B occurs at time T1. At this time, the multifunction device K collects and analyzes surrounding sounds, recognizes that the multifunction device J is not speaking, and starts speaking the voice message M2.

  Thereafter, when an event that should cause the voice message M3 of importance C to be uttered occurs at the time T2 during the utterance of the voice message M2, the multifunction device J collects and analyzes surrounding sounds, It recognizes that the multifunction device K is uttering the voice message M2 of importance B. Since the importance on the multifunction device K side is high, the multifunction device J delays the sound generation operation. After that, the multifunction device J collects and analyzes surrounding sounds, and upon detecting that the speech of the multifunction device K has ended at time T3, the multifunction device J starts the speech operation of the voice message M3.

  Next, an example in which speech is interrupted will be described. An event that should cause voice message M3 of importance C to be uttered at time T4 in multifunction device J occurs. At this time, the multifunction device J collects and analyzes surrounding sounds, recognizes that the multifunction device K is not speaking, and starts speaking the voice message M3. Thereafter, an event that should cause the multifunction device K to utter the voice message M2 of importance B occurs at the time T5. At this time, the multifunction device K collects and analyzes surrounding sounds, and recognizes that the multifunction device J is uttering the voice message M3 of importance C. Then, the multifunction device K determines that the importance level of the own device (the multifunction device K) is high, and starts the speech operation of the voice message M2 having the importance level B.

  The multifunction device J, which has spoken the voice message M3, always collects and analyzes surrounding sounds, and recognizes at the time T6 that the multifunction device K has started speaking the voice message M2. Then, the multifunction device J determines that the utterance of the other device (the multifunction device K) is high, and interrupts the speech of the voice message M3. The multifunction device J collects and analyzes surrounding sounds even after the interruption, and when the multifunction device K recognizes that the speech of the multifunction device K has ended at time T7, the speech of the voice message M3 is started again.

  As described above, the image forming apparatuses 10 arranged in the vicinity execute the utterance control function, so that the less important apparatus delays the start of the utterance or stops the utterance, so that the voice messages overlap. Is avoided, and it is possible to prevent a situation in which it is difficult to hear important speech. That is, when each device performs the above-described operation, a speech with high importance is given priority.

  In addition, when the importance level is equal to or higher than the reference value (in this example, the importance level A), the utterance operation is executed regardless of the utterance status of the other device, so that the user can be notified of extremely important information without delay. it can.

  Also, if it is determined that the content of the utterance of your own device will not be difficult to hear even if it overlaps with the utterance of another device due to differences in characteristics such as volume, pitch, speed, etc. Suspended or delayed events can be minimized.

  Further, when the operator is not near the image forming apparatus 10, utterance is stopped for a voice message having low importance, and the operator is not near the image forming apparatus 10 for a message having high importance. Even if there is no operator, it is possible to prevent the office environment from being made useless by the utterance of voice with low importance.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to that shown in the embodiment, and there are changes and additions within the scope of the present invention. Are also included in the present invention.

  For example, in the embodiment, the sound emitted from the own device and the other device has been described as a voice message. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a warning buzzer sound or the like may be included in the target sound of the speech control function. . For example, in the case of a warning buzzer, the degree of importance may be expressed by a buzzer sound pattern or pitch.

  Further, ambient sounds are collected and analyzed to recognize the presence / absence of speech from other devices and the importance of speech content, but such recognition may be performed by other methods. For example, information regarding the presence / absence of speech of another device and importance of speech content may be exchanged and acquired by ultrasonic waves exceeding the audible band, infrared communication, wireless communication, wired communication, LAN, or the like. By exchanging information in this way, it is possible to quickly determine the degree of importance compared to the case where it is recognized and determined by voice analysis.For example, the above information can be transmitted to the other party before the voice message is uttered. Thus, it is possible to prevent voice duplication in advance.

  Further, it is configured so that the determination as to whether or not the operator is nearby (determination in step S108) is also performed when it is determined that there is discriminability according to the sound characteristics (step S105 in FIG. 3; in the case of Y) May be.

  In addition, the control of the utterance operation according to the determination result of the importance is not limited to the delay of the utterance start timing or the utterance interruption / suspension. For example, the control may be such that the higher-priority side maintains the current pitch and speed, and the lower-importance side changes the pitch and speech speed so that distinguishability from other devices can be obtained.

  In the embodiment, the image forming apparatus 10 has been described as an example. However, the apparatus into which the sound output apparatus is incorporated is not limited to this, and can be applied to various apparatuses.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the audio | voice management data which the image forming apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention has memorize | stored. 5 is a flowchart showing processing related to an utterance control function of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the judgment table regarding the characteristic of a sound. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a control state of an utterance operation when a plurality of image forming apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention are arranged side by side.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Image forming apparatus 11 ... Scanner part 12 ... Printer part 13 ... Control CPU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 ... Image bus 15 ... System bus 16 ... Reading process part 17 ... Write process part 21 ... Program memory 21a ... Voice analysis program 21b ... Speech control program 21c ... Voice management data 22 ... System memory 24 ... Operation display part 25 ... Hard disk apparatus DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 26 ... Nonvolatile memory 27 ... Network I / F part 28 ... Facsimile communication control part 31 ... Voice input part 32 ... Voice output part 33 ... User detection part 50 ... Judgment table J, K ... Composite provided with the sound output apparatus of this invention Machine

Claims (11)

A sound output unit for generating sound information;
An acquisition unit that acquires importance level information indicating the importance level of sound information produced by another device;
The importance level indicated by the importance level information acquired by the acquisition unit is compared with the importance level of the sound information scheduled to be generated by the sound output unit, and the sound output related to the sound information scheduled to be generated according to the comparison result A sound output device comprising: a control unit that controls the sound generation operation of the unit. When the importance of the sound information produced by the other device is higher than the importance of the sound information scheduled to be generated, the control unit generates at least the importance of the sound information scheduled to be generated by the other device. The sound output device according to claim 1, wherein the sound output device is delayed until the pronunciation of the high sound information is finished. The control unit controls the sound generation operation according to the comparison result of the importance only when the importance of the sound information scheduled to be generated by the sound output unit is lower than a reference value. 2. The sound output device according to 2. The control unit compares the characteristics of the sound that is sounded by the other device with the characteristics of the sound that is scheduled to be generated from the sound output unit, and plans to generate the sound from the sound output unit for the sound that is sounded by the other device. The sound generation operation is controlled according to the comparison result of the importance only when it is determined that the sound discriminability is less than or equal to a predetermined value. Sound output device. A sound output unit for generating sound information;
An acquisition unit that acquires importance level information indicating the importance level of sound information produced by another device;
The importance level indicated by the importance level information acquired by the acquisition unit is compared with the importance level of the sound information being sounded by the sound output unit, and the sound output unit relating to the sound information being sounded according to the comparison result A sound output device comprising: a control unit that controls the sound generation operation. The control unit interrupts the sound output by the sound output unit when the importance of the sound information generated by the other device is higher than the importance of the sound information being generated from the sound output unit. The sound output device according to claim 5, wherein the sound information is delayed until at least the sound information of the high importance is sounded by the other device. The sound generation operation according to the comparison result of the importance is controlled only when the importance of the sound information being sounded by the sound output unit is lower than a reference value. Sound output device. The control unit compares the characteristics of the sound produced by the other device with the characteristics of the sound being produced by the audio output unit, and the sound output unit produces a sound for the sound produced by the other device. The sound generation operation is controlled according to the comparison result of the importance only when it is determined that the sound discriminability is not more than a specified value. Sound output device. A detection unit for detecting whether or not there is an operator within a predetermined range from the device is further provided,
The control unit further determines whether or not there is an operator based on the detection result of the detection unit when controlling the sound generation operation according to the comparison result of the importance, and if there is no operator The sound output device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein when the sound output is determined, the sound output by the sound output unit of the sound information to be controlled is stopped. The sound output device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the importance information by capturing and analyzing a sound generated from another device.   An image forming apparatus comprising the sound output device according to claim 1.

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