JP2009244814A - Portable audio device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a portable audio device, capable of reporting information such as musical composition name or artist information added to a music data file under reproduction to a user without causing the user to view a display device. <P>SOLUTION: The device comprises a speech synthesis part 107 which generate synthesized speech data from a text character string. A control part 105 causes, when it detects a predetermined operation to an operation part 101 by the user during reproduction of a predetermined music data file, the speech synthesis part 107 to generate synthesized speech data from a text character string of a musical composition name and/or an artist name added to the predetermined music data file, and causes an audio reproduction part 104 to reproduce the synthesized speech. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable audio device.

  In recent years, portable audio devices that record and reproduce music data on a hard disk, a flash memory, a memory card, and the like have been widely used. Such a portable audio device is connected to a personal computer that takes in music data from a CD or downloaded via a network, for example, and records / reproduces a music data file transferred from the personal computer. The format of music data files played by such portable devices varies depending on the model. For example, uncompressed audio formats (WAV, AIFF, AU, etc.), formats with lossless compression (FLAC, Monkey's Audio, TTA, Apple, etc.) Lossless, lossless WMA, etc.) and formats with lossy compression (MP3, Vorbis, lossy WMA, AAC, etc.).

  Such a portable audio device not only reproduces music data, but also has a function of reading information such as performance time, song title, artist name, etc. added to the music data file in the same manner as a media player of a personal computer. It is normal. Then, using such a function, a list of music data files or information of music data being played back is displayed on the main body or remote control of the portable audio device.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-305588 discloses that in such a portable audio device, a user can add desired data to a music data file and display the data added by the user in synchronization with the reproduction of the music data file. Possible portable audio devices are disclosed.
JP 2000-305588 A

  Conventionally, in order for a user to know the music title and artist information of a music data file currently being played back on a portable audio device, the user has to look at the display device of the portable audio device main body or the remote control. For this reason, when the remote controller with the display device is not provided, the portable audio device main body must be taken out, and even when the remote controller with the display device is provided, the display device of the remote controller is very much used. There was a problem that it could not be seen or sometimes complicated.

  In view of the above situation, the present invention provides the user with information such as the song name and artist information added to the music data file being played back without allowing the user to visually recognize the display device provided on the main body of the portable audio device or the remote controller. It is an object to provide a portable audio device that can be notified.

In order to solve the above problem, in a first aspect of the present invention, an operation unit that forms a user interface;
A storage unit for storing music data files;
An audio playback unit for playing back the music data file;
In a portable audio device comprising: a control unit that causes the audio reproduction unit to reproduce the music data file stored in the storage unit in response to a user operating the operation unit.
Furthermore, it has a speech synthesizer that generates synthesized speech data from a text string,
When the control unit detects that the user has performed a predetermined operation on the operation unit during reproduction of the predetermined music data file, the song name added to the predetermined music data file by the voice synthesis unit In addition, a portable audio device is provided in which synthesized voice data is generated from a text character string of an artist name and the synthesized voice is played back by the audio playback unit.

A second aspect of the present invention provides an operation unit that forms a user interface;
A storage unit for storing music data files;
An audio playback unit for playing back the music data file;
In a portable audio device comprising: a control unit that causes the audio reproduction unit to reproduce the music data file stored in the storage unit in response to a user operating the operation unit.
Furthermore, it has a speech synthesizer that generates synthesized speech data from a text string,
The control unit generates synthesized voice data by the voice synthesizer from a text string of a song name and / or artist name added in advance to a music data file stored in the storage unit, When it is detected that a user has performed a predetermined operation on the operation unit while a data file is being reproduced, the audio reproduction unit reproduces the synthesized voice data of the music name and / or artist name of the music data file. To provide portable audio equipment.

  In the portable audio device configured as described above, the control unit simultaneously generates synthesized voice data generated from the text string of the song name and / or artist name without interrupting the reproduction of the predetermined music data file. It is preferable to adopt a configuration for reproducing.

  A portable audio device according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a speech synthesizer that generates synthesized speech data from a text string, and a user can perform a predetermined operation on the operation unit while playing a predetermined music data file. Is detected, the synthesized voice data is generated from the text string of the song name and / or the artist name added to the predetermined music data file by the voice synthesizer, and the synthesized voice data is generated by the audio playback unit. Play audio. Therefore, the user who uses the portable audio device according to the first aspect of the present invention listens to the synthesized voice of the artist name and / or song name of the music data being played by performing a predetermined operation on the operation unit. Thus, information relating to the music data being reproduced can be known without visually recognizing the display device.

  Further, the portable audio device according to the second aspect of the present invention has a speech synthesizer for generating synthesized speech data from a text character string, as in the first aspect, and music data stored in the storage unit in advance. Synthetic voice data is generated by the voice synthesizer from the text string of the song name and / or artist name added to the file, and the user performs a predetermined operation on the operation unit while playing a predetermined music data file. Is detected, the synthesized audio data of the music name and / or artist name of the music data file is reproduced by the audio reproduction unit. As described above, in the portable audio device according to the second aspect of the present invention, the synthesized voice data of the song name and / or the artist name is generated prior to the user's operation. It is possible to reduce the load on the system until the synthesized voice of the name and / or the song name is reproduced.

  Further, in the present invention, the control unit is configured to simultaneously reproduce the synthesized voice data generated from the text character string of the song name and / or artist name without interrupting the reproduction of the predetermined music data file. For example, it is possible to provide the user with the synthesized voice of the music name and / or artist name of the music data being played back without interrupting the playback of the music data.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a portable audio device 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, this portable audio device 100 mainly includes a display unit 101, an operation unit 102, a communication I / F unit 103, an audio playback unit 104, a control unit 105, a storage unit 106, The speech synthesis unit 107, the output I / F unit 108, and the speech output unit 109 are configured. Hereinafter, each configuration will be described.

  The display unit 101 is a liquid crystal display device or an organic EL display device provided in a casing of the portable audio device 100, and describes an operating state of the portable audio device 100, a user interface for operating the portable audio device 100, and the like. Displayed under the control of the control unit 105. The user of the portable audio device 100 knows the state of the portable audio device 100 via the user interface shown on the display unit 101 and performs the operation. Further, when the portable audio device 100 reproduces a moving image file, the video relating to the moving image file is displayed on the display unit 101.

  The operation unit 102 is an input device such as a button (for example, a remote controller attached to an earphone cord) provided on a casing (not shown) or an accessory of the portable audio device 100, and a keypad. As a result of the operation, a key event which is a signal corresponding to each key or button is notified to the control unit 105 described later, and is used for various operations or control.

  The communication I / F unit 103 is an interface for performing communication by connecting the portable audio device 100 to a host PC or the like. For example, when the portable audio device 100 and the host PC are connected by cable, the communication I / F unit 103 can be configured based on the USB specification. In the case of wireless connection, the wireless connection may be performed by WiFi. Such a communication I / F unit 103 operates under the control of the control unit 105 to be described later, thereby realizing communication with a host device such as a PC and receiving a music data file from the host device. To do. In addition, a function of receiving an operation command from the host device and appropriately changing the contents of the storage unit 106 described later is realized. Further, the communication I / F unit 103 may be provided with a host function, and a slave device connected to the communication I / F unit 103 may be operated from the portable audio device 100.

  The audio playback unit 104 decodes the data of the music data file created in a format such as WMA, MP3, AAC, etc., converts the digital signal obtained by the decoding into an analog signal, and outputs it to an output I / F unit 108 described later. It has a function to output. FIG. 2 is a diagram specifically showing a configuration example of such an audio playback unit 104. As shown in FIG. 2, the audio reproduction unit 104 includes a control unit I / F unit 110, a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) 112, a mixer 113, a digital amplifier 114, and a DAC (Digital Analog Converter) 115. Have. The control unit I / F unit 110 serves as an interface with the control unit 105 described later, and receives commands, parameters, and data that the control unit 105 passes to the audio playback unit 104. The control unit I / F unit 110 may be provided with a buffer for temporarily recording these signals.

  The DSP 112 includes a calculation unit, a control unit, and an address calculation unit suitable for audio processing. The DSP 112 receives commands, parameters, and data from the control unit 105 via the control unit I / F unit 110, and receives data according to the commands and parameters. It has a function of performing decoding and outputting a digital signal obtained by decoding. The DSP 112 can decode a plurality of sound source data in parallel, and a digital signal obtained from each sound source is output to each. The mixer 113 is provided on the output side of the DSP 112 and has a function of mixing digital signals in accordance with parameters received via the control unit I / F unit 110. The digital amplifier 114 is provided on the output side of the mixer 113 and has a function of amplifying the volume of the digital signal from the mixer 113 according to the parameter received via the control unit I / F unit 110. . A DAC 115 is provided on the output side of the digital amplifier. The digital signal output from the digital amplifier 114 is converted into an analog signal and output from the audio reproduction unit 104 to the output I / F unit 108. Note that the audio playback unit 104 is not limited to the one that decodes the data of the music data file using the DSP 112 as described above, and may be configured to perform decoding by hardware.

  The control unit 105 is a functional block virtually configured by executing a predetermined program on a CPU (not shown), and exchanges data and control signals with each functional block of the portable audio device 100. Thus, various functions of the portable audio device 100 are realized. In addition to the normal functions of the portable audio device 100, the control unit 105 according to the present embodiment detects a predetermined operation applied to the operation unit 102 during the reproduction of the music data file, thereby performing an operation described later. In addition, each functional block is controlled so as to perform an operation associated therewith.

  The storage unit 106 is a hard disk drive or flash memory for storing music data files and the like under the control of the control unit 105 and providing information stored in the control unit 105. With the communication I / F unit 103 of the portable audio device 100 connected to the host device, the music data file transferred from the host device is stored in the storage unit 106, and then the user operates the operation unit 102. In response, the audio reproduction unit 104 reproduces the information.

  The voice synthesis unit 107 has a function of performing voice synthesis on the text character string delivered from the control unit 105 and returning a voice digital signal corresponding to text information to the control unit 105. FIG. 3 is a diagram specifically illustrating a configuration example of such a speech synthesis unit 107. As shown in FIG. 3, the speech synthesis unit 107 includes a control unit I / F unit 121, a language processing unit 122, a word database 124, an acoustic processing unit 123, and an acoustic database 125. The control unit I / F unit 121 serves as an interface with the control unit 105, and accepts commands, parameters, and text character strings that the control unit 105 passes to the speech synthesis unit 107, and temporarily records these signals. Has a buffer.

  A language processing unit 122 and an acoustic processing unit 123 are connected to the control unit I / F unit 121. The language processing unit 122 receives commands, parameters, and text character strings from the control unit 105 via the control unit I / F unit 121. It is possible to receive. In addition, the language processing unit 122 converts the text character string into a phonetic character string by referring to the registered word database 124 such as readings of typical words and proper nouns and accents for the received text character string. Output. Here, the phonetic character string is a character string describing the reading, accent, and intonation of a text character string.

  The acoustic processing unit 123 is provided on the output side of the language processing unit 122, receives the phonetic character string output by the language processing unit 122, and registers acoustic data when a human reads a predetermined text character string. By referring to the acoustic database 125, the phoneme corresponding to the received phonetic character string or the acoustic data of the phoneme string is extracted and combined, the combined acoustic data is smoothed, and according to the accent and intonation information Thus, the sound data is modified so that the level and strength of each phoneme is given, and a digital audio signal is generated. The digital audio signal output from the acoustic processing unit 123 is returned to the control unit 105 via the control unit I / F unit 121.

  Such a speech synthesis unit 107, and thus the language processing unit 122 and the acoustic processing unit 123 can be configured as hardware independent of the control unit 105 or a combination of hardware and software. You may make it comprise by running predetermined software on CPU implement | achieved. In any case, the word database 124 used by the language processing unit 122 and the acoustic database 125 used by the acoustic processing unit 123 may be stored in the storage unit 106. It is good also as a structure memorize | stored in a memory | storage part.

  The output I / F unit 108 is an interface for outputting the analog audio signal generated by the audio reproduction unit 104. The output from the audio playback unit 104 is transmitted to the audio output unit 109 such as headphones via the output I / F unit 108, and is provided to the user as an audio signal from the audio output unit 109.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a format example of a music data file played back by the portable audio device 100 according to the present embodiment. Here, an MP3 format music data file to which an ID3v1 tag is added is shown. As shown in FIG. 4, when an ID3v1 tag is added to the MP3 format, the tag data is added to the end of music data composed of a plurality of frames. In the ID3v1 tag, information such as a title, an artist name, and an album name is described at a predetermined position. The ID3v1 tag is fixed-length data of 128 bytes, while the succeeding ID3v2 has a variable length and can increase the amount of information, but the tag is inserted before the music data. Although the MP3 format music data is shown here, the present invention is not limited to this, and tag information can be added in substantially the same manner in formats such as WMA, AAC, and ATRAC.

  Hereinafter, with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5, an operation for allowing the user to check the title, artist name, and the like of a song being played back without using a display device during music playback on the portable audio device 100 according to the present embodiment. While explaining.

  First, in order to reproduce a predetermined song, the user operates the operation unit 102 to instruct reproduction of a predetermined music data file (ST101). The instruction here is, for example, reading tag information from a music data file stored in the storage unit 106, and displaying a list displaying the title and artist name of each music data file on the display unit 101. A music data file to be played can be selected by operating, and when playback of the selected music data file is completed, playback of a song positioned next to the list can be set to start.

  In response to the user instruction in ST101, the control unit 105 reads out data from the designated music data file and delivers it to the audio playback unit 104 (ST102), and the audio playback unit 104 decodes and converts it to analog. The output is started (ST103). Here, the control unit 105 can sequentially take out a size corresponding to the capacity of the buffer of the control unit I / F unit 110 of the audio playback unit 104 from the music data file and deliver it to the audio playback unit 104. In addition, although the detailed operation in the audio playback unit 104 varies depending on each implementation, in the audio playback unit 104 of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the data delivered from the control unit 105 is first a control unit I / F unit. 110 is received and temporarily stored in the buffer. The DSP 112 sequentially decodes this data to generate 16-bit PCM stereo sound data from a format such as WMA, AAC, and ATRAC, and outputs the stereo sound data to the digital amplifier 114 via the mixer 113. The digital amplifier 114 amplifies the data so that the volume is separately instructed from the control unit 105, and analog-converts the data by the DAC 115, thereby outputting an analog signal that reproduces the music data file from the audio reproduction unit 104.

  After starting the reproduction of the music data file in ST103, the control unit 105 determines whether a predetermined operation has been performed on the operation unit 102 (ST104). For example, when the control unit 105 accumulates key events notified from the operation unit 102 in a queue, the determination can be made by referring to the contents of the queue. If it is not determined that a predetermined operation is applied in ST104, the process waits for a predetermined time (ST110), and then repeats the determination in ST104. On the other hand, when it is determined in ST104 that a predetermined operation has been performed, the operations after ST105 are executed. Here, a case is shown in which the control unit 105 periodically polls whether or not a predetermined operation has been applied. However, the control unit 105 may detect that a predetermined operation has been applied by an interrupt. .

  If it is determined in ST104 that an operation has been made, the control unit 105 first obtains the character string of the song name and artist name from the header of the music data file decoded by the audio playback unit 104 (ST105). More specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, a character string of a song name and an artist name may be acquired from a predetermined position of an ID3 tag provided at the end of the music data file. Next, the control unit 105 delivers the acquired character string of the song name and the artist name to the voice synthesis unit 107 (ST106).

  The voice synthesizing unit 107 that has received the character string of the music name and artist name of the music data file being reproduced by the audio reproducing unit 104 synthesizes audio data for the delivered character string and outputs the synthesized audio data to the audio reproducing unit 104 ( ST107). Here, the processing in the speech synthesizer 107 will be described in more detail. For example, in the configuration shown in FIG. 3, the delivered character string is temporarily stored in the buffer of the control unit I / F unit 121, and is first stored in the language processing unit 122. Passed. The language processing unit 122 generates a phonetic character string by referring to dictionary data in which typical words, readings of personal names, accents, and the like are registered with respect to a text character string of a song name or an artist name. Next, the generated phonetic character string is input to the sound processing unit 123, and the sound processing unit 123 extracts a corresponding phoneme sequence or phoneme sound data from the content of the phonetic character string and combines them, The combined sound data is smoothed, and the data is modified so that the height and intensity of each phoneme is given according to the accent / intonation information, thereby generating a 16-bit PCM digital audio signal. Such processing is performed for each of the music name and artist name, and the obtained digital audio signal is output from the control unit I / F unit 121 to the audio reproduction unit 104 via the control unit 105.

  Upon receiving this output, the audio reproduction unit 104 mixes the digital audio signal synthesized by the audio synthesis unit 107 with the digital audio signal obtained by decoding the music data file by the audio reproduction unit 104 by the mixer 113 (ST108). The mixed data is converted to analog and output (ST109). By driving the audio output unit 109 connected via the output I / F unit 108 with the analog-converted data, the synthesized audio of the music name and artist name of the music data file is played simultaneously with the reproduction of the music data file. Can be reproduced from the audio output unit 109.

  According to such an operation, when the user wants to know the song name and artist name of the song being played on the portable audio device 100, the synthesis that can be heard from the audio output unit 109 by operating the operation unit 102. It is possible to know the song name and artist name by voice. In other words, according to the present invention, the user can remove the casing of the portable audio device 100 and perform a complicated operation such as viewing the display content of the display unit 101, and the music name and You can inform the artist name. Also, here, you can listen to the synthesized voice of the song name and artist name at the same time as the played music without stopping the playback of the music data file, so the user can enjoy the music without interruption. It is possible to make the user listen to synthesized speech such as names.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it is needless to say that various improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the synthesized voice of the song name and artist name is provided to the user in superposition with the reproduced sound of the music data file, but the reproduction of the music data file is temporarily interrupted to provide the synthesized voice. It is good also as a structure. In the above embodiment, the case where the user performs a predetermined operation on the operation unit 102 and then synthesizes the music name and artist name of the music data file is described. However, the storage unit 106 does not have to wait for the user's operation. The music name and artist name of the music data file stored in can be synthesized in advance.

1 is a functional block diagram of a portable audio device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The functional block diagram of an audio reproduction part. The functional block diagram of a speech synthesizer. The figure which shows the structure of a music data file. The flowchart of the operation | movement in portable audio equipment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Portable audio apparatus 101 Display part 102 Operation part 103 Communication I / F part 104 Audio reproduction part 105 Control part 106 Storage part 107 Speech synthesis part 108 Output I / F part

Claims (3)

An operation unit constituting a user interface;
A storage unit for storing music data files;
An audio playback unit for playing back the music data file;
In a portable audio device comprising: a control unit that causes the audio reproduction unit to reproduce the music data file stored in the storage unit in response to a user operating the operation unit.
Furthermore, it has a speech synthesis unit that generates synthesized speech data from a text string,
When the control unit detects that the user has performed a predetermined operation on the operation unit during reproduction of the predetermined music data file, the song name added to the predetermined music data file by the voice synthesis unit A portable audio device characterized in that synthesized audio data is generated from a text character string of an artist name and the synthesized audio data is reproduced by the audio reproduction unit. An operation unit constituting a user interface;
A storage unit for storing music data files;
An audio playback unit for playing back the music data file;
In a portable audio device comprising: a control unit that causes the audio reproduction unit to reproduce the music data file stored in the storage unit in response to a user operating the operation unit.
Furthermore, it has a speech synthesizer that generates synthesized speech data from a text string,
The control unit generates synthesized voice data by the voice synthesizer from a text string of a song name and / or artist name added in advance to a music data file stored in the storage unit, When it is detected that a user has performed a predetermined operation on the operation unit while a data file is being reproduced, the audio reproduction unit reproduces the synthesized voice data of the music name and / or artist name of the music data file. Portable audio equipment.   2. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein the control unit simultaneously reproduces the synthesized voice data generated from the text character string of the song name and / or the artist name without interrupting the reproduction of the predetermined music data file. 2. The portable audio device according to 2.

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