JP2018101243A - Bioelectrical stimulation device, bioelectrical stimulation system and electrical stimulation presentation method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve inappropriateness of interlocking with music.SOLUTION: A bioelectrical stimulation device 1 comprises: a receiving unit 10 for receiving, from an information adding device 2, a music/speech signal to which stimulation information is added; a stimulation information extraction unit 11 for extracting the stimulation information from the music/speech signal received by the receiving unit 10; a music/speech signal output unit 12 for playing a music/speech signal; and an electrical stimulation unit 13 for applying an electrical stimulation signal to a living body on the basis of the stimulation information extracted by the stimulation information extraction unit 11.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for realizing skin sensation presentation on a living body, and more particularly to a bioelectric stimulation device, a bioelectric stimulation system, and an electrical stimulation presentation method capable of realizing skin sensation presentation linked to music or voice. is there.

  Electrical stimulation devices are expected not only in the field of functional electrical stimulation such as low-frequency treatment devices and electrical muscle stimulation devices, but also in the field of sensory presentation (see Non-Patent Document 1). In the field of sensation presentation, an electrical stimulation device can present a larger amount of information than a stimulus by a vibration motor or the like, and can convey a sense beyond mere notification to a person. For example, when performing electrical stimulation synchronized with the feature amount of music / voice data, a better music experience can be provided to the user by multimodal presentation using not only hearing but also skin sensation.

  On the other hand, in the method of extracting feature values from music / speech data, the extracted feature value is compared with a threshold value to give an electrical stimulus to the living body. However, in the case of music, for example, music genre and music tone As a result, the change of the feature amount becomes large, and it is difficult to set an appropriate threshold value. If an appropriate threshold value is not set, there may be a case where the threshold value is too low to output an electrical stimulus, or a threshold value is too high to output an electrical stimulus too much.

  Also, in the case of a song with a large change in the song, there may be a phenomenon in which the electrical stimulation output is large in the first half, but there is almost no electrical stimulation output in the second half. As described above, in the method of extracting features from music / speech data and applying electrical stimulation to a living body, it is difficult to enhance the music experience due to inappropriate linkage with music due to various factors.

Enomoto et al., “Electric tactile display on the forehead”, The Virtual Reality Society of Japan 11th Annual Conference, pp. 1-4, 2006

  An object of the present invention is to provide a bioelectric stimulation device, a bioelectric stimulation system, and an electric stimulation presentation method that can improve improper linkage with music and enhance a music experience.

The bioelectric stimulation device according to the present invention includes a receiving unit that receives a music / speech signal to which stimulation information for designating an electrical stimulus to be applied to a living body is added from an external device, and the stimulation from the music / speech signal received by the receiving unit. A stimulation information extraction unit that extracts information and an electrical stimulation unit that applies an electrical stimulation signal to a living body based on the stimulation information extracted by the stimulation information extraction unit.
Moreover, in one configuration example of the bioelectric stimulation device of the present invention, the stimulation information is a signal indicating on / off of the electrical stimulation signal, and the stimulation information extraction unit is a music / speech received by the reception unit. A filter that extracts a signal in a specific frequency band from the signal as the stimulation information, and a determination unit that outputs a stimulation trigger signal to the electrical stimulation unit when the level of the signal extracted by the filter exceeds a predetermined threshold The electrical stimulation unit is configured to output the electrical stimulation signal every time the stimulation trigger signal is output.

Moreover, in one configuration example of the bioelectric stimulation device of the present invention, the stimulation information is digital data indicating a signal pattern of the electrical stimulation signal, and the stimulation information extraction unit is a music / audio received by the reception unit. A filter that extracts digital data embedded in a specific frequency band from a signal as the stimulus information, and a control signal output unit that outputs the digital data extracted by the filter to the electrical stimulation unit; Is characterized in that the electrical stimulation signal having a signal pattern designated by the digital data output from the control signal output unit is output.
Further, in one configuration example of the bioelectric stimulation device of the present invention, the stimulation information is higher in frequency than an upper limit frequency of an audible band of the music / speech signal and is an upper limit of a band determined by a format of the music / speech signal. It is embedded in a specific frequency band on the lower frequency side than the frequency.
Also, one configuration example of the bioelectric stimulation device of the present invention is characterized by further comprising a music / audio signal output unit for reproducing the music / audio signal.

The bioelectric stimulation system of the present invention is characterized by comprising an information adding device for adding stimulation information for designating an electric stimulus to be given to a living body to a music / audio signal, and a bioelectric stimulation device. .
Moreover, in one configuration example of the bioelectric stimulation system of the present invention, the information adding device reads a music / speech signal from the storage unit that stores a music / speech signal and the storage unit in response to a user instruction. A stimulus information adding unit for adding the stimulus information to the music / speech signal read by the reading unit in accordance with a user instruction, and the music / speech signal to which the stimulus information is added And a transmitter for transmitting to the electrical stimulation device.

  In addition, according to the electrical stimulus presentation method of the present invention, the first step of receiving from the external device a music / voice signal to which stimulus information for designating the electrical stimulus to be given to the living body is added, and the music received in the first step. A second step of extracting the stimulus information from the audio signal and a third step of applying an electrical stimulus signal to the living body based on the stimulus information extracted in the second step Is.

  According to the present invention, a music / speech signal to which stimulus information is added is received from an external device, the stimulus information is extracted from the received music / speech signal, and an electrical stimulus signal is applied to the living body based on the extracted stimulus information. By doing so, it becomes possible to improve the inappropriateness of the linkage with music, and to enhance the music experience.

  In the present invention, a signal indicating on / off of the electrical stimulation signal is used as the stimulation information, and the bioelectric stimulation apparatus extracts a signal in a specific frequency band as the stimulation information from the received music / speech signal. By outputting the electrical stimulation signal when the level of the received signal exceeds a predetermined threshold value, it is possible to realize on / off of the electrical stimulation signal according to the stimulation information. In the present invention, since the stimulus information is added to the music / voice signal, the threshold value can be easily set.

  In the present invention, digital data indicating a signal pattern of an electrical stimulation signal is used as stimulation information, digital data embedded in a specific frequency band is extracted from the received music / audio signal as stimulation information, and the extracted digital By outputting an electrical stimulation signal with a signal pattern according to the data, it is possible to set various parameters of the electrical stimulation signal with stimulation information, and it can be set to receive a more favorable stimulation for the user It becomes.

  Further, in the present invention, the stimulation information is embedded in a specific frequency band higher than the upper limit frequency of the audible band of the music / speech signal, so that it is influenced by the music and sound components included in the music / speech signal. Stimulation information can be stably extracted. In the present invention, the threshold value can be set more easily by embedding stimulation information in a specific frequency band higher than the upper limit frequency of the audible band of the music / audio signal. Further, according to the present invention, even if a music / audio signal in which stimulus information is embedded is reproduced as it is, the influence on the audible sound can be reduced as much as possible.

  In addition, in the present invention, by providing an information adding device that adds stimulus information to music / speech signals, it is possible to freely set and change stimulus information and realize skin sensation presentation linked to music and voice. It becomes.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a bioelectric stimulation system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the bioelectric stimulation system which concerns on 1st Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the bioelectric stimulation system which concerns on the 2nd Example of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the bioelectric stimulation system which concerns on 2nd Example of this invention. It is a figure explaining the problem of the conventional method which extracts the feature-value from a music and an audio | voice signal, and gives an electrical stimulus to a biological body. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the bioelectric stimulation system which concerns on the 2nd Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the bioelectric stimulation system which concerns on the 3rd Example of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the bioelectric stimulation system which concerns on the 3rd Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information addition apparatus of the bioelectric stimulation system which concerns on the 4th Example of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the information addition apparatus which concerns on the 4th Example of this invention.

[First embodiment]
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The contents of the present invention are not limited by the following examples. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the bioelectric stimulation system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The bioelectric stimulation system includes a bioelectric stimulation apparatus 1 that applies an electric stimulation signal to a living body and an information addition apparatus 2 that is an external device such as a smartphone.

  The bioelectric stimulation device 1 receives a music / speech signal to which stimulus information is added from the information adding device 2, and stimulus information extraction that extracts the stimulus information from the music / speech signal received by the receiver 10. Unit 11, a music / speech signal output unit 12 that reproduces a music / speech signal, and an electrical stimulation unit 13 that applies an electrical stimulation signal to the living body based on the stimulus information extracted by the stimulus information extraction unit 11. .

  Hereinafter, the operation of the bioelectric stimulation system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. First, the information addition apparatus 2 such as a smartphone adds stimulation information for designating electrical stimulation to be given to a living body (a body of a user who uses the biological electrical stimulation system) to the music / voice signal (step S100 in FIG. 2). This stimulus information is higher in frequency than the upper limit frequency of the human audible band and lower than the upper limit frequency of the band determined by the format of the music / audio signal (for example, the upper limit frequency of the band determined by the file format such as MP3, RealAudio). It is embedded in the frequency band.

  Then, the information adding device 2 transmits the music / voice signal to which the stimulus information is added to the bioelectric stimulation device 1 (step S101 in FIG. 2). Communication between the information adding device 2 and the bioelectric stimulation device 1 may be wireless communication or wired communication, but wireless communication is desirable from the viewpoint of user convenience.

  As a wireless communication standard, for example, the short-range wireless standard Bluetooth (Bluetooth (registered trademark)) or the like is used, and the power consumption of the bioelectric stimulation device 1 and the information addition device 2 is suppressed, and high quality at a short distance. Communication can be realized. A specific configuration of the information adding device 2 will be described in detail in an embodiment described later.

The receiving unit 10 of the bioelectric stimulation device 1 receives a music / audio signal from the information adding device 2 (step S102 in FIG. 2).
The music / speech signal output unit 12 of the bioelectric stimulation apparatus 1 outputs the music / speech signal received by the receiving unit 10 (step S103 in FIG. 2). As an example of the music / audio signal output unit 12, there is a speaker that reproduces a music / audio signal. In addition, when music / audio signals are reproduced by an output device such as an external earphone, the music / audio signal output unit 12 is, for example, an earphone jack.

  Since the stimulus information is embedded in a frequency band higher than the upper limit frequency of the human audible band, the user can identify the stimulus information even if the music / audio signal received by the receiving unit 10 is reproduced as it is. I can't do it.

On the other hand, the stimulus information extraction unit 11 of the bioelectric stimulation device 1 extracts the stimulus information from the music / voice signal received by the receiving unit 10 (step S104 in FIG. 2).
The electrical stimulation unit 13 of the bioelectric stimulation apparatus 1 applies an electrical stimulation signal to the living body (the body of the user who uses the bioelectric stimulation system) based on the stimulation information extracted by the stimulation information extraction unit 11 (step in FIG. 2). S105).

  The electrical stimulation unit 13 includes two or more electrodes 14 disposed so as to come into contact with the skin surface of the living body. By using two or more electrodes 14, a closed loop through the inside of the living body is formed. The electrical stimulation unit 13 applies an electrical stimulation signal between the electrodes 14. As a result, the current applied from one electrode 14 passes through the inside of the living body and flows into the other electrode 14, thereby stimulating the nerves and muscle fibers of the sensory organ and inducing various sensations and muscle movements. It becomes possible.

  The material of the electrode 14 is not particularly limited, but, for example, a metal such as silver, copper, gold, and stainless steel is processed into a thin wire to give flexibility and configured as a fabric, or the metal is plated on a fiber material. Carbon fiber, conductive fiber impregnated fiber material, and the like can be used.

  Thus, for example, until the user stops the operation of the bioelectric stimulation device 1 (No in step S106 in FIG. 2), the processes in steps S102 to S105 in FIG. 2 are repeatedly executed.

  In this embodiment, by adding stimulus information to the music / speech signal and applying an electrical stimulus to the living body based on this stimulus information, it becomes possible to improve the inappropriateness of the linkage with music, and to improve the music experience. It becomes possible to raise. Stimulation information can be freely set and changed by the information adding device 2.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The present embodiment describes a specific example of the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the bioelectric stimulation system according to the present embodiment. The same components as those in FIG. The bioelectric stimulation device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a receiving unit 10, a stimulation information extraction unit 11, a music / speech signal output unit 12, an electrical stimulation unit 13, and an amplification unit 15 that amplifies a music / sound signal. I have.

  The stimulus information extraction unit 11 is a digital-analog converter (DAC) 110 that converts the music / speech signal received by the receiving unit 10 into an analog signal, and a stimulus in a specific frequency band from the music / speech signal output from the DAC 110. A frequency filter 111 that extracts information, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 112 that converts stimulus information extracted by the frequency filter 111 into a digital signal, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 113 that serves as a determination unit. The

  Hereinafter, the operation of the bioelectric stimulation system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The operation of the information adding device 2 is as described in the first embodiment (steps S200 and S201 in FIG. 4).

The receiving unit 10 of the bioelectric stimulation device 1 receives a music / voice signal from the information adding device 2 (step S202 in FIG. 4). In the present embodiment, the music / audio signal transmitted from the information adding device 2 is a digital signal.
The DAC 110 of the bioelectric stimulation device 1 converts the digital signal received by the receiving unit 10 into an analog signal (step S203 in FIG. 4).

In the present embodiment, an amplification unit 15 is provided as a configuration related to the music / audio signal output unit 12. The amplifying unit 15 amplifies the music / audio signal output from the DAC 110 (step S204 in FIG. 4).
The music / audio signal output unit 12 outputs the music / audio signal amplified by the amplification unit 15 (step S205 in FIG. 4). The music / audio signal output unit 12 is as described in the first embodiment.

  The frequency filter 111 of the bioelectric stimulation apparatus 1 extracts stimulation information in a specific frequency band from the music / speech signal output from the DAC 110 (step S206 in FIG. 4). As described in the first embodiment, the stimulus information is embedded in a specific frequency band of the music / audio signal, specifically, in a frequency band higher than the upper limit frequency of the human audible band. Therefore, if a high-pass filter is used as the frequency filter 111, it is possible to extract stimulus information. Further, the stimulation information of the present embodiment is a signal indicating on / off of the electrical stimulation signal.

The ADC 112 converts the signal that has passed through the frequency filter 111 into a digital signal (step S207 in FIG. 4).
The CPU 113 of the bioelectric stimulation device 1 executes processing described in this embodiment according to a program stored in an internal memory (not shown). Specifically, every time a digital signal (sampling value) is output from the ADC 112 at each sampling period, the CPU 113 compares the signal level of the stimulation information indicated by the sampling value with a predetermined threshold TH. (FIG. 4, step S208). If the signal level of the stimulus information does not exceed the threshold value TH (No in step S208), the CPU 113 waits for the next output from the ADC 112.

Then, the CPU 113 outputs a stimulation trigger signal to the electrical stimulation unit 13 when the signal level of the stimulation information exceeds the threshold value TH (step S209 in FIG. 4).
When the stimulation trigger signal is output from the CPU 113, the electrical stimulation unit 13 applies the electrical stimulation signal to the living body (the body of the user who uses the biological electrical stimulation device 1) (step S210 in FIG. 4).

  Thus, for example, until the user stops the operation of the bioelectric stimulation device 1 (No in step S211 in FIG. 4), the processes in steps S202 to S210 in FIG. 4 are repeatedly executed.

  Here, problems of the conventional method for extracting electrical features from music / speech signals and applying electrical stimulation to a living body and effects of the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 5A shows an example in which the received music / audio signal is converted into a frequency spectrum by Fourier transform. Music / audio signals are signals having various frequency components in an audible band.

  When a certain characteristic frequency is selected for such a music / voice signal and filtered using an ideal bandpass filter having a passband BW as shown in FIG. 5B, FIG. A frequency spectrum that has passed through the filter can be obtained as shown in FIG. The feature quantity of the music / speech signal as shown in FIG. 5C is compared with a preset threshold value TH, and if the feature quantity exceeds the threshold value TH, a stimulation trigger signal is output. Thereby, the skin sensation linked to the music / audio signal can be presented, and the user can obtain a bodily sensation in addition to hearing.

  On the other hand, in the method of extracting feature values from music / speech signals, the change in feature values increases depending on the type of music / speech signal, for example, music genre and tone, so an appropriate threshold value TH should be set. It was difficult. If an appropriate threshold value TH is not set, the threshold value TH may be too low to output an electrical stimulation signal, or conversely, the threshold value TH may be too high to output an electrical stimulation signal too much. Further, in the case of a song with a large change in the song, a phenomenon may occur in which the electrical stimulation signal is mostly output in the latter half while the electrical stimulation signal is mostly output in the first half.

  On the other hand, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6A, stimulation information, which is a signal that triggers electrical stimulation, is embedded in a music / voice signal as shown in FIG. Stimulation information is extracted by the frequency filter 111 having the pass band HW as shown in FIG.

  In this embodiment, the stimulus information is embedded at a frequency higher than the audible band of the music / speech signal, the signal spectrum intensity of the music / speech signal in the frequency band in which the stimulus information is embedded is low, and a large S / N ratio (Signal to Since the (Nosie Ratio) can be obtained, the threshold value can be stably compared as shown in FIG. That is, the threshold value TH can be set more easily than in the case described with reference to FIGS.

  In the example of FIGS. 6A to 6C, the stimulus information is embedded on the high frequency side of the audible band of the music / speech signal, and thus the case where a high-pass filter is used as the frequency filter 111 is illustrated. On the other hand, when the stimulus information is embedded at a frequency lower than the audible band of the music / speech signal, the stimulus information may appear as vibration when the music / speech signal is reproduced by a speaker or the like. Therefore, it is desirable to embed stimulation information in a frequency band on the higher frequency side than the audible band of the music / audio signal.

  In this embodiment, since the stimulation information is embedded in the music / speech signal in advance, it is not necessary to select a frequency, so that the band-pass filter can be reduced. In the method of extracting the feature amount from the music / audio signal, it is necessary to mount a band pass filter having several center frequencies and select it according to the song in order to correspond to the feature of the song. On the other hand, in this embodiment, the reduction of the band-pass filter contributes to the miniaturization of the bioelectric stimulation device 1.

  The timing of electrical stimulation can be freely set by the user at a desired timing. That is, the user (or the person in charge of the manufacturer who provides the bioelectric stimulation system) operates the information adding device 2 as described later to embed stimulation information at a desired position on the time axis of the music / audio signal. Thus, it is possible to set so as to receive stimulation at the most preferable timing while listening to music.

[Third embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. This embodiment describes another specific example of the first embodiment, and describes an example in which a digital signal received by wireless or wired communication is processed as a digital signal in a bioelectric stimulation device. It is. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the bioelectric stimulation system according to the present embodiment. The same components as those in FIGS. 1 and 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals. The bioelectric stimulation device 1 of this embodiment includes a receiving unit 10, a music / audio signal output unit 12, an electrical stimulation unit 13a, an amplification unit 15, a CPU 16 serving as a stimulation information extraction unit, and a DAC 17. Yes.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the bioelectric stimulation system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The operation of the information adding device 2 is as described in the first embodiment (steps S300 and S301 in FIG. 8).

The receiving unit 10 of the bioelectric stimulation device 1 receives a music / audio signal from the information adding device 2 (step S302 in FIG. 8). In the present embodiment, the music / audio signal transmitted from the information adding device 2 is a digital signal.
The DAC 17 of the bioelectric stimulation device 1 converts the digital signal received by the receiving unit 10 into an analog signal (step S303 in FIG. 8).

  The amplification unit 15 of the bioelectric stimulation apparatus 1 amplifies the music / speech signal output from the DAC 17 (step S304 in FIG. 8), and the music / speech signal output unit 12 performs the music / speech signal amplified by the amplification unit 15. Is output (step S305 in FIG. 8).

  On the other hand, the CPU 16 of the bioelectric stimulation device 1 executes processing described in this embodiment according to a program stored in an internal memory (not shown). The CPU 16 functions as a filter that extracts digital data embedded in a specific frequency band from music / audio signals as stimulation information, and functions as a control signal output unit that outputs the extracted digital data to the electrical stimulation unit 13a. Have

  The operation of the CPU 16 will be specifically described. First, the CPU 16 extracts stimulus information from the signal received by the receiving unit 10 by digital signal processing (step S306 in FIG. 8). A specific example of the digital signal processing at this time is digital filter processing. As a digital filter, for example, it is possible to extract stimulation information in a specific frequency band by using an FIR (Finite Impulse Response) filter. The stimulus information of the present embodiment is digital data indicating the signal pattern of the electrical stimulus signal.

Then, the CPU 16 outputs the digital data extracted in step S306 to the electrical stimulation unit 13a (step S307 in FIG. 8).
The electrical stimulation unit 13a applies an electrical stimulation signal having a signal pattern designated by the digital data output from the CPU 16 to the living body (the body of the user who uses the biological electrical stimulation apparatus 1) (step S308 in FIG. 8). Here, the contents that can be specified by the signal pattern include the polarity of the pulsed electrical stimulation signal (positive polarity, negative polarity, both polarities), pulse voltage, pulse waveform, pulse width, pulse interval, number of pulses, electrode position and so on.

  In order to deal with these signal patterns, the electrical stimulation unit 13 a needs to generate an electrical stimulation signal according to the digital data output from the CPU 16. Further, in this embodiment, since it is possible to specify the electrode position by the stimulation information, a plurality of pairs of electrodes 14 arranged so as to come into contact with the skin surface of the living body are provided. It is also possible to apply an electrical stimulation signal between a specific pair of electrodes, or to apply an electrical stimulation signal to a plurality of pairs of electrodes 14 with a time difference. This makes it possible to convey various sensations to specific parts of the living body.

  Thus, for example, until the user stops the operation of the bioelectric stimulation device 1 (No in step S309 in FIG. 8), the processes in steps S302 to S308 in FIG. 8 are repeatedly executed.

  In the second embodiment, it is possible to set only on / off of the electrical stimulation signal by the stimulation information, and the electrical stimulation unit 13 outputs the electrical stimulation signal having a predetermined signal pattern according to the output of the stimulation trigger signal. Output. On the other hand, in this embodiment, various parameters of the electrical stimulation signal can be set with stimulation information, and can be set so that the user can receive a more favorable stimulation linked to music. It becomes.

[Fourth embodiment]
Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, a specific configuration of the information adding apparatus 2 used in the first to third embodiments will be described. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information adding apparatus 2 according to this embodiment. Also in the present embodiment, the configuration of the bioelectric stimulation system is as described in the first to third embodiments, and therefore, description will be made using the reference numerals in FIGS. 1, 3 and 7.

  The information adding device 2 includes a storage unit 20 that stores a music / speech signal, a reading unit 21 that reads out a music / speech signal from the storage unit 20 according to a user's instruction, a user of the bioelectric stimulation system, or a bioelectrical unit. An operation unit 22 operated by a person in charge of the manufacturer of the stimulation system, a display unit 23 for displaying information, a DAC 24 for converting a music / audio signal into an analog signal, and a music / audio signal output from the DAC 24 are amplified. The amplifier 25, the music / speech signal output unit 26 that reproduces the music / speech signal amplified by the amplifying unit 25, the transmitter 27 for communication with the bioelectric stimulation device 1, and the entire information adding device are controlled. And a control unit 28 having a function as a stimulus information adding unit.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the information adding apparatus 2 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The storage unit 20 of the information adding device 2 stores music / audio signals (digital signals) in advance. The music / audio signal may be received via a network from a server device (not shown), for example, or may be collected by a sound collection unit (not shown) such as a microphone by the information addition device alone. .

  The user of the bioelectric stimulation system or the person in charge of the manufacturer of the bioelectric stimulation system operates the operation unit 22 to add the stimulation information to the music / voice signal. Specifically, the reading unit 21 of the information adding device 2 reads out the music / audio signal from the storage unit 20 in accordance with the operation of the user or the person in charge of the manufacturer (step S400 in FIG. 10).

The DAC 24 of the information adding device 2 converts the digital signal read by the reading unit 21 into an analog signal (step S401 in FIG. 10).
The amplifying unit 25 of the information adding device 2 amplifies the music / audio signal output from the DAC 24 (step S402 in FIG. 10).

  The music / speech signal output unit 26 of the information adding device 2 outputs the music / speech signal amplified by the amplifying unit 25 (step S403 in FIG. 10). Since the configuration of the music / speech signal output unit 26 is the same as that of the music / speech signal output unit 12 of the bioelectric stimulation apparatus 1 of the first to third embodiments, detailed description thereof is omitted.

  On the other hand, the control unit 28 of the information adding device 2 adds stimulus information to the music / voice signal read by the reading unit 21 (step S404 in FIG. 10). At this time, when adding the stimulation information described in the second embodiment to the music / audio signal, the control unit 28 instructs the output of the electrical stimulation signal at a timing according to the operation of the user or the person in charge of the manufacturer. Add stimulus information to music / audio signals.

  In addition, when adding the stimulus information described in the third embodiment to the music / speech signal, the control unit 28 allows the user or the person in charge of the manufacturer to perform the timing according to the operation of the person in charge of the user or the manufacturer. Stimulation information indicating the signal pattern of the designated electrical stimulation signal is added to the music / audio signal.

  In addition, it may be difficult for the user or the person in charge of the manufacturer to perform appropriate addition operation of the stimulus information at a desired timing while listening to the music / audio signal being reproduced. Therefore, according to the operation of the user or the person in charge of the manufacturer, the control unit 28 instructs the reading unit 21 to change the reproduction speed, pause the reproduction, etc., and display the waveform of the music / audio signal on the display unit 23. You may make it display on. Accordingly, the user or the person in charge of the manufacturer can add desired stimulus information to the music / audio signal at a desired timing while viewing the waveform of the music / audio signal displayed on the display unit 23. .

The transmission unit 27 of the information adding device 2 transmits the music / speech signal to which the stimulus information is added to the bioelectric stimulation device 1 (step S405 in FIG. 10).
As described above, the operation of the information adding apparatus 2 described in the first to third embodiments can be realized.

  The storage unit 20, the reading unit 21, and the control unit 28 of this embodiment can be realized by a computer having a CPU, a storage device, and an interface, and a program that controls these hardware resources. The CPU performs the processing described in this embodiment in accordance with a program stored in the storage device.

  In addition, it cannot be overemphasized that a various deformation | transformation aspect is possible within the range of the technical idea of this invention. For example, in the first to fourth embodiments, the music / speech signal is transmitted directly from the information adding device 2 to the bioelectric stimulation device 1, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, information addition device 2 such as a PC (Personal Computer) or server device adds stimulus information to a music / voice signal, and transfers the music / voice signal to which the stimulus information is added to an external device such as a smartphone via a network, for example. Then, music / audio signals may be transmitted from the smartphone to the bioelectric stimulation device 1.

  The present invention can be applied to a technique for presenting a skin sensation to a living body.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Bioelectric stimulation apparatus, 2 ... Information addition apparatus, 10 ... Reception part, 11 ... Stimulation information extraction part, 12, 26 ... Music / voice signal output part, 13, 13a ... Electrical stimulation part, 14 ... Electrode, 15, 25 ... amplifying unit, 16, 113 ... CPU, 17, 24,110 ... digital-analog converter, 20 ... storage unit, 21 ... reading unit, 22 ... operating unit, 23 ... display unit, 27 ... transmitting unit, 28 ... Control unit, 111, frequency filter, 112, analog-digital converter, 113, CPU.

Claims (8)

A receiving unit for receiving a music / audio signal to which stimulation information for designating electrical stimulation given to a living body is added from an external device;
A stimulus information extracting unit for extracting the stimulus information from the music / speech signal received by the receiving unit;
A bioelectric stimulation device comprising: an electrical stimulation unit that applies an electrical stimulation signal to a living body based on the stimulation information extracted by the stimulation information extraction unit. The bioelectric stimulation device according to claim 1.
The stimulation information is a signal indicating on / off of the electrical stimulation signal,
The stimulus information extraction unit
A filter that extracts a signal of a specific frequency band from the music / audio signal received by the receiver as the stimulus information;
A determination unit that outputs a stimulation trigger signal to the electrical stimulation unit when the level of the signal extracted by the filter exceeds a predetermined threshold;
The electrical stimulation unit is characterized in that the electrical stimulation unit outputs the electrical stimulation signal every time the stimulation trigger signal is output. The bioelectric stimulation device according to claim 1.
The stimulation information is digital data indicating a signal pattern of the electrical stimulation signal,
The stimulus information extraction unit
A filter that extracts digital data embedded in a specific frequency band from the music / audio signal received by the receiver as the stimulus information;
It is composed of a control signal output unit that outputs the digital data extracted by this filter to the electrical stimulation unit,
The biostimulation apparatus, wherein the electrical stimulation unit outputs the electrical stimulation signal having a signal pattern designated by digital data output from the control signal output unit. The bioelectric stimulation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The stimulus information is embedded in a specific frequency band on the higher frequency side than the upper limit frequency of the audible band of the music / speech signal and lower than the upper limit frequency of the band determined by the format of the music / speech signal. A bioelectric stimulation device characterized by comprising: The bioelectric stimulation device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A bioelectric stimulation device further comprising a music / audio signal output unit for reproducing the music / audio signal. An information adding device for adding stimulation information for designating electrical stimulation given to a living body to a music / audio signal;
A bioelectric stimulation system comprising the bioelectric stimulation device according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The bioelectric stimulation system according to claim 6.
The information adding device includes:
A storage unit for storing music and audio signals;
A reading unit that reads out music / audio signals from the storage unit in accordance with a user's instruction;
A stimulus information adding unit for adding the stimulus information to the music / audio signal read by the reading unit according to a user instruction;
A bioelectric stimulation system comprising: a transmission unit that transmits the music / audio signal to which the stimulation information is added to the bioelectric stimulation device. A first step of receiving, from an external device, a music / speech signal to which stimulus information for specifying an electrical stimulus to be given to a living body is added;
A second step of extracting the stimulus information from the music / speech signal received in the first step;
And a third step of applying an electrical stimulus signal to the living body based on the stimulus information extracted in the second step.