JPH10313224A - Audio device and sound volume adjusting method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress noise caused by gain change by varying a sound volume level, little by little, when variation in gain quantity accompanying the operation of a sound volume switch is large. SOLUTION: In a memory 7, data showing the correspondence between the position of the sound volume switch 1 and the gain quantity varied by an electronic variable resistor part 3 are described. A microcomputer 2 checks the difference between a gain quantity corresponding to a last checked position and a currently checked gain quantity by referring to the memory 7 to know whether or not the difference is larger than a predetermined value. When so, the gain quantity of the electronic variable resistor part 3 is controlled in steps so that the gain quantity of the electronic variable resistor part 3 varied, little by little, from the gain quantity corresponding to the last checked position of the switch 1 to the gain quantity corresponding to the currently checked position of the switch 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an audio device such as an MD device and a CD device, and more particularly to a technique for controlling the volume of an audio device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, the control of a sound volume level in a conventional acoustic device is performed as follows.

[0003] That is, the position of the volume control switch is associated in advance with the amount of gain applied to the audio signal in the audio device. Then, the position of the volume control switch is periodically monitored, and when the position of the volume control changes from the previous position, the gain amount applied by the audio device is added to the gain amount associated with the changed position. Vary the amount.

Here, in general, a change in the position of the volume control and a change in the gain amount expressed by db are not linearly associated with each other. For example, in the middle volume range, the gain is linearly changed with respect to the change in the position of the volume control switch. On the low volume level, the gain is greatly changed in response to the change in the position of the volume control switch. Defines that the user can perform a desired volume level operation without a sense of incongruity, such as changing the gain amount to a small amount in response to a change in the position of the volume control switch.

[0005]

Now, consider a case where the volume control switch is operated by the user. In this case, when the change in the gain amount due to the operation of the volume control switch is large, the magnitude of the sound signal changes as shown in FIG. The time point indicated by the downward arrow in the figure indicates the time point at which the acoustic device changes the gain amount.

[0006] As can be seen from the figure, when the change in the gain amount is large, the magnitude of the acoustic signal changes abruptly, and this is output as unpleasant noise.

[0007] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to suppress noise generated due to a change in a gain amount in an audio device.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object,
The present invention relates to an audio device for adjusting and outputting a volume level of an audio signal, comprising: a volume level switch for accepting a user's operation of the volume level; a volume volume unit for adjusting the volume level of the audio signal; When the change amount of the volume level corresponding to the state change of the switch is larger than a predetermined amount, the volume level corresponding to the state before the state change of the volume level switch is changed from the volume level corresponding to the state after the state change of the volume level switch. And a control unit that controls the amount of adjustment of the volume level of the audio signal in the volume control unit so that the volume level changes gradually.

According to such an acoustic apparatus, when the gain amount is greatly changed by operating the volume control switch, the volume level is changed little by little without abrupt change. Can be prevented.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of an acoustic device according to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an acoustic device according to the present embodiment.

In the figure, 1 is a volume control switch, 2 is a microcomputer, 3 is an electronic volume control unit as a volume control unit, 4 is an audio output unit, 5 is a speaker, 6 is a sound source unit such as an MD playback device, and 7 is a sound source unit. Memory.

In such a configuration, the electronic volume unit 3 attenuates the acoustic signal output from the sound source unit 6 by a gain amount (attenuation amount) specified by the microcomputer, and sends it to the audio output unit 4. The audio output unit 4 amplifies the acoustic signal sent from the electronic volume unit 3 by an appropriate amount and outputs the amplified signal from the speaker 5.

The volume control switch 1 is a rotary type volume switch and has 32 rotation positions, which can be detected by the microcomputer 2. The memory 7 describes data indicating the correspondence between the position of the volume control switch and the amount of gain applied by the electronic volume unit 3, and a program for the microcomputer 2 to control the electronic volume unit 3. The microcomputer 2 executes this program to control the gain of the electronic volume unit 3 according to the position of the volume control switch 1.

Hereinafter, details of the control will be described.

First, FIG. 2 shows the correspondence between the gain amounts applied to the electronic volume unit 3 and stored in the memory 7.

In this example, it is assumed that the volume switch 1 is a rotary volume switch, and its position is
As shown in the figure, the position changes from a position 0 corresponding to the minimum volume level to a position 31 corresponding to the maximum volume level clockwise. And at position 0, -∞db
, The position 1 is associated with a gain amount of −69 db, and the position 31 is associated with a gain amount of 0 db. Between positions 26 and 31, the gain amount increases by 1 db each time the position advances clockwise by one step, and between positions 8 and 26, the gain amount increases by 2 db each time the position advances clockwise by one step.
In order to increase the position, the position of the volume control switch 1 and the gain amount are associated with each other so that the gain amount increases by 4 db each time the position advances clockwise by one step from position 1 to position 8.

Next, based on the correspondence between the position and the gain amount, the microcomputer 2 performs a volume control switch 1 according to a program stored in the memory 7.
FIG. 3 shows a processing procedure of processing for controlling the gain amount of the electronic volume unit 3 according to the position of.

This process is started periodically. In this process, first, it is checked whether or not the position of the volume control switch 1 has changed to a position different from the position checked last time (step 301). If the position has not changed, the process ends.

On the other hand, if the position has changed, the difference between the gain amount corresponding to the position checked last time and the gain amount checked this time is checked by referring to the memory 7, and if the difference is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, It is checked whether there is (step 302). In this example, we will check if it is more than 2db.

If the value is not equal to or greater than the predetermined value, volume data for instructing the gain of the audio signal to be gained by the gain amount corresponding to the position of the volume control switch 1 checked this time is sent to the electronic volume unit 3 (step 30).
7).

On the other hand, if the value is equal to or more than the predetermined value, the electronic volume unit gradually increases from the gain amount corresponding to the position of the volume control switch 1 examined last time to the gain amount corresponding to the position of the volume control switch examined this time. The gain amount of the electronic volume unit 3 is controlled several times so that the gain amount of the electronic volume unit 3 changes (steps 303 to 30).
6). In this example, control is performed so that the gain amount changes by 1 db. Specifically, for example, when the position of the volume control switch 1 examined last time is 3 and the position examined this time is 4, the corresponding gain amount difference is 4 db. Therefore, in this case, the gain amount corresponding to the current position 4 −61 db from the gain amount −61 db corresponding to the previous position 3 −
The gain amount of the electronic volume unit 3 is increased four times, one db at a time, until the gain amount corresponding to 57 db is -57 db.
As a result, the gain amount of the electronic volume unit 3 becomes -60d
b, -59db, -58db, and -57db change sequentially.

In such processing, first, a difference between the gain amount corresponding to the previous position 3 and the gain amount corresponding to the current position 4 is set as an adjustment width, and is divided (step 303). . Specifically, the adjustment width is divided by 1 db, the number of times of repeating the control of increasing the gain amount by 1 db, and the data sent to instruct the electronic volume unit 3 to indicate the gain amount in each control are divided by the control of each time. The gain of the electronic volume unit 3 is determined so as to sequentially change by 1 db from the gain amount corresponding to the previous position to the gain amount corresponding to the current position, and the divided volume is sent to the electronic volume unit 3 in each control. Data (Step 3
03). Then, the process of transmitting the divided volume data to the electronic volume unit 3 (step 304) is repeated until the divided volume data is sequentially transmitted to the electronic volume unit 3 for the determined number of times of control (steps 305 and 306).

According to the above processing, when the volume control switch is operated by the user, the magnitude of the sound signal is smooth as shown in FIG. 4 even if the change in the gain amount accompanying the operation of the volume control switch is large. Changes to The time point indicated by the downward arrow in the figure indicates the time point at which the acoustic device changes the gain amount.

As can be understood from comparison with FIG. 5, according to the present embodiment, even when the change in the gain amount is large, the magnitude of the acoustic signal does not change suddenly, and unpleasant noise is generated. Nor.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.

In the above embodiment, the case where the rotary volume switch is used has been described.
This may be a switch that accepts a volume level increase operation or a volume level decrease operation as a user's volume level operation. In this case, the level of the volume level designated by the operation of the user may be treated as corresponding to the position of the volume volume switch shown in the above embodiment.

Further, in the above embodiment, an example has been shown in which the gain amount is gradually changed in both cases of increasing and decreasing the gain amount.
For example, the gain amount may be changed little by little only when increasing the gain amount.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to suppress noise generated due to a change in the amount of gain in an audio device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an acoustic device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a correspondence between a position of a volume control switch and a gain amount;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a volume control process.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a change in volume during volume control.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a change in volume during conventional volume control.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Volume switch 2 Microcomputer 3 Electronic volume part 4 Audio output part 5 Speaker 6 Sound source part 7 is a memory

Claims (3)

[Claims] An audio device for adjusting and outputting a volume level of an audio signal, comprising: a volume level switch for accepting a user's operation of a volume level; a volume volume unit for adjusting a volume level of the audio signal; When the change amount of the volume level corresponding to the state change of the level switch is greater than a predetermined amount, the volume corresponding to the state after the state change of the volume level switch from the volume level corresponding to the state before the state change of the volume level switch A control unit that controls the amount of adjustment of the volume level of the audio signal in the volume control unit so that the volume level gradually changes up to the level. 2. An audio device for adjusting and outputting a volume level of an audio signal, comprising: a volume level switch for accepting an operation of a volume level by a user; a volume volume unit for adjusting a volume level of the audio signal; When the increase amount of the volume level corresponding to the state change of the level switch is larger than a predetermined amount, the volume corresponding to the state after the state change of the volume level switch from the volume level corresponding to the state before the state change of the volume level switch A control unit that controls the amount of adjustment of the volume level of the audio signal in the volume control unit so that the volume level gradually increases up to the level. 3. A method for adjusting a volume level of an audio signal in an audio device, comprising: a step of receiving an instruction to change a volume level of an audio signal from a user; a volume level after the change indicated by the received instruction; If the difference in volume level before the change is greater than a predetermined amount,
Adjusting the volume level of the audio signal so that the volume level gradually changes from the volume level before the change to the volume level after the change. Adjustment method.