KR20020095725A - Apparatus and method for adjusting a sound balance in audio/video system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A device for automatically controlling sound balance of audio/video systems is provided to automatically control the sound balance in consideration of peripheral environments where the audio/video systems are installed, thereby automatically controlling the sound balance in an optimum state under the same condition as a user condition. CONSTITUTION: A test signal generator(210) generates a test signal for controlling sound balance. An audio signal processor(203) amplifies and processes the test signal and an audio signal by corresponding to a controlled volume value. Many speakers output the signals processed in the audio signal processor(203). A microphone(209) receives the signals outputted from the speakers. A controller(206) decides levels of the test signal and peripheral noise signals, and automatically controls the sound balance. The audio signal processor(203) is a signal processing circuit included in audio equipment or video equipment. The microphone(209) is built in the video equipment. The audio equipment and the video equipment are connected through a signal line and a control line.

Description

Apparatus and method for adjusting a sound balance in audio / video system}

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for adjusting the sound balance of an audio system, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for automatically adjusting the sound balance of an audio / video system for automatically adjusting the sound balance in an optimal user condition according to the surrounding environment. .

Generally, audio systems are equipped with center channel speakers, woofer speakers, left and right speakers and front left and right speakers to produce surround sound effects. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately balance the intensity of the volume output from the left and right speakers centering on the listener to maximize the sound effect.

By the way, the sound balance adjustment method in the audio system according to the prior art, the listener manually adjusts the volume output level of the left and right speakers using hearing. As a result, ordinary listeners who lack professional skills cannot accurately adjust the sound balance. In particular, the audio / video system has a problem that it is not possible to accurately adjust the sound balance of the audio device mainly on the video device.

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to solve the above problems, in consideration of the environment in which the audio / video system is installed, the sound balance of the audio / video system for automatically executing the adjustment of the sound balance in an optimal state under the user conditions. It is to provide an automatic adjustment device and method.

1 is a block diagram of an apparatus for automatically adjusting sound balance of an audio / video system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed configuration diagram of the audio device and the video device shown in FIG. 1.

3 is a flowchart of a sound balance automatic adjustment method of an audio / video system according to the present invention.

4A to 4C are waveform diagrams of test signals used for automatic sound balance adjustment according to the present invention.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, the apparatus for automatically adjusting sound balance of an audio / video system according to the present invention includes: a test signal generator for generating a test signal for adjusting sound balance in the sound balance adjusting apparatus of an audio / video system; An audio signal processor for amplifying and signal-processing the test signal and the audio signal according to the adjusted volume value, a plurality of speakers for outputting the signal processed by the audio signal processor, and a signal output from the plurality of speakers And a control unit for determining a microphone and a level of the test signal input to the microphone, and automatically executing sound balance adjustment by a predetermined algorithm.

In order to achieve the above object, the sound balance adjustment method of the audio / video system according to the present invention is a sound balance adjustment method of the audio / video system, which includes: (a) stopping the audio output and attaching to the audio / video system; Detecting the intensity of the ambient noise input into the microphone, (b) outputting a test signal having a level corresponding to the intensity of the ambient noise detected in the step (a), and (c) Detecting a level and determining a ratio of noise energy included in the detected test signal to determine whether it is within an allowable range;

(d) If the determination result of the step (c) exceeds the allowable range, repeating the step (c) by increasing the audio volume by a predetermined level; and (e) As a result of the determination of the step (c), the allowable range Detecting the level of the left / right speaker output signal according to the test signal, and executing sound balance adjustment to vary the amplification degree of the left / right speaker signal so that the level of the left / right speaker output signal is matched. Characterized by including.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus for automatically adjusting the sound balance of an audio / video system according to the present invention includes a video device 101, an audio device 102, a transmitter 103, a receiver & Microphone 106, center speaker 107, woofer speaker 108, left and right speakers 109 and 110, and surround left and right speakers 111 and 112 attached to the device are provided.

The reason why the microphone 106 is attached to the video device 101 is that in the audio / video system, the user is generally located mainly on the video device, so that the microphone 106 used to adjust the sound balance is used. Attached to the center of

The audio device 102 and the surround left and right speakers 111 and 112 are wirelessly connected to each other. That is, the audio signal of the surround left and right channels output from the audio device 102 is output as an infrared RF signal from the transmitter 103, and is amplified by receiving and restoring the received signals from the receiver & Output to the right speaker (111, 112), respectively.

In addition, the video device 101 and the audio device 102 are connected to signal lines and control lines, and are designed to enable signal transmission / reception and control data transmission / reception.

FIG. 2 is a detailed configuration diagram of the video device 101 and the audio device 102 of FIG. 1.

That is, the video device 101 includes a tuner & IF processor 201, a video signal processor 202, an audio signal processor 203, a CRT drive 204, a CRT 205, a video device controller 206, and an A / D. The converter 207, the amplifier 208, the microphone 209, the test signal generator 210, and the memory 211, and the audio device 102 includes the audio device controller 212 and the audio signal processor 213. It is composed of

The basic operations of the video device 101 and the audio device 102 will be briefly described as follows.

The tuner & IF processor 210 tunes and demodulates only the broadcast signal of the channel selected by the user in the tuner & IF processor 210, and then separates the video signal and the audio signal to the video signal processor 202 and the audio signal processor 203. Output each.

Then, the video signal processing unit 202 compensates the noise filtering and frequency characteristics of the input video signal, and then converts the R, G, and B signals into output signals. The CRT drive 204 generates a signal for driving the R, G, and B CRTs, and outputs the input R, G, and B signals to the CRT 205.

In addition, the audio signal processor 203 amplifies the input audio signal with a gain determined by a volume control signal applied from the video device controller 206, and executes signal processing such as frequency characteristic compensation and noise filtering. In order to produce the effect, the audio signal is separated into a plurality of speaker audio signals and output.

The audio signal processor 213 of the audio device 102 amplifies the input audio signal with a gain determined by a volume control signal, similar to the audio signal processor 203 of the video device, and performs signal processing such as frequency characteristic compensation and noise filtering. And to separate and output the speaker signal of a plurality of channels in order to generate a sound effect.

The audio signal processing unit 203 of the video device 101 and the audio signal processing unit 213 of the audio device 102 install some circuit configuration that is overlapped with each other only in the audio device 102, It can also be designed for common use.

The audio device controller 212 collectively controls the audio device 102 and enables control between the video device 101 and the audio device 102 by data communication through a control line with the video device controller 206. do.

The operation of automatically adjusting the sound balance of the audio / video system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the circuit configuration of FIG.

Since the video device controller 206 and the audio device controller 211 are connected through a control line, the main controller for executing the automatic sound balance adjustment according to the present invention is either the video device controller 206 or the audio device controller 211. Either one can be determined and programmed. In an embodiment of the present invention, the video device controller 206 is programmed to operate as the main controller.

When the user selects the sound balance automatic adjustment mode by using a key input means such as a remote controller (not shown in the drawing), in order to check the ambient noise level, the video device controller 206 may control the T1 section as illustrated in FIG. 4. Cuts off the audio signal output to all speakers.

Thereafter, the video apparatus controller 206 executes a process of detecting the amount of noise input to the microphone 209.

That is, after amplifying the ambient noise signal received by the microphone 209 with the amplifier 208, the A / D converter 207 converts the signal into a digital signal and applies it to the video device controller 206. Then, the video device controller 206 calculates an energy value by calculating an average value of the noise signal converted into a digital signal.

Next, the video device controller 206 determines the gain value of the volume control signal according to the calculated noise energy level, and determines the output level of the test signal generated by the test signal generator 210.

In other words, when the ambient noise corresponding to the case where the energy level of the noise signal is very small is small, a test signal of a low level as shown in FIG. 4 (a) is output. In addition, in the case of having the energy level of the noise signal corresponding to the white noise and the relatively low ambient noise, a test signal as shown in FIG. 4 (b) is output at a level slightly higher than that of FIG. 4 (a). In addition, when the noise of the noise signal corresponding to the case where the ambient noise is relatively high, the test signal of a relatively high level as shown in FIG.

This is to generate the test signal according to the noise level of the surrounding environment.

If the energy level of the ambient noise exceeds the maximum threshold, it is difficult to adjust the sound balance due to the ambient noise. The character font is read from the memory 211 and synthesized with the video signal processed signal and output through the CRT 205.

As shown in FIG. 4, the T2 section is a test signal generation section for detecting an amount of energy of the speaker output of the L (or R) channel, and the T4 section is an energy of the speaker output of the R (or L) channel. Test signal generation section for detecting the amount, T3 is a section for distinguishing the L / R channel.

After detecting the ambient noise energy during the T1 period, after outputting a test signal corresponding to the detected magnitude of the ambient noise energy through the L channel speaker during the T2 period, the test signal input to the microphone 209 is outputted to the amplifier ( In step 208, the A / D converter 207 converts the digital signal into a digital signal, and then the video device controller 206 calculates an average value.

In the same manner, the test signal output through the R channel speaker during the T4 period is received through the microphone 209 and passed through the amplifier 208 and the A / D converter 207, and then the average value in the video device controller 206. To calculate.

In addition, the video device controller 206 determines the ratio of the noise energy included in the test signal detected in the sections T2 and T4 to determine whether it is within the allowable range. As a method of determining the ratio of the noise energy, when the ratio of the section exceeding a predetermined value by more than the minimum value of the section exceeds the allowable range of 5%, for example, it is determined that the ambient noise is stronger than the test signal level and the test signal is determined. In order to increase the output level of the video device controller 206, the audio signal processor 203 outputs a control signal for increasing the volume value. After increasing the output level of the test signal, repeat from the T2 section.

However, when the ratio of the noise energy included in the test signal detected in the T2 and T4 sections is within the allowable range, the average value of each section is calculated by calculating the average value of the test signal received by the microphone 209 in each of the T2 and T4 sections. The sound balance is adjusted to match the average value of the L / R channel by varying the audio amplification degree of the L or R channel in accordance with the difference value of the average value of the L / R channel calculated by calculating the difference of.

Next, a method for automatically adjusting the sound balance of the audio / video system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3.

First, the video device controller 206 determines whether a sound balance automatic adjustment command is input (step 301). The sound balance automatic adjustment command may be directly selected by a user by using an input means such as a remote controller (not shown in the drawing), and the sound balance automatic adjustment mode is automatically performed at the time of switching to a specific mode, that is, when the power supply is started. It can also be programmed to enter.

When the determination in step 301 enters the sound balance automatic adjustment mode, the ambient noise of the place where the audio / video system is installed is detected (step 302). The method for detecting ambient noise is to cut off the audio output to all speakers of the audio / video system (T1 section in FIG. 4), and then calculate the average value of the level of the signal input through the microphone 209 to calculate the amount of ambient noise. Detect.

Then, a test signal having a level in consideration of the amount of noise detected in step 302 is output (step 303). According to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 4 (a)-(c), the output is divided into three levels according to the magnitude of the detected noise. That is, when the noise level is small, a quiet environment is generated, so a small level test signal is generated as shown in FIG. 4 (a). When the noise level is normal, a test signal of medium level is generated as shown in FIG. 4 (b). If the amount of noise is relatively large, a test signal having a relatively large level is generated as shown in FIG.

The T2 section of the test signal is a test signal generation section for detecting the amount of energy of the speaker output of the L (or R) channel, and the T4 section is a test signal generation for detecting the amount of energy of the speaker output of the R (or L) channel. Section, and T3 is a section for distinguishing the L / R channels.

Accordingly, the test signal is output through the L channel speaker during the T2 period, and the level of the test signal input to the microphone 209 is detected. During the T4 section, the signal is output through the R channel speaker and the level of the test signal input to the microphone 209 is detected (step 304).

Then, the ratio of the noise energy included in the test signal detected in the sections T2 and T4 is determined to determine whether it is within the allowable range (step 305). That is, as a method of determining the ratio of noise energy, when the ratio of the section exceeding the minimum value of the section or more than a predetermined value exceeds, for example, 5% of the allowable range, it is determined that the ambient noise is stronger than the level of the test signal. After changing the audio volume value to increase the output level of the test signal (step 306), the process returns to step 304 to repeat the above steps.

If the ratio of the noise energy included in the test signal detected in the sections T2 and T4 is within the allowable range, the average value of the test signal received by the microphone 209 in each section T2 and T4 is calculated. (Step 307), the audio amplification degree of the L / R channel is automatically adjusted to balance the sound in accordance with the difference in the mean value of each section (step 308).

In this way, the sound balance of the audio / video system can be automatically adjusted in consideration of the ambient noise.

The invention can be practiced as a method, apparatus, system, or the like. When implemented in software, the constituent means of the present invention are code segments that necessarily perform the necessary work. The program or code segments may be stored in a processor readable medium or transmitted by a computer data signal coupled with a carrier on a transmission medium or network. Processor readable media includes any medium that can store or transmit information. Examples of processor-readable media include electronic circuits, semiconductor memory devices, ROMs, flash memories, E ² PROMs, floppy disks, optical disks, hard disks, optical fiber media, radio frequency (RF) networks, and the like. Computer data signals include any signal that can propagate over transmission media such as electronic network channels, optical fibers, air, electromagnetic fields, RF networks, and the like.

Specific embodiments shown and described in the accompanying drawings are only to be understood as an example of the present invention, not to limit the scope of the invention, but also within the scope of the technical spirit described in the present invention in the technical field to which the present invention belongs As various other changes may occur, it is obvious that the invention is not limited to the specific constructions and arrangements shown or described.

As described above, according to the present invention, by controlling the sound balance to be automatically adjusted in consideration of the surrounding environment in which the audio / video system is installed, the sound balance can be automatically adjusted to the optimal state under the same condition as the user condition. That effect is produced.

Claims (5)

In the sound balance adjusting device of the audio / video system, A test signal generator for generating a test signal for adjusting sound balance; An audio signal processor for amplifying and signal processing the test signal and the audio signal in accordance with the adjusted volume value; A plurality of speakers for outputting a signal processed by the audio signal processor; A microphone for receiving signals output from the plurality of speakers; And And a control unit for determining a level of the test signal and the ambient noise signal input to the microphone and automatically executing a sound balance adjustment by a predetermined algorithm. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio processor is a signal processing circuit included in an audio device or a video device of an audio / video system, the microphone is embedded in a video device, and the audio device and the video device are connected to a signal line and a control line. Sound balance auto-adjustment device, characterized in that connected. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined algorithm is (a) stopping audio output and detecting an intensity of ambient noise input into the microphone; (b) outputting a test signal of a level corresponding to the intensity of the ambient noise detected in step (a); (c) detecting a level of the test signal input into the microphone and determining a ratio of noise energy included in the detected test signal to determine whether the test signal is within an allowable range; (d) repeating the step (c) by increasing the audio volume by a predetermined level when the determination result of the step (c) exceeds the allowable range; And (e) If the result of the determination in step (c) is within the allowable range, the level of the left / right speaker output signal is detected by calculating the level of the left / right speaker output signal, respectively, by the test signal. And varying the amplification degree of the audio signal of the left and right channels according to the calculated level difference to execute sound balance adjustment. In the sound balance adjustment method of the audio / video system, (a) disabling audio output and detecting the intensity of the ambient noise coming into the microphone attached to the audio / video system; (b) outputting a test signal of a level corresponding to the intensity of the ambient noise detected in step (a); (c) detecting a level of the test signal input into the microphone and determining a ratio of noise energy included in the detected test signal to determine whether the test signal is within an allowable range; (d) repeating the step (c) by increasing the audio volume by a predetermined level when the determination result of the step (c) exceeds the allowable range; And (e) If the result of the determination in step (c) is within the allowable range, the level of the left / right speaker output signal is detected by calculating the level of the left / right speaker output signal, respectively, by the test signal. And adjusting the amplification degree of the audio signal of the left and right channels according to the calculated level difference to execute sound balance adjustment. The method of claim 4, wherein the microphone has a structure located at the center of the video system of the audio / video system.