KR200247762Y1 - Multiple channel multimedia speaker system - Google Patents

Abstract

Multimedia speaker system according to the present invention, by converting two-channel audio signal to a multi-channel audio format to implement a stereoscopic sound, such as 4.1 channel or 5.1 channel audio. In addition, the audio signal output through the multimedia speaker system may have a sound field effect such as playing in a specific place such as a hall or a stadium. The high-quality digital audio data transmitted from the audio source is directly received through a USB bus and processed. do.

Description

Multi-channel multimedia speaker system {MULTIPLE CHANNEL MULTIMEDIA SPEAKER SYSTEM}

The present invention relates to a multimedia system, and more particularly, to a multimedia speaker system for a personal computer (PC) capable of listening to multiple channel audio signals.

In recent years, as the interest in multiple channel audio has increased, a multichannel audio format has been developed in which an additional channel is added to two-channel left and right stereo sound, which is a typical channel configuration. This multi-channel audio format has the flexibility and expandability of the channel to increase the realism of the sound and to pursue the high quality of the sound, and to cope with changes in the taste and listening environment of the listener quickly.

The conventional multichannel audio format separates and generates four channel signals from two channels of left and right stereo signals, and codes and transmits audio signals independently for each audio channel, and then decodes them to each audio channel. A method of realizing stereoscopic sound by outputting through a corresponding sound reproducing apparatus is used.

This multichannel audio format includes two channels of left and right stereo channels, two channels of left and right surround channels, a single channel of central channels, and lower than 120 Hz. 5.1-channel audio, including a low-frequency enhancement channel, known as a sub-woofer, which reproduces only the low frequencies of the band, and 4.1-channel audio, consisting of the remaining channels other than the center channel of the 5.1-channel audio. Is the most used.

Typical audio codecs that support multichannel audio include Dolby's digital AC-3 (Audio Compression-3) and MPEG-2 audio from ISO / IEC JTC1 / SC29 / WG11 audio group. Experts Group-2 Audio) and Digital Theater System (DTS) from Digital Theater System Technology.

On the other hand, as digital technology rapidly develops and its penetration rate increases, devices for recording digital data on a storage medium and reproducing digital data recorded on the storage medium have become popular. Among them, a method of recording and reproducing digital data on a compact disk is used due to the advantage of easy recording density and storage of data. As a representative example of a multimedia system using such a method, a digital video disk is used. Digital video disk player (DVDP).

The DVDP is an apparatus that detects digital data recorded on a recording medium by using an optical pickup, decodes (restores) the detected digital data, converts the detected digital data into an analog form, and outputs the same. DVDP uses Dolby's digital AC-3 (Audio Compression-3) method for audio data reproduction. This digital AC-3 method decodes (restores) audio data recorded on a recording medium (compact disk), separates it into a signal corresponding to each channel, outputs it, converts it into an analog form, and then converts it into an analog form. By outputting only 20,000 mV), the user can listen to realistic voice through the speaker corresponding to each channel.

Currently, most multimedia systems adopt Dolby's digital AC-3 scheme to reproduce voice data, as in the case of the DVDP described above. In other words, existing multimedia systems are designed and provided as a system only for Dolby digital sources.

In contrast, an output device (for example, a speaker system) of a personal computer (PC) (hereinafter, referred to as a PC) is designed as a system that supports only Dolby Digital sources as in the existing multimedia systems. Instead, it is designed and provided as a system for two-channel stereo sources.

Therefore, if the existing multimedia speaker system supporting only Dolby Digital sources is applied to a PC that provides only two channels of left and right stereo signals, multi-channel audio such as 4.1 channel or 5.1 channel cannot be properly supported. . Therefore, for stereo sources used in a PC, a new multimedia speaker system suitable for a PC is required instead of a conventional Dolby Digital speaker system which is useless.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention has been proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems, and by converting and outputting 2-channel audio data of analog or digital type output from a PC into a multi-channel audio format, stereo sound can be realized. The present invention provides a multimedia speaker system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a multimedia speaker system that can give an effect such that an audio signal is played in a specific place such as a hall, a stadium, and the like.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a multimedia speaker system capable of directly receiving and processing high quality digital audio data transmitted from a PC without a sound card in the PC.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a multi-channel multimedia speaker system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the system control unit shown in FIG. 1; And

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of command input keys provided in the key input unit illustrated in FIG. 2.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

1: sub-woofer 2: center speaker

3: Stereo Speaker (Left) 4: Stereo Speaker (Right)

5: Surround speaker (left) 6: Surround speaker (right)

10: speaker system 20: USB audio circuit

22: USB processor 24: Digital-to-analog converter (DAC)

30: sound field effect processor 40: multiplexer

50: audio signal converter / output unit 52: audio signal converter

54: audio signal output unit 60: microcontroller

70: key input / LCD

According to a feature of the present invention for achieving the object of the present invention as described above, the multimedia speaker system for receiving and outputting a two-channel audio signal as an input signal, a plurality of speakers for outputting a multi-channel audio signal, and A signal conversion means connected between the speakers and an audio source for outputting the two channel audio signal, for receiving the two channel audio signal and converting the audio signal into a multichannel audio signal.

(Example)

Hereinafter, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

The novel multimedia speaker system of the present invention converts two channels of audio signals output from a PC into a multichannel audio format such as 4.1 channels or 5.1 channels. In addition, the audio signal may have a sound field effect such as being played in a specific place such as a hall or a stadium, and directly receives and processes digital audio data transmitted from a PC through a USB bus.

1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a multi-channel multimedia speaker system 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the multi-channel multimedia speaker system 100 according to the present invention receives a speaker system 10 including a plurality of speakers and two channels of left and right stereo signals connected to a PC and transmitted from the PC. And a system controller 90 for converting and outputting the multi-channel audio signal.

The system control unit 90 stores two-channel audio data (AUDIO_IN1) in analog form from a PC, or digital two-channel audio data (AUDIO_IN2) such as Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) data or MPEG-2 audio data. And converts the received 2-channel audio data into a multi-channel audio signal such as a 4.1 channel or 5.1 channel audio signal and outputs the same. As a result, the two-channel audio signal output from the PC is converted into three-dimensional sound in a multichannel audio format and output. At this time, the multi-channel audio signal output through the speaker system 10 is amplified and output through an amplifier provided in the sub-woofer 1. This amplifying apparatus may be provided in the sub-woofer 1 or in the system control unit 90 according to the design scheme of the circuit.

The system control unit 90 is connected to the sub-woofer 1 via an 8-line connector, which has a power supply terminal Vcc and a ground terminal GN. Power of the entire multimedia speaker system 100 according to the present invention is supplied to the sub-woofer 1 as shown in the figure. The power used for the system control unit 90 is supplied from the sub-woofer 1 to the system control unit 90 through the 8-line connector.

As such, the sub-woofer 1 not only acts as a woofer, which is a low frequency enhancement channel, but also is transmitted to the front / rear / center speakers 3,4 / 5,6 / 2 connected to the sub-woofer 1. It is used as a circuit to amplify the signals. That is, the audio signal AUDIO_OUT processed through the system control unit 90 is amplified through the sub-woofer 1 and then output to respective passive speakers 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. do.

In this case, since the system control unit 90 and the sub-woofer 1 have a simple structure connected through an 8-line connector, the user can easily connect the system. In addition, since the audio signal is amplified through the sub-woofer 1 and output to the passive speakers 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, the overall size of the multimedia speaker system 100 may be configured to be small.

The audio data AUDIO_IN1 or AUDIO_IN2 input to the system control unit 90 is transmitted from an audio source provided in the PC. Audio sources included in the PC include a CD player (CD player) capable of playing a music CD (compact disk) or a video CD.

As will be described in detail below, the system control unit 90 is provided with a sound field effect processing unit (see 30 in FIG. 2), such that an audio signal output through the speaker system 10 may be a hall, a stadium, or the like. It has the same effect as playing in a specific place. In addition, the system control unit 90 is provided with a USB audio circuit (see 20 in FIG. 2), and directly receives and processes high-quality digital audio data transmitted from a PC through a universal serial bus (USB). There is no need for a sound card.

In the above, a PC has been described as an application example of the multimedia speaker system 100 according to the present invention. However, this is only an example, and general 2-channel audio sources (eg, Dolby Digital Audio) are not supported. TV, car audio, etc.) can also be applied.

More detailed configuration and operation of the system control unit 90 having such characteristics are as follows. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of the system controller 90 shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, the system controller 90 may include a USB audio integrated circuit 20, a sound field effect processor 30, a multiplexer 40, and an audio signal conversion. Auxiliary / output unit 50, a micro-controller 60, and a key input unit / LCD 70 are included.

The USB audio circuit 20 is composed of a USB processor 22 and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 24 to convert two channels of digital audio signals transmitted from a PC to a USB channel. Accept directly through The digital audio signal input through the USB channel is converted into PCM data through the USB processor 22 and then input to the sound field effect processor 30. The digital audio signal processed by the sound field effect processor 30 is input to the digital-analog converter 24 and converted into an analog audio signal. In this way, the USB audio circuit 20 directly processes the high quality digital audio data transmitted from the PC, thus eliminating the need for a sound card in the PC.

The sound field effect processor 30 is composed of a digital signal processor (DSP) called a sound effect processor or an audio effect processor. The sound field effect processing unit 30 is a sound field effect algorithm composed of hardware, and the sound field for both digital 2-channel audio data input through the USB audio circuit 20 and analog 2-channel audio data input from the PC. Provide effect. Although not shown in the drawing, the sound field effect processor 30 is composed of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a sound field processor, an equalizer, and a digital-analog converter.

The sound field effect processor 30 processes the audio signal input to the sound field processor and the equalizer in response to a control signal generated from the microcontroller 60 when the digital 2-channel audio data is input through the USB audio circuit 20. Then, the processed audio signal is transmitted to the USB audio circuit 20 again. The audio signal transmitted to the USB audio circuit 20 is converted into an analog audio signal through the digital-to-analog converter 24 included in the USB audio circuit 20. The sound field effect processing unit 30 processes the audio signal input to the sound field processing unit and the equalizer in response to a control signal generated from the microcontroller 60 when the analog 2-channel audio data is input from the PC. The audio signal is converted into an analog audio signal through an internal digital-to-analog converter.

The multiplexer 40 of the audio data AUDIO_IN2 'output from the USB audio circuit 20 and the audio data AUDIO_IN1' output from the sound field effect processor 30 in response to the selection signal generated from the microcontroller 60. Select one and print it out. At this time, the signal output through the multiplexer 40 is subjected to a volume control performed by the multiplexer 40 before being input to the audio signal converter 52, which is called a master volume.

The audio signal converter / output unit 50 is composed of an audio signal converter 52 and an audio signal output unit 54. The audio signal converter 52 is a two-channel stereo audio signal (AUDIO_IN2 'or AUDIO_IN1') output from the USB audio circuit 20 or the sound field effect processor 30 in response to a control signal generated from the microcontroller 60. To multichannel audio signal of 4.1 channel or 5.1 channel. The channel conversion technology used in the audio signal conversion unit 52 is a Circle Surround (CS) technology that converts a two-channel stereo audio signal into a virtual multichannel audio signal, which was developed in December 1994 by Lowe et al. US acquired 6 days Pat. No. 5,371,799, "Stereo headphone sound source localization system" and U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,149, Apparatus for creating 3D audio imaging over headphones using binaural synthesis.

The audio signal output section 54 is composed of a trimmer circuit or a volume control section. The audio signal output unit 54 adjusts and outputs a volume for each channel of the multi-channel audio signal generated from the audio signal converter 52 in response to the control signal generated from the microcontroller 60. At this time, the volume range of each audio channel to be adjusted is + 12 ~ -12dB.

The microcontroller 60 is a circuit for controlling all operations performed by the system controller 90, and provides a selection signal to the multiplexer 40, and provides a sound field effect processor 30, an audio signal converter 52, and a trimmer / Control signals are provided to the volume adjusting unit 54, respectively.

The key input unit / LCD 70 having a plurality of command input keys is connected to the microcontroller 60, and performs a function of inputting a command to be performed by the system controller 90. In particular, when the LCD (liquid crystal display) is provided as a display device in the multimedia speaker system 100 according to the present invention, the setting state and the operating state of the speaker system 100 are displayed through the LCD.

3 is a diagram illustrating an example of command input keys provided in the key input unit 70 shown in FIG. 2. The key input unit 70 includes input selection keys 71, sound mode / channel selection keys 72, volume selection keys 73, and volume and power related keys 74. Referring to the function of each command input key shown in Figure 3 and the operation of the multimedia speaker system 100 according to the present invention corresponding to these command input keys as follows.

First, referring to the input selection keys 71, the keys 71 for input selection include an AUX (auxiliary) input key for receiving analog audio signals from an external device such as a PC, and a digital audio signal from the PC via USB. There is a USB input key for receiving, and a noise generating input key (NOISE GEN) for generating internal noise. Depending on the characteristics of the audio signal input to the multimedia speaker system, the AUX input key and the USB input key can be selected and used.When it is necessary to generate internal noise to adjust the speaker level, the noise generating input key (NOISE GEN) is selected. Can be used.

The sound mode / channel selection keys 72 include a plurality of keys for representing a sound field effect such that an audio signal is played at a specific place, and a plurality of keys for selecting each speaker corresponding to each channel of a multichannel audio signal. It is provided. These keys may be individually configured according to the design method of the system, or may be configured by sharing two functions in one button, as shown in FIG. 3. The sound mode / channel selection keys 72 are used as sound mode selection keys for selecting sound field effects when the AUX input key and the USB input key are selected among the input selection keys 71, and a noise generating input key NOISE GEN is selected. In this case, it is used as a channel selection key for selecting a speaker on which speaker level adjustment is to be performed. When the noise generation input key NOISE GEN is selected, white noise is generated at a noise level of -20 dB in the speaker selected by the channel selection key.

The volume selection keys 73 are provided with a plurality of input keys for selecting a channel located at the master, front, rear, and center. Here, the master means volume control performed by the multiplexer 40 when the analog audio signal AUDIO_IN1 or the digital audio signal AUDIO_IN2 is processed by the sound field effect processing unit 30 and then output through the multiplexer 40. do. The front means the volume control for the left and right stereo speakers 3 and 4, the rear the left and right surround speakers 5 and 6, and the center the sub-woofer 1, respectively.

Subsequently, referring to the volume and power related keys 74, a mute key for temporarily stopping the overall sound output from the speaker system, and a volume up key for increasing the volume selected by the volume selection keys 73. volume up key, a volume down key for lowering the volume selected by the volume selection keys 73, and a power switch for turning the system on and off.

In addition, although not shown in the drawing, when playing a video CD or the like through a PC, a video mode selection key for outputting sound suitable for a video environment, and whether to output the output method in 4.1 or 5.1 channels can be selected. A selection key is further provided. The 4.1 channels are the same as the 5.1 channels, except that the 5.1 speaker does not use the center speaker 2. Therefore, in this case, when the 4.1 channel is selected, the center speaker 2 is turned off, and the signal corresponding to the center speaker 2 is properly distributed to the left and right stereo speakers 3 and 4, and when the 5.1 channel is selected, The center speaker 2 is turned on to output a corresponding signal.

As described above, the multimedia speaker system 100 according to the present invention outputs two channels of audio signals output from a PC in a 4.1 channel or 5.1 channel audio string, and the output audio signals are output in a specific place such as a hall or a stadium. It can produce the same sound field effect as that played on the PC, and directly accepts and processes high quality digital audio data transmitted from a PC via the USB bus.

According to the present invention as described above, since the two-channel audio signal output from the PC is converted into a multi-channel audio format, it is possible to implement a three-dimensional sound, such as 4.1 channel or 5.1 channel audio.

According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to give a sound field effect such that the audio signal is played in a specific place, such as a hall, a stadium.

According to the present invention as described above, high-quality digital audio data transmitted from a PC can be directly received and processed without a sound card in the PC.

Claims (12)

A multimedia speaker system for receiving and outputting two channel audio signals as input signals: A plurality of speakers for outputting a multichannel audio signal; And And a signal converting means connected between the speakers and an audio source for outputting the two channel audio signal, for converting the two channel audio signal into a multichannel audio signal and outputting the multichannel audio signal. . The method of claim 1, The two-channel audio signal is a multi-channel multimedia speaker system, characterized in that any one of an analog stereo audio signal and a digital stereo audio signal. The method of claim 1, The audio source is a multi-channel multimedia speaker system, characterized in that the audio signal playback device provided in the personal computer. The method of claim 2, The signal conversion means, First data processing means for receiving the digital audio signal in stereo form from the audio source; Receiving the digital audio stereo audio signal from the first data processing means, processing the sound field effect on the signal, and transmitting the sound field effect processed audio signal to the first data processing means, and from the audio source Second data processing means for receiving the analog audio signal in the analog form and processing a sound field effect on the signal; A multiplexer for selecting and outputting any one of an output signal of the first data processing means and an output signal of the second data processing means; An audio signal converter for converting the output signal of the multiplexer into the multi-channel audio signal; An audio signal output unit for adjusting and outputting a volume of the multi-channel audio signal output from the audio signal converter; A microcontroller connected to the second data processing means, the multiplexer, the audio signal converter, and the audio signal output unit to control various operations performed by the signal converter; And And a key input unit connected to the micro controller and having a plurality of command input keys for inputting a plurality of commands to the micro controller. The method of claim 4, wherein The first data processing means, A USB processor for receiving the digital audio stereo audio signal from the audio source through a universal serial bus (USB) channel and transmitting the audio signal to the second data processing means; And And a digital-to-analog converter for converting the audio signal input from the second data processing means into an analog form. The method of claim 4, wherein The second data processing means, An analog-to-digital converter for receiving the analog audio signal in analog form from the audio source and converting the audio signal into digital form; A sound field effect processing unit for performing the sound field effect processing; And And a digital signal processor having a digital-analog converter for converting the audio signal processed by the sound field effect processor into an analog form. The method of claim 4, wherein The multiplexer, the multi-channel multimedia speaker system, characterized in that for adjusting the volume of the output signal of the multiplexer. The method of claim 4, wherein The audio signal converter, And converting the two channel audio signal into a virtual multichannel audio signal using a circle surround algorithm. The method of claim 4, wherein The audio signal output unit, The multi-channel multimedia speaker system, characterized in that the volume can be adjusted for each channel of the multi-channel audio signal. The method of claim 4, wherein The signal conversion means, And a display device for displaying a setting state and an operating state of the multimedia speaker system. The method of claim 1, And amplifying means for outputting a multichannel audio signal output from said signal converting means. The method of claim 11, And said signal converting means and said amplifying means are connected via a multi-line connector.