KR20130076495A

KR20130076495A - Directional speaker apparatus capable of visually indicating acoustic space

Info

Publication number: KR20130076495A
Application number: KR1020110145104A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 김중현
Original assignee: 김중현
Priority date: 2011-12-28
Filing date: 2011-12-28
Publication date: 2013-07-08

Abstract

The directional speaker device according to the present invention includes a directional speaker array and a plurality of speaker units arranged on a substrate which are driven such that the plurality of speaker units arranged on the substrate can emit sound in an acoustic space defined by a predetermined limited directing angle. And a light emitting array disposed outside the area to emit guide light, wherein the guide light may have a diffusion angle such that the listener can visually recognize a change in the guide light at the boundary of the acoustic space.

Description

Directional speaker to visually recognize acoustic space {DIRECTIONAL SPEAKER APPARATUS CAPABLE OF VISUALLY INDICATING ACOUSTIC SPACE}

The present invention relates to a speaker device, and more particularly, to a directional speaker device.

Typically, the sound generated by a sound device, including a speaker is diffused with a wide range angle, and is absorbed or reflected by objects or walls in the space to have a variety of tones and reverberations. This is because the sound apparatus has generally been developed to reproduce natural sound or realistic sense of real space.

However, in some applications, for example, it is necessary to deliver clear hearing information to a specific person in an environment where there is a lot of reverberation or a lot of sound sources nearby, or a few hundred meters away, which is impossible with a normal speaker. For example, directional speakers and superdirectional speakers that transmit sound only in a specific direction have been required.

Three types of directional speakers have been proposed. First, the speaker is placed at the focus of the parabolic reflector and the sound is radiated. Next, a plurality of loudspeakers are arranged in an array, and a phoneme array Finally, an ultrasound beam modulated with a sound wave to be reproduced is applied to a carrier wave of an ultrasonic wave band at a specific position so that a baseband sound wave in an audible frequency to be reproduced is heard at that position, and a sound wave of an ultrasonic band is not heard at other positions There is an ultrasonic modulation method.

The parabolic method is bulky and low in performance but inexpensive. The phased array method can emit a large sound, but the linearity is somewhat deteriorated and it can be heard in an undesired direction. The ultrasonic modulation method is excellent in straightness, It is difficult to pay. Each method has advantages and disadvantages, and can be used for long-distance warning broadcasting in a sea or open space, or for sound transmission in a limited space.

However, in the case of transmitting auditory information through the directional speaker, the listener will not be able to easily recognize the presence of the directional speaker because the listener does not hear the sound from the directional speaker in a state that is out of the acoustic direction angle. Even if we know the sound directing angle is not exactly known. Thus, unless the listener inadvertently falls within the acoustic orientation angle or the listener deliberately shifts the position where the listener is intentionally expected to be the acoustic orientation angle, the information communicator has an opportunity to convey the auditory information to the listener through the directional speaker. You may not even get it.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a directional speaker device that can visually recognize the orientation angle of the directional speaker.

Directional speaker device according to an aspect of the present invention

A directional speaker array driven such that a plurality of speaker units arranged on the substrate are capable of emitting sound in an acoustic space defined by a predetermined limited directing angle; And

A light emitting array that emits guide light from at least one light emitting unit disposed adjacent to an area in which the plurality of speaker units are arranged;

The guide light may have a diffusion angle such that a listener can visually recognize a change in brightness of the guide light at the boundary of the acoustic space.

According to one embodiment, the light emitting array,

Each of the guide light emitted by each light emitting unit, or the guide light superimposed by the light emission of one or more light emitting units may be configured to have the diffusion angle.

According to an embodiment, the light emitting array may further include at least one visual information unit, and the visual information unit may emit light to visually induce an interest of a listener outside the acoustic space.

According to an embodiment, the visual information unit may emit light at a diffusion angle coinciding with the guide light.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the directional speaker device may further include a controller configured to generate an acoustic signal capable of driving the speaker units.

According to an embodiment, the controller may be operable to generate an emission control signal for driving emission of the emission array.

According to an embodiment, the directional speaker device may further include sensing means for determining whether the listener enters or exits the sound space.

Directional speaker device according to another embodiment of the present invention,

A directional speaker array driven to emit sound in a predetermined limited acoustic space; And

It may include at least one light emitting unit for emitting light to visually recognize the boundary of the acoustic space.

According to the directional speaker device of the present invention, it is easily visible to potential listeners who are far from the directional speaker, so that the listener can recognize the directional speaker and the orientation angle easily.

Further, according to the directional speaker device of the present invention, the engineer who installs the directional speaker device can easily grasp the range in which the sound of the directional speaker is heard during the installation work of the directional speaker.

Further, according to the directional speaker device of the present invention, the listener can recognize that the listener enters or leaves within the directional angle of the directional speaker so that the directional speaker can operate only while the listener is within the directional angle.

1 is a view conceptually illustrating the appearance of a directional speaker device capable of visually recognizing a directing angle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a directional speaker device capable of visually recognizing a directing angle according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating visually recognizing a directing angle to a listener using a directional speaker device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating providing auditory information only for a listener when the listener is in a sound space using the directional speaker device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

For the embodiments of the invention disclosed herein, specific structural and functional descriptions are set forth for the purpose of describing an embodiment of the invention only, and it is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention may be practiced in various forms, The present invention should not be construed as limited to the embodiments described in Figs.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The same reference numerals are used for the same constituent elements in the drawings and redundant explanations for the same constituent elements are omitted.

In the specification of the present invention, the acoustic space can be described as a space in which the sound of the directional speaker substantially sounds, and the directivity angle can be described as a measure of the direction in which the sound energy emitted from the directional speaker toward the acoustic space is concentrated .

1 is a view conceptually illustrating the appearance of a directional speaker device capable of visually recognizing a directing angle according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a directional speaker device of the present invention. .

1 and 2 together, the directional speaker device 10 includes a substrate 11, a directional speaker array 12 including a plurality of speaker units 121, and a plurality of light emitting units 131. The light emitting array 13 may include a case 14 and a controller 15.

According to an embodiment, the directional speaker device 10 may further comprise a cable 16 and a sensing means 17.

The substrate 11 may be implemented as a conventional printed substrate, and a plurality of speaker units 121 and a plurality of light emitting units 131 may be mounted on the substrate 11. According to the embodiment, the speaker units 121 and the light emitting unit 131 may be mounted on a separate substrate 11, respectively.

The directional speaker array 12 may include a plurality of speaker units 121 and may be driven to emit sound into an acoustic space whose boundaries can be defined at a predetermined limited directional angle. The acoustic space can be described as a space where the sound of the directional speaker is heard substantially.

Each of the speaker units 121 may be a speaker that provides directivity using a parabolic reflector according to an embodiment, may radiate sound having directivity according to a beam forming technique using an appropriate phase delay, The sound waves having directivity may be emitted according to an ultrasonic modulation technique in which a plurality of acoustic signal waveforms of a plurality of acoustic signal waveforms converge at a specific position so that a signal of an audible frequency band appears.

The driving of the speaker units 121 may be performed by the controller 15.

Speaker units 121 may be mounted on the substrate 11 in accordance with the conditions required to operate as a directional speaker, such as the volume or directional angle, the width of the acoustic space, or according to an aesthetic sense, Dimensional or two-dimensional manner.

For example, the speaker units 121 may be arranged in a sphere-densified structure, that is, in such a manner that the speaker units are arranged at the vertexes of the hexagons closely packed like a honeycomb. Or the speaker units 121 may be arranged in such a manner that the speaker units are arranged for each vertex of the dense squares.

The overall shape of the directional speaker array 12 may have a shape similar to a one-dimensional geometric shape such as a circle, a rectangle, a rhombus, a hexagon, etc. However, depending on the application, a general shape such as a heart or a traffic sign, It can also have a shape like this.

The light emitting array 13 may include at least one light emitting unit 131 on the substrate 11. The light emitting units 131 may be disposed adjacent to an area where the plurality of speaker units 121 are arranged on the substrate 11, for example, along an outer edge thereof to emit guide light.

At this time, the guide light emitted by each of the light emitting units 131 or the guide light superimposed by the light emission of the plurality of light emitting units 131 may allow a listener to visually recognize a change in brightness of the guide light at the boundary of the acoustic space. It can have a sufficient diffusion angle.

By the change in the brightness of the guide light, the listener or the engineer can visually recognize the boundary of the acoustic space provided by the directional speaker array 12, that is, the directional angle.

Preferably, the light emitting units 131 are disposed along the area of the directional speaker array 12 on which the plurality of speaker units 121 are mounted on the substrate 11, that is, the directional speaker array 12. The visible light may be emitted in parallel with the directing angle of the directional speaker array 12 so that a listener entering the acoustic space may be visually recognized.

The light emitting units 131 of the light emitting array 13 may have a brightness that is high enough to substantially serve as lighting, but may emit light that is low enough for a listener or an engineer to visually recognize the presence. It may be.

Further, each of the light emitting units 131 emits diffuse light and superimposes the emitted light, so that a listener or an engineer can recognize such a softly overlapped light, that is, a region where guide light is recognized as an acoustic space, or It may be designed to visually recognize as the boundary of the acoustic space.

For example, the light emitting units 131 may be implemented as an LED lamp, a round diffuser, and a light collecting means and disposed in the periphery of the directional speaker array 12. The strong light of the LED lamp can be illuminated through the diffusion plate and the light condensing means and spreading smoothly with a predetermined diffusion angle. In this case, the guide light can illuminate brightly covering the entire acoustic space.

According to an embodiment, the light emitting units 131 emit light having straightness and non-diffusion, respectively, and the emitted light goes straight and is strongly reflected at the wall or floor, whereby the listener or engineer is recognized as such strongly reflected light. The region may be designed to visually perceive as an acoustic space or as a boundary of the acoustic space.

For example, six light emitting units 131 embodied as a lamp and a reflector molded in the form of an arc of about 60 degrees can be arranged around the directional speaker array 12. [ In this case, the acoustic space of the directional speaker array 12 can be visually perceived by bright circles made by the light of the light-emitting units 131. In this case, the guide light may particularly brightly illuminate the boundary of the acoustic space.

The light emitting array 13 may further include a time information unit 132 for displaying time information as well as a light emitting unit 131 for displaying a directional angle. At this time, the time information unit 132 may be implemented as a separate element from the light emitting unit 131, but a part of the light emitting units 131 may be operated for display of time information.

The visual information unit 132 may display simple visual information that may induce an interest of a listener outside the acoustic space according to the emission control signal. For example, the visual information unit 132 may emit an arrow light by blinking or moving like a moving light to attract a passerby's attention, or an arrow reflected by the reflected light when the emitted light is reflected on a wall or floor. It may emit light such that a specific image such as a speaker shape, an ear shape, or the like may be recognized.

The case 14 includes a substrate 11, a directional speaker array 12, a light emitting array 13, or a control unit 15, and can withstand a predetermined weight depending on the operating environment, waterproof, heat dissipation, or the like. It may be implemented in a structure that can provide more functionality.

According to an embodiment, instead of the control unit 15 installed in the case 14, the control unit 15 ′ is mounted in a separate case 14 ′ outside the case 14 and is represented by a cable 16. It may be electromagnetically connected to the substrate 11 via a communication means.

The controller 15 may generate an acoustic signal to be emitted acoustically by the directional speaker array 12 from the acoustic signal generator 151 through a predetermined directional acoustic generation algorithm such as a phase delay algorithm or an ultrasonic modulation algorithm. Can be.

Furthermore, for this purpose, the controller 15 may further include a media reading means 152 that receives sound source data including a sound signal that the user wants to emit. For example, the controller 15 may receive sound source data through a disk device or a flash memory reader.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the controller 15 may also generate a light emission control signal that the light emitting array 13 will visually emit.

In this case, the controller 15 may generate the light emission control signal according to the directivity angle of the acoustic signal to be emitted by the directional speaker array 12, and the light emission array 13 may emit light units 131 according to the light emission control signal. By varying the color and brightness of the light emitted by the), it is possible to vary the diffusion angle of the light corresponding to the direction of the acoustic signal.

For example, a plurality of light-emitting units 131 are arranged in a plurality of layers around the directional speaker array 12 so as to operate corresponding to a plurality of directing angles, and the directivity angle of the directive speaker array 12 and the light- The diffusion angle of light provided by the light emitting array 13 can be varied by selectively driving the light emitting units 131 corresponding to the respective steps.

In addition, the controller 15 may change the light emission form of the light emitting units 131 or the time information units 132 according to the light emission control signal to express predetermined time information.

The cable 16 is a means for supplying control signals and power from the control unit 15 to the directional speaker array 12 and the light emitting array 13. Notwithstanding the name cable 16, the cable 16 may represent an interface means for wirelessly transmitting control signals.

The sensing means 17 can detect that a person enters or leaves the acoustic space of the directional speaker array 12. [ The sensing means 17 may be, for example, an infrared or ultrasonic proximity sensor, or a Doppler proximity sensor. In another example, the sensing means 17 may be implemented using a mechanical switch installed on the floor where a person passes.

In this case, the controller 15 may be designed to drive the directional speaker array 12 to emit a sound signal as long as a person does not enter and leave the acoustic space of the directional speaker array 12.

3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating visually recognizing a directing angle to a listener using a directional speaker device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the directional speaker device 10 emits an acoustic signal at a predetermined direction angle A toward an acoustic space adjacent to a wall from left to right, and furthermore substantially conforms to such a direction angle A. FIG. The guide light is emitted at a diffusing angle A '. For example, the diffusion angle A ', which substantially conforms to the orientation angle A, may be substantially the same as the orientation angle A, or somewhat greater than the orientation angle A, to encompass the orientation angle A. FIG. .

A listener approaching this area, attracted by a region that is noticeably distinguished by the guide light, may recognize that an acoustic signal is heard as it enters the area. Particularly, if a speaker or ear-shaped visual information displayed by the visual information unit 132 is illuminated together with the area illuminated by the guide light, a person who has no knowledge of the existence of such a directional speaker can hear You will understand that you will have an interesting experience.

Also, even if there is no wall to reflect the guide light, the listener entering the diffusion angle A 'to which the guide light is irradiated will easily recognize the presence of the guide light and the direction of the light source, so that the presence of the directional speaker device 10 will be immediately recognized. Able to know.

At this time, the diffusion angle A 'may be designated somewhat wider than the directivity angle A, depending on how early the approaching listener is to know the presence of the acoustic space.

However, the diffusion angle A 'may not be strictly specified. For example, the brightness of the guide light may be gradually brightened and then darkened while the listener passes through the boundary of the directivity angle A. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating providing auditory information only for a corresponding listener when the listener is within a directivity angle using the directional speaker device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the first listener P1 is outside the directivity angle A, the second listener P2 is within the directivity angle A and the diffusion angle A ′, and the third listener P3 is outside the orientation angle A but within the diffusion angle A '.

The directional speaker device 10 emits an acoustic signal so that it can be heard within the direction angle A, and only the second listener P2 can clearly hear the acoustic signal.

The first listener P1 can see the reflection of the guide light on the wall or the floor and grasp the range of the acoustic space from a distance, but cannot hear the sound signal. The first listener P1 may bypass the acoustic space if it is not interested.

The third listener P3 can see that the guide light is close to the acoustic space, but is not close enough to hear the sound signal clearly.

Meanwhile, the sensing means 17 of the directional speaker device 10 may detect that the listener P1 enters or leaves the acoustic space represented by the directional angle A.

The sensing means 17 detects the listener P1 entering the acoustic space from outside the acoustic space. While the listener P1 is outside the acoustic space, the controller 15 of the directional speaker device 10 continues to drive the light emitting array 13 and stops driving of the directional speaker array 12.

If the sensing means 17 determines that the listener P1 has entered the acoustic space (the position of the listener P2), the control unit 15 of the directional speaker device 10 generates an acoustic signal while generating an acoustic signal. ) Is started.

If the sensing means 17 determines that the listener P1 is out of the acoustic space (the position of the listener P4), the control unit 15 of the directional speaker device 10 continues to drive the light emitting array 13. The drive of the directional speaker array 12 is stopped.

As described above, although the present invention has been described by way of limited embodiments and drawings, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, which can be variously modified and modified by those skilled in the art. Modifications are possible. Accordingly, the spirit of the present invention should be understood only in accordance with the following claims, and all of the equivalent or equivalent variations will fall within the scope of the present invention.

10 directional speaker unit 11 board
12 directional speaker array 121 speaker units
13 Light emitting array 131 Light emitting unit
14 cases of 132 visual information units
15 control 16 cable
17 sensing means

Claims

A directional speaker array driven such that a plurality of speaker units arranged on the substrate are capable of emitting sound in an acoustic space defined by a predetermined limited directing angle; And
A light emitting array that emits guide light from at least one light emitting unit disposed adjacent to an area in which the plurality of speaker units are arranged;
And the guide light has a diffusion angle such that a listener can visually recognize a change in brightness of the guide light at a boundary of the acoustic space.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting array,
And each of the guide light emitted by each light emitting unit or the guide light superimposed by the light emission of one or more light emitting units has the diffusion angle.

The directional speaker device according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting array further comprises at least one visual information unit, wherein the visual information unit emits light to visually induce an interest of a listener outside the acoustic space. .

The directional speaker device according to claim 3, wherein the visual information unit emits light at a diffusion angle coinciding with the guide light.

The directional speaker device according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit for generating an acoustic signal capable of driving the speaker units.

The directional speaker device according to claim 5, wherein the control unit is operative to generate an emission control signal for driving emission of the emission array.

The directional speaker device according to claim 1, further comprising sensing means for determining whether the listener enters or exits the acoustic space.

A directional speaker array driven to emit sound in a predetermined limited acoustic space; And
And at least one light emitting unit emitting light to visually recognize the boundary of the acoustic space.