This application is a U.S. National Phase Application of PCT International Application PCT/JP2006/311059 filed on Jun. 2, 2006 which is based on and claims priority from JP 2005-166230 filed on Jun. 6, 2005, the contents of which are incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
The present invention relates to audio devices using speaker arrays, and in particular to sound beam control methods in which sound beams having prescribed directivities are generated in response to audio signals and are controlled in directivities.
The present application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-166230 filed on Jun. 6, 2005, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
At present, people living in cities of industrialized countries have enjoyed a variety of life styles and have acted in various time cycles. Accompanied with increasing population, housings have been concentrated in cities in particular; hence, there is a tendency that noise pollution increases not only with respect to inmate family members but with respect to surrounding people. For example, when a viewer watches and listens to an audio-visual device (e.g., a television receiver) so as to generate a relatively large volume of sound in the night, noise pollution occurs which can cause annoyance for other persons other than the viewer. In terms of the protection of privacy of people, it is necessary to reduce the noise pollution.
Until now, a viewer may pay attention to avoid causing noise pollution to the neighboring persons by reducing sound volume; however, when sound volume is simply reduced, there is a disadvantage in that it may be difficult to hear the audio contents (or programs).
When a viewer is at a place distanced from an audio-visual device (e.g., a kitchen distanced from a living room), or when an aged person having poor hearing watches and listens to an audio-visual device, it is necessary to adequately increase the sound volume. However, when a viewer at a surrounding position of the audio-visual device or a viewer having adequate hearing watches and listens to the same contents (or programs) together with the others, there is a problem in that discomfort may occur by the increasing sound volume. In addition, increasing the sound volume may cause noise pollution with respect to inmate family members having no intention to watch and listen to the contents (or programs) and with respect to neighboring persons.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems, local speaker amplifiers arranged in the surrounding areas of specific viewers are put to practical use (see Non-patent document 1). Non-patent document 1: “Mimimoto-kun α mild in ears”, which can be retrieved online via the Internet: URL: http://home.s00.itscom.net/large/CS-30P/.
However, the device disclosed in the Non-patent document 1 is constituted using an amplifier speaker (or an earphone) arranged in the surrounding area of a specific viewer; hence, it is necessary to connect the device with a television receiver via a cable. Thus, the cable and amplifier speaker may cause disturbance and are troublesome to set up.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an audio device and a sound beam control method, which allow all the viewers at a surrounding area of an audio-visual device, viewers distanced from it, and viewers having poor hearing, to listen to the same audio contents with the same sound volume and the same sound quality without arranging another speaker in the surrounding area of a specific viewer.
In a first aspect of the invention, an audio device includes a speaker array aligning a plurality of speaker units, a sound volume control for controlling input audio signals in volume, a main processing section for controlling timings of supplying the audio signals to the speaker units of the speaker array, so that the speaker array outputs at least one sound beam emitted in a prescribed direction, a high-band control for controlling high-frequency components included in the audio signals to be emitted with directivity characteristics distributed in a broad range, thus supplying the audio signals to the speaker array, and a control section for controlling the output level of the high-band control in response to the volume of the audio signals and/or an emission direction of the sound beam.
In a second aspect of the invention, an audio device includes a speaker array aligning a plurality of speaker units, a sound volume control for controlling input audio signals in volume, and an audio signal processing section for performing processing on the audio signals independently with respect to the speaker units so that the speaker array outputs at least one sound beam. Due to delay processing on audio signals in the audio signal processing section, the sound beam reaches a focal position at the prescribed timing; and it applies a window function, by which the sound volume gradually decreases from the center portion to both ends of the speaker array, to audio signals, wherein the weight of window function being applied is controlled in response to the sound volume.
In a third aspect of the invention, there is provided a beam control method adapted to an audio device equipped with a speaker array aligning a plurality of speaker units, wherein input audio signals are controlled in volume; the timings of supplying audio signals to the speaker units are controlled so that the speaker array outputs at least one sound beam emitted in the prescribed direction; and audio signals are supplied to the speaker array at the level suited to the sound volume and/or the direction of the sound beam, thus emitting audio signals with directivity characteristics by which high-frequency components included in audio signals are distributed in a broad range.
In a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided a beam control method adapted to an audio device equipped with a speaker array aligning a plurality of speaker units, wherein input audio signals are controlled in volume; processing is performed on audio signals independently with respect to the speaker units so that the speaker array outputs at least one sound beam; delay control is performed on audio signals so that the sound beam reaches a focal position at the prescribed timing; and a window function, in which the sound volume gradually decreases from the center portion to both ends of the speaker array, is applied to audio signals in such a way that the weight of the window function being applied is controlled in response to the sound volume.
In the present invention, when the user of an audio device listens to the audio contents alone, it is possible to set up it so as to reduce leaked sound. While plural persons listen to the same audio contents, even when a specific person therein is distanced from a speaker array device, or even when a specific person therein is an aged person having poor hearing, it is possible to transmit sound to the specific person with a large sound volume (or a high sound pressure), and it is possible to transmit sound to the other persons with a normal sound volume and a normal sound quality.
(Explanation of Sound Beam)
An audio device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanied drawings. This audio device can be connected to an audio-visual device such as a television receiver, or the audio device can be used independently.
The audio device of the present invention is equipped with a speaker array device.
Sound waves output from speaker units are shifted from each other in phases in other directions (i.e., off-beam directions) other than the main beam direction, so that they cancel each other and are damped, and they are thus reduced in sound pressure.
That is, the sound beam is formed to allow a clear sound having a high sound pressure to be transmitted in the main beam direction while the sound pressure is suppressed in the off-beam direction so as to realize the transmission of a low-level leaked sound only.
Since a focal point is set to the rear side of the speaker array device so as to perform delay control as shown in
When audio signals supplied to plural speaker units included in the speaker array device are adjusted using a window function in volume such that the volume gradually decreases from the center to the both ends of the speaker array device, a high-level main beam is formed in the center of the front face of the speaker array device, while side lobes are reduced smaller in level. This makes it possible to realize the propagation of a low-level leaked sound in the off-beam direction.
Both of
(Explanation of the Audio Device of the Present Embodiment)
The audio device of the present embodiment uses the aforementioned beam characteristics of the speaker array device so as to allow the user to freely set up and release a beam control mode and to set up a focal position (defined by the main beam direction and distance) of a sound beam by use of a remote control. In addition, the audio device performs the following two sound volume controls in the off-beam direction based on the sound volume set up in the beam control mode under the presumption of the user's utilization manner.
(1) First Case
This is the case for controlling the sound volume to be higher than the intermediate sound volume in the beam control mode. It is presumed that plural persons listen to the audio contents by use of the audio device but a specific person therein is positioned at a kitchen and the like distanced from the audio device or but a specific person therein is an aged person having poor hearing, wherein a sound beam is directed to the specific person while the other persons are positioned in the off-beam direction.
The following processing is performed so as to transmit leaked sounds of the normal volume to the other persons existing in the off-beam direction.
This is the case in which the sound volume is controlled to be reduced in the beam control mode. The following processing is performed under the presumption in which a sound beam is set to a single listener in order not to cause trouble to the surrounding others at midnight, for example.
Due to the beam control, audio signals of a low sound volume can reach the listener with a precise clearness. Due to the low sound volume of audio signals, the leaked sound, which occurs due to side lobes or reflection, does not cause discomfort and does not cause trouble to the surrounding others.
The constitution of the audio device realizing the aforementioned beam control will be described with reference to
Audio signals are supplied to an audio signal processing section 12 inside of the audio device 1. The audio signal processing section 12 performs sound volume control on audio signals, and it also performs delay control and sound volume control on the speaker units forming the speaker array device 2.
A control section 10 manages the delay control and sound volume control in the audio signal processing section 12. The audio device 1 is equipped with an infrared remote control 4, wherein the user operates the infrared remote control 4 so as to turn on or off the beam control mode, to set up the focal position (defined by the main beam direction and distance), and to designate the sound volume with respect to the control section 10.
The main processing section performs prescribed processing on audio signals, wherein it includes a beam processing section 22. The beam processing section 22 controls the speaker array device 2 to generate sound beams based on audio signals; alternatively, it controls the timings and volumes of audio signals supplied to the speaker units so as to output sound with non-directivity. For this reason, the beam processing section 22 includes a delay processor and a gain controller independently in correspondence with each of the speaker units. Since the beam processing section 22 controls delay times of audio signals supplied to the speaker units, the speaker array device 2 outputs sound beams towards the focal position P as shown in
As described above, audio signals, which are controlled in timing and volume with respect to each of the speaker units, are supplied to each of the speaker units forming the speaker array device 2 via an adder 23 and a power amplifier 24, which are installed in each of the speaker units.
The high-band control section is used to apply high-frequency components in the off-beam direction, wherein it includes a high-pass filter 25, a sound volume controller 26, and a beam processing section 27. The high-pass filter 25 is an active filter that allows the cutoff frequency and the Q factor representing the cutoff steepness to be changed by means of the control section 10, wherein it is set up in response to the beam angle and sound volume. The sound volume controller 26 controls the sound volume of high-frequency audio signals extracted by the high-pass filter 25. The beam processing section 27 has the same constitution as the beam processing section 22 included in the main processing section, wherein it performs delay control and sound volume control (realizing the window function) on high-frequency components, which are controlled in volume, with respect to each of the speaker units, thus supplying the output signals thereof to the adder 23. The adder 23 adds the output signal of the main processing section and the output signal of the high-frequency control section with respect to each of the speaker units.
Incidentally, the high-frequency control section is controlled by the control section 10 in such a way that it operates upon the setup of an intermediate sound volume or more by means of the main volume 21.
As described above, the high-frequency control section outputs audio signals with the directivity characteristics realizing a broad range distribution of high-frequency components or with non-directivity in the off-beam direction. When the speaker array device 2 outputs audio signals with broad-range directivity or non-directivity, the beam processing section 27 is set up to realize the beam distributions shown in
(Explanation of Addition of High-Frequency Components and Window Function Control)
When the sound volume is low, high-frequency components are not added to the sound beam emitted from the speaker array device 2. This is because it is presumed that, in the case of low volume, the user of the audio device 1 enjoys the audio contents alone without causing trouble to the surrounding others, wherein it is unnecessary to output audio signals in any directions other than the main beam direction.
In the case of intermediate volume or more, it is presumed that plural persons listen to the same audio contents, and a specific person therein should listen to the sound with a relatively high volume. In this case, it is necessary to set a sound beam to the specific person and to have the other persons listen to the leaked sound emitted in the off-beam direction. Therefore, high-frequency components are added in the off-beam direction so as to emphasize high-frequency components of the leaked sound, thus generating sound having flat characteristics.
In the aforementioned case, when the sound volume is increased, low-frequency components are emphasized, while high-frequency components are weakened. To compensate for it, the amount of high-frequency components being added is increased as shown by the graph of
When the beam angle is increased, high-frequency components may be extremely damped in the place deviated from the main beam direction; hence, in the case of the large beam angle compared with the case of the small beam angle, the amount of high-frequency components being added is increased.
In the case of the low sound volume and the small beam angle, the weight of the window function being applied is increased (see a in
The present embodiment uses both of the addition control of high-frequency components and the side lobe control using the window function, although it is possible to perform one of them.
The present embodiment automatically sets up the amount of high-frequency components being added and the weight of the window function being added on the basis of the sound volume set to the main volume 21, although it is possible for the user of the audio device to set up the amount of high-frequency components being added and the weight of the window function being added.
In addition, it is possible to control the cutoff frequency of the high-pass filter 25 and the Q factor in response to the sound volume set to the main volume 21 and the beam angle set to the beam processing section 22 of the main processing section.
Since the beam characteristics depend upon the frequencies of audio signals as shown in
The present invention provides an audio device, which performs beam control using an array speaker device, which can be connected to the existing audio-visual device, which can realize listening control on the audio contents with ease, and which can be applied to various audio-visual systems.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2005-166230 | Jun 2005 | JP | national |
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PCT/JP2006/311059 | 6/2/2006 | WO | 00 | 11/29/2007 |
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WO2006/132136 | 12/14/2006 | WO | A |
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