The present invention relates to audio reproduction apparatus for reproducing a multi-channel audio signal by using an array speaker.
As apparatus for reproducing a multi-channel audio signal, a real multi-speaker system where a plurality of (for example six) speakers are installed has been in practical use.
In recent years, apparatus has been proposed to reproduce multi-channel audio by outputting an audio signal as beams by using a single array speaker (for example, refer to JP-T-2003-510924). The apparatus described in JP-T-2003-510924 inputs the same audio signal into the speaker units at the same time or with slightly shifted timings to output the audio signal in a beam shape based on the principle of superposition. That is, as shown in
By taking advantage of this property of the array speaker, an audio signal of each channel is output as beams in separate directions for example as shown in
In the example of
Multi-channel contents include movies of various genres and concert video films, the user may desire different spread of a sound image depending on the type of content. For example, in the case of a large-scale movie, the sound image is preferably enhanced to surround a listener. In the case of a concert or a drama involving numerous lines, the sound image is preferably centered for a listener to hear the sound directly from the front.
According to a related real multi-speaker system, speaker units are installed in predetermined positions and modification to a sound image is made using a decider or via post-processing.
A system using an array speaker is capable of forming virtual speakers on the walls of a room by way of beam control. The virtual speakers, when their parameters are changed, provide simply an effect corresponding to change in the speaker positions that is difficult in a real speaker configuration. This characteristic can be used as a variable function of a sound image inherent to an array speaker. To provide this function, it is necessary to make beam control of beam setting of each channel to its sound image (reproduction form) with unusual parameters. To this end, it is necessary to provide different parameters for respective reproduction forms. Calculating the parameters required each time the reproduction form is changed takes a longer processing time. In case the parameters for all reproduction forms at initial setting increases the data amount to be stored and managed.
An object of the invention is to provide audio reproduction apparatus capable of changing the beam setting with a simple configuration in the reproduction of a multi-channel audio signal by way of audio beams using an array speaker.
The invention provides audio reproduction apparatus comprising: an array speaker including a plurality of speaker units in a matrix or line arrangement; a directivity control controller that controls the directivity of an audio signal of each channel in art independent direction of each other based on the directivity control data set to each channel; a directivity control data storage that stores the directivity control data for each channel; a pattern storage that stores a basic pattern of assigning the directivity control data for each channel to a corresponding channel and a deformed pattern of assigning directivity control data for different channels to some or all of the channels; a pattern selector that selects the basic pattern or deformed pattern; and a controller that sets directivity control data to the directivity controller based on the pattern selected by the pattern selector.
The invention provides a directivity control method for audio reproduction apparatus comprising: an array speaker including a plurality of speaker units in a matrix or line arrangement; and a directivity controller for storing center channel directivity control data for controlling the directivity of an audio signal so as to cause the audio signal to be output toward a listening position, front channel directivity control data for controlling the directivity of an audio signal so as to cause the audio signal to be reflected on a left side wall or a right side wall and reach the listening position, and surround channel directivity control data for controlling the directivity of an audio signal so as to cause the audio signal to be reflected on a left side wall or a right side wall and a rear wall and reach the listening position and independently controlling the directivity of each of the multi-channel audio signals and inputting the audio signals to an array speaker, characterized in that
the method controls the directivity of a center channel audio signal by using the center channel directivity control data, controls the directivity of a front channel audio signal by using the center channel directivity control data or a preset fixed value, and controls the directivity of a surround channel audio signal by using the front channel directivity control data.
The invention provides a directivity control method for audio reproduction apparatus comprising an array speaker including a plurality of speaker units in a matrix or line arrangement; and a directivity controller for storing center channel directivity control data for controlling the directivity of an audio signal so as to cause the audio signal to be output toward a listening position, front channel directivity control data for controlling the directivity of an audio signal so as to cause the audio signal to be reflected on a left side wall or a right side wall and reach the listening position, and surround channel directivity control data for controlling the directivity of an audio signal so as to cause the audio signal to be reflected on a left side wall or a right side wall and a rear wall and reach the listening position, and independently controlling the directivity of each of the multi-channel audio signals and inputting the audio signals to an array speaker, characterized in that
the method controls the directivity of a center channel audio signal by using the center channel directivity control data, controls the directivity of a front channel audio signal by using the front channel directivity control data, and controls the directivity of a surround channel audio signal by using the front channel directivity control data.
The invention provides a directivity control method for audio reproduction apparatus comprising: an array speaker including a plurality of speaker units in a matrix or line arrangement; and a directivity controller for storing center channel directivity control data for controlling the directivity of an audio signal so as to cause the audio signal to be output toward a listening position, front channel directivity control data for controlling the directivity of an audio signal so as to cause the audio signal to be reflected on a left side wall or a right side wall and reach the listening position, and surround channel directivity control data for controlling the directivity of an audio signal so as to cause the audio signal to be reflected on a left side wall or a right side wall and a rear wall and reach the listening position, and independently controlling the directivity of each of the multi-channel audio signals and inputting the studio signals to an array speaker, characterized in that the method controls the directivity of a center channel audio signal by using the center channel directivity control data, controls the directivity of a front channel audio signal and a surround channel audio signal by using the center channel directivity control data or a preset fixed value.
the invention provides a directivity control method for audio reproduction apparatus comprising: an array speaker including a plurality of speaker units in a matrix or line arrangement; and a directivity controller for storing center channel directivity control data for controlling the directivity of an audio signal so as to cause the audio signal to be output toward a listening position, front channel directivity control data for controlling the directivity of an audio signal so as to cause the audio signal to be reflected on a left side wall or a right side wall and reach the listening position, and surround channel directivity control data for controlling the directivity of an audio signal so as to cause the audio signal to be reflected on a left side wall or a right side wall and a rear wall and reach the listening position, and independently controlling the directivity of each of the multi-channel audio signals and inputting the audio signals to an array speaker, characterized in that
the method mixes down the directivity of a center channel audio signal and a surround channel audio signal to 2-channel audio signals of the front channel and controls the directivity of the mixed-down audio signals by using the center channel directivity control data or a preset fixed value.
According to the invention, it is possible to control the directivity to reproduce multi-channel audio signals. In the normal node, for examples basic directivity control pattern that the front left and right channels (or audio signals thereof) are reflected once on the left and right walls and reach the listener, the surround left and right channels are reflected on the left and right walls and the rear wall and reach the listener and the center channel directly reaches the listener is used to output multi-channel audio signals.
By changing the directivity pattern from the basic pattern, it is possible to change the localization of each channel to change the spread of the sound image. For example, it is possible to control the front left and right channels by using the directivity cool data of the center channel and control the surround left and right channels by using the directivity control data of the front left and right channel. With this approach, it is possible to control the directivity to a different pattern by using the directivity control data of the basic pattern without calculating or storing new directivity control data.
The directivity control pattern (beam setting pattern) corresponds to the speaker locations in a real multi-speaker system. The directivity control pattern can be changed by simply changing the directivity control data to be set to each channel. Thus, the user has only to change the setting to content to be reproduced or a reproduction environment in order to obtain the effect of changing the speaker locations in a real time. For example, a plurality of directivity control patterns may be previously stored in a table and allowing selection of a setting pattern by using buttons on a remote control makes it easier for the user to change setting.
According to the invention, a set of basic directivity control data is used for other channels to create a plurality of directivity control patterns and each of the patterns is made selectable as a reproduction mode. The user thus need not create a desired mode thereby facilitating the setting procedure. The data to be stored and managed is minimized so that the storage area and data processing load are reduced and the system design process is simplified.
The multi-channel audio system as an embodiment of the invention will be described referring to drawings. This audio system outputs the audio signal of each channel of 5-channel audio signals in beams by using a single array speaker thus performing surround reproduction of sound without installing a five-speaker systems. As patterns of directivity control (beam setting) of each channel, a single basic pattern (5-channel A: refer to
The array speaker shown in
In such an array speaker, by outputting the same audio signal from each speaker unit and adjusting the output timing for each speaker unit so that the audio signals will reach a predetermined point (focus) in a space at the same time, it is possible to output audio signals in the shape of beams having a directivity in the direction of the focus byway of the principle of superposing.
Timing control of an audio signal of each channel of the multi-channel audio signals is made and the audio signal is input to the array speaker so that the signal will be beamed in a different direction. In this practice, the audio signals of the channels are input in a superposing fashion. The audio signals of the channels are blamed and propagated in separate directions without being overlaid one on another and impinge from separate directions with respect to the listener.
Control of the beam direction requires parameters (beam control data) such as tap data (delay data) used to control the output timing to each speaker unit based on a path length (focal length) and a focus direction (beam angle) a gain correction value used to set a gain to be input to a gain multiplier for compensating for attenuation caused by reflections, and equalization data used to set an equalizer for compensating for variations in sound quality caused by the beam angle or material of reflective walls. Beam control data for each channel shown in
The beam setting pattern shown in
This multi-channel audio system is capable of reproducing the audio signal of each channel in one of the deformed beam setting patterns shown in
The beam setting patterns shown in
In the pattern table shown in
Mode 2 is a 5-channel B pattern shown in
This deformed pattern is preferred in case rear reflection is unavailable such as when a rear wall is not provided, in case the front channel is spread excessively in the standard pattern, or in case sound such as music content from the rear is unnatural.
Mode 3 is a 3-channel A pattern shown in
Mode 4 is a 3-channel B pattern shown in
Mode 5 is a 2-channel pattern shown in
Selection of a mode (beam setting pattern) is not limited to the foregoing preferred conditions but at the discretion of the user irrespective of the target content or use environment.
The circuit 2 includes a controller 10, a pattern memory 11, a decoder 13, a signal processor 14, an amplifier 16, and a user interface 17.
The decoder 13 that is connected to a digital audio input terminal 12 decodes a digital audio data input from the digital audio input terminal 12 to multi-channel audio signals. In this embodiment, the resulting signals are 5-channel audio signals. The 5-channel audio signals obtained by decoding (center C, front left FL, front right FR, surround left SL and surround right SR) are input to the signal processor 14. Depending on the reproduction mode, audio signals the center C, surround left SL and surround right SR are mixed down to the front left FL and the front right FR and output.
The signal processor 14 includes signal processors 14FL, 14FR, 14SL, 14SR, 14C separately provided for audio channels and adders 24 for speaker units. Each signal processor is composed of an adjuster (ADJ) 22 and a directivity controller (Dirc) 23. The signal processor is composed of a DSP and its functional parts are composed of micro-programs.
The adjuster 22 is a functional part for compensating for variations in the sound volume and sound quality attributable to the path length of separate beans and number of reflections of the audio signal of each channel output from the decoder 13. The adjuster 22 includes a gain factor multiplier, an equalizer and a delay part. The gain factor multiplier multiplies an audio signal by a gain factor in order to compensate for attenuation caused by the distance traveled by beams to reach the listener and the number of reflections. The equalizer adjusts the gain per frequency band in order to compensate for high-range attenuation caused by the frequency response of the speaker unit of the array speaker 1 and reflections on walls. The delay part is a functional part for delaying beams depending on the distance separate beams (including direct sound) travel until they reach the listener in order to compensate for differences in the time of arrival at the listener caused by differences in the beam path length.
The directivity controller 23 is a functional part for controlling the timing with which an audio signal is output to each speaker unit as beams directed to a predetermined focus. This functional part is implemented for example by providing a shift register with output taps for respective speaker units,
The audio signals destined to the speaker units output from the directivity controller 23 are synthesized for each speaker unit and converted to an analog signal in a D/A converter 15, then input to the a power amplifier 15. The power amplifier 16 amplifies the audio signal and inputs the resulting signal to each speaker unit of the array speaker 1. Each speaker unit radiates this audio signal as aerial vibration.
The controller 10 controls the signal processor 14 based on the beam control data stored in the memory 11 and the pattern table (refer to
The controller 10 reads the beam setting pattern of a reproduction mode corresponding to the reproduction mode instructed by the user (listener) via the user interface 17 and determines the beam control data to set to the signal processor of each channel.
The controller 10 reads the beam control data from the memory 11 and sets the adjuster 22 and the directivity controller 23 to predetermined functions by using the beam control data. To be more precise, the controller 10 set predetermined parameters to the gain factor multiplier, equalizer and delay part of the adjuster 22 as well as sets an output tap suited for the beam direction and focal length to the directivity controller 23.
The user interface 17 includes an infrared remote control unit equipped with button switches (reproduction mode selector buttons) for selecting the reproduction modes. When the user presses any of the reproduction mode selector buttons, the operation information is transmitted to the controller, which immediately switches between beam setting patterns even while content is being reproduced.
While the beam control data of one channel is set to the signal processor of the other channel in case audio signals of plural channels are reproduced with the same beam setting (for example, refer to the front left channel FL and the surround left channel SL in Mode 3 shown in
In case it is possible to acquire the type and genre of a reproduced content, a corresponding reproduction mode may be automatically selected.
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