KR20000014636A - Apparatus and method for adjusting a volume and balance level automatically - Google Patents

Abstract

end. FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an A / V (Audio / Visual) system including an audio system.

I. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for automatically adjusting the volume and balance level of an audio signal being output according to a listening position of an audio system or an A / V system user.

All. Summary of the Invention The present invention provides a device for automatically adjusting the volume and balance level of an A / V (Audio / Visual) system, comprising: a sensor unit for measuring and outputting a reception time of radio waves emitted from a transmitter; A calculation unit which outputs the current position data of the listener by arithmetic processing the reception time of the radio wave, and receives and stores the initial position data of the listener and the volume and balance level values according to the initial position, and the listener's current position input from the calculating unit. A control unit for outputting an adjustment signal for amplifying or attenuating the volume and balance level according to the initial position by an increment between the data and the initial position data; and an audio signal output through the audio signal processor according to the control signal output from the control unit. It consists of volume control and balance control unit which amplify or attenuate and output through speaker. It is characterized by.

la. Important uses of the invention: can be used in audio systems.

Description

Volume and balance level automatic adjustment device and method

The present invention relates to an A / V (Audio / Visual) system for reproducing an audio signal, and more particularly, to automatically adjust the volume and the left / right balance level of an audio signal being output by detecting a listener's listening position. An apparatus and method are provided.

Audio systems or A / V systems are home appliances that are common in everyday life. Audio systems and A / V systems generally have a remote controller that can select and adjust arbitrary functions remotely. Therefore, the user listens to the airwaves or the audio signal stored on the recording medium surface with a predetermined level of audible sound by manually operating the volume or left / right balance control lever provided in the set, or by operating the remote controller. However, the current audio system or A / V system does not have a function to adjust the volume and balance level according to the spatial position of the listener. Therefore, if the user moves the space while listening to the audio signal at the optimum level, the user must accept the attenuation effect of the listening volume level due to the influence of the obstacles caused by the space movement.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for automatically adjusting the volume and balance level of an audio signal being output according to the listening position of an audio system or A / V system user.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a method for adjusting the volume and the left / right balance level of an audio signal being output in conjunction with a listener's listening position.

In the present invention for achieving the above object in the volume and balance level automatic adjustment device of the A / V (Audio / Visual) system,

A sensor unit for measuring and outputting a reception time of radio waves emitted from a transmitter,

An arithmetic unit which calculates a reception time of radio waves output from the sensor unit and outputs current position data of a listener;

Receives and stores the listener's initial position data and the volume and balance level values according to the initial position, and amplifies or attenuates the volume and balance level of the audio signal by an incremental or decrement between the listener's current position data and the initial position data. A control unit for outputting an adjustment signal for causing

And a volume adjusting and balance adjusting unit for amplifying or attenuating the audio signal reproduced and output through the audio signal processing unit and outputting the audio signal through the speaker.

1 is a block diagram of an audio system for showing the configuration of the automatic volume and balance level adjustment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a control flow diagram of the microcomputer 70 for explaining the automatic volume and balance level adjustment method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, an operation according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of an audio system for showing the configuration of the automatic volume and balance level adjustment apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a volume and balance level automatic adjustment method according to an embodiment of the present invention It shows a control flow diagram of the microcomputer 70 for explaining.

First, referring to FIG. 1, the media source 10 is composed of an AM / FM tuner, a cassette deck, a CDP (Compact Disc Player), and the like, and is controlled by the microcomputer 70. That is, the media source 10 outputs by tuning a specific frequency in the airwaves received through the antenna under the control of the microcomputer 70, or by reproducing (picking up) an audio signal of a specific track on the recording medium. do. The audio signal processing unit 20 includes various circuits (eg, voice intermediate amplifier, voice multiplex module, matrix circuit, etc.) for processing the audio signal output from the media source 10. Outputs an audio signal. In the volume adjusting and balance adjusting unit 30, the left / right separated audio signal output from the audio signal processing unit 20 is applied to adjustment signals (volume adjusting signal and left / right balance adjusting signal) input from the microcomputer 70. Gain is adjusted and output. Accordingly, the audio output unit 40, which is a speaker, outputs an audible sound whose volume and left / right balance level are adjusted (amplified or attenuated).

The sensor unit 50 may be implemented as an ultrasonic sensor capable of sensing the position of the listener. That is, the sensor unit 50 measures the reception time of the sound wave emitted from the transmitter and outputs it to the operation unit 60. On the other hand, in order to accurately sense the position of the listener moving space it is preferable to implement the sensor unit 50 with a plurality of ultrasonic sensors. The calculation unit 60 calculates the reception time of the sound wave input from the sensor unit 50 and outputs the current position data of the listener. The microcomputer 70 includes a memory including a ROM in which a control program is stored and a RAM for temporarily storing data generated during a control operation, thereby controlling the overall operation of the audio system. In addition, the control program as shown in FIG. 2 is stored in the ROM, and the volume adjustment table shown in Table 1 is stored.

Listener distance (direction) Volume level adjustment Balance level adjustment A D G B E H C F I

In Table 1, the distance of the listener's movement represents the degree to which the listener's distance is moved based on the position (listening position) of the listener first detected after the automatic volume adjustment mode is set. That is, when the listener moves from the initial listening position, the microcomputer 70 amplifies or attenuates the volume level of the output audio signal according to the volume level adjustment value corresponding to the moving distance, and also adjusts the balance level adjustment value corresponding to the moving direction. By adjusting the left / right balance level of the audio signal, the listener can listen to the audio signal being output at the same volume level heard at the initial position regardless of the spatial movement.

The operation unit 80 includes a display unit for indicating an operation state of the current system, and function keys and buttons for setting and driving functions provided in the system, thereby generating data according to the function keys and button operations to the microcomputer 70. Output It is assumed that the operation unit 80 and the remote controller (not shown) are provided with a function key for setting the volume automatic adjustment mode for the implementation of the present invention. The infrared receiver 90 receives and decodes an infrared signal transmitted from a remote controller (not shown) and outputs it as a remote controller thermal signal.

Hereinafter, a method of automatically adjusting the volume and balance level in the audio system having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

First, in step 100 of FIG. 2, the microcomputer 70 checks whether there is a request for setting the automatic volume adjustment mode through the infrared receiver 90 or the operation unit 80. If the result of the test indicates that the volume automatic adjustment mode is set, the microcomputer 70 proceeds to step 110 and requests the listener to adjust the volume and the left / right balance. This request may be requested in the form of a message through a display unit provided in the operation unit 80, or may be required by blinking an indicator light attached to the volume control lever. Thereafter, the microcomputer 70 checks whether the volume and left / right balance adjustment input by the listener are completed in step 120. If there is no input for a predetermined time in this inspection process, the microcomputer 70 sets the currently set volume and left / right balance level as input values. If the volume and left / right balance level are input by the listener in step 120, the microcomputer 70 proceeds to step 130 and stores the input level value and the position data of the current listener (which becomes the initial position data) in the memory. Then proceed to step 140. In operation 140, the microcomputer 70 sets the volume automatic adjustment mode and proceeds to operation 150.

If the listener moves under the automatic volume control mode, the microcomputer 70 receives the current position data of the listener through the sensor unit 50 and the calculation unit 60. Therefore, the microcomputer 70 proceeds to step 150 to calculate the moving distance and direction of the listener by subtracting the listener's current position data input from the calculator 60 and the initial position data stored in step 130, and then proceeds to step 160. In step 160, the microcomputer 70 outputs a volume and balance adjustment signal corresponding to the moving distance based on Table 1 above. In operation 170, the controller 80 and the infrared receiver 90 check whether there is a request to release the automatic volume adjustment mode. The request for canceling the volume automatic adjustment mode is generated by pressing a function key for setting the volume automatic adjustment mode. If there is no request to cancel the automatic volume adjustment mode in step 170, the microcomputer 70 returns to step 150 and continuously adjusts the volume and balance according to the moving distance of the listener. Proceed to step. The reason for performing step 180 is that the left / right balance output may be in a non-uniform state according to the movement of the listener. In this step, the microcomputer 70 uniformly adjusts the left / right balance level. In operation 190, the microcomputer 70 switches the mode of the audio system to the manual adjustment mode so that the volume and the balance level can be adjusted by the listener, and then ends the automatic adjustment of the volume and balance level according to the embodiment of the present invention. do.

As described above, the present invention adjusts the volume and balance level set at the listener's initial position in conjunction with the movement of the listener so that the listener can hear the audible sound at which the volume and balance level were initially set regardless of the distance from the audio system. You can listen.

Meanwhile, in the embodiment of the present invention, the volume and the balance level are automatically adjusted using the audio system as an example, but the present invention can be applied to an A / V system (TV receiver) without any modification. Therefore, the scope of the invention should not be defined by the described embodiments, but should be defined by the equivalent of claims and claims.

As described above, the present invention maintains the volume and balance level initially set when the listener moves, thereby eliminating the inconvenience of adjusting the volume and balance level according to the spatial movement of the listener.

Claims (4)

In the A / V (Audio / Visual) system volume and balance level automatic adjustment device, A sensor unit for measuring and outputting a reception time of radio waves emitted from a transmitter, An arithmetic unit which calculates a reception time of radio waves output from the sensor unit and outputs current position data of a listener; Receives and stores the listener's initial position data and the volume and balance level values according to the initial position, and amplifies or attenuates the volume and balance level of the audio signal by an incremental or decrement between the listener's current position data and the initial position data. A control unit for outputting an adjustment signal for causing And a volume adjustment and balance adjustment unit configured to amplify or attenuate an audio signal reproduced and output through an audio signal processing unit according to an adjustment signal output from the control unit and output the audio signal through a speaker. The method of claim 1, wherein the control unit; And a volume adjustment table in which a volume level adjustment value and a balance level adjustment value are respectively corresponded to increments between the listener's initial position data and the current position data. In the method of automatically adjusting the volume and balance level of the audio system having a sensor unit for detecting and outputting the current position of the listener, A first process of storing the current position data of the listener detected through the sensor unit as initial position data when a volume automatic adjustment mode setting request is made; A second step of requesting the listener to set the volume and balance level; A third process of calculating a moving distance and a direction of the listener by receiving the current position data of the listener through the sensor unit after inputting the volume and balance level; And adjusting a volume level and a balance level of the audio signal being output according to the calculated movement distance and direction of the listener. 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising a fifth step of uniformly adjusting the balance level of the audio signal being output when the volume automatic adjustment mode release request is made.