Acoustic control device

Abstract

To improve the technology related to in-car acoustics. [Solution] The sound control device 10 controls at least one first sound source 20 and at least one second sound source 30 capable of playing sound information towards the inside of a vehicle. Normally, the sound control device 10 sets the first sound source 20 as the main sound source and the second sound source 30 as the secondary sound source, and plays sound information simultaneously from the first sound source 20 and the second sound source 30. The sound information played by the first sound source 20 and the sound information played by the second sound source 30 are different. After the playback of sound information by the first sound source 20 is finished, the second sound source 30 is reset as the main sound source. In the event of a disaster, the sound control device 10 receives disaster information from a server device, stops the playback of sound information from the main sound source and the secondary sound source, and plays disaster information from the main sound source. After the playback of disaster information is finished, it resumes the playback of sound information from the main sound source and the secondary sound source.

Description

Technical Field

[0005] , , , ,

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an acoustic control device.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, technologies related to in-vehicle acoustics are known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an in-vehicle speaker system including a speaker for a main sound source and a speaker for an auxiliary sound source.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In technologies related to in-vehicle acoustics, there is room for improvement in terms of the way of reproducing music or voice by a main sound source and a sub sound source, and the sound source control in an emergency. The object of the present disclosure is to improve technologies related to in-vehicle acoustics.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] An acoustic control device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure controls at least one first sound source and at least one second sound source capable of reproducing sound information toward the inside of a vehicle. Normally, the acoustic control device sets the first sound source as a main sound source and the second sound source as a sub sound source, ​​​​​​Disaster information relating to the aforementioned disaster is received from the server device. The playback of sound information from the main sound source and the secondary sound source is stopped, and the disaster information is played back on the main sound source. After the playback of the disaster information is completed, playback of the sound information from the main sound source and the secondary sound source will be resumed. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, the technology related to in-vehicle acoustics is improved. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0007] [Figure 1] This block diagram shows a schematic configuration of a system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] This flowchart shows the operation of the sound control device under normal conditions. [Figure 3] This flowchart shows the operation of an acoustic control device during a disaster. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0008] (Summary of this embodiment) Referring to Figure 1, an overview of System 1 according to the embodiment of this disclosure will be described. System 1 comprises an acoustic control device 10, at least one first sound source 20, and at least one second sound source 30. The acoustic control device 10, the first sound source 20, and the second sound source 30 are communicated together via an in-vehicle network 40 compliant with standards such as CAN (Controller Area Network).

[0009] The sound control device 10 controls the playback of sound information from the first sound source 20 and the second sound source 30. In this embodiment, the sound control device 10 is mounted on a vehicle. The vehicle includes any vehicle such as an automobile or a truck. The vehicle may also include automobiles such as gasoline automobiles, electric vehicles (BEV; Battery Electric Vehicle), hybrid automobiles (HEV; Hybrid Electric Vehicle), plug-in hybrid automobiles (PHEV; Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle), or fuel cell automobiles (FCEV; Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle). The vehicle may be an autonomous driving vehicle capable of autonomous driving with a level of 1 to 5 as defined by the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), or it may be a manually driven vehicle with a level of 0.

[0010] The first sound source 20 and the second sound source 30 include devices capable of reproducing sound information, such as speakers. Examples of sound information include music or speech. In this embodiment, the first sound source 20 and the second sound source 30 are installed inside a vehicle.

[0011] An overview of this embodiment will be described, and details will be described later. The sound control device 10 according to this embodiment controls at least one first sound source 20 and at least one second sound source 30 capable of reproducing sound information towards the vehicle. Normally, the sound control device 10 sets the first sound source 20 as the main sound source and the second sound source 30 as the secondary sound source, and causes the first sound source 20 and the second sound source 30 to reproduce sound information simultaneously. The sound information reproduced by the first sound source 20 and the sound information reproduced by the second sound source 30 are different, and after the reproduction of sound information by the first sound source 20 is completed, the second sound source 30 is reset as the main sound source. When a disaster occurs, the sound control device 10 receives disaster information related to the disaster from a server device, stops the reproduction of sound information by the main sound source and the secondary sound source, and causes the main sound source to reproduce the disaster information. After the reproduction of the disaster information is completed, it resumes the reproduction of sound information by the main sound source and the secondary sound source.

[0012] (Configuration of the sound control device 10) As shown in Figure 1, the acoustic control device 10 comprises a control unit 11, a communication unit 12, and a storage unit 13.

[0013] The control unit 11 includes one or more processors, one or more programmable circuits, one or more dedicated circuits, or a combination thereof. The processor is, for example, a general-purpose processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or a dedicated processor specialized for a specific process, but is not limited to these. The programmable circuit is, for example, an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), but is not limited to this. The dedicated circuit is, for example, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), but is not limited to this. The control unit 11 controls each part of the sound control device 10 and executes processes related to the operation of the sound control device 10.

[0014] The communication unit 12 includes at least one in-vehicle communication interface connected to the in-vehicle network 40 and at least one external communication interface connected to an external network (not shown). The external communication interface supports, for example, a mobile communication standard such as 5G (5th generation), or a wired LAN (Local Area Network) communication standard or a wireless LAN communication standard, but is not limited to these and may support any communication standard.

[0015] The storage unit 13 includes one or more memories. Each memory included in the storage unit 13 may function as, for example, a main memory, an auxiliary memory, or a cache memory. The storage unit 13 stores any information used for the operation of the sound control device 10. For example, the storage unit 13 may store, for example, a system program, an application program, and embedded software. In this embodiment, the storage unit 13 stores sound information that can be reproduced by the first sound source 20 or the second sound source 30.

[0016] (Operation flow of the sound control device 10 under normal conditions) Referring to FIG. 2, the operation of the acoustic control device 10 during normal times will be described. In FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 to be described later, the communication between the acoustic control device 10, the first sound source 20, and the second sound source 30 is performed via the communication unit 12 and the network.

[0017] S11: The control unit 11 of the acoustic control device 10 sets the first sound source 20 as the main sound source and the second sound source 30 as the sub sound source. The setting contents of the main sound source and the sub sound source may be different from each other. The setting contents include any element related to sound information, such as the volume of the sound source, the accuracy of the sound directionality (sound image localization with respect to the listener), or the sound range (frequency band). For example, the volume of the main sound source may be set to be larger than the volume of the sub sound source. For example, the volume of the main sound source may be set to 30% of the maximum volume, and the volume of the sub sound source may be set to 10% of the maximum volume. For example, the sound information reproduced by the main sound source may be set so that the accuracy of sound image localization is higher than that of the sound information reproduced by the sub sound source. For example, the sound range of the sound information reproduced by the main sound source may be set to include the high sound range, the middle sound range, and the low sound range, and the sound range of the sound information reproduced by the sub sound source may be set to include the middle sound range and the low sound range. These settings may be implemented in advance. The settings may also be implemented in advance by the vehicle occupants.

[0018] S12: The control unit 11 causes the first sound source 20 and the second sound source 30 to reproduce sound information simultaneously. The sound information reproduced by the first sound source 20 and the sound information reproduced by the second sound source 30 are different from each other. For example, the first sound source 20 may reproduce music or voice, and the second sound source 30 may reproduce BGM (Back Ground Music). The BGM is reproduced by the second sound source 30, for example, as background music accompanying the sound information reproduced by the first sound source 20.

[0019] S13: After the reproduction of the sound information by the first sound source 20 ends, the control unit 11 re-sets the second sound source 30 as the main sound source. Thereby, the occupant can switch the main sound source and the sub sound source without changing the settings by himself / herself, and the comfort of the occupant is improved.

[0020] (Operation flow of the sound control device 10 during a disaster) Referring to Figure 3, the operation of the sound control device 10 during a disaster will be explained.

[0021] S21: The control unit 11 receives disaster information related to a disaster from the server device. This reception is performed via an external network. The disaster includes, for example, a disaster that occurred within a predetermined distance from the vehicle's current location. The predetermined distance is, for example, 10 km.

[0022] S22: The control unit 11 stops the playback of sound information from the main power supply and the secondary sound source, and starts playing disaster information from the main sound source. This allows the crew to grasp the disaster information without being interfered with by the sound information from the secondary sound source.

[0023] S23: After the disaster information playback is complete, the control unit 11 resumes playback of sound information from the main sound source and the secondary sound source. This allows the crew to hear the sound information from the main sound source and the secondary sound source from where they left off during the interruption caused by the disaster information playback.

[0024] While this disclosure has been described based on the drawings and embodiments, it should be noted that those skilled in the art may make various modifications and alterations based on this disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications and alterations are within the scope of this disclosure. For example, the functions, etc., included in each component or step, etc., can be rearranged in a logically consistent manner, and multiple components or steps, etc., can be combined into one or separated. For example, in the embodiments described above, an embodiment is also possible in which the configuration and operation of the sound control device 10 are distributed among multiple computers that can communicate with each other. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0025] 1 System, 10 Sound control device, 11 Control unit, 12 Communication unit, 13 Memory unit, 20 First sound source, 30 Second sound source, 40 In-vehicle network

Claims

[Claim 1] An acoustic control device that controls at least one first sound source and at least one second sound source capable of reproducing sound information towards the inside of a vehicle, The aforementioned sound control device, under normal circumstances, The first sound source is set as the main sound source, and the second sound source is set as the secondary sound source. The first sound source and the second sound source simultaneously reproduce sound information, and the sound information reproduced by the first sound source and the sound information reproduced by the second sound source are different. After the playback of sound information by the first sound source is completed, the second sound source is reset as the main sound source. The aforementioned sound control device, in the event of a disaster, Disaster information relating to the aforementioned disaster is received from the server device. The playback of sound information from the main sound source and the secondary sound source is stopped, and the disaster information is played back on the main sound source. An acoustic control device that, after the completion of playback of the disaster information, resumes playback of sound information using the main sound source and the secondary sound source.

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