Audio Volume Control with Excessive Change Limiting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sound volume adjustment systems often result in unintended high sound levels due to excessive volume changes, which cannot be adjusted to the desired level by the user, and fail to accurately follow user operations, causing a sense of strangeness.
Innovation Solution
A sound volume adjusting apparatus that determines whether a change request exceeds an allowable maximum change amount by calculating the difference or inclination of volume changes over a time period, and corrects excessive requests to prevent unintended high sound levels, ensuring the volume change follows user intent.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the sound volume is adjusted using a slider or rotary knob to allow wide range adjustment for short time period, then the volume adjustment speed and range are improved, but the risk of erroneous change to unintended high level increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary determination of whether a volume change request is excessive before actually applying the volume change. By calculating the difference between the current volume and the requested volume in advance, and comparing it with the maximum allowable change amount, the system prevents erroneous high volume settings before they occur, while still allowing rapid legitimate adjustments.
2Reliability
If an upper limit of volume setting value is set to prevent high volume, then the risk of unintended high sound level is reduced, but the ability to adjust to desired high volume level is lost
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using a fixed upper limit for volume settings, the system dynamically determines the allowable maximum volume based on the difference between the current volume and the requested volume. This dynamic approach allows the volume to be adjusted to any desired level as long as the change amount does not exceed the maximum allowable change, providing both protection against erroneous high volume and flexibility for legitimate high volume needs.
3Reliability
If the sound volume is changed slowly to prevent excessive change, then the risk of unintended high sound level is reduced, but the volume change cannot follow user operation accurately causing sense of strangeness
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides immediate feedback by determining whether a volume change request is excessive and either accepting or rejecting the request in real-time. This feedback mechanism allows the volume to change rapidly when the request is valid, while preventing excessive changes, thereby maintaining both reliability and responsiveness without the delay inherent in slow gradual changes.
4Reliability
If the maximum allowable change amount is set to a small value to prevent excessive volume change, then the prevention of unintended high volume is improved, but the time required to adjust to desired volume level increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter of maximum allowable change amount dynamically based on the current volume state and the requested volume. Rather than using a fixed small change amount that would slow down all adjustments, the system allows larger changes when appropriate while preventing excessive changes when inappropriate, thereby reducing the time to reach desired volume levels while maintaining prevention of unintended high volume.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A~2C
Figure 3
AI summary
A sound volume adjuster includes: a storage which stores a first value of a volume setting value and an allowable maximum change amount; a receiver which receives a change request indicating a second value of the volume setting value; a determiner which, when a change amount of the volume setting value between the first value and the second value exceeds the allowable maximum change amount, determines that the change request is an excessive request; and an adjuster which, when the determiner determines that the change request is the excessive request: changes the first value stored in the storage by a change amount which is equal to or smaller than the allowable maximum change amount to set a third value of the volume setting value; and adjusts a sound volume by the third value.