AUDIO SYSTEM, METHOD OF OUTPUTTING AUDIO, AND SPEAKER APPARATUS

• US 20150104037A1
• Filed: 10/06/2014
• Published: 04/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: LEE, Gyeong-tae, KIM, Jong-bae, JO, Jong-in, SHIM, Hwan, SUNG, Whan-oh, LEE, Joo-yeon
• Granted Patent: US 10,009,687 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/005 Audio distribution systems for home, i.e. multi-room use
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 27/00 Public address systems circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/12 for distributing signals to two or more loudspeakers specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/04 Circuit arrangements, e.g. for selective connection of amplifier inputs/outputs to loudspeakers, for loudspeaker detection, or for adaptation of settings to personal preferences or hearing impairments combinations of amplifiers H03F3/68; stereophonic systems H04S
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/302 Electronic adaptation of stereophonic sound system to listener position or orientation H04S7/301 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/308 Electronic adaptation dependent on speaker or headphone connection

Abstract

An audio system, an audio outputting method, and a speaker apparatus are disclosed. The audio system includes a plurality of speaker modules connected to each other, a detection module configured to detect information of the plurality of speaker modules and user information, and a home control module configured to receive an audio signal, process the received audio signal based on the information of the plurality of speaker modules and the user information, and transmit the processed audio signal to the plurality of speaker modules.

Claims

1. An audio system comprising:

a plurality of speaker modules configured to be connected to each other;

a detection module configured to detect information of the plurality of speaker modules and user information; and

a home control module configured to receive an audio signal, process the received audio signal based on the information of the plurality of speaker modules and the user information, and transmit the processed audio signal to the plurality of speaker modules.

2. The audio system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of speaker modules comprise at least two of a full-range speaker, a tweeter speaker, a mid-range speaker, a woofer speaker, and a multi-way speaker.

3. The audio system as claimed in claim 1, wherein in response to a first one-way speaker and a second one-way speaker being connected to each other among the plurality of speaker modules, the first one-way speaker and the second one-way speaker operate as a multi-way speaker.

4. The audio system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the information of the plurality of speaker modules comprises at least one of a connection correlation, locations, and radiation directions of the plurality of speaker modules, and

wherein the user information comprises at least one of a current location, a moving direction, and preferred sound source information of a user.

5. The audio system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the home control module is further configured to, in response to determining that the current location of the user is within a first area, process the received audio signal and transmit the processed audio signal to a first speaker module located in the first area among the plurality of speaker modules, and

wherein the home control module is further configured to, in response to determining that the user has moved from the first area to a second area, stop transmitting the processed audio signal to the first speaker module, process the received audio signal, and transmit the processed audio signal to a second speaker module located in the second area among the plurality of speaker modules.

6. The audio system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the home control module is further configured to localize the received audio signal based on the radiation directions of a speaker module among the plurality of speaker modules and at least one of the current location of the user and the moving direction of the user.

7. The audio system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the home control module is further configured to adjust sound quality of audio to be reproduced by each of the plurality of speaker modules by using the connection correlation of a speaker module among the plurality of speaker modules.

8. The audio system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a speaker jacket installed in each of the plurality of speaker modules and configured to prevent diffraction and interference generated due to coupling between speaker modules of the plurality of speaker modules.

9. A method of outputting audio of a home control module for controlling a plurality of speaker modules, the method comprising:

detecting information of the plurality of speaker modules and user information;

processing a received audio signal based on the information of the plurality of speaker modules and the user information; and

transmitting the processed audio signal to the plurality of speaker modules.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the plurality of speaker modules comprise at least two of a full-range speaker, a tweeter speaker, a mid-range speaker, a woofer speaker, and a multi-way speaker.

11. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the detecting comprises, in response to a first one-way speaker and a second one-way speaker being connected to each other among the plurality of speaker modules, detecting the first one-way speaker and second one-way speaker as a multi-way speaker.

12. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the information of the plurality of speaker modules comprises at least one of a connection correlation, locations, and radiation directions of the plurality of speaker modules, and wherein the user information comprises at least one of a current location, a moving direction, and preferred sound source information of a user.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the transmitting comprises:

processing the received audio signal and transmitting the processed audio signal to a first speaker module located in a first area among the plurality of speaker modules, in response to determining that the current location of the user is within the first area; and

stopping the transmitting of the processed audio signal to the first speaker module, processing the received audio signal, and transmitting the processed audio signal to a second speaker module located in a second area among the plurality of speaker modules, in response to determining that the user has moved from the first area to the second area.

14. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the processing comprises localizing the received audio signal based on the radiation directions of a speaker module of the plurality of speaker modules and at least one of the current location of the user and the moving direction of the user.

15. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the processing comprises correcting sound quality of audio to be reproduced by each of the plurality of speaker modules by using the connection correlation of a speaker module of the plurality of speaker modules.

16. A first speaker apparatus comprising:

a communicator configured to receive an audio signal;

a first speaker configured to output audio;

a connector configured for connection with a second speaker apparatus;

a signal processor configured to process the received audio signal; and

a controller configured to, in response to the first speaker apparatus being connected to the second speaker apparatus, control the signal processor to process the received audio signal to correspond to the first speaker and a second speaker of the second speaker apparatus.

17. The speaker apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein each of the first speaker and the second speaker comprises one of a full-range speaker, a tweeter speaker, a mid-range speaker, a woofer speaker, and a multi-way speaker.

18. The speaker apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the controller is further configured to, in response to a home control module for controlling the first speaker apparatus being present and the audio signal being received from the home control module, control the signal processor to process the received audio signal to correspond to the first speaker and the second speaker.

19. The speaker apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the controller is further configured to, in response to a home control module for controlling the first speaker apparatus not being present and the audio signal being received from a source, control the signal processor to process the received audio signal to correspond to the first speaker and the second speaker, control the signal processor to process the received audio signal to correspond to an external speaker apparatus based on information about the external speaker apparatus and user information, and control the communicator to transmit the processed audio signals.

20. The speaker apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the controller is further configured to determine a type of the second speaker and filter the received audio signal according to the determined type.

21. An audio system comprising:

a home control module configured to receive an audio signal, process the received audio signal based on detected information of a plurality of speaker modules and detected user information, and transmit the processed audio signal to select speaker modules of the plurality of speaker modules based on the detected information of the plurality of speaker modules and the detected user information.

22. The audio system as claimed in claim 21, wherein the detected information of the plurality of speaker modules comprises at least one of a connection correlation, location, and radiation direction of the plurality of speaker modules.

23. The audio system as claimed in claim 22, wherein the detected user information comprises a current location of a user.

24. The audio system as claimed in claim 22, wherein the connection correlation comprises connection information of at least two one-way speaker modules among the plurality of speaker which are connected to each other to form a multi-way speaker module.

25. The audio system as claimed in claim 21, wherein each of the plurality of speaker modules includes at least one of a full-range speaker, a tweeter speaker, a mid-range speaker, a woofer speaker, and a multi-way speaker.

26. The audio system as claimed in claim 21, wherein the plurality of speakers are configured in at least one of a 2 channel audio environment, a 2.1 channel audio environment, a 5.1 channel audio environment, and a 7.1 channel audio environment, and

wherein the home control module is further configured to process the received audio signal based on the configured audio environment and transmit the processed audio signal to select speaker modules of the plurality of speaker modules based on the configured audio environment.