Front surround sound reproduction system using beam forming speaker array and surround sound reproduction method thereof

• US 8,345,892 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2007
• Issued: 01/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Jung, Chi-ho, Jang, Seong-cheol
• Primary Examiner(s): Paul, Disler
• Application Number:
  US11/693,124
• Publication Number:
  US 20080101631A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,105 Days
• Field of Search: 381/300, 381/303, 381/307, 381/27, 381/1, 381 17- 18, 381 97- 99, 381/26
• US Class Current: 381/98
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 3/00 Systems employing more than two channels, e.g. quadraphonic H04S5/00, H04S7/00 take precedence

Abstract

A front surround sound reproduction system using a speaker array, a front surround sound reproduction system to perform stereo localization using a beam forming speaker array, and a surround sound reproduction method thereof. A front surround sound reproduction apparatus using a plurality of speakers includes a first signal processing unit to adjust a frequency characteristic of each first and second channel signal and to output the adjusted signals to left and right speakers assigned according to a frequency band, a second signal processing unit to generate a plurality of channel signals by copying the first and second channel signals, to adjust a signal characteristic of each of the plurality of channel signals, and to output the adjusted signals to a speaker array in the center, and a speaker unit having a plurality of speakers to reproduce the signals output from the first signal processing unit and the second signal processing unit.

Claims

1. A front surround sound reproduction apparatus using a plurality of speakers, the apparatus comprising:

a controller to determine that a received input audio signal is a stereo signal rather than a multi-channel signal;

a first signal processor to adjust a magnitude and a phase of a plurality of first and second channel signals of the stereo signal for each of a plurality of frequency bands and to output the adjusted signals to left and right treble and bass speakers assigned according to the frequency bands; and

a second signal processor to generate a plurality of channel signals by copying the first and second channel signals of the stereo signal, to adjust a signal characteristic of each of the plurality of channel signals using geometrical amplification values, and to output the adjusted signals to a speaker array in a center of the front surround sound reproduction apparatus.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first signal processor comprises:

a first crossover network unit to adjust the magnitude and the phase of the first channel signal based on frequency bands and to output the adjusted first channel signal to the left treble and bass speakers; and

a second crossover network unit to adjust the magnitude and the phase of the second channel signal based on frequency bands and to output the adjusted second channel signal to the right treble and bass speakers.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first crossover network unit comprises:

a high-pass filter to perform high-pass filtering on the first channel signal;

a treble signal adjuster to adjust a magnitude and a phase of a treble signal filtered by the high-pass filter and to output the adjusted treble signal to the left treble speaker;

a low-pass filter to perform low-pass filtering on the first channel signal; and

a bass signal adjuster to adjust a magnitude and a phase of a bass signal filtered by the low-pass filter and to output the adjusted bass signal to the left bass speaker.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the second crossover network unit comprises:

a high-pass filter to perform high-pass filtering of the second channel signal;

a treble signal adjuster to adjust a magnitude and a phase of a treble signal filtered by the high-pass filter and to output the adjusted treble signal to the right treble speaker;

a low-pass filter to perform low-pass filtering on the second channel signal; and

a bass signal adjuster to adjust a magnitude and a phase of a bass signal filtered by the low-pass filter and to output the adjusted bass signal to the right bass speaker.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second signal processor comprises:

a signal copying unit to generate N channel signals by copying each of the first and second channel signals, where N denotes a number of speakers of the speaker array; and

a signal adjuster to sequentially amplify and delay the N channel signals generated based on each of the first and second channels by the signal copying unit and to output the N amplified and delayed channel signals to corresponding speakers of the speaker array.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the signal adjuster applies geometrical amplification values to the N channel signals.

7. A front surround sound reproduction apparatus using a plurality of speakers, the apparatus comprising:

a controller to determine that a received input audio signal is a multi-channel signal rather than a stereo signal;

a down mixer to down mix the multi-channel signal to first and second channel signals;

a first signal processor to adjust a magnitude and a phase of the first and second channel signals down-mixed by the down mixer for each of a plurality of frequency bands and to output the adjusted signals to left and right treble and bass speakers assigned according to the frequency bands; and

a second signal processor to generate a plurality of channel signals by copying the first and second channel signals, to adjust a signal characteristic of each of the plurality of channel signals using geometrical amplification values, and to output the adjusted signals to a speaker array in a center of the front surround sound reproduction apparatus.

8. A front surround sound reproduction apparatus using a plurality of speakers, the apparatus comprising:

a controller to determine that a received input audio signal is a multi-channel signal rather than a stereo signal;

a down mixer to down mix the multi-channel signal to first and second channel signals;

a first signal processor to adjust a magnitude and a phase of the first and second channel signals down-mixed by the down mixer for each of a plurality of frequency bands and to output the adjusted signals to left and right treble and bass speakers assigned according to the frequency bands;

a second signal processor to generate a plurality of channel signals by copying the multi-channel signal, to adjust a signal characteristic of each of the plurality of channel signals using geometrical amplification values, and to output the adjusted signals to a speaker array in a center of the front surround sound reproduction apparatus.

9. A front surround sound reproduction method using a plurality of speakers, the method comprising:

determining whether an input signal is a stereo sound corresponding to first and second channels or a multi-channel signal;

if it is determined that the input signal is a multi-channel signal, converting the multi-channel signal to first and second channel signals by down mixing the multi-channel signal;

adjusting a magnitude and a phase of the first and second channel signals down-mixed for each of a plurality of frequency bands and outputting the adjusted signals to left and right treble and bass speakers assigned according to the frequency bands; and

generating a plurality of channel signals by copying the first and second channel signals, adjusting a signal characteristic of each of the plurality of channel signals using geometrical amplification values, and outputting the adjusted signals to a speaker array in a center of the front surround sound reproduction apparatus.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the outputting of the adjusted signals to the speaker array in the center comprises applying the geometrical amplification values to the plurality of channel signals.

11. A front surround sound reproduction apparatus comprising:

a controller to determine that a received input audio signal is a stereo signal rather than a multi-channel signal;

a first signal processor to adjust a magnitude and a phase of a left channel signal and a right channel signal of the stereo signal of each of a plurality of frequency bands and to output the adjusted left channel signal and the adjusted right channel signal to a left treble and bass speaker and a right treble and bass speaker, respectively; and

a second signal processor to generate copies of the left channel signal and the right channel signal of the stereo signal to correspond to each of a plurality of speakers in a speaker array and to sequentially amplify and delay the generated copies based on positions of each of the plurality of speakers in the speaker array and by using geometrical amplification values.

12. The front surround sound reproduction apparatus of claim 11, wherein the second signal processor sequentially amplifies and delays the generated copies by applying the geometrical amplification values to the generated copies based on the positions of each of the plurality of speakers in the speaker array.

13. The front surround sound reproduction apparatus of claim 11, wherein frequency characteristics of the left channel signal and the right channel signal comprise the magnitude and the phase of the left channel signal and the right channel signal.

14. A front surround sound reproduction method using a left speaker, a right speaker, and a speaker array, the method comprising:

determining that a received input audio signal is a stereo signal rather than a multi-channel signal;

adjusting a magnitude and a phase of a left channel signal and a right channel signal of the stereo signal for each of a plurality of frequency bands;

outputting the adjusted left channel signal and the adjusted right channel signal to the left treble and bass speaker and the right treble and bass speaker respectively according to the frequency bands;

generating copies of the left channel signal and the right channel signal of the stereo signal to correspond to each of a plurality of speakers in the speaker array; and

sequentially amplifying and delaying the generated copies based on positions of each of the plurality of speakers in the speaker array and by using geometric amplification values.

15. The front surround sound reproduction method of claim 14, wherein the sequential amplification and delay of the generated copies occurs by applying the geometrical amplification values to the generated copies based on the positions of each of the plurality of speakers in the speaker array.

16. The front surround sound reproduction method of claim 14, wherein frequency characteristics of the left channel signal and the right channel signal comprise the magnitude and the phase of the left channel signal and the right channel signal.

17. A front surround sound reproduction method using a speaker array, the method comprising:

receiving a left channel signal and a right channel signal, and determining that the received left channel signal and right channel signal are of a stereo signal rather than a multi-channel signal;

adjusting a magnitude and a phase of each of the left and right channel signals of the stereo signal for each of a plurality of frequency bands;

generating copies of the left channel signal and the right channel signal of the stereo signal to correspond to each of a plurality of speakers in the speaker array; and

sequentially amplifying and delaying the generated copies based on positions of each of the plurality of speakers in the speaker array.