EP-4742701-A1 - AUDIO DEVICE AND PORTABLE DEVICE

EP4742701A1EP 4742701 A1EP4742701 A1EP 4742701A1EP-4742701-A1

Abstract

An audio device includes a left speaker disposed on a left side of a portable device, and to output sound toward the user, a right speaker disposed on a right side of the portable device, and to output sound toward the user, a rear center speaker disposed at a central position of the portable device, and to output sound in a direction opposite to the user, a pseudo surround signal generator to generate a left channel audio signal, a right channel audio signal, and a center channel audio signal, and a reverb effect imparting unit to impart a reverb effect to the center channel audio signal, and to generate a rear center channel audio signal, wherein the left speaker outputs the left channel audio signal, the right speaker outputs the right channel audio signal, and the rear center speaker outputs the rear center channel audio signal.

Inventors

NIHIRA, Kazumasa
TANNO, KEITA
Chaki, Hideto

Assignees

Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260513
Application Date: 20251027

Claims (7)

An audio device comprising: a left speaker disposed on a left side of a portable device when viewed from a user, the portable device being configured to be used in a handheld state by the user, and the left speaker being configured to output sound toward the user; a right speaker disposed on a right side of the portable device when viewed from the user, the right speaker being configured to output sound toward the user; a rear center speaker disposed at a central position of the portable device when viewed from the user, the rear center speaker being configured to output sound in a direction opposite to the user; a pseudo surround signal generator configured to generate, from target audio signals being left and right two-channel audio signals, a left channel audio signal, a right channel audio signal, and a center channel audio signal representing a component correlated between the left and right two-channel audio signals; and a reverb effect imparting unit configured to impart a reverb effect to the center channel audio signal, and to generate a rear center channel audio signal from the center channel audio signal to which the reverb effect is imparted, wherein: the left speaker is configured to output the left channel audio signal; the right speaker is configured to output the right channel audio signal; and the rear center speaker is configured to output the rear center channel audio signal.
The audio device according to claim 1, further comprising a center speaker disposed at a central position of the portable device when viewed from the user, the center speaker being configured to output sound toward the user, wherein the center channel audio signal is output from the center speaker.
The audio device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a localization processor configured to generate the left and right two-channel audio signals from a result of convolving a head-related transfer function from a target sound image localization position to a left ear of the user with a monaural one-channel audio signal and a result of convolving a head-related transfer function from the target sound image localization position to a right ear of the user with the monaural one-channel audio signal.
The audio device according to one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a sensor configured to detect a value related to a reflection state of the sound output from the rear center speaker, wherein the reverb effect imparting unit is configured to change a characteristic of the reverb effect according to the reflection state estimated from the value detected by the sensor.
The audio device according to one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a sensor configured to detect a distance to a reflector configured to reflect the sound output from the rear center speaker, the reflector being configured to be disposed in a direction opposite to the user when viewed from the portable device, wherein the reverb effect imparting unit is configured to change a characteristic of the reverb effect according to the distance to the reflector detected by the sensor.
A portable device comprising the audio device of one of claims 1 to 5.
The portable device according to claim 6, wherein the portable device is a game controller.

Description

The present application is based on and claims priority to Japanese patent application No. 2024-196043 filed on November 8, 2024, with the Japan Patent Office. The disclosures herein relate to audio devices and portable devices. In the related art, a technology for providing sound image localization at a target position by convolving an acoustic transfer characteristic (head-related transfer function) from the target position to a listener's left and right ears with an audio signal to generate L and R channel audio signals and outputting the result to left and right speakers is known (e.g., Patent Literature (PTL) 1). When the above-described technology for outputting L and R channel audio signals obtained by convolving head-related transfer functions up to the left and right ears to the left and right speakers is applied to the left and right speakers provided in a relatively small portable device such as a game controller, it has been difficult to generate a sound image having a good sense of localization and sense of presence due to factors such as size. Therefore, the present disclosure aims to provide an audio device capable of generating a sound image having a good sense of localization and sense of presence even in a portable device. CITATION LIST PATENT LITERATURE [PTL 1] Japanese Patent No. 3395809 The present disclosure relates to an audio device and a portable device according to the appended claims. Embodiments are disclosed in the dependent claims. An audio device includes a left speaker disposed on a left side of a portable device when viewed from a user, the portable device being configured to be used in a handheld state by the user, and the left speaker being configured to output sound toward the user, a right speaker disposed on a right side of the portable device when viewed from the user, the right speaker being configured to output sound toward the user, a rear center speaker disposed at a central position of the portable device when viewed from the user, the rear center speaker being configured to output sound in a direction opposite to the user, a pseudo surround signal generator configured to generate, from target audio signals being left and right two-channel audio signals, a left channel audio signal, a right channel audio signal, and a center channel audio signal representing a component correlated between the left and right two-channel audio signals, and a reverb effect imparting unit configured to impart a reverb effect to the center channel audio signal, and to generate a rear center channel audio signal from the center channel audio signal to which the reverb effect is imparted, wherein the left speaker is configured to output the left channel audio signal, the right speaker is configured to output the right channel audio signal, and the rear center speaker is configured to output the rear center channel audio signal. According to an audio device as described herein, a center channel audio signal is generated from a left channel audio signal and a right channel audio signal, the left channel audio signal is output from the left speaker, the right channel audio signal is output from the right speaker, and the center channel audio signal is output from the rear center speaker as a rear center channel audio signal to which a reverb effect is imparted. Therefore, it is possible to provide a user with a sense of localization by three-channel audio signals of the left and right channel audio signals output from the left and right speakers and the rear center channel audio signal output from the rear center speaker and containing only components correlated to both the left and right channels. Further, since the audio signal of the rear center channel output from the rear center speaker is not simply an audio signal of the center channel but an audio signal of the center channel to which a reverb effect is added and which gives a specific feeling to the user, it is possible to generate a sound image having a good sense of localization and a sense of presence. Further, by providing a center speaker and outputting the audio signal of the center channel from the center speaker, it is possible to generate a sound image having a stronger sense of localization. The present invention further provides a portable device including the above-described audio device. The portable device may be a game controller. As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an audio device capable of generating a sound image with a good sense of localization and sense of presence even in a portable device. FIG. 1A is a drawing illustrating a front surface of a game controller according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;FIG. 1B is a drawing illustrating a back surface of the game controller according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;FIG. 2 is a drawing illustrating an output direction of each speaker of the game controller according to an embodiment of the prese