US-12621624-B2 - Audio mixing device and electronic device

US12621624B2US 12621624 B2US12621624 B2US 12621624B2US-12621624-B2

Abstract

An audio mixing device includes: a mixing circuit configured to mix a plurality of pieces of audio data to be played included in first to p-th audio data among first to n-th audio data when the plurality of pieces of audio data are input in a same period, and output a mixing signal, n being an integer of three or more and p being an integer equal to or larger than two and less than n; and an arbitration circuit configured to arbitrate input of (p+1)-th to n-th audio data among the first to n-th audio data to the mixing circuit.

Inventors

Takao Katayama
Fumihito Baisho
Tsutomu Nonaka

Assignees

SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20231110
Priority Date: 20221114

Claims (20)

1 . An audio mixing device comprising: a mixing circuit configured to mix a plurality of pieces of audio data to be played included in first to p-th audio data among first to n-th audio data when the plurality of pieces of audio data are input in a same period, and output a mixing signal, n being an integer of three or more and p being an integer equal to or larger than two and less than n; and an arbitration circuit configured to arbitrate input of (p+1)-th to n-th audio data among the first to n-th audio data to the mixing circuit, wherein when the arbitration circuit receives a command for starting play of the j-th audio data included in the first to p-th audio data during play of the k-th audio data included in the (p+1)-th to n-th audio data, the arbitration circuit starts the input of the j-th audio data to the mixing circuit, stops the input of the k-th audio data to the mixing circuit, and starts the input of the k-th audio data to the mixing circuit from the beginning after the input of the j-th audio data to the mixing circuit is ended.
2 . The audio mixing device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a storage circuit configured to store information for specifying whether audio data to be played is included in the first to p-th audio data or included in the (p+1)-th to n-th audio data.
3 . The audio mixing device according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where the arbitration circuit receives a command for starting play of k-th audio data included in the (p+1)-th to n-th audio data when j-th audio data included in the first to p-th audio data is being played, the arbitration circuit delays input of the k-th audio data to the mixing circuit until play of the j-th audio data is ended.
4 . The audio mixing device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a gain setting circuit configured to set first to p-th gains for the respective first to p-th audio data based on a command input from the outside.
5 . The audio mixing device according to claim 4 , wherein during the play of the j-th audio data of the first to p-th audio data with a first value being set to the j-th gain of the first to p-th gains, the gain setting circuit sets the j-th gain to a second value different from the first value when the gain setting circuit receives a command for starting or stopping play of audio data having a higher priority than the j-th audio data among the first to p-th audio data.
6 . The audio mixing device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a memory configured to store n pieces of audio source data that serve as a base of the first to n-th audio data.
7 . The audio mixing device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a memory interface circuit configured to receive the n pieces of audio source data that serve as a base of the first to n-th audio data from an external memory that stores the n pieces of audio source data.
8 . The audio mixing device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a communication interface circuit configured to receive, from an external micro-control unit, the n pieces of audio source data that serve as a base of the first to n-th audio data.
9 . The audio mixing device according to claim 1 , further comprising: an audio amplifier configured to convert the mixing signal into an audio signal and output the audio signal to a first audio player.
10 . The audio mixing device according to claim 9 , wherein the audio amplifier is configured to determine whether the audio signal is normal or abnormal, and output an abnormality detection signal to the mixing circuit when it is determined that the audio signal is abnormal, and the mixing circuit is configured to output the mixing signal to any one of second to m-th audio players when the abnormality detection signal is input, m being an integer of two or more.
11 . The audio mixing device according to claim 10 , wherein the integer m is an integer of three or more, and when the abnormality detection signal is input, the mixing circuit selects any one of the second to m-th audio players based on a priority selection table in which a priority for selecting each of the second to m-th audio players is designated, and outputs the mixing signal to the selected one of the second to m-th audio players.
12 . An electronic device comprising: the audio mixing device according to claim 1 .
13 . An audio mixing device comprising: a mixing circuit configured to mix a plurality of pieces of audio data to be played included in first to p-th audio data among first to n-th audio data when the plurality of pieces of audio data are input in a same period, and output a mixing signal, n being an integer of three or more and p being an integer equal to or larger than two and less than n; and an arbitration circuit configured to arbitrate input of (p+1)-th to n-th audio data among the first to n-th audio data to the mixing circuit, wherein when the arbitration circuit receives a command for starting play of the j-th audio data included in the first to p-th audio data during play of the k-th audio data included in the (p+1)-th to n-th audio data, the arbitration circuit starts the input of the j-th audio data to the mixing circuit, interrupts the input of the k-th audio data to the mixing circuit, and restarts the input of the k-th audio data to the mixing circuit from an interrupted position after the input of the j-th audio data to the mixing circuit is ended.
14 . The audio mixing device according to claim 13 , further comprising: a storage circuit configured to store information for specifying whether audio data to be played is included in the first to p-th audio data or included in the (p+1)-th to n-th audio data.
15 . The audio mixing device according to claim 13 , wherein in a case where the arbitration circuit receives a command for starting play of k-th audio data included in the (p+1)-th to n-th audio data when j-th audio data included in the first to p-th audio data is being played, the arbitration circuit delays input of the k-th audio data to the mixing circuit until play of the j-th audio data is ended.
16 . The audio mixing device according to claim 13 , further comprising: a gain setting circuit configured to set first to p-th gains for the respective first to p-th audio data based on a command input from the outside.
17 . The audio mixing device according to claim 16 , wherein during the play of the j-th audio data of the first to p-th audio data with a first value being set to the j-th gain of the first to p-th gains, the gain setting circuit sets the j-th gain to a second value different from the first value when the gain setting circuit receives a command for starting or stopping play of audio data having a higher priority than the j-th audio data among the first to p-th audio data.
18 . The audio mixing device according to claim 13 , further comprising: a memory configured to store n pieces of audio source data that serve as a base of the first to n-th audio data.
19 . The audio mixing device according to claim 13 , further comprising: an audio amplifier configured to convert the mixing signal into an audio signal and output the audio signal to a first audio player.
20 . An audio mixing device comprising: a mixing circuit configured to mix a plurality of pieces of audio data to be played included in first to p-th audio data among first to n-th audio data when the plurality of pieces of audio data are input in a same period, and output a mixing signal, n being an integer of three or more and p being an integer equal to or larger than two and less than n; an arbitration circuit configured to arbitrate input of (p+1)-th to n-th audio data among the first to n-th audio data to the mixing circuit; and a gain setting circuit configured to set first to p-th gains for the respective first to p-th audio data based on a command input from the outside, wherein the gain setting circuit further sets (p+1)-th to n-th gains for the respective (p+1)-th to n-th audio data, and when the command for starting the play of the j-th audio data included in the first to p-th audio data during the play of k-th audio data included in the (p+1)-th to n-th audio data is input, the arbitration circuit starts to input of the j-th audio data to the mixing circuit and continues input of the k-th audio data to the mixing circuit, and the gain setting circuit sets the k-th gain of the (p+1)-th to n-th gains to a value smaller than the j-th gain of the first to p-th gains.

Description

The present application is based on, and claims priority from JP Application Serial Number 2022-181649, filed Nov. 14, 2022, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field The present disclosure relates to an audio mixing device and an electronic device. 2. Related Art JP-A-2014-137790 discloses an audio output control device that acquires end time information related to an estimated time at which transmission of a meaningful content of earlier audio information is completed, acquires delay permissible information related to a permissible time of delay from a time when a request for outputting later audio information is made until the output of the later audio information starts, determines whether standby for outputting the later audio information is allowed according to a temporal relation between the end time information and the delay permissible information, stands by for outputting the later audio information under a condition that it is determined that standby is allowed, and outputs the later audio information after preferentially executing the output of the earlier audio information. In the device described in JP-A-2014-137790, there is a concern that output of either the earlier audio information or the later audio information may be delayed even when both are important information that requires urgency, which may delay a necessary treatment by a user with respect to the audio information whose output is delayed. SUMMARY An aspect of an audio mixing device according to the present disclosure includes: a mixing circuit configured to mix a plurality of pieces of audio data to be played included in first to p-th audio data among first to n-th audio data when the plurality of pieces of audio data are input in a same period, and output a mixing signal, n being an integer of three or more and p being an integer equal to or larger than two and less than n; and an arbitration circuit configured to arbitrate input of (p+1)-th to n-th audio data among the first to n-th audio data to the mixing circuit. An aspect of an electronic device according to the present disclosure includes the aspect of the audio mixing device. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an audio mixing device according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific configuration example of a mixing circuit. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a channel-priority setting table, a priority-gain setting table, arbitration setting information, and a gain reference table. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example in which a plurality of pieces of audio data having high urgency are simultaneously played by a first audio player according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific example in which a plurality of pieces of audio data having low urgency are simultaneously played by the first audio player according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a specific example in which audio data having high urgency is played by the first audio player during play of audio data having low urgency according to a second embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another specific example in which audio data having high urgency is played by the first audio player during play of audio data having low urgency according to the second embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another specific example in which audio data having high urgency is played by the first audio player during play of audio data having low urgency according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an audio mixing device according to a third embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a specific configuration example of a mixing circuit, an audio amplifier, and a protection circuit according to the third embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a priority selection table. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an audio mixing device according to a fourth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an audio mixing device according to a fifth embodiment. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a configuration of an audio mixing device according to a modification. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a configuration of an audio mixing device according to another modification. FIG. 16 is a functional block diagram showing an electronic device according to an embodiment. FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a warning device which is an example of the electronic device. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The embodiments to be described below do not unduly limit contents of the present disclosure described in the claims. Not all configurations to be described below are necessarily essential constituent elements of the present dis