Audio processing device, audio processing method, recording medium, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10104470-B2
Application number	US-201213591727-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 22, 2012
Priority date	Oct 7, 2011
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

An audio processing device includes a plurality of loudspeakers outputting audio for each band, a correction filter correcting an audio signal including a plurality of bands in accordance with characteristics of the plurality of loudspeakers, and a plurality of band division filters dividing the audio signal corrected by the correction filter into bands of the loudspeakers so that a phase difference of phase characteristics is approximately 0 degree or approximately 180 degrees. The correction filter is an inverse filter set with an impulse response based on the audio outputted for each band from the plurality of loudspeakers via the plurality of band division filters.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An audio processing device comprising:
a plurality of loudspeakers each outputting audio for a respective band of a plurality of bands of an audio signal; and
a correction filter configured to, prior to division of the audio signal, correct the audio signal in accordance with characteristics of a respective one of the plurality of loudspeakers via a plurality of band division filters,
wherein phase waveforms representing frequency-phase characteristics of respective band division filters of the plurality of band division filters exactly match so that a phase difference of the frequency-phase characteristics between respective band division filters of the plurality of band division filters is approximately 0 degrees or approximately 180 degrees,
wherein the plurality of band division filters divide the corrected audio signal into the bands of the plurality of loudspeakers so that a phase difference between audio signals outputted via respective bands of the plurality of bands is approximately 0 degrees or approximately 180 degrees, and
wherein the correction filter is an inverse filter set with an impulse response based on a measurement by picking up, with use of a microphone, the audio outputted for each band from the plurality of loudspeakers via the plurality of band division filters.

2. The audio processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of band division filters divide the corrected audio signal only for a predetermined frequency band into the bands of the plurality of loudspeakers so that the phase difference between the audio signals is approximately 0 degrees or approximately 180 degrees.

3. The audio processing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an amplifying unit amplifying the audio signal,
wherein the amplifying unit is formed of
one amplifying unit amplifying the audio signal before division by the plurality of band division filters or
a plurality of amplifying units amplifying the audio signal for each band obtained from division by the plurality of band division filters.

4. The audio processing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an additional filter adding an acoustic characteristic of another audio processing device to the audio signal,
wherein the acoustic characteristic of the another audio processing device is downloaded from a library connected via a network.

5. The audio processing device according to claim 4 , wherein the additional filter is formed of
one additional filter adding the acoustic characteristic of the another audio processing device to the audio signal before division by the plurality of band division filters or
a plurality of additional filters adding the acoustic characteristic of the another audio processing device for each band obtained from division by the plurality of band division filters.

6. An earphone comprising:
the audio processing device of claim 1 ,
wherein the audio signal to be inputted is a multichannel audio signal synthesized with an audio signal subjected to auditory lateralization with a head-related transfer function.

7. The audio processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the impulse response of the inverse filter is set based on a measured impulse response that is obtained from audio signals outputted from the plurality of loudspeakers without having been subjected to the correction by the correction filter.

8. The audio processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the measurement is measured by picking the audio signal outputted from the plurality of loudspeakers via the plurality of band division filters without the correction by the correction filter.

9. The audio processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of band division filters divide the audio signal corrected by the correction filter into the bands of the plurality of loudspeakers so that the phase difference of the frequency-phase characteristics between respective band division filters of the plurality of band division filters is approximately 0 degrees.

10. The audio processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of band division filters divide the audio signal corrected by the correction filter into the bands of the plurality of loudspeakers so that the phase difference of the frequency-phase characteristics between respective band division filters of the plurality of band division filters is approximately 180 degrees.

11. The audio processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of band division filters each divide the corrected audio signal by a respective frequency band corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of loudspeakers so that phases of divided frequency bands match each other and the frequency-phase characteristics of each one of the plurality of band division filters are set such that frequency-amplitude characteristics of corresponding frequency bands are approximately flattened.

12. The audio processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of band division filters each divide the corrected audio signal by a respective frequency band corresponding to the respective one of the plurality of loudspeakers so that phases of divided frequency bands match each other by being either in-phase or 180 degrees out-of-phase.

13. The audio processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of band division filters is further configured to include target frequency characteristics which divide the audio signal into bands of loudspeaker having various characteristics.

14. The audio processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the correction filter is further configured to, prior to division of the audio signal, simultaneously correct the audio signals outputted via the respective bands of the plurality of bands from respective speakers of the plurality of loudspeakers.

15. An audio processing method for an audio processing device including a plurality of loudspeakers each outputting audio for a respective band of a plurality of bands of an audio signal, the method comprising:
correcting, prior to division of the audio signal and with a correction filter, the audio signal in accordance with characteristics of a respective one of the plurality of loudspeakers via a plurality of band division filters,
wherein phase waveforms representing frequency-phase characteristics of respective filters of the plurality of band division filters exactly match so that a phase difference of the frequency-phase characteristics between respective band division filters of the plurality of band division filters is approximately 0 degrees or approximately 180 degrees; and
dividing, with the plurality of band division filters, the audio signal corrected by the correction filter into the bands of the plurality of loudspeakers so that a phase difference between audio signals outputted via respective bands of the plurality of bands is approximately 0 degrees or approximately 180 degrees,
wherein the correction filter is an inverse filter set with an impulse response based on a measurement by picking up, with use of a microphone, the audio outputted for each band from the plurality of loudspeakers via the plurality of band division filters.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having embodied thereon a program, which when executed by a computer controlling an audio processing device including a plurality of loudspeakers each outputting audio for a respective band of a plurality of bands of an audio signal, causes the computer to execute a method, the method comprising:
correcting, prior to division of the

Assignees

• Kon Homare
• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Kon Homare

Classifications

• H04R3/14

  Cross-over networks · CPC title

• H04R3/04 Primary

  for correcting frequency response · CPC title

• H04S1/005

  For headphones · CPC title