Electronic apparatus, control method thereof and computer program product using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10972849-B2
Application number	US-201816032472-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2018
Priority date	Aug 11, 2017
Publication date	Apr 6, 2021
Grant date	Apr 6, 2021

Abstract

An electronic apparatus includes a memory configured to store instructions; and a processor configured to execute the instructions to: separate an input audio signal into a plurality of channel signals; identify a gain corresponding to a feature difference between a first channel signal, from among the plurality of channel signals, and a second channel signal, from among the plurality of channel signals; and adjust relative ratios among a plurality of output signals according to the identified gain to generate an output audio signal in which a sound image is varied.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic apparatus comprising:
a signal receiver configured to receive an audio signal;
an output interface configured to be output an audio signal; and
a processor configured to:
separate the received audio signal into a plurality of channel signals;
identify a gain corresponding to a phase difference between a left channel signal from among the plurality of channel signals and a right channel signal from among the plurality of channel signals; and
control to adjust relative ratios among a plurality of output signals for a plurality of speakers, respectively, which are obtained from the left channel signal and the right channel signal, according to the identified gain to change a sound image of the audio signal outputted through the output interface,

wherein the processor is further configured to identify the phase difference between the left channel signal and the right channel signal according to a number of time sections of the received audio signal, and
wherein the plurality of output signals comprise:
a first left sub channel signal and a second left sub channel signal which are obtained based on a first gain corresponding to a first phase difference between the left channel signal and the right channel signal, and
a first right sub channel signal and a second right sub channel signal which are obtained based on a second gain corresponding to a second phase difference between the left channel signal and the right channel signal.

2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to adjust a relative ratio between the left channel signal and the right channel signal generated from the separated plurality of channel signals.

3. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
convert the left channel signal and the right channel signal into frequency domains; and
identify a phase difference between the left channel signal and the right channel signal, converted into the frequency domains.

4. The electronic apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to identify the phase difference according to a plurality of frequency sub-bands for the left channel signal and the right channel signal converted into the frequency domains.

5. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to identify the phase difference based on low bandpass signals of the left channel signal and the right channel signal.

6. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to identify a size difference or a time difference between the left channel signal and the right channel signal.

7. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the outputted audio signal comprises more channel signals than the audio signal received through the signal receiver.

8. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a display configured to display an image,
wherein the received audio signal corresponds to an image content displayed on the display.

9. A control method of an electronic apparatus comprising:
receiving an audio signal;
separating the received audio signal into a plurality of channel signals;
identifying a gain corresponding to a phase difference between a left channel signal from among the plurality of channel signals and a right channel signal from among the plurality of channel signals;
adjusting relative ratios among a plurality of output signals for a plurality of speakers, respectively, which are obtained from the left channel signal and the right channel signal, according to the identified gain for generating an audio signal in which a sound image is varied; and
outputting the generated audio signal,
wherein the method further comprises identifying the phase difference between the left channel signal and the right channel signal according to a number of time sections of the received audio signal, and
wherein the plurality of output signals comprise:
a first left sub channel signal and a second left sub channel signal which are obtained based on a first gain corresponding to a first phase difference between the left channel signal and the right channel signal, and
a first right sub channel signal and a second right sub channel signal which are obtained based on a second gain corresponding to a second phase difference between the left channel signal and the right channel signal.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the adjusting comprises adjusting a relative ratio between the left channel signal and the right channel signal generated from the separated plurality of channel signals.

11. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
converting the left channel signal and the right channel signal into frequency domains; and
identifying a phase difference between the left channel signal and the right channel signal, converted into the frequency domains.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the identifying the phase difference comprises identifying the phase difference according to a plurality of frequency sub-bands for the left channel signal and the right channel signal converted into the frequency domains.

13. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising identifying the phase difference based on low bandpass signals of the left channel signal and the right channel signal.

14. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising identifying a size difference or a time difference between the left channel signal and the right channel signal.

15. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the outputted audio signal comprises more channel signals than the received audio signal.

16. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having stored thereon a program which, when executed, causes an electronic apparatus to perform a method comprising:
separating an input audio signal into a plurality of channel signals;
identifying a gain corresponding to a phase difference between a left channel signal from among the plurality of channel signals and a right channel signal from among the plurality of channel signals; and
adjusting relative ratios among a plurality of output signals for a plurality of speakers, respectively, which are obtained from the left channel signal and the right channel signal, according to the identified gain for generating an output audio signal in which a sound image is varied,
wherein the method further comprises identifying the phase difference between the left channel signal and the right channel signal according to a number of time sections of the input audio signal, and
wherein the plurality of output signals comprise:
a first left sub channel signal and a second left sub channel signal which are obtained based on a first gain corresponding to a first phase difference between the left channel signal and the right channel signal, and
a first right sub channel signal and a second right sub channel signal which are obtained based on a second gain corresponding to a second phase difference between the left channel signal and the right channel signal.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Yoon-Jae
• Lee Woo-Jung
• Song Young-Suk
• Park Hae-Kwang

Classifications

• H04S2420/13

  Application of wave-field synthesis in stereophonic audio systems · CPC title

• H04S5/005 Primary

  of the pseudo five- or more-channel type, e.g. virtual surround · CPC title

• H04S1/007

  in which the audio signals are in digital form (data reduction aspects thereof based on psychoacoustics G10L19/02) · CPC title

• H04S1/002 Primary

  Non-adaptive circuits, e.g. manually adjustable or static, for enhancing the sound image or the spatial distribution (control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field H04S7/30) · CPC title

• H04R2499/15

  Transducers incorporated in visual displaying devices, e.g. televisions, computer displays, laptops · CPC title