Sound collection and emission apparatus, sound collection and emission method, and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12289583-B2
Application number	US-201917640305-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 9, 2019
Priority date	Sep 9, 2019
Publication date	Apr 29, 2025
Grant date	Apr 29, 2025

Abstract

Audibility of an outside sound needed for a driver inside an automobile to apprehend a danger and obtain a grasp of a situation necessary for driving is improved. A sound collection and emission apparatus ( 10 ) emits, on the basis of an outside acoustic signal which emanates from a sound source outside an automobile ( 90 ) and arrives at the automobile ( 90 ), an inside acoustic signal which is an acoustic signal derived from the outside acoustic signal to inside the automobile ( 90 ). A sound collection unit (M 1 ) collects the outside acoustic signal. A sound emission unit (S 1 ) emits the inside acoustic signal. A danger sound detection unit ( 11 ) determines whether the outside acoustic signal has a feature representing a danger defined in advance. A control unit ( 12 ) performs control that emits the inside acoustic signal from the sound emission unit (S 1 ) such that a driver of the automobile ( 90 ) is capable of perceiving the danger if the outside acoustic signal is determined to represent the danger.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A sound collection and emission method for an acoustic signal processing apparatus including a processor, a memory connected to the processor, and microphones to cause a driver to grasp a situation if a siren is included in acoustic signals collected by the microphones installed at an automobile, comprising:
detecting whether the siren emanating from outside the automobile is included in the acoustic signals collected by the microphones;
emitting acoustic signals obtained through conversion of the acoustic signals collected by the microphones from speakers installed inside the automobile if the siren is included in the acoustic signals collected by the microphones;
acquiring an operating state of the automobile; and
emitting the acoustic signals obtained through the conversion if the operating state of the automobile meets a criterion for determination defined in advance and not emitting the acoustic signals obtained through the conversion if the operating state does not meet the criterion for determination, wherein
the acoustic signals obtained through conversion of the acoustic signals collected by the microphones includes the siren,
the operating state of the automobile comprises at least one of a state of a transmission or a steering angle of a steering wheel, and
the sound collection and emission method comprises estimating a direction from which the siren arrives using the acoustic signals collected by the microphones, mixing the acoustic signals obtained through the conversion emitted from the speakers in accordance with the direction, and localizing a sound image of the acoustic signals obtained through the conversion in the direction.

2. The sound collection and emission method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
emitting the acoustic signals obtained through the conversion from the estimated direction.

3. A sound collection and emission method for an acoustic signal processing apparatus including a processor, a memory connected to the processor, and a microphone to cause a driver to grasp a situation if a siren is included in an acoustic signal collected by the microphone installed at an automobile, comprising:
detecting whether the siren emanating from outside the automobile is included in the acoustic signal collected by the microphone; and
suppressing an acoustic signal emitted inside the automobile if the siren is included, wherein
the acoustic signal processing apparatus acquires an operating state from the automobile,
in the operating state of the automobile, the acoustic signal processing apparatus controls whether to suppress the acoustic signal emitted inside the automobile on the basis of a criterion of whether the driver needs an outside sound in operation, and
the operating state of the automobile comprises at least one of a state of a transmission or a steering angle of a steering wheel.

4. The sound collection and emission method according to claim 3 , further comprising:
emitting, from a speaker installed inside the automobile, the acoustic signal for the driver to apprehend a vehicle which emanates the siren.

5. A sound collection and emission apparatus for emitting, on the basis of outside acoustic signals which emanate from a sound source outside a given automobile and arrives at the automobile, inside acoustic signals which are acoustic signals derived from the outside acoustic signals to inside the automobile, comprising:
processing circuitry configured to:
acquire information representing an operating state of the automobile; and
perform control on whether to emit the inside acoustic signals from sound emission units on the basis of the information representing the operating state, wherein
the inside acoustic signals are the outside acoustic signals themselves or acoustic signals which are obtained by converting the outside acoustic signals such that a driver is aware of the outside acoustic signals, and
the operating state of the automobile comprises at least one of a state of a transmission or a steering angle of a steering wheel, and
the processing circuitry is configured to estimate an arrival direction of a sound using the outside acoustic signals, mix the outside acoustic signals emitted from the sound emission units in accordance with the arrival direction, and localize a sound image in the arrival direction.

6. The sound collection and emission apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
the processing circuitry is configured to:
adjust volume of each of sound emission units, which respectively correspond to a plurality of directions different from each other, on the basis of the arrival direction.

7. A sound collection and emission method, implemented by a sound collection and emission apparatus that includes processing circuitry, for emitting, on the basis of outside acoustic signals which emanates from a sound source outside a given automobile and arrives at the automobile, inside acoustic signals which are acoustic signals derived from the outside acoustic signals to inside the automobile, comprising:
collecting, by sound collection units, the outside acoustic signals;
emitting, by sound emission units, the inside acoustic signals;
acquiring, by the processing circuitry, information representing an operating state of the automobile; and
performing, by the processing circuitry, control on whether to emit the inside acoustic signals from the sound emission units on the basis of the information representing the operating state, wherein
the inside acoustic signals are the outside acoustic signals themselves or signals which are obtained by converting the outside acoustic signals such that a driver is aware of the outside acoustic signals, and
the operating state of the automobile comprises at least one of a state of a transmission or a steering angle of a steering wheel, and
the sound collection and emission method comprises estimating an arrival direction of a sound using the outside acoustic signals collected by the sound collection units, mixing the outside acoustic signals emitted from the sound emission units in accordance with the arrival direction, and localizing a sound image in the arrival direction.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for causing a computer to function as a sound collection and emission apparatus according to claim 5 .

Assignees

• Nippon Telegraph & Telephone

Inventors

• Kobayashi Kazunori
• Ito Hiroaki
• Murata Shin

Classifications

• H04R2499/13

  Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles · CPC title

• H04R2430/01

  Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in sound systems · CPC title

• B60W2420/54

  Audio sensitive means, e.g. ultrasound · CPC title

• B60W40/04

  Traffic conditions · CPC title

• B60W50/14

  Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention · CPC title