Reproducing device, headphone and reproducing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9628896-B2
Application number	US-88796710-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 22, 2010
Priority date	Oct 28, 2009
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

A reproducing device includes a reproducing unit configured to reproduce a contents sound, an output unit configured to output the contents sound which has been reproduced using the reproducing unit to a headphone, a talk detection unit configured to detect that a headphone fitter who fits the headphone talks with a person and an image normal position control unit configured to move the normal position of the image of the contents sound which has been reproduced using the reproducing unit to an arbitrary position when the talk detecting unit has detected that the headphone fitter has started talking with the person.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A reproducing device comprising:
circuitry configured to:
reproduce a contents sound;
output the contents sound which has been reproduced to a headphone;
detect that a headphone fitter who wears the headphone talks with a person, by analyzing right and left sound signals captured by right and left microphones of the headphone;
generate a control signal for moving a normal position of an image of the contents sound in response to a determination that the headphone fitter talks with the person; and
move the normal position of the image of the reproduced contents sound to a position that is opposite a position of the person with respect to the headphone fitter and in response to the generated control signal,
wherein the circuitry is configured to detect that the headphone fitter is talking to the person in an event a movement of the face of the headphone fitter is detected based on a displacement of the position of the person, the displacement being detected based on analyzing the right and left sound signals captured by the right and the left microphones of the headphone, and
wherein the circuitry is configured to turn noise cancellation into an OFF state in response to the determination that the headphone fitter has started talking with the person.

2. The reproducing device according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to:
detect that the headphone fitter has finished talking with the person,
generate a control signal for moving the normal position of the image of the contents sound in response to a determination that the headphone fitter finished talking with the person, and
move the normal position of the image of the reproduced contents sound to the normal position based on the control signal.

3. The reproducing device according to claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is configured to analyze external sounds which have been picked up using the left and right microphones to determine that the headphone fitter is speaking and judge that the headphone fitter has started talking with the person in response thereto.

4. The reproducing device according to claim 3 , wherein the circuitry is configured to judge, in an event the external sounds which have been picked up using the left and right microphones are analyzed and a state in which the headphone fitter does not speak to the person has lasted for a fixed time period, that the headphone fitter has finished talking with the person.

5. The reproducing device according to claim 4 , wherein the circuitry is configured to:
cancel noise by synthesizing a sound which is out of phase with the external sounds which have been picked up using the left and right microphones with the reproduced contents sound, and
synthesize the external sounds which have been picked up using the left and right microphones with the reproduced contents sound.

6. The reproducing device according to claim 5 , wherein
the circuitry is configured to, in an event the circuitry synthesizes the external sounds which have been picked up using the right and left microphones with the reproduced contents sound, increase a volume of sounds in a predetermined frequency band in the external sounds which have been picked up using the right and left microphones.

7. The reproducing device according to claim 3 , wherein the circuitry is configured to perform a beam-forming process of emphasizing a sound which comes from a specific position of the external sounds which have been picked up using the right and left microphones.

8. The reproducing device according to claim 3 , wherein
the circuitry is configured to judge, in an event the external sounds which have been picked up using the right and left microphones are analyzed and a predetermined word has been detected as a result of execution of analysis, that the headphone fitter has started talking with the person.

9. The reproducing device according to claim 2 , wherein
the headphone includes a camera that photographs a subject which is present in front of the headphone fitter, and
the circuitry is configured to judge, in case a person-detecting process of detecting the person from an image which has been taken using the camera is performed and the person has not been detected as a result of execution of the person-detecting process, that the headphone fitter has finished talking with the person.

10. The reproducing device according to claim 1 , wherein
the circuitry is configured to judge, in the event the movement of the face which has been detected has turned to a predetermined movement, that the headphone fitter has started talking with the person.

11. The reproducing device according to claim 1 , wherein
the headphone includes a bone-conduction microphone, and
the circuitry is configured to judge, in an event sounds which have been picked up using the bone-conduction microphone are analyzed and speaking of the headphone fitter has been detected, that the headphone fitter has started talking with the person.

12. The reproducing device according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to:
set a mode of the reproducing device to a talking mode in response to the determination that the headphone fitter is talking with the person, and
shift a mode of the reproducing device to a listening mode from the talking mode in an event the circuitry detects that the person has finished talking to the person.

13. The reproducing device according to claim 1 , wherein in an event signal levels of the signals captured by the right and the left microphones are less than a predetermined threshold value, the circuitry is configured to detect the headphone fitter is not talking to the person.

14. A headphone comprising:
circuitry configured to:
reproduce a contents sound,
detect that a headphone fitter who wears the headphone talks with a person, by analyzing right and left sound signals captured by right and left microphones of the headphone,
generate a control signal for moving a normal position of an image of the contents sound in response to a determination that the headphone fitter talks with the person, and
move the normal position of the image of the reproduced contents sound to a position that is opposite a position of the person with respect to the headphone fitter and in response to the generated control signal; and

a loudspeaker configured to output the reproduced contents sound, wherein the circuitry detects that the headphone fitter is talking to the person in an event a movement of a face of the headphone fitter is detected based on a displacement of the position of the person, the displacement being detected based on analyzing the right and left sound signals captured by the right and left microphones of the headphone,
wherein the circuitry is configured to turn noise cancellation into an OFF state in response to the determination that the headphone fitter has started talking with the person.

15. A reproducing method comprising:
detecting that a headphone fitter who wears a headphone talks with a person by analyzing right and left sound signals captured by right and left microphones of the headphone;
generating a control signal for moving a normal position of an image of a contents sound in response to a determination that the headphone fitter talks with the person;
moving a normal position of an image of a reproduced contents sound to a position that is opposite a position of the person with respect to the headphone fitter and in response to the generated control signal; and
outputting the contents sound to the headphone,
wherein the headphone fitter is detected as talking to the p

Assignees

• Ichimura Kiminobu
• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Ichimura Kiminobu

Classifications

• H04R1/1041

  Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements (switches in general H01H) · CPC title

• H04S2400/11

  Positioning of individual sound objects, e.g. moving airplane, within a sound field (H04S2420/13 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04R2430/20

  Processing of the output signals of the acoustic transducers of an array for obtaining a desired directivity characteristic (H04R2203/12 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04S2400/13

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

• H04R5/033

  Headphones for stereophonic communication {(details thereof, e.g. relating to batteries, cables or control elements H04R1/10)} · CPC title