JPH0234399B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement in an audio output device that outputs pre-stored audio information in response to an audio output request.

[Technical Field] The present invention relates to an audio output device that controls the output speed of audio.

[Prior Art] Conventional audio output devices have a function of appropriately selecting audio information stored in a storage device in advance in response to an audio output request from the outside and outputting audio through an audio output device. If the next audio output request is input during output, the previous audio output will be aborted at that point, so if it is used for applications where output requests are input one after another at short time intervals, the above audio output will be aborted. It had the disadvantage that it occurred in succession, and the content could not be heard until the end.

There were devices that controlled the audio output speed according to the interval of audio output requests, but the time interval is the standard for comparing the length of audio information to be output with the interval of audio output requests. must be determined in advance, or because the reference time is set to a certain value, the length of the audio to be output is short and can be output completely before the next audio output request is input. However, the control of the audio output speed did not correspond to the length of the audio, and it was often uncomfortable to listen to, such as speeding up the audio output.

When changing the audio output speed, the pitch changes, so it becomes like playing a tape recorded at the standard speed by speeding up the rotation, and as the audio output speed changes, the pitch changes. The sound quality had deteriorated, making it extremely difficult to hear.

For example, as in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-153996, even if the voice output speed is changed once, the changed speed is not maintained, and when the next voice is uttered, it returns to the original speed, and the voice When the interval between output requests was short, the voice output speed increased and decreased repeatedly, making it difficult to hear.

[Objective] The present invention maintains the increased speed when a voice output request after a certain voice output request is input and the voice corresponding to the previous voice output request is not output, It is an object of the present invention to provide an audio output device that further increases the output speed of audio when the audio is being output.

[Example] An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the audio output device of the present invention. Reference numeral 2 denotes an input terminal for inputting an audio output request and address information. is output to the central processing unit 3. The central processing unit 3 controls devices to be described later, and reads audio information from the storage device 4 in accordance with address information input from the input terminal 2. The storage device 4 stores audio information in address order as shown in FIG. 2, and outputs the audio information addressed from the central processing unit 3.
The audio information read from the central processing unit 3 is sent to a speaker, which is an audio generator, via an audio control 6 that converts the audio information into an audio signal, according to the speed of a time axis conversion device 5 that determines the audio output speed. It is output from 7.

Here, the time axis converting device 5 is already known, so a detailed explanation will be omitted, but it has a function of removing pitch changes that occur when audio is played back at a speed different from that at the time of recording by expanding and compressing audio data on the time axis. has.

The speed setting for this time axis conversion device 5 is as follows:
This is performed by the central processing unit 3 in accordance with the contents of the auxiliary storage device 8 that stores speed information.

The auxiliary storage device 8 is reset by a reset signal input from the terminal 1, and is incremented by one by the central processing unit 3 depending on the state of the flip-flop 9 indicating that audio is being output.

The entire operation of the central processing unit 3 is explained in detail in the flowchart of FIG.

The principles are as follows.

Flip-flop F is set at the start of audio and reset when audio output ends or is interrupted.

The contents of the auxiliary storage device M are incremented by 1 each time an audio output interruption occurs within a range not exceeding a certain value.

The operation of the audio output device of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be explained below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 4.

Now, assume that the auxiliary storage device 8 can take on three values, 0, 1, and 2, where 0 indicates the basic speed, 1 indicates 1.5 times the speed, and 2 indicates the double speed.

At this time, when audio output requests are inputted from terminal 2 in the order of addresses 0, 1, 2, . . . at intervals of 2.5 seconds, the result is a timing chart as shown in FIG.

However, it is assumed that the audio output in FIG. 1 requires 3 seconds at the basic speed, and that the auxiliary storage device 8 and flip-flop 9 have initial values of 0.

(i) When an output request for address 0 occurs at time 1, the auxiliary storage device 8 and the flip-flop are at 0, so the voice output "product name code..." is started at the basic speed, and the flip-flop 9 is set to 1 (Step 1). →Step5→Step9→Step10). Audio output lasts 3 seconds.

(ii) An audio output request for address 1 occurs at time 3.5, 2.5 seconds later.

At this time, flip-flop F is (1), so audio output is interrupted and flip-flop F is (0).
will be reset to

Next, since the auxiliary storage device M is 0, it is increased by (1) and becomes (1). (1) shows 1.5 times the speed
A speed of 1.5 times is set in the time axis conversion device 5, audio output is started, and the flip-flop F is set to (1). Audio output lasts for 2 seconds (Step1→Step5→Step6→Step7→Step8→Step9)
→Step 10).

(iii) A voice output request for address 2 occurs at time 6, 2.5 seconds later.

At this time, since the audio output has already ended and the flip-flop F is (0), audio output is immediately started at a speed corresponding to the contents of the auxiliary storage device M, and the flip-flop F is set to (1) (Step 1). →Step5→Step9→Step10).

Since the contents of the auxiliary storage device are (1), the audio output continues for 2 seconds.

(iv) From then on, this state is maintained until the output request stops, so that audio output at a speed corresponding to the cycle of the output request is guaranteed.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the criterion for increasing the audio output speed is that the time point at which the audio output request is input is during audio output, where the output time may vary for each audio. This makes it possible to appropriately control the audio output speed corresponding to the audio output request.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when changing the audio output speed, time axis conversion is performed that does not change the pitch of the output audio, so even if the audio output speed is changed, the sound quality deteriorates. It is possible to prevent this from happening.

[Effect] As described above, according to the present invention, when an audio output request after a certain audio output request is input,
To provide an audio output device that maintains the increased speed when the audio corresponding to the previous audio output request is not output, and further increases the audio output speed when the audio is output. Can be done.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention, Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention.
The figure shows the audio data in the storage device, FIG. 3 is a time chart, and FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the flow of operation. 1 is an input terminal, 3 is a central processing unit, and 4 is a memory. 5 is a time axis conversion device, 8 is an auxiliary storage device, and 9 is a flip-flop.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Output means for outputting audio, if audio is being output by the output means when an audio output request is input, increasing the audio output speed; When an audio output request is input, if the audio corresponding to the previous audio output request is not being output, maintain the increased speed, and if it is being output, the audio output speed is further increased. An audio output device characterized in that it has an output control means for controlling the output means so as to increase the number of sounds. 2. When outputting audio by changing the output speed of the audio, the output control means expands and compresses the audio data with respect to the time axis, and outputs the audio by changing the output speed of the audio without changing the pitch. The audio output device according to claim 1, wherein the audio output device performs time axis conversion in order to output.