JPS6327484Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Field of industrial application] The present invention provides automatic control of transmission and reception in a device that transmits and receives using a vibrating pick-up ear microphone that is worn in one ear. Regarding equipment. More specifically, the present invention provides an automatic transmitting/receiving control device that uses shock vibrations other than bone conduction audio signals as a control signal to control transmitting/receiving switching control, and is capable of preventing switching malfunctions due to lead wire friction noise. Related to automatic control equipment.

[Prior Art] A vibrating pick-up type microphone that picks up (vibrations; the same applies hereinafter) bone conduction audio signals transmitted to the external auditory canal wall, mastoid, forehead, throat, etc. is well known. Transmitting/receiving devices that perform wireless or wired transmission and reception by combining a microphone and a speaker with a normal transceiver are also known.

Transmitting/receiving devices using these vibrating pickup microphones are most suitable for use in high-noise environments because the microphones have the characteristic of picking up vibration sounds well but having difficulty picking up airborne sounds. Furthermore, since this microphone is attached to the ear canal, etc., while continuing to use both hands,
It has the feature of being able to perform transmission, etc.

The technology for combining a vibrating pickup microphone with these features with a speaker, connecting a wireless transmitter/receiver such as a two-way radio, and switching between transmitting and receiving is a press using a manual switch. Talk method or voice-activated control method that automatically switches between transmission and reception using the output of a microphone (using a voice control transmitter, etc., the transmission is switched according to the audio signal of the speaking voice, and this audio signal An automatic control method that switches to reception when no signal is available is known.
In addition, as an improved method of this voice-activated control method,
The following techniques are also known. That is, after adopting an audio frequency division method for the output of the speaker and the output of the microphone, the output of the microphone is inputted to the voice activation controller, and automatic switching between transmission and reception is performed according to speech. This is the case with the improved voice-activated control method.

However, each of these conventional techniques has the following drawbacks. First, since the press-talk method is a transmission/reception switching technique using a manual switch, it is necessary to use at least one hand for each switching operation, and it is impossible to engage in both manual operations while transmitting and receiving.

Next, since the voice-activated control method is a technology that automatically controls transmission and reception switching using the audio signal of the speaking voice, it is possible to engage in both manual tasks while transmitting and receiving. If you place a speaker for receiving calls in close proximity to the receiver, the output of this speaker will be input to the microphone, even though there is no voice from the sender or receiver.
This causes a malfunction in which the transmitter circuit is switched open.

If used under high noise conditions (for example, noise of 95 dB or more), this external noise may enter the microphone, causing a malfunction in which the transmission becomes open.

This technology is used by the microphone wearer (transmitter/receiver)
This speech is used as a control signal for the voice-activated controller, and when there is no control signal output from this speech, transmission is automatically stopped and the state is switched to reception, so that during transmission,
If the sender takes a breather or thinks about what to say next, there is a chance that the sender will stop speaking, which may cause the sender to stop transmitting, giving the recipient the wrong impression that the sender has stopped sending. Garu.

Since the transmission is switched to transmission for the first time depending on the speech, the phenomenon of the beginning of the first word of the speech (i.e., if the initial sound of the speech begins with a consonant such as "ka", only the vowel "a") ) may occur, and the transmitted content may become unclear.

Even when the sender/receiver speaks to a third party in the vicinity rather than to the recipient, the voice is heard, so the automatic controller is activated and the transmission is switched over, allowing the recipient to hear what is being said. This results in the following drawback. Therefore, the person wearing the microphone (the sender) needs to remove the microphone when speaking with a third party nearby instead of the receiver.

The above are the shortcomings or inconveniences of the conventional voice activation control system.

Next, the improved voice-activated control method uses a frequency division method for speaker output and microphone output, so it is a technology that can solve the above-mentioned drawbacks. In other words, this improved technology was developed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No.
As described in Publication No. 42404, in a method in which voice activation control is activated by a bone conduction audio signal of a speaking voice, the reception signal input to the speaker is set to 300 to 5000.
By passing the audio signal in the Hz band through a high pass filter, it is possible to detect a specific frequency (300Hz).
Pass it through a low-pass filter that removes the following received signals and removes components above the specific frequency (300Hz) from the microphone output (bone conduction audio signal output), and the output of this filter is used to control the voice activation controller. Since it is a technology that operates, it is effective in eliminating the above-mentioned drawbacks.
Even with this improved technique, the above-mentioned drawbacks cannot be solved at all. In other words, this technology also uses a bone conduction audio signal generated by the voice of a person wearing a microphone as a control signal for switching between transmission and reception.
It is obvious that this method causes disadvantages or inconveniences.
A similar technique is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 52-124089, but it suffers from the same drawbacks and inconveniences.

There is a technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 75911/1983 that attempts to solve the drawbacks of the press talk system and the voice activation control system (including improved types). The purpose of this technology is to prevent switching errors caused by low sound pressure such as speech and to ensure that the switching is performed reliably. It employs a circuit performed by the above and ~
Although the disadvantages of have been resolved, the disadvantages of have not been fully resolved. That is, the microphone in the above technology is of a sound pressure type, and the transmission of sound to the microphone is air-conducted sound, that is, transmission by air vibration. If a sound of 95 dB or more is generated from below, this high sound pressure will travel through the air and be input to the microphone, causing the circuit to switch.

Furthermore, although it is necessary to switch the circuits quickly and accurately, since the sound pressure type microphone of the above technique transmits sound through air conduction, it is easy to correct malfunctions in switching. Therefore, in the above technology, in order to prevent such malfunctions and to ensure accurate switching, the high sound pressure pulse signal is switched using two pulse signals at a predetermined time interval. However, with this method, not only must the two pulse signals be clearly generated, but also the signals must be reliably transmitted to the microphone for switching to take place. As a result, there are cases where switching is not performed even though a signal is generated, and the accuracy of switching using air-conducted sound is not yet sufficient.

In addition, microphones for transmitting and receiving using the press-talk method and the voice-activated control method (including improved types) can transmit and receive data separately using both ears, but blocking both ears does not prevent external sounds from being heard. This is dangerous because the user cannot hear, and is not desirable from a safety standpoint.The microphone is attached to one ear for transmission and reception.

Therefore, the present inventors detected the bone conduction audio signal described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 52-124809, and when performing transmission/reception switching based on this detection signal,
An attempt was made to use an impact signal other than the audio signal described in No. 75911 as a switching control signal.

However, in this case, the following drawbacks were found. That is, in the microphone, the lead wire that draws the output current of the vibration pickup element, which converts mechanical vibrations in the ear canal into electrical signals, is left as is (usually made of an insulator such as vinyl or other soft synthetic resin). When the microphone is worn, the lead wire comes into contact with the wearer's body, clothing, or other objects (e.g., a sound conduit, etc.) and is exposed to mechanical vibrations. The disadvantage is that the microphone picks up noise. As a result, the noise may be input to the microphone, causing a malfunction in which the transmission becomes open.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and solves all the drawbacks and inconveniences mentioned above, eliminates noise caused by lead wires, and prevents malfunctions. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic transmission/reception control device that controls switching between transmission and reception and enables accurate and good transmission and reception.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The automatic transmission/reception control device of the present invention, which solves the above technical problems, picks up and transmits audio signals using a microphone worn in one ear, and picks up and transmits audio signals through a speaker. listening to the microphone, using an impact vibration other than an audio signal generated by the microphone wearer himself and transmitted to and picked up by the microphone or another vibration pickup type ear microphone for control through the bone tissue as a control signal;
In the transmitting/receiving device configured to alternately switch between transmission and reception according to the input order of the control signals, the transmission is of a vibration type that picks up bone conduction audio signals from the wall of the external auditory canal, and the reception is of the vibration type. The microphone is of an air conduction type in which the received sound is heard through a sound conduit that connects the microphone to a speaker provided outside the microphone, and the transmission lead wire is enclosed in the sound conduit and connected to the transmitting/receiving device. It is characterized by

[Structure of the invention] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the invention is not limited to the following embodiments.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of an automatic transmission/reception control device according to the present invention, Figs. 2 and 3 are block diagrams showing other principles, and Figs. 4 and 6 are transmission/reception according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the ear microphone used in FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the ear microphone used in FIG. FIG. 3 is a partially cross-sectional perspective view.

In each figure, A is a transmission system, and 1 is a vibration pickup type ear microphone that picks up a bone conduction audio signal transmitted to the wall of the external auditory canal, converts it into an electrical signal, and outputs it. 2 amplifies the output of the microphone 1 with an amplifier 3, and then
The transmitting main circuit 4 indicates an ON/OFF switching circuit that opens and closes the transmitting main circuit 2 in accordance with the input of a control signal.

In the present invention, as a control signal for opening and closing the main transmitter circuit 2, impact vibrations other than audio signals generated by the person wearing the microphone 1 and transmitted to the microphone 1 through his or her own bone tissue and picked up are used. One of its characteristics is to use
There are two. Another feature of the present invention is that transmission and reception are alternately switched according to the order in which the control signals are input to the microphone 1. Therefore, in the present invention, the output of the microphone 1 is filtered through a low-pass filter that passes a frequency of, for example, 200Hz or less (preferably 130Hz or less), or a low-pass filter that passes a frequency of, for example, 50 to 200Hz (preferably 80 to 130Hz).
After passing the output through a low-pass or band-pass filter 5, such as a band-pass filter that passes a specific frequency band within the range of Hz), an automatic switching controller 6 switches and operates the transmitting/receiving switching circuit 4 when the output is inputted. input.

In order to operate the automatic switching controller 6 only by the control signal used in the present invention, in addition to using a specific low-pass or band-pass filter 5 as described above, as shown in FIG. Another control vibration pickup type microphone 1A that picks up a frequency band (200 Hz or less, or a specific frequency band within the range of 50 to 200 Hz) may be provided, and its output may be input to the automatic switching controller 6. That is, one of the other features of the present invention is that
A vibration pickup type microphone 1 or 1A is used as the control signal pickup means.

The impact vibration as a control signal used in the present invention is generated by, for example, a person wearing the microphone 1 closing his or her jaw, causing an impact between the teeth of the upper jaw and the teeth of the lower jaw. The impact vibration generated in this way has a difference of about 20 dB in the frequency band below 200 Hz compared to the bone conduction audio signal caused by the speech of the microphone wearer, and therefore the bone conduction audio signal caused by the speech is controlled. There is no risk of operating the automatic switching controller 6 as a signal, and the level of vibration caused by external noise is lower than that of the above-mentioned impact vibration, so the vibration of the external auditory canal wall, etc. caused by this external noise is automatically used as a control signal. There is no risk of activating the switching controller 6. That is, in the present invention, such effects can be easily obtained by selecting the characteristics of the filter 5 or the characteristics of the control vibration pickup type microphone 1A.

In each figure, B indicates a receiving system which is combined with the transmitting system A to constitute the transmitter/receiver _P1 , 7 indicates the main receiving circuit that receives the external transmission signal, and 8 indicates the electrical signal output. 4 indicates a transmitting/receiving switching circuit, and 10 indicates an air conduction type speaker (including sound pressure type earphones; the same applies hereinafter) for converting a received electrical signal into a sound wave.

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, an automatic switching controller 6 connects a transmitting/receiving switching circuit 4A that turns ON/OFF the input of the audio signal from the microphone 1 to the transmitting main circuit 2, and a speaker 10 of the receiving main circuit 7. The switching circuit 4B that turns on/off the received signal output for the two may be configured to be able to perform switching control so that when one is on, the other is turned off.

The specific configuration of the automatic transmission/reception control device according to the present invention having the above configuration is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, for example.
As shown in the figure.

The embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 uses an ear microphone that picks up bone conduction audio signals from the wall of the external auditory canal as the microphone 1.
The case is shown in which a portable wireless transmitter/receiver such as a normal FM radio is used as the transmitter/receiver main body _P1 , and an air conduction type speaker 10 is built in the portable wireless transmitter/receiver main body _P1 . 10 is connected to an ear microphone through a sound conduit 16 (for example, a rubber tube, etc.) to listen to the received sound, and shows a specific configuration of the principle diagram shown in FIG. 1.

To describe this embodiment in detail, an ear microphone 1 is inserted into the ear canal and worn, and the microphone body 1a (for example, made of metal such as aluminum or hard plastic material) contacts the wall of the ear canal to transmit bone conduction audio signals. (formed in a cylindrical shape so that it can be inserted into the ear canal), and a vibration pick-up such as a piezoelectric element that vibrates at an overspeed in response to the vibration of the microphone body 1 and converts bone conduction audio signals into electrical signals. It is composed of an element 1b, a support member 1C that supports the pick-up element, and a lead wire 1f.
is enclosed in the sound pipe 16 and connected to the transceiver main body _P1 . In addition, the code|symbol 17 shows a sound guide hole. On the other hand, the portable transmitter P ₁ has a built-in transmitting amplifier 3, receiving amplifier 8, transmitting main circuit 2, receiving main circuit 7, switching circuit 9, speaker 10, battery power source 11, etc. It is composed of an antenna 12, a power switch 13, a volume 14, etc., and is further connected to a control section C including a filter 5 and a controller 6.

A typical example of a specific combination of the transmitting system A and the receiving system B in the present invention is as follows.

[a] An ear hook case in which an air conduction type speaker is held in a headphone, a hat such as a helmet, the string part of glasses, the back of the ear shell, etc. (member 15 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7). It was a transmitting/receiving device configured to be attached to or built in the earphone, etc., and listen to the received sound with the ear on the same side as the ear to which the ear microphone was attached.Moreover, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the speaker is a sound pressure type speaker 10, and the transmitting/receiving device has a configuration in which the output of the sound pressure type speaker 10 is introduced into the ear microphone 1 through a sound conduit 16 (preferably an elastic tube such as rubber or synthetic resin).

[b] The outer ear to which the ear microphone 1 is attached is covered with an ear muff, the air conduction type speaker 10 is provided inside the ear muff, the output is introduced through a sound pipe, and the ear microphone 1 is attached to the ear muff.
This is a transmitting/receiving device configured to connect.

[Operation of the invention] The operation of the automatic transmission/reception control device according to the invention having the above configuration is as follows.

First, the sender and receiver (the person wearing ear microphone 1)
Shock vibration (first
This first control signal is picked up by the microphone 1, its output is amplified by the amplifier 3, selected by the low-pass or band-pass filter 5, and sent to the controller 6. Since this is input and activated, the transmission/reception switching circuit 4 is automatically switched from reception to transmission state. So, when the sender/receiver occurs for sending,
Microphone 1 transmits the bone conduction audio signal from the speaking voice.
is picked up, passed through the amplifier 3, and transmitted from the main transmitter circuit 2 to the outside by wireless or wire.
At this time, since the main receiving circuit 7 is in a closed state, the speaker 10 does not output any output. Next, when the sender/receiver attempts to receive data, the teeth are made to impact again with a "click" to generate an impact vibration (second control signal).
All you have to do is generate. That is, like the first control signal, this second control signal is input to the microphone 1, its output is input to the filter 5 via the amplifier 3, and its output is input to the controller 6. Therefore, the transmission/reception switching circuit 4 is automatically switched from the transmission state to the reception state by the output of the controller 6. Even if the sender/receiver talks to a third party in this state, even if the external noise is intense, the send/receive switching circuit 4 will not be switched.

The transmission/reception switching circuit 4 or 4A, 4B used in the present invention is a transistor switching circuit, a mechanical relay switch, a semiconductor relay switch circuit formed by a combination of transistors, etc., and the transmission main circuit 2 and the reception main circuit 7 are simultaneously operated. It is never open or closed.

Furthermore, in the present invention, it is also possible to design the circuit so that it is always set in the transmitting state and switched to the receiving state by the first control signal.

Furthermore, as the automatic switching controller 6 used in the present invention, semiconductors (semi-conductors such as LM170 type, LM270 type, LM370 manufactured by National Semiconductor Co., Ltd.) known for use in radio, audio and television circuits are used.
type, etc. ) and a flip-flop circuit.

In the present invention, the microphone wearer can monitor the movement of the meters that are attached to a normal transmitter/receiver and indicate the transmitting or receiving sensitivity.
Although it is possible to know the status of transmission or reception, it is also possible to provide a lamp or the like to display these statuses.

[Effects of the invention] Since the present invention has the above-described configuration and operation, it can solve the technical problems of the invention described above, and can eliminate all the drawbacks of the conventional voice-activated control method. In particular, it is possible to transmit and receive in high-noise conditions while performing manual labor, and since the lead wire is enclosed in the sound conduit, noise caused by the lead wire is prevented, allowing accurate transmission and reception without causing malfunctions due to the noise. Switching control can be performed, and since the lead wire and the sound pipe can be combined into one, handling becomes easy. Furthermore, since a vibrating pick-up type ear microphone that picks up bone conduction audio signals is used, there is no possibility that the circuit will be switched due to external noise. Furthermore, since the transmission to the microphone is performed by bone conduction, the transmission is performed accurately and sufficiently, so that the circuit can perform the operation reliably without causing any malfunction.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of an automatic transmission/reception control device according to the present invention, Figs. 2 and 3 are block diagrams showing other principles, and Figs. 4 and 6 are transmission/reception according to the present invention. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the ear microphone used in FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the ear microphone used in FIG. FIG. 3 is a partially cross-sectional perspective view. In the figure, 1 is a vibration pickup type ear microphone, 1A is a vibration pickup type ear microphone for control, 2 is a main transmitter circuit, 3 and 8 are amplifiers,
4, 4A is a transmitting/receiving switching circuit, 5 is a low pass or band pass filter, 6 is an automatic switching controller, 7
1 is a receiving main circuit, and 10 is an air conduction type or bone conduction type speaker.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A microphone worn in one ear picks up and transmits an audio signal, and a speaker listens to the received sound, which is generated by the microphone wearer himself and transmitted through his bone tissue to the microphone or other control vibration pick-up type ear. In a transmitting/receiving device, the transmitting/receiving device has a configuration in which an impact vibration other than an audio signal transmitted to a microphone and picked up is used as a control signal, and transmission and reception are alternately switched according to the input order of the control signal. It is a vibration type that picks up a conducted audio signal, and the receiver is an air conduction type that listens to the received sound via a sound conduit connecting the microphone to a speaker provided outside the vibration type microphone, and the transmitter An automatic control device for transmitting and receiving, characterized in that a lead wire is enclosed in the sound guide tube and connected to a transmitting and receiving device.