Abstract:
An audio processing device, including: an audio processing unit, for transforming a source audio signal into a first audio signal and a second audio signal, wherein if the source audio signal is an audio signal with multi-channels, the first audio signal is one of the multi-channels and the second audio signal is another one of multi-channels; a wireless communication unit, for outputting a coding signal according to the second audio signal; and a speaker unit, for outputting the first audio signal only.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority of Taiwan Patent Application No. 99141415, filed on Nov. 30, 2010, the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The disclosure relates generally to devices for audio processing, and more particularly relates to multi-channel audio application systems with stereo efficacy. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0005]    There must be at least two independent audio channels to generate stereo sound, and output the stereo sound via a pair of speakers disposed symmetrically. However, there is only one single speaker for most mobile phones or smart phones. Thus, they can not perform stereo sound efficacy. 
         [0006]    Nowadays, mobile phones and smart phones use low pass filters, high pass filters and equalizers by an audio process chip, to transform digital signals into analog signals, separate left channel signals and right channel signals, and then output them to speakers for playing. However, space in mobile phones and smart phones are limited, when configuring for both left channel and right channel speakers. Thus, in conventional designs, mobile phones and smart phones usually transform audio signals into full-differential mono audio signal, and output them via a single speaker. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    In an embodiment of an audio processing device, an audio processing device comprises: an audio processing unit, for transforming a source audio signal into a first audio signal and a second audio signal, wherein when the source audio signal is an audio signal with multiple channels, the first audio signal is one of the channels and the second audio signal is another one of the channels; a wireless communication unit, for outputting a coding signal according to the second audio signal; and a speaker unit, for outputting the first audio signal only. 
         [0008]    In an embodiment of a multi-channel audio application system, a multi-channel audio application system comprises: a first device, which comprises a first audio processing unit, for transforming a source audio signal into a first audio signal and a second audio signal, wherein when the source audio signal is an audio signal with multiple channels, the first audio signal is one of the channels and the second audio signal is another one of the channels; a first wireless communication unit, for outputting a coding signal according to the second audio signal; and a first speaker unit, for outputting the first audio signal only; and a second device, which comprise a second wireless communication unit, for receiving the coding signal; a second audio processing unit, for generating a third audio signal according to the coding signal; and a speaker unit, for outputting the third audio signal. 
         [0009]    In an embodiment of a multi-channel audio application method, a multi-channel audio application method comprises: matching a first device with a second device; transforming a source audio signal into a first audio signal and a second audio signal, and transmitting the second audio signal to the second device by the first device; outputting the first audio signal by the first device; and outputting the second audio signal by the second device. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    The invention will become more fully understood by referring to the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of an audio processing device; 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of a multi-channel audio application system; 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of a multi-channel audio application system; 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart of an embodiment of a method for the multi-channel audio application system shown in  FIG. 2 ; 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart of an embodiment of a method for the multi-channel audio application system shown in  FIG. 2 ; and 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart of an embodiment of a method for the multi-channel audio application system shown in  FIG. 3 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0017]    The making and using of the embodiments of the present invention are discussed in detail below. It should be appreciated, however, that the embodiments provide many applicable inventive concepts that can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments discussed are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the invention, and do not limit the scope of the invention. 
         [0018]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of an audio processing device  100 . The audio processing device  100  comprises an audio processing unit  110 , a wireless communication unit  120 , a speaker unit  130 , a memory  140 , and a conversation module  150 . The audio processing unit  110  receives an arbitrary source audio signal and transforms the source audio signal into an audio signal  112  and an audio signal  114 . The wireless communication unit  120  processes matching with other devices, receives the audio signal  114 , and transforms the audio signal  114  into a coding signal  122  for transmitting the content of the audio signal  114  to a remote device  160 . The speaker unit  130  outputs the audio signal  112 . The memory  140  stores the data of the source audio signal. The conversation module  150  provides the capability of external calling and receives the external audio as the source audio signal. Thus, the audio processing device  100  can transform the source audio signal into a plurality of audio signals, and transmit parts of the audio signals to an arbitrary remote device via the wireless communication unit  120  for playing. For example, the audio processing device  100  can transform the source audio signal with stereo sound into a left channel signal and a right channel signal, output the left channel signal, and transmit the right channel signal to a remote device for playing. 
         [0019]      FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of a multi-channel audio application system. The multi-channel audio application system comprises an audio processing device  200 A and an audio processing device  200 B, wherein the audio processing device  200 A comprises an audio processing unit  210 A, a wireless communication unit  220 A, a speaker unit  230 A, a memory  240 A, and a conversation module  250 A, and the audio processing device  200 B comprises an audio processing unit  210 B, a wireless communication unit  220 B, a speaker unit  230 B, a memory  240 B, and a conversation module  250 B. The audio processing unit  210 A receives an arbitrary source audio signal and transforms the source audio signal into an audio signal  212 A and an audio signal  214 A. The wireless communication unit  220 A receives the audio signal  214 A, and transforms the audio signal  214 A into a coding signal  222 A for transmitting the content of the audio signal  214 A to the wireless communication unit  220 B of the audio processing device  200 B which has been matched, the audio processing unit  210 B generates the audio signal  214 B accordingly, and then outputs the audio signal  214 B through the speaker unit  230 B. The speaker unit  230 A outputs the audio signal  212 A. The audio processing device  200 A and the audio processing device  200 B can be hand-held communication devices such as mobile phones, smart phones, or PDAs. The wireless communication unit  220 A and the wireless communication unit  220 B can be infrared transmission, bluetooth transmission, WI-FI, or other wireless transmission interface. The memory  240 A and memory  240 B might store the data of source audio signal, or register data for the audio processing unit  210 A and the audio processing unit  210 B. The conversation module  250 A and the conversation module  250 B (for example, microphone) provide the capability of external calling or receiving the external audio of a user for the audio processing device  200 A and the audio processing device  200 B. 
         [0020]    In the illustrated embodiment, if the source audio signal is two-channel audio, the audio signal  212 A can be left-channel audio and the audio signal  214 A can be right-channel audio, and vice versa. Further, the audio signal  212 A and the audio signal  214 A could be the same audio signal such as a left-channel audio signal or a right-channel audio signal. In another illustrated embodiment, if the source audio signal is more than two channels, the audio processing unit  210 A transforms the multi-channel signal into a plurality of audio signals, and then assigns one of the audio signals to the audio signal  212 A according to user requirements and then outputs it through the speaker unit  230 A. Further, one or parts of the other audio signals is transformed into the audio signal  214 A by the wireless communication unit  220 A. Accordingly, a single audio processing device has only one speaker, but it can still play stereo audio or multi-channel audio with other audio processing devices by the method described above. For example, two audio processing devices could play two channel audios of a multi-channel audio, and seven audio processing devices could play each channel audio of the seven-channel audio. It is to be understood, although the audio processing device  200 A transmits an audio signal with one channel audio of the source audio signal to the audio processing device  200 B for playing in the embodiment described above, however, the audio processing device  200 B could also transmit an audio signal with one channel audio of the source audio signal to the audio processing device  200 A for playing according to the same method. In addition, the audio processing device  200 A and the audio processing device  200 B are the same construction in the embodiment, but the invention is not limited thereto. The audio processing device  200 B could be any device which can receive and decode the coding signal  222 A for playing. 
         [0021]    In the illustrated embodiments, the source audio signal may be provided by the memory  240 A of the audio processing device  200 A, the conversation module  250 A, or other units which could provide the source audio signal. For example, music data with multi-channel stored in the memory  240 A, the audio signal received by the conversation module  250 A, or the audio signal input via external line. 
         [0022]      FIG. 3  is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of a multi-channel audio application system. The multi-channel audio application system comprises an audio processing device  300 A and an audio processing device  300 B, wherein the audio processing device  300 A comprises an audio processing unit  310 A, a wireless communication unit  320 A, a speaker unit  330 A, a memory  340 A, and a conversation module  350 A, and the audio processing device  300 B comprises an audio processing unit  310 B, a wireless communication unit  320 B, a speaker unit  330 B, a memory  340 B, and a conversation module  350 B. A communication device  350 C could be any devices that can process calling and proceeding a conversation, such as a telephone, a mobile phone, a network telephone, etc. In this embodiment, the audio processing unit  310 A uses a conversation audio signal  352 C received from the communication device  350 C through the conversation module  350 A as a source audio signal and transforms the source audio signal into an audio signal  312 A and an audio signal  314 A. Since the conversation audio signal is normally single channel audio, the audio signal  312 A and the audio signal  314 A could have the same audio content. The wireless communication unit  320 A receives the audio signal  314 A, and transforms the audio signal  314 A into a coding signal  322 A for transmitting the content of the audio signal  314 A to the wireless communication unit  320 B of the audio processing device  300 B which has been matched, the audio processing unit  310 B generates the audio signal  314 B accordingly, and then outputs the audio signal  314 B through the speaker unit  330 B. Thus, the user could also hear the voice from the communication device  350 C via the audio processing device  300 B. 
         [0023]    In the illustrated embodiment above, in order to process conversation with the third person (communication device  350 C) by the audio processing device  300 B, the conversation module  350 B of the audio processing device  300 B receives the voice from a user and transmits it to the audio processing unit  310 B, and the wireless communication unit  320 B receives the audio signal  314 B from the audio processing unit  310 B accordingly, transforms the audio signal  314 B into a coding signal  322 B, and transmits the coding signal  322 B to the wireless communication unit  320 A. And then the wireless communication unit  320 A decodes the coding signal  322 B to the audio signal  324 A and transmits it to the audio processing unit  310 A, the audio processing unit  310 A generates a conversation audio  352 A, and transmits the conversation audio  352 A to the communication device  350 C via the conversation module  350 A. Thus, a plurality of the audio processing devices could process multiparty conversation or a telephone conference by the method describe above. For example, when an audio processing device processes conversation with a communication device, the other audio processing devices which have been matched with the audio processing device could also obtain the speaking voice from the communication device. Also, the other audio processing devices which have been matched with the audio processing device could proceeding a conversation with the communication device via the audio processing device. 
         [0024]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart of an embodiment of a method for the multi-channel audio application system (including an audio processing device  200 A and an audio processing device  200 B) shown in  FIG. 2 . In step S 402 , a wireless communication match is performed to check whether the collective playing is ready or not. In step  404 , the audio processing device  200 A transforms the source audio signal into an audio signal  212 A and an audio signal  214 A. In step  406 , the wireless communication unit  220 A transmits the audio signal  214 A to the audio processing device  200 B for playing, and the speaker unit  230 A outputs the audio signal  212 A simultaneously. Thus, two audio processing devices each having a single speaker could output the audio signal with multi-channels and perform stereo efficacy or surround sound efficacy. 
         [0025]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart of an embodiment of a method for the multi-channel audio application system shown in  FIG. 2 . In step S 502 , the audio processing device  200 A sends a match request to the audio processing device  200 B. In step S 504 , the audio processing device  200 B accepts the match request to perform the wireless communication match between the audio processing device  200 A and the audio processing device  200 B. In step S 506 , the audio processing device  200 A begins to receive a source audio signal. In step S 508 , the audio processing device  200 A transforms the source audio signal into an audio signal  212 A and an audio signal  214 A. In step S 510 , the audio processing device  200 A outputs the audio signal  212 A and transforms the audio signal  214 A into the coding signal  222 A in order to transmit it to the audio processing device  200 B. In step S 512 , the audio processing device  200 B receives the coding signal  222 A and transforms it into the audio signal  214  for playing. 
         [0026]      FIG. 6  is a flowchart of an embodiment of a method for the multi-channel audio application system shown in  FIG. 3 . In step S 602 , the audio processing device  300 A sends a match request to the audio processing device  300 B. In step S 604 , the audio processing device  300 B accepts the match request to perform the wireless communication match between audio processing device  300 A and the audio processing device  300 B, and it also checks whether the collective playing is ready or not. In step S 606 , when the audio processing device  300 A proceeds a conversation with the communication device  350 C, the communication device  350 C sends the conversation audio signal  352 C to the audio processing device  300 A. In step S 608 , the audio processing device  300 A receives the conversation audio signal  352 C. In step S 610 , the audio processing device  300 A transforms the conversation audio signal  352 C as the source audio signal into an audio signal  312 A and an audio signal  314 A. In step S 612 , the audio processing device  300 A outputs the audio signal  312 A and transforms the audio signal  314 A into the coding signal  322 A in order to transmit it to the audio processing device  300 B. In step S 614 , the audio processing device  300 B receives the coding signal  322 A and transforms it into the audio signal  314  for playing. In step S 616 , the audio processing device  300 B transforms an arbitrary audio signal as a conversation response signal (such as, voice of a user) into the coding signal  322 B for transmitting it to the audio processing device  300 A. In step S 618 , the audio processing unit  310 A generates a conversation audio signal  352 A, and transmits the conversation audio signal  352 A to the communication device  350 C. In step S 620 , the communication device  350 C receives the conversation audio signal  352 A and outputs it accordingly. It is to be understood that there are two audio processing devices which process multiparty conversation in this embodiment, but those who are skilled in this technology can still process multiparty conversation of more than two audio processing devices by the method described above. 
         [0027]    Those who are skilled in this technology can still process deletion, addition, or change the order of the steps described above without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. For example, if the user of the audio processing device  300 B does not proceed a conversation with the third person, then the step S 616  to S 620  could be omitted, and if the user of the audio processing device  300 B proceeds a conversation with to the third person without receiving the audio signal of the third person, then the step S 606  to S 614  could be omitted. 
         [0028]    While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those who are skilled in this technology can still make various alterations and modifications without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention shall be defined and protected by the following claims and their equivalents.