US20060014471A1 - Sound apparatus - Google Patents
Sound apparatus Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US20060014471A1 US20060014471A1 US10/497,622 US49762205A US2006014471A1 US 20060014471 A1 US20060014471 A1 US 20060014471A1 US 49762205 A US49762205 A US 49762205A US 2006014471 A1 US2006014471 A1 US 2006014471A1
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- United States
- Prior art keywords
- sound
- sound data
- information
- speed
- speed information
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
- A63H—TOYS, e.g. TOPS, DOLLS, HOOPS OR BUILDING BLOCKS
- A63H5/00—Musical or noise- producing devices for additional toy effects other than acoustical
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
- A63H—TOYS, e.g. TOPS, DOLLS, HOOPS OR BUILDING BLOCKS
- A63H17/00—Toy vehicles, e.g. with self-drive; ; Cranes, winches or the like; Accessories therefor
- A63H17/26—Details; Accessories
- A63H17/34—Arrangements for imitating the noise of motors
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- A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
- A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
- A63H—TOYS, e.g. TOPS, DOLLS, HOOPS OR BUILDING BLOCKS
- A63H30/00—Remote-control arrangements specially adapted for toys, e.g. for toy vehicles
- A63H30/02—Electrical arrangements
- A63H30/04—Electrical arrangements using wireless transmission
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
- Multimedia (AREA)
- Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
- Toys (AREA)
Abstract
A sound apparatus is disclosed which can reproduce a wide variety of sound effects. An expansion unit (10) has a control circuit (61), an audio circuit (62), and a speaker (63). The audio circuit (62) has a first sound source (SG1)-a fifth sound source (SG5). The control circuit (61) controls the first to fifth (SG1-SG5) sound sources according to a change in speed information. When the speed information greatly changes over a speed range corresponding to a gear, the reproduction of an acceleration sound or a deceleration sound is interrupted and is started from the beginning according to the number of times that a boundary between speed ranges is crossed.
Description
- The present invention relates to a sound apparatus used in a remote-controlled toy.
- There are have been known many remote-controlled toys each of which has a drive unit to drive based on a code signal transmitted from a controller. The code signal includes manipulation information of the drive unit. A driving state of the drive unit such as a traveling direction and a traveling speed can be adjusted by the information.
- However, in conventional remote-controlled toys, there is a lack of excitement because a game is played without sound. In remote-controlled toys in which information for controlling a sound is created in addition to the manipulation information and a sound apparatus is controlled using the information, a constitution of a controller is made complex. Further, it is preferable that the sound apparatus has a simple constitution.
- Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sound apparatus that can reproduce various sound effects by a simple constitution.
- A sound apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is used in a remote-controlled toy having a controller for outputting manipulation information according to a content manipulated by a user and a toy driven based on the manipulation information. The sound apparatus includes a reproduction device for reproducing a plurality of types of sound data according to a driving state of the toy and a control device for analyzing a change in the driving state of the toy based on a change in the manipulation information and controlling the reproduction device such that sound data can be created according to the change in the driving state based on a result of the analysis.
- According to the invention, the change in the driving state of the toy is analyzed based on the change in the manipulation information, and sound data according to the change in the driving state of the toy is created based on the result of the analysis. Accordingly, the controller need not create information for reproducing a sound effect in addition to the manipulation information. Further, even if types of sound data are limited in the sound apparatus, since various types of sound data can be appropriately combined in conformity with the change in the driving state of the toy, it is possible to reproduce various sound effects by a simple constitution. Because of that, the realism of a game can be enhanced. The reproduction device may be any device as long as it can reproduce sound data and includes a sound source made by hardware, a sound source made by software, a PCM sound source, an FM sound source, and the like. Further, the manipulation information may be input to the sound apparatus at a predetermined cycle.
- It is preferable that the control device detects the change in the manipulation information by comparing past manipulation information with present manipulation information, and when the amount of change in the manipulation information is within a predetermined range, it is preferable that the control device maintains a controlled state of the reproduction device to create the sound data. When the manipulation information does not almost change, the driving state also does not change. Accordingly, it is more preferable to reproduce the same sound data than to change the type of sound data to be reproduced.
- The manipulation information includes speed information to express a speed, the reproduction device can reproduce first sound data to express an acceleration sound and a second sound data to express a deceleration sound, and the control device detects a change in the speed information obtained by comparing past speed information with present speed information as the change in the manipulation information, and when the present speed information is larger than the past speed information, the control device preferably controls the reproduction device such that it reproduces the first sound data, and when the present speed information is less than the past speed information, the control device preferably controls the reproduction device such that it reproduces the second sound data. In this case, since the acceleration sound and the deceleration sound are reproduced in correspondence to the change in the speed information, it is possible to reproduce a more real sound effect.
- When the control device detects that a boundary between predetermined speed ranges is crossed while the past speed information changes to the present speed information, the control device preferably controls the reproduction device such that it interrupts the reproduction of the first sound data or the second sound data and preferably reproduces the first sound data or the second sound data from the beginning of it. In this case, a relation between a plurality of gears and speeds is previously determined, and a change in the speed information that crosses the boundary between the speed ranges is detected, the reproduction of the acceleration sound and the deceleration sound can be interrupted and they can be reproduced from the beginning of them. With the above operation, a sound effect resulting from gear changes such as shift-up and shift-down operations can be reproduced by the acceleration sound and the deceleration sound without specially providing a reproduction device for gear change.
- It is preferable that a plurality of speed ranges to be composed of the predetermined speed ranges are set within a range that can be covered by the speed information and that the control device detects a number of times that a boundary between the predetermined speed ranges is crossed while the past speed information changes to the present speed information and repeat processing for controlling the reproduction device such that it interrupts the reproduction of the first sound data or the second sound data and reproduce the first sound data or the second sound data from the beginning of it according to the detected number of times. With the above operation, a sound effect corresponding to the shift-up and shift-down operations executed the plurality of times can be simply reproduced.
- It is preferable that the reproduction device can reproduce third sound data to express a high-speed traveling sound and fourth sound data to express a low-speed traveling sound and that the control device control the reproduction device such that it reproduces the third sound data after the first sound data has been reproduced as well as control the reproduction device such that it reproduces the fourth sound data after the second sound data has been reproduced. Since a speed is increased after acceleration and the speed is decreased after deceleration, a sound effect can be created in correspondence to a change in the speed, thereby the realism of a game can be more enhanced.
- It is preferable that the reproduction device can reproduce fifth sound data to express a stop state sound, and when the present speed information indicates the stop state of the toy and that the control device control the reproduction device such that it reproduces the fifth sound data. It is possible to reproduce, for example, an idling sound as the stop state sound.
- It is preferable that the sound apparatus described above include an output device for outputting an audio signal based on the sound data and a speaker driven by the audio signal. The above constitution allows a reproduced sound to be released.
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FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an outside constitution of a remote-controlled toy according to a first embodiment; -
FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of a data structure of transmission data according to the first embodiment; -
FIG. 3 is a side elevated view showing an expansion unit according to the first embodiment and the portion of an output terminal of a controller; -
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electric constitution of the controller according to the first embodiment; -
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a circuit constitution of the expansion unit according to the first embodiment; -
FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a relation between a speed range and a gear according to the first embodiment; -
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing executed by a control circuit of the expansion unit; -
FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of a first specific example; -
FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of a second specific example; -
FIG. 10 is an explanatory view of a third specific example; -
FIG. 11 is an explanatory view of a fourth specific example; -
FIG. 12 is an explanatory view of a fifth specific example; and -
FIG. 13 is block diagram showing a circuit constitution of an expansion unit according to a second embodiment. -
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a remote-controlled toy using a sound apparatus according to the present invention. Avehicle 1 is remotely controlled by acontroller 2. Thevehicle 1 has an R motor for driving right wheels and an L motor for driving left wheels. The number of revolution of these motors is controlled by a code signal transmitted from thecontroller 2. - The
controller 2 includes aninput unit 4 such as athrottle trigger 4 a, asteering wheel 4 b, and the like. A user drives thevehicle 1 by manipulating theinput unit 4. The throttle trigger 4 a has the similst function to the function of an accelerator of thevehicle 1. When thethrottle trigger 4 a is pulled to a grip side, an accelerator depressed state is achieved and thevehicle 1 is moved, and when thethrottle trigger 4 a is released, an accelerator released state is achieved and thevehicle 1 is stopped. Thesteering wheel 4 b has the similar function to the function of a steering wheel of thevehicle 1. Thevehicle 1 turns to the right and to the left by manipulating thesteering wheel 4 b. - The
controller 2 has atransmitter 3 for transmitting a code signal for indicating a movement of thevehicle 1 and anoutput terminal 50 capable of outputting the code signal (not shown). Infaraed rays are used for transmitting data from thecontroller 2 to thevehicle 1. - When a plurality of users each having a set of the
vehicle 1 and thecontroller 2 gather and enjoy a race and the like, thevehicle 1 of a user must be controlled so that it is distinguished from thevehicle 1 of other user. For this purpose, an ID code is allocated to each set of thevehicle 1 and thecontroller 2. Respective ID codes are set such that they can be uniquely identified from the other ID codes. Eachcontroller 2 includes its ID code in the code signal transmitted therefrom. Thevehicle 1 identifies the code signal, data of which includes the same ID code as that of thevehicle 1, as a code signal transmitted to itself. -
FIG. 2 shows transmission data 5 (manipulation information) as an example of the code signal transmitted from thecontroller 2. Thetransmission data 5 is composed of anID code 6, R motor for travelingcontrol information 7 a and L motor for travelingcontrol information 7 b. TheID code 6 is the ID code of thecontroller 2. - Further, the R motor for traveling
control information 7 a indicates the number of revolution of the R motor, whereas the L motor for travelingcontrol information 7 b indicates the number of revolution of the L motor. When thevehicle 1 is traveled in a linear direction, a value of the R motor for travelingcontrol information 7 a almost coincidents with a value of the L motor for travelingcontrol information 7 b. When thevehicle 1 is traveled so as to turn to the left, the number of revolution indicated by the R motor for travelingcontrol information 7 a is larger than that of the L motor for travelingcontrol information 7 b. When thevehicle 1 is traveled so as to turn to the right, the number of revolution indicated by the L motor for travelingcontrol information 7 b is larger than that of the R motor for travelingcontrol information 7 a. Since the R motor for travelingcontrol information 7 a and the L motor for travelingcontrol information 7 b indicate the number of revolution of motor for traveling mounted on thevehicle 1, the information acts as speed information showing a speed of a vehicle. The information is set according to manipulated states of thethrottle trigger 4 a and thesteering wheel 4 b. - To prevent interference of the
transmission data 5 having the respective ID codes, thetransmission data 5 is transmitted according to a transmission timing allocated to each ID code. The transmission timing is adjusted in thecontroller 2. In the example shown inFIG. 2 , data having each of ID=1 to 4 are transmitted at a cycle of 4×T3. -
FIG. 3 shows anexpansion unit 10 acting as a sound apparatus and theoutput terminal 50 as a portion on which theexpansion unit 10 is mounted. Theoutput terminal 50 is a terminal for electrically outputting thetransmission data 5 after it is amplified. Theexpansion unit 10 has acable 51 that can be connected to theoutput terminal 50. Thecable 51 has aconnection terminal 52 at an end thereof which can be inserted into theoutput terminal 50 for connection, and the other end thereof is connected to theexpansion unit 10. A body of theexpansion unit 10 is provided with a stabilizingbase 53 so that it can be stably fixed to thecontroller 2 when it is mounted thereon. Although a constitution of theexpansion unit 10 is not limited to the above one, it is preferable that theexpansion unit 10 be configured such that it can be stably mounted on thecontroller 2. It is preferable to set a size and a weight of theexpansion unit 10 to such a degree as not to cause troubles when thecontroller 2 is manipulated after theexpansion unit 10 is mounted thereon. Note that theexpansion unit 10 may be formed in such a shape that it can be used in other location without mounting on thecontroller 2. Theexpansion unit 10 may be provided with anamplifier terminal 54 to output thetransmission data 5 after it is amplified. -
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a constitution of thecontroller 2. Aninput circuit 23 detects that theinput unit 4 is manipulated and supplies a manipulation signal to thecontrol circuit 20 according to a manipulated state of theinput unit 4. Thecontrol circuit 20 creates thetransmission data 5 described above according to the manipulation signal. The R motor for travelingcontrol information 7 a and the L motor for travelingcontrol information 7 b included in thetransmission data 5 are determined according to an amount of displacement of thethrottle trigger 4 a and a rotational angle of thesteering wheel 4 b. - The
transmission data 5 created by thecontrol circuit 20 is sent to an outputtiming creation circuit 24, and when it is determined that the transmission timing to send thetransmission data 5 comes, thetransmission data 5 is sent to a remote controlsignal emission unit 21 and to a boostersignal output unit 60 through atransmission circuit 25. The remote controlsignal emission unit 21 transmits thetransmission data 5 using infrared rays, and the boostersignal output unit 60 outputs thetransmission data 5 as digital data. A remote controlsignal reception unit 22 receives thetransmission data 5 transmitted fromother controller 2. The receivedtransmission data 5 is sent to thecontrol circuit 20 through areception circuit 26 and a receptiondata determination circuit 27. Thecontrol circuit 20 uses the received data to adjust its timing of transmission. -
FIG. 5 shows a circuit constitution of theexpansion unit 10. Theexpansion unit 10 is supplied with power from abattery 67, and respective circuits described below will be operated by turning on apower switch 66. Theexpansion unit 10 includes acontrol circuit 61, anaudio circuit 62, aspeaker 63, and avolume adjustment unit 64. - The
audio circuit 62 includes first to fifth sound sources SG1-SG5 each composed of a PCM sound source, an FM sound source, and the like, creates reproduced sound data, and D/A converts the reproduced sound data to output an audio signal, under the control of thecontrol circuit 61. The first sound source SG1 outputs sound data D1 expressing an acceleration sound. The acceleration sound is an engine sound which changes from a low sound to a high sound in acceleration. The second sound source SG2 outputs sound data D2 expressing a decelerating sound. The decelerating sound is an engine sound which changes from a high sound to a low sound in deceleration. The third sound source SG3 outputs sound data D3 expressing a high-speed traveling sound. The high-speed traveling sound is a sound created by synthesizing a high-pitched engine sound, a hissing sound, and the like in high-speed traveling. The fourth sound source SG4 outputs sound data D4 expressing a low-speed traveling sound. The low-speed traveling sound is a sound created by synthesizing an engine sound, a hissing sound, and the like in low-speed traveling. The fifth sound source SG5 outputs sound data D5 expressing an idling sound. The idling sound is an engine sound in idling. In the first to fifth sound sources SG1-SG5, whether or not the sound data D1-D5 are to be reproduced, timing at which the sound data D1-D5 are reproduced, whether or not the sound data D1-D5 are to be reproduced repeatedly, and whether or not the reproduction of the sound data D1-D5 is to be interrupted and they are to be reproduced from the beginning thereof, and the like are controlled by a control signal supplied from thecontrol circuit 61. More specifically, theaudio circuit 62 acts as a device for reproducing a plurality of types of the sound data D1-D5 according the to a driving state of thevehicle 1, and thecontrol circuit 61 acts as a device for controlling theaudio circuit 62 so that the sound data D1-D5 can be created according to a change in the driving state of thevehicle 1. - When the audio signal obtained by D/A conversion the reproduced sound data is supplied to the
speaker 63, thespeaker 63 releases a reproduced sound. Note that the magnitude of the sound output from thespeaker 63 can be adjusted by thevolume adjustment unit 64. - The
control circuit 61 is composed of a CPU and the like and controls theaudio circuit 62. When the transmission data is input to theexpansion unit 10 through thecable 51, thecontrol circuit 61 analyzes thetransmission data 5. As shown inFIG. 2 , thetransmission data 5 includes the R motor for travelingcontrol information 7 a and the L motor for travelingcontrol information 7 b. The information expresses the speed information of thevehicle 1. - The
control circuit 61 controls theaudio circuit 62 such that a sound can be reproduced according to a driving state of the vehicle based on a change in the speed information. In this case, the first to fifth sound sources SG1-SG5 are controlled based on speed information before the change and speed information after the change. - In general, a vehicle has an engine and gears, and the gears are changed to a first speed, a second speed, a third speed and a fourth speed in response to an increase in speed. Since a load on the engine is varied by a gear change, an engine sound is changed thereby. Accordingly, the
control circuit 61 detects the gear change based on past speed information and present speed information and controls theaudio circuit 62 so that an engine sound can be reproduced according to the gear change. -
FIG. 6 shows an example of a relation between speed information and a gear. In this example, the speed information is expressed by 32 steps from 0 to 31. The speed information is divided into a plurality of speed ranges, and a gear is allocated to each speed range. However, when the speed information has a value “0”, thevehicle 1 is in an idling state, and the gears of the first to fourth speeds are not allocated to the idling state. -
FIG. 7 shows a flow of processing executed by thecontrol circuit 61 of theexpansion unit 10. When thepower switch 66 is turned on, thecontrol circuit 61 repeats a state of waiting an input of the transmission data 5 (step S1) and a state of determination whether or not thetransmission data 5 is received (step S2). When thetransmission data 5 is received, the processing goes to a process S3 at which thecontrol circuit 61 analyzes thetransmission data 5 and obtains the speed information. Note that an average of the R motor for travelingcontrol information 7 a and the L motor for travelingcontrol information 7 b may be used as the speed information. - Next, the
control circuit 61 compares the past speed information with the present speed information and determines whether or not the former information is in coincidence with the latter information (step S4). When the former information is in coincidence with the latter information, a past control state is maintained (step S5). When, for example, both the pieces of the past speed information and the present speed information are set to “31” and the high-speed traveling sound is reproduced in the past control state, the reproduction of the high-speed traveling sound is maintained. Note that when the past control state is in coincidence with the present control state, the past control state is maintained in this example. However, the past control state may be maintained when a change in the speed information is detected by comparing the past speed information with the present speed information and an amount of the change is within a predetermined range. In this case, acceleration processing and deceleration processing, both of which will be described later, are not executed even if the speed information somewhat changes. - In contrast, when the past speed information is not in coincidence with the present speed information, the number of times that a boundary between speed ranges is crossed in the period while the past speed information changes to the present speed information (step S6). In this processing, the
control circuit 61 creates gear information by determining, for example, which speed range the speed information belongs to and creates the number times that a boundary between speed ranges is crossed based on a difference between past gear information and present gear information. When, for example, the past speed information is set to “8” and the present invention speed information is set to “31”, since the past speed information “8” belongs to a speed range corresponding to the first speed, the gear information thereof is set to “1”. In contrast, since the present speed information “31” belongs to a speed range corresponding to the fourth speed, the gear information thereof is “4”. As a result, the difference between the gear information is set to “3”, and thus the number of times that a boundary between speed ranges is crossed in the period while the past speed information changes to the present speed information is “three times”. Note that when the past speed information is set to “3” and the present speed information is set to “9”, since both the pieces of the information belong to the speed range corresponding to the first speed, the number of times a boundary between speed ranges is crossed is “zero time”. - Next, the
control circuit 61 determines whether or not the present speed information is larger than the past speed information (step S7). When the present speed information is larger than the past speed information, the acceleration processing is executed (step S8), and when the present speed information is less than the past speed information, the deceleration processing is executed (step S9). - In the acceleration processing, the
control circuit 61 controls theaudio circuit 62 such that the high-speed traveling sound is reproduced after the acceleration sound is reproduced. Specifically, thecontrol circuit 61 outputs a control signal for causing the first sound source SG1 to reproduce the sound data D1 and then causing the third sound source SG3 to reproduce the sound data D3. Further, thecontrol circuit 61 controls the first sound source SG1 such that the reproduction of the acceleration sound is interrupted and the acceleration sound is reproduced from the beginning according to the number of times that a boundary between speed ranges is crossed. With the above operation, the acceleration sound is repeated from the beginning each time a gear is shifted up, thereby a more realistic sound effect can be reproduced. - In deceleration processing, the
control circuit 61 controls theaudio circuit 62 such that the low-speed traveling sound is reproduced after the deceleration sound is reproduced. Specifically, thecontrol circuit 61 outputs a control signal for causing the second sound source SG2 to reproduce the sound data D2 and then causing the fourth sound source SG4 to reproduce the sound data D4. Further, thecontrol circuit 61 controls the second sound source SG2 such that the reproduction of the deceleration sound is interrupted and the deceleration sound is reproduced from the beginning according to the number of times that a boundary between speed ranges is crossed. With the above operation, the deceleration sound is repeated from the beginning each time a gear is shifted down, thereby a more realistic sound effect such as a sound of engine brake and the like can be reproduced. - Specific examples will be explained below.
FIG. 8 shows an example of acceleration and deceleration when a boundary between speed ranges is not crossed as a first specific example. First, when the user turns off thethrottle trigger 4 a from a time t1 to just before a time t2, the speed information is “0”. In this case, thecontrol circuit 61 controls the fifth sound source SG5 such that it reproduces the idling sound data D5 repeatedly. - Then, when the user manipulates the
throttle trigger 4 a and obtains speed information “10” at the time t2, thecontrol circuit 61 controls theaudio circuit 62 such that the first sound source SG1 reproduces the acceleration sound data D1 once. Further, thecontrol circuit 61 controls theaudio circuit 62 such that the third sound source SG3 reproduces the high-speed reproducing sound data D3 repeatedly at a time t3 at which the reproduction of the acceleration sound is finished. - Next, when the user turns off the
throttle trigger 4 a at a time t4, the speed information is set to “0”. Thecontrol circuit 61 controls theaudio circuit 62 such that the second sound source SG2 reproduces the deceleration sound data D2 once. Further, thecontrol circuit 61 controls theaudio circuit 62 such that the fifth sound source SG5 reproduces the idling sound data D5 repeatedly at a time t5 at which the reproduction of the deceleration sound is finished. -
FIG. 9 shows an example of acceleration when a boundary between speed ranges is crossed as a second specific example. In this example, the user manipulates thethrottle trigger 4 a and changes a turned-off state to a full throttle state at the time t2. At the time, the speed information changes from “0” to “31”. Thecontrol circuit 61 detects that a boundary between speed ranges has been crossed four times based on the past speed information “0” and the present speed information “31”. Then, thecontrol circuit 61 controls the fourth sound source SG4 such that it reproduces the acceleration sound four times. However, the reproduction of the acceleration sound is interrupted and it is reproduced from the beginning of it in the first three times, whereas it is reproduced from the beginning to the end thereof in the last time. When the reproduction of the final acceleration sound has been completed, thecontrol circuit 61 controls theaudio circuit 62 such that the third sound source SG3 reproduces the high-speed reproducing sound data D3 repeatedly. With the above operation, an atmosphere of four times of shift-up operation can be more realistically reproduced. -
FIG. 10 shows an example of deceleration when a boundary between speed ranges is crossed as a third example. In this example, the user manipulates thethrottle trigger 4 a and changes the full throttle state to the turned-off state at the time t2. At the time, the speed information changes from “31” to “0”. Thecontrol circuit 61 detects that a boundary between speed ranges has been crossed four times based on the past speed information “31” and the present speed information “0”. Thecontrol circuit 61 controls the second sound source SG2 such that it reproduces the deceleration sound four times. However, the reproduction of the deceleration sound is interrupted and it is reproduced from the beginning in first three times, whereas it is reproduced from the beginning to the end thereof in a last time. When the reproduction of the final deceleration sound has been completed, thecontrol circuit 61 controls theaudio circuit 62 such that the fifth sound source SG5 reproduces the idling sound data D5 repeatedly. With the above operation, an atmosphere of four times of the shif-down operation can be more realistically reproduced. -
FIG. 11 shows an example of a shift operation from the high-speed traveling sound to the low-speed traveling sound. In this example, the user somewhat moves thethrottle trigger 4 a back from the full-throttle state at the time t2. At the time, the speed information changes from “31” to “20”. Thecontrol circuit 61 detects that a boundary between speed ranges has been crossed once based on the past speed information “31” and the present speed information “20”. Thecontrol circuit 61 controls the second sound source SG2 such that it reproduces the deceleration sound twice. However, the reproduction of the deceleration sound is interrupted in the first time, and the deceleration sound is reproduced from the beginning to the end thereof in the second time. When the reproduction of the final deceleration sound has been completed at the time t3, thecontrol circuit 61 controls theaudio circuit 62 such that the fourth sound source SG4 reproduces the low-speed reproducing sound data D4 repeatedly. - When the user somewhat moves the
throttle trigger 4 a back and the speed information changes from “20” to “10” at the time t4, thecontrol circuit 61 detects a boundary between speed ranges has been crossed once based on the past speed information “20” and the present speed information “10”. In this case, thecontrol circuit 61 may interrupt the reproduction of the deceleration sound in the first time and may reproduce it from the beginning to the end thereof in the last time similarly to the processing executed from the time t2 to the time t3. Otherwise, thecontrol circuit 61 may controls to reproduce the deceleration sound from the beginning to the end thereof once as shown in the drawing. When the reproduction of the deceleration sound has been completed at the time t5, thecontrol circuit 61 controls theaudio circuit 62 such that the fourth sound source SG4 reproduces the low-speed reproducing sound data D4 repeatedly. - When the user changes the
throttle trigger 4 a to the turned-off state at a time t6, the speed information changes from “10” to “0”. Thecontrol circuit 61 controls the second sound source SG2 so as to reproduce the deceleration sound once, and when the reproduction of it has been completed, thecontrol circuit 61 controls theaudio circuit 62 such that the fifth sound source SG5 reproduces the idling sound data D5 repeatedly. -
FIG. 12 shows an example that the low-speed traveling sound is shifted to the low-speed traveling sound again through the high-speed traveling sound as a fifth specific example. In this example, the speed information changes from “10” to “20” at the time t2. Thecontrol circuit 61 detects the acceleration thereby a boundary of a speed ranges is crossed onece based on the change in the speed information. Thecontrol circuit 61 controls the first sound source SG1 such that it reproduces the acceleration sound once. Otherwise, the reproduction of the acceleration sound may be interrupted in a first time, and the acceleration sound may be reproduced from the beginning to the end thereof in a last time. When the reproduction of the acceleration sound has been completed at the time t3, thecontrol circuit 61 controls the third sound source SG3 such that it reproduces the high-speed reproduced sound data D3. - When the speed information changes from “20” to “31” at the time t4, the
control circuit 61 detects the acceleration thereby a boundary of speed ranges has been crossed onece has been executed. Then, thecontrol circuit 61 controls the first sound source SG1 such that it interrupts the reproduction of the acceleration sound in a first time and reproduces the acceleration sound from the beginning to the end thereof in a last time, and when the reproduction of the acceleration sound has been completed at the time t5, thecontrol circuit 61 controls the third sound source SG3 such that it reproduces the high-speed reproducing sound repeatedly. - When the speed information changes from “31” to “20” at the time t5, the
control circuit 61 detects that deceleration that a boundary of speed ranges has been crossed once based on the change in the speed information. Then, thecontrol circuit 61 controls the second sound source SG2 such that it interrupts the reproduction of the deceleration sound in a first time and reproduces the deceleration sound from the beginning to the end thereof in a last time, and when the reproduction of the acceleration sound has been completed at a time t7, thecontrol circuit 61 controls the forth sound source SG4 such that it reproduces the low-speed reproducing sound repeatedly. - Next, a remote-controlled toy according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be explained. The remote-controlled toy according to the second embodiment is configured similarly to that of the first embodiment except a detailed constitution of the
expansion unit 10. -
FIG. 13 shows a circuit constitution of anexpansion unit 10′ according to the second embodiment. Theexpansion unit 10 of the first embodiment described above has the first to fifth sound sources SG1-SG5 disposed in theaudio circuit 62, and the respective sound data D1-D5 are created from the respective sound sources. Whereas, in the second embodiment, a plurality of types of sound data D1-D5 are stored in the predetermined memory regions of asingle ROM 68 respectively. Anaudio circuit 62 reads out the sound data D1-D5 from theROM 68 based on a control signal supplied from acontrol circuit 61. More specifically, theaudio circuit 62 creates a read-out address signal for designating a memory region based on the control signal, appropriately reads out the sound data D1-D5 using the read-out address signal, and outputs an audio signal, which is obtained by D/A converting the sound data, to aspeaker 63. - It is assumed that the idling sound data D5 is stored in a memory region designated by, for example, addresses ADR0-ADR255. In this case, when a control signal for designating an idling sound is supplied to the
audio circuit 62, theaudio circuit 62 creates address read-out signals for sequentially designating the addresses ADR0-ADR255. When a control signal indicates to reproduce the idling sound continuously after the address read-out signal for designating the address ADR255 has been created, theaudio circuit 62 creates an address read-out signal so as to return to the address ADR0 and read out the sound data D5 repeatedly. - Since the control signal is created according to a change in a driving state of the toy, the various types of the sound data D1-D5 can be appropriately combined in conformity with the change in the driving state of the toy by creating the address read-out signal based on the control signal. With the above constitution, it is possible to reproduce various sound effects, thereby the realism of a game can be enhanced. Note that when the
single ROM 68 does not have a sufficient memory capacity, or when a plurality of types of sound data are reproduced at a time, a plurality of theROMs 68 may be used. Although theROM 68 is disposed externally of theaudio circuit 62 in this example, it may be disposed in theaudio circuit 62. Further, a single or a plurality of slots may be disposed to theexpansion unit 10′ acting as an sound apparatus, and theaudio circuit 62 and theROM 68 may compose a single sound card to be used by inserting into a slot. In this case, it is possible to easily change or add reproduction-possible sound data by replacing or adding a sound card. - It should be noted that the present invention is by no means limited to the above respective embodiment and may be embodied in various modes. For example, when a plurality of users each having a set of a
vehicle 1 and acontroller 2 gather and enjoy a race and the like, the sound apparatus may include a receiver to receive code signals transmitted from thecontrollers 2 of the respective users, convert the code signals into electric signals, and output resultant electric signals, thecontrol circuit 61 of theexpansion unit 10 described above, theaudio circuit 62, and thespeaker 63. Further, thespeaker 63 may be disposed externally of the sound apparatus, and further the sound apparatus may directly output reproduced sound data. - As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reproduce various sound effects according to a driving state by combining various reproduced sounds with the simple constitution, thereby realism can be greatly enhanced.
Claims (8)
1. A sound apparatus to be used in a remote-controlled toy having a controller for outputting manipulation information according to a content manipulated by a user and a toy driven based on the manipulation information, the sound apparatus comprising:
a reproduction device for reproducing a plurality of types of sound data according to a driving state of the toy; and
a control device for analyzing a change in the driving state of the toy based on a change in the manipulation information, and controlling the reproduction device to create sound data according to the change in the driving state of the toy based on a result of the analysis.
2. The sound apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the control device detects the change in the manipulation information by comparing past manipulation information with present manipulation information, and when an amount of the change is within a predetermined range, the control device maintains a control of the reproduction device to create the sound data.
3. The sound apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the manipulation information includes speed information to express a speed;
the reproduction device is configured to reproduce first sound data to express an acceleration sound and a second sound data to express a deceleration sound; and
the control device detects a change in the speed information as the change in the manipulation information by comparing past speed information with present speed information, and when the present speed information is larger than the past speed information, the control device controls the reproduction device to reproduce the first sound data, and when the present speed information is less than the past speed information, the control device controls the reproduction device to reproduce the second sound data.
4. The sound apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein when the control device detects that a boundary between predetermined speed ranges is crossed while the past speed information changes to the present speed information, the control device controls the reproduction device to interrupt the reproduction of the first sound data or the second sound data and to reproduce the first sound data or the second sound data from the beginning.
5. The sound apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein a plurality of speed ranges to be composed of the predetermined speed ranges are set within a range that can be covered by the speed information; and
the control device detects a number of times that a boundary between the predetermined speed ranges is crossed while the past speed information changes to the present speed information and repeatedly controls the reproduction device to interrupt the reproduction of the first sound data or the second sound data and to reproduce the first sound data or the second sound data from the beginning according to the number of times crossed.
6. The sound apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein
the reproduction device is configured to reproduce third sound data to express a high-speed traveling sound and fourth sound data to express a low-speed traveling sound; and
the control device controls the reproduction device to reproduce the third sound data after the first sound data has been reproduced and controls the reproduction device to reproduce the fourth sound data after the second sound data has been reproduced.
7. The sound apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the reproduction device is configured to reproduce fifth sound data to express a stop state sound, and
when the present speed information indicates a stop state of the toy, the control device controls the reproduction device to reproduce the fifth sound data.
8. The sound apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an output device for outputting an audio signal based on the sound data; and
a speaker driven by the audio signal.
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
EP2003-143072 | 2003-05-21 | ||
EP03143072 | 2003-05-21 | ||
PCT/JP2004/006307 WO2004112928A1 (en) | 2003-05-21 | 2004-04-30 | Sound apparatus |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US20060014471A1 true US20060014471A1 (en) | 2006-01-19 |
Family
ID=35600072
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US10/497,622 Abandoned US20060014471A1 (en) | 2003-05-21 | 2004-04-30 | Sound apparatus |
Country Status (1)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (1) | US20060014471A1 (en) |
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US20090212968A1 (en) * | 2008-02-15 | 2009-08-27 | Mattel, Inc. | Remote control units for mechanized toys |
US8715032B2 (en) | 2010-10-06 | 2014-05-06 | Tomy Company, Ltd. | Spinner for toy top |
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