Audio signal transmitting apparatus, audio signal receiving apparatus, audio signal transmission system, audio signal transmission method, and program

An audio signal receiving apparatus which receives audio signals transmitted from an external connection apparatus through a plurality of channels, comprising:

• a connection management information acquiring unit which acquires connection management information including channel mapping information representing types of the audio signals allocated to each of the channels and transmitting scheme information representing a transmitting scheme of the audio signals by the external connection apparatuses from the external connection apparatus;
• a connection permission/nonpermission determining unit which determines, based on the transmitting scheme information, whether the transmitting scheme is a scheme in which the audio signal receiving apparatus is connected to the external connection apparatus;
• an audio signal receiving unit which receives the audio signals from the external connection apparatuses when the connection permission/nonpermission determining unit determines that the transmitting scheme is the scheme in which the audio signal receiving apparatus is connected to the external connection apparatus;
• and
• an audio signal output unit which selects and outputs the audio signals which can be output based on the channel mapping information.

An audio signal transmission system comprising:

• an audio signal transmitting apparatus which transmits audio signals to external connection apparatuses through a plurality of channels;
• and an audio signal receiving apparatus which receives the audio signals transmitted from the audio signal transmitting apparatus, wherein
• an audio signal transmitting apparatus includes:
• a channel mapping unit which determines the audio signals allocated to each of the channels and generates channel mapping information representing types of the audio signals allocated to each of the channels;
• an audio signal transmitting unit which transmits the audio signals allocated to each of the channels by the channel mapping unit to the external connection apparatuses by a first transmitting scheme or a second transmitting scheme;
• and
• a connection management information providing unit which provides connection management information including the channel mapping information and transmitting scheme information representing the transmitting scheme of the audio signals to the external connection apparatuses,
• the audio signal receiving apparatus includes:
• a connection management information acquiring unit which acquires connection management information including the channel mapping information representing types of the audio signals allocated to each of the channels and transmitting scheme information representing a transmitting scheme of the audio signals by the external connection apparatuses from the audio signal transmitting apparatus;
• a connection permission/nonpermission determining unit which determines, based on the transmitting scheme information, whether the transmitting scheme is a scheme in which the audio signal receiving apparatus is connected to the external connection apparatuses;
• an audio signal receiving unit which receives the audio signals from the external connection apparatuses when the connection permission/nonpermission determining unit determines that the transmitting scheme is the scheme in which the audio signal receiving apparatus is connected to the external connection apparatuses;
• and
• an audio signal output unit which selects and outputs the audio signals which can be output from the received audio signals based on the channel mapping information,
• the plurality of audio signals acquired from one audio source includes one main signal and one or two or more surround signals corresponding to a surround component of an audio output obtained by the main signal,
• the first transmitting scheme is a transmitting scheme which allocates the surround signal to at least one of the channels to transmit the surround signal, and the second transmitting scheme is a transmitting scheme which allocates only the main signals to some or all of the plurality of channels to transmit the main signals.

An audio signal transmission method in an audio signal transmission system which includes an audio signal transmitting apparatus which transmits audio signals to external connection apparatuses through a plurality of channels and an audio signal receiving apparatus which receives the audio signals transmitted from the audio signal transmitting apparatus, comprising the steps of:

• determining the audio signals allocated to each of the channels;
• generating channel mapping information representing types of the audio signals allocated to each of the channels;
• providing connection management information including the channel mapping information and transmitting scheme information representing a transmitting scheme of the audio signal;
• determining whether the transmitting scheme is a scheme in which the audio signal receiving apparatus can be connected to the audio signal transmitting apparatus based on the transmitting scheme information;
• transmitting the audio signals allocated to each of the channels by the channel mapping unit to the external connection apparatus by a first transmitting scheme or a second transmitting scheme, when it is determined that the transmitting scheme is the scheme in which the audio signal receiving apparatus can be connected to the audio signal transmitting apparatus;
• receiving the audio signals from the audio signal transmitting apparatus;
• and
• selecting the audio signal which can be output from the received audio signals based on the channel mapping information and to output the audio signal.

A computing system including a program to cause a computer to function as an audio signal transmitting apparatus which transmits audio signals to external connection apparatuses through a plurality of channels, and a processor that, when implementing the program, causes

• the computer to realize:
• a channel mapping function that determines the audio signals allocated to each of the channels and generates channel mapping information representing types of the audio signals allocated to each of the channels;
• an audio signal transmitting function that transmits the audio signals allocated to each of the channels by the channel mapping function to the external connection apparatus by a first transmitting scheme or a second transmitting scheme;
• and
• a connection management information providing function that provides connection management information including the channel mapping information and transmitting scheme information representing a transmitting scheme of the audio signals to the external connection apparatus.

A computing system including a program to cause a computer to function as an audio signal receiving apparatus which receives audio signals transmitted from external connection apparatuses through a plurality of channels, a processor that, when implementing the program, causes

• the computer to realize:
• a connection management information acquiring function that acquires connection management information including channel mapping information representing types of the audio signals allocated to each of the channels and transmitting scheme information representing a transmitting scheme of the audio signals obtained by the external connection apparatuses from the external connection apparatuses;
• a connection permission/nonpermission determining function that determines whether the transmitting scheme is a scheme in which the audio signal receiving apparatus can be connected to the external connection apparatuses based on the transmitting scheme information;
• and
• an audio signal output function that, when the connection permission/nonpermission determining unit determines that the transmitting scheme is the scheme in which the audio signal receiving apparatus can be connected to the external connection apparatuses, receives the audio signals from the external connection apparatuses;
• and
• an audio signal output function that selects the audio signal which can be output based on the channel mapping information and outputs the audio signal.