Patents Examined by George C Monikang
  • Patent number: 11544033
    Abstract: A fixed speaker system comprising a speaker housing mountable in or to a ceiling, wall or floor; at least one speaker for outputting audio content, wherein each speaker comprises at least one speaker input and at least one speaker output; a processor configured to receive the or each speaker input and generate the or each speaker output; an amplifier coupled to the processor and configured to drive the speaker; a DC power input configured for direct electrical coupling with a mains power source; a power-over-ethernet (POE) interface module, comprising an interface housing that is removably connected to the speaker housing, wherein the module is configured to input power from a POE source to the DC power input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2023
    Assignee: Lithe Audio LTD
    Inventor: Wesley Siu
  • Patent number: 11540076
    Abstract: There are two representations for Higher Order Ambisonics denoted HOA: spatial domain and coefficient domain. The invention generates from a coefficient domain representation a mixed spatial/coefficient domain representation, wherein the number of said HOA signals can be variable. An aspect of the invention further relates to methods and apparatus decoding multiplexed and perceptually encoded HOA signals, including transforming a vector of PCM encoded spatial domain signals of the HOA representation to a corresponding vector of coefficient domain signals by multiplying the vector of PCM encoded spatial domain signals with a transform matrix and de-normalizing the vector of PCM encoded and normalized coefficient domain signals, wherein said de-normalizing comprises.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Sven Kordon, Alexander Krueger
  • Patent number: 11533573
    Abstract: A hearing device and subassembly therefor includes a sleeve member configured for at least partial insertion into a user's ear canal, the sleeve member defining a cavity that receives and retains at least a portion of a sound-producing electroacoustic transducer. The sleeve member includes a cable interface, wherein an electrical interface of a sound-producing electroacoustic transducer received in the cavity is accessible via the cable interface. The device also includes on or more sensors integrated with the sleeve member and positioned to sense a biomarker or other condition when the sleeve member is at least partially inserted into the user's ear canal. The hearing device includes conductive traces integrated with the sleeve member, where at least one conductive trace is electrically connected to the sensor and electrically connectable via the cable interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: KNOWLES ELECTRONICS, LLC
    Inventors: Earl E. Houcek, Matthew Manley, Daryl Barry, Yahui Zhang, Steve Kearey
  • Patent number: 11523212
    Abstract: Embodiments include a microphone array with a plurality of microphone elements comprising a first set of elements arranged along a first axis, comprising at least two microphone elements spaced apart by a first distance; a second set of elements arranged along the first axis, comprising at least two microphone elements spaced apart by a second, greater distance, such that the first set is nested within the second set; a third set of elements arranged along a second axis orthogonal to the first axis, comprising at least two microphone elements spaced apart by the second distance; and a fourth set of elements nested within the third set along the second axis, comprising at least two microphone elements spaced apart by the first distance, wherein each set includes a first cluster of microphone elements and a second cluster of microphone elements spaced apart by the specified distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: Shure Acquisition Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Michelle Michiko Ansai, John Casey Gibbs, Mathew T. Abraham
  • Patent number: 11513759
    Abstract: Devices, systems, and methods are provided for using a soundmark to indicate availability of supplemental content. A method may include presenting, by a device, first narrated content from a first audio file. The method may include presenting a soundmark, the soundmark indicating that second narrated content from a second audio file is available for presentation. The method may include receiving a request to present the second narrated content, and causing presentation of the second audio file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Taylor J. Huttner, Daniel Chastney
  • Patent number: 11510010
    Abstract: A display device including a circuit board having a sound generator includes: a base layer; conductive lines disposed on the base layer; and a sound generator disposed on the conductive lines, the sound generator contracting and expanding according to the polarity of driving voltages applied thereto.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Jong Tae Kim
  • Patent number: 11496841
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a microphone and an intelligent voice device. The microphone includes a housing, a diaphragm, a primary sound pickup component, and a secondary sound pickup component. The diaphragm is configured to output an electric signal according to a sound pressure acting on the first sound pickup surface and the second sound pickup surface. The primary sound pickup component is formed on the housing, and configured to transmit a sound wave from outside of the housing to the first sound pickup surface through a primary sound pickup channel at a first sound pressure. The secondary sound pickup component is formed on the housing, and configured to transmit the sound wave to the second sound pickup surface through a secondary sound pickup channel at a second sound pressure, the secondary sound pickup channel being different from the first sound pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: BAIDU ONLINE NETWORK TECHNOLOGY (BEIJING) CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Xin Wang
  • Patent number: 11496099
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods for processing an audio signal. In particular, there is provided a method for determining dynamic gain values to be applied on a digital input signal. The digital signal may be arranged in blocks. The dynamic gain values may be used for attenuating input signal values exceeding a clipping threshold. More particularly, the method comprising, for each signal block, passing backwards over the next signal block and the current signal block to produce a preliminary gain contour from the input signal; and passing forwards over the current signal block to produce a final gain contour for the current signal block based on the preliminary gain contour, wherein the gain contours are produced by applying an instant gain ascent and a smooth gain decay to the gain contours.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH
    Inventors: Christoph Hohnerlein, Nicholas R. Clark
  • Patent number: 11490214
    Abstract: A hearing aid electrical contact structure and a hearing aid are provided. The hearing aid electrical contact structure includes: a housing, wherein the housing includes a front section and a rear section connected to each other; the rear section is used for accommodating a battery and at least a part of a flexible circuit board; an outer side surface of the rear section has at least two side holes; a conductive contact sheet is assembled in each of the at least two side holes, and the conductive contact sheet is electrically connected to a pad of the flexible circuit board; an outer surface of the conductive contact sheet realizes a transition with the outer side surface of the rear section. The hearing aid electrical contact structure has a smooth surface without any groove structure or convex structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: Xiamen Retone Hearing Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Chengxiang Zhang
  • Patent number: 11485303
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems and methods that uses a window as a keypad entry system that functions as a replacement for a keyless entry keypad in a vehicle. The system includes a vehicle window functional as a keypad using piezoelectric transducers that capture resonance from the vehicle window when pressure waves (e.g., generated by voice commands or taps) impact the glass. A transducer controller amplifies the vibrations from the vehicle window user tap or spoken commands and triangulates the signal to localize a position of the origination point of the tap, which may be mapped to a respective numeric or cardinal input value. The system may include a low power mode that receives input while the vehicle is off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Pietro Buttolo, Joshua Wheeler, Scott Amman, Nicholas Colella
  • Patent number: 11472021
    Abstract: A robotic system that can be used to treat a patient. The robotic system includes a mobile robot that has a camera. The mobile robot is controlled by a remote station that has a monitor. A physician can use the remote station to move the mobile robot into view of a patient. An image of the patient is transmitted from the robot camera to the remote station monitor. A medical personnel at the robot site can enter patient information into the system through a user interface. The patient information can be stored in a server. The physician can access the information from the remote station. The remote station may provide graphical user interfaces that display the patient information and provide both a medical tool and a patient management plan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: TELADOC HEALTH, INC.
    Inventors: Timothy C. Wright, Fuji Lai, Marco Pinter, Yulun Wang
  • Patent number: 11474780
    Abstract: An electronic device includes a communication circuit, a display, a microphone, a processor operatively connected to the communication circuit, the display, and the microphone, and a memory operatively connected to the processor, wherein the memory is configured to store instructions which, when executed, cause the processor to control the electronic device to: transmit information related to a predetermined event to a server through the communication circuit in response to detection of the predetermined event through an application, display a user interface through the display in response to reception of information related to the user interface including at least one visual object selectable by a user to control a function of the application through the communication circuit, receive a user-uttered input for selecting one of the at least one visual object included in the user interface through the microphone, and transmit information related to the user-uttered input to the server through the communication
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jaeyoung Yang, Donghee Suh, Hojun Jaygarl, Minsung Kim, Jinwoong Kim, Youngbin Kim, Kwangbin Lee, Youngmin Lee
  • Patent number: 11468354
    Abstract: A system may perform adaptive target presence probability to predict a location of a user (e.g., target) at a given time based on accumulated observations. For example, the system may track a location of the user over time and generate observation data associated with a user profile. The observation data may include a plurality of observations, with a single observation corresponding to a location and time at which the user was detected. The system may apply a clustering algorithm to the observation data to generate probability distributions (e.g., clusters) associated with discrete locations. For example, the system may group observations that are in proximity to each other and separate the groups based on location. Using the probability distribution for an individual cluster, the system may determine a likelihood that the user is present at a location corresponding to the cluster.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Karim Helwani, Alexander Caughron, Amin Hani Atrash, Aarthi Raveendran, Kevin V. Macwan
  • Patent number: 11451913
    Abstract: In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for digitally transmitting audio that is converted from analog audio received from analog media pickup devices in a live performance venue by a stage box to a base unit over off-the-shelf twisted pair cable while sending pre-amplification control signals and power over the cable to the stage box. Audio for the performance venue is remotely managed from a virtual audio engineering mixing board that wirelessly communicates audio control commands to the stage box from a handheld computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: En Technology Corporation
    Inventor: Fred W. Heineman
  • Patent number: 11451918
    Abstract: Improved methods and/or apparatus for decoding an encoded audio signal in soundfield format for L loudspeakers. The method and/or apparatus can render an Ambisonics format audio signal to 2D loudspeaker setup(s) based on a rendering matrix. The rendering matrix has elements based on loudspeaker positions and wherein the rendering matrix is determined based on weighting at least an element of a first matrix with a weighting factor g = 1 L . The first matrix is determined based on positions of the L loudspeakers and at least a virtual position of at least a virtual loudspeaker that is added to the positions of the L loudspeakers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: DOLBY LABORATORIES LICENSING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Florian Keiler, Johannes Boehm
  • Patent number: 11450317
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a smart furniture controller with voice recognition, including a controller body and a control circuit. The control circuit is disposed in the controller body. The control circuit comprises a main control unit, a voice recognition module, an operation panel, a control output interface and a power module. The voice recognition module is connected to the main control unit; a microphone and a loudspeaker are connected to the voice recognition module; the operation panel is connected to the main control unit, and the control output interface is connected to the main control unit. The disclosed embodiments integrate a voice recognition module in the controller. Voice commands can be recognized through the voice recognition module, allowing to control the smart furniture via voice, and making the operation simpler and more convenient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: eMoMo Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Wenji Tang, Jingzhi Chen, Zhigang Wang, Wei Zhou, Ming Kong, Lin Chen, Shunde Yang, Jiandong Li, Qishuang Lu, Zaigui Yang
  • Patent number: 11442687
    Abstract: An audio transmission device coupled to an electronic device and including a detection circuit, a vendor-defined class circuit, and an audio class circuit is provided. The detection circuit detects an external sound to generate an input voice. The vendor-defined class circuit provides a first voice signal to the electronic device according to the input voice. An audio processing application program of the electronic device processes the first voice signal to generate a processed voice to the vendor-defined class circuit. The audio class circuit receives the processed voice from the vendor-defined class circuit, uses the processed voice as a second voice signal, and provides the second voice signal to the media manager of the electronic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: VIA LABS, INC.
    Inventors: Chih-Hsien Lin, Chin-Sung Hsu, Li-Feng Pan
  • Patent number: 11438718
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to an electronic module for a hearing device. The electronic module comprises at least one electronic component for a hearing device and an embedding material covering the electronic component. The electronic component comprises at least one restricted area which is free from the embedding material. The restricted area is surrounded at least partially by a zone and the zone is covered by an attaching material. The attaching material covering the zone has a mold part formed by molding and freely formed edge facing the restricted area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: OTICON A/S
    Inventors: Troels Holm Pedersen, Søren Wichmann, Dennis Presutti
  • Patent number: 11432083
    Abstract: There is presented an in-the-ear hearing aid comprising a faceplate, an ear shell, such as a custom ear shell, and a battery, wherein the battery is fixed to the ear shell and furthermore a method for providing an in-the-ear hearing aid, said method comprising obtaining data, such as three-dimensional data, representative of a shape and/or size of an ear canal of a specific person, such as the part of an ear canal extending at least partially from the outer ear to the middle ear, establishing a digital model of the ear shell, such as the custom ear shell, of the hearing aid for said ear canal based on said data, wherein said providing includes determining a position and/or orientation of a battery in said ear shell, which position and/or orientation increases or maximizes a distance from the outer ear to the faceplate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: Oticon A/S
    Inventor: Poul Henriksen
  • Patent number: 11425509
    Abstract: An atmospheric pressure adjustment apparatus is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jong Hwa Lee, Yang Wook Kim, Chang Han Kim, Gui Won Seo, Sung Won Cho, Jin Ho Park, Hyeong Cheol Jeong