Patents Examined by Paul S Kim
  • Patent number: 9807530
    Abstract: An audio capture device selects between multiple microphones to generate an output audio signal depending on detected conditions. When the presence of wind noise or other uncorrelated noise is detected, the audio capture device selects, for each of a plurality of different frequency sub-bands, an audio signal having the lowest noise and combines the selected frequency sub-bands signals to generate an output audio signal. When wind noise or other uncorrelated noise is not detected, the audio capture device determines whether each of a plurality of microphones are wet or dry and selects one or more audio signals from the microphones depending on their respective conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: GoPro, Inc.
    Inventors: Erich Tisch, Joyce Rosenbaum, Magnus Hansson, Ke Li, David Wurtz
  • Patent number: 9805569
    Abstract: A method for identifying a gunshot occurrence. According to one embodiment, microphone data and inertial motion data are acquired with a hand-held device. Based on an acoustic criterion, a determination is made as to whether a gunshot has been produced. Based on a correlation criterion applied to the inertial motion data, a determination is made as to whether the gunshot was produced from fire produced by a first person having physical possession of the hand-held device or by a second person spaced away from the first person.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: Intrepid Networks, LLC
    Inventors: Brittin Kane, Joshua Witter, Jim Schmorde, Joel Villa
  • Patent number: 9807501
    Abstract: An audio capture device selects between multiple microphones to generate an output audio signal depending on detected conditions. When the presence of wind noise or other uncorrelated noise is detected, the audio capture device selects, for each of a plurality of different frequency sub-bands, an audio signal having the lowest noise and combines the selected frequency sub-bands signals to generate an output audio signal. When wind noise or other uncorrelated noise is not detected, the audio capture device determines whether each of a plurality of microphones are wet or dry and selects one or more audio signals from the microphones depending on their respective conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: GoPro, Inc.
    Inventors: Erich Tisch, Joyce Rosenbaum, Magnus Hansson, Ke Li, David Wurtz
  • Patent number: 9807520
    Abstract: The disclosed acoustic device and method of using the same allow perception of a bright, clear sound. In an acoustic device (1) for transmitting sound to a user through vibration conduction by contacting a vibrating body (10a) to a human auricle, when a measurement system (10), provided with an ear model (50) including an artificial auricle (51) and an artificial external ear canal (53) and with a microphone (62) that measures air-conducted sound in the artificial external ear canal (53), measures the air-conducted sound upon the acoustic device (1) outputting a fundamental frequency at a predetermined frequency in an audible frequency band while placed in contact with the ear model (50), three or more harmonics at or above the sixth harmonic and having a volume exceeding a volume 45 dB below the volume of the fundamental frequency are measured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: KYOCERA Corporation
    Inventor: Tomohiro Inagaki
  • Patent number: 9791537
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a time delay estimation device. The time delay estimation device of the present invention includes a sound signal detection unit configured to detect sound signals through a plurality of microphones, a frequency domain conversion unit configured to convert the detected sound signals into signals of a frequency domain, and a time delay estimation unit configured to estimate a time delay on the basis of a slope of a phase difference between the sound signals converted into the frequency domain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science
    Inventors: Hyu-Sang Kwon, WanHo Cho
  • Patent number: 9794677
    Abstract: A headphone that has a support structure that is adapted to sit on a head or upper torso of a user, a first acoustic driver carried by the support structure such that the first acoustic driver is located off of an ear of the user, wherein the first acoustic driver has front and rear sides and sound is radiated from both sides of the first acoustic driver, and a structure that defines a first acoustic chamber on the front side of the first acoustic driver and with at least one opening therein, and a second acoustic chamber on the rear side of the first acoustic driver and with at least one opening therein. At low frequencies a polar pattern of the first acoustic driver behaves approximately like a dipole, and at high frequencies a polar pattern of the first acoustic driver exhibits a higher order directional pattern. A second acoustic driver can be included.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: Mihir D. Shetye, Ryan C. Silvestri
  • Patent number: 9794664
    Abstract: A deployable speaker includes a driver and an acoustic enclosure made up of a multiplicity of panels. The driver is secured to one of the panels. The acoustic enclosure is deployable from a closed state to a deployed state. All of the panels which make up the enclosure are unitary and formed from a single sheet of composite material. The composite material has an interior layer that includes a first type of material which is skinned in a second type of material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventor: Andrew W. Clark
  • Patent number: 9793870
    Abstract: An audio system of a vehicle includes a mode module that sets a mode signal to a first mode when a vehicle speed is greater than a predetermined speed and a longitudinal acceleration of the vehicle is less than a predetermined acceleration. The predetermined acceleration is less than zero and the predetermined speed is greater than zero. A sound control module, when the mode signal is in the first mode, selectively sets audio characteristics for a deceleration event of the vehicle based on randomization parameters. An audio driver module, based on the audio characteristics, applies power to speakers to output sound within a passenger cabin of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Frank C. Valeri, Scott M. Reilly, Roger C. Barlow, Jr.
  • Patent number: 9788136
    Abstract: An apparatus for generating one or more audio channels is provided. The apparatus comprises a metadata decoder for generating one or more reconstructed metadata signals from one or more processed metadata signals depending on a control signal, wherein each of the one or more reconstructed metadata signals indicates information associated with an audio object signal of one or more audio object signals, wherein the metadata decoder is configured to generate the one or more reconstructed metadata signals by determining a plurality of reconstructed metadata samples for each of the one or more reconstructed metadata signals. The apparatus comprises an audio channel generator for generating the one or more audio channels depending on the one or more audio object signals and depending on the one or more reconstructed metadata signals. The metadata decoder is configured to receive a plurality of processed metadata samples of each of the one or more processed metadata signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Christian Borss, Christian Ertel, Johannes Hilpert
  • Patent number: 9779740
    Abstract: An input signal includes a channel-based audio signal and an object-based audio signal, and an audio encoding device includes an audio scene analysis unit configured to determine an audio scene from the input signal and detect audio scene information; a channel-based encoder that encodes the channel-based audio signal output from the audio scene analysis unit; an object-based encoder that encodes the object-based audio signal output from the audio scene analysis unit; and an audio scene encoding unit configured to encode the audio scene information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: SOCIONEXT INC.
    Inventors: Shuji Miyasaka, Kazutaka Abe, Zong Xian Liu, Yong Hwee Sim, Anh Tuan Tran
  • Patent number: 9779738
    Abstract: The present document relates to audio encoding/decoding. In particular, the present document relates to a method and system for improving the quality of encoded multi-channel audio signals. An audio encoder configured to encode a multi-channel audio signal according to a total available data-rate is described. The multi-channel audio signal is representable as a basic group (121) of channels for rendering the multi-channel audio signal in accordance to a basic channel configuration, and as an extension group (122) of channels, which—in combination with the basic group (122)—is for rendering the multi-channel audio signal in accordance to an extended channel configuration. The basic channel configuration and the extended channel configuration are different from one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignees: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation, Dolby International AB
    Inventors: Harald Mundt, Jeffrey Riedmiller, Karl J. Roeden, Michael Ward, Phillip Williams
  • Patent number: 9781530
    Abstract: A device or a method using the device includes a sealing section configured to seal a user's orifice, where the sealing section is configured to produce an acoustic seal between a first side of the sealing section and a second side of the sealing section and audio processing circuitry to produce an audio signal for driving a speaker in the device and to measure sound level using output from the microphone in the device while the speaker is being driven by the audio signal. The device or method further includes control circuitry to evaluate a seal quality of the device. Other embodiments are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: STATON TECHIYA LLC
    Inventors: John Usher, John P. Keady
  • Patent number: 9773492
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture (e.g., physical storage media, such as storage devices and/or storage disks) to implement selective suppression of audio emitted from an audio source are disclosed. Example methods disclosed herein for audio suppression include sending, at a first time, reference audio data in a wireless format to a user device, the reference audio data corresponding to a first audio signal to be emitted by an audio source at a second time later than the first time. Such example methods can also include emitting the first audio signal from a speaker associated with the audio source at the second time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC
    Inventors: Sheldon Kent Meredith, Jeremy Fix, Mario Kosseifi
  • Patent number: 9774978
    Abstract: A position determination apparatus includes: an image capturing unit that captures an image of a loudspeaker from a listening position while facing in an image capturing direction, to acquire image data; a direction detection unit that detects the image capturing direction; a recognition unit that recognizes an image of the loudspeaker from the image data; a distance calculation unit that calculates a distance from the listening position to the loudspeaker by using the image of the loudspeaker; and a location determination unit that determines a location of the loudspeaker based on the image capturing direction detected by the direction detection unit and the distance calculated by the distance calculation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Fujita
  • Patent number: 9767618
    Abstract: A user equipment (UE) includes a memory element and a processor. The memory element is configured to store a plurality of head-related transfer functions. The processor is configured to receive an audio signal. The audio signal includes a plurality of ambisonic signals. The processor is also configured to identify an orientation of the UE based on physical properties of the UE. The processor is also configured to rotate the plurality of ambisonic signals based on the orientation of the UE. The processor is also configured to filter the plurality of ambisonic signals using the plurality of head-related transfer functions to form speaker signals. The processor is also configured to output the speaker signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hossein Najaf-Zadeh, Barry Woodward
  • Patent number: 9767797
    Abstract: In an input device it is determined that an input indicator mechanism is selected for a predetermined period of time. Speech is recorded based on the input indicator mechanism being selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: EchoStar Technologies L.L.C.
    Inventors: Jeremy Mickelsen, David A. Innes, Brad Bylund, Rashmi Hegde, Christopher Burns
  • Patent number: 9763021
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed herein that may be implemented to use multiple light sources to visually display non-graphics positional audio information based on multi-channel audio information produced by a computer application executing on a processor of an information handling system. The multiple light sources may be operated separately and independently from a user's computer display device, and the non-graphics positional audio information may be separate and different from any visual graphics data that is generated by the computer application or information handling system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: Dell Products L.P.
    Inventors: Doug J. Peeler, Mark A. Casparian, Joe A. Olmsted
  • Patent number: 9756414
    Abstract: A novel headphone system includes a first speaker assembly, a second speaker assembly, and an interactive visual display system. The interactive visual display system includes a display operative to output visual contents according to interaction with a user. In a more particular embodiment, the headphone system includes an external device interface that enables a user to interact with the contents displayed from the screen via an external device or via the Internet. In another embodiment, the interactive visual display system is removable from the rest of the headphone system and can optionally be installed in another compatible non-headphone device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Inventors: Ronald Pong, King Hei Liu
  • Patent number: 9749767
    Abstract: Method and apparatus reproduce a stereophonic sound. The method includes obtaining sound depth information which denotes a distance between at least one object within a sound signal and a reference position, and providing sound perspective to the sound object output from a speaker, based on the sound depth information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2017
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Sun-min Kim
  • Patent number: 9747889
    Abstract: A reverberant sound adding apparatus includes a noise generator configured to generate a noise, an impulse noise generator configured to generate an impulse noise comprising an impulse sequence with random time intervals, an addition noise generator configured to generate an addition noise by adding the noise to the impulse noise, an impulse response generator configured to generate a modified impulse response by multiplying the addition noise by an amplitude characteristic of an impulse response that indicates acoustic characteristics of a space, and an impulse response convolver configured to convolve an input audio signal with the modified impulse response.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2017
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Futoshi Shirakihara