Sound Effects Patents (Class 381/61)
  • Patent number: 10885890
    Abstract: Various systems and methods are disclosed to allow users to conveniently control characteristics of sounds generated by musical instruments. Exemplary systems include a control unit in communication with any number of audio processing devices (“APDs”). The control unit may be operable to transmit control signals to each of the APDs, wherein the control signals include settings information relating to one or more APD processing parameter values. The control unit may be further operable to receive an audio signal generated by an instrument and transmit the same to the APDs. Accordingly, upon receiving the control signal and the audio signal from the control unit, the APDs may update their processing parameters based on relevant settings information contained in the control signal and process the audio signal into a processed audio signal, based on the updated processing parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: Nebula Music Technologies Inc.
    Inventor: Pouria Pezeshkian
  • Patent number: 10855949
    Abstract: In some aspects, control circuitry receives and stores a user-specified time duration to associate with a skip-forward command. When the user later issues a skip-forward command to advance playback of a media asset to a desired location, the control circuitry retrieves the stored time duration, and determines an expected overshoot value associated with the skip-forward command. The control circuitry then compensates for the expected overshoot by calculating a new location in the media asset based on both the retrieved time duration and expected overshoot value. Upon advancing to the new location, the media asset is played back in a fast-forward mode, e.g., at a speed higher than normal speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc.
    Inventors: Milan Patel, Abubakkar Siddiq, Ajay Kumar Gupta, Sai Rahul Reddy Pulikunta, Sashikumar Venkataraman
  • Patent number: 10854182
    Abstract: A singing assisting system, a singing assisting method, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions for executing the method are provided. When the performed singing track does not appear in an ought-to-be-performed period, a singing-continuing procedure is executed. When the performed singing track is off pitch, a pitch adjustment procedure is executed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: ATEN INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hsien-Chao Huang, Yi-Tzu Ting, Yu-Yun Chen, Chung-Wen Yang
  • Patent number: 10825196
    Abstract: A face orientation system of a ride that includes one or more sensors and a controller. The controller receives ride cart data from the one or more sensors indicative of a presence and position of the ride cart on the ride, determines ride cart orientation based on the ride cart data, receives position data of a guest from the one or more sensors indicative of a position of a body, a face, or a combination thereof, of the guest, determines face orientation, face rotation, or a combination thereof, of the guest based on the ride cart orientation and position data, and transmits data indicative of the determined face orientation, face rotation, or a combination thereof to a downstream controller for subsequent control based upon the determined face orientation, face rotation, or the combination thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: Universal City Studios LLC
    Inventors: Yu-Jen Lin, Anthony Melo
  • Patent number: 10754608
    Abstract: A method including determining and tracking a position of an observed sound source to an observation point at an audio monitoring device; determining an identifier for the observed sound source based upon the determined and tracked position of the observed sound source; receiving distributed audio capture application signals at the audio monitoring device, where the distributed audio capture application signals include at least one audio mixing parameter for individual audio object channels and identifiers for respective audio objects of the individual audio object channels; and associating a first one of the individual audio object channels with the observed sound source based upon the received identifier of the first individual audio object channel and the determined identifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
    Inventors: Sujeet Shyamsundar Mate, Arto Lehtiniemi
  • Patent number: 10750306
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to reverberation generation for headphone virtualization. A method of generating one or more components of a binaural room impulse response (BRIR) for headphone virtualization is described. In the method, directionally-controlled reflections are generated, wherein directionally-controlled reflections impart a desired perceptual cue to an audio input signal corresponding to a sound source location. Then at least the generated reflections are combined to obtain the one or more components of the BRIR. Corresponding system and computer program products are described as well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Louis D. Fielder, Zhiwei Shuang, Grant A. Davidson, Xiguang Zheng, Mark S. Vinton
  • Patent number: 10737633
    Abstract: A vehicle sound effect generation apparatus includes a running state detecting unit that detects a running state of a vehicle; a lateral input amount setting unit that sets, based on the running state detected by the running state detecting unit, a lateral input amount in which a physical amount relating to at least one of a movement of the vehicle in a width direction and a movement of the vehicle in a turning direction is a parameter; an adjustment wave sound selector that selects one or more integer-order adjustment wave sounds having an integer-order frequency component, based on the lateral input amount; and a sound effect generation unit that synthesizes a fundamental wave sound having a fundamental frequency component with the one or more integer-order adjustment wave sounds selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tadayuki Niibe, Naoki Yamada
  • Patent number: 10728688
    Abstract: Described herein is a method for creating an object-based audio signal from an audio input, the audio input including one or more audio channels that are recorded to collectively define an audio scene. The one or more audio channels are captured from a respective one or more spatially separated microphones disposed in a stable spatial configuration. The method includes the steps of: a) receiving the audio input; b) performing spatial analysis on the one or more audio channels to identify one or more audio objects within the audio scene; c) determining contextual information relating to the one or more audio objects; d) defining respective audio streams including audio data relating to at least one of the identified one or more audio objects; and e) outputting an object-based audio signal including the audio streams and the contextual information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Glenn N. Dickins, Richard J. Cartwright
  • Patent number: 10726683
    Abstract: A method for identifying a mechanical impedance of an electromagnetic load may include generating a waveform signal for driving an electromagnetic load, the waveform signal comprising a first tone at a first driving frequency and a second tone at a second driving frequency. The method may also include during driving of the electromagnetic load by the waveform signal or a signal derived therefrom, receiving a current signal representative of a current associated with the electromagnetic load and a back electromotive force signal representative of a back electromotive force associated with the electromagnetic load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventors: Emmanuel Marchais, Eric Lindemann, Carl L. Ståhl
  • Patent number: 10685637
    Abstract: A noise masking device includes: an acquisition unit that acquires (i) frequency information indicating a frequency of a noise in a vehicle or frequency-correlated information correlated to the frequency and (ii) vehicle information relating to a characteristic of the noise; a signal source that generates a masker signal for outputting a masker sound that masks the noise in the vehicle; a pitch-shifting unit that pitch-shifts the masker signal according to the frequency information or the frequency-correlated information acquired by the acquisition unit to generate a pitch-shifted masker signal; an adjustment unit that performs, on the pitch-shifted masker signal, an adjustment according to the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit to generate an adjusted masker signal; and an output unit that outputs the adjusted masker signal as the masker sound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuhisa Kotegawa, Kiyohisa Higashi
  • Patent number: 10681486
    Abstract: A method for obtaining Hi-Res audio transfer information is provided. The method is applicable to the electronic device having a processor. In the method, a first audio signal is captured and converted from the time domain into in the frequency domain to generate a first signal spectrum. Then, a regression analysis is performed on an energy distribution of the first signal spectrum to predict an extended energy distribution according to the first signal spectrum, and head-related parameters are used to compensate for the extended energy distribution to generate an extended signal spectrum. Finally, the first signal spectrum and the extended signal spectrum are combined into a second signal spectrum which is converted from the frequency domain into the time domain to generate a second audio signal including Hi-Res audio transfer information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: HTC Corporation
    Inventors: Tien-Ming Wang, Li-Yen Lin, Chun-Min Liao, Chi-Tang Ho, Yan-Min Kuo, Tsung-Yu Tsai
  • Patent number: 10644661
    Abstract: In a signal path comprising an analog path portion configured to operate in a plurality of output impedance modes including a high impedance mode with a first impedance and a low impedance mode with a second impedance, and a digital path portion having a variable digital gain and configured to convert a digital input signal and into an analog signal provided to the analog path portion, a method may include responsive to a condition for switching between the high impedance mode and the low impedance mode or vice versa, transitioning the output impedance continuously or in a series of steps between the first impedance and the second impedance or vice versa and, contemporaneously with transitioning the output impedance, transitioning the variable digital gain continuously or in a series of steps such to maintain a substantially constant overall path gain for the signal path remains substantially constant during transition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventors: Tejasvi Das, Eric J. King, Xin Zhao, Xiaofan Fei, Johann G. Gaboriau, Lei Zhu, John L. Melanson, Thomas Hoff
  • Patent number: 10599382
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program that can more exactly indicate a position outside a display region. An outside-display-region-position designation unit designates a position outside a display region of an image display unit, and a drawing/sound control unit controls output of a sound of an AR object from a sound output unit while moving the AR objet toward the designated position. The present technology can be applied to a wearable computer, for example, a glasses-type device having a pair of image display units for a left eye and a right eye.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Nakagawa, Hirotaka Ishikawa, Yasuki Kanema
  • Patent number: 10595144
    Abstract: In method the following is performed: receiving input audio content representing mixed audio sources; separating the mixed audio sources, thereby obtaining separated audio source signals and a residual signal; and generating output audio content by mixing the separated audio source signals and the residual signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Fabien Cardinaux, Michael Enenkl, Franck Giron, Thomas Kemp, Stefan Uhlich
  • Patent number: 10586553
    Abstract: In an apparatus configured to perform signal processing on audio data of a first sampling rate, methods disclosed herein comprise receiving audio data of a second sampling rate, the second sampling rate being higher than the first sampling rate. The methods comprise applying filtering to the audio data of the second sampling rate to thereby produce first filtered audio data and second filtered audio data, the first filtered audio data comprising mainly component frequencies which are audible to the human ear, the second filtered audio data comprising mainly components frequencies which are substantially inaudible to the human ear. The methods further comprise applying first signal processing to the first filtered audio data; and applying second signal processing to the second filtered audio data, the second signal processing having a lower computational complexity than the first signal processing. Corresponding apparatus and computer readable media are also disclosed herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Nicholas L. Engel, Nicholas Luke Appleton, Alan J. Seefeldt
  • Patent number: 10580433
    Abstract: An electronic device includes an audio receiver which receives audio of a user and converts the audio into audio information, and a processor. The processor performs first obtaining emotion information on a basis of the audio information converted by the audio receiver and second obtaining user-related information or environment information. In the first obtaining, the emotion information is obtained on a basis of the audio information of a predetermined timing which is decided on a basis of the user-related information or the environment information obtained in the second obtaining.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Keiichi Nomura, Toshiya Sakurai, Hideo Suzuki, Tsuyoshi Minami, Shuhei Uchida, Shigeki Kitamura, Kimiyasu Mizuno, Takashi Suenaga, Munetaka Seo
  • Patent number: 10567697
    Abstract: A signal processing device includes: a resonant band-pass filter which extracts a frequency component which causes resonance of a housing from an input signal; a harmonic generating unit configured to generate a harmonic signal for an output signal of the resonant band-pass filter; an adding unit configured to add an output signal of the harmonic generating unit and at least a portion of a frequency component of the input signal; and a resonant band-stop filter which removes the frequency component which causes the resonance of the housing from an output signal of the adding unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: SOCIONEXT INC.
    Inventor: Shuji Miyasaka
  • Patent number: 10531220
    Abstract: Systems and methods for capturing audio which can be used in applications such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality systems. Some systems may include a plurality of distributed monitoring devices in an environment, each having a microphone and a location tracking unit. The system can capture audio signals while also capturing location tracking signals which indicate the locations of the monitoring devices over time during capture of the audio signals. The system can generate a representation of at least a portion of a sound wave field in the environment based on the audio signals and the location tracking signals. The system may also determine one or more acoustic properties of the environment based on the audio signals and the location tracking signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: Magic Leap, Inc.
    Inventors: George A. Sanger, Brian Lloyd Schmidt, Anastasia A. Tajik, Terry Micheal O'Gara, David Matthew Shumway, Alan Steven Howarth
  • Patent number: 10530319
    Abstract: A method in a computing device configured to perform volume-levelling processing on input audio data by at least applying one or more filters to the input audio data, the computing device being configured to obtain an estimated difference between a target output loudness level and a loudness level associated with the input audio data, and to adapt the filter coefficients of the one or more filters based on the estimated difference. The method involves starting, or stopping, the volume-levelling processing. The method comprises gradually increasing, or decreasing, a weighting applied to the estimated difference, in response to obtaining an indication to start, or stop, the volume-levelling processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventor: Mark David De Burgh
  • Patent number: 10524080
    Abstract: An audio processing system has one or more processors that process an audio signal on three paths. The first path has a direct gain and a direct virtual source algorithm operating on the audio signal. The second path has a plurality of early reflection gains operating on the audio signal. Operation with the early reflection gains produces a plurality of early reflections. Each of the early reflection signals may be subjected to a delay and may be processed according to an early reflections virtual source algorithm. The third path has a reverb gain and binaural reverb filters operating on the audio signal. The third path also has a crosstalk canceler. A mixer combines left and right channel outputs of each of the first path, second path and third path. The mixer produces a left loudspeaker signal and a right loudspeaker signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Martin E. Johnson, Darius A. Satongar, Stuart J. Wood, Lance F. Reichert, Juha O. Merimaa, Joshua D. Atkins
  • Patent number: 10469969
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for processing a signal, which are used for effectively reproducing a multimedia signal, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for processing a signal, which are used for implementing filtering for multimedia signal having a plurality of subbands with a low calculation amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: WILUS INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY INC.
    Inventors: Hyunoh Oh, Taegyu Lee
  • Patent number: 10469926
    Abstract: A portable speaker system for an electric string instrument such as a guitar. The portable speaker system has a housing including an audio jack for receiving a raw audio signal from a guitar, an amplifier, a speaker, and a power supply. The portable speaker system attaches to the guitar by a button connector which releasably attaches to a strap button of the guitar, and a stabilizer for inhibiting rotation of the portable speaker system when attached to the guitar. The portable speaker system portably generates output sound from the raw audio signal. The portable speaker system can couple with a portable computing device, which can process the raw audio signal and provide a supplementary audio signal, from which the portable speaker system can portably generate output sound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: JAMSTACK INC.
    Inventors: Christopher James Prendergast, Dylan Horvath, Borys Chylinski
  • Patent number: 10440497
    Abstract: A mechanism is described for facilitating multi-modal dereverberation in far-field audio systems according to one embodiment. A method of embodiments, as described herein, includes performing geometry estimation of a geographical space based on visuals of the space received from one or more cameras of a computing device. The method may further include computing reverberation time based on the geometry estimation that is further based on the visuals, and computing and applying dereverberation based on the reverberation time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: INTEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Raghavendra Rao R, Przemyslaw Maziewski, Adam Kupryjanow, Anbumani Subramanian
  • Patent number: 10412531
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an audio processing apparatus, a method, and a program that aim at enabling a sound to be reproduced more efficiently. A head-related transfer function synthesis section previously holds a matrix of a diagonalized head-related transfer function. The head-related transfer function synthesis section synthesizes an input signal in an annular harmonic domain for reproducing a sound and the previously held and diagonalized head-related transfer function. An annular harmonic inverse transformation section performs an annular harmonic inverse transformation on a signal obtained as a result of the synthesis by the head-related transfer function synthesis section on the basis of an annular harmonic function and thereby generates a headphone driving signal in a time frequency domain. The present technology is applicable to an audio processing apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Tetsu Magariyachi, Yuhki Mitsufuji, Yu Maeno
  • Patent number: 10390147
    Abstract: A hearing device includes: a microphone for reception of sound and conversion of the received sound into a corresponding first audio signal; a processing unit for providing a second audio signal compensating a hearing loss of a user of the hearing aid based on the first audio signal; and a receiver for providing an output sound signal based on the second audio signal; wherein the processing unit comprises a band splitter, a pitch shifter, and a frequency shifter, and wherein the pitch shifter and the frequency shifter are arranged in a first channel for performing frequency mapping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: GN Hearing A/S
    Inventor: Erik Cornelis Diederik Van Der Werf
  • Patent number: 10377306
    Abstract: Systems and methods providing engine harmonic enhancement receive a first signal representative of a load on an engine and generate a control parameter based on the first signal. One or more harmonic scaling elements generate a scaled version of an engine harmonic signal based on the control parameter. Each harmonic scaling element includes a harmonic specific mapping element for mapping the control parameter to a scaling factor, wherein at least some of the scaling factor values of the harmonic specific mapping element are mapped to control parameter values associated with a negative load on the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventor: Cristian Marius Hera
  • Patent number: 10382857
    Abstract: An audio electronics system operates on audio data. A low-pass or bandpass filter produces first data from audio data. A level detector produces a time-varying first gain. The first gain is based on a time-varying level of the first data. A harmonics generator receives, as input, the first data adjusted by an inverse of the first gain. The harmonics generator produces second data, as harmonics of the input. A multiplier outputs the second data adjusted by the first gain. Other aspects are also described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Sarthak Khanal, Hannes Breitschaedel, Vasu Iyengar
  • Patent number: 10319353
    Abstract: A sample library for sample notes, wherein each note has been samples at a plurality of dynamic layers, each note having a main sample and a plurality of impulse response samples. Each impulse response sample corresponding to a deconvolution of the main note and one corresponding dynamic layer sample. During playback of a note the main sample is convoluted with a corresponding impulse response sample to produce a simulated target note.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: THE STONE FAMILY TRUST OF 1992
    Inventor: Christopher L. Stone
  • Patent number: 10311845
    Abstract: When an instruction is provided for changing a characteristic of a set filter which includes a plurality of partial filters and forms a specified characteristic by combining a plurality of partial filters, a processor performs, as crossfading processing for a first filter and a second filter among the plurality of partial filters, fade-out processing of gradually decreasing a degree of contribution of the first filter to the characteristic and fade-in processing of gradually increasing a degree of contribution of the second filter to the characteristic. As a result, unnaturalness occurring at the time of changing filter characteristics is solved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroki Sato, Masuo Yokota
  • Patent number: 10303421
    Abstract: The present technology relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program that can more exactly indicate a position outside a display region. An outside-display-region-position designation unit designates a position outside a display region of an image display unit, and a drawing/sound control unit controls output of a sound of an AR object from a sound output unit while moving the AR object toward the designated position. The present technology can be applied to a wearable computer, for example, a glasses-type device having a pair of image display units for a left eye and a right eye.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Nakagawa, Hirotaka Ishikawa, Yasuki Kanema
  • Patent number: 10305439
    Abstract: An active sound management system comprises a transducer that senses an actual sound or vibration from a sound generating source and generates a transducer signal in response to sensing the actual sound or vibration; a harmonic extractor device that extracts a plurality of harmonics from the transducer signal; and a harmonic modifier device that adjusts a feature of the extracted harmonic to be within a predetermined threshold with respect to a target harmonic corresponding to a desired sound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: BOSE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Cristian M. Hera, Peter Raymond, Samuel Rhee
  • Patent number: 10284939
    Abstract: A headphone listening device may include at least one speaker included in an earpiece and configured to playback first audio content from a first audio source. The headphone device may include at least one sensor configured to detect a trigger event and a controller. The controller may be configured to, in response to receiving the trigger event from the sensor, enable at least one microphone to acquire second audio content, fade a volume of the first audio content, and playback the second audio content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: Harman International Industries, Incorporated
    Inventors: Daniel I. Radin, Kent Jopling, Isword Zhang
  • Patent number: 10238964
    Abstract: There is provided an information processing apparatus including a waveform generation unit configured to generate a waveform according to a relative movement between two objects in a virtual space, and an output control unit configured to control a haptic output and a sound output on the basis of frequency distribution of the waveform generated by the waveform generation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akihiro Komori, Yusuke Nakagawa
  • Patent number: 10237510
    Abstract: A signal processing device includes: a resonant band-pass filter which extracts frequency components which cause resonance of a housing from an input signal; a harmonic generating unit which generates a harmonic signal for an output signal of the resonant band-pass filter; an adding unit which adds an output signal of the harmonic generating unit and at least a portion of frequency components of the input signal; and a resonant band-stop filter which removes the frequency components which cause the resonance of the housing from an output signal of the adding unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Socionext Inc.
    Inventor: Shuji Miyasaka
  • Patent number: 10187740
    Abstract: A number of candidate binaural room impulse responses (BRIRs) are analyzed to select one of them as a selected first BRIR that is to be applied to diffuse audio, and another one as a selected second BRIR that is to be applied to direct audio, of a sound program. A first binaural rendering process is performed on the diffuse audio by applying the selected first BRIR and a first head related transfer function (HRTF) to the diffuse audio. A second binaural rendering process is performed on the direct audio by applying the selected second BRIR and a second HRTF to the direct audio. Results of the two binaural rendering processes are combined to produce headphone driver signals. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Afrooz Family
  • Patent number: 10170098
    Abstract: A vehicle sound effect generation apparatus includes a running state detecting unit that detects a running state of a vehicle; a lateral input amount setting unit that sets, based on the running state detected by the running state detecting unit, a lateral input amount in which a physical amount relating to at least one of a movement of the vehicle in a width direction and a movement of the vehicle in a turning direction is a parameter; an adjustment wave sound selector that selects one or more half-order adjustment wave sounds having a half-order frequency component, based on the lateral input amount; and a sound effect generation unit that synthesizes a fundamental wave sound having a fundamental frequency component with the one or more half-order adjustment wave sounds selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tadayuki Niibe, Naoki Yamada
  • Patent number: 10158960
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer program products for dynamically reproducing audio content at an optimal level using a plurality of heterogeneous speaker devices are disclosed herein. The method comprises operations including: comparing the first performance information associated with a first speaker device to second performance information associated with a second speaker device, determining which of the speaker devices is a preferred output device based at least in part on the comparison, and reproducing filtered audio signals via the preferred output devices in response to a request to playback audio content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2018
    Assignee: ROKU, INC.
    Inventor: Brian Møller
  • Patent number: 10134382
    Abstract: A vehicle sound effect generation apparatus includes a running state detecting unit that detects a running state of a vehicle, an adjustment wave sound selector that selects one or more adjustment wave sounds having a half-order frequency component or an integer-order frequency component, a sound effect generation unit that synthesizes a fundamental wave sound having a fundamental frequency component with the one or more adjustment wave sounds selected by the adjustment wave sound selector, and an inhibition condition determining unit that can determine a condition that correspondence between an amount of an operation performed by a vehicle occupant and a behavior of the vehicle is inhibited. When the inhibition condition determining unit determines the condition that the correspondence between the amount of the operation and the behavior of the vehicle is inhibited, the adjustment wave sound selector reduces the output characteristics of the adjustment wave sounds selected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tadayuki Niibe, Naoki Yamada
  • Patent number: 10089980
    Abstract: A sound reproduction method is provided. The method includes acquiring ambient sound information that includes voice spoken to a speech dialog system and indicates sound around a speaking person who has spoken the voice. The method also includes separating the ambient sound information into first sound information including the spoken voice and second sound information including sound other than the spoken voice. The method further includes comparing the sound level of the first sound information with the sound level of the second sound information, and reproducing an audio response to the spoken voice, by selecting one of a first reproduction method and a second reproduction method that is different in terms of directivity of reproduced sound from the first reproduction method in accordance with a result of the comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tomomi Matsuoka, Atsushi Sakaguchi
  • Patent number: 10068620
    Abstract: In order to affect the mood of a vehicle operator (for example, to increase attentiveness), embodiments of the invention automatically sequence appropriate audio cues into the sound playback from a vehicle's sound system. These cues represent events related to the vehicle or taking place in the vicinity of the vehicle, and can be modulated or effected so as to better convey the vehicle event. These cues may also be part of a coherent soundscape representing a fantasy scenario, such as motocross, sailing, or stand-up paddle boarding. Both the soundscape and the mapping of vehicle events to sound cues are configurable by the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: LP-Research Inc.
    Inventors: Zhuohua Lin, Klaus Petersen, Tobias Schlüter, Huei Ee Yap
  • Patent number: 10056093
    Abstract: A first encoding unit generates a first encoded signal by encoding a component within a first band in a voice signal. A frequency shifting unit shifts the frequency of a component within a second band in the voice signal, the second band having a frequency higher than that of the first band, to the frequency of a component within the first band. A second encoding unit generates a second encoded signal by encoding the component whose frequency has been shifted in the frequency shifting unit. An output unit outputs both the first encoded signal generated in the first encoding unit and the second encoded signal generated in the second encoding unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: JVC KENWOOD Corporation
    Inventor: Ryo Kamino
  • Patent number: 10046602
    Abstract: In a general aspect, a system includes circuitry for providing an engine harmonic scaling module and a summer. The engine harmonic scaling module is configured to receive a torque signal and a throttle signal, process the torque signal to generate a calibrated torque value, process the throttle signal to generate a throttle percentage value, determine a control parameter based on an examination of the calibrated torque value and the throttle percentage value, determine, based on the control parameter, a harmonic-specific scaling factor for each of one or more engine harmonic signals of a plurality of engine harmonic signals, and apply the corresponding harmonic-specific scaling factor to each of the one or more engine harmonic signals to generate corresponding scaled engine harmonic signals. The summer is configured to generate, from the scaled engine harmonic signals, a combined engine harmonic signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventor: Cristian Marius Hera
  • Patent number: 10038947
    Abstract: An apparatus including a first speaker configured to output higher-frequency sound from among sound of a channel via at least one slit, and a second speaker configured to output lower-frequency sound from among the sound of the channel via at least one other slit. The at least one slit may have a thickness that is less than a wavelength of sound emitted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jong-bae Kim, Dae-joung Kim, Dong-kyu Park, Sung-ha Son, Gyeong-tae Lee, Joo-yeon Lee, Jong-in Jo, Sung-joo Kim, Dong-hyun Jung, Seon-ho Hwang, Dae-kyung Ahn, Sang-sung Woo, Sang-min Hyun
  • Patent number: 10017008
    Abstract: The invention relates to a subsidiary loudspeaker for vehicles and bikes, including a tail pipe, a host module and an eternal controller; the host module receives imitation commands from the external controller, a central processing unit operates and outputs a control signal according to the detected parameter values of power rotation speed and vehicle speed to adjust the imitated exhaust sound output by a speaker in the tail pipe; to thereby adjust the exhaust sound, to meet low noise requirements of environmental law and reduce occurrence of vehicle accidents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: LIANG FEI INDUSTRY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Chin-Chuan Chang
  • Patent number: 9994149
    Abstract: A sound transmitting system for a motor vehicle has a sound generator (2) and a sound-conducting first sound duct (6). The first sound duct (6) has a proximal end (7) connected to the sound generator (2) to transmit sound and a distal end (21) facing away from the proximal end (7) and via which a sound from the generated sound enters a passenger compartment (19) or external region (20) of a bodywork (26) of the motor vehicle (12). To bring about a specific sound characteristic of the resulting sound, a first length (L1) of the first sound duct (6) and/or a first diameter (D1) of the first sound duct (6) and/or a first cross-sectional area (Q1) of the first sound duct (6) are/is adapted as a function of the generated sound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: DR. ING. H.C.F. PORSCHE AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventor: Tobias Hillers
  • Patent number: 9967690
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is an acoustic control apparatus including: a speaker-position computation section configured to find the position of each of a plurality of speakers located in a speaker layout space on the basis of a position computed as the microphone position in the speaker layout space based on a taken image of at least any of the microphone and an object placed at a location close to the microphone position, and a result of sound collection to collect a signal sound each generated by one of the speakers; and an acoustic control section configured to control a sound generated by each of the speakers by computing a user position in the speaker layout space based on a taken image of the user, computing the distance between the user position and the position of each of the speakers, and controlling sounds generated by the speakers according to the computed distances.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shingo Tsurumi
  • Patent number: 9955282
    Abstract: A method for processing an audio signal in accordance with a room impulse response is described. The audio signal is processed with an early part of the room impulse response separate from a late reverberation of the room impulse response, wherein the processing of the late reverberation has generating a scaled reverberated signal, the scaling being dependent on the audio signal. The processed early part of the audio signal and the scaled reverberated signal are combined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Simone Fueg, Jan Plogsties
  • Patent number: 9942675
    Abstract: A method of synchronizing one or more wirelessly received audio signals with an acoustically received audio signal is provided. The method comprises: receiving an electromagnetic signal using a first wireless communication method, the electromagnetic signal comprising: the one or more wirelessly received audio signals and a wirelessly received metadata relating to a remote audio content, determining a delay between the acoustically received audio signal and the one or more wirelessly received audio signals by referring the acoustically received audio signal to the wirelessly received metadata; and delaying the one or more audio signals by the determined delay. A device and system for performing the method are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: POWERCHORD GROUP LIMITED
    Inventor: Graham Tull
  • Patent number: 9925459
    Abstract: Detection and prevention of false positives associated with a handheld controller are provided. Information is stored in memory regarding indicia of false positive input associated with a handheld controller used to control media usage. Sensor information is monitored at the handheld controller. It may be detected that the monitored sensor information matches one or more indicia of false positive input. Subsequent input received from the handheld controller may then be nullified, such that the nullified input is not registered and does not result in control changes to the associated media. It may then be detected that the monitored sensor information no longer matches one or more indicia of false positive input. Subsequently, nullification is ended, and subsequent input received from the handheld game controller is registered normally and results in control changes to the associated media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2018
    Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.
    Inventor: Anton Mikhailov
  • Patent number: 9908466
    Abstract: In a general aspect, a system includes circuitry for providing an engine harmonic scaling module and a summer. The engine harmonic scaling module is configured to receive a torque signal and a throttle signal, process the torque signal to generate a calibrated torque value, process the throttle signal to generate a throttle percentage value, determine a control parameter based on an examination of the calibrated torque value and the throttle percentage value, determine, based on the control parameter, a harmonic-specific scaling factor for each of one or more engine harmonic signals of a plurality of engine harmonic signals, and apply the corresponding harmonic-specific scaling factor to each of the one or more engine harmonic signals to generate corresponding scaled engine harmonic signals. The summer is configured to generate, from the scaled engine harmonic signals, a combined engine harmonic signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventor: Cristian M. Hera