Counterwave Generation Control Path Patents (Class 381/71.8)
  • Patent number: 11881203
    Abstract: A noise control system detects, identifies, and cancels specific, preselected sounds that an operator does not want to hear during operation of a machine. One or more of a microphone or another sensor detects sound vibrations or other operational parameters that result in the generation of sound vibrations during operation of the machine. A controller identifies, and selectively cancels only the specific, preselected sounds the operator does not want to hear while operating the machine by generating an anti-noise signal to interfere with the specific, preselected sounds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: Caterpillar Paving Products Inc.
    Inventors: Nicholas A. Oetken, Clinton A. Metzger, Elizabeth R. K. Brockman, Bryce David Uitermarkt
  • Patent number: 11812243
    Abstract: A headset comprising a controller configured to receive wind information comprising information relating to a direction of wind in a predetermined coordinate system, direction information relating to a direction of the headset in the predetermined coordinate system, and an input audio signal and to generate an output audio signal based on the wind information, the direction information and the input audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: Bang & Olufsen A/S
    Inventors: Sven Ewan Shepstone, Pablo Martinez-Nuevo
  • Patent number: 11812217
    Abstract: Various implementations include systems for processing inner microphone audio signals. In particular implementations, a system includes an external microphone configured to be acoustically coupled to an environment outside an ear canal of a user; an inner microphone configured to be acoustically coupled to an environment inside the ear canal of the user; and an adaptive noise cancelation system configured to process an internal signal captured by the inner microphone and generate a noise reduced internal signal, wherein the noise reduced internal signal is adaptively generated in response to an external signal captured by the external microphone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventor: Alaganandan Ganeshkumar
  • Patent number: 11721316
    Abstract: A low-delay hybrid noise reduction system includes a reference audio receiving device, an error audio receiving device, an audio output device, and an audio processing device. The audio processing device includes a feedforward noise reduction filter module, a feedback noise reduction filter module, and a mixer. The feedforward noise reduction filter module includes a feedforward least mean squares (LMS) filter, a low-stage finite impulse response (FIR) filter, and 1st to Nth-stage biquad filters. The 1st to Nth-stage biquad filters is set on the input end of the low-stage finite impulse response filter to perform low-delay filtering on the reference source audio signal received and outputs to the low-stage FIR filter so as to output the feedforward noise reduction signal through the low-stage FIR filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: STEADYBEAT TECHNOLOGY CORP.
    Inventors: Hao Ming Chen, Ju Chieh Liu
  • Patent number: 11721313
    Abstract: Noise cancellation systems and methods are provided that generate an anti-noise signal configured to destructively interfere with noise in a cancellation zone. The systems and methods receive a signal representative of the noise in the cancellation zone. The signal is analyzed to identify a frequency to be reduced in the cancellation zone, and the signal is down converted to place the identified frequency at baseband. A baseband anti-noise signal is generated based upon the down converted signal. The baseband anti-noise signal is up converted to the identified frequency to produce an anti-noise signal having components at the identified frequency, and the anti-noise signal is provided to be transduced into an acoustic signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: Yashar Motedayen Aval, Siamak Farahbakhsh
  • Patent number: 11699425
    Abstract: A method, system, and apparatus for noise cancelation is disclosed, which may be used in a wireless unit (WU). The WU may include a processor, a memory, a user interface, internal microphones and internal speakers. A removably connected headset may include microphones and speakers. The WU may receive a first ambient noise from headset microphone(s), which may generate a first signal based on the first ambient noise. The WU may receive a second ambient noise at internal microphone(s), which may generate a second signal based on the second ambient noise. The WU may calculate an estimate of ambient noise based on the first and second signals, calculate a signal for noise cancellation based on the estimate, cancel estimated ambient noise from an audio output signal based on an application of the signal for noise cancellation, and send the audio output signal to speakers of the headset or of the WU.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2023
    Inventor: Fatih Mehmet Ozluturk
  • Patent number: 11683644
    Abstract: A helmet including an active noise cancellation (ANC) system which includes a first reference microphone for measuring sound pressure at a first location on a first side of the helmet, the first location between a defined spatial region and a first source of sound and a second reference microphone for measuring sound pressure at a second location, different to the first location, on the first side. The second location is between the defined spatial region and a second source of sound. A loud speaker is provided in or adjacent to the defined spatial region. A control unit determines, based on output signals from the first and second microphones, a drive signal for driving the loudspeaker to generate a sound signal that at least partially attenuates, in the defined spatial region and in the first frequency range, the sound signals from the first and second noise sources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: DAAL Noise Control Systems AS
    Inventors: Dag Axel Aarset Loe, Sigmund A. Birkeland
  • Patent number: 11664007
    Abstract: In at least one embodiment, an active noise cancellation (ANC) system is provided. The ANC system includes at least one microphone, a first filter, a first controllable filter, and at least one controller. The at least one microphone provides an error signal indicative of noise and an anti-noise sound within the cabin. The first filter modifies a transfer function between the at least one microphone and at least one remote microphone location to generate an estimated remote microphone error signal based at least on the error signal. The first controllable filter generates the anti-noise signal based on the estimated remote microphone error signal. The controller receives receive a first signal indicative of the vehicle exhibiting a fast-adapting event controls the first filter to execute a predetermined filter based on the first signal to reduce a group delay associated with the first filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: Harman International Industries, Incorporated
    Inventor: Kevin J. Bastyr
  • Patent number: 11631391
    Abstract: An electronic system includes a fan module, an embedded controller, a reference microphone, an error microphone, an active noise cancellation controller, and a micro speaker module. The reference microphone outputs a wide-band noise signal associated with the operation of the fan module. The error microphone outputs an error signal by detecting the noise level of the electronic system. According to the wide-band noise signal, the error signal and the fan information provided by the embedded controller, the active noise cancellation controller provides a speaker control signal by calculating narrow-band and wide-band noises of the fan module, and drives the micro speaker module to provide a noise cancellation signal which is adjusted according to the wind pressure under the current fan speed of the fan module. The error signal may be reduced to zero by adaptively adjusting the noise cancellation signal for canceling the noises in the electronic system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: ACER INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Po-Jen Tu, Ruey-Ching Shyu, Jia-Ren Chang, Kai-Meng Tzeng
  • Patent number: 11582550
    Abstract: An in-ear wearable that can include an electro-acoustic transducer; a housing supporting the electro-acoustic transducer such that the housing and the electro-acoustic transducer together defining an acoustic volume, a feedback microphone disposed within the acoustic volume to receive the acoustic energy, the feedback microphone including a microphone port, the feedback microphone transducing acoustic energy received at the microphone port into a feedback microphone signal; and a port defined within the housing, the port extending from a first opening to a second opening, wherein the port acoustically couples the acoustic volume to a space outside the housing such that outside acoustic energy from the space outside the housing enters the first acoustic volume through a path that does not pass through the second acoustic volume, wherein the first opening does not extend beyond a first plane tangent to a point of the microphone port nearest to acoustic exit port and orthogonal to a longitudinal axis of the hous
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: Andrew D. Dominijanni, Michael J. Daley, Liam R. Kelly
  • Patent number: 11557290
    Abstract: Systems and methods for distinguishing valid voice commands from false voice commands in an interactive media guidance application. In some aspects, the interactive media guidance application receives, at a user device, a signature sound sequence. The interactive media guidance application determines, using control circuitry, based on the signature sound sequence, a threshold gain for the current location of the user device. The interactive media guidance application receives, at the user device, a voice command. The interactive media guidance application determines, using the control circuitry, based on the voice command, a gain for the voice command. The interactive media guidance application determines, using the control circuitry, whether the gain for the voice command is different from the threshold gain. Based on determining that the gain for the voice command is different from the threshold gain, the interactive media guidance application executes, using the control circuitry, the voice command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc.
    Inventors: Edison Lin, Rowena Young, Lauren Palmateer
  • Patent number: 11514883
    Abstract: An active noise reduction system and method, and a storage medium are provided. In the system, a first signal acquisition circuitry acquires an external noise signal at a noise cancellation spot, and transmits the acquired external noise signal to a noise control system including a first frequency nonlinear transformation circuitry, a first filter circuitry and an inverter. The first frequency nonlinear transformation circuitry receives the external noise signal, and expands at least one target frequency band of the external noise signal based on a frequency nonlinear transformation mapping function to generate a first transformed external noise signal, the first filter circuitry filters the first transformed external noise signal to generate a filtered external noise signal, and the inverter performs inversion on the filtered external noise signal to generate a noise cancellation signal; and the signal output circuitry receives and outputs the noise cancellation signal to cancel an actual noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: RDA MICROELECTRONICS (SHANGHAI) CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Simin Fang, Jiayi Zhuang, Kai Li
  • Patent number: 11496834
    Abstract: While operating a wearable audio output device in a first mode, a computer system receives an input corresponding to a request to transition the wearable audio output device from the first mode to a noise-cancellation mode in which audio outputs that are provided via the wearable audio output device include cancellation audio components selected so as to at least partially cancel ambient sound from the physical environment. In response, if a first and second wearable audio output components of the wearable audio output device are both in-ear, the computer system transitions the wearable audio output device from the first mode to the noise-cancellation mode; and if either or both of the first and second wearable audio output components is not in-ear, the computer system forgoes transitioning the wearable audio output device from the first mode to the noise-cancellation mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventor: Taylor G. Carrigan
  • Patent number: 11470416
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods and devices for detecting wearing status of an earphone. An example method comprises: acquiring an environment type comprising a noise environment type and a non-noise environment type; when the earphone is in the non-noise environment type, the earphone plays a preset audio signal; acquiring a feedforward and a feedback sound pressure of the earphone to determine a difference therebetween; determining, according to a comparison result of the difference and a preset first threshold range corresponding to the environment type, whether the earphone is worn properly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: Goertek, Inc.
    Inventor: Xiaofeng Wen
  • Patent number: 11405718
    Abstract: An image capture device and a handheld image stabilization device may each include a housing, a motor assembly, a microphone, a dampener, or any combination thereof. The housing may include a first port. The motor assembly may be attached to the housing. The motor assembly may include a plurality of motors. The microphone may be configured to detect audio waves via the first port, vibration noise of the plurality of motors via the housing, or both. The audio waves may include acoustic noise from the plurality of motors. The dampener may be coupled to the housing. The dampener may be configured to reduce the acoustic noise from the plurality of motors, the vibration noise from the plurality of motors, or both.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: GoPro, Inc.
    Inventors: Himay Shukla, Erich Tisch, Joyce Gorny, Eric Penrod, Kielan Crow
  • Patent number: 11393486
    Abstract: Signal to noise ratio, SNR, is determined in an acoustic ambient environment of an against-the-ear audio device worn by a user, wherein the acoustic ambient environment contains speech by a talker. When the SNR is above a threshold, dynamic range control is applied, as positive gain versus input level, to an audio signal from one or more microphones of the audio device. When the SNR is below the threshold, the dynamic range control applies as zero gain or negative gain to the audio signal. Other aspects are also described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: John Woodruff, Yang Lu, Tom-Davy W. Saux
  • Patent number: 11361746
    Abstract: The present disclosure discloses an audio playback apparatus having noise-canceling mechanism that includes a sound receiving circuit, a storage circuit, a filter control circuit, a filter circuit and an audio playback circuit. The sound receiving circuit receives received audio signal including noise. The storage circuit stores filter parameters. The filter control circuit includes a noise estimation circuit, a noise distribution determination circuit and a parameter generation circuit. The noise estimation circuit receives the received audio signal and calculates a stationary noise power spectrum density of the noise such that the noise distribution determination circuit determines a noise spectrum distribution accordingly. The parameter generation circuit analyses the noise spectrum distribution and retrieves a group of selected filter parameters accordingly. The filter circuit filters the received sound signal according to the group of selected filter parameters to generate an anti-noise audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chun-Ming Cho, Wei-Hung He
  • Patent number: 11363389
    Abstract: A hearing device comprises an ITE-part adapted for being located at or in an ear canal of the user comprising a housing comprising a seal towards walls or the ear canal, the ITE part comprising at least two microphones located outside the seal and facing the environment, and at least one microphone located inside the seal and facing the ear drum. The hearing device may comprise a beamformer filter connected to said at least three microphones comprising a first beamformer for spatial filtering said sound in the environment based on input signals from said at least two microphones facing the environment, and a second beamformer for spatial filtering sound reflected from the ear drum based on said at least one electric input signal from said at least one microphone facing the ear drum and at least one of said input signals from said at least two microphones facing the environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Oticon A/S
    Inventors: Michael Syskind Pedersen, Svend Oscar Petersen, Meng Guo, Karsten Bo Rasmussen, Troels Holm Pedersen, Kenneth Rueskov Møller
  • Patent number: 11330358
    Abstract: Various implementations include systems for processing inner microphone audio signals. In particular implementations, a system includes an external microphone configured to be acoustically coupled to an environment outside an ear canal of a user; an inner microphone configured to be acoustically coupled to an environment inside the ear canal of the user; and an adaptive noise cancelation system configured to process an internal signal captured by the inner microphone and generate a noise reduced internal signal, wherein the noise reduced internal signal is adaptively generated in response to an external signal captured by the external microphone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: BOSE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Alaganandan Ganeshkumar
  • Patent number: 11322128
    Abstract: An embodiment for creating a virtual ambient workstation is provided. The embodiment may include receiving a request to reserve an ambient space for a determined time period. The embodiment may also include identifying one or more workstations that are occupied by one or more other individuals. The embodiment may further include identifying combined vocal-fold sound patterns provided to a cognitive system based on the identified one or more workstations occupied by the one or more other individuals. The embodiment may also include evaluating data obtained from the one or more workstations and the combined vocal-fold sound patterns. The embodiment may further include generating an ambient noise remediation sound using an acoustic beam system. The embodiment may also include training the cognitive system. The embodiment may further include determining whether a level of ambient sound is sufficient and providing feedback to the cognitive system through machine learning.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Anita Duggal, Mukundan Sundararajan
  • Patent number: 11264004
    Abstract: A noise cancellation filter structure for a noise cancellation enabled audio device, in particular headphone, comprises a noise input for receiving a noise signal and a filter output for providing a filter output signal. A first noise filter produces a first filter signal by filtering the noise signal and a second noise filter produces a second filter signal by filtering the noise signal. The second noise filter has a frequency response with a non-minimum-phase, in particular maximum-phase. A combiner is configured to provide the filter output signal based on a linear combination of the first filter signal and the second filter signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Assignee: AMS AG
    Inventors: Peter McCutcheon, Robert Alcock
  • Patent number: 11212606
    Abstract: An audio system for a headset includes a plurality of speakers and an audio controller. The plurality of speakers may be in a dipole configuration that cancel sound leakage into a local area of the headset. The controller filters audio content presented by the plurality of speakers to further mitigate leakage of audio content into the local area. The audio determines sound filters based on environmental conditions, such as ambient noise levels, as well as based on the audio content being presented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook Technologies, LLC
    Inventor: Tetsuro Oishi
  • Patent number: 11189260
    Abstract: Active noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones in the form of a part of a headset or as in-ear headphones that reduce acoustic adaptation by providing an electrodynamic speaker in a housing with ventilation openings and an acoustically permeable front panel. These components form a module that can be integrated into ANC headphones, permitting its installation in different headphones without customization. The module reacts to a reduction of the impermeability situation in such a manner, that an impedance change of the speaker takes place below 100 Hz. For example, a microphone and electronics with a feedback filter for active noise cancellation can be provided that form a secondary route between speaker and microphone. In a further development, an evaluation unit is provided which detects and evaluates a change in the impedance of the speaker and adapts the feedback loop.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: AUSTRIAN AUDIO GMBH
    Inventor: Bernhard Pinter
  • Patent number: 11168612
    Abstract: Herein provided is a signal processing device for use in an aircraft engine with a variable geometry mechanism (VGM) and associated systems and methods. The signal processing device comprises a processing unit and a non-transitory computer-readable memory communicatively coupled to the processing unit. The memory has stored thereon computer-readable program instructions executable by the processing unit for: obtaining a VGM position request signal; determining whether a variation of the VGM position request signal is within a predetermined range; when the variation of the VGM position request signal is within the predetermined range: filtering the VGM position request signal to reduce a level of noise in the VGM position request signal; and transmitting the filtered VGM position request signal; and when the variation of the VGM position request signal is not within the predetermined range, transmitting a processed signal, based on the VGM position request signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.
    Inventors: Poi Loon Tang, Kaveh Moezzi Madani
  • Patent number: 11158341
    Abstract: The invention provides a method and apparatus for filtering a temporal signal. A target magnitude frequency response HT(f) is specified (101,201) of frequency f in terms of a column vector l of K weights lk where log HT(f)=lTW(f) and W(f) is a column vector of K magnitude basis functions Wk(f). A constrained frequency response Hc(f) is computed (102,214) defined by log Hc(f)=gTV(f) , where V(f) is a column vector of N constrained basis functions Vn(f) for which each exp gnVn(f) satisfies a constraint preserved by concatenation, and g is a column vector of N coefficients satisfying a matching criterion between lTW(f) and gTV(f). An input temporal signal is received (103,212) and filtered (104,210) with the constrained frequency response Hc(f) to form a filtered temporal signal; and the filtered temporal signal is output (105,211).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: SOUNDTHEORY LIMITED
    Inventor: Andreas Oliver Tell
  • Patent number: 11074903
    Abstract: A system and method includes an audio device, such as an earbud or headphones, that includes one or more loudspeakers for outputting audio. The audio device further in includes one or more microphones that are positioned near an ear of a user. An acoustic barrier may be formed between a surface of the device and the ear of the user; properties of this barrier may, however, vary from user to user. The system determines these properties on a per-user basis and compensates for any differences therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Kuan-Chieh Yen, Ali Abdollahzadeh Milani
  • Patent number: 11076248
    Abstract: A headset system comprises: a headset comprising at least one microphone and at least one speaker and configured to transmit and receive sound; a wire system coupled to the headset and comprising a wire; and a control unit coupled to the wire system and configured to: receive from the wire a combined signal comprising a first signal and a second signal, determine that the first signal is a spurious signal, and detect a failure of the wire system based on the determining.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Trym Holter, Viggo Henriksen, Jaromir Macak, Ingunn Amdal
  • Patent number: 11062689
    Abstract: An adaptive active noise cancellation apparatus performs a filtering operation in a first digital domain and performs adaptation of the filtering operation in a second digital domain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
    Inventors: Hyun Jin Park, Kwokleung Chan, Ren Li
  • Patent number: 11039247
    Abstract: Adaptive noise cancellation systems and methods include a reference sensor to sense environmental noise and generate a corresponding reference signal, an error sensor to sense noise in a noise cancellation zone and generate a corresponding error signal, a noise cancellation path including a noise cancellation filter and a variable gain component, the noise cancellation path receiving the reference signal and generating an anti-noise signal to cancel noise at an eardrum reference point, and an adaptation module to receive the reference signal and the error signal and adaptively adjust weights of the noise cancellation filter and/or the variable gain component. An adaptive gain control block updates the variable gain component. Inputs to the adaptive gain control block are conditioned using programmable filters to protect against low frequency transients and/or high frequency distractors in the environmental noise. The programmable filters are tuned to optimize cancellation at an eardrum reference point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Ali Abdollahzadeh Milani, Govind Kannan, Trausti Thormundsson
  • Patent number: 11006234
    Abstract: An improved method for configuring an audio reproduction device for detecting sound and providing different output audio signals in a plurality of rooms where at least two wireless microphones connect via a local network to an audio streaming server. Each of the wireless microphones detects room information indicating the room in which it is located, and transmits it to the server, together with an input audio signal. The server compiles at least two different output audio signals according to the respective room information from the input audio signals, and assigns each to a room. The output audio signals are provided via the local network in the rooms such that each of the output audio signals may be received in all rooms, and may be replayed only in the room to which it has been assigned. Each wireless microphone may be used in each of the rooms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Steffen Matthias, Rafael Cauduro Dias de Paiva, Konstantin Septinus, Senthil Kumar Vellaichamy
  • Patent number: 10966033
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for modifying an audio signal using custom psychoacoustic models. A user's hearing profile is first obtained. Subsequently, an audio processing function is parameterized so as to optimize the user's perceptually relevant information. The method for calculating the user's perceptually relevant information comprises first processing audio signal samples using the parameterized processing function and then transforming samples of the processed audio signals into the frequency domain. Next, masking and hearing thresholds are obtained from the user's hearing profile and applied to the transformed audio sample, wherein the user's perceived data is calculated. Once perceptually relevant information is optimized, the resulting parameters are transferred to the audio processing function and an output audio signal is processed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: Mimi Hearing Technologies Gmbh
    Inventor: Nicholas R. Clark
  • Patent number: 10902836
    Abstract: A control device (DC) is fitted to a vehicle (VA) which can be driven by a driver during a manual driving phase and which comprises a passenger compartment (H) fitted with a loudspeaker (HP) capable of diffusing sound signals and an assistance device (DA) for driving said vehicle in a totally autonomous manner during an autonomous driving phase. This device (DC) comprises acquisition means (MA) for recording first sound signals present in the external environment of the vehicle (VA), and control means (MC) for generating, during an autonomous driving phase, second sound signals in phase opposition to the first recorded sound signals, in order to supply same to the loudspeaker (HP) so that the transmission of said signals induces cancellation of the first sound signals in the passenger compartment (H).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: PSA AUTOMOBILES SA
    Inventors: Jean Luc Pognon, Saran Diakite Kaba, Franck Brevet, Sandrine Delenne, Virgile Charton
  • Patent number: 10885284
    Abstract: A configuration is implemented via a processor to receive a request to perform a service. Further, the configuration selects a human representative from a plurality of human representatives associated with a communication center based on a computing device associated with the human representative indicating that the human representative is online and available to perform the service. In addition, the configuration routes the request to the computing device associated with the human representative. The configuration also monitors activity of the human representative at the computing device associated with the human representative. Further, the configuration determines that the activity of the human representative is inconsistent with the human representative being available to perform the service. Finally, the configuration reroutes the request to a different computing device associated with a different human representative.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: Language Line Services, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Cordell, James Boutcher, Lindsay D'Penha, Jordy Boom
  • Patent number: 10850839
    Abstract: An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with audio filtering components includes a background noise-producing component, a background microphone, and a noise emitter. The background noise-producing component is configured to produce a background noise. The background microphone is positioned within a proximity sufficiently close to collect interfering noise from the background noise producing component. The background microphone is configured to collect audio data including the background noise. The noise emitter is disposed within a proximity sufficiently close to the background noise-producing component to reduce the interfering noise. The noise emitter is configured to emit an audio signal having a reverse phase of the audio data collected by the background microphone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: SZ DJI TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Xingwang Xu, Zisheng Cao, Mingyu Wang, Xiaozheng Tang, Hualiang Qiu
  • Patent number: 10697827
    Abstract: Certain implementations of the disclosed technology may include systems and methods for extending a frequency response of a transducer. A method is provided that can include receiving a measurement signal from a transducer, wherein the measurement signal includes distortion due to a resonant frequency of the transducer. The method includes applying a complementary filter to the measurement signal to produce a compensated signal, wherein applying the complementary filter reduces the distortion to less than about +/?1 dB for frequencies ranging from about zero to about 60% or greater of the resonant frequency. The method further includes outputting the compensated signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Kulite Semiconductor Products, Inc.
    Inventors: Joe VanDeWeert, Adam Hurst, Joseph Carter, Douglas R. Firth, Alan R. Szary
  • Patent number: 10687145
    Abstract: A system includes an audio broadcast device, headphones and an interface device. The audio broadcast device may be configured to generate a plurality of audio tracks. The headphones may be configured to perform noise cancellation of ambient audio, decode one of the plurality of audio tracks selected by a user and playback a personalized audio track in response to the selected audio track and user settings. The interface device may be configured to receive the user settings and enable the user to select one of the audio tracks. The headphones may receive the selected audio track from the audio broadcast device in response to the selection using the interface. The user settings may be applied to the selected audio track to generate the personalized audio track.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Inventor: Jeffery R. Campbell
  • Patent number: 10614791
    Abstract: Active noise reduction (ANR) headphones and associated methods are provided. The ANR headphones may include a memory to store a plurality of profiles each including controller information and acoustic parameters in addition to a profile selection routine executable by a processor of the ANR headphone. The profile selection routine may be configured to identify acoustic characteristics of a subject wearing the ANR headphone, compare the acoustic characteristics of the subject with the acoustic parameters of the plurality of profiles, select a profile from the plurality of profiles based on the comparison between the acoustic characteristics of the subject with the acoustic parameters of the selected profile, and provide the controller information of the selected profile to a noise reduction circuit of the ANR headphone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: BOSE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael O'Connell, Ryan Termeulen, Daniel M. Gauger, Jr.
  • Patent number: 10607591
    Abstract: A sound playback device and a method for masking interference sound through a noise masking signal thereof are disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: playing an audio signal as a noise masking signal; receiving an ambient sound; analyzing whether the ambient sound has an interference sound in N different frequency bands; if so, finding at least one interference sound frequency band and a time period, and the interference sound conforms to the condition that an instant sound entropy value is greater than a dynamic sound average entropy value, wherein the instant sound entropy value is the calculated sound entropy value in a current sampling time; the dynamic sound average entropy value is an average entropy value of the sum of the previous instant sound entropy values; and increasing an energy of the noise masking signal in the interference sound frequency band and the time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignee: UNLIMITER MFA CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kuo-Wei Kao, Cheng-Te Wang, Yu-Chieh Huang, Wei-Lin Chang, I-Ting Lee, Kuo-Ping Yang
  • Patent number: 10600401
    Abstract: A noise reduction device includes a second corrector that generates a correction signal by correcting an output signal or a standard signal by a predetermined parameter and adds the generated correction signal to an error signal, to generate a corrected error signal approximating the error signal to an error signal indicating a residual sound occurring in a sound reception location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shotaro Ueno, Yoshiyuki Hayashi
  • Patent number: 10580398
    Abstract: The technology described in this document can be embodied in a method that includes receiving an input signal representing audio captured by a microphone of an active noise reduction (ANR) headphone, and processing, by a first compensator, a first frequency range of the input signal to generate a first signal for an acoustic transducer of the ANR headphone. The method also includes processing, by a second compensator disposed in parallel to the first compensator, a second frequency range of the input signal to generate a second signal for the acoustic transducer. The first frequency range includes frequencies higher than the frequencies in the second frequency range. The method also includes detecting, by one or more processing devices, that the second signal satisfies a threshold condition, and attenuating the second signal responsive to determining that the second signal satisfies the threshold condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: Joseph H. Cattell, Michael O'Connell, Ricardo F. Carreras
  • Patent number: 10475467
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and devices for intelligent speech recognition and processing are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a method for improving intelligibility of a speech signal may include (1) at least one processor receiving an incoming speech signal comprising a plurality of sound elements; (2) the at least one processor recognizing a sound element in the incoming speech signal to improve the intelligibility thereof; (3) the at least one processor processing the sound element by at least one of modifying and replacing the sound element; and (4) the at least one processor outputting the processed speech signal comprising the processed sound element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: AUDIMAX LLC
    Inventor: Harry Levitt
  • Patent number: 10312875
    Abstract: A sound pickup device includes a plurality of microphones, and at least one processor configured to implement stored instructions and execute a plurality of tasks, including: a first gain controlling task controlling a gain of each of the plurality of microphones, an adding task adding a sound signal to be output from the first gain controlling task with a predetermined gain, a second gain controlling task controlling a gain of the sound signal to be output from the adding task; and a gain setting task setting each gain of the first gain controlling task based on gain setting in the second gain controlling task.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: Yamaha Corporation
    Inventor: Takayuki Inoue
  • Patent number: 10313790
    Abstract: A polymorphic playback system in which one or more parameters of a signal path of the polymorphic playback system are varied based on one or more characteristics of a playback signal processed by the signal path may include a control subsystem configured to detect an out-of-band noise profile of the playback signal and set one or more playback signal magnitude thresholds for switching between polymorphic modes of the polymorphic playback system based on the out-of-band noise profile, wherein the polymorphic modes comprise at least a first polymorphic mode in which one or more first parameters are applied to the signal path and a second polymorphic mode in which one or more second parameters are applied to the signal path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventors: Ku He, Tejasvi Das, John L. Melanson
  • Patent number: 10283106
    Abstract: The present application describes techniques for noise control which utilize a feedback control unit comprising a filter, derived from one or more predetermined filter candidates, for reducing or cancelling a feedback component of a noise control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventors: Rahim Saeidi, Pablo Peso Parada
  • Patent number: 10276145
    Abstract: The handling of disturbances to audio signals may be improved with an adaptive noise cancellation (ANC) system that performs frequency-domain adaption. The ANC systems may be configured to determine if a disturbance is present at a first frequency in the second input signal received from the reference microphone. The ANC systems may update an algorithm of an adaptive filter based, at least in part, on the first input signal, the second input signal, and a feedback signal that is based on an output of the adaptive filter by changing parameters of the algorithm such that the adaptive filter adapts around the first frequency differently than other frequencies when the disturbance is present.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventors: Dayong Zhou, Yang Lu
  • Patent number: 10249284
    Abstract: A personal audio device, such as a wireless telephone, includes noise canceling that adaptively generates an anti-noise signal from a reference microphone signal and injects the anti-noise signal into the speaker or other transducer output to cause cancellation of ambient audio sounds. An error microphone is provided proximate the speaker to measure the output of the transducer in order to control the adaptation of the anti-noise signal and to estimate an electro-acoustical path from the noise canceling circuit through the transducer. The anti-noise signal is adaptively generated to minimize the ambient audio sounds at the error microphone. A processing circuit that performs the adaptive noise canceling (ANC) function also filters one or both of the reference and/or error microphone signals, to bias the adaptation of the adaptive filter in one or more frequency regions to alter a degree of the minimization of the ambient audio sounds at the error microphone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: CIRRUS LOGIC, INC.
    Inventors: Nitin Kwatra, Ali Abdollahzadeh Milani, Jeffrey Alderson
  • Patent number: 10204615
    Abstract: A noise-cancelling headphone is provided that avoids an influence of the wind and prevents degradation in the sound quality of the reproduced sound output from a driver unit. The noise-cancelling headphone includes an ear piece including a housing unit having an interior and an exterior, a driver unit attached to the housing unit, and a microphone collecting external sounds at the exterior of the housing unit. The housing unit includes an accommodating portion accommodating the microphone and a sound collecting hole establishing the communication between the accommodating portion and the exterior of the housing unit. The accommodating portion is disposed in an upper portion of the housing unit of the noise-cancelling headphone when worn by the user. The sound collecting hole is open toward the upper side of the housing unit of the noise-cancelling headphone when worn by the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Audio-Technica
    Inventors: Koji Otsuka, Yumi Shimazaki, Kozo Ando
  • Patent number: 10119441
    Abstract: Differing from conventionally-used exhaust pipe utilizing discontinuous section area(s) and sound-absorbing material(s) to abate the noise produced by an engine, the present invention provides a waste air exhausting device consisting of: a housing, a supporting plate disposed in the housing, a miniature microphone disposed at the end of the housing, and a loudspeaker disposed on the supporting plate. Therefore, according to the noise produced by the engine, a noise controller system coupling to the miniature microphone and the loudspeaker is able to produce an anti-noise signal through the loudspeaker for abating the engine noise. On the other hand, the noise controller system can also produce an anti-noise signal having specific frequencies components according to the frequency of the engine noise and a reference signal, so as to modulate the frequency of the engine noise by broadcasting the anti-noise signal having the specific frequencies components in the housing through the loudspeaker.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: Chung Yuan Christian University
    Inventors: Cheng-Yuan Chang, Sen-Maw Kuo
  • Patent number: 10015596
    Abstract: An audio control system of a vehicle includes a sound control module configured to determine N magnitudes for outputting a predetermined engine sound at N frequencies, respectively, where N is an integer greater than one. A magnitude adjustment module is configured to determine at least one N magnitude adjustment values for the N frequencies, respectively, based on at least one of: an intake air temperature; and an exhaust temperature. The sound control module is further configured to determine N adjusted magnitudes for the predetermined engine sound at the N frequencies based on: the N magnitudes for the N frequencies, respectively; and the N magnitude adjustment values for the N frequencies, respectively. An audio driver module is configured to apply power to at least one speaker of the vehicle and output the predetermined engine sound at the N frequencies and the N adjusted magnitudes for the N frequencies, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2018
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Mark R. Claywell, Maqsood Rizwan Ali Khan, Scott M. Reilly
  • Patent number: 9966067
    Abstract: Digital signal processing techniques for automatically reducing audible noise from a sound recording that contains speech. A noise suppression system uses two types of noise estimators, including a more aggressive one and less aggressive one. Decisions are made on how to select or combine their outputs into a usable noise estimate in a different speech and noise conditions. A 2-channel noise estimator is described. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Vasu Iyengar, Sorin V. Dusan