Patents Assigned to Clearone
  • Patent number: 11297420
    Abstract: This disclosure describes a ceiling tile microphone that includes: a plurality of microphones coupled together as a microphone array used for beamforming, the plurality of microphones are positioned at predetermined locations; a single ceiling tile with an outer surface on the front side of the ceiling tile where the outer surface is acoustically transparent, the microphone array combines with the ceiling tile as a single unit, the ceiling tile being mountable in a drop ceiling in place of a ceiling tile included in the drop ceiling; where the ceiling tile microphone further includes beamforming, acoustic echo cancellation, and auto voice tracking; where the ceiling tile microphone is used in a drop ceiling mounting configuration; where the microphone array couples to the back side of the ceiling tile and all or part of the ceiling tile microphone is in the drop space of the drop ceiling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Derek Graham, David K. Lambert, Michael Braithwaite
  • Patent number: 11272064
    Abstract: This disclosure describes an apparatus and method of an embodiment of an invention that is a conferencing apparatus. This embodiment of the apparatus/system includes a microphone array that further comprises a plurality of microphones where each microphone is configured to sense acoustic waves and the plurality of microphones are oriented to develop a corresponding plurality of microphone signals; a processor, memory, and storage operably coupled to the microphone array, the processor configured to: perform a beamforming operation; perform an acoustic echo cancellation operation; perform a direction of arrival determination; and select one or more of the combined echo cancelled signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Ashutosh Pandey, Darrin T. Thurston, David K. Lambert, Tracy A. Bathurst
  • Patent number: 11240598
    Abstract: This disclosure describes an apparatus and method of an embodiment of an invention that is a band-limited beamforming microphone array with acoustic echo cancellation that includes: a plurality of first microphones configured as a beamforming microphone array to resolve first audio input signals within a first frequency range, the beamforming microphone array includes acoustic echo cancellation; one or more additional microphone(s) configured to resolve second audio input signals within a restricted second frequency range such that the additional microphone(s) are coupled to the beamforming microphone array; augmented beamforming that processes audio signals from the beamforming microphone array and the additional microphone(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: David K. Lambert, Russell S. Ericksen, Derek L. Graham
  • Patent number: 11240597
    Abstract: This disclosure describes a ceiling tile beamforming microphone array system that includes a plurality of microphones coupled together as a microphone array and used for beamforming processing, the plurality of microphones are positioned at predetermined locations that produce audio signals to be used to form a directional pickup pattern; one or more separate processing devices where one of the separate processing devices further includes beamforming processing; a single ceiling tile with an outer surface on the front side of the ceiling tile where the outer surface is acoustically transparent; where the ceiling tile beamforming microphone array system is used in a drop ceiling mounting configuration, where the microphone array couples to the back side of the ceiling tile and all or part of the ceiling tile beamforming microphone array system is in the drop space of the drop ceiling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Derek Graham, David K. Lambert, Michael Braithwaite
  • Patent number: 11188133
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes a system 400 for transmitting power to a remote Power over Ethernet (PoE) subsystem by forwarding Powered Device (PD) input voltage where the subsystem includes a PD and a Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) device. Included is a master PSE device 402, a first subsystem 410, and a second subsystem 428. The first subsystem 410 includes a first PD 418 that includes a first power switching device 426 and a first PSE device 424. The first power switching device 426 forwards the input power from the first PD 418 to the first PSE 424 without disturbing the PoE handshaking between the devices. The first power switching device 426 uses a switching device with level detection that detects the required input voltage. The second subsystem 428 receives the power from the first subsystem's 410 first PSE device 424. And the second subsystem 428 operates in a manner similar to the first subsystem 410.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Ed Thurmond, Richard Herrera, Byra Ferkovich, Pichet Ong, Peter Manley
  • Patent number: 11190378
    Abstract: This disclosure describes an embodiment of an invention that is sending an information and/or control data signal on a differential signal pair. This embodiment of the apparatus 200 includes an information and/or control data signal 220; a balanced differential signal pair of conductors 212 that includes a positive 202 and a negative 204 differential conductor; a first network of circuits 214 that transforms the information signal 220 into a common mode voltage on the individual conductors 202 and 204 of the balanced differential signal pair of conductors; and a second network of circuits 216 that transforms the common mode voltage on the individual conductors 202 and 204 of the balanced differential signal pair of conductors 212 back to the data signal 222; where the first network of circuits 214 couples to the second network of circuits 216 via the balanced differential signal pair of conductors 202 and 204.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Ed Thurmond, Charles Egan
  • Patent number: 11181959
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes a system 400 for transmitting power to a remote Power over Ethernet (PoE) subsystem by forwarding Powered Device (PD) input voltage where the subsystem includes a PD and a Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) device. Included is a master PSE device 402, a first subsystem 410, and a second subsystem 428. The first subsystem 410 includes a first PD 418 that includes a first power switching device 426 and a first PSE device 424. The first power switching device 426 forwards the input power from the first PD 418 to the first PSE 424 without disturbing the PoE handshaking between the devices. The first power switching device 426 uses a switching device with level detection that detects the required input voltage. The second subsystem 428 receives the power from the first subsystem's 410 first PSE device 424. And the second subsystem 428 operates in a manner similar to the first subsystem 410.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignee: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Ed Thurmond, Richard Herrera, Byra Ferkovich, Pichet Ong, Peter Manley
  • Publication number: 20210152400
    Abstract: This disclosure describes an embodiment of an invention that is sending an information and/or control data signal on a differential signal pair. This embodiment of the apparatus 200 includes an information and/or control data signal 220; a balanced differential signal pair of conductors 212 that includes a positive 202 and a negative 204 differential conductor; a first network of circuits 214 that transforms the information signal 220 into a common mode voltage on the individual conductors 202 and 204 of the balanced differential signal pair of conductors; and a second network of circuits 216 that transforms the common mode voltage on the individual conductors 202 and 204 of the balanced differential signal pair of conductors 212 back to the data signal 222; where the first network of circuits 214 couples to the second network of circuits 216 via the balanced differential signal pair of conductors 202 and 204.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 9, 2019
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Applicant: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Ed Thurmond, Charles Egan
  • Publication number: 20210141432
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes a system 400 for transmitting power to a remote Power over Ethernet (PoE) subsystem by forwarding Powered Device (PD) input voltage where the subsystem includes a PD and a Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) device. Included is a master PSE device 402, a first subsystem 410, and a second subsystem 428. The first subsystem 410 includes a first PD 418 that includes a first power switching device 426 and a first PSE device 424. The first power switching device 426 forwards the input power from the first PD 418 to the first PSE 424 without disturbing the PoE handshaking between the devices. The first power switching device 426 uses a switching device with level detection that detects the required input voltage. The second subsystem 428 receives the power from the first subsystem's 410 first PSE device 424. And the second subsystem 428 operates in a manner similar to the first subsystem 410.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 17, 2021
    Publication date: May 13, 2021
    Applicant: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Ed Thurmond, Richard Herrera, Byra Ferkovich, Pichet Ong, Peter Manley
  • Patent number: 10728653
    Abstract: This disclosure describes an apparatus and method of an embodiment of an invention that is a ceiling tile microphone. This embodiment of the apparatus includes: a beamforming microphone array that includes beamforming and acoustic echo cancellation, the plurality of microphones of the beamforming microphone array are positioned at predetermined locations, the beamforming microphone array picks up audio input signals; a ceiling tile combined with the beamforming microphone array, the ceiling tile being sized and shaped to be mountable in a drop ceiling in place of at least one of a plurality of ceiling tiles included in the drop ceiling; where the outer surface of the ceiling tile is acoustically transparent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Derek L. Graham, David K. Lambert, Michael Braithwaite
  • Publication number: 20200233473
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes a system 400 for transmitting power to a remote Power over Ethernet (PoE) subsystem by forwarding Powered Device (PD) input voltage where the subsystem includes a PD and a Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) device. Included is a master PSE device 402, a first subsystem 410, and a second subsystem 428. The first subsystem 410 includes a first PD 418 that includes a first power switching device 426 and a first PSE device 424. The first power switching device 426 forwards the input power from the first PD 418 to the first PSE 424 without disturbing the PoE handshaking between the devices. The first power switching device 426 uses a switching device with level detection that detects the required input voltage. The second subsystem 428 receives the power from the first subsystem's 410 first PSE device 424. And the second subsystem 428 operates in a manner similar to the first subsystem 410.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 9, 2020
    Publication date: July 23, 2020
    Applicant: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Ed Thurmond, Richard Herrera, Byra Ferkovich, Pichet Ong, Peter Manley
  • Patent number: 10620678
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes a system 400 for transmitting power to a remote Power over Ethernet (PoE) subsystem by forwarding Powered Device (PD) input voltage where the subsystem includes a PD and a Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) device. Included is a master PSE device 402, a first subsystem 410, and a second subsystem 428. The first subsystem 410 includes a first PD 418 that includes a first power switching device 426 and a first PSE device 424. The first power switching device 426 forwards the input power from the first PD 418 to the first PSE 424 without disturbing the PoE handshaking between the devices. The second subsystem 428 receives the power from the first subsystem's 410 first PSE device 424. And the second subsystem 428 operates in a manner similar to the first subsystem 410.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Edgar Thurmond, Richard Herrera, Byra S. Ferkovich, Pichet T. Ong, Peter H. Manley
  • Publication number: 20190371353
    Abstract: This disclosure describes an apparatus and method of an embodiment of an invention that is a band-limited beamforming microphone array with acoustic echo cancellation that includes: a plurality of first microphones configured as a beamforming microphone array to resolve first audio input signals within a first frequency range, the beamforming microphone array includes acoustic echo cancellation; one or more additional microphone(s) configured to resolve second audio input signals within a restricted second frequency range such that the additional microphone(s) are coupled to the beamforming microphone array; augmented beamforming that processes audio signals from the beamforming microphone array and the additional microphone(s).
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 9, 2019
    Publication date: December 5, 2019
    Applicant: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: David K. Lambert, Russell S. Ericksen, Derek L. Graham
  • Publication number: 20190278348
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes a system 400 for transmitting power to a remote Power over Ethernet (PoE) subsystem by forwarding Powered Device (PD) input voltage where the subsystem includes a PD and a Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) device. Included is a master PSE device 402, a first subsystem 410, and a second subsystem 428. The first subsystem 410 includes a first PD 418 that includes a first power switching device 426 and a first PSE device 424. The first power switching device 426 forwards the input power from the first PD 418 to the first PSE 424 without disturbing the PoE handshaking between the devices. The second subsystem 428 receives the power from the first subsystem's 410 first PSE device 424. And the second subsystem 428 operates in a manner similar to the first subsystem 410.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 14, 2017
    Publication date: September 12, 2019
    Applicant: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Edgar Thurmond, Richard Herrera, Byra S. Ferkovich, Pichet T. Ong, Peter H. Manley
  • Patent number: 10179324
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a field of control of nitrogen oxide pollution, and involves a high-efficient catalyst for denitration at low temperature and preparation method thereof, which comprises the steps: (1) preparing aqueous solution of cerium nitrate; (2) soaking mesoporous silica materials SBA-15 with aqueous solution from step (1), after stirring, filtrating, washing and drying; (3) calcining materials from step (2) to obtain evenly dispersed CeO2-SBA-15 materials; (4) preparing ethanol solution of manganese nitrate; (5) soaking CeO2-SBA-15 materials from step (3) with ethanol solution of manganese nitrate from step (4) and volatilizing ethanol, washing and drying; (6) calcining materials from step (5) to obtain evenly distributed MnxOy/CeO2-SBA-15 catalyst for denitration; The preparation method has simple process with lower cost, and the obtained MnxOy/CeO2-SBA-15 catalyst has uniform and ordered pores, large specific area, narrow pore size distribution, well dispersity of catalytic components
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2019
    Assignees: TONGJI UNIVERSITY, SHANGHAI TONGJI CLEARON ENVIORNMENTAL PROTECTION EQUIPMENT
    Inventors: Jianwei Fan, Xu Jiang, Hongyang Min, Dandan Li, Minjun Chen, Wangyuan Chen, Yu Sun, Xianqiang Ran
  • Publication number: 20180160224
    Abstract: This disclosure describes a beamforming microphone array integrated into a wall tile that picks up audio input signals. The beamforming microphone array can pick up audio input signals. The wall tile with an outer surface where the outer surface is acoustically transparent, the beamforming microphone array is in contact with the tile, and the beamforming microphone array can pick up the audio input signals through the outer surface of the tile.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2018
    Publication date: June 7, 2018
    Applicant: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Derek L. Graham, David K. Lambert, Michael J. Braithwaite
  • Publication number: 20180124289
    Abstract: This disclosure describes a Chroma-based video converter that includes a first interface that receives the video signal to be encoded. The converter includes a frame splitter configured to receive one or more RGB frames, the frame splitter splits the RGB frame into R data, G data, and B data. The converter further includes a framing module configured to convert the received RGB frame into a first YUV frame and a second YUV frame. The converter additional includes an encoder configured to encode the first YUV frame and the second YUV frame based on a timestamp as that associated with the RGB frame. The converter further includes a multiplexer configured to multiplex the encoded first YUV frame and the encoded second YUV frame to generate a single encoded signal. And, the converter includes a second interface that transmits the generated single encoded video signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 3, 2017
    Publication date: May 3, 2018
    Applicant: ClearOne Communications Hong Kong Ltd.
    Inventor: Oren J. Maurice
  • Patent number: 9935915
    Abstract: This disclosure describes a system and method that bridges communications between multiple unified communication (UC) clients. This disclosure provides a UC bridging tool configured to execute computer implemented instructions using the processor and memory. The processor is further configured to: receive UC client specific human interface device HID commands from a plurality of UC clients with a UC client driver module, wherein each UC client driver is configured to translate UC client specific human interface device (HID) commands for each UC client driver to a common format; receive HID commands in the common format and translate the HID commands from the common format into a device specific format with a UC audio assistant module; pass the HID commands in the device specific format to an output device with a device specific driver module that further comprises a set of device specific drivers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Peter H. Manley, Bret Harris, Derek L. Graham, Michael Tilelli, Balasubramaniyan Krishnamoorthy
  • Patent number: 9866952
    Abstract: The present disclosure discloses a conferencing apparatus for a conference between a local end and a far end that combines a beamforming microphone array with an acoustic echo canceller. The apparatus includes a beamforming microphone array that further comprises a plurality of microphones wherein each microphone is configured to sense acoustic waves and the plurality of microphones are oriented to develop a corresponding plurality of microphone signals. The apparatus further includes a processor, memory, and storage where the processor is configured to execute program instructions. The processor performs a beamforming operation to create a plurality of combined signals. In addition, the processor performs an acoustic echo cancellation operation to generate a plurality of combined echo cancelled signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: ClearOne, Inc.
    Inventors: Ashutosh Pandey, Darrin T. Thurston, David K. Lambert, Tracy A. Bathurst
  • Patent number: 9854101
    Abstract: This disclosure describes a method to manufacture a conferencing apparatus for echo cancelation with beamforming microphone arrays. This method provides a beamforming microphone array for developing a plurality of microphone signals, where each microphone of the beamforming microphone array is configured to sense acoustic waves from a direction vector substantially different from other microphones in the beamforming microphone array. Additionally provided is a memory configured for storing computing instructions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: ClearOne Inc.
    Inventors: Ashutosh Pandey, Darrin T. Thurston, David K. Lambert, Tracy A. Bathurst