Patents Examined by Ammar T Hamid
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Patent number: 11330364Abstract: A ported speaker assembly includes an outer enclosure having a front opening. An inner frame of the speaker assembly is positioned at least partially within the outer enclosure and has an outer perimeter edge proximate the front opening of the outer enclosure. A resonator chamber is defined between an interior of the outer enclosure and an exterior of the inner frame. At least one speaker driver is mounted to the inner frame and configured to emit sound from a front end of the ported speaker assembly. A perimeter port is formed between the outer perimeter portion of the inner frame and the front opening of the outer enclosure. The perimeter port extends uninterrupted to encircle the outer perimeter portion. A plurality of fastener joints secure the inner frame to the outer enclosure, and at least some are distributed around multiple sides of the inner frame and positioned closer to the front opening of the outer enclosure than a rear end of the inner frame.Type: GrantFiled: January 12, 2021Date of Patent: May 10, 2022Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbHInventors: Mark Delay, Andrew Pardoe, Nolen Ryba
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Patent number: 11330360Abstract: A headphone includes an electro-acoustic transducer, a housing, a noise cancelling circuit, a resonant frequency converter, and a switch. The electro-acoustic transducer is configured to reproduce sound from electrical signals. The housing is attached to the electro-acoustic transducer. The noise cancelling circuit is configured to attenuate a noise sound by adding an antiphase sound to the noise sound. The resonant frequency converter is configured to change a resonant frequency of a Helmholtz resonator configured to include a cavity in the housing and a tubular cavity communicating with the cavity. The switch is configured to perform alteration of the resonant frequency and switching of the noise cancelling circuit, in conjunction with each other.Type: GrantFiled: February 5, 2021Date of Patent: May 10, 2022Assignee: Yamaha CorporationInventor: Yu Tsuchihashi
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Patent number: 11330383Abstract: A method and an apparatus detect an echo delay. If an electronic device plays an audio and a counter is in an on state, an Nth recording data block received after the counter is turned on is acquired, where the Nth recording data block is a currently received recording data block, and N is greater than 1. Matching is performed between the Nth recording data block and a reference data block that is in a buffer, where the recording data block and the reference data block are data blocks with target duration. After the counter is on, the buffer buffers an audio data block played by the electronic device. If the Nth recording data block matches the reference data block in the buffer, a counting value is acquired. The counter performs counting if the recording data block does not match the reference data block. An echo delay is determined based on the target duration and the counting value.Type: GrantFiled: September 29, 2020Date of Patent: May 10, 2022Assignee: Apollo Intelligent Connectivity (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd.Inventors: Zhengbin Song, Danqing Yang, Junfei Bu
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Patent number: 11329622Abstract: An element of an automatic gain control system that automatically calibrates a Composite Gain vs Ambient Noise look-up table responsive to user zone gain inputs at various ambient noise levels. The table is a graph of adjacent (horizontally or diagonally) data points (nodes) mapping ambient noise to composite gain. Three algorithmic rules determine position changes of the nodes responsive to zone gain inputs. A curve may be fit to an arrangement of adjacent nodes. The curve, or the interpolated table value, is used with an ambient noise input to determine the current composite gain. The element may be used with many traditional ANC systems. Once calibrated over the full range of ambient noises in the user's space, the ANC system may never need further user zone gain inputs.Type: GrantFiled: April 21, 2020Date of Patent: May 10, 2022Inventors: Brandon Graham, Johnathan Ivey
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Patent number: 11322128Abstract: 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: GrantFiled: September 22, 2020Date of Patent: May 3, 2022Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Anita Duggal, Mukundan Sundararajan
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Patent number: 11323810Abstract: A microphone system, comprises a first transducer, for generating a first acoustic signal, and a second transducer, for generating a second acoustic signal. A high-pass filter receives the first signal and generates a first filtered signal, and a low-pass filter receives the second signal and generates a second filtered signal. An adder forms an output signal of the microphone system as a sum of the first filtered signal and the second filtered signal.Type: GrantFiled: November 6, 2020Date of Patent: May 3, 2022Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.Inventors: John P. Lesso, Thomas I. Harvey
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Patent number: 11322130Abstract: The invention relates to a method for airborne-sound acoustic monitoring of an exterior and/or an interior of a vehicle, in which at least one microphone (1) is used to convert airborne sound into an electrical signal (S) and to route it for evaluation purposes to a device for voice and/or sound recognition (2). According to the invention, the electrical signal (S) is subjected to a pre-evaluation in a device for trigger detection (3), and detection of a trigger results in the device for voice and/or sound recognition (2) being moved from an inactive or partially active state to a fully active state by means of the device for trigger detection (3). Further, the invention relates to an apparatus for airborne-sound acoustic monitoring of an exterior and/or an interior of a vehicle and to a vehicle having such an apparatus. The subject matter of the invention is also a computer-readable storage medium.Type: GrantFiled: March 7, 2019Date of Patent: May 3, 2022Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbHInventors: Thomas Fleischmann, Udo Hermann, Niko Dorsch
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Patent number: 11323796Abstract: A wireless earphone includes: a sensor which serves as both of an antenna configured to transmit and receive a radio signal wirelessly to and from an external device and a pad configured to receive an input manipulation of a wearer; a radio circuit configured to perform various kinds processing relating to the radio signal; and a control circuit configured to perform various kinds processing on the basis of the input manipulation. The wireless earphone further includes a capacitance element connected between the radio circuit and the sensor and between the control circuit and the sensor, the capacitance element being connected to a ground conductor in series to pass only the radio signal.Type: GrantFiled: August 5, 2020Date of Patent: May 3, 2022Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.Inventors: Takashi Fukahori, Ryota Fujiwara, Toshinori Komesu
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Patent number: 11312296Abstract: A vehicle sound generation device includes a sound control circuit that sets one or more frequencies according to a number of revolutions of the rotary power source, and generates a synthetic sound signal representing a synthetic sound including one or more element sounds having the one or more frequencies. The sound control circuit sets the synthetic sound so that a sound pressure of the synthetic sound includes a reference sound pressure component and a variable sound pressure component. A magnitude of the reference sound pressure component increases as the number of revolutions of the rotary power source increases, and a magnitude of the variable sound pressure component varies within a predetermined amplitude with a period of a predetermined increase amount of the number of revolutions as the number of revolutions of the rotary power source increases.Type: GrantFiled: December 15, 2020Date of Patent: April 26, 2022Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATIONInventors: Yasuhiko Miura, Keisuke Agusa
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Patent number: 11308976Abstract: A method, an apparatus, and logic to post-process raw gains determined by input processing to generate post-processed gains, comprising using one or both of delta gain smoothing and decision-directed gain smoothing. The delta gain smoothing comprises applying a smoothing filter to the raw gain with a smoothing factor that depends on the gain delta: the absolute value of the difference between the raw gain for the current frame and the post-processed gain for a previous frame. The decision-directed gain smoothing comprises converting the raw gain to a signal-to-noise ratio, applying a smoothing filter with a smoothing factor to the signal-to-noise ratio to calculate a smoothed signal-to-noise ratio, and converting the smoothed signal-to-noise ratio to determine the second smoothed gain, with smoothing factor possibly dependent on the gain delta.Type: GrantFiled: January 22, 2021Date of Patent: April 19, 2022Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing CorporationInventors: Xuejing Sun, Glenn N. Dickins
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Patent number: 11310588Abstract: An audio processing technique including obtaining a multi-channel audio signal, a first sound direction of interest and a second sound direction of interest; determining, for one or more frequency bands, a respective first range of sound directions encompassed by a first focus pattern directed to said first sound direction of interest and a respective second range of sound directions encompassed by a second focus pattern directed to said second sound direction of interest; determining, for said one or more frequency bands, respective overlap between the first and second ranges of sound directions; and deriving, based on the multi-channel audio signal and in accordance with said first and second focus patterns, a processed audio signal where sounds in said first and second sound directions of interest are emphasized in relation to sounds in other sound directions, said derivation including controlling emphasis in dependence of the determined overlap.Type: GrantFiled: November 9, 2020Date of Patent: April 19, 2022Assignee: Nokia Technologies OyInventors: Toni Makinen, Miikka Vilermo, Mikko Tammi, Jussi Virolainen
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Patent number: 11302339Abstract: An apparatus for spatial audio signal decoding associated with a plurality of speaker nodes (201, 203, 205, 207, 209) placed within a three dimensional space, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to determine a non-overlapping virtual surface arrangement (400), the virtual surface arrangement (400) comprising a plurality of virtual surfaces (421, 423, 431, 433) with corners positioned at at least three speaker nodes of the plurality of speaker nodes (201, 203, 205, 207, 209) and sides connecting pairs of corners configured to be non-intersecting with at least one defined virtual plane within the three dimensional space.Type: GrantFiled: March 7, 2019Date of Patent: April 12, 2022Assignee: NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OYInventors: Mikko-Ville Laitinen, Juha Tapio Vilkamo, Tapani Pihlajakuja, Antti Johannes Eronen
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Patent number: 11303993Abstract: A sound transducer unit for an in-ear headphone, for generating and/or detecting sound waves in the audible wavelength spectrum and/or in the ultrasonic range, includes at least one MEMS sound transducer arranged on a circuit board. At least one connector element of the circuit board is electrically conductively connected to at least one contact element of the MEMS sound transducer. The MEMS sound transducer is designed as a surface-mount device, which is connected to the circuit board with the aid of surface-mount technology. The sound transducer unit can form a component of a sound-generating unit.Type: GrantFiled: September 24, 2020Date of Patent: April 12, 2022Assignee: USound GmbHInventors: Andrea Rusconi Clerici Beltrami, Ferruccio Bottoni
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Patent number: 11304002Abstract: An audio in/out device includes an audible in/out transducer operable to convert an audible input signal to an audio receive (RX) signal and convert an audio transmit (TX) signal to an audible output signal. The audio in/out device further includes an audio receive/transmit (RX/TX) circuit operable to convert a digital TX signal to the audio TX signal for transmission to the audible in/out transducer, receive the audio RX signal from the audible in/out transducer, and convert the audio RX signal into a digital transmit/receive (Tx/Rx) signal. The digital Tx/Rx signal includes a representation of the audio RX signal.Type: GrantFiled: August 12, 2020Date of Patent: April 12, 2022Assignee: SIGMASENSE, LLC.Inventors: John Christopher Price, Phuong Huynh, Daniel Keith Van Ostrand, Patrick Troy Gray
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Patent number: 11297432Abstract: An audio signal processing method of an audio signal distribution device including a receiver, a determiner, and a transmitter. The receiver receives information relating to capabilities of a distribution destination device to which an audio signal is distributed. The determiner, based on the capabilities of the distribution destination device in received information, determines a role of processing of the audio signal of each device including an own device and the distribution destination device and generates processing information according to the processing of the audio signal. The transmitter distributes the processing information and the audio signal to the distribution destination device.Type: GrantFiled: April 7, 2021Date of Patent: April 5, 2022Assignee: Yamaha CorporationInventor: Hironari Kawai
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Patent number: 11284854Abstract: The present invention relates to a noise reduction assembly for auscultation of a body. An embodiment of the assembly includes an auscultation device formed of a first material and having a proximal end for engagement with the body when the auscultation device is in an operative orientation. An interior dampening layer, which may be formed of a second material, is formed along an exterior surface of the auscultation device and covering all exterior surfaces thereof except the proximal end. An exterior dampening layer, which may be formed of a third material, is then formed in covering relations relative to the interior dampening layer.Type: GrantFiled: November 3, 2020Date of Patent: March 29, 2022Assignee: BONGIOVI ACOUSTICS LLCInventors: Ryan J. Copt, Joseph G. Butera, III, Robert J. Summers, III
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Patent number: 11284201Abstract: The present disclosure relates generally to providing a flexible patch and system for communicating through hard plastic masks such as CPAP/BiPAPĀ® masks. Using electronic circuitry and novel designs, the present systems and methods can detect speech vibrations and output audible speech from hard plastic mask wearers. For example, in certain embodiments, the present systems and methods can recognize speech through a CPAP/BiPAPĀ® mask, filter out non-human voice related noise, and output the resulting speech of the mask wearer.Type: GrantFiled: June 8, 2020Date of Patent: March 22, 2022Assignee: ATAIA INC.Inventors: Tyler Andrew Register, Amber Nicole Jackson, Amy Lynn Foertsch, An-kwok Ian Wong
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Patent number: 11276387Abstract: A remote microphone system for a vehicle may include at least one physical microphone arranged within a vehicle cabin configured to generate an error signal at a virtual microphone location within the vehicle, a database configured to maintain a look up table of premeasured seat positions and associated transfer functions, and a processor. The processor may be configured to receive a seat position indicative of a seat location within the vehicle, and apply a transfer function associated with the premeasured position to a primary noise signal of the at least one physical microphone to generate the error signal.Type: GrantFiled: May 31, 2019Date of Patent: March 15, 2022Assignee: HARMAN INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIES, INCORPORATEDInventors: Jonathan Wesley Christian, Tao Feng
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Patent number: 11277683Abstract: An apparatus including circuitry configured to: provide a plurality of metrics associated with multiple directions, wherein the metrics are dependent, for the respective multiple directions, on an amount of direct-sound propagated; accumulate, for the respective multiple directions, values dependent upon the metrics associated with the respective multiple directions to enable determination of sound source directions.Type: GrantFiled: October 30, 2020Date of Patent: March 15, 2022Assignee: Nokia Technologies OyInventors: Hannu Pulakka, Matti Hamalainen, Mikko-Ville Laitinen
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Patent number: 11277519Abstract: Methods and apparatus assist listeners in distinguishing between electronically generated binaural sound and physical environment sound while the listener wears a wearable electronic device that provides the binaural sound to the listener. The wearable electronic device generates a visual alert or audio alert when the electronically generated binaural sound occurs.Type: GrantFiled: December 6, 2020Date of Patent: March 15, 2022Inventors: Glen A. Norris, Philip Scott Lyren