Patents Examined by Ping Lee
  • Patent number: 12243509
    Abstract: An active noise reduction system reduces a noise in an internal space of a mobile body. The active noise reduction system includes a controller configured to control a canceling sound output device. The controller is configured to generate a first canceling estimation signal as an estimation signal of a canceling sound at a position of an error detector based on a reference signal, generate a second canceling estimation signal as an estimation signal of the canceling sound at a head position of an occupant by adjusting a time delay and an amplitude of the first canceling estimation signal based on a reference distance, and update a control filter for controlling the canceling sound output device based on the second canceling estimation signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2025
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Xun Wang, Toshio Inoue
  • Patent number: 12236933
    Abstract: An active noise reduction system includes a controller configured to acquire a plurality of noise signals output from a plurality of noise microphones, select a plurality of reference signals and an error signal from among the plurality of noise signals, the plurality of reference signals corresponding to a noise, the error signal corresponding to an error between the noise and a canceling sound, generate a control signal from the plurality of reference signals by using a plurality of control filters, and adaptively update the plurality of control filters by using a plurality of acoustic transmission filters. The plurality of acoustic transmission filters includes at least one adaptive update filter configured to be adaptively updated, and at least one non-adaptive update filter configured to be updated based on an update value of the adaptive update filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2025
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Xun Wang, Toshio Inoue
  • Patent number: 12230240
    Abstract: A method and a device for controlling the propagation of acoustic waves in the vicinity of a wall, the method and device implementing a master device for controlling a set Nc of cells primarily made up of a speaker, a set of Nm microphones connected to the speaker, and a control unit, by means of control laws that determine the intensity of the electrical signal that must be sent to each speaker so as to obtain a target determined generalized acoustic impedance for each speaker, such that a fraction of the acoustic waves is absorbed by the membrane of each speaker.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2025
    Assignees: CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, ECOLE NATIONALE SUPERIEURE DE MECANIQUE ET DES MICROTECHNIQUES (ENSMM), UNIVERSITE DE FRANCHE-COMTE
    Inventors: Morvan Ouisse, Manuel Collet, Gaël Matten
  • Patent number: 12223978
    Abstract: A voice output from an i-th audio source apparatus is adjusted with a frequency transfer function Wii(f) set in an i-th noise reduction filter and is output from an i-th speaker. In the noise reduction filter, a frequency transfer function Wii(f) is set in which the sound is made smaller at frequencies where the gain of the frequency transfer function Cim(f) from the SPKi to a user tends to be relatively larger than the gain of the frequency transfer function Cii(f) from the SPKi to the user, and the sound is increased at frequencies where the gain of Cim(f) tends to be relatively smaller than the gain of Cii(f), where m is an integer excluding i from 1 to n.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2025
    Assignee: Alps Alpine Co., LTD.
    Inventors: Nozomu Saito, Keita Tanno
  • Patent number: 12225360
    Abstract: An audio processor and method of audio processing for an amplifier system is described. The audio processor may receive an audio signal and adapt the audio signal generating a time varying offset. The time varying offset may be combined with the audio signal resulting in a shifted the audio signal level. The processed audio signal may also be clipped to remove the negative samples values. The processed signal may be used to drive an amplifier designed to only accept positive (or negative) signals such as a class C amplifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2025
    Assignee: NXP B.V.
    Inventors: Temujin Gautama, Christophe Marc Macours, Bram Hedebouw
  • Patent number: 12219340
    Abstract: Examples of the disclosure relate to apparatus, methods and computer programs. The apparatus including circuitry configured for obtaining a spatial audio signal where the spatial audio signal includes at least one participant audio object and at least one private audio object wherein the private audio object is associated with a participant which generated the participant audio object. The apparatus also includes circuitry configured for causing the participant audio object to be rendered in a first spatial location and causing the private audio object to be rendered in a second spatial location so that the rendering of the private audio object is less prominent than the rendering of the participant audio object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2025
    Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
    Inventors: Sujeet Shyamsundar Mate, Arto Lehtiniemi, Miikka Tapani Vilermo, Mikko-Ville Ilari Laitinen
  • Patent number: 12200465
    Abstract: The technology generally relates to spatial audio communication between devices. For example, a first device and a second device may be connected via a communication link. The first device may capture audio signals in an environment through two or more microphones. The first device may encode the captured audio with spatial configuration data. The first device may transmit the encoded audio via the communication link to the second device. The second device may decode the encoded audio into binaural or ambisonic audio to be output by one or more speakers of the second device. The binaural or ambisonic audio may be converted into spatial audio to be output. The second device may output the binaural or spatial audio to create an immersive listening experience.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2025
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Rajeev Conrad Nongpiur, Qian Zhang, Andrew James Sutter, Kung-Wei Liu, Jihan Li, Hélène Bahu, Leonardo Kusumo, Sze Chie Lim, Marco Tagliasacchi, Neil Zeghidour, Michael Takezo Chinen
  • Patent number: 12178633
    Abstract: An attachment device for holding an auscultation device near a smart device. The attachment device includes an interior compartment for receiving the smart device and a port for receiving the auscultation device. In use, the attachment device holds the microphone of the smart device adjacent to the auscultation device. The smart device records the heart or breathing sounds from the auscultation device, and a mobile application on the smart device classifies the sounds as normal or abnormal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2024
    Assignee: BioVentures, LLC
    Inventors: Kevin Wayne Sexton, Joseph Allen Sanford, Jr., Adria Abella Villafranca
  • Patent number: 12170884
    Abstract: A processing device according to an embodiment includes: a frequency characteristics acquisition unit configured to acquire frequency characteristics of at least one sound pickup signal; a smoothing processing unit configured to perform smoothing processing so as to generate second spectral data smoother than first spectral data based on the frequency characteristics; a first compression unit configured to calculate a first difference value corresponding to a difference between the second spectral data and the first spectral data in a first band, and to compress the second spectral data based on the first difference value; and a filter generation unit configured to generate a filter, based on the second spectral data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2024
    Assignee: JVCKENWOOD Corporation
    Inventors: Yumi Fujii, Hisako Murata, Takahiro Gejo, Kuniaki Takachi
  • Patent number: 12165625
    Abstract: A noise reduction system is provided. The noise reduction system may include a sub-band noise sensor, a plurality of sub-band noise reduction modules, and an output module. The sub-band noise sensor may be configured to detect a noise and generate a plurality of sub-band noise signals in response to the detected noise. Each of the plurality of sub-band noise signals may have a distinctive sub-band of the frequency band of the noise. Each of the sub-band noise reduction modules may be configured to receive one of the sub-band noise signals from the sub-band noise sensor and generate a sub-band noise correction signal for reducing the received sub-band noise signal. The output module may be configured to receive the sub-band noise correction signals and output a noise correction signal for reducing the noise based on the sub-band noise correction signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2024
    Assignee: SHENZHEN SHOKZ CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Chengqian Zhang, Fengyun Liao, Xin Qi
  • Patent number: 12164832
    Abstract: Media input audio data corresponding to a media stream and microphone input audio data from at least one microphone may be received. A first level of at least one of a plurality of frequency bands of the media input audio data, as well as a second level of at least one of a plurality of frequency bands of the microphone input audio data, may be determined. Media output audio data and microphone output audio data may be produced by adjusting levels of one or more of the first and second plurality of frequency bands based on the perceived loudness of the microphone input audio data, of the microphone output audio data, of the media output audio data and the media input audio data. One or more processes may be modified upon receipt of a mode-switching indication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2024
    Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Mark Alexander, Chunjian Li, Joshua Brandon Lando, Alan J. Seefeldt, C. Phillip Brown, Dirk Jeroen Breebaart
  • Patent number: 12149915
    Abstract: A sound effect optimizing method, an electronic device, and a non-transitory computer computer-readable storage medium are provided. The method includes controlling the speaker to play an audio signal emitted by a virtual sound source; receiving a sound source identifying result, the sound source identifying result including a first position relationship, and the first position relationship being a position relationship between the virtual sound source and a user and determined by the audio signal; and adjusting a sound effect parameter until the first position relationship is consistent with a second position relationship in response to the first position relationship being inconsistent with the second position relationship, the second position relationship being an actual position relationship between the virtual sound source and the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2024
    Assignee: GUANGDONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORP., LTD.
    Inventor: Yihong Lin
  • Patent number: 12143802
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a signal processing device, a method, and a program capable of improving transmission efficiency and efficiency in the data processing amount. A signal processing device includes: an acquisition unit that acquires polar coordinate position information indicating a position of a first object expressed by polar coordinates, audio data of the first object, absolute coordinate position information indicating a position of a second object expressed by absolute coordinates, and audio data of the second object; a coordinate conversion unit that converts the absolute coordinate position information into polar coordinate position information indicating a position of the second object; and a rendering processing unit that performs rendering processing on the basis of the polar coordinate position information and the audio data of the first object and the polar coordinate position information and the audio data of the second object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2024
    Assignee: SONY GROUP CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mitsuyuki Hatanaka, Toru Chinen, Minoru Tsuji
  • Patent number: 12143789
    Abstract: A system configured to improve user localization used to determine a listening position and/or user orientation for a device map. Multiple devices may generate audio data representing user speech and the system may use the audio data to determine a first spatial likelihood function (SLF) based on angle measurements, determine a second SLF based on timing information, and determine a location of the user based on a combination of the two SLFs. The SLFs represent the environment using a grid comprising a plurality of grid cells, and each grid cell has a value indicating a likelihood that the grid cell corresponds to the location of the user. An individual device may generate a portion of the angle measurements based on multi-channel audio data generated using multiple microphones of the device, while the system may generate the timing information based on single-channel audio data received from each of the multiple devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2024
    Inventors: Spencer Russell, Carlos Renato Nakagawa, Mohamed Mansour
  • Patent number: 12143805
    Abstract: An apparatus including circuitry configured for: receiving first audio content associated with a first apparatus; receiving second audio content associated with a second apparatus; simultaneously rendering the first audio content and the second audio content to a user via a head-mounted audio output system configured for spatial audio rendering, wherein the first audio content is rendered as spatial audio content and the second audio content is downmixed to downmixed content and the downmixed content is rendered.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2024
    Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
    Inventors: Lasse Juhani Laaksonen, Jussi Artturi Leppanen, Arto Juhani Lehtiniemi
  • Patent number: 12126983
    Abstract: A control device controls sound of a plurality of speakers. The control device includes: a generation unit acquiring image data and generates display image data from the image data by using conversion processing using shape information indicating a shape of a display surface; a display controller displaying a display image on the display surface by using the display image data; a receiver causing a cursor to be superimposed and displayed on the display image and receives position designation related to the plurality of speakers on the display image from a user who has visually recognized the cursor; and an identification unit calculating a position of the cursor from the position designation by referring to a correspondence relationship between the image data before the conversion processing and the display image data after the conversion processing, and identifying the position of the cursor as a position related to the plurality of speakers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2024
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiromasa Ohashi, Naoya Tanaka, Ryo Hirota
  • Patent number: 12126984
    Abstract: Techniques of delivering audio in a telepresence system include specifying a frequency threshold below which crosstalk cancellation (CC) is used and above which VBAP is used. In some implementations, such a frequency threshold is between 1000 Hz and 2000 Hz. Moreover, in some implementations, the improved techniques include modifying VBAP for more than three loudspeakers by forming an over-determined system to determine the amplitude weights for all loudspeakers at once.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2024
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventor: Joseph Desloge
  • Patent number: 12118975
    Abstract: A method for feedforward noise cancellation in an enclosed space within a structure is provided. The method comprises placing a microphone array inside an inner surface of the enclosed space and conducting modal testing on an outside surface of the enclosed space, wherein the modal testing comprises multiple incoherent noise sources corresponding to locations of microphones in the microphone array. Noise generated by the modal testing is processed to create a number of acoustic mathematical models of the enclosed space. In response to incoherent noise within the enclosed space, a noise canceling signal is generated according to an output of the mathematical models.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2024
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Steven Griffin, Joshua Martin Montgomery
  • Patent number: 12118268
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure relate to playback devices having a non-flat surface and comprising a flexible electronic assembly conforming to that surface. The flexible electronic assembly may include (i) a flexible substrate having a first portion and a second portion, (ii) an array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes arranged on the first portion, and (iii) a plurality of conductors that are electrically coupled to the array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes and that extend onto the second portion. The first portion may include a plurality of cutouts. Each cutout of a first subset of the plurality of cutouts may be positioned between a respective set of two or more electrodes in the array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes. Each cutout of a second subset of the plurality of cutouts may be configured to reduce a wrinkling of the first portion when conforming the first portion to the non-flat surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2024
    Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
    Inventors: Mark S. Viscusi, Randel W. Roberts, Jr.
  • Patent number: 12120491
    Abstract: An augmented reality headset is provided that includes a first microphone mounted on a headset and configured to receive a first audio signal from a speaker, and a second microphone remotely located from the headset and configured to receive a second audio signal from the speaker. The augmented reality headset also includes a memory storing multiple instructions, and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions. When the one or more processors execute the instructions, they cause the augmented reality headset to: synchronize the first audio signal and the second audio signal, form an enhanced audio signal with the first audio signal and the second audio signal, and provide the enhanced audio signal to a user of the augmented reality headset.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2024
    Assignee: Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Julian Joseph Maurice Fessard, Zhaonian Zhang