Patents Examined by William A Jerez Lora
  • Patent number: 11882416
    Abstract: A system includes multiple microphone arrays positioned at different locations on a roof of an autonomous vehicle. Each microphone array includes two or more microphones. Internal clocks of each microphone array are synchronized by a processor and used to generate timestamps indicating when microphones capture a sound. Based on the timestamps, the processor is configured to localize a source of the sound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: Waymo LLC
    Inventors: Choon Ping Chng, Cheng-Han Wu, Ganesh Balachandran, Peter Strohm
  • Patent number: 11877127
    Abstract: An apparatus comprising means for: capturing an audio scene using multiple microphones; determining that the captured audio scene has unacceptable detected noise; in dependence upon determining that the captured audio scene has unacceptable detected noise, searching both different sets of one or more microphones and different physical rotation angles of the microphones to find a combination of a first set of one or more microphones and a first physical rotation angle of the microphones that captures the audio scene with acceptable detected noise; and controlling the physical rotation angle of the microphones to be the first physical rotation angle of the microphones and capturing the audio scene using the combination of the first set of one or more microphones and the first physical rotation angle of the microphones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY
    Inventors: Arto Lehtiniemi, Miikka Vilermo, Anssi Rämö, Toni Mäkinen
  • Patent number: 11871188
    Abstract: An electronic device comprising: a microphone array including at least three microphones; and at least one processor configured to: identify a kind of an application that is executed; activate one or more of the microphones in the array based on each microphone's respective position within the electronic device and the type of the application; and capture audio using the activated microphones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jong Mo Keum, Min Ho Bae, Jung Yeol An, Gang Youl Kim, Jun Tai Kim, Jae Mo Yang, Nam Il Lee, Ho Chul Hwang
  • Patent number: 11869533
    Abstract: A method and apparatus (100) are provided for detecting tiredness of a vehicle driver. The apparatus (100) is configured to receive a signal from at least one microphone (104), to acquire a time characteristic of yawning actions in the signal, and to use an analysis of the time characteristic to detect or not detect a tiredness of the driver (106) from a frequency of yawning, a yawn intensity and/or a temporal compression between successive yawning actions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche AG
    Inventor: Michael Grimm
  • Patent number: 11871189
    Abstract: A method (400) for configuring a distributed microphone system is disclosed. The distributed microphone system comprises a plurality of microphone devices connected via a network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: SIGNIFY HOLDING B.V.
    Inventors: Jerome Eduard Maes, Bartel Marinus Van De Sluis, Peter Deixler
  • Patent number: 11863930
    Abstract: For example, an Acoustic Feedback (AFB) mitigator may mitigate AFB between at least one acoustic transducer and at least one acoustic sensor. For example, the AFB mitigator may include a first filter to generate a first filtered signal by filtering a first input signal, the first input signal nay be based on a transducer acoustic pattern to be output by the acoustic transducer; and a second filter to generate a second filtered signal by filtering the first input signal, wherein the second filter may include an adaptive filter, which may be adapted based on a difference between an AFB-mitigated signal and the second filtered signal. For example, the AFB-mitigated signal may be based on a difference between a second input signal and the first filtered signal, the second input signal based on a sensor acoustic pattern sensed by the acoustic sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: SILENTIUM LTD.
    Inventors: Tzvi Fridman, Sivan Grotas Mussan, Yael Ronen, Nikolaos Zafeiropoulos
  • Patent number: 11856376
    Abstract: This application discloses a sound acquisition component array, including: two first sound acquisition components, two second sound acquisition components, and two third sound acquisition components. The two second sound acquisition components are located at a first side of a line connecting the two first sound acquisition components, and the two third sound acquisition components are located at a second side of the connecting line that is opposite to the first side of the connecting line; the two second sound acquisition components are symmetrical about a perpendicular bisector of the connecting line, and the two third sound acquisition components are symmetrical about the perpendicular bisector; and a distance between the two first sound acquisition components, a distance between the two second sound acquisition components, and a distance between the two third sound acquisition components are respectively different from one another along a direction defined by the connecting line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Jimeng Zheng, Yi Gao, Xuan Ji, Weiwei Li, Meng Yu, Kai Xia, Jun Feng, Zhu Chen, Hongyang Chen, Wenbin Yang, Yu Wang, Yong Liu
  • Patent number: 11856364
    Abstract: A microphone array system, comprises N microphones, including a first microphone . . . a Nth microphone, wherein N is a natural number greater than 2. Each of the N microphones is provided with: an acoustic transducer for picking up a sound signal and converting the sound signal into an electric signal; a voice activation detector, connected to a corresponding acoustic transducer, and configured to perform a voice activation detection on the electric signal and form an activation signal; a buffer memory, connected to the acoustic transducer, and configured to store a 1/N electric signal of a predetermined segment; a sound wire interface, connected to a corresponding acoustic transducer, the buffer memory, and the voice activation detector, wherein the sound wire interface is connected to an external master chip via a sound wire bus for outputting the activation signal to the external master chip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: ZILLTEK TECHNOLOGY CORP.
    Inventor: Jinghua Ye
  • Patent number: 11856380
    Abstract: A sound control system comprises a sound generating device disposed at a vehicle ceiling corresponding to a seat region of the vehicle and disposed at a sound space formed within the vehicle to correspond to the seat region, and a sound processing circuit for providing a vibration driving signal to the sound generating device, the sound generating device vibrates based on the vibration driving signal to vibrate a vibration region of the vehicle ceiling corresponding to the sound space to provide a sound to the sound space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: LG DISPLAY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Taehyung Kim, Jeonggoo Kang
  • Patent number: 11849280
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods for bone conduction detection are disclosed herein. An example apparatus includes memory; machine-readable instructions; and processor circuitry to execute the machine-readable instructions to associate a vibration signal with a voice or with motion, the vibration signal transmitted via a bone structure of a user; permit access to a user application based on the association of the vibration signal with the voice; and deny access to the user application based on the association of the vibration signal with the motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Beverly Klemme, Rajashree Baskaran, Sergio E. Sian
  • Patent number: 11843915
    Abstract: An active acoustic system includes a thin-film sheet having an array of piezoelectric microstructures embossed in the film. Each piezoelectric microstructure may act as a speaker and/or a microphone. A control circuit is configured to individually address the piezoelectric microstructures to provide a separate voltage signal to, or receive a separate voltage signal from, each piezoelectric microstructure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Jinchi Han, Jeffrey H. Lang, Vladimir Bulovic
  • Patent number: 11838730
    Abstract: A virtual image display includes acoustic sensors and a controller, and a method is for operating the same. The acoustic sensors are for detecting the wind frequency information in the environment. The controller computes time points of the acoustic sensors receiving the wind frequency information, and computes wind direction information based on the time points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: HTC Corporation
    Inventors: Chia-Chu Ho, Ching-Hao Lee
  • Patent number: 11832070
    Abstract: A microphone device includes a number N of at least two serially coupled microphones forming a microphone chain. The microphones are configured to transmit data to a controller via the microphone chain. The microphone chain is configured to output time-multiplexed data transmitted by the microphones.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Victor Popescu-Stroe, Matthias Boehm
  • Patent number: 11825277
    Abstract: A Signal acquisition device is described for acquiring three-dimensional wave field signals. The signal acquisition device comprises an acoustically reflective plate (PLT) comprising two planar sides facing oppositely and a two-dimensional array of inherently omnidirectional sensors (TSS) arranged on one of the two sides, characterized in that the sound recording device comprises another two-dimensional array of inherently omnidirectional sensors (BSS) arranged on the other of the two sides.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: Harpex Audio GMBH
    Inventor: Svein Berge
  • Patent number: 11818556
    Abstract: One example method includes performing sound quality operations. Microphone arrays are used to cancel or reduce or suppress background noise and to enhance speech. Subjective user input is received by an orchestration engine. The orchestration engine generates an output that includes at least adjustments to a microphone array. Controlling the microphone array based, in part, on subjective user feedback, allows desired speech or desired sound to be heard more clearly by the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
    Inventors: Danqing Sha, Amy N. Seibel, Eric Bruno, Zhen Jia
  • Patent number: 11812208
    Abstract: A method and a device for reducing noise of a wireless-earphone, a wireless-earphone and a computer-readable storage medium are provided. In the method, a first electromagnetic signal from a slave earphone is received, and the first electromagnetic signal is converted to an audio signal. The first electromagnetic signal is obtained by a coil inducing an audio signal acquired by a microphone in the slave earphone. A to-be-denoised earphone is determined based on audio signals acquired by microphones in the earphones. It is determined whether an audio signal acquired by a microphone in the to-be-denoised earphone has a voice feature. Noise reduction processing is performed on the audio signal acquired by the microphone in the to-be-denoised earphone by using a filter in a case that the audio signal acquired by the microphone in the to-be-denoise earphone has the voice feature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: GOERTEK INC.
    Inventors: Yang Hua, Yang Du, Shanshan Jiao, Chen Liu
  • Patent number: 11812236
    Abstract: A collaborative distributed microphone array is configured to perform or be used in sound quality operations. A distributed microphone array can be operated to provide sound quality operations including sound suppression operations and speech intelligibility operations for multiple users in the same environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
    Inventors: Danqing Sha, Amy N. Seibel, Eric Bruno, Zhen Jia
  • Patent number: 11800280
    Abstract: Embodiments include an audio system comprising a speaker array comprising a plurality of drivers arranged in a first planar configuration; a microphone array comprising a plurality of transducers arranged in a second planar configuration; and a beamformer communicatively coupled to the speaker array and the microphone array, the beamformer configured to: generate an individual speaker output signal for each of the drivers in the speaker array based on one or more input audio signals received from an audio source, and generate a microphone output signal for the microphone array based on one or more microphone signals captured by one or more of the transducers. Embodiments also include a method performed by one or more processors coupled to a microphone array having a plurality of transducers and a speaker array having a plurality of drivers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Shure Acquisition Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew David Koschak, Brent Robert Shumard, David Grant Cason, Kenneth James Platz
  • Patent number: 11785380
    Abstract: Hybrid audio beamforming systems and methods with narrower beams and improved directivity are provided. The hybrid audio beamforming system includes a time domain beamformer for processing upper frequency band signals of an audio signal using a time domain beamforming technique, and a frequency domain beamformer for processing groups of lower frequency band signals of the audio signal using frequency domain beamforming techniques.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: Shure Acquisition Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Wenshun Tian, John Casey Gibbs, Michael Ryan Lester, Mathew T. Abraham
  • Patent number: 11778401
    Abstract: Methods and systems for controlling the receipt and transmission of audio transmissions are provided. In one embodiment, a method is provided that includes selecting a first audio channel and transmitting a first audio transmission using the first audio channel. A second audio transmission may then be received that contains an acknowledgment of the first audio transmission. In certain instances, the second audio transmission may be received on the first audio channel. If a second audio transmission is received on the first audio channel, it may be determined that the first audio transmission was successfully received by another computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: LISNR, INC
    Inventors: Rebekah Farrar, Oz Mendel, William Knauer, Ethan Tyink