Patents by Inventor Andreas Franck
Andreas Franck has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 11792596Abstract: There is provided a method of controlling an array of loudspeakers. The method comprises: receiving a plurality of input audio signals to be reproduced, by the array, at a respective plurality of control points in an acoustic environment; and generating a respective output audio signal for each of the loudspeakers in the array by applying a set of filters to the plurality of input audio signals. The set of filters is based on: a first plurality of filter elements based on a first approximation of a set of transfer functions, each transfer function in the set of transfer functions being between an audio signal applied to a respective one of the loudspeakers and an audio signal received at a respective one of the control points from the respective one of the loudspeakers; and a second plurality of filter elements based on a second approximation of the set of transfer functions.Type: GrantFiled: June 4, 2021Date of Patent: October 17, 2023Assignee: AUDIOSCENIC LIMITEDInventors: Filippo Maria Fazi, Eric Hamdan, Andreas Franck, Marcos Simón
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Publication number: 20230276186Abstract: There is provided a computer-implemented method of generating audio signals for an array of loudspeakers positioned in a listening environment, the method comprising: receiving at least one input audio signal; determining at least one of: a number of users in the listening environment, or a respective position of each of one or more users in the listening environment; based on the at least one of the number of users or the respective position of each of the one or more users in the listening environment, selecting a sound reproduction mode from a set of predetermined sound reproduction modes of the array of loudspeakers, wherein the set of predetermined sound reproduction modes comprises one or more user-position-independent modes and one or more user-position-dependent modes; and generating a respective output audio signal for each of the loudspeakers in the array of loudspeakers based on at least a portion of the at least one input audio signal, wherein the output audio signals are generated according to thType: ApplicationFiled: February 27, 2023Publication date: August 31, 2023Inventors: Marcos Simón, Ioseb Laghidze, Tyler Ward, Andreas Franck, Filippo Fazi, Daniel Wallace
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Publication number: 20230007424Abstract: There is provided a computer-implemented method of generating audio signals for an array of loudspeakers, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of input audio signals, wherein a respective one of the plurality of input audio signals is to be reproduced, by the array, at each of a plurality of control points in an acoustic environment, and wherein each of the plurality of control points is associated with a respective one of a plurality of loudspeaker groups; receiving an estimate of a position of each of the plurality of control points; assigning, using the received estimate of the position of each of the plurality of control points, each of the loudspeakers in the array to at least one of the plurality of loudspeaker groups, wherein the assigning of a particular loudspeaker to a particular loudspeaker group is based on a relative position of the particular loudspeaker with respect to one or more of the at least one control points associated with the particular loudspeaker group; and generating a respeType: ApplicationFiled: June 23, 2022Publication date: January 5, 2023Inventors: Filippo Maria Fazi, Andreas Franck, Marcos Simón
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Publication number: 20210385605Abstract: There is provided a method of controlling an array of loudspeakers. The method comprises: receiving a plurality of input audio signals to be reproduced, by the array, at a respective plurality of control points in an acoustic environment; and generating a respective output audio signal for each of the loudspeakers in the array by applying a set of filters to the plurality of input audio signals. The set of filters is based on: a first plurality of filter elements based on a first approximation of a set of transfer functions, each transfer function in the set of transfer functions being between an audio signal applied to a respective one of the loudspeakers and an audio signal received at a respective one of the control points from the respective one of the loudspeakers; and a second plurality of filter elements based on a second approximation of the set of transfer functions.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 4, 2021Publication date: December 9, 2021Inventors: Filippo Maria Fazi, Eric Hamdan, Andreas Franck, Marcos Simón
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Patent number: 10419849Abstract: The effectiveness of calculating FIR filter coefficients for beam-forming filters for transducer arrays such as arrays of microphones or loudspeakers, for example, is increased in that the calculation is performed in two stages; namely, on the one hand, by calculating frequency domain filter weights of the beam-forming filters, i.e., coefficients describing the transfer functions of the beam-forming filters within the dimension of the frequency so as to obtain target frequency responses for the beam-forming filters, so that applying the beam-forming filters to the array approximates a desired directional selectivity, and followed by calculating the FIR filter coefficients for the beam-forming filters, i.e., of coefficients describing the impulse response of the beam-forming filters within the time domain, such that the frequency responses of the FIR beam-forming filters approximate the target frequency responses in an optimum manner in accordance with defined criteria.Type: GrantFiled: February 17, 2017Date of Patent: September 17, 2019Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.Inventors: Andreas Franck, Christoph Sladeczek, Albert Zhykhar
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Patent number: 10347268Abstract: A device for calculating loudspeaker signals for a plurality of loudspeakers while using a plurality of audio sources, an audio source including an audio signal, includes a forward transform stage for transforming each audio signal, block-by-block, to a spectral domain so as to obtain for each audio signal a plurality of temporally consecutive short-term spectra, a memory for storing a plurality of temporally consecutive short-term spectra for each audio signal, a memory access controller for accessing a specific short-term spectrum among the plurality of short-term spectra for a combination consisting of a loudspeaker and an audio signal on the basis of a delay value, a filter stage for filtering the specific short-term spectrum for the combination of the audio signal and the loudspeaker by using a filter provided for the combination of the audio signal and the loudspeaker, so that a filtered shot-term spectrum is obtained for each combination of an audio signal and a loudspeaker, a summing stage for summingType: GrantFiled: May 24, 2017Date of Patent: July 9, 2019Assignee: FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.Inventors: Andreas Franck, Michael Rath, Christoph Sladeczek
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Patent number: 10257640Abstract: A device for processing a signal includes a processor stage configured to filter the signal present in a frequency-domain representation by a filter with a filter characteristic in order to obtain a filtered signal, to provide the filtered or a signal derived from the filtered signal with a frequency-domain window function, in order to obtain a windowed signal, wherein providing has multiplications of frequency-domain window coefficients of the frequency-domain window function by spectral values of the filtered signal or the signal derived from the filtered signal in order to obtain multiplication results, and summing up the multiplication results. Further, the device has a converter for converting the windowed signal or a signal determined using the windowed signal to a time domain in order to obtain the processed signal.Type: GrantFiled: February 14, 2018Date of Patent: April 9, 2019Assignee: FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.Inventor: Andreas Franck
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Patent number: 10187741Abstract: A device for processing a signal includes a processor stage configured to filter the signal present in a frequency-domain representation by a filter with a filter characteristic in order to obtain a filtered signal, to provide the filtered or a signal derived from the filtered signal with a frequency-domain window function, in order to obtain a windowed signed, wherein providing has multiplications of frequency-domain window coefficients of the frequency-domain window function by spectral values of the filtered signal or the signal derived from the filtered signal in order to obtain multiplication results, and summing up the multiplication results. Further, the device has a converter for converting the windowed signal or a signal determined using the windowed signal to a time domain in order to obtain the processed signal.Type: GrantFiled: September 14, 2016Date of Patent: January 22, 2019Assignee: FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.Inventor: Andreas Franck
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Publication number: 20180358029Abstract: A device for calculating loudspeaker signals for a plurality of loudspeakers while using a plurality of audio sources, an audio source including an audio signal, includes a forward transform stage for transforming each audio signal, block-by-block, to a spectral domain so as to obtain for each audio signal a plurality of temporally consecutive short-term spectra, a memory for storing a plurality of temporally consecutive short-term spectra for each audio signal, a memory access controller for accessing a specific short-term spectrum among the plurality of short-term spectra for a combination consisting of a loudspeaker and an audio signal on the basis of a delay value, a filter stage for filtering the specific short-term spectrum for the combination of the audio signal and the loudspeaker by using a filter provided for the combination of the audio signal and the loudspeaker, so that a filtered shot-term spectrum is obtained for each combination of an audio signal and a loudspeaker, a summing stage for summingType: ApplicationFiled: May 24, 2017Publication date: December 13, 2018Inventors: Andreas Franck, Michael Rath, Christoph Sladeczek
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Publication number: 20180199145Abstract: A device for processing a signal includes a processor stage configured to filter the signal present in a frequency-domain representation by a filter with a filter characteristic in order to obtain a filtered signal, to provide the filtered or a signal derived from the filtered signal with a frequency-domain window function, in order to obtain a windowed signal, wherein providing has multiplications of frequency-domain window coefficients of the frequency-domain window function by spectral values of the filtered signal or the signal derived from the filtered signal in order to obtain multiplication results, and summing up the multiplication results. Further, the device has a converter for converting the windowed signal or a signal determined using the windowed signal to a time domain in order to obtain the processed signal.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 14, 2018Publication date: July 12, 2018Inventor: Andreas Franck
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Publication number: 20180012612Abstract: A device for calculating loudspeaker signals for a plurality of loudspeakers while using a plurality of audio sources, an audio source including an audio signal, includes a forward transform stage for transforming each audio signal, block-by-block, to a spectral domain so as to obtain for each audio signal a plurality of temporally consecutive short-term spectra, a memory for storing a plurality of temporally consecutive short-term spectra for each audio signal, a memory access controller for accessing a specific short-term spectrum among the plurality of short-term spectra for a combination consisting of a loudspeaker and an audio signal on the basis of a delay value, a filter stage for filtering the specific short-term spectrum for the combination of the audio signal and the loudspeaker by using a filter provided for the combination of the audio signal and the loudspeaker, so that a filtered shot-term spectrum is obtained for each combination of an audio signal and a loudspeaker, a summing stage for summingType: ApplicationFiled: May 24, 2017Publication date: January 11, 2018Inventors: Andreas Franck, Michael Rath, Christoph Sladeczek
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Patent number: 9854363Abstract: A loudspeaker system for a vehicle includes a loudspeaker array including a plurality of electroacoustic sound transducers that can be controlled individually, such that a user-specific audio signal can be reproduced for different users at different listening positions in a vehicle interior of the vehicle via the plurality of electroacoustic sound transducers. Here, the loudspeaker array or a sound outlet of the loudspeaker array is arranged in particular between at least two of the listening positions in the vehicle interior, i.e. for example between the driver and the passenger seat.Type: GrantFiled: December 1, 2016Date of Patent: December 26, 2017Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.Inventors: Christoph Sladeczek, Daniel Beer, Andreas Franck
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Patent number: 9813804Abstract: A more clear-cut separation of a first audio signal within a first region of a sonication area of a plurality of loudspeakers is achieved in that a calculator calculates that version of the audio signals which results from the spatially selective reproduction of the audio signals at this first region, in that a masking threshold is calculated as a function of the version of that audio signal which is to be separated from the one or more other audio signals at this region, and in that the emission of the audio signals for spatially selective reproduction to the outputs of the plurality of loudspeakers is influenced as a function of a comparison of the masking threshold with the version of the one or more other, i.e. spurious, audio signals.Type: GrantFiled: November 30, 2015Date of Patent: November 7, 2017Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.Inventors: Andreas Franck, Christoph Sladeczek, Thomas Sporer
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Patent number: 9807534Abstract: A device for generating a multitude of loudspeaker signals based on a virtual source object which has a source signal and a meta information determining a position or type of the virtual source object. The device has a modifier configured to time-varyingly modify the meta information. In addition, the device has a renderer configured to transfer the virtual source object and the modified meta information to form a multitude of loudspeaker signals.Type: GrantFiled: March 11, 2016Date of Patent: October 31, 2017Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.Inventors: Martin Schneider, Walter Kellermann, Andreas Franck
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Publication number: 20170164100Abstract: The effectiveness of calculating FIR filter coefficients for beam-forming filters for transducer arrays such as arrays of microphones or loudspeakers, for example, is increased in that the calculation is performed in two stages; namely, on the one hand, by calculating frequency domain filter weights of the beam-forming filters, i.e., coefficients describing the transfer functions of the beam-forming filters within the dimension of the frequency so as to obtain target frequency responses for the beam-forming filters, so that applying the beam-forming filters to the array approximates a desired directional selectivity, and followed by calculating the FIR filter coefficients for the beam-forming filters, i.e., of coefficients describing the impulse response of the beam-forming filters within the time domain, such that the frequency responses of the FIR beam-forming filters approximate the target frequency responses in an optimum manner in accordance with defined criteria.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 17, 2017Publication date: June 8, 2017Inventors: Andreas FRANCK, Christoph SLADECZEK, Albert ZHYKHAR
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Patent number: 9666203Abstract: A device for calculating loudspeaker signals using a plurality of audio sources, an audio source including an audio signal, includes a forward transform stage for transforming each audio signal to a spectral domain to obtain a plurality of temporally consecutive short-term spectra, a memory for storing a plurality of temporally consecutive short-term spectra for each audio signal, a memory access controller for accessing a specific short-term spectrum for a combination consisting of a loudspeaker and an audio signal based on a delay value, a filter stage for filtering the specific short-term spectrum by using a filter, so that a filtered short-term spectrum is obtained for each audio signal and loudspeaker combination, a summing stage for summing up the filtered short-term spectra for a loudspeaker to obtain summed-up short-term spectra, and a backtransform stage for backtransforming summed-up short-term spectra for the loudspeakers to a time domain to obtain the loudspeaker signals.Type: GrantFiled: July 11, 2014Date of Patent: May 30, 2017Assignee: FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.Inventors: Andreas Franck, Michael Rath, Christoph Sladeczek
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Publication number: 20170085990Abstract: A loudspeaker system for a vehicle includes a loudspeaker array including a plurality of electroacoustic sound transducers that can be controlled individually, such that a user-specific audio signal can be reproduced for different users at different listening positions in a vehicle interior of the vehicle via the plurality of electroacoustic sound transducers. Here, the loudspeaker array or a sound outlet of the loudspeaker array is arranged in particular between at least two of the listening positions in the vehicle interior, i.e. for example between the driver and the passenger seat.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 1, 2016Publication date: March 23, 2017Inventors: Christoph SLADECZEK, Daniel BEER, Andreas FRANCK
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Publication number: 20170048641Abstract: A device for processing a signal includes a processor stage configured to filter the signal present in a frequency-domain representation by a filter with a filter characteristic in order to obtain a filtered signal, to provide the filtered or a signal derived from the filtered signal with a frequency-domain window function, in order to obtain a windowed signed, wherein providing has multiplications of frequency-domain window coefficients of the frequency domain window function by spectral values of the filtered signal or the signal derived from the filtered signal in order to obtain multiplication results, and summing up the multiplication results. Further, the device has a converter for converting the windowed signal or a signal determined using the windowed signal to a time domain in order to obtain the processed signal.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 14, 2016Publication date: February 16, 2017Inventor: Andreas Franck
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Publication number: 20160198280Abstract: A device for generating a multitude of loudspeaker signals based on a virtual source object which has a source signal and a meta information determining a position or type of the virtual source object. The device has a modifier configured to time-varyingly modify the meta information. In addition, the device has a renderer configured to transfer the virtual source object and the modified meta information to form a multitude of loudspeaker signals.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 11, 2016Publication date: July 7, 2016Inventors: Martin SCHNEIDER, Walter KELLERMANN, Andreas FRANCK
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Publication number: 20160088388Abstract: A more clear-cut separation of a first audio signal within a first region of a sonication area of a plurality of loudspeakers is achieved in that a calculator calculates that version of the audio signals which results from the spatially selective reproduction of the audio signals at this first region, in that a masking threshold is calculated as a function of the version of that audio signal which is to be separated from the one or more other audio signals at this region, and in that the emission of the audio signals for spatially selective reproduction to the outputs of the plurality of loudspeakers is influenced as a function of a comparison of the masking threshold with the version of the one or more other, i.e. spurious, audio signals.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 30, 2015Publication date: March 24, 2016Inventors: Andreas FRANCK, Christoph SLADECZEK, Thomas SPORER