Patents by Inventor Garth Norman SHOWALTER

Garth Norman SHOWALTER 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).

  • Publication number: 20230388702
    Abstract: Embodiments are described for a high-frequency waveguide that improves the performance of large-scale surround sound and immersive audio environments. A horn waveguide is configured to be asymmetric about one of a vertical axis and horizontal axis of the waveguide to form an asymmetric horn waveguide. A spherical enclosure surrounds the asymmetric horn waveguide to form a horn speaker, and a three-axis mounting system is configured to fix the horn speaker to one of a wall or ceiling surface of the venue, wherein the mounting system facilitates rotating the horn speaker to a location that provides maximum coverage of the venue within the passband of the asymmetric horn waveguide.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2023
    Publication date: November 30, 2023
    Applicant: DOLBY LABORATORIES LICENSING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Garth Norman SHOWALTER, Mario DI COLA, John Michael GOTT, Patrick Ross SPURLOCK, Gregory Lynn CARNEY, Bryce Joseph GOTT
  • Publication number: 20230317051
    Abstract: In one embodiment, there is provided an asymmetrical acoustic horn. The asymmetrical acoustic horn includes a single acoustic waveguide. The single acoustic waveguide includes a first asymmetrical horn section configured to support one or more first acoustic transducers, and a second asymmetrical horn section configured to support one or more second acoustic transducers, the one or more second acoustic transducers having a different frequency range than the one or more first acoustic transducers. The first asymmetrical horn section and the second asymmetrical horn section are contiguous with each other and are configured to separate respective ones of the one or more first acoustic transducers from corresponding ones of the one or more second acoustic transducers by a corresponding one or more predetermined and fixed distances.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2021
    Publication date: October 5, 2023
    Applicant: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Joel A. BUTLER, Garth Norman SHOWALTER, Brian RUFF, Mario DI COLA
  • Patent number: 11659321
    Abstract: Embodiments are described for a high-frequency waveguide that improves the performance of large-scale surround sound and immersive audio environments. A horn waveguide is configured to be asymmetric about one of a vertical axis and horizontal axis of the waveguide to form an asymmetric horn waveguide. A spherical enclosure surrounds the asymmetric horn waveguide to form a horn speaker, and a three-axis mounting system is configured to fix the horn speaker to one of a wall or ceiling surface of the venue, wherein the mounting system facilitates rotating the horn speaker to a location that provides maximum coverage of the venue within the passband of the asymmetric horn waveguide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: DOLBY LABORATORIES LICENSING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Garth Norman Showalter, Mario Di Cola, John Michael Gott, Patrick Ross Spurlock, Gregory Lynn Carney, Bryce Joseph Gott
  • Publication number: 20220167081
    Abstract: Embodiments are described for a high-frequency waveguide that improves the performance of large-scale surround sound and immersive audio environments. A horn waveguide is configured to be asymmetric about one of a vertical axis and horizontal axis of the waveguide to form an asymmetric horn waveguide. A spherical enclosure surrounds the asymmetric horn waveguide to form a horn speaker, and a three-axis mounting system is configured to fix the horn speaker to one of a wall or ceiling surface of the venue, wherein the mounting system facilitates rotating the horn speaker to a location that provides maximum coverage of the venue within the passband of the asymmetric horn waveguide.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2022
    Publication date: May 26, 2022
    Applicant: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Garth Norman SHOWALTER, Mario DI COLA, John Michael GOTT, Patrick Ross SPURLOCK, Gregory Lynn CARNEY, Bryce Joseph GOTT
  • Patent number: 11252500
    Abstract: Embodiments are described for a high-frequency waveguide that improves the performance of large-scale surround sound and immersive audio environments. A horn waveguide is configured to be asymmetric about one of a vertical axis and horizontal axis of the waveguide to form an asymmetric horn waveguide. A spherical enclosure surrounds the asymmetric horn waveguide to form a horn speaker, and a three-axis mounting system is configured to fix the horn speaker to one of a wall or ceiling surface of the venue, wherein the mounting system facilitates rotating the horn speaker to a location that provides maximum coverage of the venue within the passband of the asymmetric horn waveguide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Garth Norman Showalter, Mario Di Cola, John Michael Gott, Patrick Ross Spurlock, Gregory Lynn Carney, Bryce Joseph Gott
  • Publication number: 20210152925
    Abstract: Embodiments are described for a high-frequency waveguide that improves the performance of large-scale surround sound and immersive audio environments. A horn waveguide is configured to be asymmetric about one of a vertical axis and horizontal axis of the waveguide to form an asymmetric horn waveguide. A spherical enclosure surrounds the asymmetric horn waveguide to form a horn speaker, and a three-axis mounting system is configured to fix the horn speaker to one of a wall or ceiling surface of the venue, wherein the mounting system facilitates rotating the horn speaker to a location that provides maximum coverage of the venue within the passband of the asymmetric horn waveguide.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 23, 2020
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Applicant: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Garth Norman SHOWALTER, Mario DI COLA, John Michael GOTT, Patrick Ross SPURLOCK, Gregory Lynn CARNEY, Bryce Joseph GOTT
  • Patent number: 10848862
    Abstract: Embodiments are described for a high-frequency waveguide that improves the performance of large-scale surround sound and immersive audio environments. A horn waveguide is configured to be asymmetric about one of a vertical axis and horizontal axis of the waveguide to form an asymmetric horn waveguide. A spherical enclosure surrounds the asymmetric horn waveguide to form a horn speaker, and a three-axis mounting system is configured to fix the horn speaker to one of a wall or ceiling surface of the venue, wherein the mounting system facilitates rotating the horn speaker to a location that provides maximum coverage of the venue within the passband of the asymmetric horn waveguide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Garth Norman Showalter, Mario Di Cola, John Michael Gott, Patrick Ross Spurlock, Gregory Lynn Carney, Bryce Joseph Gott
  • Patent number: 10812895
    Abstract: A dual wave-column, dual-driver loudspeaker enclosure is described. The two drivers are cross-coupled through their respective front and back sides by two single exit wave-columns. At the ¼ wavelength frequency of the waveguide length, both drivers resonate with the waveguides, and cone motion is minimized while output is maximized. At the ½ wavelength frequency, the front wave of the first driver is in-phase with, the rear wave of the second driver such that the output is increased, reinforced, and smoothed at that frequency. At the ? wavelength frequency, the two wave-column mouth outputs exhibit acoustic mutual coupling, which boosts acoustic output and reduces cone motion at the critical maximum displacement frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: James J. Croft, III, Michael J. Smithers, Garth Norman Showalter
  • Patent number: 10602263
    Abstract: An acoustic manifold for altering a sound wavefront shape from a loudspeaker having a substantially planar driver, comprising a mounting surface configured to attach to a front surface of a case surrounding the driver and having two vertical openings matching corresponding vertical openings in the case to allow sound from the driver to project therethrough, and a waveguide portion coupled to the mounting surface and having a structure channeling sound projected from the driver through the two vertical openings to be combined in one output area. The structure has a plurality of reflective surfaces configured to create output sound that has a consistent dispersion pattern over a defined area. The manifold is configured to increase a vertical and/or horizontal beamwidth of the projected sound so that listeners positioned off an axis of the loudspeaker will hear a wide range of audible frequencies at a substantially similar sound level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Michael J. Smithers, Garth Norman Showalter
  • Publication number: 20200029150
    Abstract: A dual wave-column, dual-driver loudspeaker enclosure is described. The two drivers are cross-coupled through their respective front and back sides by two single exit wave-columns. At the ¼ wavelength frequency of the waveguide length, both drivers resonate with the waveguides, and cone motion is minimized while output is maximized. At the ½ wavelength frequency, the front wave of the first driver is in-phase with, the rear wave of the second driver such that the output is increased, reinforced, and smoothed at that frequency. At the ? wavelength frequency, the two wave-column mouth outputs exhibit acoustic mutual coupling, which boosts acoustic output and reduces cone motion at the critical maximum displacement frequency.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2017
    Publication date: January 23, 2020
    Applicant: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: James J. CROFT, III, Michael J. SMITHERS, Garth Norman SHOWALTER
  • Publication number: 20190222926
    Abstract: Embodiments are described for a high-frequency waveguide that improves the performance of large-scale surround sound and immersive audio environments. A horn waveguide is configured to be asymmetric about one of a vertical axis and horizontal axis of the waveguide to form an asymmetric horn waveguide. A spherical enclosure surrounds the asymmetric horn waveguide to form a horn speaker, and a three-axis mounting system is configured to fix the horn speaker to one of a wall or ceiling surface of the venue, wherein the mounting system facilitates rotating the horn speaker to a location that provides maximum coverage of the venue within the passband of the asymmetric horn waveguide.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2017
    Publication date: July 18, 2019
    Applicant: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Garth Norman SHOWALTER, Mario DI COLA, John Michael GOTT, Patrick Ross SPURLOCK, Gregory Lynn CARNEY, Bryce Joseph GOTT
  • Patent number: 10321232
    Abstract: Embodiments are described for a hybrid amplification architecture that separates individual audio amplifier stages from the power supply and a simple two- or three-conductor bus that transmits both power and audio signal to a plurality of daisy-chained speakers to playback adaptive audio content in an expanded surround-sound environment including surround and overhead speakers or for use within professional live sound applications and/or distributed audio systems. A control unit generates digital audio and power and transmits both simultaneously over the bus to individual speaker units associated with each speaker. The speaker units recover the power decode the channel assignment to route the audio to the appropriate speakers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Joel A. Butler, Garth Norman Showalter
  • Publication number: 20190052956
    Abstract: An acoustic manifold for altering a sound wavefront shape from a loudspeaker having a substantially planar driver, comprising a mounting surface configured to attach to a front surface of a case surrounding the driver and having two vertical openings matching corresponding vertical openings in the case to allow sound from the driver to project therethrough, and a waveguide portion coupled to the mounting surface and having a structure channeling sound projected from the driver through the two vertical openings to be combined in one output area. The structure has a plurality of reflective surfaces configured to create output sound that has a consistent dispersion pattern over a defined area. The manifold is configured to increase a vertical and/or horizontal beamwidth of the projected sound so that listeners positioned off an axis of the loudspeaker will hear a wide range of audible frequencies at a substantially similar sound level.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2017
    Publication date: February 14, 2019
    Applicant: DOLBY LABORATORIES LICENSING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael J. SMITHERS, Garth Norman SHOWALTER
  • Publication number: 20180077491
    Abstract: Embodiments are described for a hybrid amplification architecture that separates individual audio amplifier stages from the power supply and a simple two- or three-conductor bus that transmits both power and audio signal to a plurality of daisy-chained speakers to playback adaptive audio content in an expanded surround-sound environment including surround and overhead speakers or for use within professional live sound applications and/or distributed audio systems. A control unit generates digital audio and power and transmits both simultaneously over the bus to individual speaker units associated with each speaker. The speaker units recover the power decode the channel assignment to route the audio to the appropriate speakers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2016
    Publication date: March 15, 2018
    Applicant: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
    Inventors: Joel A. BUTLER, Garth Norman SHOWALTER