Patents by Inventor Luke C. Walters

Luke C. Walters 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).

  • Patent number: 9591410
    Abstract: A hearing assistance device includes two transducers which react to a characteristic of an acoustic wave to capture data representative of the characteristic. The device is arranged so that each transducers is located adjacent a respective ear of a person wearing the device. A signal processor processes the data to provide relatively more emphasis of data representing a first sound source the person is facing over data representing a second sound source the person is not facing. At least one speaker utilizes the data to reproduce sounds to the person. An active noise reduction system provides a signal to the speaker for reducing an amount of ambient acoustic noise in the vicinity of the person that is heard by the person.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: William R. Short, Luke C. Walters
  • Patent number: 9078077
    Abstract: An approach to forming output signals both permits flexible and temporally and/or frequency local processing of input signals while limiting or mitigating artifacts in such output signals. Generally, the approach involves first synthesizing prototype signals for the output signals, or equivalently characterizing such prototypes, for example, according to their statistical characteristics, and then forming the output signals as estimates of the prototype signals, for example, as weighted combinations of the input signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: Paul B. Hultz, Tobe Barksdale, Michael Dublin, Luke C. Walters
  • Publication number: 20140079261
    Abstract: A hearing assistance device includes two transducers which react to a characteristic of an acoustic wave to capture data representative of the characteristic. The device is arranged so that each transducers is located adjacent a respective ear of a person wearing the device. A signal processor processes the data to provide relatively more emphasis of data representing a first sound source the person is facing over data representing a second sound source the person is not facing. At least one speaker utilizes the data to reproduce sounds to the person. An active noise reduction system provides a signal to the speaker for reducing an amount of ambient acoustic noise in the vicinity of the person that is heard by the person.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 20, 2013
    Publication date: March 20, 2014
    Applicant: BOSE CORPORATION
    Inventors: William R. Short, Luke C. Walters
  • Patent number: 8675881
    Abstract: An approach to forming output signals both permits flexible and temporally and/or frequency local processing of input signals while limiting or mitigating artifacts in such output signals. Generally, the approach involves first synthesizing prototype signals for the output signals, or equivalently characterizing such prototypes, for example, according to their statistical characteristics, and then forming the output signals as estimates of the prototype signals, for example, as weighted combinations of the input signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: Paul B. Hultz, Tobe Z. Barksdale, Michael S. Dublin, Luke C. Walters
  • Patent number: 8620650
    Abstract: A system for combining signals includes a first microphone generating a first input signal having a first voice component and a first noise component, a second microphone generating a second input signal having a second voice component and a second noise component, a mixing circuit, and an adaptive filter. The mixing circuit applies a first gain having a value ? to the first input signal to produce a first scaled signal, applies a second gain having a value 1?? to the second input signal to produce a second scaled signal, and sums the first scaled signal and the second scaled signal to produce a summed signal. The adaptive filter computes an updated value of ? to minimize the energy of the summed signal based on the summed signal, the first input signal and the second input signal, and provides the updated value of ? to the mixing circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: Luke C. Walters, Vasu Iyengar, Martin David Ring
  • Patent number: 8611554
    Abstract: A hearing assistance device includes two transducers which react to a characteristic of an acoustic wave to capture data representative of the characteristic. The device is arranged so that each transducers is located adjacent a respective ear of a person wearing the device. A signal processor processes the data to provide relatively more emphasis of data representing a first sound source the person is facing over data representing a second sound source the person is not facing. At least one speaker utilizes the data to reproduce sounds to the person. An active noise reduction system provides a signal to the speaker for reducing an amount of ambient acoustic noise in the vicinity of the person that is heard by the person.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: William R. Short, Luke C. Walters
  • Publication number: 20120253798
    Abstract: A system for combining signals includes a first microphone generating a first input signal having a first voice component and a first noise component, a second microphone generating a second input signal having a second voice component and a second noise component, a mixing circuit, and an adaptive filter. The mixing circuit applies a first gain having a value ? to the first input signal to produce a first scaled signal, applies a second gain having a value 1?? to the second input signal to produce a second scaled signal, and sums the first scaled signal and the second scaled signal to produce a summed signal. The adaptive filter computes an updated value of ? to minimize the energy of the summed signal based on the summed signal, the first input signal and the second input signal, and provides the updated value of ? to the mixing circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 1, 2011
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Inventors: Luke C. Walters, Vasu Iyengar, Martin David Ring
  • Publication number: 20120099739
    Abstract: An approach to forming output signals both permits flexible and temporally and/or frequency local processing of input signals while limiting or mitigating artifacts in such output signals. Generally, the approach involves first synthesizing prototype signals for the output signals, or equivalently characterizing such prototypes, for example, according to their statistical characteristics, and then forming the output signals as estimates of the prototype signals, for example, as weighted combinations of the input signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 21, 2011
    Publication date: April 26, 2012
    Applicant: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: Paul B. Hultz, Tobe Barksdale, Michael Dublin, Luke C. Walters
  • Publication number: 20120099731
    Abstract: An approach to forming output signals both permits flexible and temporally and/or frequency local processing of input signals while limiting or mitigating artifacts in such output signals. Generally, the approach involves first synthesizing prototype signals for the output signals, or equivalently characterizing such prototypes, for example, according to their statistical characteristics, and then forming the output signals as estimates of the prototype signals, for example, as weighted combinations of the input signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 21, 2010
    Publication date: April 26, 2012
    Applicant: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: Paul B. Hultz, Tobe Z. Barksdale, Michael S. Dublin, Luke C. Walters
  • Publication number: 20090262969
    Abstract: A hearing assistance device includes two transducers which react to a characteristic of an acoustic wave to capture data representative of the characteristic. The device is arranged so that each transducers is located adjacent a respective ear of a person wearing the device. A signal processor processes the data to provide relatively more emphasis of data representing a first sound source the person is facing over data representing a second sound source the person is not facing. At least one speaker utilizes the data to reproduce sounds to the person. An active noise reduction system provides a signal to the speaker for reducing an amount of ambient acoustic noise in the vicinity of the person that is heard by the person.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2008
    Publication date: October 22, 2009
    Inventors: William R. Short, Luke C. Walters