System and method for loudspeaker protection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10165361-B2
Application number	US-201615365336-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2016
Priority date	May 31, 2016
Publication date	Dec 25, 2018
Grant date	Dec 25, 2018

Abstract

Systems, devices, and methods are described for providing loudspeaker protection. An upstream loudspeaker model estimation component receives sensed electrical characteristics of a loudspeaker, estimates the impedance of the loudspeaker, fits an impedance model to the estimated impedance, and generates an excursion model of the loudspeaker and a gain change parameter from the estimated parameters of the impedance model. A downstream audio signal processing component utilizes the gain change parameter and the excursion model, or parameters thereof, to constrain the temperature of a voice coil of the loudspeaker and to limit a predicted excursion of the loudspeaker. The downstream audio signal processing component also utilizes processed signals associated with the constrained temperature and the limited excursion to suppress unwanted distortion for an output audio signal to be played back by the loudspeaker.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A loudspeaker protection system, comprising:
an upstream loudspeaker model estimation component including:
an impedance model fitter configured to receive at least current data of a loudspeaker during audio playback, to estimate an impedance of the loudspeaker based on the at least received current data, and to estimate a plurality of impedance model parameters of an impedance model of the loudspeaker based on the estimated impedance of the loudspeaker, and
an excursion model converter configured to compare the estimated impedance model to the estimated impedance of the loudspeaker to estimate one or more first impedance model parameters of the plurality of impedance model parameters as being non-negligible and one or more second impedance model parameters of the plurality of impedance model parameters as being negligible, to convert the one or more first impedance model parameters to a plurality of parameters of an excursion model of the loudspeaker and to exclude the one or more second impedance model parameters from the excursion model of the loudspeaker; and

a downstream audio signal processing component including:
first audio signal processing circuitry configured to receive an audio signal and the plurality of parameters of the excursion model of the loudspeaker and to generate a processed version of the audio signal corresponding to a constrained predicted excursion based on the excursion model, and
distortion suppression circuitry configured to suppress unwanted distortion in the processed version of the audio signal to generate an output audio signal for playback by the loudspeaker.

2. The loudspeaker protection system of claim 1 , wherein the loudspeaker comprises a microspeaker, or
wherein the loudspeaker speaker protection system comprises a portion of a mobile user device.

3. The loudspeaker protection system of claim 1 , wherein the impedance model fitter is further configured to automatically adapt the excursion model to include the one or more second impedance model parameters if the one or more second impedance model parameters of the plurality of impedance model parameters are later estimated to be non-negligible.

4. The loudspeaker protection system of claim 1 , wherein the upstream loudspeaker model estimation component comprises:
a voice coil temperature modeler configured to:
estimate a temperature of a voice coil of the loudspeaker based on a resistivity portion of the plurality of impedance model parameter to generate a temperature prediction of the voice coil, and
generate a gain change parameter based on at least the temperature prediction; and

wherein the downstream audio signal processing component comprises:
second audio signal processing circuitry configured to:
receive an input audio signal;
process the input audio signal according to the gain change parameter to constrain the temperature of the voice coil in a temperature-constrained audio signal; and
provide the temperature-constrained audio signal to the first audio signal processing circuitry as the audio signal.

5. The loudspeaker protection system of claim 4 , wherein when the temperature prediction is less than a temperature threshold, the gain change parameter is at least ‘1’ such that the temperature-constrained audio signal has the same gain as or a higher gain than the input audio signal, and
wherein when the temperature prediction is greater than the temperature threshold, the gain change parameter is less than ‘1’ such that the temperature-constrained audio signal has a lower gain than the input audio signal.

6. The loudspeaker protection system of claim 4 , wherein the upstream loudspeaker model estimation component is further configured to update and to provide at least one of:
the gain change parameter to the downstream audio signal processing component asynchronously with respect to operation of the downstream audio signal processing component; or
the gain change parameter at a rate that is less than a frame-rate of the downstream audio signal processing component.

7. The loudspeaker protection system of claim 1 , wherein the upstream loudspeaker model estimation component is further configured to update and to provide at least one of:
the plurality of parameters of the excursion model to the downstream audio signal processing component asynchronously with respect to operation of the downstream audio signal processing component; or
the plurality of parameters of the excursion model at a rate that is less than the frame-rate of the downstream audio signal processing component.

8. A method for operating a loudspeaker protection system within an electronic device, the method comprising:
estimating, by the loudspeaker protection system, an impedance of a loudspeaker within the electronic device during operation of the loudspeaker;
estimating, by the electronic device, a plurality of impedance model parameters of an impedance model of the loudspeaker based on the estimated impedance of the loudspeaker;
comparing, by the electronic device, the estimated impedance model to the estimated impedance of the loudspeaker to estimate one or more first impedance model parameters of the plurality of impedance model parameters as being non-negligible and one or more second impedance model parameters of the plurality of impedance model parameters as being negligible;
generating, by the electronic device, a plurality of parameters of an excursion model of the loudspeaker, the one or more first impedance model parameters being included within the excursion model of the loudspeaker and the one or more second impedance model parameters being excluded from the excursion model of the loudspeaker;
processing, by the electronic device, an audio signal to generate a processed audio signal corresponding to a predicted excursion of the loudspeaker based on the excursion model;
suppressing, by the electronic device, unwanted distortion of the processed version of the audio signal to generate an output audio signal; and
providing, by the electronic device, the output audio signal for playback by the loudspeaker.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the loudspeaker comprises a microspeaker.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the loudspeaker protection system comprises a portion of a mobile user device.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
estimating a temperature of a voice coil of the loudspeaker based on a resistivity portion of the impedance model to generate a temperature prediction of the voice coil, and
generating a gain change parameter based on at least the temperature prediction;
processing an input audio signal according to the gain change parameter to constrain the temperature of the voice coil in a temperature-constrained audio signal; and
providing the temperature-constrained audio signal as the audio signal.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein when the temperature prediction is less than a temperature threshold, the gain change parameter is at least ‘1’ such that the temperature-constrained audio signal has the same gain as or a higher gain than the input audio signal, and
wherein when the temperature prediction is greater than the temperature threshold, the gain change parameter is less than ‘1’ such that the temperature-constrained audio signal has a lower gain than the input audio signal.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
updating at least one of the gain change parameter or the excursion model asynchronously with respect to the processing.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the updating comprises:
updating the at least one of the gain change parameter or

Assignees

• Avago Tech Int Sales Pte Lid

Inventors

• Thyssen Jes

Classifications

• H04R3/007 Primary

  Protection circuits for transducers · CPC title

• H04R29/003

  of the moving-coil type · CPC title

• H04R9/06

  Loudspeakers · CPC title

• G10L21/0232

  Processing in the frequency domain · CPC title

• H04R2499/11

  Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's · CPC title