Using direction of arrival with unique audio signature for object location detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10698109-B2
Application number	US-201815875263-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 19, 2018
Priority date	Jan 19, 2018
Publication date	Jun 30, 2020
Grant date	Jun 30, 2020

Abstract

Multiple independently movable devices are located upon a platform. On the platform is a directional microphone array. Each of the movable devices is assigned a unique audio signature, which may be a pulse train of chirps or a pseudo random signal or some other audio sequence that is unique to the respective device. Each movable device announces itself with its unique audio signature, and the platform's directional microphone system determines the location from which the unique audio signature comes from. For range, a difference between the time of flight (TOF) of the light relative to the sound signature is used. As another technique a unique audio signature may be an audio water mark concealed in normal audio which may be emitted by the movable device. The watermark provides the identifying information of each movable device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device comprising:
at least one processor configured with instructions to:
receive, via at least one sound sensor, respective sound signals emitted by respective movable objects in an environment, each sound signal establishing a respective audio signature unique to the respective moveable object;
identify each of the movable objects based at least in part on at least one unique characteristic in the respective sound signal; and
determine at least a bearing to each of the movable objects based at least in part on the respective sound signals, wherein at least one of the sound signals comprises a pseudo random sonic signal that is unique to the respective device.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are executable to:
determine a range to each movable object based at least in part on time of flight (TOF) information.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein each sound signal comprises a respective time stamp indicating time of transmission, and the TOF information comprises a time period from the time of transmission to a time of reception of the respective sound signal by the sound sensor.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sound sensor comprises a directional array of microphones.

5. The device of claim 4 , wherein the instructions are executable to:
determine a range to each movable object based at least in part on time of flight (TOF) information, the TOF information comprising an electromagnetic TOF and a sonic TOF for each respective movable object.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sound sensor comprises plural microphones, and the instructions are executable to:
determine range and bearing from a reference location to each of the movable objects using triangulation of the respective sound signals detected by plural of the microphones.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the sound signals comprises a sequence of sonic pulses.

8. The device of claim 1 , comprising at least one sound sensor.

9. A device comprising:
at least one processor configured with instructions to:
receive, via at least one sound sensor, respective sound signals emitted by respective movable objects in an environment, each sound signal establishing a respective audio signature unique to the respective moveable object;
identify each of the movable objects based at least in part on at least one unique characteristic in the respective sound signal; and
determine at least a bearing to each of the movable objects based at least in part on the respective sound signals,
wherein at least one of the sound signals comprises an audio water mark embedded in audio emitted by the respective movable object.

10. An assembly comprising:
plural computerized devices;
each computerized device comprising at least one actuating device to cause the device to move translationally on a platform and at least one speaker configured to emit acoustic energy;
a first one of the computerized devices being programmed with instructions to:
cause the at least one speaker to transmit a sound signal comprising a unique characteristic that identifies the respective device; and
receive information related to locations and identities of other devices based on respective sound signals transmitted by the other devices, the respective sound signals having characteristics unique to the respective devices.

11. The assembly of claim 10 , wherein each computerized device comprises at least one emitter of electromagnetic (EM) radiation.

12. The assembly of claim 11 , wherein the instructions are executable to cause the emitter to emit EM radiation simultaneously with the at least one speaker transmitting the sound signal.

13. The assembly of claim 10 , wherein the instructions are executable to cause information indicating time of transmission of the sound signal to be carried in the sound signal.

Assignees

• Sony Corp
• Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc

Inventors

• Shintani Peter
• Usami Morio
• Resch Keith

Classifications

• G01S5/28 Primary

  by co-ordinating position lines of different shape, e.g. hyperbolic, circular, elliptical or radial · CPC title

• G01S17/86 Primary

  Combinations of lidar systems with systems other than lidar, radar or sonar, e.g. with direction finders · CPC title

• G01S5/22

  Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements (G01S5/28 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01S5/16

  using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves · CPC title

• H04R1/406

  microphones · CPC title