Steerable speaker array, system, and method for the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11445294-B2
Application number	US-202016882110-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 22, 2020
Priority date	May 23, 2019
Publication date	Sep 13, 2022
Grant date	Sep 13, 2022

Abstract

A steerable speaker array is provided, comprising a plurality of drivers arranged in a concentric, nested configuration formed by arranging the drivers in a plurality of concentric groups and placing the groups at different radial distances from a central point of the configuration. Each group is formed by a subset of the plurality of drivers being positioned at predetermined intervals from each other along a perimeter of the group. Also, the concentric groups are harmonically nested and rotationally offset from each other. An audio system is also provided comprising at least one steerable speaker array and a beamforming system configured to receive one or more input audio signals from an audio source, generate a separate audio output signal for each driver of the speaker array based on at least one of the input signals, and provide the audio output signals to the corresponding drivers to produce a beamformed audio output.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A speaker array comprising:
a plurality of drivers arranged in a concentric, nested configuration formed by arranging the drivers in a plurality of concentric groups and placing the groups at different radial distances from a central point of the configuration, each group being formed by a subset of the plurality of drivers being positioned at predetermined intervals from each other along a perimeter of the group, wherein the concentric groups are rotationally offset from each other relative to a central axis of the array that passes through the central point, and wherein the different radial distances are configured such that the concentric groups are harmonically nested,
wherein the plurality of drivers are configured to receive corresponding audio output signals for producing a beamformed audio output, the audio output signal corresponding to each driver being generated by applying cross-over filtering to an input audio signal using one or more filter values, the one or more filter values being assigned to that driver based on the concentric group in which the driver is located.

2. The speaker array of claim 1 , wherein each group of drivers is rotationally offset relative to the central axis by a different number of degrees.

3. The speaker array of claim 1 , further comprising at least one driver arranged at the central point of the concentric, nested configuration.

4. The speaker array of claim 3 , wherein the at least one driver and the drivers situated in the two groups that are closest to the central point form a cluster configured to operate in low frequency bands.

5. The speaker array of claim 1 , wherein each group forms a circular shape with a diameter that is selected based on a desired operating frequency for the drivers included in that group.

6. The speaker array of claim 1 , wherein each group comprises a predetermined number of drivers, the predetermined number being selected from a group consisting of an odd number and multiples of the odd number.

7. The speaker array of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of drivers includes at least 48 drivers.

8. The speaker array of claim 1 , wherein the number of concentric groups is at least three.

9. The speaker array of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of drivers has a uniform aperture size.

10. The speaker array of claim 1 , wherein each driver has an enclosed volume extending away from a front face of the driver and forming a cylindrical cavity behind the driver, a height of the cylindrical cavity determining a depth of the speaker array.

11. A method performed by one or more processors to generate a beamformed audio output using an audio system comprising a speaker array having a plurality of drivers, the method comprising:
receiving one or more input audio signals from an audio source coupled to the audio system;
generating a separate audio output signal for each driver of the speaker array based on at least one of the input audio signals, the drivers being arranged in a plurality of concentric groups positioned at different radial distances relative to a central point to form a concentric, nested configuration,
the generating comprising, for each driver:
obtaining one or more filter values and at least one delay value associated with the driver, at least one of the one or more filter values being assigned to the driver based on the concentric group in which the driver is located,
applying the at least one filter value to one or more filters;
applying cross-over filtering to the at least one of the input audio signals using the one or more filters to produce a filtered output signal for the driver,
providing the filtered output signal to a delay element associated with the driver,
applying the at least one delay value to the delay element to produce a delayed output signal for the driver, and
providing the delayed output signal to a power amplifier in order to amplify the signal by a predetermined gain amount; and

providing the audio output signals to the corresponding drivers to produce a beamformed audio output.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving one or more microphone signals captured by at least one microphone included in the audio system, and optimizing an acoustic echo cancellation parameter of the speaker array based on the one or more microphone signals.

13. An audio system, comprising:
a first speaker array comprising a plurality of drivers arranged in a plurality of concentric groups positioned at different radial distances from a central point to form a concentric, nested configuration, each group being formed by a subset of the plurality of drivers being positioned at predetermined intervals from each other along a perimeter of the group; and
a beamforming system coupled to the first speaker array and configured to:
receive one or more input audio signals from an audio source,
generate a separate audio output signal for each driver of the first speaker array based on at least one of the input audio signals, and
provide the audio output signals to the corresponding drivers to produce a beamformed audio output,

wherein the beamforming system comprises a filter system including one or more filters, the beamforming system using the filter system to generate separate audio output signals, and
wherein for each driver, the filter system is configured to apply cross-over filtering to the at least one of the input audio signals using one or more filter values, and generate a separate filtered audio output signal for said driver, the one or more filter values being assigned to that driver based on the concentric group in which the driver is located.

14. The audio system of claim 13 , further comprising: a first single cable coupling the first speaker array to the beamforming system, and configured to transport audio, data, and power.

15. The audio system of claim 13 , further comprising at least one microphone coupled to the beamforming system, wherein the beamforming system is configured to generate the separate audio output signal for each driver based further on one or more microphone signals captured by the at least one microphone.

16. The audio system of claim 15 , wherein the beamforming system is configured to use the one or more microphone signals to optimize an acoustic echo cancellation parameter of the speaker array.

17. The audio system of claim 15 , wherein the at least one microphone is a standalone microphone array comprising a plurality of microphones arranged in a planar configuration.

18. The audio system of claim 17 , further comprising a second single cable coupling the microphone array to the beamforming system, and configured to transport audio, data, and power.

19. The audio system of claim 13 , further comprising a second speaker array coupled to the beamforming system, the second speaker array comprising a second plurality of drivers arranged in a second plurality of concentric groups positioned at different radial distances from a central point to form a second concentric, nested configuration, wherein the beamforming system is further configured to:
generate a separate audio output signal for each driver of the second speaker array based on at least one of the input audio signals received from the audio source, and
provide said audio output signals to the corresponding drivers of the second speaker array to produce a second beamformed audio output.

20. The audio system of claim 19 , further comprising a third single cable coupling the second speaker array to

Assignees

• Shure Acquisition Holdings Inc

Inventors

• Koschak Matthew David
• Shumard Brent Robert
• Cason David Grant
• Platz Kenneth James

Classifications

• H04R1/403 Primary

  loud-speakers · CPC title

• H04R3/12 Primary

  for distributing signals to two or more loudspeakers {(specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407)} · CPC title

• H04R3/02

  for preventing acoustic reaction {, i.e. acoustic oscillatory feedback (specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/453)} · CPC title

• H04R2201/401

  2D or 3D arrays of transducers · CPC title

• H04R1/406

  microphones · CPC title