Audio device auto-location

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12348937-B2
Application number	US-202017782937-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2020
Priority date	Dec 18, 2019
Publication date	Jul 1, 2025
Grant date	Jul 1, 2025

Abstract

A method for estimating an audio device location in an environment may involve obtaining direction of arrival (DOA) data for each audio device of a plurality of audio devices in the environment and determining interior angles for each of a plurality of triangles based on the DOA data. Each triangle may have vertices that correspond with audio device locations. The method may involve determining a side length for each side of each of the triangles, performing a forward alignment process of aligning each of the plurality of triangles produce a forward alignment matrix and performing a reverse alignment process of aligning each of the plurality of triangles in a reverse sequence to produce a reverse alignment matrix. A final estimate of each audio device location may be based, at least in part, on values of the forward alignment matrix and values of the reverse alignment matrix.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of determining a location of a plurality of at least four audio devices in an environment, each audio device configured to detect signals produced by a different audio device of the plurality of audio devices, the method comprising:
obtaining, by a control system, direction of arrival (DOA) data for each audio device of the plurality of at least four audio devices, the DOA data being based on a detected direction of the signals produced by another audio device of the plurality of audio devices in the environment;
determining, by the control system, interior angles for each of a plurality of triangles based on the DOA data, each triangle of the plurality of triangles having vertices that correspond with locations of three of the plurality of audio devices;
determining, by the control system, a side length for each side of each of the triangles based on the interior angles and on the signals produced by the audio devices separated by the side length to be determined, or
determining, by the control system, the side length based on the interior angles, wherein one side length of one of the triangles is set to a predetermined value;
performing, by the control system, a forward alignment process of aligning each of the plurality of triangles in a first sequence, to produce a forward alignment matrix, wherein the forward alignment process is performed by forcing a side length of each triangle to coincide with a side length of an adjacent triangle and using the interior angles determined for the adjacent triangle;
performing, by the control system, a reverse alignment process of aligning each of the plurality of triangles, to produce a reverse alignment matrix, wherein the reverse alignment process is performed as the forward alignment process but in a second sequence that is the reverse of the first sequence; and
producing, by the control system, a final estimate of each audio device location based, at least in part, on values of the forward alignment matrix and values of the reverse alignment matrix.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein producing the final estimate of each audio device location comprises:
translating and scaling the forward alignment matrix to produce a translated and scaled forward alignment matrix; and
translating and scaling the reverse alignment matrix to produce a translated and scaled reverse alignment matrix, wherein translating and scaling the forwards and reverse alignment matrices comprise moving the centroids of the respective matrices to the origin and forcing the Frobenius norm of each matrix to one.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein producing the final estimate of each audio device location further comprises producing a further matrix based on the translated and scaled forward alignment matrix and the translated and scaled reverse alignment matrix, the further matrix including a plurality of estimated audio device locations for each audio device.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein producing the further matrix comprises performing a singular value decomposition on the translated and scaled forward alignment matrix and the translated and scaled reverse alignment matrix.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein producing the final estimate of each audio device location further comprises averaging multiple estimates of the location of the audio device obtained from overlapping vertices of multiple triangles.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the side length involves:
determining a first length of a first side of a triangle; and
determining lengths of a second side and a third side of the triangle based on the interior angles of the triangle, wherein determining the first length involves setting the first length to a predetermined value or wherein determining the first length is based on at least one of time-of-arrival data or received signal strength data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each audio device comprises a plurality of audio device microphones and wherein determining the direction of arrival data involves receiving microphone data from each microphone of a plurality of audio device microphones corresponding to a single audio device of the plurality of audio devices and determining the direction of arrival data for the single audio device based, at least in part, on the microphone data.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein each audio device comprises one or more antennas and wherein determining the direction of arrival data involves receiving antenna data from one or more antennas corresponding to a single audio device of the plurality of audio devices and determining the direction of arrival data for the single audio device based, at least in part, on the antenna data.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising controlling at least one of the audio devices based, at least in part, on the final estimate of at least one audio device location, wherein each audio device of the plurality of audio devices comprises a loudspeaker, and wherein controlling at least one of the audio devices involves controlling a loudspeaker of at least one of the audio devices.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the control system, audio data;
rendering, by the control system, the audio data based, at least in part, on the final estimate of each audio device location, to produce rendered audio signals; and
providing, by the control system, the rendered audio signals to the plurality of at least four audio devices in the environment.

11. An apparatus, comprising:
an interface system; and
a control system configured to:
obtain direction of arrival (DOA) data for each audio device of the plurality of at least four audio devices, the DOA data being based on a detected direction of the signals produced by another audio device of the plurality of audio devices in the environment;
determine interior angles for each of a plurality of triangles based on the DOA data, each triangle of the plurality of triangles having vertices that correspond with locations of three of the plurality of audio devices;
determine a side length for each side of each of the triangles based on the interior angles and on the signals produced by the audio devices separated by the side length to be determined, or
determine the side length based on the interior angles, wherein one side length of one of the triangles is set to a predetermined value;
perform a forward alignment process of aligning each of the plurality of triangles in a first sequence, to produce a forward alignment matrix, wherein the forward alignment process is performed by forcing a side length of each triangle to coincide with a side length of an adjacent triangle and using the interior angles determined for the adjacent triangle;
perform a reverse alignment process of aligning each of the plurality of triangles, to produce a reverse alignment matrix, wherein the reverse alignment process is performed as the forward alignment process but in a second sequence that is the reverse of the first sequence; and
produce a final estimate of each audio device location based, at least in part, on values of the forward alignment matrix and values of the reverse alignment matrix.

12. One or more non-transitory computer-readable mediums having instructions stored thereon for controlling one or more devices to perform a method, the method comprising:
obtaining direction of arrival (DOA) data for each audio device of a plurality of at least four audio devices, the DOA data being based on a detected direction of the signals produced by another audio device of the plurality of audio devices in the environment;
determining interior angles for each of a plurality

Assignees

• Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corp

Inventors

• Thomas Mark R P
• Dickins Glenn
• Seefeldt Alan

Classifications

• H04R2420/07

  Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones · CPC title

• H04S7/303

  Tracking of listener position or orientation · CPC title

• H04R5/02

  Spatial or constructional arrangements of loudspeakers · CPC title

• H04R3/12

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

• H04R27/00

  Public address systems (circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; {monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007}; amplifiers H03F) · CPC title