Audio device and method for producing a sound field

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12477277-B2
Application number	US-202318511673-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2023
Priority date	May 27, 2021
Publication date	Nov 18, 2025
Grant date	Nov 18, 2025

Abstract

A device and a method are provided for producing a sound field are disclosed. The device comprises a plurality of loudspeakers arranged at a plurality of locations within a plane and a processing circuitry configured to drive the plurality of loudspeakers. A first subset of the plurality of loudspeakers defines a first rhombus within the plane and a second subset of the plurality of loudspeakers defines a second rhombus within the plane. The first rhombus is oriented substantially perpendicular to the second rhombus. Further subsets of the plurality of loudspeakers may define further rhombic sub-arrays. The audio device may be implemented as a soundbar or a sound panel, which provides a richer sound experience.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A device for producing a sound field, the device comprising:
a plurality of loudspeakers arranged at a plurality of locations within a plane; and a processing circuitry configured to process a plurality of input signals to obtain a plurality of output signals and output the plurality of output signals to the plurality of loudspeakers,
wherein a first subset of the plurality of loudspeakers comprises at least three loudspeakers,
wherein the centers of the at least three loudspeakers of the first subset are arranged as at least three corners of a first rhombus within the plane,
wherein the first rhombus has a first primary diagonal and a first secondary diagonal,
wherein the first primary diagonal is longer than the first secondary diagonal,
wherein a second subset of the plurality of loudspeakers comprises at least three loudspeakers,
wherein the centers of the at least three loudspeakers of the second subset are arranged as at least three corners of a second rhombus within the plane,
wherein the second rhombus has a second primary diagonal and a second secondary diagonal, wherein the second primary diagonal is longer than the second secondary diagonal,
wherein the first primary diagonal extends perpendicularly to the second primary diagonal, and
wherein a length of the first secondary diagonal and/or second secondary diagonal is between d and 2d, wherein d is a minimum spacing of the loudspeakers and d is a natural number.

2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the first primary diagonal has the same length as the second primary diagonal and/or wherein the first secondary diagonal has the same length as the second secondary diagonal.

3 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the first secondary diagonal has the same length as a side of the first rhombus and/or wherein the second secondary diagonal has the same length as a side of the second rhombus.

4 . The device of claim 1 , wherein a third subset of the plurality of loudspeakers comprises at least three loudspeakers, wherein the centers of the at least three loudspeakers of the third subset are arranged as at least three corners of a third rhombus within the plane, wherein the third rhombus has a third primary diagonal and a third secondary diagonal, wherein the third primary diagonal is longer than the third secondary diagonal, and wherein the third primary diagonal of the third rhombus extends parallel to the first primary diagonal of the first rhombus.

5 . The device of claim 4 , wherein the third primary diagonal of the third rhombus extends along the same notional line as the first primary diagonal of the first rhombus.

6 . The device of claim 5 , wherein at least one of the loudspeakers of the second subset is arranged above or below the notional line defined by the first primary diagonal of the first rhombus and the third primary diagonal of the third rhombus.

7 . The device of claim 4 , wherein the third primary diagonal has the same length as the first primary diagonal and/or wherein the third secondary diagonal has the same length as the first secondary diagonal.

8 . The device of claim 4 , wherein the third secondary diagonal has the same length as a side of the third rhombus.

9 . The device of claim 4 , wherein one of the plurality of loudspeakers is part of the second subset and the first subset or the third subset.

10 . The device of claim 1 , wherein one of the plurality of loudspeakers is part of the second subset and the first subset or the third subset.

11 . The device of claim 1 , wherein a fourth subset of the plurality of loudspeakers comprises at least three loudspeakers, wherein the centers of the at least three loudspeakers are arranged as at least three corners of a fourth rhombus within the plane, wherein a side of the fourth rhombus is between 2 and 4 times longer than a side of the first rhombus, wherein the fourth rhombus has a fourth primary diagonal and a fourth secondary diagonal, and wherein the fourth primary diagonal is longer than the fourth secondary diagonal.

12 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the fourth primary diagonal extends perpendicularly to the first primary diagonal of the first rhombus or perpendicularly to the second primary diagonal of the second rhombus.

13 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to implement one or more beamformers for processing, based on a desired main radiation direction, the plurality of input signals to obtain the plurality of output signals.

14 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to implement one or more first beamformers for processing, based on a first desired main radiation direction, the plurality of input signals in a first frequency range to obtain the plurality of output signals for the fourth subset of the plurality of loudspeakers and to implement one or more second beamformers for processing, based on a second desired main radiation direction, the plurality of input signals in a second frequency range to obtain the plurality of output signals for the first and/or second subset of the plurality of loudspeakers.

15 . The device of claim 14 , wherein a crossover frequency between the first frequency range and the second frequency range is between 2 and 4 kHz.

16 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the loudspeakers within the subset are adjacent loudspeakers.

17 . A method for producing a sound field, the method comprising:
operating a plurality of loudspeakers arranged at a plurality of locations within a plane; and processing a plurality of input signals to obtain a plurality of output signals and outputting the plurality of output signals to the plurality of loudspeakers,
wherein a first subset of the plurality of loudspeakers comprises at least three loudspeakers,
wherein the centers of the at least three loudspeakers of the first subset are arranged as at least three corners of a first rhombus within the plane,
wherein the first rhombus has a first primary diagonal and a first secondary diagonal, wherein the first primary diagonal is longer than the first secondary diagonal,
wherein a second subset of the plurality of loudspeakers comprises at least three loudspeakers,
wherein the centers of the at least three loudspeakers of the second subset are arranged as at least three corners of a second rhombus within the plane,
wherein the second rhombus has a second primary diagonal and a second secondary diagonal,
wherein the second primary diagonal is longer than the second secondary diagonal,
wherein the first primary diagonal extends perpendicularly to the second primary diagonal, and
wherein a length of the first secondary diagonal and/or second secondary diagonal is between d and 2d, wherein d is a minimum spacing of the loudspeakers and d is a natural number.

18 . The method according to claim 17 , wherein a desired main radiation direction is obtained based on the plurality of output signals of the first and second subset of loudspeakers.

19 . The method according to claim 18 , wherein a desired main radiation direction comprises a horizontal main radiation direction and/or a vertical main radiation direction.

20 . The method according to claim 18 , wherein the desired main radiation direction is obtained by providing one or more beamforming filters determined according to the first and second subset of loudspeakers.

21 . The method according to claim 17 , wherein the loudspeakers within the subset

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Grosche Peter
• Pollow Martin

Classifications

• H04R2203/12

  Beamforming aspects for stereophonic sound reproduction with loudspeaker arrays · CPC title

• H04R2201/401

  2D or 3D arrays of transducers · CPC title

• H04R3/12

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

• H04R1/403

  loud-speakers · CPC title

• H04R1/26

  Spatial arrangements of separate transducers responsive to two or more frequency ranges · CPC title