Soundbar and method for automatic surround pairing and calibration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022408210-A1
Application number	US-202217843166-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 17, 2022
Priority date	Jun 18, 2021
Publication date	Dec 22, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a soundbar and a method for automatic surround pairing and calibration of a surround sound system. The soundbar includes two built-in microphones on the left and right respectively, which can be used for determining relative positions of left and right surround speakers. When the relative positions of the left and right speakers are not correct, configurations of left and right surround channels can be automatically swapped with each other without manually swapping physical positions of the surround speakers by a user. In addition, latencies including a latency of each channel of a main system may also be calibrated, and magnitude compensation may be achieved by calculating a filter compensation coefficient of each line and merging it into an original filter. The automatic surround pairing and calibration of the surround sound system may be one-click completed automatically by the user by pressing a start button.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A soundbar for automatic surround pairing and calibration of a surround sound system, comprising:
left and right built-in microphones for determining relative positions of left and right surround speakers; a processor configured to: obtain a listening position being at a first distance in front of the soundbar; calibrate distance latencies of a center channel and left and right surround channels; and calculate filter compensating coefficients and merge the calculated filter compensating coefficients into the left and right surround channels, respectively, for compensating magnitudes, wherein the left and right built-in microphones are integrated in the soundbar and respectively fixed on both left and right sides near a center speaker.

2 . The soundbar of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to automatically swap the left and right surround channels with each other when the relative positions of the left and right surround speakers are determined to be incorrect.

3 . The soundbar of claim 2 , wherein the relative positions of the left and right surround speakers are determined to be incorrect when a differential time of a sweep sound from the left surround speaker to the left and right built-in microphones is greater than a different time of a sweep sound from the right surround speaker to the left and right built-in microphones.

4 . The soundbar of claim 3 , wherein the differential time of the sweep sound from the left surround speaker to the left and right built-in microphones is defined as propagation time of the sweep sound from the left surround speaker to the left built-in microphone being subtracted from a propagation time from the left surround speaker to the right built-in microphone, and wherein the differential time of the sweep sound from the right surround speaker to the left and right built-in microphones is defined as propagation time from the right surround speaker to the left built-in microphone being subtracted from a propagation time from the right surround speaker to the right built-in microphone.

5 . The soundbar of claim 1 , wherein the distance latencies of the center channel, the left surround channel, and the right surround channel are calibrated based on the first distance, a second distance from the left surround speaker to the listening position, and a third distance from the right surround speaker to the listening position, respectively, and the left and right channels are calibrated based on the center channel.

6 . The soundbar of claim 5 , wherein the second distance and the third distance are calculated by measuring left and right surround relative latencies, respectively, using the center channel as a reference.

7 . The soundbar of claim 6 , wherein the left surround relative latency is defined as a propagation time from the left surround speaker to the left and right built-in microphones being subtracted from a propagation time from the center channel to the left and right built-in microphones, and the right surround relative latency is defined as a propagation time from the right surround speaker to the left and right built-in microphones being subtracted from a propagation time from the center channel to the left and right built-in microphones.

8 . The soundbar of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to align wireless transmission latencies by adding a buffer latency depending on performance of a system on chip (SoC) to all channels of the surround sound system.

9 . The soundbar of claim 1 , wherein compensating the magnitudes is based on the listening position.

10 . The soundbar of claim 1 , wherein the automatic surround pairing and calibration is one-click operation that is performed in response to a button being depressed.

11 . A method for automatic surround pairing and calibration of a surround sound system, the method comprising:
determining, via left and right built-in microphones, relative positions of left and right surround speakers; obtaining a listening position being at a first distance in front of a soundbar; calibrating, by a processor, distance latencies of a center channel and left and right surround channels; and compensating, in the left and right surround channels, magnitudes by merging left and right filter compensating coefficients, respectively, wherein the left and right built-in microphones are integrated in the soundbar and respectively fixed on both left and right sides, near a center speaker.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the left and right surround channels are automatically swapped with each other when the relative positions of the left and right surround speakers are incorrect.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the relative positions of the left and right surround speakers are determined to be incorrect when a differential time of sweep sound from the left surround speaker to the left and right built-in microphones is greater than a differential time of sweep sound from the right surround speaker to the left and right built-in microphones.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the differential time of the sweep sound from the left surround speaker to the left and right built-in microphones is defined as propagation time from the left surround speaker to left built-in microphone being subtracted from a propagation time from the left surround speaker to the right built-in microphone, and wherein the differential time of the sweep sound from the right surround speaker to the left and right built-in microphones is defined as propagation time from the right surround speaker to the left built-in microphone being subtracted from a propagation time from the right surround speaker to the right built-in microphone.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the distance latencies of the center channel, the left surround channel, and the right surround channel are calibrated based on the first distance, a second distance from the left surround speaker to the listening position, and a third distance from the right surround speaker to the listening position, respectively, and the left and right channels are calibrated based on the center channel.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the second distance and the third distance are calculated by measuring left and right surround relative latencies, respectively, using the center channel as a reference.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the left surround relative latency is defined as propagation time from the left surround speaker to the left and right built-in microphones being subtracted from a propagation time from the center channel to the left and right built-in microphones, and the right surround relative latency is defined as propagation time from the right surround speaker to the left and right built-in microphones being subtracted from a propagation time from the center channel to the left and right built-in microphones.

18 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises adjusting wireless transmission latencies by adding a buffer latency based on performance of a system on chip (SoC) to all channels of the surround sound system.

19 . The method of claim 11 , wherein compensating the magnitudes is based on the listening position.

20 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the steps comprised in the method are performed as a one-click operation in response to a user activation.

21 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions which, when executed by a

Assignees

• Harman Int Ind

Inventors

• Shih Shao-Fu
• Zheng Jianwen
• Xiao Yi

Classifications

• G06F3/165

  Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path · CPC title

• H04R1/406

  microphones · CPC title

• H04R2201/403

  Linear arrays of transducers · CPC title

• H04S7/303

  Tracking of listener position or orientation · CPC title

• H04S7/301 Primary

  Automatic calibration of stereophonic sound system, e.g. with test microphone · CPC title