Sound placement of comfort zones

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9595251-B2
Application number	US-201514707924-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 8, 2015
Priority date	May 8, 2015
Publication date	Mar 14, 2017
Grant date	Mar 14, 2017

Abstract

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a device for noise cancelling using a method of updating a noise cancelling distribution area. The device may include: a memory; a processor configured to: measure a location of a user's head; measure an acoustic environment surrounding the user; determine active noise reduction controller configuration parameters for a noise cancelling distribution area; generate at least one active noise reduction control from the active noise reduction controller configuration parameters; and apply the at least one active noise reduction control creating the noise cancelling distribution area in a region around the user's head or ear.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of updating a noise cancelling distribution area, the method comprising:
measuring a location of a user's head;
measuring an acoustic environment surrounding the user with at least one sensor to produce sound data;
providing the sound data to determine active noise reduction controller configuration parameters for the noise cancelling distribution area;
generating at least one active noise reduction control from the active noise reduction controller configuration parameters;
updating the active noise reduction controller configuration parameters at a specified rate and modifying a level of the specified rate based on an event in the noise cancelling distribution area; and
applying the at least one active noise reduction control to create the noise cancelling distribution area around the user's ear with at least one speaker.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining a shift in the user's head; and
when the shift is greater than a threshold, updating the active noise reduction controller configuration parameters such that the user's ears remain within the noise cancelling distribution area.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:
using iterative closest point to track and determine a shift in the user's head.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
tracking a planar axis connecting the user's ears of the user's head to determine shifts in the user's head.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the active noise reduction controller configuration parameters are filter parameters for the noise cancelling distribution area.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
using pose estimation to identify and track the location and an orientation of the users head.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
applying a produced signal to adjust multiple speakers as the user's head adjusts accordingly.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
modifying the level of the specified rate based upon movement of the location of the user's head.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
modifying the level of the specified rate based upon changes in the acoustic environment.

10. A device for noise cancelling including a method of updating a noise cancelling distribution area comprising:
a memory;
a processor to:
measure a location of a user's head;
measure an acoustic environment surrounding the user with at least one sensor to produce sound data;
providing the sound data to determine active noise reduction controller configuration parameters for the noise cancelling distribution area;
generate at least one active noise reduction control from the active noise reduction controller configuration parameters;
update the active noise reduction controller configuration parameters at a specified rate and modify a level of the specified rate based on an event in the noise cancelling distribution area; and
apply the at least one active noise reduction control to create the noise cancelling distribution area in a region around the user's ear with at least one speaker.

11. The device of claim 10 wherein the processor further:
determines a shift in the user's head; and
when the shift is greater than a threshold, updates the active noise reduction controller configuration parameters such that the user's ears remain within the noise cancelling distribution area.

12. The device of claim 11 wherein the processor further:
uses iterative closest point to track and determine a shift in the user's head.

13. The device of claim 10 wherein the processor further:
tracks a planar axis connecting the user's ears of the user's head to determine shifts in the user's head.

14. The device of claim 10 wherein the active noise reduction controller configuration parameters are filter parameters for the noise cancelling distribution area.

15. The device of claim 10 wherein the processor further:
uses pose estimation to identify and track the location and an orientation of the users head.

16. The device of claim 10 wherein the processor further:
applies a produced signal to adjust multiple speakers as the user's head adjusts.

17. The device of claim 10 wherein the processor further:
modifies the level of the specified rate based upon movement of the location of the user's head.

18. The device of claim 10 wherein the processor further:
modifies the level of the specified rate based upon changes in the acoustic environment.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Whinnery Joseph

Classifications

• G10K11/178 Primary

  by electro-acoustically regenerating the original acoustic waves in anti-phase · CPC title

• G10K11/17821 Primary

  characterised by the analysis of the input signals only · CPC title

• G10K2210/3016

  Control strategies, e.g. energy minimization or intensity measurements · CPC title

• G10K11/17873

  using a reference signal without an error signal, e.g. pure feedforward · CPC title

• G10K11/17853

  of the filter · CPC title