Apparatus and method for creating proximity sound effects in audio systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9602944-B2
Application number	US-201414503093-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2014
Priority date	Mar 30, 2012
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

An apparatus for driving loudspeakers of a sound system is provided. The sound system has at least two loudspeakers of a basic system and at least three loudspeakers of a focus system, each of the loudspeakers having a position in an environment. The apparatus has a basic channel provider for providing basic system audio channels to drive the loudspeakers of the basic system, and a focused source renderer for providing focus system audio channels to drive the loudspeakers of the focus system. The focused source renderer is configured to calculate a plurality of delay values for the loudspeakers of the focus system based on the positions of the loudspeakers of the focus system and based on a position of a focus point, and to generate at least three focus group audio channels for at least some of the loudspeakers of the focus system based on the plurality of delay values and based on a focus audio base signal to provide the focus system audio channels.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for driving loudspeakers of a sound system, the sound system comprising at least four loudspeakers of a surround system, and at least three loudspeakers of a focus system, wherein each of the loudspeakers of the surround system and of the focus system has a position in an environment, and wherein the apparatus comprises:
a surround channel provider for providing surround system audio channels to drive the loudspeakers of the surround system,
a focused source renderer for providing focus system audio channels to drive the loudspeakers of the focus system,
wherein the focused source renderer is configured to calculate a plurality of delay values for the loudspeakers of the focus system based on the positions of the loudspeakers of the focus system and based on a position of a focus point,
wherein the focused source renderer is configured to generate at least three focus group audio channels for at least some of the loudspeakers of the focus system based on the plurality of delay values and based on a focus audio base signal to provide the focus system audio channels, so that an audio output produced by the loudspeakers of the focus system, when being driven by the focus system audio channels, allows localizing the position of the focus point by a listener in the environment,
wherein the focus audio base signal only comprises first frequency portions of an audio effect signal, wherein the first frequency portions only have frequencies which are higher than a first predetermined frequency value, and wherein at least some of the first frequency portions have frequencies which are higher than a second predetermined frequency value, wherein the second predetermined frequency value is higher than or equal to the first predetermined frequency value,
wherein the focused source renderer is configured to generate the at least three focus group audio channels based on the focus audio base signal such that the focus group audio channels only have frequencies which are higher than a predetermined frequency value, and
wherein the surround channel provider is configured to generate the surround system audio channels based on a secondary effect signal, wherein the secondary effect signal only comprises second frequency portions of the audio effect signal, wherein the second frequency portions only have frequencies which are lower than or equal to the second predetermined frequency value, and wherein at least some of the second frequency portions have frequencies which are lower than or equal to the first predetermined frequency value.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the focused source renderer is adapted to generate the at least three focus group audio channels, so that the audio output produced by the focus system allows localizing the position of the focus point by the listener in the environment, wherein the position of the focus point is closer to a position of a sweet spot in the environment than any other position of one of the loudspeakers of the surround system and closer to the position of the sweet spot than any other position of one of the loudspeakers of the focus system.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second predetermined frequency value is equal to the first predetermined frequency value.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the focused source renderer is adapted to adjust channel levels of the focus system audio channels to drive the loudspeakers of the focus system.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the focus system comprises one or more sound bars, each of the sound bars comprising at least 3 loudspeakers in a single enclosure.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the focus system is a Wave Field Synthesis system.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the focus system employs Higher Order Ambisonics.

8. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the surround system is a 5.1 surround system.

9. An apparatus according claim 1 , wherein the plurality of the delay values is a plurality of time delay values, and wherein the focused source renderer is adapted to generate each of the focus audio channels by time shifting the focus audio base signal by one of the time delays of the plurality of time delays.

10. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of the delay values is a plurality of phase values, and wherein the focused source renderer is adapted to generate each of the focus audio channels by adding one of the phase values of the plurality of phase values to each phase value of a frequency-domain representation of the focus audio base signal.

11. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the focused source renderer is configured to generate the at least three focus group audio channels for at least some of the loudspeakers of the focus system based on the plurality of delay values and based on the focus audio base signal to provide the focus system audio channels, so that sound waves emitted by the loudspeakers of the focus system, when being driven by the focus system audio channels, form a constructive superposition which creates a local maximum of a sum of energies of the sound waves in the focus point.

12. An apparatus for driving loudspeakers of a sound system, the sound system comprising at least four loudspeakers of a surround system, and at least three loudspeakers of a focus system, wherein each of the loudspeakers of the surround system and of the focus system has a position in an environment, and wherein the apparatus comprises:
a surround channel provider for providing surround system audio channels to drive the loudspeakers of the surround system,
a focused source renderer for providing focus system audio channels to drive the loudspeakers of the focus system,
wherein the focused source renderer is configured to calculate a plurality of delay values for the loudspeakers of the focus system based on the positions of the loudspeakers of the focus system and based on a position of a focus point,
wherein the focused source renderer is configured to generate at least three focus group audio channels for at least some of the loudspeakers of the focus system based on the plurality of delay values and based on a focus audio base signal to provide the focus system audio channels, so that an audio output produced by the loudspeakers of the focus system, when being driven by the focus system audio channels, allows localizing the position of the focus point by a listener in the environment,
wherein the surround channel provider is configured to generate the surround system audio channels based on the focus audio base signal and based on a panning factor for blending the focus audio base signal between the surround system and the focus system, and
wherein the focused source renderer is configured to generate the at least three focus group audio channels based on the focus audio base signal and based on the panning factor for blending the focus audio base signal between the surround system and the focus system.

13. An apparatus for driving loudspeakers of a sound system, the sound system comprising at least four loudspeakers of a surround system, and at least three loudspeakers of a focus system, wherein each of the loudspeakers of the surround system and of the focus system has a position in an environment, and wherein the apparatus comprises:
a surround channel provider for providing surround system audio channels to drive the loudspeakers of the surround system,
a focused source renderer for providing focus system audio channels to drive the loudspeakers of the focus system,
wherein the focused source renderer is configu

Assignees

• Barco Nv

Inventors

• Steffens Robert

Classifications

• H04S3/00

  Systems employing more than two channels, e.g. quadraphonic (H04S5/00, H04S7/00 take precedence) · CPC title

• H04S7/30 Primary

  Control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field · CPC title

• H04S7/303

  Tracking of listener position or orientation · CPC title

• H04S2420/13

  Application of wave-field synthesis in stereophonic audio systems · CPC title

• H04S5/02 Primary

  of the pseudo four-channel type, e.g. in which rear channel signals are derived from two-channel stereo signals · CPC title