Pillow set with snoring noise cancellation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9734815-B2
Application number	US-201514830765-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 20, 2015
Priority date	Aug 20, 2015
Publication date	Aug 15, 2017
Grant date	Aug 15, 2017

Abstract

Active noise control systems, devices, and methods are disclosed herein. Anti-snoring systems can include a first pillow unit having at least one error microphone and at least one speaker, at least one reference microphone configured to capture sound produced proximate to the at least one reference microphone, and a control unit operatively coupled to the first pillow unit and the at least one reference microphone. In some aspects, the control unit can be configured to produce an anti-noise in the at least one speaker disposed in the first pillow unit by processing signals received from the at least one error microphone and the at least one reference microphone using gated dynamic adjustments such that the anti-noise cancels any sound produced proximate the at least one reference.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An anti-snoring system, comprising:
a first pillow unit comprising at least one error microphone and at least one speaker;
a second pillow unit comprising at least one error microphone and at least one speaker;
at least one reference microphone configured to capture sound produced proximate to at least one of the first pillow unit and the second pillow unit;
a control unit operatively coupled to the first pillow unit, second pillow unit, and the at least one reference microphone such that it receives signals from the at least one error microphone in the first pillow unit, the at least one error microphone in the second pillow unit, and the at least one reference microphone, and
the control unit being configured to produce an anti-noise in the at least one speaker disposed in the first pillow unit by processing the signals received from the at least one error microphone in the first pillow unit and the at least one reference microphone such that the anti-noise cancels any sound produced proximate the at least one reference microphone.

2. The anti-snoring system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is further configured to produce an anti-noise in the at least one speaker disposed in the second pillow unit by processing the signals received from the at least one error microphone in the second pillow unit and the at least one reference microphone using gated dynamic adjustments such that the anti-noise cancels any sound produced proximate the at least one reference microphone.

3. The anti-snoring system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit processes the signals using gated dynamic adjustments.

4. The anti-snoring system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit further processes the signals using primary path training.

5. The anti-snoring system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit further processes the signals using ultrasonic primary path training.

6. The anti-snoring system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit further processes the signals using adaptive step size filtering.

7. The anti-snoring system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit further processes the signals using automatic gain control.

8. The anti-snoring system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit further processes the signals using auxiliary supplemental audio.

9. The anti-snoring system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit further processes the signals using sleep analysis.

10. The anti-snoring system of claim 1 , wherein processing the signals received from the at least one error microphone in the first pillow unit and the at least one reference microphone further comprises using at least one of primary path training, ultrasonic primary path training, adaptive step size filtering, automatic gain control, auxiliary supplemental audio, and sleep analysis.

11. The anti-snoring system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one reference microphone is disposed in at least one of the first pillow unit and the second pillow unit.

12. The anti-snoring system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is disposed within the first pillow unit or second pillow unit.

13. The anti-snoring system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is a smart phone, watch, body-worn computer, pad device, tablet device, or any other self-contained computer processing device on which software can be loaded and executed.

14. The anti-snoring system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one error microphone in a first pillow unit can also be used as the at least one reference microphone for generating the anti-noise signal that is produced by the least one speaker in a second pillow unit.

15. The anti-snoring system of claim 14 , wherein multiple error microphones are used in a first pillow unit and the signals from each of the multiple error microphones are analyzed to determine which one is best suited to use as the reference signal on which the generated anti-noise that is to be produced by the at least one speaker in the second pillow unit should be based.

16. A method of canceling snoring, comprising:
sensing a reference noise with a reference microphone and outputting a reference noise signal to a control unit;
sensing an error noise level with an error microphone that is disposed proximate a user's ear and outputting an error noise signal to the control unit;
determining an anti-noise to cancel the reference noise by processing the reference noise signal and the error noise signal using gated dynamic adjustments; and
producing the anti-noise using at least one speaker that is proximate the user's ear such that the reference noise is cancelled.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein determining an anti-noise to cancel the reference noise by processing the reference noise signal further comprises utilizing at least one of primary path training, ultrasonic primary path training, adaptive step size filtering, automatic gain control, auxiliary supplemental audio, and sleep analysis.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the primary path training includes transmitting an ultrasonic signal between a speaker disposed near the reference source and the error microphone that is disposed proximate the user's ear.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the reference noise is a snoring sound.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the control unit is wirelessly coupled to at least one of the reference microphone, the error microphone, and the at least one speaker.

Assignees

• Dreamwell Ltd

Inventors

• Defranks Michael S
• Hughes Ii Charles E
• Rubin Stuart F

Classifications

• A47G2009/006

  comprising sound equipment · CPC title

• A47G9/10

  Pillows (pillow holders A47C21/00, {A47C21/026}; specially adapted for preventing snoring A61F5/56) · CPC title

• G10K2210/10

  Applications · CPC title

• G10K11/178 Primary

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

• A47G9/1045 Primary

  shaped as, combined with, or convertible into other articles, e.g. dolls, sound equipments, bags or the like · CPC title