公开(公告)号：US11805382B2

公开(公告)日：2023-10-31

申请号：US17673721

申请日：2022-02-16

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Darius A. Satongar ,  Afrooz Family ,  Sylvain J. Choisel ,  Juha O. Merimaa

IPC: H04S7/00 ,  G06F3/01 ,  H04R5/033 ,  H04R5/04

CPC classification number: H04S7/304 ,  G06F3/012 ,  H04R5/033 ,  H04R5/04 ,  H04R2420/07 ,  H04R2460/07 ,  H04S2400/01 ,  H04S2400/11 ,  H04S2420/01

Abstract: A binaural sound reproduction system, and methods of using the binaural sound reproduction system to dynamically re-center a frame of reference for a virtual sound source, are described. The binaural sound reproduction system may include a reference device, e.g., a mobile device, having a reference sensor to provide reference orientation data corresponding to a direction of the reference device, and a head-mounted device, e.g., headphones, having a device sensor to provide device orientation data corresponding to a direction of the head-mounted device. The system may use the reference orientation data to determine whether the head-mounted device is being used in a static or dynamic use case, and may adjust an audio output to render the virtual sound source in an adjusted source direction based on the determined use case. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

公开(公告)号：US20190213846A1

公开(公告)日：2019-07-11

申请号：US16355621

申请日：2019-03-15

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Camille Moussette ,  Duncan R. Kerr ,  Joshua B. Kopin ,  Miao He ,  Jules K. Fennis ,  Hugo D. Verweij ,  Matthew I. Brown ,  Marcos Alonso Ruiz ,  Afrooz Family

IPC: G08B3/10 ,  H04M1/725 ,  G08B6/00 ,  G06F3/01 ,  G06F3/16 ,  H04M19/04 ,  G06F3/0484 ,  G06F3/0488 ,  G06F3/0486

Abstract: An electronic device receives an incoming communication and determines that the device is in a first use context. In response to receiving the incoming communication, the device provides first feedback that includes a first ongoing audio output that corresponds to the first use context and a first ongoing tactile output with a first tactile output profile that corresponds to the first use context. While providing the first ongoing audio output and the first ongoing tactile output, the device detects that the electronic device is in a second use context, different from the first use context. In response to detecting that the electronic device is in the second use context, the device provides second feedback that includes a second ongoing tactile output that has a second tactile output profile that corresponds to the second use context.

公开(公告)号：US10313808B1

公开(公告)日：2019-06-04

申请号：US15455760

申请日：2017-03-10

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Sean A. Ramprashad ,  Adam E. Kriegel ,  Sylvain J. Choisel ,  Afrooz Family

IPC: H04R27/00 ,  H04R29/00 ,  H04R3/00

Abstract: An electronic device having a device housing includes a loudspeaker and several microphones within the device housing. A control circuit is electrically coupled to the loudspeaker and microphones. The loudspeaker produces speech and/or music. The control circuit determines a statistical measure for a first data set representing individual impulse responses from the plurality of microphones and compares that to a predetermined statistical measure for a second data set representing individual object-free impulse responses from the plurality of microphones to determine if an object is near the device. The statistical measure may be variance and may be computed in the time domain. Variance may be calculated using differences between the individual impulse responses and a mean impulse response that is a linear combination of the impulse responses for the plurality of microphones. The control circuit may include echo cancellers to mitigate common signals and/or other acoustic sources.

公开(公告)号：US10251008B2

公开(公告)日：2019-04-02

申请号：US15037302

申请日：2014-09-25

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： John J. Baker ,  Martin E. Johnson ,  Afrooz Family ,  Michael B. Howes ,  Craig M. Stanley ,  Brad G. Boozer

IPC: H04S7/00 ,  G10L17/04 ,  G10L17/06 ,  H04R1/08 ,  H04R1/40

Abstract: An audio system that adjusts one or more beam patterns emitted by one or more loudspeaker arrays based on the preferences of users/listeners is described. The audio system includes an audio receiver that contains a listener location estimator, a listener identifier, and a voice command processor. Inputs from the listener location estimator, the listener identifier, and the voice command processor are fed into an array processor. The array processor drives the one or more loudspeaker arrays to emit beam patterns into the listening area based on inputs from each of these devices. By examining the location, preferred usage settings, and voice commands from listeners, the generated beam patterns are customized to the explicit and implicit preferences of the listeners with minimal direct input. Other embodiments are also described.

公开(公告)号：US10187740B2

公开(公告)日：2019-01-22

申请号：US15275217

申请日：2016-09-23

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Afrooz Family

IPC: H04S7/00 ,  H04S1/00 ,  H04R5/033

Abstract: A number of candidate binaural room impulse responses (BRIRs) are analyzed to select one of them as a selected first BRIR that is to be applied to diffuse audio, and another one as a selected second BRIR that is to be applied to direct audio, of a sound program. A first binaural rendering process is performed on the diffuse audio by applying the selected first BRIR and a first head related transfer function (HRTF) to the diffuse audio. A second binaural rendering process is performed on the direct audio by applying the selected second BRIR and a second HRTF to the direct audio. Results of the two binaural rendering processes are combined to produce headphone driver signals. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

公开(公告)号：US20180352325A1

公开(公告)日：2018-12-06

申请号：US15619058

申请日：2017-06-09

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Afrooz Family ,  John H. Sheerin

IPC: H04R1/40 ,  H04R3/12 ,  H04R3/04 ,  H03G5/16

CPC classification number: H04R1/403 ,  H03G5/165 ,  H04R3/04 ,  H04R3/12 ,  H04R2201/401 ,  H04R2430/25

Abstract: An audio system includes a loudspeaker cabinet defining a longitudinal axis. Several loudspeaker transducers are distributed around the longitudinal axis. The audio system includes an audio rendering processor to cause the loudspeaker transducers to emit a sound field approximating a desired contour. The desired contour can be decomposed into a combination of several constituent modal beam components, and the audio rendering processor can render a truncated version of the decomposition to render an approximation of the desired contour. The desired contour can be one of a plurality of contours stored in a memory, or can be user defined. The cabinet includes a processor and a memory having instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the audio system decompose a desired contour and to render a truncated version of the decomposition. Related principles are described by way of reference to method and apparatus examples.

公开(公告)号：US09961472B2

公开(公告)日：2018-05-01

申请号：US14775600

申请日：2014-03-13

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Martin E. Johnson ,  Afrooz Family ,  Tom-Davy William Jendrik Saux

IPC: H04R5/02 ,  H04S7/00

CPC classification number: H04S7/303 ,  H04R5/02 ,  H04R2203/12 ,  H04S7/301 ,  H04S7/302 ,  H04S2400/11 ,  H04S2400/15

Abstract: A method for determining the orientation of a loudspeaker relative to a listening device is described. The method simultaneously drives each transducer to emit beam patterns corresponding to distinct orthogonal audio signals. The listening device senses sounds produced by the orthogonal audio signals and analyzes the sensed audio signal to determine the spatial orientation of the loudspeaker relative to the listening device. Other embodiments are also described.

公开(公告)号：US20180091920A1

公开(公告)日：2018-03-29

申请号：US15275217

申请日：2016-09-23

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Afrooz Family

IPC: H04S7/00 ,  H04R5/033

CPC classification number: H04S7/304 ,  H04R5/033 ,  H04S1/005 ,  H04S7/306 ,  H04S2400/01 ,  H04S2420/01

Abstract: A number of candidate binaural room impulse responses (BRIRs) are analyzed to select one of them as a selected first BRIR that is to be applied to diffuse audio, and another one as a selected second BRIR that is to be applied to direct audio, of a sound program. A first binaural rendering process is performed on the diffuse audio by applying the selected first BRIR and a first head related transfer function (HRTF) to the diffuse audio. A second binaural rendering process is performed on the direct audio by applying the selected second BRIR and a second HRTF to the direct audio. Results of the two binaural rendering processes are combined to produce headphone driver signals. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

公开(公告)号：US20170374465A1

公开(公告)日：2017-12-28

申请号：US15684790

申请日：2017-08-23

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Afrooz Family ,  Anthony P. Bidmead ,  Erik L. Wang ,  Gary P. Geaves ,  Martin E. Johnson ,  Matthew I. Brown ,  Michael B. Howes ,  Sylvain J. Choisel ,  Tomlinson M. Holman

IPC: H04R3/12 ,  H04S7/00 ,  G10L19/008

CPC classification number: H04R3/12 ,  G10L19/008 ,  H04R27/00 ,  H04S7/30 ,  H04S7/302 ,  H04S7/303

Abstract: An audio system is described that includes one or more speaker arrays that emit sound corresponding to one or more pieces of sound program content into associated zones within a listening area. Using parameters of the audio system (e.g., locations of the speaker arrays and the audio sources), the zones, the users, the pieces of sound program content, and the listening area, one or more beam pattern attributes may be generated. The beam pattern attributes define a set of beams that are used to generate audio beams for channels of sound program content to be played in each zone. The beam pattern attributes may be updated as changes are detected within the listening environment. By adapting to these changing conditions, the audio system is capable of reproducing sound that accurately represents each piece of sound program content in various zones.

公开(公告)号：US20170272886A1

公开(公告)日：2017-09-21

申请号：US15504314

申请日：2014-08-18

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Afrooz Family ,  Martin E. Johnson ,  Baptiste P. Paquier

IPC: H04S7/00 ,  H04R5/02

CPC classification number: H04S7/301 ,  G06T7/70 ,  G06T2207/10016 ,  H04R5/02 ,  H04R2205/022 ,  H04R2205/024 ,  H04R2227/007 ,  H04S7/305 ,  H04S2400/11

Abstract: An audio system is provided that efficiently detects speaker arrays and configures the speaker arrays to output sound. In this system, a computing device may record the addresses and/or types of speaker arrays on a shared network while a camera captures video of a listening area, including the speaker arrays. The captured video may be analyzed to determine the location of the speaker arrays, one or more users, and/or the audio source in the listening area. While capturing the video, the speaker arrays may be driven to sequentially emit a series of test sounds into the listening area and a user may be prompted to select which speaker arrays in the captured video emitted each of the test sounds. Based on these inputs from the user, the computing device may determine an association between the speaker arrays on the shared network and the speaker arrays in the captured video.