Adaptive speaker equalization

• US 20070223736A1
• Filed: 03/24/2006
• Published: 09/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Stenmark, Fredrik, Hovmalm, Claes
• Application Number:
  US11/387,836
• Publication Number:
  US 20070223736A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/103
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 5/005 of digital signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/11 Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/04 for correcting frequency response

Abstract

A device may include logic configured to detect information about a condition of a speaker in a communications device. The logic may process the information, load equalization logic based on the processed information, and may apply the equalization logic to an input signal of the speaker when the information indicates that a frequency response for the speaker should be changed.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

logic configured to;

detect information about a condition of a speaker in a communications device,

process the information,

load equalization logic based on the processed information, and

apply the equalization logic to an input signal of the speaker when the information indicates that a frequency response for the speaker should be changed.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the detection logic comprises:

one of acoustic feedback logic, volume setting logic, pressure feedback logic, or impedance feedback logic.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the detection logic comprises:

logic to determine a volume setting, logic to detect an acoustic signal related to a background noise level, logic to detect a pressure exerted on the communications device proximate to the speaker, or logic to measure an input impedance of the speaker.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the equalization logic comprises an equalization file containing machine-readable instructions configured to modify the frequency response of the speaker.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the logic is further configured to:

detect a user input configured to change the condition of the speaker.

6. A method, comprising:

monitoring a speaker in a communications device during a communications session;

determining whether a portion of a frequency response for the speaker is within a determined limit;

retrieving an equalization signal from a memory in response to the determining; and

applying the equalization signal to an input signal of the speaker to modify the portion of the frequency response when the portion of the frequency response is outside the determined limit.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining further comprises:

determining if an amplitude for the portion of the frequency response is within or outside the determined limit.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining further comprises:

determining if a spectral characteristic of the portion of the frequency response is within or outside the determined limit.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining further comprises:

establishing a lower limit or an upper limit for a frequency band;

associating the portion of the frequency response with a range of frequencies above the lower limit or below the upper limit; and

determining if frequencies within the portion of the frequency response are within or outside the determined limit.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the monitoring further comprises:

monitoring a volume setting for the speaker, monitoring an impedance of the speaker, monitoring a pressure proximate to the speaker, or monitoring a background noise level or an output of the speaker using a microphone proximate to the speaker.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the monitoring further comprises:

detecting information about a relationship between a user and the communication device.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein the monitoring further comprises:

detecting information about a first relationship between a user and the communication device, where the first relationship has a first frequency response therewith;

detecting information about a second relationship between the user and the communication device, where the second relationship has a second frequency response that differs from the first frequency response; and

providing the information about the first relationship or the second relationship to the determining; and

wherein the determining further comprises;

determining whether the first frequency response or the second frequency response is within or outside the determined limit.

13. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

monitoring the speaker after applying the equalization signal to determine if the frequency response is within the determined limit.

14. A mobile communications terminal comprising:

a housing comprising;

a speaker to provide audio signals to a user,

a keypad to receive inputs from the user,

a microphone to receive speech from the user,

processing logic configured to;

receive an input from the speaker, keypad, microphone, housing, or another device,

determine, based on the input, whether a frequency response for the speaker should be changed, and

apply an equalization signal to the speaker when the frequency response should be changed, the equalization signal configured to alter the frequency response of the speaker.

15. The terminal of claim 14, wherein the processing logic receives an impedance value on behalf of the speaker, a user input from the keypad, a background noise level value from the microphone, a speaker sound level value from the microphone, or a pressure value from the housing or the other device.

16. A computer readable medium that stores instructions executable by a processing device, the computer readable medium comprising;

instructions to obtain information about a speaker in a communications device;

instructions to determine when a frequency response for the speaker is outside a preferred range;

instructions to identify an equalization instruction configured to produce an adjusted frequency response that is within the preferred range when applied to an input signal of the speaker that is present when the frequency response is outside the preferred range;

instructions to apply the identified equalization instruction to the input signal to produce an equalized input signal; and

instructions to determine whether the frequency response is outside the preferred range when the equalized input signal is applied.

17. A mobile communications terminal employing adaptive speaker equalization, the terminal comprising:

means for receiving information about a speaker operating in the terminal during a communications session;

means for determining whether a frequency response for the speaker is within a determined range;

means for loading an equalization file when the frequency response is outside the determined range; and

means for applying information in the equalization file to an input signal of the speaker to bring the frequency response within the determined range.