SYSTEMS, METHODS, APPARATUS, AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIA FOR GESTURAL MANIPULATION OF A SOUND FIELD

• US 20130259238A1
• Filed: 02/25/2013
• Published: 10/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Xiang, Pei, Visser, Erik
• Granted Patent: US 10,448,161 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/17
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2203/12 Beamforming aspects for stereophonic sound reproduction with loudspeaker arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/20 Processing of the output signals of the acoustic transducers of an array for obtaining a desired directivity characteristic H04R2203/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/04 Circuit arrangements, e.g. for selective connection of amplifier inputs/outputs to loudspeakers, for loudspeaker detection, or for adaptation of settings to personal preferences or hearing impairments combinations of amplifiers H03F3/68; stereophonic systems H04S
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/303 Tracking of listener position or orientation

Abstract

Gesture-responsive modification of a generated sound field is described.

Claims

1. A method of signal processing, said method comprising:

driving a directionally controllable transducer to produce a sound field that includes a beam;

producing a command in response to a representation of a gesture;

producing a filter configuration in response to said command; and

applying a spatially directive filter to an input signal to produce a multichannel signal,

wherein the spatially directive filter is based on the filter configuration,

wherein the gesture indicates a change in at least one among a direction of the beam and a width of the beam, and wherein the command is a command to perform the indicated change.

2. The method of signal processing according to claim 1, wherein said producing the command comprises selecting the command, based on information from said representation, from among a plurality of commands that includes (A) a command to increase the width of the beam and (B) a command to decrease the width of the beam.

3. A method of signal processing according to claim 1, wherein said producing the command comprises selecting the command, based on information from said representation, from among a plurality of commands that includes (A) a command to change the direction of the beam to a first direction that is on a first side of the beam and (B) a command to change the direction of the beam to a second direction that is on a second side of the beam opposite to the first side.

4. A method of signal processing according to claim 1, wherein said producing the filter configuration is based on an indication of at least one among a current direction of the beam and a current width of the beam.

5. A method of signal processing according to claim 1, wherein said producing the filter configuration is based on an indication of a current location of a user.

6. A method of signal processing according to claim 1, wherein said producing the filter configuration comprises selecting the filter configuration, according to said command, from among a plurality of filter configurations.

7. The method of signal processing according to claim 6, wherein a first filter configuration among the plurality of filter configurations describes a different phase relation among output channels of the spatially directive filter than a second filter configuration among the plurality of filter configurations.

8. A method of signal processing according to claim 1, wherein the representation of the gesture is based on a sequence of images of a user performing the gesture within the sound field.

9. The method of signal processing according to claim 8, wherein said sequence of images includes images of a light pattern projected on a hand of the user.

10. A method of signal processing according to claim 1, wherein the gesture includes a lateral movement of a hand of a user.

11. A method of signal processing according to claim 1, wherein the gesture includes a grasping motion of a hand of a user.

12. A method of signal processing according to claim 1, wherein the gesture includes movement of two hands of a user toward each other.

13. A method of signal processing according to claim 1, wherein the gesture includes movement of two hands of a user away from each other.

14. A method of signal processing according to claim 1, wherein the gesture includes movement of two hands of a user in the same lateral direction.

15. An apparatus for signal processing, said apparatus comprising:

means for driving a directionally controllable transducer to produce a beam;

means for producing a command in response to a representation of a gesture;

means for producing a filter configuration in response to said command; and

means for performing a spatially directive filtering operation on an input signal to produce a multichannel signal, wherein the spatially directive filtering operation is based on the filter configuration,

wherein the gesture indicates a change in at least one among a direction of the beam and a width of the beam, and wherein the command is a command to perform the indicated change.

16. The apparatus for signal processing according to claim 15, wherein said means for producing the command comprises means for selecting the command, based on information from said representation, from among a plurality of commands that includes (A) a command to increase the width of the beam and (B) a command to decrease the width of the beam.

17. An apparatus for signal processing according to claim 15, wherein said means for producing the command comprises means for selecting the command, based on information from said representation, from among a plurality of commands that includes (A) a command to change the direction of the beam to a first direction that is on a first side of the beam and (B) a command to change the direction of the beam to a second direction that is on a second side of the beam opposite to the first side.

18. An apparatus for signal processing according to claim 15, wherein said means for producing the filter configuration is configured to produce the filter configuration based on an indication of at least one among a current direction of the beam and a current width of the beam.

19. An apparatus for signal processing according to claim 15, wherein said means for producing the filter configuration is configured to produce the filter configuration based on an indication of a current location of a user.

20. An apparatus for signal processing according to claim 15, wherein said means for producing the filter configuration comprises means for selecting the filter configuration, according to said command, from among a plurality of filter configurations.

21. The apparatus for signal processing according to claim 20, wherein a first filter configuration among the plurality of filter configurations describes a different phase relation among output channels of the spatially directive filter than a second filter configuration among the plurality of filter configurations.

22. An apparatus for signal processing according to claim 15, wherein the representation of the gesture is based on a sequence of images of a user performing the gesture within the sound field.

23. The apparatus for signal processing according to claim 22, wherein said sequence of images includes images of a light pattern projected on a hand of the user.

24. An apparatus for signal processing according to claim 15, wherein the gesture includes a lateral movement of a hand of a user.

25. An apparatus for signal processing according to claim 15, wherein the gesture includes a grasping motion of a hand of a user.

26. An apparatus for signal processing according to claim 15, wherein the gesture includes movement of two hands of a user toward each other.

27. An apparatus for signal processing according to claim 15, wherein the gesture includes movement of two hands of a user away from each other.

28. An apparatus for signal processing according to claim 15, wherein the gesture includes movement of two hands of a user in the same lateral direction.

29. An apparatus for signal processing, said apparatus comprising:

an audio output stage configured to drive a directionally controllable transducer to produce a beam;

a gesture interpreter configured to produce a command in response to a representation of a gesture;

a command interpreter configured to produce a filter configuration in response to said command; and

a synthesizer configured to apply a spatially directive filter to an input signal to produce a multichannel signal, wherein the spatially directive filter is based on the filter configuration,

wherein the gesture indicates a change in at least one among a direction of the beam and a width of the beam, and wherein the command is a command to perform the indicated change.

30. The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein said gesture interpreter is configured to produce the command by selecting the command, based on information from said representation, from among a plurality of commands that includes a command to increase the width of the beam and a command to decrease the width of the beam.

31. An apparatus according to claim 29, wherein said gesture interpreter is configured to produce the command by selecting the command, based on information from said representation, from among a plurality of commands that includes (A) a command to change the direction of the beam to a first direction that is on a first side of the beam and (B) a command to change the direction of the beam to a second direction that is on a second side of the beam opposite to the first side.

32. An apparatus according to claim 29, wherein said command interpreter is configured to produce the filter configuration based on an indication of at least one among a current direction of the beam and a current width of the beam.

33. An apparatus according to claim 29, wherein said command interpreter is configured to produce the filter configuration based on an indication of a current location of a user.

34. An apparatus according to claim 29, wherein said command interpreter is configured to produce the filter configuration by selecting the filter configuration, according to said command, from among a plurality of filter configurations.

35. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein a first filter configuration among the plurality of filter configurations describes a different phase relation among output channels of the synthesizer than a second filter configuration among the plurality of filter configurations.

36. An apparatus according to claim 29, wherein said audio output stage is configured to drive the directionally controllable transducer to produce a sound field that includes the beam, and

wherein the representation of the gesture is based on a sequence of images of a user performing the gesture within the sound field.

37. The apparatus according to claim 36, wherein said sequence of images includes images of a light pattern projected on a hand of the user.

38. An apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the gesture includes a lateral movement of a hand of a user.

39. An apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the gesture includes a grasping motion of a hand of a user.

40. An apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the gesture includes movement of two hands of a user toward each other.

41. An apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the gesture includes movement of two hands of a user away from each other.

42. An apparatus according to claim 29, wherein the gesture includes movement of two hands of a user in the same lateral direction.

43. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having tangible features that cause a machine reading the features to:

drive a directionally controllable transducer to produce a sound field that includes a beam;

produce a command in response to a representation of a gesture;

produce a filter configuration in response to said command; and

apply a spatially directive filter to an input signal to produce a multichannel signal,

wherein the spatially directive filter is based on the filter configuration,

wherein the gesture indicates a change in at least one among a direction of the beam and a width of the beam, and wherein the command is a command to perform the indicated change.