CROWD-SOURCED AUDIO DATA FOR VENUE EQUALIZATION

• US 20160366517A1
• Filed: 06/15/2015
• Published: 12/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Group)
• Original Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Chandran, Sonith, Bangaru, Sohan Madhav
• Granted Patent: US 9,794,719 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/007 Electronic adaptation of audio signals to reverberation of the listening space for PA
• 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 29/007 for public address systems public address systems per se H04R27/00
• 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: H04S 7/301 Automatic calibration of stereophonic sound system, e.g. with test microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/307 Frequency adjustment, e.g. tone control H04S7/301 takes precedence

Abstract

Mobile devices may capture audio signals indicative of test audio received by an audio capture device of the mobile device; and send the captured audio and the zone designation to a sound processor to determine equalization settings for speakers of the zone of the venue. An audio filtering device may receive the captured audio signals from the mobile devices; compare each of the captured audio signals with the test signal to determine an associated reliability of each of the captured audio signals; combine the captured audio signals into zone audio data; and transmit the zone audio data and associated reliability to a sound processor configured to determine equalization settings for the zone based on the captured audio signals and the test signal.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an audio filtering device configured to

receive captured audio signals from a plurality of mobile devices located within a zone of a venue, the captured audio signals determined by audio capture devices of the respective mobile devices in response to receipt of test audio generated by speakers of the venue reproducing a test signal, wherin each of the captured audio signals includes a respective zone designation indicative of the zone of the venue within whivh the respective captured audio signal was captured;

combine the captured audio signals into zone audio data; and

send the zone audio data to a sound processor configured to determine equalization settings for the zone based on the captured audio signals and the test signal.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the equalization settings include one or more frequency response corrections configured to correct frequency response effects caused by at least one of speaker-to-venue interactions and speaker-to-speaker interactions.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mobile devices are assigned to the zones according to manual user input to the respective mobile devices.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mobile devices are assigned to the zones according to triangulation.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio filtering device is further configured to:

compare each of the captured audio signals with the test signal to determine which captured audio signals include the test signal; and

combine only the captured audio signals identified as including the test signal into the zone audio data.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the audio filtering device is further configured to:

determine a usability score indicative of a number of captured audio signals combined into the zone audio data; and

associate the zone audio data with the usability score.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio filtering device is further configured to:

determine a first usability score according to a comparison of a first time index of the respective captured audio signal with a corresponding first time index of the test audio;

associate zone audio data associated with the first time index with the first usability score;

determine a second usability score according to a comparison of a second time index of the respective captured audio signal with a corresponding second time index of the test audio; and

associate zone audio data associated with the second time index with the second usability score.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio filtering device is further configured to:

combine second captured audio signals from a second plurality of mobile devices located within a second zone of the venue into second zone audio data;

associate the zone audio data with a first usability score determined according to a comparison of a time index of the respective captured audio signal with a corresponding time index of the test audio; and

associate the second zone audio data with a second usability score determined according to a comparison of the time index of the respective second captured audio signal with the corresponding time index of the test audio.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio filtering device is further configured to perform time alignment of the captured audio signals to one another before comparing each of the captured audio signals with the test audio.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio filtering device is at least one of integrated with the sound processor and a mobile device in communication with the sound processor.

2. (canceled)

12. An apparatus comprising:

a mobile device configured to

identify a zone designation indicative of a zone of a venue in which the mobile device is located;

capture audio signals indicative of test audio received by an audio capture device of the mobile device; and

transmit the captured audio and the zone designation to a sound processor to determine equalization settings for speakers of the zone of the venue.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the mobile device is further configured to identify the zone designation according to at least one of:

user input to a user interface of the mobile device, global positioning data received from a global positioning data receiver, and triangulation of wireless signals transmitted by the mobile device.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the mobile device is further configured to utilize a capture profile to update the captured audio to compensate for irregularities in audio response of the audio capture device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the audio capture device is integrated into the mobile device, and the capture profile of the audio capture device is stored by the mobile device.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the audio capture device is included in a module device plugged into a port of the mobile device.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with computer executable instructions, the computer executable instructions executable by a processor, the computer-readable medium comprising instructions configured to:

receive captured audio signals from a plurality of mobile devices located within a zone of a venue, the captured audio signals determined by audio capture devices of the respective mobile devices in response to receipt of test audio generated by speakers of the venue reproducing a test signal;

compare each of the captured audio signals with the test signal to determine an associated match indication of each of the captured audio signals;

combine the captured audio signals into zone audio data in accordance with the associated match indications;

determine a usability score indicative of a number of captured audio signals combined into the zone audio data; and

associate the zone audio data with the usability score; and

transmit the zone audio data to a sound processor configured to determine equalization settings for the zone based on the captured audio signals and the test signal.

18. The medium of claim 17, wherein each of the captured audio signals include a respective zone designation indicative of the zone of the venue within which the respective captured audio signals was captured.

19. The medium of claim 17, wherein the equalization settings include one or more frequency response corrections configured to correct frequency response effects caused by at least one of speaker-to-venue interactions and speaker-to-speaker interactions.

20. The medium of claim 17, wherein the associated match indication of each of the captured audio signals is determined according to a comparison of a time index of the respective captured audio signal with a corresponding time index of the test audio.

21. An apparatus comprising:

an audio filtering device configured to

receive captured audio signals from a plurality of mobile devices located within a zone of a venue, the captured audio signals determined by audio capture devices of the respective mobile devices in response to receipt of test audio generated by speakers of the venue reproducing a test signal;

combine the captured audio signals into zone audio data; and

send the zone audio data to a sound processor configured to determine equalization settings for the zone based on the captured audio signals and the test signal,

wherein the mobile devices are assigned to the zones according to one or more of;

triangulation or manual user input to the respective mobile devices.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the equalization settings include one or more frequency response corrections configured to correct frequency response effects caused by at least one of speaker-to-venue interactions and speaker-to-speaker interactions.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the audio filtering device is further configured to:

compare each of the captured audio signals with the test signal to determine which captured audio signals include the test signal; and

combine only the captured audio signals identified as including the test signal into the zone audio data.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the audio filtering device is further configured to:

determine a usability score indicative of a number of captured audio signals combined into the zone audio data; and

associate the zone audio data with the usability score.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the audio filtering device is further configured to:

determine a first usability score according to a comparison of a first time index of the respective captured audio signal with a corresponding first time index of the test audio;

associate zone audio data associated with the first time index with the first usability score;

determine a second usability score according to a comparison of a second time index of the respective captured audio signal with a corresponding second time index of the test audio; and

associate zone audio data associated with the second time index with the second usability score.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the audio filtering device is further configured to:

combine second captured audio signals from a second plurality of mobile devices located within a second zone of the venue into second zone audio data;

associate the zone audio data with a first usability score determined according to a comparison of a time index of the respective captured audio signal with a corresponding time index of the test audio; and

associate the second zone audio data with a second usability score determined according to a comparison of the time index of the respective second captured audio signal with the corresponding time index of the test audio.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the audio filtering device is further configured to perform time alignment of the captured audio signals to one another before comparing each of the captured audio signals with the test audio.

28. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the audio filtering device is at least one of integrated with the sound processor and a mobile device in communication with the sound processor.