ACTIVE ACOUSTIC FILTER WITH LOCATION-BASED FILTER CHARACTERISTICS

• US 20170048616A1
• Filed: 10/31/2016
• Published: 02/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation (Dolby Laboratories Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Doppler Labs, Inc.
• Inventors: Kraft, Noah, Lanman, Richard Fritz III, Wiggins, Daniel C.
• Granted Patent: US 10,880,647 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02082 the noise being echo, reverberation of the speech
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0208 Noise filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1016 Earpieces of the intra-aural type
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1083 Reduction of ambient noise active noise reduction per se G10K11/175; protective devices for the ear, e.g. providing acoustic protection A61F11/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2225/55 Communication between hearing aids and external devices via a network for data exchange
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/07 Use of position data from wide-area or local-area positioning systems in hearing devices, e.g. program or information selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/04 for correcting frequency response
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

There is disclosed active acoustic filter systems and methods. A processor is disposed within a housing configured to interface with a user'"'"'s ear. A memory stores data defining one or more locations and a respective set of location-based processing parameters associated with each of the one or more locations. A personal computing device external to the housing is coupled to the processor via a first wireless communications link. The personal computing device determines a current location of the active acoustic filter system. The processor generates digitized processed sound by processing digitized ambient sound in accordance with a set of location-based processing parameters retrieved from the memory, the retrieved set of location-based processing parameters associated with the current location of the active acoustic filter system as determined by the personal computing device.

Claims

1. An active acoustic filter system, comprising:

an active acoustic filter configured to convert ambient sound experienced by the active acoustic filter system into digitized ambient sound;

a memory storing data defining one or more locations and a respective set of location-based processing parameters associated with each of the one or more locations, wherein at least one set of the one or more sets of location-based processing parameters were manually entered by a user at least in part by the user inputting one or more inputs that adjust a decibel level associated with one or more user selected frequency bands of an audible frequency spectrum associated with ambient sound experienced by the active acoustic filter at a particular location; and

a processor configured to generate digitized processed sound by processing the digitized ambient sound in accordance with a set of location-based processing parameters retrieved from the memory, the retrieved set of location-based processing parameters associated with a current location of the active acoustic filter, wherein the active acoustic filter is configured to convert the digitized processed sound into processed output sound, wherein the processed output sound is a modified version of the ambient sound experienced by the active acoustic filter that is processed based on the current location of the active acoustic filter.

2. The active acoustic filter system of claim 1, wherein the active acoustic filter comprises:

a microphone, a preamplifier, and an analog to digital converter to convert the ambient sound experienced by the active acoustic filter system into the digitized ambient sound; and

a digital to analog converter, an amplifier, and a speaker to convert the digitized processed sound into the processed output sound,

wherein the microphone, the preamplifier, the analog to digital converter, the digital to analog converter, the amplifier, and the speaker are disposed within a housing of the active acoustic filter.

3. The active acoustic filter system of claim 1, wherein the active acoustic filter includes a housing that is an earbud housing configured to fit, at least partially, within and be supported by a user'"'"'s ear.

4. The active acoustic filter system of claim 1, wherein data identifying the current location of the active acoustic filter is transmitted from a personal computing device to the processor via a wireless communications link.

5. The active acoustic filter system of claim 1, wherein:

the memory is disposed in a personal computing device, and

the retrieved set of location-based processing parameters associated with the current location of the active acoustic filter are transmitted from the personal computing device to the processor via a wireless communications link.

6. The active acoustic filter system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to add a secondary audio feed to the digitized processed sound, the secondary audio feed received from a device external to the active acoustic filter system.

7. The active acoustic filter system of claim 1, further comprising:

a personal computing device configured to receive a secondary audio feed via a second wireless communications link and to send the secondary audio feed to the processor via a first wireless communications link, and

the processor is further configured to add the secondary audio feed to the digitized processed sound.

8. The active acoustic filter system of claim 1, further comprising a personal computing device, wherein the personal computing device comprises one or more of:

hardware and software to perform a geo-location process to determine the current location of the active acoustic filter system, and

hardware and software to provide a user interface for a user to identify the current location.

9. The active acoustic filter system of claim 1, wherein processing digitized ambient sound includes one or more of filtering, equalization, compression, limiting, echo, reverberation, and noise suppression.

10. The active acoustic filter system of claim 1, wherein inputting the one or more inputs that adjust the decibel level associated with one or more user selected frequency bands of an audible frequency spectrum associated with ambient sound inputted to the active acoustic filter includes increasing the decibel level associated with one or more user selected frequency bands of the audible frequency spectrum, decreasing the decibel level associated with one or more user selected frequency bands of the audible frequency spectrum, or increasing the decibel level associated with a first user selected frequency bands of the audible frequency spectrum and decreasing the decibel level associated with a second user selected frequency bands of the audible frequency spectrum.

11. The active acoustic filter system of claim 1, wherein the memory and the processor are disposed within the active acoustic filter.

12. The active acoustic filter system of claim 1, wherein at least one set of the location-based processing parameters stored in the memory is received via a wireless communication link from a cloud-based device.

13. The active acoustic filter system of claim 1, wherein the at least one set of the location-based processing parameters stored in the memory is received via a wireless communication link from a cloud-based device is a crowd-consensus set of processing parameters for a particular location.

14. The active acoustic filter system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to request via a user interface for a selection of the current location of the active acoustic filter from a list of previous locations or to request via the user interface an identifier of the current location of the active acoustic filter.

15. A method for processing ambient sound, comprising:

converting, by an active acoustic filter, ambient sound experienced by an active acoustic filter system into digitized ambient sound;

determining a current location of the active acoustic filter;

generating, by a processor, digitized processed sound by processing the digitized ambient sound in accordance with a set of location-based processing parameters retrieved from a memory, the retrieved set of location-based processing parameters associated with the current location of the active acoustic filter, wherein at least one set of location-based processing parameters stored in the memory were manually entered by a user at least in part by the user inputting one or more inputs that adjust a decibel level associated with one or more user selected frequency bands of an audible frequency spectrum associated with ambient sound experienced by the active acoustic filter at a particular location; and

converting the digitized processed sound into processed output sound, wherein the processed output sound is a modified version of the ambient sound experienced by the active acoustic filter that is processed based on the current location of the active acoustic filter.

16. The method for processing ambient sound of claim 15, wherein a personal computing device sends data identifying the current location to the processor via a wireless communications link.

17. The method for processing ambient sound of claim 15, further comprising adding a secondary audio feed to the processed output sound, the secondary audio feed received by the processor via a wireless communications link.

18. The method for processing ambient sound of claim 15, wherein generating the digitized processed sound includes one or more of filtering, equalization, compression, limiting, echo, reverberation, and noise suppression.

19. The method for processing ambient sound of claim 15, further comprising exporting the processed output sound to a remote device via a wireless communications link.

20. A computer program product for processing ambient sound, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

converting, by an active acoustic filter, ambient sound experienced by an active acoustic filter system into digitized ambient sound;

determining a current location of the active acoustic filter;

generating, by a processor, digitized process sound by processing the digitized ambient sound in accordance with a set of location-based processing parameters retrieved from a memory, the retrieved set of location-based processing parameters associated with the current location of the active acoustic filter, wherein at least one set of location-based processing parameters stored in the memory were manually entered by a user at least in part by the user inputting one or more inputs that adjust a decibel level associated with one or more user selected frequency bands of an audible frequency spectrum associated with ambient sound experienced by the active acoustic filter at a particular location; and

converting the digitized processed sound into processed output sound, wherein the processed output sound is a modified version of the ambient sound experienced by the active acoustic filter that is processed based on the current location of the active acoustic filter.