Head mounted surround sound system
First Claim
1. A personal surround sound system for an individual listener, comprising:
- a receiver for receiving the individual decoded speaker signals for a surround sound system comprised of four independent non-binaural speaker signals, left from, left rear, right front and right rear non-binaural speaker signals and a center speaker signal for the surround sound system;
a head mounted binaural speaker system having a right binaural speaker disposed proximate to the right ear of the listener and a left binaural speaker disposed proximate to the left ear of the speaker, each of said right and left binaural speakers fixed in position relative to the head of the listener and for all positions thereof;
a center speaker disposed in a stationary position relative to the listener and in front of the listener;
a virtual positioning system for positioning each of said left front, left rear, right front and right rear non-binaural speaker signals relative to the listener as virtually positioned left front, left rear, right front and right rear binaural speaker signals such that said virtually positioned left front, left rear, right front and right rear binaural speaker signals can be transmitted proximate to the right and left ear of the listener as binaural signals through said right and left binaural speakers, but are actually perceived by the listener as being at the intended position of the associated left front, left rear, right front and right rear non-binaural speaker signals;
a combiner for combining said virtually positioned left front, left rear, right front and right rear binaural speaker signals such that all four virtually positioned left front, left rear, right front and right rear binaural speaker signals are combined to drive said right and left binaural speakers; and
said receiver operable to output the center speaker signal on said center speaker.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A head mounted surround sound virtual positioning system that includes a video recorder (200), which is operable to have disposed therein a tape (202), having a surround sound audio track associated therewith. The surround sound system is encoded on two channels, which are output to a Dolby® decoder (204), which is operable to extract the five surround sound system channels therefrom. The left front, left rear, right front and right rear channels are input to a virtual positioning system (264), which is operable to virtually position each of the speakers relative to the head of the listener (26). These signals are then combined with a combining circuit (268) to provide the virtual positioning of only two speaker lines (58) and (60), disposed adjacent the right and left ears of the listener (26). The speakers (58) and (60) are disposed on the head mounted system such that they are fixed relative to the ear of the listener and slightly forward of the ears and adjacent the head. The center speaker signal output of the decoder (204) is output from a separate external speaker (310).
76 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A personal surround sound system for an individual listener, comprising:
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a receiver for receiving the individual decoded speaker signals for a surround sound system comprised of four independent non-binaural speaker signals, left from, left rear, right front and right rear non-binaural speaker signals and a center speaker signal for the surround sound system; a head mounted binaural speaker system having a right binaural speaker disposed proximate to the right ear of the listener and a left binaural speaker disposed proximate to the left ear of the speaker, each of said right and left binaural speakers fixed in position relative to the head of the listener and for all positions thereof; a center speaker disposed in a stationary position relative to the listener and in front of the listener; a virtual positioning system for positioning each of said left front, left rear, right front and right rear non-binaural speaker signals relative to the listener as virtually positioned left front, left rear, right front and right rear binaural speaker signals such that said virtually positioned left front, left rear, right front and right rear binaural speaker signals can be transmitted proximate to the right and left ear of the listener as binaural signals through said right and left binaural speakers, but are actually perceived by the listener as being at the intended position of the associated left front, left rear, right front and right rear non-binaural speaker signals; a combiner for combining said virtually positioned left front, left rear, right front and right rear binaural speaker signals such that all four virtually positioned left front, left rear, right front and right rear binaural speaker signals are combined to drive said right and left binaural speakers; and said receiver operable to output the center speaker signal on said center speaker. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for reproducing a surround sound audio track proximate to the head of an individual listener, comprising the steps of:
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receiving individual decoded speaker signals for a surround sound system comprised of four independent non-binaural speaker signals, a left front, a left rear, a right front and a right non-binaural rear speaker signal; virtually positioning each of the left front, left rear, right front and right rear non-binaural speaker signals such that they can be transmitted proximate to the right and left ear of the listener as virtually positioned binaural signals, but are actually perceived by the listener as being at the intended position of the associated left front, left rear, right front and right rear non-binaural speaker signals; disposing a right binaural speaker proximate to the right ear of the listener and a left binaural speaker proximate to the left ear of a speaker, each of the right and left binaural speakers fixed in position relative to the head of the listener and for all positions thereof; combining the virtually positioned left front, left rear, right front and right rear speaker signals in the left binaural speaker and right binaural speaker such that all four virtually positioned left front, left rear, right front and right rear speaker signals are combined to drive the right and left speakers; receiving a center speaker signal associated with the surround sound system; providing an external center speaker; and driving an external center speaker with the center speaker signal in front of the listener. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification