Audio system and method

• US 6,990,211 B2
• Filed: 02/11/2003
• Issued: 01/24/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.), Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Parker, Jeffrey C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Ping
• Application Number:
  US10/364,102
• Publication Number:
  US 20040156512A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,078 Days
• Field of Search: 381/74, 381/309, 381/310, 381/311, 381/17, 381/18
• US Class Current: 381/310
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2205/022 Plurality of transducers corresponding to a plurality of sound channels in each earpiece of headphones or in a single enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/033 Headphones for stereophonic communication details thereof, e.g. relating to batteries, cables or control elements H04R1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 3/00 Systems employing more than two channels, e.g. quadraphonic H04S5/00, H04S7/00 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/303 Tracking of listener position or orientation
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/304 For headphones

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments relates to orienting a sound field in relation to a user and a generated set of images. For instance, a system may include a sound subsystem, a location subsystem, and a speaker subsystem. The speaker subsystem may include a plurality of sensors and a plurality of speakers. The sound subsystem may include a surround sound circuit that may be connected to a signal source and the speaker subsystem. The location subsystem may receive position information reflective of the orientation of a user and provide a signal that may be used by the sound circuit to adjust the audio signal based on the orientation of the user.

Claims

1. An audio system comprising:

a speaker subsystem comprising a headset having a first casing and a second casing attached together via a connecting strap, wherein each of the first casing and the second casing include at least five speakers of a plurality of speakers to adjust a sound field in any plane based on an orientation of a user'"'"'s head, wherein a first position sensor is disposed on the first casing, a second position sensor is disposed on the connecting strap and a third position sensor is disposed on the second casing to provide information on the orientation of the user'"'"'s head in any plane and location of the user;

a location subsystem adapted to receive position information from the first, second and third position sensors and to create a position signal, wherein the position information includes information relating to an orientation and a location of a user; and

a sound subsystem having a sound processing circuit adapted to modify an audio signal based on the position signal that produces a modified audio signal and to deliver the modified audio signal to the at least one speaker to adjust a sound field produced by the at least one speaker for the user.

2. The audio system set forth in claim 1, wherein the sound subsystem comprises a surround sound subsystem.

3. The audio system set forth in claim 2, wherein the plurality of position sensors are disposed on a user'"'"'s head.

4. The audio system set forth in claim 2, wherein the surround sound subsystem uses the position signal to adjust the sound field according to the orientation of the user along with a setting utilized to adjust the sound field based on an acoustical effect.

5. The audio system set forth in claim 1, wherein the sound subsystem comprises an initial parameter indicative of user preference information, wherein the user preference information is used with the position signal and audio signal to generate the modified audio signal to adjust the sound field based on a user preference associated with audio drive signal strength.

6. The audio system set forth in claim 1, wherein the location subsystem receives position information via an infrared signal at a location-sensing sensor separated from the user, the plurality of position sensors being coupled to the user.

7. The audio system set forth in claim 1, wherein the location subsystem receives position information from the plurality of position sensors via an RF signal.

8. The audio system set forth in claim 1, wherein the surround sound subsystem uses the position signal to adjust the sound field according to the orientation of the user along with a setting utilized to adjust the sound field based on a user preference for a hearing impairment.

9. A system, comprising:

a speaker subsystem comprising a headset having a first casing and a second casing attached together via a connecting strap, wherein each of the first casing and the second casing include at least five speakers of a plurality of speakers to adjust a sound field in any plane based on an orientation of a user'"'"'s head, wherein a first position sensor is disposed on the first casing, a second position sensor is disposed on the connecting strap and a third position sensor is disposed on the second casing to provide information on the orientation of the user'"'"'s head in any plane and location of the user;

a location subsystem adapted to receive position information from the first, second and third position sensors and to create a position signal, wherein the position information is correlated to a plurality of images and includes information relating to an orientation of the user'"'"'s head relative to the plurality of images and a location of the user; and

a sound subsystem having a sound processing circuit adapted to modify an audio signal based on the position signal that produces a modified audio signal and to deliver the modified audio signal to the at least five speakers to adjust a sound field produced for the user.

10. The system set forth in claim 9, wherein the sound subsystem comprises a surround sound subsystem.

11. The system set forth in claim 10, wherein the position signal comprises information relating to the orientation of the user'"'"'s head relative to the user'"'"'s line of sight determined from the orientation relative to a computer system providing the plurality of images.

12. The system set forth in claim 10, wherein the surround sound subsystem-uses the position signal to adjust a sound field according to an orientation of the user relative to a display that produces the plurality of images.

13. The system set forth in claim 9, wherein the sound subsystem comprises an initial parameter indicative of user preference information that compensates for an acoustical effect, and wherein the user preference information is used with the position signal and audio signal to generate the modified audio signal.

14. The system set forth in claim 9, wherein the location subsystem receives position information from the plurality of position sensors via an infrared signal.

15. The system set forth in claim 9, wherein the location subsystem receives position information from the position sensors via an RF signal.

16. The system set forth in claim 9, wherein the sound subsystem comprises an initial parameter indicative of user preference information that compensates for a hearing impairment, and wherein the user preference information is used with the position signal and audio signal to generate the modified audio signal.

17. A method of operating an audio system, the method comprising:

generating a position signal from a first, second and third sensors, wherein the position signal includes information relating to an orientation and a location of a user;

modifying an audio signal based the position signal to create a modified audio signal;

transmitting the modified audio signal to a speaker subsystem comprising a headset having a first casing and a second casing attached together via a connecting strap, wherein each of the first casing and the second casing include at least five speakers of a plurality of speakers to adjust a sound field in any plane based on an orientation of a user'"'"'s head, wherein the first position sensor is disposed on the first casing, the second position sensor is disposed on the connecting strap and the third position sensor is disposed on the second casing to provide information on the orientation of the user'"'"'s head in any plane and location of the user; and

generating a sound field for the user from a plurality of speakers based on the modified signal.

18. The method set forth in claim 17, wherein the act of modifying the audio signal comprises generating surround sound data.

19. The method set forth in claim 17, comprising employing an initial parameter indicative of user preference information that compensates for an acoustical effect to generate the modified audio signal.

20. The method recited in claim 17, comprising transmitting the modified audio signal via a wireless communication link.

21. The method recited in claim 17, wherein the position signal comprises location information of the user and is combined with a user preference setting to adjust the sound field based on a user preference associated with audio drive signal strength.

22. An audio system comprising:

a speaker subsystem comprising a headset having a first casing and a second casing attached together via a connecting strap, wherein each of the first casing and the second casing include at least five speakers of a plurality of speakers to adjust a sound field in any plane based on an orientation of a user'"'"'s head, wherein a first position sensor is disposed on the first casing, a second position sensor is disposed on the connecting strap and a third position sensor is disposed on the second casing to provide information on the orientation of the user'"'"'s head in any plane and location of the user;

a location subsystem separated from the user and configured to receive position information from the first, second and third position sensors to create a position signal having information relating to an orientation and a location of the user; and

a sound subsystem configured to modify an audio signal based on the position signal to form a modified audio signal, and deliver the modified audio signal to the plurality of speakers to adjust a sound field produced by the plurality of speakers for the user.

23. The audio system set forth in claim 22, wherein the sound subsystem-uses the position signal along with a user preference setting to adjust the sound field based on an acoustical effect.

24. The audio system set forth in claim 22, wherein the sound subsystem-uses the position signal along with a user preference setting to adjust the sound field based on audio drive signal strength.

25. The audio system set forth in claim 22, wherein the location subsystem receives position information from the first position sensor, the second position sensor and the third position sensor via infrared signals.