Audio adjustment system

• US 9,164,724 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2012
• Issued: 10/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DTS, Inc. (Xperi Inc.)
• Original Assignee: DTS LLC (Xperi Inc.)
• Inventors: Maling, Robert C. III, Tracey, James, Noh, Daekyoung
• Primary Examiner(s): Jamal, Alexander
• Application Number:
  US13/592,181
• Publication Number:
  US 20130096926A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,154 Days
• Field of Search: 381/22, 381/11, 381/12, 381/306, 348/729, 348/738
• 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 19/008 Multichannel audio signal coding or decoding using interchannel correlation to reduce redundancy, e.g. joint-stereo, intensity-coding or matrixing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/282 based on user interaction within the home receiver circuitry for displaying additional information being controlled by a remote control apparatus H04N21/42204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/2849 Audio/video appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4852 for modifying audio parameters, e.g. switching between mono and stereo
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/602 for digital sound signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/003 Digital PA systems using, e.g. LAN or internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/005 Audio distribution systems for home, i.e. multi-room use
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/09 Applications of special connectors, e.g. USB, XLR, in loudspeakers, microphones or headphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/01 Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in sound systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/13 Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/15 Transducers incorporated in visual displaying devices, e.g. televisions, computer displays, laptops
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 27/00 Public address systems circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/008 Visual indication of individual signal levels visual indication of stereophonic sound image H04S7/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/04 for correcting frequency response
• 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

Abstract

An audio adjustment system is provided that can output a user interface customized by the provider of the audio system instead of the electronic device manufacturer. Such an arrangement can save both field engineers and manufacturers a significant amount of time. Advantageously, in certain embodiments, such an audio adjustment system can be provided without knowledge of the electronic device'"'"'s firmware. Instead, the audio adjustment system can communicate with the electronic device through an existing audio interface in the electronic device to enable a user to control audio enhancement parameters in the electronic device. For instance, the audio adjustment system can control the electronic device via an audio input jack on the electronic device. The electronic device can also include decoding features for decoding communications sent by the audio adjustment system.

Claims

1. A system for decoding audio enhancement settings with an audio device, the system comprising:

a detector implemented in an audio device comprising one or more processors, the detector configured to receive an audio signal and to analyze the audio signal to determine whether a trigger signal is present in the audio signal,

wherein the detector is configured to cause the audio signal to be decoded in response to detecting in the audio signal the trigger signal and additional data configured to prevent misidentification of a presence of the trigger signal in the audio signal, and

wherein the detector is further configured to pass the audio signal to an audio enhancement for audio processing and playback in response to not detecting the trigger signal in the audio signal;

a decoder configured to, in response to the trigger signal being detected by the detector, decode an instruction in the audio signal, wherein the instruction is separate from the trigger signal, and wherein the instruction comprises a plurality of data packets and at least one synchronization packet, the at least one synchronization packet configured to enable the decoder to identify at least some data packets configured to adjust a characteristic of the audio enhancement; and

a configuration module configured to implement the instruction to thereby adjust the characteristic of the audio enhancement.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the detector is configured to receive the audio signal from one or more of the following:

an audio input port in the audio device and a microphone in the audio device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the detector is configured to receive the audio signal over a network.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the audio signal is formatted according to audio frequency shift keying (AFSK) modulation.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the decoder is further configured to decode the audio signal by performing one or more of the following:

demodulation, error correction, and data extraction.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the audio enhancement comprises one or more of the following:

a bass enhancement, a width enhancement, a height enhancement, a virtual surround enhancement, and an equalization enhancement.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the audio device comprises a television, and wherein the detector is configured to determine whether the trigger signal is present in the audio signal during calibration of the television.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction further comprises an end marker configured to cause the decoder to terminate decoding of the instruction.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction comprises a plurality of synchronization packets interspersed with the plurality of the data packets, and wherein a synchronization packet of the plurality of synchronization packets is configured to separate a data packet from a preceding data packet.

7. A method of decoding audio enhancement settings with an audio device, the method comprising:

receiving, with a first device, an audio signal;

analyzing the audio signal to determine whether the audio signal is associated with one or more commands or audio other than commands, the analyzing comprising determining whether the audio signal includes a trigger signal and additional data configured to prevent misidentification of a presence of the trigger signal in the audio signal;

in response to determining that the audio signal is associated with audio other than commands, providing the audio signal to an audio processing system configured to process the audio signal and provide the audio signal for playback;

in response to determining that the audio signal is associated with one or more commands, decoding the audio signal to identify the one or more commands in the audio signal, the one or more commands being separate from the trigger signal, wherein at least one command of the one or more commands comprises a plurality of data packets and at least one synchronization packet, the at least one synchronization packet configured to enable identification of at least some data packets;

executing, using the at least some data packets, the one or more commands in one or more processors of the first device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more commands are configured to obtain information about the audio processing system for presentation to a second device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the one or more commands are configured to adjust an enhancement parameter associated with an audio enhancement of the audio processing system.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the enhancement parameter comprises one of the following:

a gain value, a filter coefficient, a parametric equalization coefficient, an equalizer band level, a left-right channel balance, a surround sound balance, a decoder setting, an encoder setting, and a speaker-specific setting.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising muting an output of the first device in response to determining that the audio signal is associated with the one or more commands.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein said determining whether the audio signal comprises a trigger signal comprises evaluating one or both of zero crossings and signal power of the audio signal to determine whether the audio signal comprises one or more expected cycles of one or more frequencies associated with the trigger signal.

13. Non-transitory physical electronic storage comprising instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a system for decoding audio enhancement settings with an audio device, the system comprising:

a detector configured to receive an audio signal and to analyze the audio signal to determine whether an instruction is present in the audio signal, the detector configured determine if the audio signal comprises a trigger signal and additional data configured to prevent misidentification of a presence of the trigger signal in the audio signal, the trigger signal being separate from the instruction,

wherein the detector is configured to cause the instruction to be processed in response to determining that the instruction is present in the audio signal, the instruction comprising a plurality of data packets and at least one synchronization packet,

wherein processing the instruction comprises using the at least one synchronization packet configured to identify at least some data packets of the plurality of data packets in the instruction, and

wherein the detector is configured to pass the audio signal to an audio enhancement for audio processing and playback in response to determining that audio other than the instruction is present in the audio signal; and

a configuration module configured to, based at least in part on the at least some data packets, process the instruction to adjust a configuration of the audio enhancement in response to the detector determining that the instruction is present in the audio signal.

14. The non-transitory physical electronic storage of claim 13, wherein the detector causes the instruction to be processed by first passing the audio signal to a decoder configured to decode the audio signal to obtain the instruction.

15. The non-transitory physical electronic storage of claim 14, wherein the decoder is configured to perform one or more of the following:

demodulation, error correction, and data extraction.

16. The non-transitory physical electronic storage of claim 14, wherein the decoder is configured to perform Reed-Solomon error correction.

17. The non-transitory physical electronic storage of claim 14, wherein the system further comprises an encoder configured to output data regarding the configuration module to a separate device.

18. The non-transitory physical electronic storage of claim 13, wherein the instruction is encoded in a watermark in the audio signal.

19. A system for decoding audio-visual settings with an electronic device, the system comprising:

a communications module implemented in an electronic device comprising one or more processors, the communications module configured to;

receive an audio signal,

determine if the audio signal comprises a trigger signal and additional data configured to prevent misidentification of a presence of the trigger signal in the audio signal,

in response to determining the audio signal comprises the trigger signal, detect a command for adjusting an audio or visual parameter of the electronic device, the command being separate from the trigger signal, and the command comprising a plurality of data packets and at least one synchronization packet,

in response to not detecting the command for adjusting the audio or visual parameter of the electronic device, pass the audio signal to an audio system of the electronic device, and

in response to detecting the command, identify using the at least one synchronization packet at least some data packets of the plurality of data packets in the instruction and provide the information associated with the at least some data packets to an application configured to adjust the audio or visual parameter in the electronic device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the application is the audio system.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the application is a television application configured to control operation of a television.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising an audio processing system configured to receive a second command from the television application, the second command configured to implement the command in the audio processing system.