Distributed wireless speaker system

• US 9,560,449 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2014
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Carlsson, Gregory Peter, Richman, Steven Martin, Milne, James R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Paul S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yu, Norman
• Application Number:
  US14/158,396
• Publication Number:
  US 20150208187A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,110 Days
• Field of Search: 381/17, 381/59, 381/77, 381/80, 381/103, 381/307, 381/303, 381/98, 381/107, 381/111, 381/119, 381/18, 381/27, 381/300, 381/311, 381/79, 381/81, 700/94, 455/41.1, 455/420
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2205/024 Positioning of loudspeaker enclosures for spatial sound reproduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/003 Digital PA systems using, e.g. LAN or internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/12 for distributing signals to two or more loudspeakers specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/02 Spatial or constructional arrangements of loudspeakers
• 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

A user is guided through various setup routines to optimize speaker parameters and/or positions and/or frequency assignations for the particular space in which the speaker system is located and intended to be used. This can be done using an application downloaded from a cloud server to a smart phone or tablet computer, which is then employed by the user to optimize speaker configurations for various speaker locations in the room.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

at least one computer memory that is not a transitory signal and that comprises instructions executable by at least one processor for;

determining whether at least a first audio speaker in a network of audio speakers is in a second location that is different from a first location of the first speaker, the first location being associated with a first stored speaker configuration of the network of audio speakers, the second location not being associated with a stored speaker configuration of the network of audio speakers;

responsive to a determination that the first speaker is in the first location, establishing the first stored speaker configuration of the network of audio speakers;

responsive to a determination that the first speaker is in the second location, determining a second speaker configuration of the network of audio speakers based at least in part on the second location; and

modeling frequency assignation variations among the speakers of the network to determine whether at least one test frequency assignation variation satisfies a test, and responsive to determining that the at least one test frequency assignation variation satisfies the test, outputting the at least one test frequency assignation variation as the second speaker configuration of the network.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is a consumer electronics (CE) device.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is a network server communicating with a consumer electronics (CE) device associated with the network of audio speakers.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein each speaker in the network of audio speakers is associated with a respective network address such that each speaker is separately addressable on the network from other speakers on the network.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable for receiving location information of the first speaker from user input.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable for receiving location information of the first speaker from the first speaker.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable for modeling at least one delay variation of at least one speaker to determine the second speaker configuration of the network, and responsive to a determination that at least one modeled delay variation produces a test speaker configuration satisfying a test, outputting the test speaker configuration as the second speaker configuration of the network.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable for, responsive to a determination that no modeled frequency assignation variation produces a configuration satisfying a test, modeling location variations among the speakers of the network to determine whether at least one test location variation satisfies a test, and responsive to determining that the at least one test location variation satisfies the test, outputting the at least one test location variation as the second speaker configuration of the network.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein a speaker configuration of the network of audio speakers includes at least one of:

speaker location, speaker frequency assignation, speaker parameter.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein a speaker configuration of the network of audio speakers includes at least two of:

speaker location, speaker frequency assignation, speaker parameter.

11. A device comprising:

at least one computer memory that is not a transitory signal and that comprises instructions executable by at least one processor for;

determining whether at least a first audio speaker in a network of audio speakers is in a second location that is different from a first location of the first speaker, the first location being associated with a first speaker configuration of the network of audio speakers, the second location not being associated with a speaker configuration of the network of audio speakers;

responsive to a determination that the first speaker is in the first location, establishing the first speaker configuration of the network of audio speakers; and

responsive to a determination that the first speaker is in the second location, determining a second speaker configuration of the network of audio speakers based at least in part on the second location at least in part by varying a first speaker configuration variable individually, without varying a first value of second speaker configuration variable, until (1) a quality threshold is satisfied by a first value of the first speaker configuration variable in combination with the first value of the second speaker configuration variable, in which case the first values are applied to a speaker at the second location, or (2) the quality threshold is not satisfied by any value of the first speaker configuration variable in combination with the first value of the second speaker configuration variable, in which case a value is set for the first speaker configuration variable and left unchanged while the second speaker configuration is varied individually.

12. The device of claim 11, comprising the at least one processor executing the instructions.

13. The device of claim 11, comprising responsive to a determination that the first speaker is in the second location, determining a second speaker configuration of the network of audio speakers based at least in part on the second location at least in part by varying a first speaker configuration variable individually, without varying a first value of second speaker configuration variable, until a quality threshold is satisfied by a first value of the first speaker configuration variable in combination with the first value of the second speaker configuration variable, in which case the first values are applied to a speaker at the second location.

14. The device of claim 11, comprising responsive to a determination that the first speaker is in the second location, determining a second speaker configuration of the network of audio speakers based at least in part on the second location at least in part by varying a first speaker configuration variable individually, without varying a first value of second speaker configuration variable, until the quality threshold is not satisfied by any value of the first speaker configuration variable in combination with the first value of the second speaker configuration variable, in which case a value is set for the first speaker configuration variable and left unchanged while the second speaker configuration is varied individually.