Selective audio/sound aspects

• US 9,683,884 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2010
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Lord, Robert W., Malamud, Mark A., Mangione-Smith, William Henry, Rinaldo, Jr., John D., Tegreene, Clarence T., Wood, JR., Lowell L., Cohen, Alexander J., Jung, Edward K. Y., Levien, Royce A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Paul, Disler
• Application Number:
  US12/924,278
• Publication Number:
  US 20110071822A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,463 Days
• Field of Search: 381 56- 59, 381 86, 381 74, 381 715, 381110, 381306
• CPC Class Codes: G01H 3/14 Measuring mean amplitude; Measuring mean power; Measuring time integral of power
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/24 Control dependent upon ambient noise level or sound level
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/32 the control being dependent upon ambient noise level or sound level
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/34 Muting amplifier when no signal is present or when only weak signals are present, or caused by the presence of noise signals, e.g. squelch systems
• 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: H04S 1/00 Two-channel systems H04S5/00, H04S7/00 take precedence

Abstract

Certain aspects relate to providing an at least one audio source to at least one user. Certain aspects relate to selectively modifying an at least one first sound source to be provided to the at least one user, wherein the at least one first sound source is combined with an at least one second sound source, and wherein the selectively modifying is performed relative to the at least one audio source based at least in part on at least some specific information of the at least one first sound source. Other aspects relate to selectively modifying the at least one first sound source to be provided to the at least one user relative to the at least one second sound source based at least in part on at least some specific information of the at least one first sound source.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

circuitry configured for receiving at least one selected first sound sample;

circuitry configured for detecting at least one characteristic of the at least one selected first sound sample, wherein the at least one characteristic includes at least one directional characteristic;

circuitry configured for receiving at least one second sound sample;

circuitry configured for detecting at least one characteristic of the at least one second sound sample, wherein the at least one characteristic includes at least one directional characteristic;

circuitry configured for comparing the at least one selected first sound sample characteristic to the at least one second sound sample characteristic

circuitry configured for modifying at least one of volume or frequency of at least one selected first sound signal or at least one second sound signal based at least partially on the compared at least one selected first sound sample characteristic to the at least one second sound sample characteristic, including at least;

circuitry configured for modifying at least one of the at least one selected sound or the at least one second sound based at least partially on a difference in the directional characteristics of the at least one selected sound and the at least one second sound; and

circuitry configured for outputting the modified at least one sound signal.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for receiving at least one selected first sound sample comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving at least one selected voice sample;

circuitry configured for saving the at least one selected voice sample in the sound library;

and wherein the circuitry configured for comparing the at least one selected first sound sample characteristic to the at least one second sound sample characteristic includes at least;

circuitry configured for comparing at least one sound sample to the saved at least one selected voice sample.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

circuitry configured for at least partially amplifying the at least one first sound if it corresponds to at least one recorded selected voice sample in the sound library.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the circuitry configured for comparing at least one sound sample to the saved at least one selected voice sample comprises:

circuitry configured for identifying at least one selected voice through use of voice recognition-based information; and

circuitry configured for determining whether the saved at least one selected voice sample is associated with the identified at least one selected voice.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modifying at least one of volume or frequency of at least one selected first sound signal or at least one second sound signal based at least partially on the compared at least one selected first sound sample characteristic to the at least one second sound sample characteristic comprises:

circuitry configured for at least limiting, reducing, or partially filtering the at least one second sound, using at least one digital signal processor, based at least partially on the compared at least one selected first sound sample characteristic to the at least one second sound sample characteristic.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modifying at least one of volume or frequency of at least one selected first sound signal or at least one second sound signal based at least partially on the compared at least one selected first sound sample characteristic and the at least one second sound sample characteristic comprises:

circuitry configured for at least partially limiting, reducing, muting, stopping, cutting, or filtering, using at least one digital signal processor, the least one of a selected first sound or a second sound that does not correspond to the at least one selected first sound sample.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for outputting the modified at least one sound signal comprises:

circuitry configured for broadcasting at least one audio signal.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for receiving at least one selected first sound sample comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving at least one selected first sound sample within a specified spectral range.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for receiving at least one selected first sound sample comprises:

circuitry configured for receiving at least one selected sound frequency range,

wherein circuitry configured for detecting at least one characteristic of the at least one second sound sample includes at least;

circuitry configured for detecting at least one frequency of the at least one second sound sample;

and wherein circuitry configured for modifying at least one of volume or frequency of at least one selected first sound signal or at least one second sound signal based at least partially on the compared at least one selected first sound sample characteristic and the at least one second sound sample characteristic includes at least;

circuitry configured for modifying at least one of the at least one selected first sound or at least one second sound based at least partially on a determination that the at least one second sound frequency characteristic is outside the at least one selected sound frequency range of the at least one selected first sound sample.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modifying at least one of volume or frequency of at least one selected first sound signal or at least one second sound signal based at least partially on the compared at least one selected first sound sample characteristic and the at least one second sound sample characteristic comprises:

circuitry for detecting that the at least one first sound is generated by at least one separate device; and

circuitry configured for at least one of amplifying or limiting the at least one selected first sound generated by the at least one separate device.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for receiving at least one alarm sound;

circuitry configured for providing at least one directional sound clue associated with the at least one alarm sound; and

wherein the circuitry configured for modifying at least one of volume or frequency of at least one selected first sound signal or at least one second sound signal based at least partially on the compared at least one selected first sound sample characteristic and the at least one second sound sample characteristic comprises;

circuitry configured for at least partially amplifying the at least one alarm sound; and

circuitry configured for providing at least one directional sound clue associated with the at least one alarm sound.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for modifying at least one sound sample based at least partially on the detected at least one characteristic of the at least one selected first sound sample.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the circuitry configured for detecting at least one characteristic of the at least one selected first sound sample comprises:

circuitry configured for detecting at least one frequency of the at least one selected first sound sample,

and wherein the circuitry configured for modifying at least one sound sample based at least partially on the detected at least one characteristic of the at least one selected first sound sample includes at least;

circuitry configured for modifying at least one sound sample, using at least one digital signal processor, based at least partially on the detected at least one frequency of the at least one selected first sound sample.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for comparing the at least one selected first sound sample characteristic and the at least one second sound sample characteristic comprises:

circuitry configured for detecting at least one difference between the at least one selected first sound sample characteristic and the at least one second sound sample characteristic,

and wherein the circuitry configured for modifying at least one of volume or frequency of at least one selected first sound signal or at least one second sound signal based at least partially on the compared at least one selected first sound sample characteristic and the at least one second sound sample characteristic includes at least;

circuitry configured for modifying, using at least one digital signal processor, at least one of the at least one selected first sound or at least one second sound based at least partially on the detected at least one difference between the at least one selected first sound sample characteristic and the at least one second sound sample characteristic.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for detecting at least one characteristic of the at least one selected first sound sample comprises:

circuitry configured for detecting at least one frequency characteristic of the at least one selected first sound sample,

wherein circuitry configured for detecting at least one characteristic of the at least one second sound sample includes at least;

circuitry configured for detecting at least one frequency characteristic of the at least one second sound sample,

and wherein circuitry configured for modifying at least one of volume or frequency of at least one selected first sound signal or at least one second sound signal based at least partially on the compared at least one selected first sound sample characteristic and the at least one second sound sample characteristic includes at least;

circuitry configured for modifying, using at least one digital signal processor, at least one of the at least one selected sound or the at least one second sound based at least partially on a difference in the frequency characteristics of the at least one selected sound and the at least one second sound.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the circuitry configured for modifying at least one of the at least one selected sound or the at least one second sound based at least partially on a difference in the frequency characteristics of the at least one selected sound and the at least one second sound comprises:

circuitry configured for at least one of augmenting or removing a frequency associated with at least one of the at least one selected sound or the at least one second sound.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the circuitry configured for modifying at least one of the at least one selected sound or the at least one second sound based at least partially on a difference in the frequency characteristics of the at least one selected sound and the at least one second sound comprises:

circuitry configured for determining at least one of a complementary or interfering frequency associated with the frequency characteristics of the at least one selected sound and the at least one second sound;

circuitry configured for generating at least one sound wave based on the determined at least one complementary or interfering frequency associated with the frequency characteristics of the at least one selected sound and the at least one second sound,

and wherein the circuitry configured for outputting the modified at least one sound signal includes at least;

circuitry configured for outputting at least one of the at least one selected first sound signal or the at least one second sound signal; and

circuitry configured for outputting the generated at least one soundwave based on the determined at least one complementary or interfering frequency associated with the frequency characteristics of the at least one selected sound and the at least one second sound.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modifying at least one of volume or frequency of at least one selected first sound signal or at least one second sound signal based at least partially on the compared at least one selected first sound sample characteristic and the at least one second sound sample characteristic comprises:

at least one digital signal processor.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for detecting at least one characteristic of the at least one selected first sound sample comprises:

circuitry configured for recognizing at least one of voices, noises, sounds made by persons, sounds made by animals, natural sounds, synthesized sounds, or recorded sounds.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the circuitry configured for receiving a selected first sound sample or the circuitry configured for receiving at least one second sound sample comprises:

at least one of a microphone or other recording device.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for detecting at least one characteristic of the at least one selected first sound sample, wherein the at least one characteristic includes at least one directional characteristic comprises:

circuitry configured for detecting, via at least one microphone, at least one directional characteristic of at least one of the at least one selected first sound sample or the at least one second sound sample.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for outputting the modified at least one sound signal comprises:

circuitry configured for preserving at least one directional characteristic of at least one of the at least one selected first sound signal or the at least one second sound signal.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the circuitry configured for preserving at least one directional characteristic of at least one of the at least one selected first sound signal or the at least one second sound signal comprises:

circuitry configured for preserving at least one directional characteristic of at least one of the at least one selected first sound signal or the at least one second sound signal via at least one stereo audio output.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for detecting at least one characteristic of the at least one selected first sound sample, wherein the at least one characteristic includes at least one directional characteristic comprises:

circuitry configured for detecting, via at least one microphone, at least one directional characteristic of at least one of the at least one selected first sound sample or the at least one second sound sample, and

wherein the circuitry configured for outputting the modified at least one sound signal includes at least;

circuitry configured for preserving at least one directional characteristic of at least one of the at least one selected first sound signal or the at least one second sound signal via at least one stereo audio output; and

circuitry configured for outputting the modified at least one sound signal based at least partly on the circuitry configured for preserving the at least one directional characteristic.

25. A system comprising:

circuitry configured for receiving at least one selected first sound sample;

circuitry configured for detecting at least one directional characteristic of the at least one selected first sound sample;

circuitry configured for receiving at least one second sound sample;

circuitry configured for detecting at least one directional characteristic of the at least one second sound sample;

circuitry configured for comparing the at least one selected first sound sample directional characteristic to the at least one second sound sample directional characteristic, including at least;

circuitry configured for determining a first location of at least one sound source associated with the at least one selected first sound sample;

circuitry configured for determining a second location of the at least one sound source associated with the at least one second sound sample; and

circuitry configured for determining a direction of the at least one sound source based on the determined first location and second location of the at least one sound source;

circuitry configured for modifying at least one of volume or frequency of at least one selected first sound signal or at least one second sound signal based at least partially on the compared at least one selected first sound sample characteristic to the at least one second sound sample characteristic; and

circuitry configured for outputting the modified at least one sound signal.

26. A system comprising:

circuitry configured for receiving at least one selected first sound sample;

circuitry configured for detecting at least one characteristic of the at least one selected first sound sample, wherein the at least one characteristic includes at least one directional characteristic;

circuitry configured for receiving at least one second sound sample;

circuitry configured for detecting at least one characteristic of the at least one second sound sample, wherein the at least one characteristic includes at least one directional characteristic;

circuitry configured for comparing the at least one selected first sound sample characteristic to the at least one second sound sample characteristic

circuitry configured for modifying at least one of volume or frequency of at least one selected first sound signal or at least one second sound signal based at least partially on the compared at least one selected first sound sample characteristic to the at least one second sound sample characteristic, including at least;

circuitry configured for preserving the directional characteristics of at least one of the at least one selected sound or the at least one second sound; and

circuitry configured for outputting the modified at least one sound signal.