Audio display playback control

• US 10,048,927 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2012
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Brodkin, Panu
• Primary Examiner(s): Flanders, Andrew C
• Application Number:
  US14/406,528
• Publication Number:
  US 20150153999A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,238 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B06B 1/0207 Driving circuits specially adapted for particular applications, see the relevant subclass, e.g. G01; circuits for steering transducer arrays G10K11/34; basic circuits H03
• CPC Class Codes: B06B 2201/55 Piezoelectric transducer
• CPC Class Codes: B06B 2201/70 Specific application
• CPC Class Codes: B06B 3/00 Methods or apparatus specially adapted for transmitting mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 9/122 using piezoelectric driving means G10K9/121 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0266 for a display module assembly
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/605 involving control of the receiver volume to provide a dual operational mode at close or far distance from the user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/11 Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/15 Transducers incorporated in visual displaying devices, e.g. televisions, computer displays, laptops
• 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 7/045 using the distributed mode principle, i.e. whereby the acoustic radiation is emanated from uniformly distributed free bending wave vibration induced in a stiff panel and not from pistonic motion

Abstract

An apparatus comprising: at least one input configured to provide at least one input signal; a mode determiner configured to determine at least one mode of condition based on the at least one input signal; a controller configured to control the reproduction of at least one audio signal based on the at least one mode of condition; and at least one actuator configured to reproduce the at least one audio signal within the apparatus by vibration of a surface.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing at least one input signal from at least one sensor of an apparatus;

determining an audio signal reproduction mode from a plurality of audio signal reproduction modes comprising at least;

a free space vibration mode, a surface vibration coupling mode, and an earpiece mode;

determining a physical state of the apparatus from a plurality of physical states based at least on the at least one input signal, wherein the plurality of physical states comprises at least a static state and a dynamic state;

controlling at least one audio signal for the audio signal reproduction mode based at least on the physical state of the apparatus; and

reproducing the at least one audio signal using at least one actuator within the apparatus by actuating a display surface of the apparatus while the apparatus remains in the determined physical state,

wherein controlling the at least one audio signal comprises;

determining and adjusting at least one audio tuning parameter based on the physical state of the apparatus; and

tuning the at least one audio signal based on the at least one tuning parameter so as to improve the quality of the at least one audio signal from the apparatus display surface for the determined audio signal reproduction mode and the determined physical state.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein reproducing the at least one audio signal while the apparatus is in the surface vibration coupling mode comprises:

coupling vibration of the apparatus display surface to an object such that the object radiates the vibration to an object surface and reproduces the at least one audio signal at the object surface as acoustic energy.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein determining the physical state of the apparatus comprises determining that the apparatus is located on an object and controlling the at least one audio signal comprises processing the at least one audio signal to allow for the coupling between the vibration of the apparatus display surface and the object.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein determining the physical state of the apparatus further comprises at least one of:

determining the apparatus display surface is facing upwards, wherein controlling the at least one audio signal comprises processing the at least one audio signal to allow for the coupling between the vibration of the apparatus display surface and the object when the apparatus display surface is facing upwards; and

determining the apparatus display surface is facing downwards, wherein controlling the at least one audio signal comprises processing the at least one audio signal to allow for the coupling between the apparatus display surface and the object when the display is facing downwards.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein actuating the display surface of the apparatus comprises vibrating the apparatus display surface to generate vibration which reproduces the at least one audio signal at the apparatus display surface as acoustic energy.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein determining the physical state of the apparatus comprises determining that the apparatus is located on an object and controlling the at least one audio signal comprises processing the at least one audio signal to allow for the at least one audio signal reproduction at the apparatus display surface as acoustic energy.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein determining the physical state of the apparatus further comprises one of:

determining the display surface is facing upwards while the apparatus is located on an object, wherein controlling the at least one audio signal comprises processing the at least one audio signal to allow for the at least one audio signal reproduction at the apparatus display surface as acoustic energy when the display surface is facing upwards;

determining the display surface is facing downwards while the apparatus is located on the object, wherein controlling the at least one audio signal comprises processing the at least one audio signal to allow for the at least one audio signal reproduction at the apparatus display surface as acoustic energy when the display surface is facing downwards; and

determining the display surface is proximate to the object, wherein controlling the at least one audio signal comprises processing the at least one audio signal to simulate earpiece audio signal reproduction at the display surface.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein providing the at least one input signal comprises at least one of:

providing a sensor signal;

providing an accelerometer signal;

providing a proximity signal;

providing a camera signal;

providing a touch sensor signal;

providing a compass signal;

providing a touch input signal;

providing a user interface signal; and

providing a microphone signal.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein tuning the at least one audio signal comprises at least one of:

filtering the at least one audio signal, wherein the at least one tuning parameter define a frequency response for the filtering;

equalising the at least one audio signal, wherein the at least one tuning parameter define a frequency response for the equalising; and

adjusting the level of the at least one audio signal wherein the at least one tuning parameter defines an adjustment factor for the adjusting of the level of the at least one audio signal.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein determining the physical state of the apparatus based on the at least one input signal comprises:

determining at least one audio reproduction indication based on at least one audio signal from at least one of a microphone and an accelerometer input, and

controlling the at least one audio signal comprises determining the at least one tuning parameter based on the at least one audio reproduction indication for tuning the reproduction of the at least one audio signal.

17. The method as in claim 1, wherein the input signal is indicative of environmental conditions in which the apparatus is operating in.

18. The method as in claim 1, wherein the plurality of physical states further comprises an undetermined state, and wherein controlling the at least one audio signal comprises applying a default set of audio tuning parameters for the determined audio signal reproduction mode.

11. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer code configured to with the at least one processor cause the apparatus to at least:

provide at least one input signal from at least one sensor of the apparatus;

determine an audio signal reproduction mode from a plurality of audio signal reproduction modes comprising at least;

a free space vibration mode, a surface vibration coupling mode, and an earpiece mode;

determine a physical state of the apparatus from a plurality of physical states based at least on the at least one input signal, wherein the plurality of physical states of the apparatus comprises;

a static state and a dynamic state;

control at least one audio signal for the audio signal reproduction mode based at least on the physical state of the apparatus; and

reproduce the at least one audio signal using at least one actuator within the apparatus by actuating a display surface of the apparatus while the apparatus remains in the determined physical state,

wherein the control of the at least one audio signal comprises determining and adjusting at least one audio tuning parameter based on the physical state of the apparatus; and

tuning the at least one audio signal based on the at least one tuning parameter so as to improve the quality of the at least one audio signal from the display surface for the determined audio signal reproduction mode and the determined physical state.

12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the reproduced at least one audio signal causes the apparatus to:

couple vibration of the apparatus display surface to an object such that the object radiates the vibration to an object surface and reproduce the sound at the object surface as acoustic energy.

13. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein actuating the apparatus display surface generates vibration which reproduces the sound at the apparatus surface.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the tuned at least one audio signal causes the apparatus to at least one of:

filter the at least one audio signal, wherein the at least one tuning parameter define a frequency response for the filtering;

equalise the at least one audio signal, wherein the at least one tuning parameter define a frequency response for the equalising; and

amplify the at least one audio signal wherein the at least one tuning parameter defines a gain for the amplifying.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the determination of the physical state of the apparatus based on the at least one input signal causes the apparatus to:

determine an audio reproduction indication based on at least one audio signal from at least one of a microphone and an accelerometer input; and

control of the at least one audio signal further causes the apparatus to determine at least one tuning parameter based on the audio reproduction indication for tuning the reproduction of the at least one audio signal.

19. The apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the input signal is indicative of environmental conditions in which the apparatus is operating in.

20. The apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the plurality of physical states further comprises an undetermined state, and wherein control of the at least one audio signal comprises applying a default set of audio tuning parameters for the determined audio signal reproduction mode.

16. An apparatus comprising:

at least one sensor;

an outer cover;

a display suspended relative to the outer cover by at least two actuators located between the display and the outer cover;

at least one processor and at least one memory including computer code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer code configured to with the at least one processor cause the apparatus to at least;

determine the apparatus is operating in one of a plurality of audio signal reproduction modes comprising at least;

a free space vibration mode, a surface vibration coupling mode, and an earpiece mode;

vibrate the display using the at least two actuators to produce sound based on audio signals according to the determined audio signal reproduction mode;

determine an orientation of the display and one of a plurality of motion states of the apparatus based on at least one input signal received from the at least one sensor of the apparatus, wherein the plurality of motion states of the apparatus comprises at least a dynamic motion state and a static motion state;

monitor at least one of;

the sound produced from the display via the at least one sensor, and the vibrations from the at least two actuators via the at least one sensor;

determine and adjust at least one tuning parameter for the determined audio signal reproduction mode based on the orientation of the display, the motion states, and the monitored sound and/or vibrations; and

tune the audio signals based on the adjusted at least one tuning parameter so as to improve the quality of the audio signals while the apparatus remains in the determined sound reproduction mode, the determined orientation, and the determined motion state.