Vehicle acoustic transducer operation

• US 10,547,941 B1
• Filed: 01/16/2019
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2019
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Herman, David Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Mooney, James K
• Application Number:
  US16/248,894
• Time in Patent Office: 377 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 5/00 Arrangement or adaptation of acoustic signal devices
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 5/005 automatically actuated
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 3/10 using electric transmission; using electromagnetic transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/323 for loudspeakers H04R1/34 and H04R1/40 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2201/025 Transducer mountings or cabinet supports enabling variable orientation of transducer of cabinet
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/13 Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/04 for correcting frequency response

Abstract

A system includes a computer and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the computer to identify a target and to adjust a frequency of an acoustic message from a vehicle based on a predicted target trajectory and a predicted vehicle trajectory.

Claims

1. A system, comprising a computer and a memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the computer to:

identify a target;

input a perceived frequency by the target of an acoustic message to a phase-locked loop to identify a frequency adjustment of the acoustic message to adjust an emitted frequency of the acoustic message from a vehicle to an intended frequency to be received by the target, the perceived frequency based on a predicted target trajectory and a predicted vehicle trajectory, wherein the phase-locked loop minimizes a phase difference between the acoustic message at the perceived frequency and the acoustic message at the intended frequency; and

emit the acoustic message at the emitted frequency adjusted by the frequency adjustment.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to identify a frequency shift of the acoustic message based on the predicted target trajectory and the predicted vehicle trajectory.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the instructions further include instructions to adjust the frequency of the acoustic message to reduce the frequency shift below a shift threshold.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to identify a type of the target and to predict the target trajectory based on the type of the target.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to, while emitting the acoustic message, predict a second target trajectory and a second vehicle trajectory and to adjust the emitted frequency of the acoustic message based on the second predicted target trajectory and the second predicted vehicle trajectory.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to identify a relative velocity between the target and the vehicle and to adjust the emitted frequency of the acoustic message based on the relative velocity.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to actuate a transducer to steer the acoustic message toward the target.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the instructions further include instructions to identify a direction vector between the transducer and the target and to rotate the transducer to align with the direction vector.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to determine a weather datum and to adjust the emitted frequency based on the weather datum.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the weather datum is at least one of a temperature, a humidity, or an air pressure.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions further include instructions to determine an ambient speed of sound based on the weather datum.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to identify a second target and to adjust the emitted frequency of the acoustic message based on the predicted target trajectory and a predicted second target trajectory.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to adjust an emitted frequency of the acoustic message to generate a predicted perceived frequency received by the target that is within a threshold of a recorded frequency of the acoustic message.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further include instructions to identify a change in a target trajectory and to adjust the emitted frequency of the acoustic message based on the change in the target trajectory.

15. A method, comprising:

identifying a target;

inputting a perceived frequency by the target of an acoustic message to a phase-locked loop to identify a frequency adjustment of the acoustic message to adjust an emitted frequency of the acoustic message from a vehicle to an intended frequency to be received by the target, the perceived frequency based on a predicted target trajectory and a predicted vehicle trajectory, wherein the phase-locked loop minimizes a phase difference between the acoustic message at the perceived frequency and the acoustic message at the intended frequency; and

emitting the acoustic message at the emitted frequency adjusted by the frequency adjustment.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising identifying a frequency shift of the acoustic message based on the predicted target trajectory and the predicted vehicle trajectory.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising actuating a transducer to steer the acoustic message toward the target.

18. A system, comprising:

a transducer;

means for identifying a target;

means for inputting a perceived frequency by the target of an acoustic message to a phase-locked loop to identify a frequency adjustment of the acoustic message to adjust an emitted frequency of the acoustic message from a vehicle to an intended frequency to be received by the target, the perceived frequency based on a predicted target trajectory and a predicted vehicle trajectory, wherein the phase-locked loop minimizes a phase difference between the acoustic message at the perceived frequency and the acoustic message at the intended frequency; and

means for emitting the acoustic message at the emitted frequency adjusted by the frequency adjustment.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising means for identifying a frequency shift of the acoustic message based on the predicted target trajectory and the predicted vehicle trajectory.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising means for steering the transducer to steer the acoustic message toward the target.