Portable electronic device directed audio emitter arrangement system and method

• US 10,575,093 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2014
• Issued: 02/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Baym, Michael H., Duncan, William David, Hyde, Roderick A., Jung, Edward K. Y., Lord, Richard T., Lord, Robert W., Myhrvold, Nathan P., Wood, Jr., Lowell L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Paul, Disler
• Application Number:
  US14/164,154
• Publication Number:
  US 20140270198A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,222 Days
• Field of Search: 381333-334, 381 77, 381 79- 80
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 19/02 Loudspeakers H04R19/01 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2217/03 Parametric transducers where sound is generated or captured by the acoustic demodulation of amplitude modulated ultrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/01 Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in sound systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/03 Synergistic effects of band splitting and sub-band processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/20 Processing of the output signals of the acoustic transducers of an array for obtaining a desired directivity characteristic H04R2203/12 takes precedence
• 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

Abstract

A computationally implemented system and method that is designed to, but is not limited to: electronically determining positioning status of one or more portions of one or more humans relative to one or more locations of demodulation of one or more acoustic ultrasonic signals into one or more acoustic audio signals said one or more acoustic ultrasonic signals originating from a portable electronic device; and electronically alerting said one or more humans from said portable electronic device regarding said positioning status of one or more portions of one or more humans relative to one or more locations of demodulation of one or more acoustic ultrasonic signals into one or more acoustic audio signals when said positioning status includes a first characterization. In addition to the foregoing, other method aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text forming a part of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals;

circuitry configured for outputting via one or more ultrasonic transducers one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals that are demodulated at a location into one or more acoustic audio signals;

circuitry configured for determining a position of a human relative to the location of demodulation to steer the one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human;

circuitry configured for steering the one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human such that the location of demodulation is steered to correspond to the position of the human; and

circuitry configured for adjusting the one or more ultrasonic beams to compensate for Doppler frequency shifting.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for storing acoustic audio signal data via memory storage.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for wirelessly receiving WiFi data for modulation into the one or more ultrasonic signals.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for receiving smartphone voice data for modulation into the one or more ultrasonic signals.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for receiving internet communication for modulation into the one or more ultrasonic signals.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals comprises:

circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals from a media player.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals comprises:

circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals from a monitor alarm system.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals comprises:

circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals associated with one or more narrative speeches.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals comprises:

circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals associated with instrumental music.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals comprises:

circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals that include inserted digital information.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals comprises:

circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals from one or more electronic tablet computer systems.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals comprises:

circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals from one or more electronic handheld mobile devices.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals comprises:

circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals from one or more electronic cell phones.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals comprises:

circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals from one or more electronic portable laptops.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for determining that one or more humans is within a threshold distance.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for steering the one or more ultrasonic beams according to sensed acoustic environment.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for steering the one or more ultrasonic beams according to sensed presence of one or more other humans.

18. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for determining ultrasonic signal amplitude based on user interface input.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for determining a position of a human relative to the location of demodulation to steer the one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human comprises:

circuitry configured for determining a position of a human relative to the location of demodulation to steer the one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human and based at least partly on user interface input.

20. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for sensing one or more acoustic audio signals down converted at one or more target locations.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for adjusting the one or more ultrasonic beams to compensate for Doppler frequency shifting comprises:

circuitry configured for steering the one or more ultrasonic beams based on microphone sensing.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for adjusting the one or more ultrasonic beams to compensate for Doppler frequency shifting comprises:

circuitry configured for steering the one or more ultrasonic beams based on sensing of one or more digital audio codes.

23. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals comprises:

circuitry configured for modulating one or more ultrasonic signals to be down converted into acoustic anti-noise signals.

24. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for determining an amplitude selection for the one or more ultrasonic signals based on size of a target area.

25. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for determining quality of one or more acoustic audio signals demodulated from the one or more ultrasonic beams based at least partly on audio detected by one or more wearable devices.

26. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for detecting one or more noise signals.

27. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for sensing one or more digital audio codes using at least one audio microphone of at least one device.

28. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for determining a quality of one or more acoustic audio signals at least partly based on one or more digital audio codes sensed using at least one microphone.

29. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for controlling one or more characteristics of the one or more ultrasonic beams based at least partly on quality of one or more acoustic audio signals determined based at least partly on one or more digital audio codes sensed using a microphone.

30. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for performing acoustic imaging of the human.

31. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for determining a position of a human relative to the location of demodulation to steer the one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human comprises:

circuitry configured for determining a location of a face of a human to steer one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the circuitry configured for steering the one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human such that the location of demodulation is steered to correspond to the position of the human comprises:

circuitry configured for steering the one or more ultrasonic beams based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human such that the one or more ultrasonic beams are demodulated into acoustic audio in a vicinity of the location of the face of the human.

33. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

circuitry configured for determining a security clearance of the target.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the circuitry configured for steering the one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human such that the location of demodulation is steered to correspond to the position of the human comprises:

circuitry configured for steering the one or more ultrasonic beams based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human and based on the security clearance of the human.

35. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuitry configured for adjusting the one or more ultrasonic beams to compensate for Doppler frequency shifting comprises:

circuitry configured for steering the one or more ultrasonic beams to compensate for Doppler frequency shifting.

36. A method implemented using one or more processor components of at least one computing device, the method comprising:

modulating one or more ultrasonic signals;

outputting via one or more ultrasonic transducers one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals that are demodulated at a location into one or more acoustic audio signals;

determining a position of a human relative to the location of demodulation to steer the one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human;

steering the one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human such that the location of demodulation is steered to correspond to the position of the human; and

adjusting the one or more ultrasonic beams to compensate for Doppler frequency shifting.

37. A system comprising:

one or more computing devices; and

one or more instructions that when executed on the one or more computing devices program the one or more computing devices to perform operations including at least;

modulating one or more ultrasonic signals;

outputting via one or more ultrasonic transducers one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals that are demodulated at a location into one or more acoustic audio signals;

determining a position of a human relative to the location of demodulation to steer the one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human;

steering the one or more ultrasonic beams associated with the one or more ultrasonic signals based at least partly on acoustic imaging of the human such that the location of demodulation is steered to correspond to the position of the human; and

adjusting the one or more ultrasonic beams to compensate for Doppler frequency shifting.