Sound field forming apparatus and method

• US 10,880,638 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2017
• Issued: 12/29/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Maeno, Yu, Mitsufuji, Yuhki, Takahashi, Masafumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Dabney, Phylesha
• Application Number:
  US16/314,280
• Publication Number:
  US 20190230435A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,287 Days
• Field of Search: 381182
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/403 loud-speakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/00 Circuits for transducers , loudspeakers or microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/12 for distributing signals to two or more loudspeakers specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2400/11 Positioning of individual sound objects, e.g. moving airplane, within a sound field H04S2420/13 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2420/13 Application of wave-field synthesis in stereophonic audio systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/303 Tracking of listener position or orientation

Abstract

Provided are a sound field forming apparatus and a method that enhances the reproducibility of a wavefront at a listener position. The sound field forming apparatus has a position acquisition unit to acquire position information indicative of a position of a listener or a position of a sound source to be formed, a control point specification unit to specify a control point with a distance from a speaker array of the listener or the sound source on the basis of the position information, and a filter unit to generate a speaker drive signal for forming a predetermined sound field by the speaker array by convoluting a filter coefficient corresponding to the specified control point with a sound source signal.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a central processing unit (CPU) configured to;

acquire position information indicative of one of a position of a first listener of a plurality of listeners or a position of a sound source;

determine a control point position based on;

a first distance of one of the first listener or the sound source from a speaker array, and

the acquired position information,

wherein the speaker array surrounds the first listener;

convolve a filter coefficient, corresponding to the determined control point position, with a sound source signal;

generate a speaker drive signal based on the convolution of the filter coefficient with the sound source signal; and

control the speaker array to generate a specific sound field,

wherein the specific sound field is generated based on the speaker drive signal.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the CPU is further configured to determine the control point position based on a second distance of each of the plurality of listeners from the speaker array.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the CPU is further configured to switch between:

determination of the control point position for each of the plurality of listeners based on the acquired position information, and

determination of the control point position based on a third distance of a second listener of the plurality of listeners from the speaker array, and

the second listener is nearest to the speaker array among the plurality of listeners.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the CPU is further configured to determine the control point position based on a fourth distance between the plurality of listeners, and

the fourth distance is one of equal to or less than a threshold value.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the CPU is further configured to determine the control point position based on a second distance of a second listener of the plurality of listeners from the speaker array, and

the second listener is nearest to the speaker array among the plurality of listeners.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising the speaker array.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the CPU is further configured to record a plurality of filter coefficients corresponding to a plurality of control points.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the CPU is further configured to generate the speaker drive signal, by utilization of the filter coefficient from among a plurality of filter coefficients, based on the one of the position of the first listener or the position of the sound source, and

the plurality of filter coefficients corresponds to:

a plurality of speakers of the speaker array, and

the determined control point position.

9. A method, comprising:

acquiring position information indicative of one of a position of a listener or a position of a sound source;

determining a control point position based on;

a distance of one of the listener or the sound source from a speaker array, and

the acquired position information,

wherein the speaker array surrounds the listener;

convoluting a filter coefficient, corresponding to the determined control point position, with a sound source signal;

generating a speaker drive signal based on the convolution of the filter coefficient with the sound source signal; and

controlling the speaker array to generate a specific sound field,

wherein the specific sound field is generated based on the speaker drive signal.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to execute operations, the operations comprising:

acquiring position information indicative of one of a position of a listener or a position of a sound source;

determining a control point position based on;

a distance of one of the listener or the sound source from a speaker array, and

the acquired position information,

wherein the speaker array surrounds the listener;

convoluting a filter coefficient, corresponding to the determined control point position, with a sound source signal;

generating a speaker drive signal based on the convolution of the filter coefficient with the sound source signal; and

controlling the speaker array to generate a specific sound field,

wherein the specific sound field is generated based on the speaker drive signal.