EFFICIENCY OPTIMIZED AUDIO SYSTEM

• US 20100290643A1
• Filed: 05/18/2010
• Published: 11/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Harman International Industries Incorporated (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: Hoshaw, Steven E., Mihelich, Ryan J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,559,655 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/99
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/05 Detection of connection of loudspeakers or headphones to amplifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/301 Automatic calibration of stereophonic sound system, e.g. with test microphone

Abstract

An automated audio tuning system may optimize an audio system for power efficiency when performing automated tuning of the audio system to optimize acoustic performance. The system may establish any number of different power efficiency weighting factors to provide a balance between acoustic performance and power efficiency during operation. The power efficiency weighting factors may range from representing optimizing power efficiency with constrained optimization of acoustic performance to optimized acoustic performance with minimized regard for power efficiency. For each of the efficiency weighting factors, the system may generate operational parameters, such as filter parameters, to achieve a target acoustic response while maintaining a determined level of power efficiency.

Claims

1. An automated power efficiency audio tuning system comprising:

a processor;

at least one engine executable with the processor to obtain impedance data of at least two loudspeakers, the at least two loudspeakers configured to be driven by an audio system to produce audible sound;

the engine further executable with the processor to obtain performance related data representative of cooperative operation of the at least two loudspeakers in the audio system to produce audible sound;

the engine further executable with the processor to obtain a target acoustic response and a power efficiency weighting factor representative of a desired degree of power efficiency in the audio system; and

the engine further executable with the processor to generate operational parameters based on the target acoustic response, the performance related data and the impedance data;

the operational parameters generated by the engine to balance optimized acoustic performance and optimized power efficiency of the at least two loudspeakers based on the power efficiency weighting factor.

2. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 1, where the engine is an equalization engine, and the operational parameters include filter design parameters, the filter design parameters set by the equalization engine to balance equalization of audible sound produced by the at least two loudspeakers and power consumption of the at least two loudspeakers based on the power efficiency weighting factor.

3. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 1, where the engine is a cross over engine, and the operational parameters include filter design parameters, the filter design parameters being cross over settings set by the cross over engine to a cross over frequency that balances acoustic performance of at least one of the at least two loudspeakers and power consumption of the at least one of the at least two loudspeakers based on the power efficiency weighting factor.

4. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 1, where the engine is a bass optimization engine, and the operational parameters include filter design parameters providing a phase shift of audio signals driving the at least two loudspeakers, a degree of phase shift set by the bass optimization engine to balance cooperative acoustic performance of the at least two loudspeakers and power consumption of the at least two loudspeakers based on the power efficiency weighting factor.

5. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 1, where the engine is further executable to calculate the impedance data of each of the at least two loudspeakers based on at least two of a current magnitude, a voltage magnitude and a power magnitude being supplied to the at least two loudspeakers.

6. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 1, where the engine is further executable to access a stored predetermined impedance curve for each of the at least two loudspeakers to obtain the impedance data.

7. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 1, where the performance related data comprises in-situ data representing actual cooperative operation of the at least two loudspeakers to produce audible sound in a listening space.

8. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 1, where the performance related data comprises in-situ data representing simulation of cooperative operation of the at least two loudspeakers to produce audible sound in a listening space.

9. A method of performing automated power efficiency tuning of an audio system, the method comprising:

obtaining impedance data of at least two loudspeakers with a processor, the at least two loudspeakers configured to be driven by an audio system to produce audible sound;

obtaining performance related data with the processor, the performance related data representative of cooperative operation of the at least two loudspeakers in the audio system to produce audible sound;

with the processor obtaining a target acoustic response for the audio system and a power efficiency weighting factor representative of a degree of power efficiency required of the at least two loudspeakers in the audio system;

generating operational parameters for use in the audio system with an engine to optimize acoustic performance of the at least two loudspeakers based on the target acoustic response and the performance related data; and

balancing optimization of acoustic performance and optimization of power efficiency with the engine by adjustment of the operational parameters based on the impedance data and the power efficiency weighting factor.

10. The method of claim 9, where generating operational parameters comprises generating filter design parameters for at least one of an all pass filter and a notch filter that are used to filter an audio signal from which the at least two loudspeakers are driven.

11. The method of claim 9, where balancing optimization comprises adjusting a crossover setting of an audio signal from which the at least two loudspeakers are driven to identify optimal power consumption and optimal acoustic performance of the at least two loudspeakers in accordance with the power efficiency weighting factor.

12. The method of claim 9, where the at least two loudspeakers include a first loudspeaker capable of generating a first sound wave when driven by a first audio signal, and a second loudspeaker capable of generating a second sound wave when driven by a second audio signal, and where balancing optimization comprises minimizing a magnitude of the first audio signal and the second audio signal by optimizing constructive addition of the corresponding first and second sound waves in a listening space by adjusting a phase setting of the first audio signal with respect to the second audio signal in accordance with the power efficiency weighting factor.

13. The method of claim 9, where balancing optimization comprises generating equalization settings for application to respective audio signals driving the at least two loudspeakers and adjusting the equalization settings in accordance with the power efficiency weighting factor to appropriately constrain power consumption by the at least two loudspeakers.

14. The method of claim 9, where balancing optimization comprises generating gain settings for application to audio signals respectively driving the at least two loudspeakers to optimize acoustic performance, and attenuating the gain settings in accordance with the power efficiency weighting factor.

15. The method of claim 9, where balancing optimization comprises generating equalization settings and crossover settings for application to respective audio signals driving the at least two loudspeakers, and first adjusting the equalization settings followed by the cross-over settings in accordance with the power efficiency weighting factor to appropriately constrain power consumption by the at least two loudspeakers.

16. A computer readable storage medium for storing executable code in the form of instructions, the computer readable storage medium comprising:

instructions executable by a processor to obtain impedance data of at least two loudspeakers, the at least two loudspeakers included in an audio system;

instructions executable by the processor to obtain performance related data representative of cooperative operation of the at least two loudspeakers in the audio system to produce audible sound;

instructions executable by the processor to initiate an engine to generate operational parameters for the audio system to optimize acoustic performance of the at least two loudspeakers based on comparison of performance related data to a target acoustic response; and

instructions to balance optimization of acoustic performance with optimization of power efficiency of the at least two loudspeakers, the optimizations balanced based on a power efficiency weighting factor, the power efficiency weighting factor representative of a desired level of power efficiency of the audio system.

17. An automated power efficiency audio tuning system comprising:

a processor;

a setup file accessible by the processor, the setup file configured to store audio system specific configuration settings of an audio system to be tuned to operate in a power efficiency mode, the stored audio system specific configuration settings comprising operational data indicative of cooperative operational performance of a plurality of loudspeakers driven by a plurality of respective audio channels generated by the audio system;

an engine executable with the processor to optimize acoustic performance of the audio system based on the operational data and a target acoustic response by generation of operational parameters used in the audio system to adjust the audio channels; and

the engine further executable to develop the power efficiency mode by adjustment of the operational parameters to balance optimized acoustic performance and optimized power efficiency of the audio system based on a power efficiency weighting factor and impedance data of the loudspeakers, the power efficiency weighting factor indicative of an importance of power efficiency relative to acoustic performance.

18. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 17 where the engine comprises a crossover engine configured to generate at least one efficiency optimized crossover setting for a selected group of amplified channels, the crossover setting optimized to minimize power consumption when operating the audio system in the power efficiency mode.

19. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 18 where the crossover engine includes a crossover efficiency optimization module executable by the processor to receive a list of performance optimized crossover settings, to generate a list of efficiency optimized crossover settings, and to generate a weighted list of crossover settings containing crossover settings from the performance optimized crossover settings list or the efficiency optimized crossover settings list, the weighted list of crossover settings generated based on the power efficiency weighting factor.

20. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 18 where the efficiency optimized crossover setting includes a plurality of filter parameters to configure at least one efficiency optimized filter bank to include a high-pass filter, N-number of notch filters, and a low pass filter.

21. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 18 where the engine further comprises a bass optimization engine configured to optimize a phase alignment of two audio channels as a function of the power efficiency weighting factor to balance optimized acoustic performance and optimized power efficiency.

22. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 21 where the engine further comprises a nonlinear optimization engine configured to monitor and control power consumption in the audio system.

23. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 22 where the nonlinear optimization engine includes a power limiter configured to determine whether a channel or a group of channels is operating at power levels that exceed a predetermined limit, and to adjust a power spectra, gain or dynamic range of the channel or the group of channels.

24. The automated power efficiency audio tuning system of claim 17 further comprising a user interface having at least one user input device, the user input device configured to enable user selection of operation in the power efficiency mode, and selection of an efficiency level.

25. A method of performing automated power efficiency tuning of an audio system, the method comprising:

providing a setup file containing configuration settings for an audio system to be tuned to operate in a power efficiency mode;

retrieving operational data included in the setup file with an engine, the operational data indicative of cooperative operational performance of a plurality of loudspeakers included in the audio system and driven by a plurality of respective audio channels;

optimizing acoustic performance of the audio system with the engine based on operational data and a target acoustic response by generating operational parameters used in the audio system to adjust the audio channels;

developing the power efficiency mode with the engine; and

during the development of the power efficiency mode balancing optimized acoustic performance and optimized power efficiency of the audio system with the engine based on a power efficiency weighting factor and impedance data of the loudspeakers by adjusting the operational parameters, the power efficiency weighting factor indicative of an importance of power efficiency relative to acoustic performance.

26. The method of claim 25 where generating operational parameters comprises the step of generating at least one crossover setting with the engine for each of at least two of the amplified audio channels, and balancing optimized acoustic performance and optimized power efficiency comprises the step of adjusting a frequency crossover point of each of the at least two crossover settings with the engine to optimize power consumption in accordance with the power efficiency weighting factor.

27. The method of claim 26 where generating operational parameters comprises the step of generating a phase adjustment with the engine for at least one of the amplified audio channels, and balancing optimized acoustic performance and optimized power efficiency comprises the step of adjusting the phase adjustment with the engine in accordance with the power efficiency weighting factor to optimize constructive combination of audible sound produced by at least two of the loudspeakers.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising setting power limits with the engine for operation of the audio system in the power efficiency mode, the power limits adjusting a power spectra of a selected audio channel or a group of audio channels to limit power consumption according to the power limits.