Managing acoustic noise produced by a device

• US 8,462,959 B2
• Filed: 10/04/2007
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Costa, Paul J., Cox, David R., Bard, Benjamin A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mei, Xu
• Assistant Examiner(s): TON, DAVID L
• Application Number:
  US11/867,622
• Publication Number:
  US 20090092262A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,077 Days
• Field of Search: 381/71.1, 381/71.3, 381/56, 381/57, 381/94.1, 381/71.2, 381 714- 718
• US Class Current: 381/71.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/20 Cooling means
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/16 Methods or devices for protecting against, or for damping, noise or other acoustic waves in general G10K11/36 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20209 Thermal management, e.g. fan control

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that manages the acoustic noise produced by a device. During operation, the system receives a set of acoustic characteristics for the device. The system then uses these acoustic characteristics to estimate the acoustic noise being generated by the device. Next, the system uses the estimated acoustic noise to adjust a setting in the device to manage the acoustic noise produced by the device.

Claims

1. A method for managing acoustic noise produced by a device, comprising:

receiving a first acoustic transfer function for a first component of the device, wherein the first acoustic transfer function comprises an expression that returns an estimate of sound pressure value in decibels produced by the first component based on an operating state of the first component, and wherein the expression characterizes how the estimate changes over various operating states for the first component;

detecting a current operating state of the first component;

determining an estimated amount of acoustic noise in decibels for the device during operation using the received first acoustic transfer function and the detected current operating state of the first component; and

adjusting a setting for at least one component within the device based on the estimated amount of acoustic noise generated by the device to manage the acoustic noise that is produced by the device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second acoustic transfer function for a second component of the device; and

detecting a current operating state of the second component, wherein the determining the estimated amount of acoustic noise comprises using the first acoustic transfer function and the current operating state of the first component and the second acoustic transfer function and the current operating state of the second component.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using a microphone to determine an ambient noise level for an environment surrounding the device; and

using the determined ambient noise level to adapt to ambient conditions in the environment when adjusting the setting for the at least one component.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a specified maximum acoustic noise level for the device; and

dynamically monitoring the estimated amount of acoustic noise for the device during operation to track an acoustic noise margin between the estimated amount of acoustic noise and the specified maximum acoustic noise level.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein adjusting the setting for the at least one component further comprises adjusting at least one of the power usage and the performance of the at least one component during operation to ensure that the acoustic noise that is produced by the device remains below the specified maximum acoustic noise level for the device.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein adjusting the setting for the at least one component further comprises:

determining a level of system activity for the device by doing at least one of;

requesting the level of system activity from an operating system for the device, and

monitoring power usage data for the device to infer system activity and user state; and

adjusting at least one of the power usage and the performance of the at least one component during operation based on the determined level of system activity.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein adjusting the at least one of the power usage and the performance of the at least one component during operation based on the determined level of system activity comprises adjusting the at least one of the power usage and the performance of the at least one component during operation based on the determined level of system activity and the estimated amount of acoustic noise generated by the device.

8. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving a user acoustic preference; and

adjusting the setting for the at least one component during operation based on the user acoustic preference and based on the estimated amount of acoustic noise.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the expression comprises at least one variable associated with the current operating state of the first component that is used to determine the estimate of the sound pressure value.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining does not comprise using a current acoustic noise of the at least one component.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a device cause the device to perform a method for managing acoustic noise produced by the device, the method comprising:

using a first acoustic transfer function for a first component of the device and a detected current operating state of the first component to determine an estimated amount of acoustic noise in decibels for the device during operation, wherein the first acoustic transfer function comprises an expression that returns an estimate of sound pressure value in decibels produced by the first component based on an operating state of the first component, and wherein the expression characterizes how the estimate changes over various operating states for the first component; and

using the estimated amount of acoustic noise generated by the device to adjust a setting for at least one component within the device to manage the acoustic noise that is produced by the device.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 further comprising:

receiving a second acoustic transfer function for a second component of the device; and

detecting a current operating state of the second component, wherein the determining the estimated amount of acoustic noise comprises using the first acoustic transfer function and the current operating state of the first component and the second acoustic transfer function and the current operating state of the second component.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

using a microphone to determine an ambient noise level for an environment surrounding the device; and

using the determined ambient noise level to adapt to ambient conditions in the environment when adjusting the setting for the at least one component.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a specified maximum acoustic noise level for the device; and

dynamically monitoring the estimated amount of acoustic noise for the device during operation to track an acoustic noise margin between the estimated amount of acoustic noise and the specified maximum acoustic noise level.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein adjusting the setting for the at least one component further comprises adjusting at least one of the power usage and/or and the performance of the at least one component during operation to ensure that the acoustic noise that is produced by the device remains below the specified maximum acoustic noise level.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein adjusting the setting for the at least one component further comprises:

determining a level of system activity for the device by doing at least one of;

requesting the level of system activity from an operating system for the device, and

monitoring power usage data for the device to infer system activity and user state; and

adjusting at least one of the power usage and the performance of the component during operation based on the level of system activity.

17. A computing device that manages acoustic noise output, comprising:

a first component; and

an acoustic controller, wherein the acoustic controller is configured;

to receive a first acoustic transfer function for the first component of the computing device, wherein the first acoustic transfer function comprises an expression that returns an estimate of sound pressure value in decibels produced by the first component based on an operating state of the first component, and wherein the expression characterizes how the estimate changes over various operating states for the first component;

to detect a current operating state of the first component;

to use the received first acoustic transfer function and the detected current operating state of the first component to determine an estimated amount of acoustic noise in decibels for at least one noise-producing component in the device; and

to monitor the aggregate estimated acoustic noise generated by the device and to adjust device settings to reduce the aggregate estimated acoustic noise generated by the device.

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein:

the acoustic controller is integrated with a thermal control system for the device; and

the acoustic controller is further configured to receive state data for the at least one component of the device from the thermal control system.

19. A method for managing acoustic noise, the method comprising:

measuring a sound pressure value in decibels generated by a component of a device for each operating state of a plurality of operating states of the component;

extracting a mathematical expression based on the measured sound pressure values that estimates the sound pressure value in decibels generated by the component for any operating state of the component;

after the extracting, detecting a current operating state of the component;

determining, based on the detected current operating state and the extracted mathematical expression, an estimate of the sound pressure value in decibels for the current operating state of the component; and

adjusting at least one setting of the device based on the determined estimate.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the extracting the mathematical expression comprises applying a model fit to the measured value.